Checklists

These are some lists of issues to help drive discussions with employers.

General

  1. Right to know if they are working in a workplace that was exposed to COVID-19
  2. Measures are being taken to protect them from exposure
  3. Protective equipment provision necessary to perform their duties safely.
  4. Full wage protection with no impact on leave banks (including sick and vacation)
  5. Std plans for regular, temporary, casual and auxiliary workers, ordered to self-isolate.
  6. Wage protection should be tied to regular hours of work or, in the case, of casual employees, their typical weekly wages, based on past shift patterns.
  7. Ability to temporarily engage in remote work during an order to self-isolate or participate in a quarantine.
  8. Elimination or relaxation of requirements for medical documentation to access wage protection in the case of self-isolation and quarantine,
  9. Full wage protection for all workers negatively affected by a facility or program closure or curtailment, for the duration of the closure or curtailment.
  10. Have access and participate to any employer convened pandemic committee working on responses to the workplace.
  11. A process to ensure record of employment is speedily provided for EI claim in cases of layoff.
  12. No subjecting members to attendance managenent programs because of missing work due to COVID-19. Some employers have automatic thresholds and if absent a number of days even if it's due to sick days then they get on your case.

Custodians and cleaners

  • Clear work guidelines need to be develop, negotiated, and communicated to workers.
  • Ask to see the employer's plan written out.
  • Training should be outlined for new cleaning instructions.
  • Reduce to minimum crew for mandatory operations
  • See if some remote work possible.
  • Emergency delivery.
  • Encourage all vulnerable staff to self isolate.
  • List of staff who are necessary.
  • Clear cleanliness standards in residences, cafeterias, buildings, libraries, all work sites and work stations.
  • Identify how people can report and refuse unsafe work
  • Shorter shifts.

Academic sector

  • Review collective agreement: Job Posting/Appointments, Cancellation Penalty, Employee Information
  • When is the deadline to notify the successful applicants to their appointments for the Spring/Summer semester for Course Instructors? For Teaching Assistants? Marker-Graders? Etc.
  • Do you have a cancellation policy? If so, what is the fee for cancelling a course? What are the timelines to cancel without a penalty?

Recommendations for asks

  • Request information report with list of successful candidates for the Spring/Summer term. Continue to follow up with the employer as we approach deadlines to notify successful applicants. The goal here is to push the employer to notify members if they are the successful candidate to the postings they have applied to so we can ensure as much wage protection for our members as possible should courses be cancelled.
  • Ask for a list of courses being offered in the Spring/Summer term if you can.
  • Request an updated seniority list.
  • Make sure locals are filing a grievance if employer does not notify successful applicants to their appointments within the timelines as per the collective agreement for the Spring/Summer term;
  • Make sure locals are filing a grievance for any member that would be entitled to a cancellation fee for a course cancellation;

Self-isolation

This is a check list for people in work that is necessary for operations to continue.

Even though we may disagree with the direction, workers should be following directives from their employer to file sick leave, vacation, sick bank, overtime bank, personal days, and the like to stay home if they are needing to.

Direction to employees in this position:

  1. collect all correspondence with employer.
  2. mark every day why you are home and why the employer thinks you are at home (sick leave, vacation, personal days, etc.)
  3. Mark why you decided to stay home (childcare, self-isolation, sick, etc.). This will not be shared with employer, but the union will be collecting the information to file grievances and other complaints later.

The goal is to get those days back from the employer.

In the mean time, we need to be on our employers to sign these LOUs and alter these policy positions.

They should know that we are going to come at them if they do not.