Important Note: Certificate programs cancelled
The Mohawk College Labour Studies Certificate Program has been cancelled by Mohawk College. OPSEU members who are able to finish the program requirements for the Labour Studies Program have until December 31, 2015 to do so. No course work will be accepted after that time for a Labour Studies Certificate from Mohawk College. Please see information below on procedures for completing the certificate by December 2015 using OPSEU courses.
The Mohawk College Labour Studies in Occupational Health and Safety Program has been cancelled. No further accreditation will be accepted by the program.
Overview
The Mohawk College Labour Studies Certificate consisted of eight courses and a field placement, totalling 240 hours.
Click here for a description of this program.
OPSEU members who are able to complete the program requirements by December 31, 2015 can register for the Labour Studies Certificate program at Mohawk College and use many of their completed OPSEU courses towards their certificate instead of taking Mohawk College courses on campus.
How to get Mohawk College Labour Studies Certificate credits using OPSEU courses
1. Take 1.5 day OPSEU regional educational courses.
For seven of the eight Mohawk College courses in the Labour Studies Certificate, certain 1.5 day OPSEU courses can be used in combination as equivalents. Please note that because Mohawk College courses are longer in hours than OPSEU courses, more than one OPSEU course will almost always be required to achieve the equivalent Mohawk College course.
Click on "OPSEU Equivalent courses for Mohawk Labour Studies Certificate" from the menu to the right, or scroll down to the last section on this page for a list of Mohawk College courses and the OPSEU courses that can be used as equivalents.
2. SAVE your OPSEU course certificates.
It is very important to save your OPSEU course certificates. This is the proof that Mohawk College will need to confirm that you have completed your OPSEU course. You will not receive credit without these certificates.
3. Apply NOW for Mohawk course exemptions using your OPSEU courses.
What is a course exemption? When you take OPSEU courses and request that they count as equivalents to the Mohawk College courses in the Labour Studies Certificate Program, then what you are actually doing is asking for Mohawk College to exempt you from taking their course on campus because you have taken the OPSEU course instead.
Consult the list of OPSEU's equivalent courses to Mohawk College's seven courses listed below (scroll down to the "OPSEU equivalent courses for Mohawk Labour Studies Certificate" heading). If you have enough OPSEU courses to get exemptions for all seven credits, or if you expect to have enough OPSEU courses by December 31, 2015 to do so, then sign up now with Mohawk College as a student and apply for exemptions for the OPSEU courses you have completed. If you will not have enough OPSEU courses by December 31, 2015, then you will not be eligible to complete your Labour Studies Certificate from Mohawk College this way.
When you apply for course exemptions through Mohawk College, it is very important that you email Katya Garon, Support Service Officer at Mohawk College, to inform her that you are applying for exemptions. Her email address is [email protected].
Click here for information on how to get an online Mohawk College MoCoMotion student account.
Once you have your MoCoMotion account, click here for instructions on how to apply online for exemptions from Mohawk courses using your OPSEU courses.
3. Register for the eighth course and your Field Placement with Mohawk College
Along with the seven Labour Studies courses listed below, you must take the following online course and Field Placement through Mohawk College to complete your certificate:
- Workers in the Community – LABR-10096 (45 hours)
- Labour Studies Field Placement – WORK-UN199 (60 hours)
Both of these courses will only be made available one last time, starting in September 2015. They will run at the same time in order to meet the December 2015 deadline for completion. You must sign up for these Fall 2015 course offerings in order to complete your certificate on time. Registration begins on August 11, 2015 on the Mohawk College Continuing Education website.
Please note: You may take OPSEU courses at regional educational weekends to complete your course requirements at the same time that you take the Field Placement and Workers in the Community course in Fall 2015 in order to complete your coursework by the December 31, 2015 deadline.
5. Apply for your Labour Studies Certificate.
Once you have completed your field placement and required courses, and received approval from Mohawk College for all exemptions necessary to complete your certificate, fill out the Request for Certificate form and submit it to the Mohawk College Continuing Education Department for processing.
Click here for more detailed information on how to apply for your Labour Studies Certificate from Mohawk College.
Mohawk College will process your certificate within 8-10 weeks.
Important Notes:
- Not all OPSEU courses are approved for credit for the Labour Studies Certificate.
- No short courses (less than 10 classroom hours, or 1.5 days) are eligible for credit.
- Only OPSEU courses approved by Mohawk College will be eligible for credit.
OPSEU Equivalent courses for Mohawk Labour Studies Certificate
For seven of the eight Mohawk College courses in the Labour Studies Certificate, certain 1.5 day OPSEU courses can be used in combination as equivalents. The equivalent OPSEU courses for each Mohawk course are listed below.
Please note that because Mohawk College courses are longer in hours than OPSEU courses, more than one OPSEU course will almost always be required to achieve the equivalent Mohawk College course.
Mohawk Course: Stewards Training 1 – LABR-10089 (15 hours)
OPSEU Equivalent Courses:
(Must have a total of 15 hours from any courses below that have not been used to fulfill the equivalency requirements for another Mohawk course)
- 10 hours – Stewards 1: Making a Difference in the Workplace
- 10 hours – Basic Grievance Handling for Union Building
- 10 hours – Union Skills for Workplace Investigations
Mohawk Course: Stewards Training 2 – LABR-10090 (15 hours)
OPSEU Equivalent Courses:
(Must have a total of 15 hours from any courses below that have not been used to fulfill the equivalency requirements for another Mohawk course)
- 10 hours – Stewards 2: Facing the Employer, Building Member Involvement
- 10 hours – LEC Leadership and Team Development: A Course for Local Executive Committees to Take Together
- 10 hours – Advanced Grievance Handling for Union Building
Mohawk Course: Collective Bargaining Level 1 – LABR 10091 (15 hours) AND
Mohawk Course: Collective Bargaining Level 2 – LABR 10092 (15 hours)
OPSEU Equivalent Courses:
(Must have a total of 30 hours from any courses below that have not been used to fulfill the equivalency requirements for another Mohawk course)
- 10 hours – Union Strategies for Attendance Management Programs
- 10 hours – Advancing Union Issues through Labour Management Committees
- 10 hours – BPS Benefits and Appeals: Helping Members Navigate through the Fine Print
- 10 hours – A Union Approach to the Employment Standards Act
- 10 hours – Interpreting Your Collective Agreement: An Activist's Role
- 10 hours – Organize! The Nitty-Gritty of an Organizing Campaign
- 10 hours – Politics of Pensions: Pension Basics and Beyond
Mohawk "Social Media and Communication for Union" courses – LABR 10093
Choice of one of two Mohawk courses: "Media Training and Presentation Skills (15 hours) OR "Union Communications" (15 hours)
OPSEU Equivalent Courses:
(Must have a total of 15 hours from any courses below that have not been used to fulfill the equivalency requirements for another Mohawk course)
- 10 hours – Local NEWsletters
- 15 hours – Editors' Weekend
Mohawk Course: Labour History and Lobbying for Change – LABR 10094 (15 hours)
OPSEU Equivalent Courses:
(Must have a total of 15 hours from any courses below that have not been used to fulfill the equivalency requirements for another Mohawk course)
- 10 hours – Labour History: Strategies for Today through the Lens of the Past
- 10 hours – Building Your Community through Political Action
- 10 hours – Organize! The Nitty-Gritty of an Organizing Campaign
- 10 hours – Follow the Money: A First Course in Public Economics
Mohawk Course: Human Rights, Diversity and Equity, including Duty to Accommodation and Ontario Disability Act – LABR-10095 (45 hours)
OPSEU Equivalent Courses:
(Must have a total of 45 hours from any courses below that have not been used to fulfill the equivalency requirements for another Mohawk course)
- 10 hours – Duty to Accommodate: A Tool for Inclusive Workplaces
- 10 hours – Duty to Accommodate 2: Making Accommodation Work
- 10 hours – Human Rights, Union Rights and Global Solidarity
- 10 hours – Cross-Cultural Communication at Work: A Union Perspective
- 10 hours – Mental Health: Challenging the Stigma in the Workplace
- 10 hours – Women in Unions: Getting Involved
- 10 hours – Challenging Discrimination in Everyday Union Work
- 10 hours – Speak Up and Organize: Challenging Bullying and Non-Code-Based Harassment in the Workplace