Since the beginning of the Coronavirus outbreak in January, your union has been closely monitoring the situation and acting decisively based on the best available science and expert recommendations to keep members and staff healthy, safe, and informed while maintaining core services and supports for our 80,000+ members across the province during this critical time.

Yesterday, I convened the first meeting of the BCGEU COVID Response Team-which is made up of me, Treasurer Paul Finch, our four Executive Vice Presidents, the BCGEU's three directors and our press secretary. The team will be meeting daily (by phone) throughout the pandemic to identify urgent issues for members and staff and streamline the resolution of those issues.

The first issue we tackled was the decision to close BCGEU offices to the public and require all non-essential BCGEU staff to work from home effective as soon as it is operationally possible. We expect all offices to be closed by the end of this week-hopefully many will be closed by Wednesday.

We took this decision to ensure our members have access to core services and supports of their union during the pandemic while also supporting the ability of our staff to practice social distancing. Allowing non-essential staff to work from home and restricting public access to BCGEU buildings we are making sure staff whose work requires them to be in an office to practice social distancing in their workplace. 

I want to make two things clear:

• BCGEU buildings are safe-we implemented deep cleaning protocols in every facility last week. This decision to have non-essential staff work remotely is simply our commitment to the recommended practice of social distancing.
• The office closure will not impact members' ability to access the core services and supports of their union. During this period of remote work, local chairs will continue to have direct access to staff representatives and members with questions or issues related to COVID-19 or regular labour relations can contact their steward or local chair as they usually would. In addition, members with questions or concerns specific to COVID-19 in their workplace can email those questions to health@bcgeu.ca 

Going forward your union will continue to protect the health, safety, and rights of our members and staff as well as all working people based on the best available science and expert advice and to keep our members and staff informed of our decisions and actions. I encourage all of you to follow the science, listen to the experts and take care of yourselves and your loved ones. Thank you for all that you do.

In solidarity,
Stephanie Smith

UWU/MoveUP

COVID-19 Safety Plans: What BCGEU members need to know

As you are aware, the B.C. government has announced timelines for services and businesses to re-open during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Whether your workplace is re-opening now, or has been open throughout the pandemic, your employer – like all employers in B.C. – is required to develop a COVID-19 Safety Plan that meets government and WorkSafeBC requirements and to have the plan available upon inspection.

In addition to having a safety plan, your employer should:

• Develop the safety plan in consultation with workers and your workplace's Joint Occupational Health and Safety (JOHS) committee or worker representatives;
• Make the safety plan readily available to workers;
• Ensure workers are trained and know how to keep themselves safe;
• Ensure supervisors are trained;
• Ensure supervisors are monitoring the workplace to confirm policies and procedures are being followed.

If these things are not being done in your workplace, or you have concerns about how they're being done, you should:

• Immediately notify your supervisor and your health and safety representatives (either your union's OHS department or your local BCGEU area office). Doing so is both a right and a responsibility.
• Consider invoking your right to refuse unsafe work.

More about COVID-19 Safety Plans

By order of B.C.'s Provincial Health Officer, all employers must develop a COVID-19 Safety Plan. The purpose of the Safety Plan is to minimize the risk of transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

WorkSafeBC has developed detailed guidance and templates to help employers assess the risk of exposure to the virus, and put in place effective measures to protect workers. These materials are also a good resource to understand the best practices you should be seeing implemented in your workplace.

At a minimum, COVID-19 Safety Plans should include the following:

• Measures to allow workers to maintain a physical distance of least two metres between one another and between clients/ customers
• Policies to ensure that workers or clients (where possible) that are ill or required to self-isolate are not allowed in the workplace
• Enhanced workplace cleaning, especially high-traffic areas and high-touch surfaces like light switches and door knobs
• Easy access to facilities and adequate time for workers to wash their hands frequently
• Consideration of allowing workers to work remotely where possible
• "Engineering controls" – like plexi-glass barriers or other changes to the physical workspace to facilitate physical distancing, and to separate workers and/or clients where distancing is not possible
• "Administrative controls" – like rotating or staggered schedules, restrictions on the number clients, or sharing documents electronically to facilitate physical distancing and reduce contact with potentially contaminated surfaces
• Where physical distancing is not possible, provision for appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) like masks, eye protection, gloves and/or gowns.
• Updated protocols for Occupational First Aid Attendants (OFAAs)
• A training plan for all staff on the Safety Plan and the measures identified in the Safety Plan
   

Download a copy of the COVID-19 Safety Plan poster here

UWU/MoveUP

The last several months have been indescribable in so many ways...but the last few weeks have been absolutely devastating.
 
Like many of you, two weeks ago my social media feeds were completely filled with the video of the senseless murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police. Mr. Floyd is not alone-Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, the list goes on and seems to grow by the day-but Mr. Floyd has been a flashpoint. The violence and brutality of his death was unspeakable, and the aftermath has been as hard to watch as it is hard to look away from.
 
These names and images and events are just the latest chapter in our society's generations-long struggle with racism and white supremacy. To win that struggle, we need to start by understanding and accepting that racism and white supremacy are deeply rooted in our communities and our institutions and that those of us who are white have a moral obligation to be part of the work of rooting them out.
 
To me, that means embracing the work, the hard work, of anti-racism. For white people, like me and many of you, that work includes listening to and supporting our IBPoC (Indigenous, Black and People of Colour) friends and comrades when they share their lived experience; it includes looking for ways to transfer our privilege to those who lack it; it includes unlearning language and behaviour and assumptions that we don't remember learning in the first place; it includes confronting uncomfortable truths about the people, places and institutions that have defined our lives; it includes dismantling systems designed for oppression and building a better world.
 
The work of anti-racism includes all of this and much more. And that work must happen in every community and every family. I can assure you that work will happen in our union.
 
A few months ago, our plan had been to spend last week together at convention, debating, voting, socializing and charting our union's course for the next three years. Instead, we spent the time apart, but we must still work on a vision for our union's future and that anti-racism must be part of that vision.
 
Over the coming days, weeks, and months, I'll be working with your elected leaders and BCGEU staff to build anti-racism into the work of our union and I'm asking you to be part of making that happen: If you have ideas for what our union can do to be anti-racist, to see and support our IBPoC members, I want to hear from you.
 
Thank you for everything you do every day to make our union, and our movement stronger.
 
In Solidarity,
Stephanie

Hazard Alert: Hand sanitizer at worksites

You are receiving this hazard alert as an OHS representative of BCGEU members. Please inform your colleagues of the following information. 

Due to supply issues, some manufacturers of hand sanitizer are substituting food-grade ethanol with technical-grade ethanol – which contains toxicological properties including carcinogenicity and should NOT be used on broken or damaged skin, while pregnant or breastfeeding, or inhaled in general.

We advise all OHS representatives and workers to:

1.  Be aware of this potential hazard (full details below).
2. Check the information about the hand sanitizer product used in your workplace. 

If your workplace is using hand sanitizer containing technical-grade ethanol, we advise JOHS committees or worker representatives to:

• Recommend that the employer substitute the hand sanitizer with a hand sanitizer that does not contain technical-grade ethanol.
• Recommend measures and procedures that reinforce handwashing with soap and water as the best hand-hygiene practice and use of hand sanitizer only when soap and water are not available. 

If you have questions about this advice, or the following information, contact ohs@bcgeu.ca. 

About technical-grade ethanol and Health Canada manufacturing requirements:

Hand sanitizer that contains technical-grade ethanol has a stronger or different smell than sanitizer with food-grade ethanol. The ingredient of concern is acetaldehyde with a content of 800-1000 ppm. (Normal content of acetaldehyde in hand sanitizer is 10 ppm.) The following is an example of a label you should expect to see on hand sanitizer containing technical-grade ethanol:



On April 15, 2020, Health Canada issued a time-limited approval for manufacturers of hand sanitizer to use technical-grade ethanol while higher-grade ethanol was in short supply. Health Canada required these manufacturers to notify its customers that their product contained technical-grade ethanol and to label their product containers with the following warnings: "Do not use on broken or damaged skin. Do not use if you are pregnant or breastfeeding. Do not inhale."

At the end of May, some lots of Microsan Optidose hand sanitizer with technical-grade ethanol were recalled by B.C. health authorities, and by now should have been identified and removed from health authority worksites. However, other non-health authority BCGEU workplaces may be using hand sanitizer with technical-grade ethanol. 

Key concerns about using this product:

• Information about this change in manufacturing, and the potential harm associated with the new product, may not make it to workers. 
• Handwashing with soap and water is always the best method for hand hygiene and should be encouraged no matter what type of hand sanitizer is available, but especially because of this issue. 

More information:

British Columbia's Occupational Health and Safety Regulation requires employers to eliminate or minimize exposure to chemicals that are potentially harmful to workers' health (Section 5.2 (b)), and ensure that that labels, Safety Data Sheets and other information are readily available and clearly communicated to the worker (Section 5.2 (a), (c)). 

The Joint Health and Safety (JOHS) committee or worker representative has the power to identify hazards and make recommendations to the Employer to improve the health and safety of workers (Workers' Compensation Act Section 37), and to request information from the employer about hazards in the workplace (Workers' Compensation Act Section 42(2)(a)). 

April 15th Health Canada notice to industry: https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/drugs-health-products/natural-non-prescription/legislation-guidelines/covid19-technical-grade-ethanol-hand-sanitizer.html

List of Health Canada-approved hand sanitizers: https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/drugs-health-products/disinfectants/covid-19/hand-sanitizer.html

Information on how Health Canada assesses the use of technical use ethanol: https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/drugs-health-products/natural-non-prescription/legislation-guidelines/covid19-technical-grade-ethanol-hand-sanitizer/risk-assessment-summary-report.html

Questions? 

Contact ohs@bcgeu.ca. 

UWU/MoveUP

Burnaby – One of the world's leading independent proxy advisory firms, Glass Lewis, has recommended that Thomson Reuters (NYSE, TSX: TRI) shareholders vote FOR a proposal filed by the B.C. Government and Service Employees' Union (BCGEU). The proposal calls on the Thomson Reuters board to produce a human rights report that addresses the impacts of contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Shareholders believe these contracts expose the company to significant legal and reputational risk, as well as the real likelihood of contributing to, or being directly linked to, violations of human rights, including children's rights, due process, equal protection, freedom from persecution and torture, and the rights of asylum seekers.

This endorsement is significant. Glass Lewis's global client base of 1,200+ institutions collectively manages more than $25 trillion in assets.

According to Glass Lewis's analysis of the proposal:

"[W]e do not believe that [Thomson Reuters] has provided sufficiently robust information concerning its human rights considerations, particularly given the controversial nature of its association with ICE. We believe that additional reporting on how the Company is mitigating adverse human rights impacts from its products, and how it ensures it remains in compliance with the UN Global Compact (of which it already is a signatory), would provide shareholders with assurance this is an area that is being thoroughly managed and overseen in a manner that is in the best interests of shareholders".

In response to the endorsement, BCGEU President Stephanie Smith released the following statement:

"The point of our shareholder proposal is simple: we are asking Thomson Reuters to address the troubling human rights issues related to how their software is being used and to make sure they are living up to their obligations as a participant in the United Nations Global Compact. The United Nations considers family separation and detention illegal under international law. We see these contracts a risk to investors, as well as one of the fundamental ethical issues of our time," said Smith.

"We deeply believe in the importance of this proposal and are encouraged that Glass Lewis has recommended shareholders support BCGEU's proposal. We hope to see a strong vote at the June 3 AGM."

BCGEU has also learned that other significant TRI investors have voted FOR the proposal, and the proposal also has also been endorsed by responsible investment funds including Trillium Asset Management ($3.2 billion AUM) and Azzad Asset Management ($812 million AUM), as well as human rights and legal expert Nina Gardner, Adjunct Professor of business and human rights law at John Hopkins SAIS.

Recent reports revealed by Mijente, a US based advocacy non profit, show how Thomson Reuters is not only passively offering data to government agencies like ICE as part of the companies multi-million dollar contracts with the rogue agency; they also play a direct role in reviewing and vetting target lists for which immigrants ICE should deport.

The proposal was submitted by the B.C. Government and Service Employees' Union (BCGEU) as part of its capital stewardship program. Under BCGEU's capital stewardship strategy, the union has submitted shareholder proposals to companies including Royal Bank of Canada, Brookfield Asset Management and Loblaw on topics like human rights, sexual misconduct, and executive compensation. The union's strategy has succeeded in securing strong commitments on human rights due diligence, vertical pay analysis, food waste and climate disclosure.

The Thomson Reuters shareholder meeting will take place virtually on June 3, 2020.

View the BCGEU shareholder proposal here: https://www.bcgeu.ca/bc_union_s_shareholder_proposal_questions_thomson_reuters_on_human_rights_record_connections_to_ice

View BCGEU's investor brief here: https://www.bcgeu.ca/bcgeu_releases_investor_brief_calling_on_thomson_reuters_tsx_nyse_tri_to_properly_assess_risks_of_working_with_ice

View Thomson Reuters's management circular and response to the BCGEU shareholder proposal here: https://ir.thomsonreuters.com/static-files/0482f011-d14a-4094-8029-74c7a7f3c4bd

UWU/MoveUP

Your union and WorkSafeBC guidance for re-opening 
 
Over the past 10 days, your union's executive, component vice presidents and Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) team provided input to the Workers' Compensation Board (WorkSafeBC) as they developed guidance for sectors that are re-opening, as per the B.C. government's Restart Plan. 
 
We provided feedback on protocols and best practices to help each industry resume operations (or continue operations) in a safe way during the COVID-19 pandemic. We raised key issues and concerns and made practical suggestions for measures moving forward.
 
WorkSafeBC has now posted its guidance for some sectors on its website here. We encourage you to review the guidance for your sector. 
 
We know that the process of reopening will be challenging. As workplaces adapt to a new reality, it is critical that employers take all reasonable steps to protect workers, and that workers are included in the planning and implementation of new procedures, to address the risks associated with COVID-19. 

If you have any concerns or challenges as re-opening plans unfold, please notify your OHS rep, shop steward or email health@bcgeu.ca. We will take action to help address your issues, and alert WorkSafeBC.

UWU/MoveUP

Ahead of the Thomson Reuters (TSX, NYSE: TRI) annual meeting of shareholders on June 3, 2020, the BCGEU has released an investor brief about its shareholder proposal, raising concerns about human rights impacts at the $8-billion software and media company. The Proposal asks the Thomson Reuters board to investigate and disclose whether it has adequately assessed and mitigated the reputational and human rights risks associated with providing its software to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Immigration, Customs and Enforcement agency (ICE).

BCGEU encourages investors to vote for this proposal.

Download a full copy of the investor brief now.

ICE relies on data and technology provided by Thomson Reuters products such as CLEAR® to track and arrest immigrants on a massive scale, and it is not clear what, if any, assessment of business risks has been carried out relating to Thomson Reuters's contracts with ICE and other agencies. The BCGEU believes this may be indicia of the board's failure to manage the Corporation's salient human rights risks. The failure to manage business risks related to human rights issues could have significant negative consequences for shareholders and stakeholders alike.

The Proposal calls on the Thomson Reuters Board to produce a report addressing (i) how Thomson Reuters assesses and mitigates its role in contributing to and being directly linked to human rights impacts by end users of its products, (ii) whether Thomson Reuters remains in compliance with the Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact, and (iii) whether Thomson Reuters's failure to invoke the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights is out of step with market practice.

You can also read BCGEU's shareholder proposal here.

Read the excerpt from Thomson Reuters management circular here.

UWU/MoveUP

In mid-April the federal government announced it was working with the provinces on a cost-shared, temporary "pandemic pay" program to top up the wages of select essential frontline workers-under the cost-share, the federal government is responsible for 75 per cent of the funding and the provincial governments are responsible for the remaining 25 per cent. 

Ever since the initial announcement, your union has worked with our provincial government to ensure that B.C.'s program would cover the broadest possible group of BCGEU members working on the frontlines during COVID-19.

Today, the B.C. government announced the long-awaited details of the program. This program will impact different members differently and we are working with your component leadership to develop targeted bulletins. However, we wanted to ensure that all members got general information as quickly as possible. Here is what we know about the program based on today's announcement:

• The program will provide a lump-sum payment calculated at $4 per straight-time hour covering a 16-week period retroactive to March 15, 2020.
• Eligible workers must have worked straight-time hours during the 16-week period covered by the program.
• There is no minimum threshold on hours, so casual and on-call hours are eligible.
• Eligible workers will receive the payment directly from their employer and do not need to apply.
• Government will be working with your employer on details of the disbursement, which are still being worked out. 

Our union worked hard to make sure the government took a broad approach to this program and, overall, we are happy with the outcome especially compared to other provinces. As a result of that approach, tens of thousands of BCGEU members will be covered including those providing care to our province's most vulnerable citizens in direct government, health services, and social services positions. Please read the full list here.

We applaud the objective of the pandemic pay program, we appreciate the efforts of our provincial government to consult with stakeholders-including our union-as they developed the program, and we are extremely pleased that the broad scope includes some of our lowest wage members doing some of the highest risk work. At the same time, we are disappointed that the government chose to exclude thousands more BCGEU members doing essential work. 

Our feedback to government during the consultation was that the program should be extended to all frontline essential workers and that recognizing some groups of workers while leaving others out would create unnecessary divisions at a moment when unity and solidarity among workers is more important than ever. To be clear, our stance has not changed: We still believe B.C.'s pandemic pay program should cover all frontline essential workers in recognition of the extraordinary stress, additional costs, and higher risks to mental and physical health they are facing right now. 

In the coming days we will be reaching out to the provincial government to vigorously restate our position, seek clarification on their choices, and continue to fight for more BCGEU members to be covered by the program.

In solidarity,
BCGEU Executive Committee

UWU/MoveUP

BURNABY, B.C. – Today the B.C. government released long-awaited details of a federal-provincial cost-shared pandemic pay program to temporarily top up the wages of some essential workers. The B.C. Government and Service Employees' Union (BCGEU) is calling on Victoria to expand the program to cover more essential frontline workers.

"The BCGEU pushed hard for this program to cover the broadest possible range of essential works and, as a result, B.C.'s program is significantly more inclusive than those in other provinces," said Stephanie Smith, president of the BCGEU. "We're happy that some of our lowest-wage members doing some of the highest-risk frontline jobs will be eligible. But the bottom line for us is that all frontline essential workers are shouldering an incredible burden in terms of increased cost, stress and inconvenience as well as increased risks to their emotional and physical health. All of these workers deserve recognition-not just some of them."

Under the program, which was first announced by the federal government in mid-April, tens of thousands of BCGEU members will be eligible for a lump-sum payment calculated at $4 per straight-time hour retroactive to March 15, 2020. BCGEU members covered by the program include those providing vital services to the province's most vulnerable citizens like corrections officers, social workers, employment assistance workers, and those who work in health care and social services. However, thousands more BCGEU members have been left out of the program including those in public liquor and cannabis stores and warehouses, maintaining supply chains for the restaurant industry as well as a critical revenue stream for the government during the pandemic.

"From the moment this funding was announced by the federal government, our goal as a union was to make sure B.C.'s program covered the broadest possible swath of frontline essential workers," says Stephanie Smith, BCGEU president. "And our goal hasn't changed. This kind of patchwork recognition creates arbitrary divisions at a moment when unity and solidarity among workers is more important than ever. We're grateful for those who are covered, but we will keep fighting for those who aren't."

In addition to pushing for broader eligibility for the program, the BCGEU is continuing to work with partners in the labour movement and the social justice community on leveraging the lessons of the pandemic to improve the lives of working people with a focus on issues like family-supporting wages, universal child care, and enhanced workplace safety-including paid sick leave.

The BCGEU is one of the largest, most diverse and fastest growing unions in B.C. with more than 80,000 members working in almost every community and economic sector in the province.

For more information, contact BCGEU Communications, communications@bcgeu.ca

UWU/MoveUP