Good Evening Members,
Today your Union received a document titled “School Based Supervision” this appears to be the guidelines that the District said they would follow and share, this document also includes the Public Health Guidelines with an Employer-based plan. We feel confident our Employer will follow these guidelines and if you have questions about anything contained in this document you need to ask your Administrator or Manager. This document can be found on the School Districts SharePoint site in the section identified as “COVID-19”. Everyone working on the childcare initiative should have had this shared with them today, we are not sure how it will be shared with our other member’s but everyone needs to read it.
At minimum the Employer is required to follow the guidelines and direction that come from the Ministry of Health regarding COVID-19, although it is well within their power to enhance those health and safety protocols should they so desire. The majority of this information can be found on the BC CDC website.
The Ministry of Education have directed each school district in the province to follow these four (4) guiding principles as they make plans for students amidst this COVID-19 pandemic:
- Ensure a health and safe environment for all students, families and employees.
- Provide the services needed to support children of our essential workers.
- Support vulnerable students who may need special assistance.
- Provide continuity of educational opportunities for all students.
Since the Government declared the province of BC to be in a “State of Emergency”, this now means that all of B.C.’s public employees will be required, wherever possible, to support the efforts in managing this pandemic; not only in the K-12 system but possibly other sectors.
For those that are struggling in various ways outside of the workplace, we are doing our best to share resources that may be of interest and able to support you through this difficult time. The FSEAP is an extended benefit provider that all of our permanent members can access with complete confidentiality and we urge everyone to take advantage of the many services that they have to offer.
If we are going to get through this crisis it is critically important that we do our best to support one another, some things we can do in the workplace is strictly adhere to the social distancing and if you find that your co-workers just can’t seem to get this piece then we would ask that you reach out to your PVP, or if there is still a JOHS rep at your location they too should be able to provide you with some support and guidance.
We ask that everyone be patient, be considerate, and be kind as we are all in this together…
In Solidarity,
CUPE 411 Executive