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Salary and Benefits
Alberta School Employee Benefit Plan (ASEBP)
This session offers a review of the various insurance benefit plans available through the ASEBP including extended health care, life insurance, extended disability, dental care and vision care. In addition to covering the philosophy underlying a benefit plan operated jointly by school employers and employees, the presentation explains how the various benefit plans function, what options are available and how to appeal a claim that has been denied. (This session is presented by both Teacher Employment Services and ASEBP).
Climbing the Grid—How Do Teachers Earn Education and Experience Credit
This presentation reviews the language of the current collective agreement with regard to teacher education and experience. It delves into some examples of the different types of experience (for example, overseas experience) and provides teachers with the appropriate steps to take in order to provide the proof to their school division to move up the grid.
Employment Insurance (EI) for Teachers
This presentation reviews changes to EI including the implementation of basing benefits on the number of hours rather than the number of days worked per week. It also explores the EI benefits available to substitute teachers, pregnant teachers and teachers without continuing contracts and explains the kind of assistance that the Association offers to teachers experiencing difficulty accessing EI benefits.
Health and Wellness Spending Accounts (HSAs/WSAs)
This session provides an introduction to HSAs and WSAs; what are they; how they work and how to get the most out of them.
Financial Wellness
This presentation assists teachers in learning how to read their pay statements. It helps teachers determine where they are on the pay grid and how to calculate a pay cheque. It further reviews deductions such as pension, CPP, EI, income tax, benefits and dues.
Maternity Leave Entitlements
This presentation offers an examination of how maternity leave entitlements affect salary and benefits. It provides a review of the Employment Standards Code, a brief analysis of the bargaining unit’s collective agreement provisions such as sick leave and supplementary unemployment benefits (SUB) plans and an overview of Employment Insurance.
Teacher Safety Net—Your Entitlements, Your Protection
Over many years the Association has constructed a safety net for teachers and their families. This presentation provides an overview of what teachers have in regard to sick leave and other leaves through the collective agreement, extended disability, life insurance, other benefit plan provisions, as well as pension and death benefits. This is a light-hearted presentation that is intended to be presented to local teachers in order to provide very relevant and necessary information on existing entitlements.
When Being Absent is Necessary
This session reviews leave provisions in the collective agreement and how to access these provisions. It also provides information about who to contact for questions and advice and encourages attendees to contribute suggestions for improvements to leaves to their Teacher Welfare Committees (TWCs).
Pre-Retirement Workshop
Together, teachers and their pension partner will explore planning for retirement, the changing character of retirement and the process of making important decisions. Teachers will learn about financial and lifestyle planning before, during and after retirement from a teacher’s perspective. They will investigate various aspects of retiring including building a financial plan, the Alberta Teachers’ Pension Plan, wills and estates, benefits and lifestyle planning for a successful and rewarding retirement. NOTE: This is an ALL DAY online Saturday session.
Further sessions will be available in the 2024/25 school year. If you require information about your pension, contact ATRF directly.
Early service teachers: understand your pension (Online Workshop ONLY)
This evening retirement information session offers general information on the Alberta teachers’ pension plan, planning personal saving, Federal benefits and other retirement income sources for early service teachers. The focus is on the value for forward planning early in a teacher’s career. Debt reduction and savings planning is emphasized. Pension partners are also encouraged to attend.
Further sessions will be available in the 2024/25 school year. If you require pension information, contact ATRF directly.
Retirement Planning for Women (Online Workshop ONLY)
This session will focus on retirement planning specifically for female teachers. Women and men face different challenges in their lives and those challenges can have financial consequences. Women live longer, which means they will likely spend more years alone; therefore, they will need more retirement savings so they don’t outlive their money. Teachers will have the opportunity to engage in an interactive workshop which aims to improve women’s financial literacy and confidence.
Further sessions will be available in the 2024/25 school year.
Financial Wellness with Capital Planning and MNP Debt Management
This is an education-focused session on investments, financial risks, and debt management. The session is built to provide tools to take control of your financial wellness: 1) how to start saving; 2) easy steps on where to put your money and when to invest; and 3) some budgeting tips. You will also learn how to understand and take action on possible financial gaps (if things go wrong). In the event of financial trouble and rising debt, learn how to set yourself up for survival and success, even in tough economic times.
Further sessions will be available in the 2024/25 school year. If you require assistance with debt management, contact Capital Planning directly at 780-463-6128.
Collective Bargaining
School‑Based Administrators and the Collective Agreement
This session is an overview of how problems arise when in‑school administrators become involved in interpreting and applying the collective agreement. In addition to defining appropriate parameters for in‑school administrators, it also looks at ways of involving them in the bargaining process and examines sample clauses that address the concerns of administrators.
The Bargaining Process—A New Playing Field
This session will review relevant sections of the Labour Relations Code and the changes to collective bargaining as governed by the Public Education Collective Bargaining Act (PECBA). Participants will be introduced to new processes, such as list bargaining and central table bargaining, as well as reviewing how the new process impacts the traditional work of local bargaining. This session will help teachers stay informed about bargaining and express their opinions on bargaining goals and actions.
General Issues
Economic Issues for Substitute Teachers
This presentation explains the dollars and cents of substitute teaching and answers questions such as: when do substitute teachers get paid on the salary grid? How and when to apply for EI? Are there improvements to collective agreements that would be helpful?
Workplace Health and Safety
This session provides an overview of workplace safety legislation and explores some of the issues that arise for teachers. The session explores steps that teachers should follow when working in unsafe conditions or if they suffer from an illness occurring because of the workplace.
