Message to Members – 15 March 2020

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Hello Fellow Members,

As you know the COVID19 novel coronavirus which was initially dismissed by many at the beginning of the year, has now been deemed a pandemic.

In January, multiple people rightly asked what protective equipment or precautions the employer would be providing.  Both the Health & Safety committees and the Union pressed our Employers for direction.  Staff routinely asked for facemasks, sneeze guards, and increased amounts of hand sanitizer.

At that time, the Employer stated that they were following the direction of the Health Unit.  That direction was:  to hand-wash frequently, to not touch your face, to maintain reasonable spaces between people, and to avoid places if you’re sick.

Admittedly, this wasn’t very comforting and certainly didn’t feel like enough.  However, after the Union double-checked with the Middlesex-London Health Unit, this direction turned out to be true.

As of noon on Thursday, the City advised the Union of steps that staff should take if they are required to Self-Quarantine, or they become sick. Those directions will come through your manager but the short version says that you will contact the Middlesex-London Health Unit (or Telehealth Ontario) and if you are advised to Self-Quarantine you must report this to your manager.  At that point you will be able to use Sick Time if you have it, or other options will be reviewed if you do not. (An example of this may be applying to EIB for Sick Benefits with the 0-day waiting period announced this week.)[i]

However, by late Thursday things had already changed again.   The biggest surprise, to Administrators and staff, was that the Provincial Government announced they were extending the March Break by another two weeks. This presents a whole new set of problems including childcare coverage for members with school-age children.  No one was expecting this, and early estimates indicate that it could impact approximately 30% of our members.

On Friday, the Union was again in contact with Management and we were informed that some Community Centres and Day Programs would be closing until further notice.[ii]

As a precaution, all managers were directed to post signage at all locations advising the visiting public to reconsider entering facilities if they are unwell.

As of today, Management continues to update their contingency plans and are keeping the Union informed.  We will continue to update our website as new information becomes available.

To recap: If you are feeling unwell, or you have recently returned from travelling abroad, please contact the local Health Unit or Telehealth Ontario.[iii] 

They will ask you a series of screening questions and provide you direction based on the results; you may be advised to Self-Quarantine.  Should that be the case, please notify your manager for further direction.

Going forward, we are trying to find more effective ways of communicating with CUPE 101 Members.  As we’ve discussed at recent monthly membership meetings, we are trying to find a software solution which would allow us to communicate off the Employers computer systems.

Since November, CUPE Local 101 has been developing a Communication Strategy which may include our own email and software system – subject to Members’ approval.

We cannot effectively send emails to members through the Employers’ email or computer systems.

Recently, there have been instances where some members have been verbally reprimanded for sending union related emails that management has deemed objectionable.

We have been restricting communication to private (non-work) emails, and updates to our website[iv] where appropriate to avoid further possible repercussions.

Last week we reached out to Stewards asking them to provide their personal email and text phone numbers. The Union will provide updates through Stewards to be shared with the membership.

The next step will involve the Stewards collecting your personal emails and text phone numbers – only if you wish to provide it – where you would like to receive Union messages.  All your information will remain confidential to CUPE Local 101, and will not be shared.

We intend to set up a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page where questions will be answered as updates and information becomes available. Please check back to the CUPE 101 webpage for the most current information.  Thank you for your patience as we navigate this rapidly changing situation.  As you can imagine, the sheer volume of phone calls and messages makes it impossible to respond in a timely manner.  We are triaging calls the best we can.

Should you have any additional questions, it may be more practical to reach out to your Steward, Unit Chair, or an Executive Member.  Contact details are under the About Us section on our website.[v]

Adam Brightling,

On Behalf of the Executive

CUPE Local 101.

[i] https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/liberals-support-workers-businesses-covid-19-1.5493454

[ii] https://www.london.ca/newsroom/Pages/COVID-19.aspx

[iii] Contact Telehealth Ontario at 1-866-797-0000 or the Health Unit at 519-663-5317 for further assessment and guidance.  https://www.healthunit.com/news/novel-coronavirus

 [iv] https://101.cupe.ca/

[v] https://101.cupe.ca/about-us/

COVID-19 – Additional Impacts on City Programming and Facilities

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Hello CUPE Members,

We have just received this email below from City of London, and are posting it here:

Hello everyone,

I’m writing to you tonight to let you know that after much consideration, we have made the decision that we will be cancelling a number of City programs and closing City facilities where those programs run, effective Monday, March 16. This includes the following:

·       Community centres

·       Arenas

·       Pools

·       Recreation and sport programming

·       Community rentals

·       March break day camp programs

All health agencies are discouraging large gatherings; we feel it is our obligation to support local, national and international efforts to slow down the spread of this virus. While difficult, we have made this decision to help keep our community and our staff healthy and well.

In addition to these cancellations, we will also be restricting visitors at Dearness Home to only essential visitors to remain consistent with protocols in place in other Long Term Care homes; the elderly population is particularly vulnerable to the symptoms of COVID-19, so we will make every effort to protect them from the spread of this virus.

We are in an extraordinary time when each of us has a responsibility to do as much as we can to slow the spread of COVID-19.  Health agencies agree that large gatherings put people at risk; these cancellations and closures come because there is nothing more important than the health and well-being of our staff and our community. Managers will be reaching out directly to staff who are impacted by this decision.

As you will know, this is a situation that is rapidly evolving. Our COVID-19 team continues to monitor this closely as well as to review and revise our business continuity plans. We will provide you with ongoing updates as the situation continues to evolve.

Public health agencies continue to be the best source of information about the spread of COVID-19 and about actions individuals should take to help slow the spread, including any restrictions that should be in place after travelling out of country. Please visit https://www.healthunit.com/news/novel-coronavirus for additional information.

Managers, please ensure this information is available to employees who may not have access to this information through email.

Thank you

Lynne

Thanks From Your President

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My role as your President is nearly come to an end. These last 4 years have been incredibly challenging but also most rewarding. I have learned so much from all of you, we have worked together and accomplished great gains and improved relationships that hopefully will help us continue in our future successes. Although as one door closes, many other doors will open for and have opened for me. I am excited to share some of these with you.

Megan Walker from London Abused Women’s Centre (LAWC) has approached me and asked me to consider joining their Board. At this time I am excited to advise you that I have been voted on LAWC’s Board and I look forward to this new opportunity that I am embarking upon with an amazing group of people and agency in our community. This is not only an accomplishment for me but also for our local.

The other amazing thing that has occurred for myself and my partner is that we have become grandparents for the first time, her name is Rylie. My partner Jennifer and I are absolutely thrilled and looking forward to spending time with Rylie and our entire family. This is a role farther reaching than President, I am going to be part of something very special, a new chapter in our lives.

I want to say thanks to all of local 101 and everyone that I have had the opportunity to work with, and whom has helped our local, the Corporation and the Community become a great workplace, City and Union. We are stronger together, we need to all work together in order to continue the advancements we have been able to achieve during the last 4 years with myself as your President. I hope that we can continue to build upon these goals and successes and continue working together for us all.

Thanks for the opportunity to enable me to represent you all, believing that things could be better, trusting in me to attain these things on your behalf. I am a better person because of this experience and opportunity to lead this local.

Yours in solidarity.

Steven Holland
President
CUPE Local 101

Important OMERS Update

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The OMERS Sponsors Corporation voted on a series of changes to its bylaws. We’re providing an update, as we get additional information about the results today’s meeting.

With only a few weeks notice, workers and their Sponsor unions successfully mobilized to protect our right to freely appoint our Representatives to the OMERS SC Board, which makes decisions about critical pension benefits and contribution rates. We also protected our right to remove our Representatives on the OMERS SC Board, a key accountability mechanism to ensuring those we appoint are representative of our member’s interests. This is an important victory for workers and their unions.

The OMERS SC Board, however, has passed significant changes to confidentiality that could negatively impact workers’ and their unions’ right to know critical information about our pension plan. We’re very concerned that our representatives on the OMERS SC Board could now be prevented from sharing crucial information, like more potential governance changes, with us in the future.

There are other changes to the Co-Chair structure, to committee composition, and an introduction of term limits for Sponsors Representatives.

At this point CUPE Ontario still does not have access to actual text of the new bylaws, including these changes. Along with other unions, we’ve made a formal request for these which we expect to receive shortly. We will be fully analyzing all OMERS by-law changes and will share additional updates as we have them.

It is important to reiterate that this entire bylaw review process, coupled with last year’s attempt to decrease benefits to workers by removing guaranteed indexing, leaves us with serious and substantial concerns about OMERS.

CUPE Ontario, representing nearly 125,000 active members in OMERS, will take all steps necessary to protect members’ rights, preserve key benefits like indexing and move towards a more accountable and transparent OMERS.