Educational opportunities
Submitted on: 21 Jan 10
Category: The Union, Things to think about, Vote YES
Get Educated With OPSEU!
OPSEU offers many educational courses to assist you in the workplace. These courses are available to all members, and are completely free!
| LEC Leadership and Team Development |
The course is a working session for LECs to clarify their individual and collective roles as local leaders, to develop a comprehensive picture of their units and workplaces, and to assess the functioning of their Local. |
| New Stewards Part 1 | This course aims to support the new steward as part of the local leadership team. It focuses of the roles of the steward, mapping the membership, navigating the structure of OPSEU, communicating effectively with members and understanding our union’s struggle to challenge privatization. |
| New Stewards Part 2 | This course aims to strengthen the new steward’s skills to act effectively as port of the local leadership team. It focuses on writing and filing a grievance and understand the grievance procedure, facing management and mobilizing members around specific issues. |
| Local Treasures/Trustees | The goal of this course is to give the necessary tools and education to Local Treasures and Trustees in order for them to fulfill their roles in the Local. It also draws on members’ experiences to solve problems occurring with the administration of Local funds. |
| Local Newsletters | This is a hands-on course providing the basic skills needed to put out a good local newsletter. Participants will have a chance to learn and practice writing news reports and headlines, finding and using graphics and cartoons, use of layout and design tools and equipment. |
| Health and Safety Level 1 | This course is designed to equip members and stewards with the skills necessary to identify, monitor and attack the hazards of working life. It will include topics such as investigation and reporting, establishing effective health and safety committees, workers’ rights under the law and how to apply them. |
| Health and Safety Level 2 | Participants will learn to control hazards and assist in accident investigation, prioritize and strategize around health and safety problems. The course also includes an overview of the Occupational Health and Safety Act. Case studies, group exercises and audio visual presentations. |
| WSIB Level 1 | This first level is designed to provide an overview of the Workplace Safety and Insurance system. Participants will review the statutory obligations of both workers an employers and learn their rights as provided by the legislation. |
| WSIB Level 2 | The second level will provide the participants with the detailed knowledge of the benefits and service available, including changes as a result of legislation/bills. |
| Duty to Accommodate | Provincial legislation and existing jurisprudence require employers and unions to provide accommodation short of undue hardship. This course is designed to provide an understanding of OPSEU’s obligation to accommodate members with disabilities and all other protected groups under the Human Rights Code. |
| Dealing with Workplace Conflict |
This course is designed to define and analyze conflict and look at the range of processes aimed at alleviating or eliminating the sources of conflict. There are many tools available and how and when they are used depends on several factors that will be perused. It will also look at mediation and its role in conflict resolution. |
| Bullying and Psychological Harassment in the Workplace | This course will help you recognize the signs of bullying and a toxic workplace. We look at case law and other tools helpful in understanding the impact of workplace bullying. It is designed to strengthen individual and collective capacity to respond to co-workers, and pressure employers to tackle this issue. |
| Advancing Labour Issues through Labour Management Committees | This course aims to strengthen skills of labour management committees to solve workplace problems and build the union, whether management is cooperating or not. To assess the effectiveness of a labour management committee and to strengthen skills to move a workplace complaint to resolution. |
| Mental Health: Challenging the stigma in the workplace | This introductory course explores mental health, mental health concerns, and stigma in the workplace. Some of the topics include demystifying mental health: individual, union and employer responsibilities; member to member issues; and some strategies to challenge stigma and build inclusion. |
| Grievance Handling Level 1 & 2 |
This course is designed to examine the grievance process. This hands-on course helps members analyze situation to decide whether a grievance is the best approach. They will learn about different types of grievances and the remedies available through the grievance/arbitration process. They will develop technical skills in writing, processing grievances and practice communication to assess whether a member’s rights have been violated. |
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