Health and Safety Representatives The Employer and its Employees will comply with Part 7 of the OHS Act – Representation of Employees in relation to the establishment of designated work groups and the election of Health and Safety Representatives.
Health and Safety Representative Meetings A Health and Safety Representative will be allowed reasonable paid time during working hours to attend to on the job occupational health and safety matters affecting Employees he/she represents providing that the Representative informs their manager and agreement is reached. At all other times the Representative will perform productive work within his/her range of qualifications and competencies.
EMPLOYEE REPRESENTATIVES 1. The University shall recognize UPTE designated employee representatives who are members of the bargaining unit. The function of the UPTE designated employee representative shall be to inform employees of their rights under this Agreement, to ascertain that the terms and conditions of this Agreement are being observed, and to investigate and assist in the processing of grievances.
2. For the purposes of receiving paid release time as provided in this section, UPTE may designate four (4) unit employees as "UPTE designated employee representatives" at each campus/hospital/LBNL. Additionally, in the event a campus/hospital/LBNL has more than two-hundred (200) employees, UPTE may designate one (1) additional UPTE-designated employee representative for each additional one hundred (100) bargaining unit members thereafter, up to a maximum of seven (7) UPTE designated employee representatives. UPTE shall not designate more than one (1) UPTE designated employee representative per department of 100 employees or less. For each additional one-hundred (100) employees, or fraction thereof, in a department UPTE shall be allowed one (1) additional representative in that department.
a. The total cumulative use of paid release time for the UPTE designated employee representative shall be limited to ten (10) hours in any one (1) month. University-convened meetings pursuant to Article 10 - Grievance Procedure, shall not be deducted from this block of time.
b. The use of the maximum of ten (10) hours shall be for health and safety or grievance-related activities such as:
1) Review and discussion with employees and management regarding health and safety issues;
2) the initial hand-delivered filing of a grievance and the retrieval of University documents provided pursuant to a written request for information related to a grievance;
3) one-on-one meetings with a grievant concerning a filed grievance, or an alleged violation of this Agreement which is at the Informal Review stage of Article 10 - Grievance Procedure;
4) meetings with the University representative to whom written grievances are presented or to whom documents related to filed grievance(s) are presented/signed or with whom time limit agreements are achieved;
5) Informal Review meetings held pursuant to Section E. of Article 10 - Grievance Procedure;
c. A request for release time will be made to the UPTE designated employee representative's supervisor prior to the activity. Such approval shall be granted solely on the basis of operational needs and shall not be denied unreasonably.
d. At its sole discretion, the University may authorize use of release time for more than ten (10) hours in a month per department. The exercise of this discretion and/or the enforcement by the University of the ten (10) hour maximum shall under no circumstances establish a precedent for the UPTE designated employee representative or department involved nor shall the allowance of greater than ten (10) hours in a month for an UPTE designated employee representative have any effect or bearing on the ability of the University to enforce the ten (10) hour maximum on any other UPTE designated employee representative.
e. Should a question of possible abuse of these release time provisions arise, the University will so notify UPTE, and the parties will attempt to resolve the matter. If a question remains, the University may take corrective action when warranted.
f. In the event that release time granted under Section C.2.a. above is not sufficient for the representative’s duties and additional time is not granted under Section C.2.d. above, the employee representative may elect to use vacation time in accordance with Article 43 - Vacation, or leave in accordance with Article 17 - Leaves for Union Business.
Occupational Health and Safety Committee
(a) The parties agree that a joint occupational health and safety committee will be established. The Committee shall govern itself in accordance with the provisions of the Occupational Health and Safety Regulations made pursuant to the Workers Compensation Act. The Committee shall be between the Employer and the Union, with equal representation, and with each party appointing its own representatives. The Union agrees to actively pursue with the other Health Care unions, where more than one union is certified with the Employer, a joint union/employer committee for the purposes of the Occupational Health and Safety Regulations.
(b) Employees who are members of the Committee shall be granted leave without loss of pay or receive straight-time regular wages while attending meetings of the Joint Committee. Employees who are members of the Committee shall be granted leave without loss of pay or receive straight-time regular wages to participate in joint workplace inspections and joint accident investigations at the request of the Committee pursuant to the WCB Occupational Health and Safety Regulations. Committee meetings, workplace inspections and accident investigations shall be scheduled during normal working hours whenever practicable.
(c) The Occupational Health and Safety Committee shall have as part of its mandate the jurisdiction to receive complaints or concerns regarding workload problems which are safety-related, the right to investigate such complaints, the right to define the problem and the right to make recommendations for a solution. Where the Committee determines that a safety-related workload problem exists, it shall inform the Employer. Within 21 days thereafter, the Employer shall advise the Committee what steps it has taken or proposes to take to rectify the safety-related workload problem identified by the Committee. If the Union is not satisfied with the Employer's response, it may refer the matter to the Industry Trouble shooter for a written recommendation.
(d) No employee shall be disciplined for refusal to work when excused by the provisions of the
Joint Health and Safety Committee (a) The Employer and the Union agree that they mutually desire to maintain standards of occupational health and safety in the organization, in order to prevent accidents, injury and illness. The parties agree to promote health and safety throughout the organization. The employer shall provide orientation and training in health and safety to new and current employees on an ongoing basis, and employees shall attend required health and safety training sessions.
(b) Recognizing its responsibilities under the applicable legislation, the Employer agrees to accept as a member of its Joint Health and Safety Committee, at least one representative from the bargaining unit. The number of committee members will be no less than that determined by legislation and the bargaining unit will be entitled to the same membership as any other employee group on the committees. The Union shall notify the employer of their representatives.
(c) Such Committee shall identify potential dangers and hazards, institute means of improving health and safety programs, and recommend actions to be taken to improve conditions related to occupational health and safety.
(d) The Employer agrees to cooperate reasonably in providing necessary information to enable the Committee to fulfill its functions. The Committee shall respect the confidentiality of the information.
(e) The Union agrees to endeavour to obtain the full cooperation of its membership in the observation of all safety rules and practices.
(f) Meetings shall be held every third month or more frequently at the call of either co-chair, if required. The Committee shall keep Minutes of all meetings and make the Minutes available for review.
(g) All time spent by a member of the Joint Health and Safety Committee attending meetings of the Committee and carrying out the members duties, shall be deemed to be time worked for which the member shall be paid by the Employer at the member's applicable rate of pay, and the member shall be entitled to such time from the member's work as necessary for those duties.
(h) The employer shall take every precaution reasonable in the circumstances for the protection of a worker. [Occupational Health and Safety Act, s. 25
Joint Occupational Health and Safety Committee The Employer and the Union recognize the role of the joint Occupational Health and Safety Committee in promoting a safe and healthful workplace. The parties agree that a Joint Occupational Health and Safety Committee shall be established for each Employer covered by this Collective Agreement. The Committee shall govern itself in accordance with the provisions of the Industrial Health and Safety Regulations made pursuant to the Workers’ Compensation Act. The Committee shall be as between the Employer and the Union, with equal representation, and with each party appointing its own representatives. Representatives of the Union shall be chosen by the Union membership or appointed by the Union. All minutes of the meetings of the Joint Occupational Health & Safety Committee will be recorded in a mutually agreeable format and will be sent to the Union. The Union further agrees to actively pursue with the other Health Care Unions a Joint Union Committee for the purposes of this Article. The Employer agrees to provide or cause to be provided to Employer members of the Joint Occupational Health and Safety Committee adequate training and orientation to the duties and responsibilities of committee members to allow the incumbents to fulfil those duties competently. The Union agrees to provide or cause to be provided to Union members of the Joint Occupational Health and Safety Committee adequate training and orientation to the duties and responsibilities of committee members to allow the incumbents to fulfil those duties competently. Such training and orientation shall take place within six (6) months of taking office.
LABOR MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE Section 1. In order to facilitate communication between labor and management, a Labor Management Committee consisting of the Department Head and/or his designated alternate, the Assistant Chief of Police and two (2) Team Managers, and three (3) representatives of the Lincoln Police Union, along with at least one (1) Team Representative, will make up the Labor Management Committee. The Department Head will designate management personnel and the Union shall select Union representatives. Members will serve at the pleasure of the Department Head or Union President, depending upon who the member represents. Members will serve and be replaced on a staggered system (approximately three (3) year limit) depending upon the schedule agreed upon by the Department Head and the Union President.
Section 2. Each Team area will be represented by a member of any rank to serve as spokesperson for that area. They will meet at least one week prior to the monthly Labor Management Committee meeting to formulate the common areas of interest and to elect a spokesperson to present the items in writing to the Labor Management Committee. Payment for attending this meeting will be at the discretion of the Department Head. Spokesperson will be chosen on a rotating basis. Team representatives will be picked by a vote of the Team members that they are representing.
Section 3. The Labor Management Committee may discuss any area of the Department, with limitation only on those areas already under agreement between the City and the Union. The agenda will be based on the problem areas brought to the attention of the Committee by the Team Representatives and on any area representative members of Labor Management feel need to be discussed. Topics for discussion will be posted on the Union bulletin board and disseminated to Labor Management Committee members at least one (1) week prior to the monthly meeting.
Section 4. Membership is subject to change through attrition and elected office, however, a one (1) week notice must be given to the Committee to afford the new member(s) voting privileges.
Section 5. Realizing that communication is the key element to the smooth operation of any organization, the Labor Management Committee will xxxxxx an element of cooperation and unity of organizational members, be they labor or management.
Section 6. Meetings shall be held at least once per calendar month. Additional meetings may be scheduled by mutual agreement of the Committee and the Department Head.
Section 7. A quorum shall consist of two (2) members from labor and two (2) members from management.
