Good Evening Members,

With operational costs (i.e. fuel and staff replacements) plummeting for the months of April and May only to be followed up with what the Union believes to be marginal increases in supply purchases.  It would appear that even in the midst of a crisis there is no end to which this employer will go to save money on the backs of its support staff for their new school projects.

While other Districts have enshrined their commitment to health and safety in writing with regards to personal protective equipment to those front-line staff who provide first aid or personal care, this Employer emphatically refuses to do so.  It would appear that meeting the minimum health and safety requirements as laid out by the Province and its affiliates is all this Employer is prepared to do despite the glaringly obvious concerns that have been presented to them.

Instead of forcing members to take a Leave Without Pay other Districts are working collaboratively with their Union’s leadership to ensure adequate and timely accommodations are being made to those workers who are medically compromised or live with someone that is.  However, our Employer continues to throw up barriers every step of the way, forcing members to first use up their benefit entitlements and then ultimately have to choose between their own health, or those that they love, and a paycheque, when many are ready, willing and able to continue to support the system or the students remotely.

Your Union believes that all members should feel safe while in their respective workplaces and that your physical, emotional, and mental health should be the primary consideration, not just in the wake of this pandemic, but always.  It is well known that our Employer has been incapable of protecting many of our members on a good day in this District given the outrageous number of violent workplace incidents that are reported; a vast majority go unreported due to internal pressures. As many of our members are repeatedly subjected to being physically attacked (punched, kicked, spit on, bitten) and/or verbally abused (screamed at with profanity or threatened).  To suggest that our members will not be faced with these same behaviours upon the resumption of in-class instruction is simply not a rationale expectation and to deny them the tools necessary to protect themselves is nothing short of shameful.

The notion that public schools are controlled environments is simply absurd.  With staff who have keys to come and go from sites as they please, limited ability to clean touch surfaces and washrooms throughout the day, no ability to ensure those arriving on site are not “A/PRE” Symptomatic or have been adhering to the strict guidelines within their own personal bubbles, it is reasonable to conclude that our K-12 environments are at best, marginally controlled.

Members are asked to please email unionoffice@cupe411.ca if you have been forced to take a leave without pay, requested a workplace accommodation (granted/denied), requested access to protective equipment to do your work safely and been denied, or had to use your benefit entitlements for anything other than what they were intended (i.e. Sick time to Self-Isolate when you are not symptomatic).

Your Union believes that a positive and proactive approach to the health and safety for all workers in the Chilliwack School District not only benefits the members of Local 411, but everyone within the system and not just today, but every day.  So, we encourage members to continue to advocate for themselves and we respectfully ask for support from the K-12 Stakeholders in our community as we navigate our new normal.

In Solidarity,

CUPE 411 Executive