Western faculty union files ‘safety violations’ complaint as campus strike drags on [Video]

Western University’s faculty association says it’s launched a complaint to Ontario’s labour ministry after it found a number of equipment in laboratories and other high-risk communal areas weren’t being tested and inspected amid an ongoing facilities workers’ strike.

In a statement Wednesday, the University of Western Ontario Faculty Association (UWOFA) said its members have pictures of at least 20 areas that should have been inspected but haven’t been since the strike began last month, including eyewash stations in labs.  

Members of CUPE Local 2361, which includes caretakers, groundskeepers and landscapers, walked off the job on Aug. 30 after contract negotiations with the university broke down. 

“Spot checks of the medical sciences building, the dental sciences building, and the health sciences addition revealed that eyewash stations had not been tested nor inspected,” UWOFA said.

“These stations are required by law to be inspected weekly, and failure to maintain them in working …