Dear Sisters and Brothers,
On behalf of your Executive and I we would like to thank you for all your hard work and professionalism during this time. This correspondence has been correlated by your individual unit Chairpersons.
The Government recently announced that staff and students will be returning to in-person learning in schools Monday, January 17, 2022. We are aware that many of you have already been working, some with the most vulnerable students, some of you ensuring that the schools are clean and safe, and others doing administrative duties that cannot be completed virtually.
Upon this new announcement from the government, we want to ensure that everyone is safe in their return. The province outlined that you have the option to wear the non-fitted N95 masks that were given out to all school boards across the province. They have also discussed the ventilation systems being improved in our schools which adds to the improvements that were made up until this point. The announcement also stated that students would be supplied with 3 ply cloth masks.
Both the DDSB and the DCDSB, have announced that Kindergarten students will also be required to wear a mask while attending school. Which will mean that all students should be wearing a mask outside of any Human Right concerns.
The province also announced that each staff and student would be receiving RAT (Rapid Antigen Test) to take home if they become symptomatic at home. There will also be a supply of PCR tests if staff/students are symptomatic at school, which they can take with them to get tested at one of the drop off locations. This all sounds great on paper, but we want to ensure that it is all taking place across both the DDSB and the DCDSB. We have reached out to the Health and Safety reps as well as the Chair of your committees to get some feedback on concerns that may arise in the workplaces.
Before we break down what each unit has addressed, we also wanted to comment on the new protocol around reporting. The province recently announced that reporting is only going to be done if schools absenteeism reaches 30%. Under the Occupational Health and Safety Act, Employers must report Illnesses exposed in the workplace. If you test positive for Covid and feel that it was due to a workplace exposure, please ensure that a Parklane is completed, and you complete and submit the WSIB exposure form. If you have any questions around this, please reach out to your reps.
SCT/OCT unit, your committee and Health and Safety rep wanted to remind all members that there should not be any students in the office unless necessary, the same goes for non-office staff. The office is not a place for loitering or chit-chat during COVID. There should not be any parents or visitors to the school unless essential. This should be a very rare occurrence. Again, this is very rare and on an essential basis only. Reminder again, we don not supervise students. The office is not a place to drop off students for us to supervise. They should be sent to the admin to supervise or back to the classroom if the admin is unavailable. We do have basic responsibility to student safety (as everyone does) but this does NOT include coverage of classes/gyms/library if they are short of teachers and or administrators. In terms of board contractors and/or employees, they are subject to the Vaccination policy. Non contractors or non-employees need to have their vaccination status verified by the school admin prior to entry.
Custodial Maintenance unit, your committee and Health and Safety rep wanted to remind all of you that if you are short staffed, the priority is to focus on bathrooms, garbage, all touch points disinfectants and not to worry about floors etc. if time does not permit. The priority is to disinfect at this time and if you are not able to get this all done, then you are to leave a note for the Lead Custodian/Supervisor informing them that you are unable to get certain duties completed due to absenteeism. There are only 8 hours in a shift and only so much you can do. If there is absenteeism and no replacement is deployed, we are to do what we can with the time that is scheduled.
Educational Assistants, your Health and Safety rep and Chair wanted to remind you that safety is the number one priority. We are all aware that Admin double or even triples up our workload because of absenteeism. We need to ensure that students safety plans, with clear guidelines around staffing requirements and protocols are being followed. Often, we see a student’s behaviour escalate putting themselves or students/staff around them at risk, we do not want to see anyone get hurt because of the school boards not addressing the staffing concerns that many of us knew would occur. Please ensure that these plans are being followed, we cannot turn back the clock once someone is injured in the workplace.
If you are asked to do anything you feel is unsafe, please reach out to your admin to address any work that you feel is unsafe.
If you have addressed it with your admin and you still feel that the work you are being asked to do is unsafe, you have the right to do a work refusal. Please see the process of a work refusal attached and please reach out to your Health and Safety Rep or the CUPE office to make them aware.
This is a trying time for all, please remember to take your breaks and your lunches in private away from anywhere you will be bothered. We know each one of you go above and beyond for the work you do. Our Mental Health is key not only for ourselves, our families, but also the work we do.
Con Ed, please read the email from Vice-Principal Erin Oliver. It outlines general government guidelines and specific instructions for us.
Please attend the virtual staff meeting at 8:30 AM on Monday, January 17 (link sent on Thursday at 3:34 PM) in which the supervisor will explain any changes to the protocols and answer questions; if that meeting is outside of your work hours, make sure to get the minutes or speak to the supervisor.
Please follow the rules – don’t use your own cloth mask (unless you have an exemption).
LINC ESL, please reach out to your administrators or your union rep if you have questions or concerns. Please continue to view your DCDSB and CUPE Local 218 emails for further correspondence and updates.
In Solidarity
Dennis Gibbs
President
CUPE Local 218OMICRON WORK REFFUSAL PDF
