Tag: Awareness Days
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Sexual Harassment Awareness Week June 1-7
For more information on Sexual Harassment Awareness Week, click here.
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June 1-7 is Sexual Harassment Awareness Week
Under the Ontario Human Rights Code, sexual harassment is defined as “engaging in a course of vexatious comment or conduct that is known or ought to be known to be unwelcome.” Sexual harassment is discriminatory. It damages the emotional, psychological, and physical well-being of the person it is aimed at. It hurts the person’s dignity…
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June 1: a day to fight for injured workers
OPSEU President Warren (Smokey) Thomas released the following statement today to mark Injured Workers Day in Ontario. June 1 marks Injured Workers Day in Ontario, a date set aside each year to defend the interests of tens of thousands of workers in our province who are injured on the job. We observe this day to…
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Injured Workers’ Day
Injured workers from across the province will gather in Toronto once more on June 1, Injured Workers Day, to call public attention to the explosive growth of precarious work in Ontario that is making more and more workplaces less and less safe. To make matters worse, workers now face ever-greater obstacles to qualify for compensation…
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May 19: Personal Support Workers Day
On behalf of the OPSEU Executive Board, it’s my privilege to pay tribute today to the tens of thousands of personal support workers (PSWs) in our province, including several thousand OPSEU members, on the occasion of Personal Support Workers Day in Ontario. PSWs are part of a network of heavy lifters in the health care…
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Liberal assault on choice for PSWs
Toronto – Miranda Ferrier, President of the Ontario Personal Support Workers Association (OPSWA), and Warren (Smokey) Thomas, President of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU), are demanding answers after the Ontario government announced a mandatory registry for personal support workers without consulting PSWs, and funded a new training program for PSWs in exclusive partnership…
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Celebrate the Freedom to Love on May 17
May 17, 2017 marks the 12th Anniversary of the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia (IDAHOT). This year’s theme focuses on a worldwide celebration of sexual and gender diversities. The Day brings together communities from across the globe and calls policy makers, the media, the public, opinion leaders and local authorities to action. Lesbian,…
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A week to recognize mental health workers
Dear friends: On behalf of OPSEU’s Executive Board, it is my privilege to pay tribute to our 7,000 mental health workers in hospitals, community agencies, correctional services and crisis homes on the occasion of Mental Health Week in Canada, May 1-7. No Canadian has been untouched by the impact of mental illness, either on themselves…
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Mark Day of Mourning by restoring full WSIB benefits: OPSEU
On the day that Canadians mark a National Day of Mourning for workers killed and injured on the job, the Wynne government should demand that the Workplace Safety Insurance Board (WSIB) restore full benefits to those who need support, the president of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) said today. “It’s scandalous that the…
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National Day of Mourning: A statement from OPSEU President Warren (Smokey) Thomas
Tomorrow, Friday April 28, is Canada’s National Day of Mourning for those killed or injured, or who have acquired work-related illness while on the job. In towns and cities across the country, working people and local leaders will gather for a moment of silence to commemorate our late sisters and brothers. It is the day…
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Administrative professionals: the backbone of our workplaces
On behalf of the OPSEU Executive Board, I would like to pay tribute today – Administrative Professionals Day – to the thousands of OPSEU members who keep offices humming in the Ontario Public Service, the Broader Public Service and in colleges across Ontario. You are, without doubt, the strength and backbone of our offices. Without…
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OPSEU radio campaign marks National Day of Mourning
TORONTO – The Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) will launch a province-wide radio ad campaign tomorrow to remember workers who have been killed or injured on the job and call for action on workplace health and safety. OPSEU’s 30-second ad, which will air for one week on 67 stations across the province, will mark…
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Vive la francophonie!
The term “francophonie,” first coined in 1880, was used to describe a group of individuals and countries who spoke French. More than a century later and with an estimated 274 million French speakers around the world, we come together on March 20 to celebrate International Francophonie Day. It is a celebration of French language and francophonie…
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Funeral arrangements for former OPSEU President Fred Upshaw
Friends of the late OPSEU President Fred Upshaw are invited to a visitation to be held Sunday, March 5 from 2 to 4 p.m. and from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Oshawa Funeral Home, 847 King St. (just off Thornton), in Oshawa. The funeral service will be held in the chapel on Monday, March 6 at…
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December 10: Stand up for human rights!
A message from the OPSEU Provincial Human Rights Committee. The United Nations has declared December 10 as Human Rights Day. It is observed every year around the world and marks the date on which the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration on Human Rights in 1948. In 2016, we saw numerous attacks on basic human rights. The transgender community…
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Gender-based violence is still alive: remember and take action
On December 6, we commemorate the lives of fourteen women who died as a result of the massacre École Polytechnique de Montréal: Geneviève Bergeron, 21; Hélène Colgan, 23; Nathalie Croteau, 23; Barbara Daigneault, 22; Anne-Marie Edward, 21; Maud Haviernick, 29; Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz, 31; Maryse Laganière, 25; Maryse Leclair, 23; Anne-Marie Lemay, 22; Sonia Pelletier, 23;…
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Message from OPSEU President on World AIDS Day 2016
“AIDS is no longer just a disease; it is a human rights issue.” Those were the words of Nelson Mandela, delivered before a mass rally in Cape Town on the eve of World AIDS Day, 2003. They are as true today on World AIDS Day 2016, as they were 13 years ago in South Africa.…
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Breathe a sigh of relief for respiratory therapists!
On behalf of the OPSEU Executive Board, we would like to pay tribute to the hundreds of respiratory therapists across Ontario on the occasion of Respiratory Therapists Week. The professional skills of respiratory therapists, commonly known as RTs, quite literally represent the thin line between life and death. Their work is invaluable, but all too…
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Child care workers matter!
OPSEU President Warren (Smokey) Thomas issued the following statement today to mark Child Care Worker and Early Childhood Educator Appreciation Day. It’s 2016. So why we are still making the case for quality, universal childcare? Today marks the Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care’s Child Care Worker and Early Childhood Educator Appreciation Day. It’s a…