Last August, the Union of National Employees’ human rights committee launched a poster challenge. Our members and their family members were asked to create posters that would reflect the theme of “Multiculturalism in the Union of National Employees.”
The deadline for this contest has been extended to December 20.
For more information, please download the contest rules and entry form.
A demonstration was held in downtown Ottawa yesterday, to support the technical services bargaining team. Bargaining with Treasury Board broke down earlier this year, so the team is appearing before the Public Interest Commission this week. The union hopes the commission’s recommendations will result in a fair tentative agreement to present to the membership.
“We’re here today to tell them what you do and why you need to be treated with dignity and respect,” said PSAC President Robyn Benson during the demonstration.
Members of the technical services table include accident inspectors, chemical decontamination technologists, grain-handling regulators, ship and train safety inspectors, and more. At the Union of National Employees, our technical services members include labour affairs officers at Human Resources and Skills Development Canada and inspectors at Measurement Canada.
These members’ collective agreement expired in June 2011.
“Our members provide services that are valuable to Canadians – and the employer needs to recognize that,” said Amy Campbell, President of Local 00258 and a UNE member on the bargaining team.
Campbell hopes that Treasury Board gets the message. “It’s clear that we have the support of the membership,” she added.
For more information and bargaining updates, please consult the technical services bargaining section of the PSAC website.
For pictures of yesterday’s rally, come visit us on Flickr!
Howard Willems was always an active person. That is until two years ago, when he was diagnosed with mesothelioma, a form of cancer usually caused by exposure to asbestos. Sadly, Brother Willems passed away last week, with his family by his side.
“He was a building inspector for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency,” said Audrey Berlovan, Willems’ sister and a member of the Union of National Employees. Willems inspected a number of older food plants in Saskatchewan while they were under renovation.
“They were full of asbestos,” said Berlovan.
Since being diagnosed, Willems had been urging the provincial government to create a registry of public buildings that contain asbestos. Recently, Saskatchewan’s NDP introduced a bill that would do just that – and yesterday, the asbestos right-to-know bill passed the provincial legislature.
Even last week, while in hospital, Willems was meeting with union members and his city councillor to make the registry a reality. “Even the nurse said ‘you’re lying here, hardly able to breathe, and you’re still concerned about other people’s health and safety,’” said Berlovan.
The Saskatchewan government says it’s safe to assume that any building built before 1980 contains asbestos. “It’s a lot more prevalent than people realize,” said Berlovan.
More work to do
Berlovan wants union activists to make people aware – to bring the issue to their communities and cities. “Talk to your city council. The Saskatchewan Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization website has templates for anyone who wants to start a campaign in their city or province. [Their volunteers are] more than willing to help.”
Many UNE and PSAC members work in buildings that contain asbestos.
The World Health Organization estimates that more than 107,000 people die each year from asbestos-related diseases.
Do you want to become a stronger union leader? If so, the Canada Labour College might be for you!
Each year, the Canada Labour College offers an intensive program aimed at labour activists who wish to improve their leadership skills and deepen their knowledge of labour issues.
“If a third session was offered to me, I would jump high and yell ‘Yes, I want to go!’” said Jennifer Chieh Ho, regional vice-president of the B.C.-Yukon region. “Labour College helped me discover much about myself. I also made long-lasting friendships with sisters and brothers, across Canada, who inspired and motivated me.”
“The leadership course changed my life and everyone else’s in the class.”
For more information on the Canada Labour College, please visit the Canadian Labour Congress’ website or call them at 613-521-3400 ext. 555.
Hurry: the application deadline is November 5!
If you’re on Twitter, let’s connect!
We recently took advantage of the Health and Safety Conference as an opportunity to branch out on social media.
We really enjoyed having many of our members live-tweeting during the conference and we hope this will become a growing trend during future UNE events.
You can now tweet us at @My_UNE in English – or @Mon_SEN in French.
PS: don’t forget to ‘Like’ us on Facebook too!
The Occupational Health and Safety Conference is off to a great start – and definitely keeping us very engaged (and busy!). If you couldn’t attend, you don’t have to miss out on the highlights. We’ve got you covered!
The Review is the UNE’s official conference newsletter. Best of all, this time, it’s been put together with the kind help of amazing members just like you!
October 19, 2012 | Issue #1
October 20, 2012 | Issue #2
Psst!! Don’t forget to fill out our online survey!
Today is the International Day of the Girl. It’s a chance to reflect on how many battles women have won in the name of equality and fairness. It can’t be understated how many more opportunities girls today have compared to generations ago.
But the fight isn’t over. Today, at the Union of National Employees, we’d like to spark a discussion about stereotypes. Don’t be shy; use the comment box below or go to our Facebook page to join the conversation.
On this Day of the Girl, we ask: do stereotypes still affect girls’ choices when it comes to career opportunities?
There’s a common stereotype about boys being better at math and science, girls being better at reading and writing. Does the theory have any basis in truth?
The last report (2010) from the Pan-Canadian Assessment Program revealed the following:
So the lines are muddled a bit. However, consider that, as of 2009, Statistics Canada reported that only 3% of women had an occupation in the natural sciences and engineering, versus 10.5% for men. [2]
Could stereotypes affect girls’ performance and attitude towards math and science? Psychologists at the University of Massachusetts were equally curious about this question.
The psychologists asked female students studying biology, chemistry, and engineering to take a very tough math test. All the students were greeted by a senior math major who wore a T-shirt displaying Einstein’s E=mc2 equation. For some volunteers, the math major was male. For others, the math major was female. This tiny tweak made a difference: Women attempted more questions on the tough math test when they were greeted by a female math major rather than a male math major. On psychological tests that measured their unconscious attitudes toward math, the female students showed a stronger self-identification with math when the math major who had greeted them was female. When they were greeted by the male math major, women had significantly higher negative attitudes toward math. [3]
It’s an interesting result, especially when you consider that in the academic sector, women make up 19% of full-time faculty in the natural sciences and engineering. [4]
Finally, there’s another battle going on when it comes to stereotypes: an internal one. Psychologists at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia, discovered that when we perceive someone as holding a particular gender stereotype, it affects how competent we sound. The theory is that your brain is so busy monitoring how you come across – because you’re so concerned about the perceived stereotype – that you end up sounding incompetent. [5]
When it comes to math and science, it’s important to recognize that girls are still battling stereotypes. It’s an important issue because stereotypes are the last thing that should bar girls from a career in a field they find fulfilling.
There’s still a lot of work to be done to bust the doors of opportunity wide open.
[2] Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
[3] Slate Magazine
[4] Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
This National Coming Out Day, come out as an ally!
National Coming Out Day is October 11. It’s a day for the men and women of the LGBT community to stand strong and be counted. It’s by being visible – not hiding in a closet – that we can make change happen.
But we can’t do it without allies! We can’t defeat homophobia and transphobia without our straight brothers and sisters standing with us.
There is strength in numbers. By standing together in solidarity, we break down the barriers placed in the way of equality; we form one strong human race.
Allies have an important voice; it’s by adding their voice to ours that we break down prejudice, injustice and closed-mindedness. It’s with their help that we succeed in protecting human dignity.
Injustices aren’t remedied by standing in the shadows, watching and doing nothing. Being a silent supporter will assist a select few people, but it won’t change things on a global scale. Allies need to be strong, visible and active to facilitate change.
For those out there who are already doing this: thank you very much.
Through education and activism, anyone is able to stand up and be heard as an ally. Do you have the courage to become an ally for change?
Chris Little-Gagné
Assistant Regional Vice-President, Manitoba region
The Canadian Labour Congress has a guide for allies [PDF] of the LGBT community. It’s a helpful tool for members who wish to educate themselves on how to become stronger advocates for equality.
“They informed us that they weren’t budging on their position,” said Réjean Amyotte, Assistant Regional Vice-President for Ontario and a member of the Statistical Survey Operations Regional Office Bargaining Team.
Last week, after the employer indicated that they would not move on some key demands, the bargaining team decided to declare an impasse and seek arbitration.
Amyotte says that the employer was not receptive to the bargaining team’s proposals regarding scheduling and wage parity with other federal public servants.
Based on the present collective agreement, the employer has complete latitude on scheduling hours of work. “There are times when people with more years of experience are working fewer hours in a month than people who were hired six months ago,” says Amyotte. The bargaining team is working to ensure that seniority is recognized when assigning work.
“For years, this bargaining team has wanted and attempted to reach parity with comparable workplaces,” says Amyotte. The union believes that interviewers should be paid at the CR3 level and senior interviewers at the CR5 level. The bargaining team also wants to ensure that Statistics Canada accurately records pensionable hours.
Despite having filed for arbitration, the bargaining team is still open to meet and negotiate should the employer decide to address our members’ concerns.
SSO Regional Office employees work for Statistics Canada in offices across the country. They collect vital information for national surveys, mostly through telephone interviews.
For more information on this round of bargaining, please consult this PSAC update. For the most up-to-date information, please consult the SSO Bargaining section of the PSAC website.
Vigils were held across the nation, last Thursday, in memory of our stolen sisters. In more than 163 locations, Canadians gathered to remember the countless aboriginal women and girls who have been murdered or who are missing.
Girls like Maisy Odjick, 16, and Shannon Alexander, 17, who disappeared in 2008 from Maniwaki, Quebec. Young women like Terrie Ann Dauphinais, 24, who was murdered in her home outside Calgary in April 2002.
Those are just a few names; the Native Women’s Association of Canada has over 500 more confirmed cases. The numbers are astonishing and speak to the severe impact on aboriginal communities.
In Ottawa, victims’ families, activists and allies gathered on Parliament Hill to renew their demand for a national inquiry into this important issue.
Jennifer Lord of the Native Women’s Association of Canada says the vigils are about more than just shaming the government and demanding change; they’re about keeping the issue in our thoughts.
“We all have a role to play,” said Lord.
The Native Women’s Association of Canada is asking its allies to widely circulate their petition calling on the government to hold a national inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women.
“I plead with our union sisters and brothers to make a renewed commitment to push for a national inquiry,” said Viola Thomas, the Union of National Employees’ National Equity Representative for Aboriginal People.
Thomas called for our union members to bring the issue back to their communities and to their Locals.
“Historically, it’s that collective energy between all Canadians that can make a difference,” she added.
“If all our Locals aren’t standing beside our indigenous sisters and fighting this issue, we will be coming back here for the next 20 years demanding a national inquiry.”
The Native Women’s Association of Canada is counting on our collective action to get Parliament to act. “The families have been asking for it and Aboriginal leaders have listened. And thankfully, MPs are listening too,” said Lord, who added that the Native Women’s Association fully supports Liberal MP Carolyn Bennett’s bill for national inquiry.
Click here to download the petition. Get your families, friends and colleagues to sign it. Be sure to return it to the Native Women’s Association of Canada as soon as possible. To see pictures of last Thursday’s vigil, click here.