I would like to respectfully submit my RVP activities for the period of September 2021 to February 2022.
It’s hard to believe that it is coming up on the two-year mark that we have been adapting to working in this new virtual world under these pandemic restrictions. I hope you and your family have remained safe during this unprecedented time.
Health and Safety continues to take most of my time, as I Co-chair the Local H.O. Occupational Health and Safety Committee (OHS) and also Co-chair the National Occupational Health and Safety Policy Committee (NOHSPC) as well as sitting on several Health and Safety Sub-committees. I have met with National Joint Council representatives and Labour Program representatives and had several discussions and meetings on various H&S issues.
Here are some of the continuing items that I have been working on in my role as RVP:
OSH Action Report/Plan, Business Continuity Plan, Business Response and Recovery Plan, COVID-19 Building Evacuation Plan, COVID-19 Management Action Plan, Draft Office Guidelines, Easing Restrictions, Equipment and Furniture Guidelines, Equipping Employees Remotely, First Aid Plan, Extreme Heat, Office Checklists, Hazardous Occurrence plan, OHS Gap Analysis, OHS Management Response and Action Plan, OSH Newsletter, Pandemic Plan, Survey Results, Terms of Reference, Virtual Training, Training procedures, H&S Floor Inspections, Employee/Employer Toolkits, Accessibility Network, Communication process, Infrastructure-Draft Readiness checklist, Bill C-65, Ergonomic process, VAC-329 process, Workers Compensation process just to name a few of the projects that I need to meet, discuss, review and provide feedback on.
It remains extremely busy here at H.O. from the day-to-day routines of working with the H.O. local executive, virtual meetings with the DM, ADM’s, DG’s, Managers, grievances and then there’s still Phoenix issues. We have successfully held monthly virtual General Meetings and two virtual AGMs since the world has turned upside down.
I have attended all UVAE H.O. Local 90001 meetings and have weekly scheduled check-in meetings with the local executive to keep both them and me up to date.
I was re-elected as RVP Head Office at the September 2021 UVAE Convention and Co-chaired the UVAE By-laws committee at convention.
I was recently re-elected at the October 2021 Federation of Labour Convention in my role as an Executive Board member on the PEI Federation of Labour (PEIFL). I attended all PEIFL monthly meetings, PSAC Area Council Meetings and PSAC Human Rights meetings (all virtual). I attended the PSAC 2021 Virtual National Equity Conference in November 2021 and completed a three-day PSAC Virtual OHS Training in January 2022. Working in the virtual world has been an adjustment for sure. Your day is no longer 8:00 to 4:00, as it often runs into the evening with meetings covering all the different time zones across the country. You also have to adapt to the virtual screen time and the mental fatigue that comes along with the multiple back-to-back Teams and Zoom meetings in the virtual world. It’s an adjustment for us all, your NEO has adapted well to these changes. We continue to adapt and improve our virtual processes in order to represent our members to best of our abilities.
In Solidarity,
Jody LaPierre,
Regional Vice-President, Charlottetown H.O.