ARTICLE VII – RIGHTS OF THE AEA
The AEA shall have the exclusive association privileges enumerated in this Article.
7.01 New Staff Members
Names and addresses of newly employed professional staff members shall be provided to the AEA as early as practicable following Board approval of their contracts.
7.02 New Teacher Luncheon
The AEA may sponsor a luncheon for new teachers which may be held on one (1) of the scheduled new teacher orientation days. New teacher attendance shall be voluntary.
7.03 Written Communication
A copy of any written communication for the Administration Building, directed to all members of a building or department, shall be sent to the President and the AEA office at the time such written communication is distributed to the members.
Administrative personnel of the Akron Public Schools shall be provided copies, at the time of distribution, of the following: 1) Random Notes, 2) Akron Teacher.
7.04 Forms
All forms which require the signature of members shall be reviewed by the AEA and the Superintendent.
7.05 Professional Conferences and AEA Activities
The Superintendent shall authorize up to 125 days with pay per year to members elected to represent the AEA or chosen to serve on programs or in any official capacity at AEA meetings, conferences or conventions. Additional days beyond 125 may be granted to members elected to official bodies with whom the AEA may be affiliated.
Request for these absences shall be submitted to the Superintendent by the President.
7.06 Payroll Deductions
The employer shall provide deductions for AEA dues, Akron Teachers Political Action Committee contributions, Agency Fees, Liberty Mutual Group and United Teachers Associates Company.
The enrollment period for payroll deduction of membership dues shall be the first 45 days each school year. Authorization for payroll deduction for membership dues shall be on a continuing basis from year to year, unless a request for withdrawal is submitted in writing to the Treasurer, with a copy to the AEA. Payroll deduction for membership dues shall commence with the fourth (4th) pay period.
7.07 Agency Fees
SECTION 1. No employee covered by this Agreement shall be required to become or remain a member of the AEA as a condition for securing or retaining employment with the employer.
SECTION 2. As of the effective date of this provision or sixty (60) days after being hired, whichever occurs later, any employee covered by this Agreement who chooses not to become a member of the AEA shall be obligated to pay the AEA a fair share fee in accordance with applicable law. Fair share fee payments shall also be made by any employee who is currently a member of the AEA but who discontinues membership in the AEA during the term of this Agreement.
SECTION 3. The fair share fee referred to above shall not exceed the amount of regular dues charged to full time employees who are AEA members. Substitutes shall pay a daily rate fair share fee for each day worked, not to exceed one (1) dollar per day, up to a maximum of one-half the fair share fee for full time employees. Tutors and other part time employees shall pay a biweekly fair share fee of five (5) per cent of the full time fair share fee, up to a maximum of one-half the fair share fee for full time employees.
SECTION 4. In accordance with applicable law, the AEA has established a written, internal fair share fee procedure (hereinafter the “AEA fair share fee procedure”). The AEA fair share fee procedure has been approved, as part of a class action settlement, by a federal district court of competent jurisdiction. The AEA shall annually notify the employer and AEA non-members of the AEA fair share fee procedure.
SECTION 5. The AEA retains the right to modify the AEA fair share fee procedure. All such modifications must be consistent with requirements of applicable law. The AEA agrees to provide written notice to the employer and to each AEA non-member of any modifications of the AEA fair share fee procedure which become effective during the term of this Agreement.
SECTION 6. Fair share fees as described in this provision shall be deducted by the Treasurer from the payroll checks of non-member employees and forwarded to the AEA on a bi-weekly basis in the same manner as regular membership dues are deducted and forwarded by the Treasurer for the AEA members under Section 7.06, Payroll Deductions, of this Agreement, except that written authorization for such deductions shall not be required from non-member employees, and except for substitute teachers, tutors and part time employees for whom a separate procedure is set forth under Section 3 of this clause.
SECTION 7. Any employee covered by this Agreement who has been declared by the State Employment Relations Board to be exempt from becoming a member of or financially supporting a public employee organization for religious reason pursuant to Ohio Revised Code 4117.09 (c) shall not be required to join or financially support the AEA as a condition of employment. Any such employee shall be required to pay, in lieu of the fair share fee described above, an amount of money equal to such fair share fee to a non-religious charitable fund exempt from taxation under Section 501 (c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code, the specific organization to be agreed upon by the employee and the AEA. In addition, any such employee shall furnish to the AEA written receipts evidencing the monthly payment of such amounts. In the event any such employee fails to make such payments or fails to furnish such receipts, said employee shall be subject to the same sanctions as an employee who has failed to pay membership dues or the fair share fee hereunder.
SECTION 8. The AEA hereby indemnifies the employer against any and all other forms of liability which may arise by reason of the employer’s action in deducting and forwarding fair share fees pursuant to this provision. The employer and the AEA will cooperate fully in order to ensure the effective implementation of the AEA fair share fee procedure. In connection with the same, the employer will provide the AEA with the name, home address, and building assignment, if any, for any employee who is hired by the Board and who would fall within the AEA bargaining unit. Such notice shall be provided within seven days of hire.
7.08 Pay Plans
Effective with the FY07 school year, the Board shall pay salaried members salaries over twenty-four equal bi-monthly payments with payment dates on the 15th and the last day of each month. Salaried members will not have the option of the regular 19-pay plan.
Members assigned to time schedules 380, 381, 390, 391, 401, and 411 are scheduled to receive the first payment on the fifteenth of September and the twenty-fourth payment on the last day of the following August.
Members assigned to time schedules 402, 412, 414, 422, 423, 442, and 450 are scheduled to receive the first payment on the last day of August and the twenty-fourth payment on the 15th of the following August.
Members assigned to time schedule 462 are scheduled to receive the first payment on the fifteenth of August and the last day of the following July.
If the 15th of the month or the last day of the month falls on a Saturday or a Sunday, payment will be issued on the previous Friday. If any scheduled payment date is a banking holiday, payment will be made the banking day just prior to the bank holiday.
The amount of each bi-monthly payment will be calculated by multiplying the number of days in a member’s time schedule times the daily rate of pay then divided by twenty four. The daily rate is determined by dividing the annual salary by the number of days in a member’s time schedule. The daily rate is the rate that will be used to dock member’s wages for any days that are unpaid (i.e., unpaid personal illness, etc.)
The bi-monthly payment may be adjusted from time to time due to modification in member contracts as follows but are not limited to the following:
· Members who begin work after the starting date assigned to their time schedule
· Members who stop work before the ending date assigned to their time schedule due to retirements, resignations, leaves of absence, etc.
· Members who are re-classified mid-year
· Unpaid days (i.e., unpaid personal illness, etc.)
· Members who receive retroactive degree change adjustments and step adjustments
· Members who receive degree change adjustments effective with the 2nd semester.
Payments on or about the 15th of the month will reflect absences for the period beginning the 16th of the previous month and ending the last day of the previous month. Payments on or about the last day of the month will reflect absences for the period beginning the 1st of the current month and ending the 15th of the current month.
Member’s IRC section 403 (b) and section 457 contributions will be deducted twenty four times effective with the FY07 school year. Contribution amounts in place at the beginning of the FY07 school year will be recalculated based on 24 deductions. Member’s health care contributions will be deducted twenty four times effective with the FY07 school year.
This section does not apply to tutors, hourly teachers, substitute teachers, or any other member who is not compensated on a salary basis.
Without impairing any other portion of this agreement and consistent with this provision, members separating themselves from employment with the Board will be paid any balance owed for unpaid salary within fifteen (15) days from the date of separation.
7.09 Use of School Mails and Bulletin Boards
The AEA shall be authorized to use the school mails and members’ mailboxes for AEA business. The AEA office shall be part of the “pony” (regular school mail route).
The principal in each building shall designate a bulletin board in that building for the exclusive use of AEA and the employer. The bulletin board shall be located in an area readily accessible to and normally frequented by the members.
7.10 Use of School Facilities and Equipment
The AEA shall have the right to use school facilities and equipment when such facilities and/or equipment are not otherwise in use. The use of such facilities and/or equipment shall be for AEA business. Supplies necessary for the use of equipment shall be furnished or paid for by the AEA.
7.11 AEA Business
The AEA may conduct Association business on school property during school hours. The conduct of such business shall not interfere with the program of instruction.
The President and/or his representative shall be permitted to visit schools to investigate working conditions, teaching complaints or problems, or for other purposes related to AEA business. The President and/or his designate shall follow normal visitation procedures.
When a custodian is on duty, the building may be utilized without cost to AEA. At all other times, the AEA may use the building according to the regulations established by the Office of Business Affairs.
A member may, if he deems necessary, request the presence of an AEA representative at any conference (other than those sessions scheduled for the purpose of discussing a member’s year-end evaluation or classroom observation). When such a request is made, the conference shall not proceed until the representative is in attendance.
7.12 Extra Duties for Building Representatives
Building Representatives of the AEA shall carry a full instructional load. In the Secondary, they shall not be assigned a homeroom or duty; in the Elementary, they shall not be assigned to duty before or after school or at the lunch period.
AEA Building Representatives shall be limited to one (1) representative for each forty (40) members and one (1) for each additional major fraction thereof.
7.13 Release Time for the AEA Building Representative
The AEA Building Representatives meetings shall be scheduled at a time other than the regular monthly professional staff building meetings. They shall also be scheduled so that they do not conflict with the closing of school. These meetings are customarily held on Thursdays. Building Representatives, elected officer and committee chairmen shall be excused from other building meetings to attend the monthly Building Representatives meeting.
7.14 Financing of the Public Schools
The Superintendent or an appointed committee shall meet yearly with representatives of the AEA to discuss the financial position of the schools. Such discussion shall occur each May and/or prior to a determination to seek additional financial support of the electorate.
7.15 Joint Professional Problems Committee
The Joint Professional Problems Committee shall be composed of four people selected by the Superintendent (one of which shall be the Executive Director – Human Resources) and four people selected by the President.
The committee shall meet regularly, at least once a month, throughout the calendar year except that meetings may be canceled by mutual agreement of the Executive Director – Human Resources and the President.
The committee shall attempt to resolve any problems, general or specific, which have system wide implications, and which are brought before the committee by either the Executive Director – Human Resources and the President.
Accords reached through committee discussion which require distribution outside the committee membership may be summarized in written statements of agreement and signed by both the Executive Director – Human Resources and the President.
7.16 AEA President and/or Vice President
The AEA President and Vice President are teachers and employees of the Board. The Board shall pay the President and Vice President their base teaching salary plus an annual amount equal to 20% and 10% respectively of their base salaries. For purposes of summer employment, the President and Vice President shall be assigned extended time contracts and the Board shall pay said extended time at the negotiated summer school hourly rate. The AEA shall reimburse the Board for the total cost of the President and Vice President, including the cost of fringe benefits and retirement, except that the Board shall pay its share of retirement costs for the President and Vice President.
The President and Vice President shall retain full member rights under the Collective Bargaining Agreement.
7.17 Rights of Members Under This Agreement
All existing Board policies, instructions, or handbooks shall in no way limit the rights granted members in this contract. Any portion of an existing document inconsistent with the provisions of the contract shall be modified or deleted to correct the inconsistency.
7.18 Student Activity Passes
All members shall be entitled to attend without charge, all student activities including athletic events. Tickets shall be issued stamped “faculty” and must be picked up by the member at the building office at least one (1) day prior to the event.
Events under the sponsorship of the Ohio High School Athletic Association and City Championship games shall be excluded.
7.19 Electronic Payroll Deposit
Electronic deposit of pay shall be the standard form of payment in the Akron Public Schools for employees hired on or after July 1, 2005. Members may select any local banking institution for electronic deposit.