January 21, 2015
Dear colleagues,
I write to draw your attention to the upcoming OCUFA workshop: After Bill 168: Occupational Health and Safety in the Academy. The OCUFA Executive is urging all member associations to support this initiative by sending a broad cross-section of association representatives to participate on Thursday, April 9, 2015.
There is a demonstrable breadth of interest in the workplace harassment and workplace violence provisions of the Ontario Occupational Health and Safety Act, which became law in 2010. Their application in the academic workplace has been discussed at various times by each of OCUFA’s standing committees – Collective Bargaining, Grievance, and Status of Women.
As the nature and frequency of exchanges and presentations, especially at Grievance Committee meetings, have made clear, however, the questions that have arisen in the wake of Bill 168 require broader dialogue and deliberation about avenues for faculty associations to address emerging realities of health and safety in the academy.
This workshop will be an occasion for members of these committees to meet jointly and to engage with association colleagues who also are implicated in one way or another by the requirements of the Act or the circumstances of particular cases. These include association executive committee members, equity representatives, and association representatives on Joint Health and Safety Committees.
We encourage each association executive committee to review the enclosed preliminary program and trust you will support the attendance of representatives who have such an important stake in shaping healthy and safe academic environments.
Sincerely,
Kate Lawson
President
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Regards,
Russell Janzen, Senior Research Analyst
Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations
17 Isabella Street
Toronto, ON M4Y 1M7
Tel: 416-306-6037
416-979-2117 ext. 233
Fax: 416-593-5607
Web: www.ocufa.on.ca