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Persons With Disabilities National Working Group

 
Persons With Disabilities National Working Group - image 0

The Persons with Disabilities Working Group promotes and defends the rights of all persons with disabilities to improve conditions in the workplace, in our communities and at labour events. Achieving this requires the committee members to participate in coalitions, political and organizing activities to build links and demystify the reality of persons with disabilities.

Contact the working group.

Terms of Reference

1. Name and headquarters

This Committee shall be known in English as the “Persons With Disabilities National Working Group” (PWDNWG) and in French as the “Groupe de travail national des personnes ayant un handicap” (GTNPAH). In this document, the term “Working Group” refers to the “Persons With Disabilities National Working Group”.

2. Purposes of the committee

This Committee has the mandate to:

  1. Promote and defend the rights of all persons with disabilities;
  2. Promote and defend the principles of the Canadian Union of Public Employees;
  3. Improve the working conditions of persons with disabilities in the workplace;
  4. Improve the conditions and accessibility of Union events and activities so as to facilitate an understanding among CUPE members of the barriers faced by persons with disabilities, and to encourage the active participation in CUPE of persons with disabilities;
  5. Promote and demystify the reality of persons with disabilities among workers and employers through education;
  6. Actively participate in coalitions, lobbies and any other political and/or organizing activities that contribute to the above, recognizing the need to build links with other people within and outside of the labour movement;
  7. Support and cooperate with other CUPE equity-seeking groups in achieving our common goals.

3. Composition of the committee

a) The members of this Committee include:

  1. Members who are activists in the area of disability rights and/or members with disabilities appointed by the National President.
  2. The CUPE member appointed by the National President to sit as CUPE National’s representative on the Disability Rights Working Group of the Canadian Labour Congress.
  3. A representative of the National Executive Board (NEB), as appointed by the National President.
  4. CUPE staff as assigned by the National President.

b) The National President will appoint a Chairperson or Co-Chairpersons from the membership of the Committee.

4. Duties of the members of the working group

a) The chairperson or co-chairperson:

  1. i) Ensures the leadership and the coordination of the affairs of the Working Group;
  2. ii) Carries out any tasks entrusted to her or him by the Working Group;
  3. iii) Acts as the liaison between individual group members and the staff person or CUPE National.

b) The staff person:

  1. Acts as liaison between the Working Group and other relevant bodies;
  2. Coordinates the organization of the business of the Working Group;
  3. Shares his/her expertise in order to assist the Working Group reach its goals;
  4. Carries out any tasks entrusted to him/her by the Working Group;
  5. Facilitates communication between all members of the Working Group to carry out the business of the Working Group;
  6. Recommends to CUPE the endorsement of expenditures related to the affairs of the Working Group.

c) The members:

  1. Act as a liaison between the Working Group and the Local or Division Union structure they represent;
  2. Share their expertise in order to reach the goals of the Working Group;
  3. Carry out any tasks entrusted to them by the Working Group.

5. Duties of the Working Group member appointed as CUPE National’s representative on the Canadian Labour Congress

This member will insure that issues raised by CUPE’s Persons With Disabilities National Working Group (PWDNWG) are communicated to the CLC’s Disability Rights Working Group, and that discussions and events at the CLC’s Disability Rights Working Group are communicated back to the CUPE’s PWDNWG.

6. Organization of the committee

Committee meetings will be chaired by the two Co-chairs on a rotating basis, or by other means as agreed by consensus of the Committee.

7. Action Plan

  1. Biennially, for the National Convention, the committee shall prepare a report and action plan, defining the goals and activities for the committee over the intervening two years.
  2. In addition, the committee will prepare an action plan at the end of the annual committee meeting which will include:
    • goals,
    • activities,
    • persons responsible for projects,
    • timetable/calendar for completion or deadlines for progress.
  3. The Co-chairs will be responsible for following up on the action plan, by preparing an annual progress report. Each committee member will submit a report to the Co-chairs in a timely fashion for inclusion in this report.

8. Meetings

  1. The Working Group shall abide by the decisions of the National Executive Board with regard to the number of meetings per year and their location. However, in order to establish networks and coalitions and to maximize the impact of working group meetings, the working group shall recommend to the NEB that some meetings be held in more geographically and politically isolated centers.
  2. For the purpose of item 6b) above, one meeting per year shall be designated as the “annual meeting”.

9. Official languages

In order to foster exchanges between all members, the committee shall operate in both official languages and undertake to respect CUPE’s language policy.

:dw/cope*491
24/11/04; amended 23/04/06
(Documents/PWDNWGTermsofReferenceEng.doc)