The following is a list of longer courses (one day or more) available for regional educational events. The words “New” or “Revised” in a course description, indicate that the course has been developed and piloted, or revised within the last year.
To find out which courses are being offered in your region, check the course schedule page. Note: Information on the schedule of regional courses may be incomplete. Members should contact their regional offices for details of educational opportunities in their areas.
Click on the desired course name in the menu on the right to be taken to the course description. Download the 2024 course catalogue
Advanced Grievance Handling for Union Building
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 side of the table? These are some of the topics that will be explored in the NEW Advanced Grievance Handling for Union Building course.
Participants will get the opportunity to practice being on the Union’s team and the Employer’s Team as they 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 active interviewing process, participants will explore how to identify grievances, practice negotiating settlements and draft realistic, enforceable grievance settlements. Participants should bring their Collective Agreements to the course.
Advancing Union Issues through Labour Management Committees
Often union-side members become cynical about labour management committee work because the employer refuses to meet, or follow through on action. This course aims to strengthen skills of labour management committees (LMCs) to solve workplace problems and build the union, whether management is cooperating or not.
A variety of activities are used to clarify the union-building potential of LMC’s, to assess the effectiveness of a labour management committee, and to strengthen skills to move a workplace complaint to resolution at the LMC. Attention is paid to a) arguing an issue; b) addressing management tactics; c) using the LMC to communicate with members; d) strategies to mobilize members to back LMC work; e) connecting LMC work to bargaining and mobilizing work in the Local. Bring Your Collective Agreement to this course.
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.
Participants 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.
Benefits are increasingly under attack from employers, insurers, the media and government. It’s time to protect these hard won working conditions. The BPS Benefits and Appeals course examines internal and external benefits and the many interactions they have with workers day to day lives.
This course provides skills for the union activist to support members in understanding and navigating their particular benefit situation. Participants will explore what we can do as a union to defend and strengthen our collective agreements and the social safety net from current attacks. Participants should bring their benefits booklets and Collective Agreements to the course.
Important Note: This course is not intended to create local benefits experts that do appeals. The course is intended to increase awareness and develop skills of local leaders to help support members with their benefits appeal issues.
Challenging Bullying and Non-Code-Based Harassment in the Workplace
Is bullying and psychological harassment an issue in your workplace? This course will help you recognize the signs of bullying and a toxic workplace. This course looks at case law and other tools helpful in understanding the impact of workplace bullying. Participants will strengthen their capacity to respond to co-workers and pressure employers to tackle bullying and harassment in their workplace.
Challenging Discrimination in Everyday Union Work
This course looks at everyday situations in our workplaces and union where inequality and racism are at work, and where people can take effective action. It uses case scenarios and analysis to examine different forms of discrimination – race, gender, age and disability – and its divisive effects. It draws from videos and role play to get people to practice responding practically to situations.
The course helps us to see equity and human rights as basic union work for all. And it strengthens our skills as effective allies and advocates to build more inclusive workplaces and locals.
Cross-Cultural Communication at Work: A Union Perspective
In our workplaces, unions, and communities, we experience daily interactions with diverse groups including co-workers, and our union sisters and brothers. There are moments when these interactions lead to miscommunication, and misunderstanding about cultural expressions and social cues. In order to work through some of these communication challenges, an introductory course, Cross-Cultural Communication has been designed.
Participants will work through case scenarios to develop strategies designed to improve cross-cultural communication.
Dealing with Workplace Conflict
Everyday, in our lives, we have to deal with situations of conflict. It may be with our family, our work colleagues, our friends, our peers or our supervisors. Participants will define and analyse conflict in the workplace and look at the range of processes aimed at alleviating or eliminating sources of conflict.
There are many tools available to persons in conflict. How and when they are used depends on several factors that will be perused. We will also look at mediation and its role in conflict resolution.
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 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 has 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.
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 an accommodation, and to deal with employer resistance to accommodation in the workplace.
Duty to Accommodate 2: Making Accommodation Work
Does your employer balk at providing proper accommodations? Has your employer challenged the medical information the member has provided? Is the employer asking members for independent medical exams? Do you hear grumblings from co-workers about the number of accommodations in the workplace?
Building on the skills and information in Duty to Accommodate: A Tool for Inclusive Workplaces, this course examines the challenges of supporting a worker in need of an accommodation. Participants will investigate strategies and skills for gathering information, challenging employer tactics used to prevent accommodations, developing a fair accommodation plan, and communicating with co-workers to build workplace solidarity.
While the course focuses mainly on the practical aspects of accommodation due to disability, many of the issues such as collective agreement language, attendance management programs, co-worker resentment apply to accommodation based on sex and family status as well.
Note: Due to the volume of information about Duty to Accommodate, it is strongly advised that participants take “Duty to Accommodate: A Tool for Inclusive Workplaces” before Duty to Accommodate 2.
Follow the Money: A First Course in Public Economics
Are you worried about your economic future and that of your children? Are you frustrated by the growing gap between the soaring wages of CEO’s and the stagnant take-home pay of your family? As a union member and a public employee, are you surprised that you have somehow become “the problem”?
This course takes you on a guided tour of today’s economy. We’ll examine who runs it and who doesn’t. We’ll discuss what this all means for people, public services and the planet. We’ll look at how economics is tied up with politics and the role played by corporate power and public relations. Lastly, we’ll draw some inspiration from folks who are fighting for a fair economy and identify what we can do to be part of those struggles in our locals and communities. The course has six modules that can be delivered separately at meetings or local events.
Health and Safety: Level One
This course is designed for members and stewards who want to become more involved in health and safety activities in their workplace. There is a strong focus on health and safety legislation to enable participants to use the legislation effectively in their own workplaces.
Participants work in groups to explore the legislation and to gain a better understanding of their rights and employers’ obligations under the Occupational Health and Safety Act and its regulations. Participants are introduced to the concepts of hazard identification, assessment and control and develop a greater understanding of the components of an effective health and safety system.
Health and Safety: Level Two
This course is designed for Health and Safety committee members and union activists with a strong interest in Health and Safety. Participants learn how to be more effective members of their JHSC’s as they work in small groups learning how to better identify, categorize, and control hazards.
Using case studies and examples from their own workplaces, participants learn how to improve workplace inspections, and how to begin accident and illness investigations.
The course offers the opportunity to prioritize and strategize around health and safety problems and to address problems specific to participants’ own workplaces. The course builds on the material in OPSEU/SEFPO’s Level 1 course and assumes that participants have a basic knowledge of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
Health and Safety: Level Three
This course builds on concepts covered in Health and Safety Level 1 and 2. Health and Safety Level 3 is designed to help union activists, worker joint health and safety committee members, health and safety representatives, and workers to address complex hazards using their local health and safety systems and external resources.
Drawing from their own experiences, participants will strategize effective approaches to complex hazards, such as investigating concerns about potential occupational cancers and ergonomic hazards. Participants will also learn basic approaches to investigating indoor air quality complaints.
They will discuss the precautionary principle and the ALARA principle and understand the centrality of these two concepts in health and safety activism. Participants will develop strategies to address ergonomic hazards, develop recommendations and practice facing the employer to propose their recommendations, enhancing their organization skills and confidence to represent members in their efforts to achieve safer and healthier workplaces.
Human Rights, Union Rights and Global Solidarity
Faced with governments pushing austerity around the world, global solidarity is more important than ever. Why do we find ourselves fighting the same fights fought more than 30, 50 or even 100 years ago? This course explores what our roles are as individuals, union members, and community citizens, in the ongoing fight for fairness, equality and justness.
Participants will draw critical links between human rights, union rights and global solidarity, and will be asked to commit to collective action to build solidarity locally and globally. By the end of the course, participants will be able to recognize and challenge privilege and oppression, know the differences between charity and solidarity, and will be better able to challenge the current austerity agenda.
The Indigenous Journey: Walking Together: Part One
Would you like to learn more about Indigenous peoples? Do you know that the First Nation, Inuit and Métis peoples have differences in their traditions, beliefs, communities and cultural identities as well as some commonalities?
Through activities, inspired by the teachings and traditions of Indigenous peoples, we will take you through an overview of the lives of the First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples as well as allow you an opportunity to share in some of their stories.
You will take a journey of examining both historical and current relationships between Indigenous people and governments within Canada and the world today. If you would like to share in the rich history of Indigenous peoples and spend time understanding why being an ally is important, this course will offer that opportunity.
The Indigenous Journey: Walking Together: Part Two
As a follow-up to the Indigenous Journey: Walking Together course, the Indigenous Journey 2 explores the relationship between Indigenous peoples and white settlers. This unique course will examine the relationship from settler contact to today through the lens of Indigenous people.
Interpreting Your Collective Agreement: An Activist’s Role
Do you know what your collective agreement is? Do you have a copy of it? Have you ever wondered what is in your collective agreement and how to find information on different articles? Do you know how the collective agreement is structured? Are you confused by some of the terms used in it?
Participants will be assisted in understanding the power of their collective agreement and how to interpret and enforce their collective agreement. Using interpretation guidelines developed through case law, participants will build the skills and confidence needed to understand and use their collective agreements.
Activities will give participants an opportunity to review legislation, examine the importance of timelines, discuss case scenarios and debate some common clauses and what they mean. Participants should bring their Collective Agreements to the course.
Labour History: Strategies for Today Through the Lens of the Past
This is an introductory course examining the issues facing members in their union, locals and workplaces today. The course will explore how these issues have been approached in the past and the outcomes. Topics include health and safety, working conditions, bargaining, equity, globalization and the environment. By examining the actions of OPSEU/SEFPO, the labour movement and individual workers, participants will devise strategies and skills to address current and future challenges.
Let’s Start Meeting Like This! Running Meetings that Build the Union
Have you ever been confused at meetings about when you can speak and when you can’t? Perhaps you have tried to run a meeting where there was no quorum, or where people kept interrupting each other and getting off track. Maybe you’re discouraged because you’re not sure how to make meetings a good use of anyone’s time.
This course examines the potential of meetings to tap into diverse members’ energy and interest, and to build union capacity. Practical, hands-on activities will help you a) develop an interesting agenda and get members to the meeting; b) understand how to write and put forward a motion and use basic rules of parliamentary procedure effectively; c) facilitate an effective meeting discussion; d) deal with meeting “nightmares” who often look like members who won’t stop talking, or who can’t agree. Materials include templates for committee reports and meeting minutes, as well as step by step guidelines for running different kinds of meetings.
Local Treasurers Course
This course is aimed at Local Treasurers and Trustees who are either NEW to the role or experienced members who are seeking a “refresher course”. The goal is to give the necessary tools and education to Local Treasurers and Trustees in order for them to fulfill their roles in the Local. It will also draw on members’ experiences to solve problems occurring with the administration of Local funds.
Making Composite Locals Work
Composite/Multi-unit Locals can be very challenging and complex locals to organize and run.
Difficulties with communication, and membership coordination are among the barriers that often prevent these locals from being inclusive and achieving their full potential. This course provides an opportunity for an in-depth working session for local executive committees of composite or multi- unit locals.
Participants will develop clear roles and responsibilities as local leaders, prepare an appropriate budget, develop local structures, and will assess the functioning of their local and its” units. Based on the work from the course, the local executives will begin to develop action plans to implement in their local.
Note: This course is not designed for individuals coming from different locals. Participants who register should be complete LEC groups that are working together to build strength in their units and ultimately the local.
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.
Political Action for Union Activists
What do you know about the political climate in your municipality, in Ontario, in Canada? How do you get insights into the current issues in your community? What is your confidence level when speaking to someone about a possibly controversial political issue? Can you use your power of communication to raise awareness of a subject that impacting workers’ lives? Do you know the players in the political arena? These are some of the topics that will be covered. You will share insights, and get tools to build your union and communities. You will also develop strategies for engaging your members, campaigning and lobbying politicians.
Public Speaking – Finding your voice, connecting with your audience
Have you ever felt intimidated when you are a speaker in front of a large group? Have you ever wondered what you need to consider when planning and preparing a short presentation for the public? Whether you’d like to strengthen your presentation skills, look more confident and credible, define your core message, organize your thoughts, or find new and effective ways to collaborate with your team, this course will give you practical skills you need to communicate successfully. You will have an opportunity to practice and hone your presentation skills in a small group setting while concentrating on your message and target audience.
Reducing the Gap: The Importance of Pay Equity in Union Work
Would you be surprised to learn that women in Ontario still earn 29% less than men? Reducing the Gap: The Importance of Pay Equity in Union Work provides participants with information on what pay equity is, the struggle to achieve pay equity, why it is important to us, and where we are in the struggle today.
This interactive course will develop practical skills in the recognition of employer tactics to stall or limit pay equity implementation and maintenance. Participants will also be able to practice skills in speaking to co-workers and others on the topic of pay equity and why it is important to them. Note: This course is not training to negotiate pay equity plans.
Social Media for Union Activists
The increasing use of social media has become a reality in our union work. With this reality, come both pitfalls and opportunities. “Social Media for Union Activists” will explore what social media is and how to spot both the opportunities and difficulties when using social media. Recognizing that social media is an important part of many of our members lives, participants will examine what risks are inherent when using social media and what case law has been telling us.
Participants will explore what makes a successful social media campaign and develop some practical applications for social media use within Locals. Upon completing the course participants will be able to confidently use social media in their union work.
Stewards 1: Making a Difference in the Workplace
This course will build and strengthen the skills of a steward. Participants will explore the role of the steward throughout the bargaining cycle, including organizing their local, having effective one-on-one conversations, developing a communications strategy to enlist diverse member involvement, and learning strategies for everyday workplace problems.
Throughout the course, participants are supported as they develop a profile of their members, find resources and information in OPSEU/SEFPO, and understand their role in the grievance process. Stewards 1 is a prerequisite to Stewards 2. Participants should bring their collective agreements.
Stewards 2: Facing the Employer, Building Member Involvement
Prerequisite: Stewards 1
This 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 a case study in order to interview a grievor, write up a grievance, face the employer at a 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. Participants should bring their collective agreements.
Stewards 3: Dealing with Discipline
This is an advanced level steward course. It is suggested that participants take Stewards 1 and Stewards 2 prior to signing up for this program. Dealing with Discipline is a skills and knowledge focused workshop that will assist union activists in their duties representing members facing discipline up to and including dismissal.
The course bridges concepts from Stewards 1 and 2, Basic and Advanced Grievance Handling and Workplace Investigations. Participants should bring their Collective Agreements to the course.
Stewards Orientation (1-day 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. 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. 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. This course is also available in French.
Taking Action on Workplace Stress
Is your work stressing you out? If so, you’re not alone. In Canada, one in four workers report feeling highly stressed at work. Factors such as excessive demands, lack of control, precarious work, inadequate resources and support, and workplace bullying and harassment can all took their toll on the well-being of workers.
Participants will be able to identify workplace factors that negatively affect workers’ health and wellbeing and gain familiarity with terminology associated with workplace stress. The course will help to develop strategies for influencing change in the workplace as well as examine ways to work with your union to address and resolve workplace stress issues.
The OPSEU/SEFPO Story: Building our Union Together
The history of OPSEU/SEFPO is rich and varied. Our union has evolved from a Civil Service Association to a powerful force in the labour movement. To understand how OPSEU/SEFPO works today, and will be a force in the future, we need to understand how we arrived where we are at now.
This labour history course will examine how OPSEU/SEFPO began; how it evolved from a staff association to a full-fledged union; how social unionism and equity are a vital part of OPSEU/SEFPO; and how our past will help us to continue to make our union a strong part of the labour movement in the future.
Union Skills for Workplace Investigations
Have you ever been called, at the last minute, to the employer’s office to “represent” a member who is being accused of serious wrong-doings? Have you wondered what to do and how best to represent this person, particularly if you suspect that they may have broken a rule or two?
This hands-on course takes you step by step, through a workplace investigations process. It starts with the first contact with the member through to the response to the investigation findings, with lots of practice in between. Through case studies and a variety of active exercises, you’ll practise interviewing the member, anticipating the investigator’s questions, preparing the member for meeting the investigator, taking good notes at the meeting, and working with the member to respond to the findings. The Resource Toolkit has additional information about investigations in different sectors, use of surveillance and other issues.
Union Strategies for Attendance Management Programs
Are the employees in your workplace under assault from the employer’s attendance management program? Do you find yourself responding to issues such as medical notes being denied, requests for independent medical exams, last chance agreements being offered, and members being threatened with non-disciplinary dismissal?
This course examines why Attendance Management Programs exist, how these programs are supposed to be run, employer motivations, and strategies to challenge the employer. By examining their own workplace situations, participants will be able to identify inconsistencies between workplace policies and program implementation, as well as become skilled at recognizing unfair attendance management practices.
Through a series of interactive exercises participants will develop strategies to defend members and build the locals capacity to challenge unfair and poorly implemented Attendance Management Programs. Participants should bring their Collective Agreements to the course.
Women in Activism: Staying Connected
Are you a woman who wants to get involved in your Union but you are uncertain as to where and how to begin? Have you wondered how activists got into the position they are in and why they got involved? Do you have the energy and interest but lack the confidence in getting yourself elected to a position? Then this is a course for you.
This new course will take you through the journey of successful women in unions and the political arena, how they got there and what they have achieved. You will understand your role as an activist gain confidence in taking the first steps and feel motivated in encouraging others to do the same. You will review your own time management strategies and work out a schedule for yourself.
Through scenarios, role-play, interactive videos and checklists, you will understand the issues women have faced over the years; some of which still continue today. You will learn how to build on these wins to make further inroads for women.
Suggested Pre-requisite – one elected activist and one partner who is not elected (take a closer look at who you may want to bring). This can be an encouragement to mentor others.
Women in Unions: Strengthening Leadership
This course offers seasoned women activists a chance to analyse the advances and barriers to diverse women’s leadership in the union. Through case studies of common problems women face in the workplace and union, the course explores issues of power, privilege, equity and effective action. It offers the chance to develop practical strategies for strengthening diverse women’s leadership and building an inclusive union. It will also focus on ways to strengthen women’s committees and gatherings in our locals and regions.
Women in Unions: Getting Involved
This course is for diverse women who are just getting involved in OPSEU, who want to know how things work and how they can make a difference in the union. Participants will bring their own experience of the workplace, community and union to develop an analysis of what is needed in their locals, and how they can contribute to building an inclusive union.
Through hands-on activities, women will practice making their voices heard, and will develop strategies for supporting the involvement of other diverse women in the union.
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.