Weekly Update – July 23, 2021
July 23, 2021
Weekly Update – July 23, 2021
Questions on Vaccines at Carleton
We have received a number of emails from members inquiring about vaccinations at Carleton, and if the university will require that faculty, staff, and students be required to be vaccinated in order to return to campus. We have reached out to the university administration for further guidance on this topic. The response we received from the administration is that, at this time, vaccination is not mandatory for students living in residence or attending campus.
Decisions on mandatory vaccination will be made in compliance with recommendations and guidelines from the province and Ottawa Public Health officials. Currently, vaccination in Ontario is not mandatory.
We were informed that Carleton has had several discussions with Ottawa Public Health regarding mandatory vaccination including a request that they provide a direction on mandatory vaccinations. As well, the university sector, including Carleton, has written to the Province and the Chief Medical Officer of Health to request that they provide a clear direction regarding mandatory vaccination at post-secondary institutions across the province. At this time, they also declined to take any action.
That said, the University says it has implemented additional measures. For both residence students and varsity athletic students, the University has made it a condition that students disclose their vaccination status, comply with all public health and University directions regarding COVID-19 as well as make it mandatory for students to consent to testing in the event of an outbreak.
Residence students are required to complete a survey regarding their vaccination status before moving in. Based on the results of this survey to date, more than 98% of students will be fully vaccinated, partially vaccinated or intend to be vaccinated upon arrival. Carleton is conducting a similar survey with varsity athletic students and results to date are consistent with the residence results. Consequently, there appears to be no vaccine hesitancy amongst these student groups.
The University is continuing to strongly encourage all students and members of the Carleton community to get a COVID-19 vaccine as soon as possible. The University will be launching a vaccination campaign and clinics for all students and staff beginning in August and will continue running them into the fall term.
Any future updates on this topic will be shared with CUASA members as they become available.
Final Reminder: Upcoming Vote on Proposed Constitutional Amendments
This is the final reminder of the proposed amendments to the CUASA Constitution. A document containing information on the proposed amendments can be found here. If you have any questions about this vote, please don’t hesitate to contact us at [email protected].
The electronic vote will open this coming Monday, July 26, 2021 at 12:00pm and will run until Wednesday, July 28, 2021, at 12:00pm.
Note: Only members who have joined the Association are eligible to vote. Membership in the bargaining unit is not the same as membership in the Association. If you haven’t filled out your membership card yet, or aren’t sure if you’ve filled one out before, you can do so using this electronic membership form: https://forms.gle/97SFD54XpVg3e86K8
The CUASA Office must have received your membership application by 9:00am on Monday, July 26, 2021 for you to be eligible to participate in the vote.
Voting information will be distributed via email to all eligible voters prior to the opening of the polls. For your reference, the email will be labelled from CUASA, but the sent address will read as [email protected]. Please remember to check your Spam folder if you do not receive the email in your inbox.
If you encounter any issues with the vote, please contact [email protected].
Information Sessions on Tentative Agreement
Thank you to those who attended the first information session on the tentative collective agreement this week. We will be holding two additional information sessions to present the details of the agreement to members and to answer any questions.
Here are the times and dates of the upcoming sessions (you can also find them on our website calendar):
- Thursday, July 29, from 10:00am-12:00pm
- Tuesday, August 3, from 1:00-3:00pm
Zoom details for these sessions will be sent to members ahead of each date.
Earlier this week, we released the Minutes of Settlement for renewing the collective agreement, the full tentative collective agreement, and a prepared ratification report. These password-protected documents were sent to bargaining unit members via email. A separate email was sent containing the password to access the documents.
Note: The details of the agreement are confidential pending ratification. Accordingly, these documents are for CUASA bargaining unit members only. Please do not share any of this information.
If you did not receive the email with the documents, or the email with the password, please contact [email protected].
CUASA Business
Vacant Steering Positions
We are still seeking volunteers for the following Steering positions (click on the title below to see the position description):
* The Steering committee has allocated a 0.5 course release for the Vice President and Chair, Internal Affairs positions, respectively.
Information on the nominations process can be found on our How to Volunteer page. Remember that our Association is only as strong as its membership, so we count on the time and commitment of our members to achieve our goals. If you are interested in one of these positions and would like some information, or wish to nominate yourself or a colleague, please CUASA’s Chair, Nominations and Elections, Marylynn Steckley, at [email protected].
Call for Volunteers: JHSC
We are seeking a CUASA member to volunteer to be one of the Association’s representatives on the University’s Joint Health and Safety Committee (JHSC). If you are interested, please contact Marylynn Steckley at [email protected].
