Following the health and safety complaint instigated by CAPE in April this year on behalf of its members working as Interpreters, the Labour Program of ESDC (formerly Labour Canada) has recognized that the current working conditions of the interpreters working at the House of Commons do not meet the health and safety requirements under the health and safety provisions of the Canada Labour Code.
As a result, the Translation Bureau has signed an Assurance of Voluntary Compliance and has provided the Labour Program with an Action Plan to address the health and safety issues identified in our complaint.
The Labour Program has accepted the Bureau’s Action Plan with the notable exception that the measures the Bureau proposes in the Plan be presented as enforceable requirements, rather than solutions to merely “explore”, as initially proposed by the Bureau. The Labour Program will monitor the implementation of the Plan and will intervene further if necessary.
CAPE will be also keeping a close eye on the progress made on the implementation of the Action Plan.
For all updates on this issue and for more information about CAPE’s advocacy efforts, visit the Issues section for Virtual Parliament and Interpreters.
