As we all know, things are happening very rapidly with many changes as the entire academic community seems to be going online. It is a challenge to figure how to best support and assist you because this situation is unprecedented for all of us and we are all learning about new developments together. As always, we are here to help you maintain fair working conditions as best as we can. Please feel free to contact us (CUPE 3912 executive) about any concerns or issues you have.
- Your first contact should be your respective VP who has the best expertise about the situation at your university. But if you receive no response, feel free to contact me.
- We are working on some ideas to assist members in need. Please stay tuned and expect more emails in the next week as we adjust to our new reality.
- We are also looking at ways to help members with communication about changing teaching and working conditions.
- Please feel free to pass on your ideas about how we can help. This unusual situation will require some creative solutions.
- The Teaching and Learning Centres at each university are providing support and consultation regarding online instruction so they would be a good place to start if you need assistance with online teaching. At Dal, the message is “please use COVID-19 and include your course number or name in the subject heading in order for us to prioritize your request.” They can be reached at: clt@dal.ca.
- I also came across this article about online teaching:
- The bargaining information sessions planned for next week (March 23-27) will probably be held online as webinars. We would keep the same times (March 23 at 2 Dal Sexton TAs, March 24 at noon Truro, March 25 at noon Mount, March 25 at 5:30 SMU, March 26 at 1:30 Studley TAs, March 27 at 3 Dal PT). Watch for an email for confirmation later this week.
- The Canadian Labour Congress is organizing a free online webinar on ‘How to be a trans ally’ at 1 pm EST on March 31, 2020. ‘This webinar will help union leaders, representatives and staff learn about why being a trans ally in the workplace matters, and what we can do together to make our workplaces and our communities safer and more inclusive for trans people’. You can register here.
Stay safe, physically and mentally.