Here are the OHS reps are appointed by your elected union representatives to help you and your coworkers at Sooke Shelter Society ensure a healthy and safe workplace.

Chris Doberstein
Joanne Pinto
Tricia Schaddelee
Allisha Smith
Sara Steward

Your OHS reps participate in the Joint Occupational Health and Safety Committee (JOHS) committee meetings monthly with other workers and your employer as equals. These meetings are legally mandated and are a place to discuss safety issues, injuries, near misses and other concerns and bring forward recommendations.

OHS reps help ensure that recommendations are adopted in a timely matter, participate in safety inspections/investigations, and communicate back to members in a variety of ways–including on the OHS bulletin board in the workplace. Your reps will receive ongoing training to assist them in their duties.

Safety at the workplace is everyone's business – all workers have four basic OHS rights:

1. The right to know about hazards in the workplace. 
2. The right to participate in OHS activities through the Joint Health and Safety Committee. 
3. The right to refuse unsafe work. 
4. The right to no retaliation (e.g. disciplined or fired) for raising OHS concerns. 

If you have concerns about health and safety at the workplace, contact an OHS rep to discuss at the committee and follow up afterwards.

Congratulations to all your new OHS reps! If you are interested in becoming a health and safety leader in your workplace – fill out this form: https://ohs.bcgeu.ca/ohs_rep 

In solidarity,

Kate Banky, Local 301 Chairperson
Kathleen Mann, Staff Representative – Field Services
Jaela Villegas, Staff Representative – Organizing 
 
P.S. Stay up to date on union news by signing into BCGEU's Member Portal. Access it with your login at https://my.bcgeu.ca/ or, if you haven't logged in before, you can sign up for an account here: https://my.bcgeu.ca/signup.

Download PDF of notice here 

UWU/MoveUP