CUPE's code of conduct should address sexual violence, group charges
Silence is Violence, a group of students and teaching staff at York University in Toronto, is calling on the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) to do more to prevent and address sexual violence among members.
The group formed in March, several months after York PhD student and teaching assistant Mandi Gray alleged she was sexually assaulted by an executive member of CUPE's local 3903 chapter at an off-campus union-related event.
At the time of the alleged incident, local 3903, which represents the school’s TAs and other staff, was involved in labour action.
Gray said she discovered an institutional failure to meet the needs of survivors at both the university and the union.
"CUPE has done an excellent job of
addressing issues of harassment and
workplace violence as an issue to be addressed by the employer," Gray said. "But what about these union spaces? For myself, I became involved in union organizing and, two weeks later, I was assaulted."
Silence is Violence is calling on the union to improve its policies, giving leaders at the local and national levels the tools they need to address incidents in a survivor-centered way.
In an open letter to CUPE's national president Paul Moist, the group urged the union to stop placing responsibility solely on the employer, and to become accountable for the well-being of its members in union spaces.
Silence is Violence is seeking support from CUPE locals across Canada to put forward a motion to amend the union’s code of conduct to include explicit reference to sexual violence.
The group is also demanding the immediate suspension of staff and executive members who are facing allegations of sexual violence or harassment until a full investigation has been conducted, as well as an independent investigation of the union’s past responses to sexual violence and harassment.
"(The) systemic silencing of rape and harassment survivors within our union sends the message that involvement within their local carries with it the risk of victimization," the group said in the letter.
Meeting fellow survivors and discussing issues of violence within the workplace and the union "really opened our eyes to just how pervasive it is within these union spaces," Gray said. "Domestic violence, sexual violence and gendered violence does impact the labour movement."
CUPE initiates internal review
In response to the group’s allegations, Moist initiated a review of CUPE’s internal policies as well as of the services provided to members and locals when dealing with internal sexual violence.
"People can lose the right to hold union office if they violate the constitution, which includes prohibitive grounds including harassment," he said.
"Our constitution doesn’t deal with sexual violence but I would argue it’s an extreme form of sexual harassment… the issues raised by Silence is Violence are probably going to cause some resolutions to be submitted to our national convention. They’ve raised some important issues and they’re causing us to look at some of our stuff internally."
However, Moist said CUPE’s procedures are not sufficient to deal with crimes or allegations of crime.
If a crime is believed to be committed — arising out of a member’s employment or from his participation in the union — that incident must be reported to the proper policing authority. Perpetrators of these crimes must face consequences through the justice system, said the union.
However, best practices for both unions and employers often go beyond the minimum requirement of the law, according to Tamar Witelson, legal director for METRAC (Metropolitan Action Committee on Violence Against Women and Children) Action on Violence.
"They’re two distinct processes," she said of the criminal justice system and the policies and procedures in place within a union or workplace.
"Yes, there is the criminal justice process and that has its own features, it own protections for the person who’s been accused. And there are also, in fact, supports for complainants of sexual violence once they make a complaint to the police… But even though that is proceeding according to its own system, that doesn’t mean there isn’t another environment within which this woman continues to exist and work," she said.
Employer’s responsibility
Whether or not the respondent in a complaint is found guilty of a criminal offence, the employer and union have a responsibility to ensure the complainant feels safe from further harassment in the form of continued sexual violence or retribution in her daily life in the union.
In this specific case being addressed by Silence is Violence, the complainant is a student at the university as well as an employee and a member of the union. Each of these institutions has a duty to ensure she is not subjected to harassment or sexual violence, Witelson said.
Both employers and trade unions are specifically referenced in the Ontario Human Rights Code as entities with a responsibility to respect anti-discrimination principles regarding their employees or members.
First, these institutions are required to have a complaint process in place and to make that process known to members. Once the institution becomes aware of the complaint, the legal duty to perform a reasonable and appropriate investigation is triggered.
In addition to the Human Rights Code, employers are also required to implement a harassment policy under the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
These layers of responsibility can complicate matters, Witelson said, but employers and union leaders need to anticipate these complications and prepare for them.
"Those kinds of things have to be understood by the organizations that are investigating the complaint and providing some kind of response that is adequate… to the whole community, to see that this kind of behaviour will not be tolerated," she said.
