Province issued improvement order to Manitoba Teachers’ Society

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This article was published 29/02/2024 (593 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Provincial investigators recently issued a workplace improvement order to the Manitoba Teachers’ Society and began probing the status of the public sector union’s internal safety and health committee.

Manitoba Workplace Safety and Health confirmed receiving multiple reports this winter regarding working conditions inside MTS, whose operations staff are hired to support a membership of roughly 16,600 teachers, principals and education specialists.

Two inspections took place in January in response to “tips that harassment concerns were not being properly investigated,” according to the province.

“Improvement orders were issued for the development and implementation of a harassment prevention policy and for the policy to be posted. The orders have since been complied with,” a government spokesperson said in an email.

WSH is following up on concerns about the operation of the advisory group responsible for assessing health risks and making recommendations to improve conditions on MTS’s Portage Avenue campus.

Manitoba offices with 20 or more staff members are legally required to have an active committee with an equal number of managers and employees on it; the committee must meet at least once every 90 days.

Sources told the Free Press the society’s internal group failed to fulfill minimum standards over the last year, as concerns mounted about superiors’ alleged intimidation tactics and an overall “toxic” workplace culture.

Society communications officer Anne Bennett indicated the committee has consistently conducted regular site tours. “However it has not met formally for a couple of years now,” Bennett said, adding a meeting was organized Friday and assurances were provided that regular events will take place going forward.

MTS employs about 70 support and administrative people, including teacher welfare officers, disability case managers and graphic designers — all of whom are represented by Teamsters Local Union 979.

At a meeting on Sept. 25, the union revealed to its members the worrying results of a spring survey on workplace climate and employee well-being. The majority of survey’s respondents reported a negative perception of the psychological health and safety of their office.

Paul Frias, who oversees the union’s only Winnipeg chapter, did not respond to multiple requests for comment on the subject.

A national Teamsters spokesperson did, however, confirm Local 979 is pursuing grievances involving “allegations related to violations of our collective agreement and a toxic work environment.”

Billboards warning about psychological workplace injuries have popped up across Winnipeg as part of a new Safe Work Manitoba and Workers Compensation Board campaign. The joint initiative was launched Feb. 5 to raise awareness about the issue via print-media and digital ads.

The COVID-19 pandemic and its fallout — including labour shortages that have led to increased overtime and employees taking on extra duties — brought concerns about workers’ holistic health into the mainstream, said Adam King, an assistant professor of labour studies at the University of Manitoba.

“Psychological hazards” in a workplace include bullying, harassment, burdensome workloads, poor work/life balance and a feeling of powerlessness among employees, said King, who teaches courses on workplace health and safety.

“Giving workers a voice or ensuring workers have a voice is actually a really underappreciated aspect of a psychologically safe workplace,” he said. “(Feeling) overburdened by work but (also) that you’re not able to control anything about your work is a huge issue.”

“Giving workers a voice or ensuring workers have a voice is actually a really underappreciated aspect of a psychologically safe workplace”–Adam King

King noted workplace health and safety committees are supposed to give workers a platform to raise concerns with managers and serve as a mechanism to facilitate positive change.

According to the Teamsters’ 2023 survey, almost four in 10 MTS employees said they never or rarely have the ability to influence decisions concerning their work. A similar percentage indicated contradictory demands are placed on them.

The findings of the survey, which was undertaken in response to informal complaints and low morale, indicate about half of employees said their work is not valued by senior management.

A total of 47 individuals, about 65 per cent of the workforce, participated in the poll modeled after the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire, which is considered a reliable tool for assessing the well-being of employees, stress and psychosocial factors at work.

The society has contracted a safety and health consultant to run two introductory sessions on harassment prevention in the coming weeks. A bulletin sent to employees on Monday states attendance is “MANDATORY.”

MTS president Nathan Martindale and Roland Stankevicius, interim executive director of the organization, said the recent improvement order acknowledged the employer has a harassment policy but that not all staff were aware of it.

In a joint statement, the leadership duo said the society’s workplace safety and health committee “is operational and has been for many years.”

“The committee continues to meet and inspect MTS facilities in accordance with the legislation,” they said.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca