I would like to respectfully submit my RVP activities for the period of May 2022 to August 2022.
With the fall fast approaching, the potential for yet another COVID wave and the introduction of this new hybrid workforce (which I’m sure the employer doesn’t even know exactly what the hybrid workforce will look like yet), I expect the fall to be quite busy from a union perspective. I hope that you had a chance to take some time for yourself over the summer months and that you and your family have remained safe during these unprecedented times.
Health and Safety continues to take up the majority of my time, as I Co-chair the Local H.O. Occupational Health and Safety Committee (OHS) at H.O. 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. It has been quite busy over the summer months with the H&S responsibility of going over all the re-entry checklists for the multiple offices across the country and dealing with COVID cases that have flared up in some of the offices as we start to re-open them.
I did my first travelling since the start of COVID in the spring to Ottawa to attend the NEO meetings, it was nice to see the National Executive face to face instead of through a computer monitor. In early May I attended a NEO team building retreat in Cape Breton N.S. It was a very productive few days with the team. In late May I attended the PSAC National Convention, the NEO met in Ottawa and participated in the first virtual PSAC National convention and hopefully the last. Having such a large convention in the virtual world did have its difficulties for sure, it was quite frustrating and took most of the convention time just to pass the budget, leaving little time to go through the resolutions. In June I attended the PSAC Atlantic Health and Safety conference In Moncton N.B. We had some great speakers, one that stood out to me was the session on Environmental Racism, I found it very interesting. In July we entered a float in the PEI Pride Parade and handed out information pamphlets on the CM campaign, I also met with Minister Laurence MacAuley in late July and discussed our current bargaining situation and the CM campaign.
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, First Aid Plan, Extreme Heat, Office Checklists, Hazardous Occurrence plan, OHS Gap Analysis, OHS Management Response and Action Plan, OSH Newsletter, Survey Results, Terms of Reference, Virtual Training, Training procedures, H&S Floor Inspections, Employee/Employer Toolkits, Accessibility Network, Communication process, Infrastructure-Draft Readiness checklist, Ergonomic process, VAC-329 process, Workers Compensation process, Communication sub-committee, H&S Training sub-committee 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 AGM’s 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 continue in my role as an Executive Board member on the PEI Federation of Labour (PEIFL). I attended all PEI/FL monthly meetings, PSAC Area Council Meetings and PSAC Human Rights meetings and completed a three-day PSAC Virtual OHS Training 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 must 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 the best of our abilities.