a) A teacher, being a member of the Manitoba Teachers’ Society Executive Committee, or of the Executive Committee of any branch thereof, or of any special Committee of the Society, or being appointed an official representative or delegate of the Society, or branch thereof, and being authorized by the Executive Committee of the Society to attend a meeting of the Committee of which that employee is a member, or to act as a representative or delegate of the Society or of any branch of the Society in a matter of Society business requiring absence from school, shall have the right to attend such meeting or to act as such representative or delegate and shall be excused from school duties for either purpose, provided that the cost of the substitute is assumed by the Society and shall not be charged upon the Board concerned. No additional leave of absence beyond five (5) days in a school year shall be taken for the purpose mentioned above or the purpose set out in Article 6.4, without the consent and approval of the Board except for the position(s) set out in Article 6.4. Except as otherwise provided in this subparagraph or subparagraph b), the maximum days allowed the Association in combined total under this article and Article 6.4 shall not exceed one hundred twenty (120) days in a school year. No additional leave of absence beyond one hundred twenty (120) days in a school year shall be taken for the purpose mentioned above except with the consent and approval of the Board.
b) Notwithstanding paragraph (a), where a teacher has been elected to the Provincial Executive of the Manitoba Teachers’ Society, that teacher shall, in a school year, for the sole purpose of fulfilling duties as members of the Provincial Executive, have the right to a leave of absence for a maximum of forty (40) days which days shall not be counted as part of the one hundred twenty (120) day allowable collective maximum provided in sub-paragraph (a). For each day’s leave of absence taken pursuant to this sub-paragraph, the Society shall reimburse the Division the cost of the substitute.