Tag: safety

APSCUF, TAUP and TUGSA Letter to Board of Trustees for the PASSHE System and Temple

18 August 2020

Dear Members of the Board of Trustees for the PASSHE System and Temple:

Together, we represent over 9000 faculty, librarians, academic advisors, staff, graduate students, medical students, and coaches at 15 different universities. Along with the students we serve, we are the lifeblood of our institutions: We teach the classes, win the grants, do the research, make the art, advise the students, coach the teams, serve on the committees, and serve our communities. When called on to pivot to online work in response to the current pandemic, we did so without hesitation and with unstinting effort. Now, we are being called on again to invest extraordinary time and resources to adapt to the grave challenges posed by the pandemic. And, again, we are ready to answer the call.

However, we are also being asked to needlessly risk our lives and the lives of those we love. We cannot accept this, and neither should you. 

We call on you to acknowledge that the ferocity of this virus and the failures in our national response have upended the plans our institutions have constructed. We urge you to join institutions large and small, rich and poor, public and private who have recently realized they must alter course. As of this writing, the U.S. has surpassed 5 million COVID-19 infections, an average of more than 53,000 new infections a day; the situation is much more dire than many of us imagined it would be. We are devastated by the loss of more than 170,000 Americans to COVID-19. Doctors and scientists every day warn us about the potential long-term health impacts of COVID-19 and encourage us to continue to be vigilant in our efforts to flatten the curve and reduce transmission. We have seen students, staff, and faculty get sick and die around the country, including at university campuses and their neighboring communities. We also need to acknowledge the enormous burden of increased family responsibilities that faculty, staff, and students are juggling due to the pandemic, making in-person teaching extremely difficult and in some cases logistically impossible.

We understand that people are supposed to wear masks and practice social distancing; however, we know that asymptomatic transmission can happen quickly in indoor spaces even when these precautions are taken. We also know that research on the propensity of our students to take risks makes it unwise to rely on their compliance with mitigation measures. Given the current state of COVID-19 in the U.S. and our institutions’ inadequate safety protocols and lack of consistent and widespread testing, we are being asked to choose between our health and our jobs when we know that we can teach effectively online.

We know that the choices before you could not be more difficult. We also know that a great deal of well-intentioned work, expertise, and considerable financial resources have gone into these plans. We understand that you want to satisfy our students’ desire for in-person instruction (though we are not convinced that you have properly surveyed them to see what they actually want given the current conditions). Of course, we would rather feel free to teach, advise, and coach them in person. We understand that you are concerned about revenue; so are we, since our jobs may hang in the balance.

But these considerations must be outweighed by the imperative to protect the health and safety of our members, our students, other employees of the university, and our neighbors.

Here’s how you can resist the temptation of questionable financial gains for one semester at the expense of the longer-term financial, reputational, and ethical health of the institutions you oversee:

1. Immediately reduce all in-person work to those classes legally required to be in-person. This might include courses required for licensure and for incoming international students.

2. Honor all requests by one of our members to work remotely. This should not be done by requiring employees to submit to a time-consuming process that requires them to disclose sensitive health information. ALL employees, of whatever rank, track, or seniority, must be accommodated.

If these two conditions were met, the threat to the health and safety of the university community would be significantly reduced. But you should also:

3. Provide clear metrics of infections, hospitalizations and deaths that would trigger a further shutdown of in-person operations.

4. Make available to all members of the university community, including neighbors, a dashboard that clearly displays the current state and history of COVID-19 infections, including hospitalizations and deaths, currently, within the last 14 days, and since the start of the semester.

5. Ensure that those few members who do need to work on campus are fully protected. This includes:

a) Requiring all members of the campus community to wear the types of masks or face coverings inside buildings that have been proven effective in limiting the spread of the virus. Our institutions should provide this equipment to ensure a minimum standard.

b) Instituting a robust testing and contact tracing program that will make it possible to stay in front of any outbreak.

c) Providing clear signage to remind all members of the university the importance of hand hygiene, mask wearing, and social distancing.

d) Upgrading HVAC systems in any building where our members work or students live to meet ASHRAE standards.

e) Providing clear policies on members’ rights in reacting to and reporting, without fear of penalty, any breach of safety protocols by students and others in the campus community.

f) Providing every college and department adequate maintenance protocols as per relevant guidelines as well as safety equipment, supplies, and adequate cleaning provided by the central University budget. There must be equity in the distribution of these resources among schools, departments and programs.

6. Include unions, local community members, and other key stakeholders in a substantive way in the decision-making process. For months, we have tried to alert you to the costs of a top-down, opaque, and exclusive process. We believe that this is a key factor that has led to the shortcomings in the current plans. We urge you not to repeat this mistake.

Our members and elected leaders stand ready to enter into a dialogue with you about how to address these grave problems. But we must first sound the alarm about the terrible risks you run if you do not change course. The potential damage to the universities we love could not be more profound–the loss of money, faith in leadership, health, and life. If you do not value the health and safety of the university community as you should, you will poison the relationship among all of its stakeholders for the foreseeable future.

Classes have already started on some of our campuses and will start soon at the rest. The window for acting before tragedy strikes is closing. We urge you to change course before it is too late.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

The Executive Committees of APSCUF, TAUP, and TUGSA and members of the student body of the Lewis Katz School of Medicine

Your Rights to a Safe Workplace and How to Exercise Them

As Temple University begins reporting COVID-19 cases in the Temple community, it’s essential that we’re aware of our right to a healthy and safe workplace.

There are federal, state and local protections for workers, including Pennsylvania’s  Public Employe Relations Act, the national Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSH Act) and the recent City of Philadelphia  Emergency Health Order.

Any or all of these laws may apply, depending on your unique job type or workplace safety concern.

Bottom line: You’re not alone in dealing with such concerns. Addressing health and safety concerns through your union is a “protected concerted activity,” under the Public Employe Relations Act. 

Under the Health and Safety clause of our collective bargaining agreement, “Temple agrees to continue to make reasonable provisions for the safety and health of bargaining unit members in pursuit of their university recognized professional responsibilities.“

Contact taupaft@gmail.com or call 215-763-2287 for support in understanding how these protections may apply to you.

If subjected to unsafe conditions, what should I do? 

  • Keep a record to document working conditions, i.e. emails, notes, photos and video and contact taupaft@gmail.com or call 215-763-2287 for help in choosing the best course of action.

  • If you are involved in an incident that involves a person or people on campus, follow the University’s guidelines.  We recommend starting with the Return to Campus tab on TU Portal.

If one of my students tests positive for COVID-19, what should I do?

  • The administration tells us that faculty aren’t allowed to move a class online when students test positive for COVID-19.  Faculty Guidance for the Fall 2020 Semester states as follows:  “Make any reasonable accommodation necessary so that the student can continue to participate in class during any period of quarantine, just as you would in the case of a student with non-COVID related needs. Otherwise, continue with class as scheduled unless instructed otherwise by the contact tracing unit and/or your Dean’s office.”

  • If a student tests positive and the administration insists on continuing in-person instruction, contact taupaft@gmail.com or call 215-763-2287, so your circumstances can be reviewed and we can explore alternatives.

 

If a student isn’t complying with mask mandates, what are my options?

  • The University has provided guidance in a video embedded in Faculty Guidance for the Fall 2020 Semester FAQ.  The In-Person Classroom Management segment directs faculty to follow these steps:

    • Remind student(s) of the policy

    • Request that they follow the policy

    • Refuse to move forward with the class until the student complies

    • Reschedule the class online

    • Refer the student(s) to Student Conduct

  • The university’s Compliance Officer and the Vice President for Human Resources sent an Aug. 19 email offering further advice if you are in a discomfiting situation.  Among their recommendations is reaching out to the point person designated for each college, school, and department. TAUP has not received a list of these contacts; we recommend that you ask your Chair.

We will get through these tough times together. You’re a member of a union composed of your colleagues and peers. We stand collectively to advocate for health and safety and to protect us all within the bounds of the law.

P.S. If you’re interested in working with the union to promote a healthy and safe campus, contact Jenna Siegel jsiegelaft@gmail.com.

On Requests for Accommodation From Temple University  

This is a reminder to all members that the preliminary deadline for applying for an accommodation is June 30th, as per an email sent by the Deans to full-time employees.

Many of us are understandably leery of disclosing sensitive health information to an employer.  This is, however, a necessary process under the Americans with Disabilities Act for those with qualifying ADA conditions. Temple has also indicated that they plan to accommodate as many health, safety and other potential concerns that extend beyond the ADA’s technical parameters as they can.  But they have also stated that they may not be able to accommodate all requests.

Adjuncts and other faculty, librarians, and academic professionals have rightly objected to adjuncts not being included in this process thus far.  HR has been contacted and urged to include adjuncts immediately.  Everyone must be treated equitably, including acknowledging the fact that health insurance or having a regular medical provider are not things that many low-wage workers have access to.  Since many adjuncts are hired close to the start of the term, and there may not be sufficient time to process an accommodation, it is important that we are all pushing for sections which are added within the few weeks before the semester to be online by default.

It is troubling that the administration did not choose an approach where an individual could opt-in for working on campus.  That way, anyone who wished to work off-campus could be accommodated, and the focus could have rightly centered more on the safety of those who will be working in a riskier environment.  But since there is another process currently in place, there are issues to consider.

If you are going to apply for an accommodation, it is best to apply directly to Human Resources (HR), either through ada-hr@temple.edu or through the form available through TU Portal.  HR is not supposed to share sensitive health information with any supervisor in your college/school or department.  Rather, as part of the ADA process, HR should convey only the requested accommodation.  To facilitate planning, many Chairs’ and Deans’ offices have asked members to disclose whether they want an accommodation. It’s important to remember: you are under no obligation in this process to share any health information with anyone outside of HR.

The internal appeal process for an accommodation that is initially denied is not clear yet and it’s important that the administration provides clarification on this matter so that people know what to do if they feel their request has been unreasonably denied.  Given that Temple has set a preliminary deadline for requests, if you intend to seek an accommodation,  you should strongly consider making your request  within that time frame if possible. If you are not able to apply by the 30th but intend to do so, notify the University of your intent before the deadline passes.

Some of the reasons you may want to cite as potential justifications for an accommodation may not necessarily qualify as disabilities. If you are interested in requesting an accommodation but are unsure whether it qualifies under the ADA, you should still not hesitate in submitting a request.

If you believe that the response to your accommodation request is unreasonable, you should discuss it with HR to make sure that your concerns were understood and to gain an understanding of the decision that was made.  If things have not been worked out through this  follow-up, please contact the TAUP office.

Many of us would not have chosen this process, and it is difficult to decide whether to apply when so much remains unknown about the plans, campus conditions and what will happen once the semester actually begins.  These are intensely personal decisions that we each have to make for ourselves. As decisions about whether or not to apply for an accommodation, we all must remain committed to ensuring the health and safety of each other and of the entire Temple community.