To avert malaise in the workplace, in the early 1980s the Quebec Federation of Labour (FTQ) put in place a new form of peer-to-peer union support: the Réseau des délégués sociaux (Network of Social Delegates [SDs]). While aiming to make a difference in their workplace, for example by referring colleagues in difficulty to the resources best suited to their situation, SDs nevertheless face many challenges in performing their role on a day-to-day basis and optimizing their power to act in the area of occupational mental health. Despite these obstacles, SDs are able to draw on the richness of their (personal and professional) lives and establishment-level inter-actor collaborative actions to obtain the resources needed to develop innovative solutions and, in the best case scenario, to introduce a culture of prevention regarding mental health issues in the workplace..
- Mental health
- union mutual aid
- unionism
- social delegate
- power to act