UTE SURVEY ON RACISM, DISCRIMINATION AND HARASSMENT

September 23, 2020

Sisters and Brothers,

I wanted to reach out to you, in my capacity as Chair of the UTE Equal Opportunities (EO) Committee. Now, more than ever, we are acutely aware of concerns raised by some of our members with respect to harassment, discrimination and marginalization. Over the past few months, I have been engaging with the CRA National Employment Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee, the PSAC National Human Rights Committee, Union Leaders, members of various equity and community groups, attending many on-line learning events and open forums, reading relevant books and publications, and speaking to our racialized members and members of the EO Committee, in order to educate myself as to how we can do things better.

The EO Committee was given a mandate by our National President to consult and engage with our members to collect information and to come up with some concrete actions to address racism, systemic bias and discrimination at CRA and within the Union. We recognize that in order to do so, we need to hear from the people with lived experiences. Thus, we have created a survey that will allow you to share your own personal observations and provide us with specific areas to focus on. Recommendations and potential solutions would be welcomed. The survey is very user friendly and completely anonymous and can be accessed via the following link: UTE Survey on Racism, Discrimination and Harassment

Thank you in advance for completing and promoting our survey. The information gathered will be an important step towards achieving the Committee’s mandate and improving our members’ terms and conditions of employment and participation within our union.

In Solidarity,

Linda Koenders

Chair, UTE Equal Opportunities Committee