Video: Sex work and sex workers

I’m currently working with a subject matter expert to develop and launch a course about sex work and sex workers (LBST 415). I'd guess we are about a year from launch, but who knows. In the interim, this video does a nice job of introducing the topic of sex work (specific to the UK).

 -- Bob Barnetson

55 picket Athabasca U’s contract stalling

On Tuesday, 35 members (including 10 first timers!) and 20 allies of the Athabasca University Faculty Association (AUFA) picketed an Athabasca University meeting at the Matrix Hotel in Edmonton. This was AUFA’s fourth information picket and we ran out of signs!

The purpose this picket was to show AUFA members’ continued displeasure with AU’s foot dragging at the bargaining table and that a work stoppage will result in both operational disruption and reputational harm. Passersby were handed leaflets outlining AUFA’s concerns.

AUFA and AU are scheduled for two days of informal mediation on June 17 and 18. AUFA’s most recent settlement proposal is:

• a two-year wage freeze,
• a clear process by which long-serving term employees become permanent, and 
• two further years of waged to be negotiated (and resolved by arbitration).  

This proposal is broadly consistent with other provincial settlements as well as the settlement recently reached between AU and its support staff.

The Board of Governors bargaining team has stalled bargaining since May 2018. It delayed the exchange of proposals, it advanced unreasonable proposals (that it has since abandoned), and it has been unavailable to bargain multiple times for periods of up to two months. It has also stalled the negotiation of an essential services agreement (which is a pre-cursor to formal mediation).

AUFA appreciates the participation of members and/or representatives from the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees, the Canadian Union of Public Employees, the Confederation of Alberta Faculty Associations, the MacEwan University Faculty Association, and the NorQuest College Faculty Association who joined our picket line this afternoon.

-- Bob Barnetson

Athabasca remains non-compliant with OHS Act

Creative Commons:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/pasukaru76/5105427484

Last fall, Athabasca University (AU) failed an occupational health and safety (OHS) inspection and was issued several compliance orders. Many of the requirements AU violated came into effect on June 1, 2018, after legislative changes were passed in late 2017.

The more substantive compliance orders were:

• The employer could not provide proof that workers are aware of their rights and duties under the OHS Act, Regulations, and Code, breaching s. 3(1)(b) of the OHS Act.
• The employer could not provide proof that a new worker orientation or other safety training is provided to workers, breaching s. 3(2) of the OHS Act.
• The workplace violence prevention plan (policy and procedures) did not meet the requirements of Sections 390.1 & 390.2 as required under Section 390 of the OHS Code.

In April, AU was still not compliant with these requirements. AU is apparently in the process of hiring a training vendor so OHS extended that order deadline to July 28, 2019.

AU’s experience with the OHS regime suggests several things:

1. Even large, sophisticated employers with dedicated OHS staff don’t necessarily comply with the law unless the law is enforced. AU had plenty of warning of these changes and took no action to comply until the faculty association complained to the government. Absent a complaint, AU would likely have remained noncompliant.
2. OHS basically won’t enforce the OHS Act. Instead, it issues orders and grants employers extensions. AU’s joint OHS committee was told by the employer co-chair that, even if AU missed the July deadline, AU will just get another extension. Absent government consequences for violations, there is effectively no law. Which maybe helps explain Alberta’s high level of workplace injury and death.

AU may, of course, just be stalling in the hope that the UCP government rolls back worker safety rights in the spring session. Overall, AU’s behaviour on OHS is clearly contrary to AU’s espoused “I-Care” values of integrity, adaptability, and respect.

-- Bob Barnetson

National workplace fatalities and injury report

Sean Tucker and Anya Keefe (University of Regina) have again released a national overview of occupational fatality and injury rates in Canada. This report usefully aggregates national data, with 2017 data being available. 

Looking at fatality numbers, we see that Alberta had highest number of injury related fatalities while Ontario had the highest number of disease-related fatalities.

When fatalities are corrected for population size (fatals per 100,000 full-time workers), Alberta continues to have the highest rate of fatalities caused by injury among provinces with more than 100,000 workers. (Both Saskatchewan and Alberta have seen further increases in 2018.)

Looking at fatalities caused by occupational disease, Newfoundland and Labrador lead the way in 2017 (9.1/100,000), followed by Alberta (4.5).



Looking at lost-time claim rates, Manitoba lead the way in 2017.


Alberta’s historical rates are displayed graphically below.

One of the challenges noted by Tucker and Keefe is the limited quality of the injury data (derived from rolled up WCB stats) and the need for better metrics. There is, of course, also a need for more effective prevention activities.

-- Bob Barnetson

Athabasca hides cost of bargaining

Athabasca University is refusing to divulge how much money it was spent driving bargaining with the Athabasca University Faculty Association (AUFA) to impasse.

The university’s unwillingness to quantify the costs of its behaviours suggests that those costs are high. An estimate would be along these lines:

Activity	Cost/Day	Days	Cost ($)
Bargaining	$6800	20	136,000
Preparation, ESA, Misc Litigation	$6800	20	136,000
Communications Consultant	n/a	n/s	10,000
Total			282,000

These are intentionally conservative estimates and include lawyer costs and staff time. I’d be happy to publish the actual number if AU wants to make it available.

That AU has spent nearly $300,000 to reach impasse is pretty galling, given that the provincial settlement pattern is obvious and this could have been wrapped up in two days of bargaining last summer.

$282k is a lot of money and could have been used to: 

1. Waived tuition and fees on a course for more >400 undergraduate students,
2. Hired three additional professors or professional staff,
3. Provided decent and free meals for graduates at convocation, or
4. Provided a $700 signing bonus to all AUFA members.

 Attempting to frame AU’s profligate spending on bargaining as being done with the “utmost respect” for the bargaining unit and for students is transparently false.

I look forward to seeing the results from the impending climate/engagement survey that the university is planning on doing. Twenty bucks says they are worse than last time, when only 25% of staff had trust in senior executives.

-- Bob Barnetson