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Imagine working from home. Sounds nice, right? But for those of us who work at an office, there are certain things we just take for granted: the employer pays for a desk for us to work on, for a chair for us to sit on, for the electricity to run our computers, and for basic office supplies.<\/p>\n
But for some of our members who have no choice but to work from home, getting the basic necessities covered by the employer can be challenging.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe get an allocation of $30 per month \u2013 and that\u2019s only when we have sufficient hours to qualify,\u201d said G\u00e9raldine Fortin, a member of the bargaining team for field employees at Statistical Survey Operations.<\/p>\n
\u201cThirty dollars a month, that only covers your basic phone service,\u201d said Fortin.<\/p>\n
For field interviewers, a land line is a job requirement.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe desk I work on, I bought it. The chair I use, I bought it,\u201d said Fortin. \u201cAnd whether or not it\u2019s ergonomic, the employer doesn\u2019t care.\u201d<\/p>\n
She also forked over some of her own dough to furnish her office with a bulletin board, shelves and a locking filing cabinet.<\/p>\n
Fortin uses her daughter\u2019s old room as an office. She said her closets don\u2019t belong to her anymore \u2013 they\u2019ve been transformed into storage for the employer\u2019s paraphernalia.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m always sending stuff back to the employer,\u201d said Fortin. \u201cBut that closet is always full.\u201d<\/p>\n
Indeed, Fortin said she often gets huge packages from her employer \u2013 sometimes up to five boxes the size of laundry hampers!<\/p>\n
It\u2019s important to remember that field interviewers\u2019 hours are precarious, which makes it even harder to budget for the things the employer should be paying for in the first place. According to Fortin, some interviewers simply can\u2019t afford the basic office essentials\u2026 so they work from their bed or at the dining room table.<\/p>\n
Needless to say, there are a lot of things that need fixing in this particular round of negotiations.<\/p>\n
Turning frustration into art<\/strong><\/p>\n For Suzanne B\u00e9langer, chief steward of Local 10040, all that clutter invading her home turned into a chance to express herself.<\/p>\n \u201cStatistics Canada sends us a lot of paperwork and a lot of envelopes,\u201d said B\u00e9langer. \u201cYes, we can put that in the recycling \u2013 but I thought, there ought to be something I can do with this.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAll that paper: I find it insane. \u00a0So at one point I had the idea of making a basket.\u201d<\/p>\n She got to work, crafting intricate baskets out of used envelopes. The final product is a brilliant work of conceptual art; but B\u00e9langer says that she really only planned to use the basket to store supplies in her home office \u2013 creating order, using something that previously cluttered her home.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m very crafty, you know,\u201d said B\u00e9langer, who added the baskets were just something she was doing to occupy her evenings.<\/p>\n And so far, the baskets have been a huge smash with her fellow union activists.<\/p>\n \u201cIf it can help inspire a different vision of things we can do to call attention to our working conditions\u2026 that would be a great thing!\u201d<\/p>\n Imagine working from home. Sounds nice, right? But for those of us who work at an office, there are certain things we just take for granted: the employer pays for a desk for us to work on, for a chair for us to sit on, for the electricity to run our computers, and for basic … <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.une-sen.org\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/basket_1.png\" "\\"basket_1\\"")
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