A member of the Association shall be excused from school duties to attend meetings of the Association or of The Manitoba Teachers' Society, to act as an official representative of the Association or of the Society or to attend to business on behalf of the Association or the Society for a maximum of five (5) teaching days in any school year provided that the cost of providing a substitute for the teacher is assumed by the Association or the Society. No additional leave of absence shall be taken for the above mentioned purposes except with the consent of the Division. Leave of absence from school duties for the purpose of collective bargaining, includ¬ing arbitration, with the Division, shall not be counted. When, for the purpose of negotiating a Collective Agreement with the Division or renewal thereof, meetings with the representatives of the Association are convened during regular working hours of the Association's members, the Division shall grant leave, with full salary, for not more than six (6) members of the Association attending such meetings. Negotiations for the purposes of this Article shall not include concili-ation or arbitration proceedings.
In addition to the number of days provided for in 39.01, the Association shall have access to fif-teen (15) days of leave for Association duties. The determination of access to such leave shall be at the discretion of the President of the Association who shall so advise the Division.
The total number of professional leave days provided for under Articles 39.01 and 39.02 shall not exceed fifty (50) days in any school year.
A teacher employed by the Division who is elected President of the Association, Vice-President, President or President Designate of The Manitoba Teachers' Society or President of the Éducatrices et éducateurs francophones du Manitoba shall be granted a leave of absence to fulfil the duties of that position. At the termination of the leave of absence the teacher shall be entitled to return to the same position the teacher held prior to the commencement of the leave provided the teacher has on or before June 1st in the year of the leave advised the Superintendent in writing of the teacher's intention to return to the position at the commencement of the next teaching year. If the teacher fails to inform the Division in writing of the teacher's intention to return, the Division shall not be required to assign the teacher to the teacher's former position with the Division and the Division is relieved of any obligation to the teacher in this respect.
If the position held by the teacher prior to taking the leave of absence will no longer exists when the teacher resumes active employment with the Division, the Division shall offer the teacher another position which shall be as similar to the previous position held by the teacher as can be reasonably established.
A teacher elected to the Provincial Executive of The Manitoba Teachers' Society shall be granted a secondment to the Society up to one-fifth (1/5) time to attend to the duties of that position. Upon returning to regular full- time duties the teacher shall be entitled to return to the position held prior to being elected.
A teacher elected to the Committee for Employee Benefit Plans of The Manitoba Teachers' Society shall be granted up to twenty (20) days release time to fulfil the duties of that position. The Society shall be responsible for the cost of the substitute teacher employed to replace the teacher during the release time days.