October 20 to October 22, 2023 – Timmins, ON
Applications must be sent via e-mail by August 15, 2023 by 12:pm
Your choice of Stewards 1, Basic Grievance Handling for Union Building, Duty to Accommodate and Mental Health: Challenging the Stigma in the Workplace.
Course Descriptions & Information: Members can apply for the course they want to attend. Rank your top 3 choices and we will do our best to accommodate you into your first choice.
Stewards 1: Making a Difference in the Workplace:
This updated version (March 2015) of Stewards 1 includes a more detailed description and history of OPSEU/SEFPO’s equity-seeking groups. The course continues to support stewards through a range of tools and practical activities. The key aims are to strengthen steward skills to orient a new employee to the union, have effective one-on-one conversations with a cross-section of members, develop a communications strategy to enlist diverse member involvement, and develop approaches to everyday workplace problems.
Throughout the course, participants are supported as they develop a profile of their members, clarify the tasks of the steward, find the resources and information in OPSEU/SEFPO, and understand the grievance process and their role in it. Stewards 1 is a prerequisite to Stewards 2 and must be completed before taking Stewards 2. Participants should bring their Collective Agreements.
Basic Grievance Handling for Union Building:
This course is designed to examine the grievance process from a workplace organizing perspective. Grievances are opportunities to build the union. This hands-on course helps members analyze situations to decide whether a grievance is the best approach.
They will learn about different types of grievances and the remedies available through the grievance/arbitration process. They will develop technical skills in writing, processing grievances and practice communication to assess whether a member’s rights have been violated. Participants should bring their Collective Agreements to the course.
Duty to Accommodate: A Tool for Inclusive Workplaces:
Provincial legislation and existing case law require employers and unions to provide accommodation short of undue hardship.
This interactive course examines the roles and responsibilities of the employer, the union and the member in accommodating members with disabilities and all other protected groups under the Ontario Human Rights Code. It builds activists’ skills to support members requiring accommodation, and to deal with employer resistance to accommodation in the workplace. (March 2010)
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.
Callout: Call Out Fillable