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Position: Relief Tenant Hotline Counsellor
Organization: Federation of Metro Tenants Associations
Location: Toronto, Ontario

The Federation of Metro Tenants' Associations (FMTA) is a non-profit organization which advocates for better rights for tenants. Founded in 1974, we are the oldest and largest Tenant Federation in Canada. The FMTA is comprised of affiliated Tenant Associations and of individual members. We have over 3,000 members and continue to grow. torontotenants.org

Relief Tenant Hotline Counsellor

• HOURS OF WORK: 7 – 14 hrs (1.0 - 2.0 shifts) per week. Shifts are scheduled between Mon - Sat, for 7 hour shifts between 8:30am and 6:00pm. Hotline Shifts are normally 7 hours, but in some circumstances, may be minimum length of 3.5 hours by mutual agreement of Employer and Employee. Relief workers work on a fill-in basis for employees on vacation and are allocated based on seniority. Note: There may not always be a shift available for the week
• START DATE: October 2024 (exact date has yet to be confirmed)
• STATUS OF EMPLOYMENT: Relief
• BASE SALARY: $177.04 per 7hr/day (Base is $33,991.50 per 28hr/wk)
• REPORTS TO: FMTA Director of Communications

RESPONSIBILITIES:

Hotline Operations

• Answer incoming calls
• Provide information to tenant or caseworker callers on the Residential Tenancies Act in a courteous and respectful manner.
• Provide referrals information as appropriate in a courteous and respectful manner.
• Provide landlords with referrals to landlord advocacy or City services
• Consult or do research on more complicated questions and call back the caller
• Arrange Language Line over the phone interpretation services for callers who do not understand or speak English or any other language the counselor speaks.
• Provide information in the spirit of complete empathy for the tenant's perspective.
• Mail, fax or email information to callers if such information is requested, or would be useful to the caller.
• Enter detailed information about each incoming call into Hotline database for reporting and internal purposes in a timely fashion.
• If there are a large number of complaints against the Hotline (i.e. if there is 5% or more of incoming caller complaints) the Hotline shall tape incoming calls for monitoring purposes on a bi-monthly basis to be reviewed by Coordinator for purposes of fulfilling contract requirements for the City of Toronto and maintaining the high service standards that we have built together. Counselors will be asked to tape calls for 2 four-hour periods once every two months.

Service Improvement and Inter-office Relations

• Attend at Tenant Services Committee when requested by the Coordinator
• Attend Hotline staff meetings with Coordinator to discuss any service issues, trends in calls, Hotline statistical reports.
• Attend educational workshops as required

Community and Member Relations

• Contribute short articles to the Tenants newsletter as directed by Coordinator.

Office Tasks

• Provide assistance to Coordinator for large office mailings and Hotline-related informational mailings.

Note: candidates will need the ability to work hybrid and remotely

FMTA welcomes the contributions that individuals from oppressed communities bring to our organization, and invites Indigenous people, people of colour, women, gays, lesbians, bisexuals, two-spirited people, transgender people, transsexuals, single parents, members of ethnic minorities, immigrants and people with disabilities to apply. Any personal disclosure will be held in confidence.

The FMTA office is wheelchair accessible and is a fragrance free environment. We regret that the FMTA does not currently have an equity hiring policy.

This is a unionized position with CUPE 1281.

Interested candidates should submit a covering letter with their resumé to the Hiring Committee by email to: fmta@torontotenants.org by September 23, 2024 at 6pm.

Covering letters and resumés can also be mailed to PO Box 73102 Wood St PO, Toronto, ON, M4Y2W5

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