General Membership Meeting
OPSEU Local 241 is hosting a short online General Membership Meeting for all Full-time and Part-time Support Staff members on Wednesday, February 15 from 12 – 12:45 pm.
The meeting will be hybrid; online via Zoom or join us for coffee in-person at Fennel Campus, Room H102.
Register for the GMM now.
We will be presenting the Treasurer’s Report, nominating and/or electing new Full and Part-time Stewards as well as delegates to the OPSEU/SEFPO Convention in April. Any member is eligible to attend the convention. Fill out the nomination form here.
As an extra incentive, we have many gift cards that we will be doing draws for!
Your attendance is important, as we need a certain number of members to proceed with the meeting. Please pass the message on to your co-workers, as both part-time and full-time staff are very strongly encouraged to attend.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Black History Month Hybrid Event
OPSEU/SEFPO’s Coalition of Racialized Workers (CoRW) is inviting you to celebrate with us Black History Month (BLM). This year’s theme is ‘Who We Are’ and it truly captures the activism and impact that CoRW continues to have in our Union.
Join members of CoRW in celebrating our wins and moving towards the future, which includes electing and mobilizing Black, Indigenous, and racialized members into positions of influence, power, and authority in OPSEU/SEFPO. Only when you know who we are can we truly achieve Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in our Union.
Please note that there are two hybrid events planned:
Friday, February 24, 6 pm. – 9 pm.
Saturday, February 25, 3 p.m. – 6 p.m.
For any questions or to register, please contact equity@opseu.org with your name and union number. This event is free and open to all members of the public.
Please register by Thursday, February 16, 2023.
‘Enough is Enough!’: Join the campaign to fight the cost-of-living crisis
On January 28, OPSEU/SEFPO is joining the Ontario Federation of Labour, workers and their unions across Ontario tell the government Enough is Enough!
The cost of living crisis in Ontario is getting increasingly worse. Ontarians are struggling to pay for food and housing, while big corporations take advantage of inflation to rake in record profits.
People from across the province will come together January 28th to gain skills to get organized and build local campaigns, learn from leaders in the fight for decent work, climate justice, and more, and be a part of planning regional launches of the Enough is Enough campaign.
You can sign up for the campaign on the OFL website. Make sure to email campaigns@opseu.org to let us know you’re joining the campaign.
Forensic audit update: OPSEU/SEFPO commences legal action
OPSEU/SEFPO commenced legal action against Warren Thomas, Eduardo Almeida and Maurice Gabay January 16. The statement of claim filed in Superior Court sets out allegations against these individuals and seeks damages of over $6,000,000.
JP Hornick, President, OPSEU/SEFPO has sent an email to OPSEU members: “Today’s statement of claim is just a first step. I want to be clear to you, our staff and members, and the people of Ontario who we dutifully serve, that we will not waiver in our commitment to seeking justice in this matter, and we have the full support of the Board to pursue all available legal avenues. Our actions will be guided by our commitment to act with integrity, our dedication to financial responsibility and our deep respect for the trust our members and Ontarians place in us every day.”
Mental Health First Aid Training
Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) is the support provided to a person who may be experiencing a decline in their mental well-being, or is in a mental health crisis.
In this two-part MHFA Training, participants will learn how recognize signs of mental health crisis. It will also discuss how to initiate conversations to encourage individuals to speak up about their mental well-being, and provide necessary resources to support them.
Gain the tools and knowledge needed to be able to support those who may be experiencing mental health challenges by recognizing the signs of a crisis, initiating important conversations and providing resources to be able to help them support themselves. The knowledge you will gain from the training would allow you to support anyone whom you notice to be experiencing a decline in their mental health including colleagues, friends and loved ones.
Sessions are available through MyLearning, found under the Working at Mohawk quicklink in the Employee section of MyMohawk. There are still lots of available seats, including for the sessions that start next week.
National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence against Women
December 6 is the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence against Women. Today, we remember the 14 young women studying to become engineers at École Polytechnique in Montréal who were shot and killed by a gunman – targeted simply because they were women. Over 30 years ago, this tragedy initiated a dialogue that contributed to tougher gun control laws and improved emergency response. It also brought to light the gender-based violence that women still continue to face today.
According to a report by the World Health Organization, which looked at data from 161 countries between 2000 and 2018, one in three women are subjected to gender-based violence at least once in their lifetime. This figure remains mostly unchanged in the last decade.
Today, we honour the victims of the École Polytechnique mass shooting and reaffirm OPSEU/SEFPO’s commitment to fight for social improvements to prevent all forms of gender-based violence.
A historic victory for workers and public services as the court strikes down Bill 124
OPSEU/SEFPO is calling it a win for hundreds of thousands of workers as the Ontario Superior Court declares the wage-stifling Bill 124 “void and of no effect.”
The decision comes following a court challenge launched by a coalition of unions and associations, including OPSEU/SEFPO, seeking to declare Bill 124’s wage cap unconstitutional. The court found the law violated workers’ right to freedom of association and substantially and unjustifiably interfered with collective bargaining rights.
“This is a historic victory and a further example of what can be accomplished when workers and unions stand together to fight to protect our Charter rights,” said JP Hornick, OPSEU/SEFPO President. “Now we’re calling on the Ford government to accept this decision instead of proceeding with an appeal so we can chart a pathway to a solution to the staffing crisis that is plaguing the public sector.”
Bill 124 caps public sector compensation at one per cent, at a time when inflation is at a forty-year high and when public health care is facing a staffing crisis due to Ford’s wage restrictions.
OPSEU/SEFPO will pursue all avenues to re-open negotiations that were stifled by Bill 124.
Read the full press release.
Rally to Protect Patient Safety in Operating Rooms
Ontario Nursing Association represented nurses are organizing in response to changes the provincial government is implementing to our health care. The plans are to replace one of the nursing roles in operating rooms with an unregulated health-care worker.
They are reaching out to unions in the Hamilton area to invite us to the rally to protect patient safety and ensure staffing is appropriate. They are concerned that replacing a nursing role with a health-care worker erodes the standard of patient care required in an operating room.
Save the date:
Wednesday, December 7, 3:30-6:00 pm
Hamilton General Hospital
237 Barton Street East
OPSEU/SEFPO education workers to walk out in solidarity with CUPE colleagues
A press release has been sent stating that OPSEU/SEFPO Sector 3 education workers working in boards of education will walk off the job this Friday in a monumental show of solidarity with their CUPE colleagues who are set to stage a province-wide protest against Stephen Lecce and the Ford government’s Bill 28.
OPSEU/SEFPO represents close to 8,000 members working in boards of education as educational assistants, child and youth workers, designated early childhood educators, autism support workers, deaf blind interveners, lunch monitors, early childhood educators, clerical workers, IT specialists, Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC) and ESL, among others.
Bill 28, which is a legislative attack on workers’ constitutional right to fair and free collective bargaining, was introduced on October 31 after CUPE gave its five days’ notice for job action, with the possible start of a strike on Friday, November 4. Bill 28 preemptively prohibits these workers’ right to strike, imposes massive fines, imposes four-year long collective agreements, and invokes the notwithstanding clause to preclude any legal action against Ford’s unconstitutional and undemocratic attempt at strong-arming.
Bill 28 isn’t just an attack on education workers’ collective bargaining rights, it is an attack on all workers’ rights. And after hearing from hundreds of our education workers and their local leaders who want to support their CUPE colleagues, our response to this unprecedented legislative overstep is clear: OPSEU/SEFPO education workers will walk out in solidarity with their CUPE colleagues this Friday.
Read the full message from OPSEU/SEFPO President JP Hornick and First Vice-President/Treasurer Laurie Nancekivell that was sent to all OPSEU/SEFPO Sector 3 education workers last night
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About Local 241
OPSEU Local 241 proudly represents all Support Staff at Mohawk College.
Local Stewards and elected Officers are volunteers. We help our members navigate the unionized workplace and understand, exercise, and enforce our rights under the collective agreement.