Members from OPSEU/SEFPO’s Social Mapping Project (SMP) Ad Hoc Committee have spent the past year and a half working on a constitutional amendment that, if passed, would change the current structure of the OPSEU/SEFPO Executive Board – adding seven seats designated as Equity Executive Board Members.
The Ad Hoc Committee has continued the work that OPSEU/SEFPO’s Coalition of Racialized Workers (CoRW) (formerly the OPSEU/SEFPO Workers of Colour Caucus (WOCC)), started with their Living Wall Project during Convention 2004.
This proposed amendment is a response to many recommendations that came from the union’s Social Mapping Project (SMP). Originally launched in 2010, the SMP has enabled the union to identify gaps and barriers by providing the necessary demographic information to ensure that services meet the needs of all members.
It is also a response to Ontario’s changing demographics, and the need for OPSEU/SEFPO to plan, improve and monitor its services to the membership – and in particular, to members of equity-deserving groups. New priorities, such as equity seats, are centred on the importance of promoting greater diversity and establishing a more accurate representation of the OPSEU/SEFPO membership at the leadership level.
OPSEU/SEFPO’s Executive Board has fully supported and endorsed this constitutional amendment. It will be presented to all delegates for debate and a vote at OPSEU/SEFPO’s upcoming annual Convention scheduled to take place from April 20-22, 2023.
Members of the SMP Ad Hoc Committee will be connecting with the larger membership over the next few weeks to talk more about the importance of equity seats, the process of electing Equity EBMs, and what this change will mean for our union and its members.
Stay tuned for more information on the launch of a new website that will house all of this information as well as two upcoming Q&A Zoom sessions:
- April 3, 2023 – 12 – 1pm
- April 11, 2023 – 7:30 – 8:30 pm
We look forward to seeing you there!
For more information, please contact equityseats@opseu.org