Region 1 – Virtual Weekend Educational

Saturday, September 25, 2021
To Sunday, September 26, 2021

9:00 AM to 1:00 PM

Virtual

Education

Region 1 will be hosting a Virtual Weekend Educational on September 25 – September 26, 2021.

The weekend Educational will run: Saturday September 25, 2021: 9:00 am to 4:30 pm
and Sunday September 26, 2021: 9:00 am to 1:00 pm

Note: Stewards 1 (Stewards Orientation) is a one-day course: Saturday September 25, 2021: 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 pm

The following courses are being offered via Zoom:

Advanced Grievance Handling for Union Building

Participants should have their Collective Agreement – Contact your Regional Office if you require a copy.

Does your local have a grievance committee? Can your experience in handling a grievance help to build the local? Can you use your knowledge of common grievance issues to raise awareness at demand-setting meetings? Have you ever thought of what it is like to be on the Employer’s side of the table? These are some of the topics that will be explored in the NEW Advanced Grievance Handling for Union Building course.

You will also get the opportunity to practice being on the Union’s Team and the Employer’s Team as you work through some scenarios. Building on the Basic Grievance Handling for Union Building course, this course focuses on expanding both the Steward’s and Local’s ability to process grievances from start to finish.

Through an active interviewing process, participants will explore how to identify grievances, practice negotiating settlements and draft realistic, enforceable grievance settlements.

Dismantling Anti-Black Racism (DABR)

The Dismantling Anti-Black Racism course will raise awareness, provide a better understanding, and include strategies to dismantle anti-Black racism (ABR). It explores the topics of what anti-Black racism is and provides Black history highlights for a deeper understanding of the history of slavery and its impacts today. The course addresses the need to confront white supremacy. Participants will understand how colonization and the socially constructed concept of race have affected Black people. Additionally, the course highlights past, present, and future efforts to address anti-Black racism in the workplace and in OPSEU/SEFPO.

In this introductory course, participants will develop skills and strategies in order to identify and intervene in situations of anti-Black racism. They will use case studies, videos, and real-life scenarios to navigate difficult conversations. Participants will also have access to current terminology and be provided with tools to have (ABR) discussions that are important to engage in, especially with family members, fellow union members, neighbours, and co-workers. This course will equip participants with the knowledge and ability to take action against anti-Black racism in our Union.

This course is a core OPSEU/SEFPO educational component that is valuable for all Union activists to attend.

Mental Health: Challenging the Stigma in the Workplace

As workers and labour activists, we are faced with economic, social, and political changes in our workplaces that impact our mental wellbeing on a daily basis. We all respond differently to situations that impact our lives and subsequently, our mental health.

This introductory course explores mental health, mental health concerns, and stigma in the workplace. Some of the topics covered in this course include: demystifying mental health; individual, union, and employer responsibilities; member-to-member issues; and some strategies to challenge stigma and build inclusion.

Stewards 1 (Stewards Orientation)

This one-day course provides new stewards with the tools to create a profile of the diverse members the steward represents, and an understanding of the questions to pursue after the course.

Participants will receive a basic orientation to the role of stewards and other LEC members and will develop an understanding of the structure of OPSEU/SEFPO. Information about key union resources will be provided, as well as options for resolving workplace issues, including the steps of the grievance process and common labour terms and vocabulary.

Stewards 2: Facing the Employer, Building Member Involvement

Prerequisite: Stewards 1
Participants should have their Collective Agreement – Contact your Regional Office if you require a copy.
This revised follow-up to Stewards 1 focuses on investigating and writing a grievance, facing management, and involving members in worksite action. Participants will use their own collective agreements to identify grievances. They will become immersed in an evolving case study in order to interview a grievor, write up a grievance, face the employer at Step 1 and make a presentation on safety issues to the union side of the Joint Health and Safety Committee. They will examine the elements of effective mobilization and develop a campaign strategy for a local.

Workplace Surveillance: Know Your Rights

Develop an understanding of workers’ rights regarding workplace surveillance so that you can be informed, strategic and proactive in a technologically changing workplace. Through shared experiences, hands-on mapping of your workplace surveillance systems, insights into the future of work, and an exploration of case studies, you will return to your local with tools, tips, best practices, sample contract language, and more.