Pink Shirt Day Inspires Us to Let Kindness Grow
BCNU members are once again joining together to celebrate Pink Shirt Day and promote kindness and inclusion in their workplaces and our communities. The day started in 2007 after two Nova Scotia students organized a protest in solidarity with a boy who was bullied for wearing a pink shirt.
This year, Pink Shirt Day sees the launch of the BCNU 2SLGBTQ+ caucus’s Pronouns Matter campaign, which promotes the correct use and understanding of pronouns to affirm gender identity and avoid hurtful misgendering. This effort is another step toward respecting BCNU’s diverse membership and eliminating bullying. It also supports co-workers at risk of leaving the profession as a result of workplace discrimination.
BCNU regional mental health and occupational health and safety representatives are organizing worksite events and sharing information on how to combat bullying and correctly document incidents.
Workplace bullying and harassment includes any inappropriate conduct or comment by a person towards a worker that the person knew or reasonably ought to have known would cause that worker to be intimidated or humiliated. Discrimination due to race/racialization, sex, gender identity/expression, sexual orientation, and disability can often compound the experience of everyday bullying and harassment.
Exposure to workplace bullying – whether in person or online – can impact the physical and mental health of workers and permeate all facets of personal and professional life. This can reduce job satisfaction, motivation, morale, and negatively impact patients.
The current Nurses’ Bargaining Association provincial collective agreement contains new language (Article 2: Purpose of Agreement) that commits everyone to creating a culturally safe and welcoming health-care system. The provincial contract also contains a memorandum of agreement on gender diversity and inclusion which identifies the forms discrimination can take, such as deadnaming (using a former name), misgendering (using incorrect pronouns) and doxxing (intentional sharing of a person’s old photos or medical information as harassment).
Employers have a legal responsibility to eliminate bullying and harassment and provide psychologically safe and healthy workplaces that embody principles of cultural safety. BCNU encourages members to familiarize themselves with their employer’s policies and procedures on bullying and harassment.
On Pink Shirt Day, let us all work together to let kindness grow and end bullying forever.
Talk to a BCNU steward for more information.
Reminder for Stewards: to help you support and promote Pink Shirt Day, access and review our Pink Shirt Day resource materials.