Leading up to its March 10 strike deadline the union representing teaching assistants and contract instructors on campus accidentally attached a picketing schedule containing the student numbers, names, contact information, and addresses for more than 300 of its members.
The union, CUPE 4600, had been sending out emails co-ordinating who will be on the picket lines if the university and the union couldn’t come to an agreement.
The two parties reached a tentative settlement just before 1:30 a.m. on March 10 and the union didn’t strike.
CUPE 4600 apologized in an email minutes after sending the information and attached a corrected anonymous schedule with potential picketers’ employee numbers and the time they were to be on the picket line.
“It was for internal use only,” said Dan Sawyer, CUPE 4600’s bargaining and mobilization co-ordinator. “We’ve taken steps to ensure it doesn’t happen again.”
He said the union had been in contact with their national representative and CUPE national’s legal team to figure out next steps. They have also contacted the provincial and federal privacy commissioners to determine if this constitutes a breach of Canadian privacy law.
The CUPE national representative notified the campus union that this issue should be their number one priority right now, Sawyer said.
“We’re going to do whatever it takes to make sure this situation is dealt with,” he said.
Lauren Montgomery, the Graduate Students’ Association vice-president (external) and Carleton teaching assistant, was set to be a picket captain the morning of March 10 if the strike was to go forward.
Her information, including her student number, academic program, and address were leaked in the email.
As a picket captain, she said her contact information was already fairly public.
She said she appreciated that CUPE had been busy leading up to the strike and she had received many emails from the union.
While some TAs had approached Montgomery, she said none she talked to were overly upset.
“While it was a lot of information, it was a very slight oversight in what was going to be a very busy day,” she said.
“I saw it as a slight oversight but kind of understandable under the circumstances.”
