The direction from your manager to change or remove your email signature line or auto-responder due to its union activity content is viewed as union interference. We know that several managers have made this request to faculty, including to some faculty members in FAST, FSCS, FHSW, and SWEL. As such, OPSEU has filed a Unfair Labour Practice (ULP) against the CEC and a number of colleges, including Humber College.
The email signature lines and/or auto-responder messages found on our website have been approved by our Bargaining Team, and have been deemed legal by OPSEU's legal team. We can only assume that the CEC's legal team would understand as much, as that the CEC's directives are no more than an intimidation tactic to create unnecessary stress and tension between managers and faculty.
Therefore, faculty may leave their signature lines/auto-responders as is. If you feel obliged to respond to your manager, you can let them know that you are exercising your right to participate in Work to Rule, as per the Bargaining Teams instructions. In addition, your manager's directives are seen as union interference, hence the filing of the ULP.
We also encourage you to let the Bargaining Team know about this interference by reporting it here: Work to rule incident form | OPSEU (collegefaculty.org).