Sign Letter in Support of CUPE 2626’s Three Recommendations for the University of Ottawa to Fulfill its Obligations under the Occupational Health & Safety Act (OH&SA)

This petition is to lobby the University of Ottawa to fulfill its obligations under the Occupational Health & Safety Act (OH&SA). The University is currently being reviewed by the Ontario Ministry of Labour on this question and others.

The law (OH&SA) requires that all employees in Ontario be paid to complete mandatory training on certain subjects: accessibility & accommodation, workplace dangers & hazardous materials, violence & harassment, etc. Yet the University of Ottawa has less than 30% completion for this training for the largest workforce on campus: part-time academic staff (TAs, & part-time professors, represented by CUPE 2626 and APTPUO respectively). We are asking for these workers to be paid an "on-boarding" contract just to complete the training, so that it stops being a dilemma between doing the training or teaching students.

Please sign this petition right now to encourage the University to pay its workers for mandatory training.

While we need more and better training, campus unions are also asking the University of Ottawa to hire more Health & Safety Inspectors, to inspect those spaces where we work and learn. The University of Ottawa currently has only one inspector for thousands of offices, labs and facilities on main campus, Roger Guindon campus, and satellite campuses, with everything from icy walkways to radioactive and biohazardous materials. Hiring a second inspector will help complete the yearly inspection of the millions of square feet inside & outside the University's buildings. It would also help reduce the overwork on the current inspector and help retain knowledge & experience should the one inspector go on leave... say, due to the stress of their Sisyphean task!

We now know that in most workplaces, including at the University of Ottawa, 50% or more of employee absences are related to mental health issues. In response to this massive loss of productive time, the Ontario government has made it law under OH&SA that the University and all other Ontario employers have a policy and program to work against mental stress, harassment and violence. Campus unions are demanding a union-lead mental health committee to add to the current health and safety structure composed of representatives and experts from the university community, anchored in the top-level of the University's Joint Occupational Health & Safety Committee (JOHSC). While we support the University's proposal for a central hub/directory (a "311") for existing mental health services, that initiative will not fulfill any of the University's legal obligations under the Ontario Health & Safety Act.

Don’t leave this page before signing this petition to encourage the University to pay its workers for mandatory training.

In solidarity,

CUPE 2626