Brace yourself, the second wave is upon us. For over six months, we have dealt with exceptional circumstances in which we have been trying to keep things running with our normal efficiency in conditions that are far from normal.
It’s only natural to feel exhausted, depressed or just fed up, and with November’s dreariness creeping up, we can’t stress enough how deeply our thoughts are with you. Think about taking a break for your mental health.
A few reminders:
- If you do any overtime, be sure to enter all of your hours in the system. Refer to Article 39 of the collective agreement to find out if you have to declare these hours as straight time, time and a half, or double time. We are putting together an in-depth descriptive document with the Human Resources team; it will be sent to you shortly.
- Basically, it’s best to avoid doing overtime if possible. Try to find a work-life balance even if home has been your workplace for more than six months now. (Refer to Article 33 of the collective agreement on occupational health and safety.)
- Feel free to take your vacation despite international travel being off the agenda. Refer to Article 19 for the details, even though the pandemic brings uncertainty to many things. Talk it over with your managers. They are well aware of the situation. (Otherwise, you can always reach out to your union.) You can still transfer 10 days of vacation from this year to 2021–2022 (exceptional measure taken as part of the specific agreement resulting from the issues caused by Phoenix).
- Please contact us on any union-related matter at nfb_grp_exec@pipsc.ca. Situations do not need to be serious for you to seek our advice. (You may simply have a question on an article in the collective agreement.)
- Some already tense situations may be aggravated by the current context – the sooner you contact your union, the better. We are here for you. Some of you contacted us recently and achieved positive resolutions with the employer.
- The EAP is still there for everyone: 1-800-268-7708 (1-800-567-5803 – for people with hearing impairments).
Your NFB union members, Jean-Eddyson Cadet, Philippe Chartrand, Darin Clausen, Florence François, Marco Girouard, Claude Lord and Mathieu Sheehy, are working on many issues for you. Why not join the team?
Suggested movie: The Big Reset – Cities
In French: La grande relance – Espace de vie