Removing Binding Arbitration from the Table

I want to confess three things. I enjoy the application of labour relations, I am a labourer, and I am a union member. For all of those that don't understand what I stand for, at the very least you know I may have a bias.

At this very moment, the unions are in defensive mode. Why? It has to do with the government. It has to do with what is becoming more and more an obvious partisan conversation. It has to do with power. I phoned into a party line a few weeks ago with one thing in mind. To see what Bills the provincial government were proposing. Comprising of a few items, condensed it has a few thought bubbles in mind. 

1. The removal of binding arbitration in the negotiating process.
2. The imposed fines on union members up to the national body that either participate in or talk about wild cat strikes.
3. The implication that the government should be representing the people of Alberta and not the whims of the unions.

First off to understand the proposed bills you have to understand the labour relations process. Wildcat strikes are illegal. No sane person condones them, but they will happen from time to time. Responsible leaders will never suggest wildcat strike openly because they do not encourage labour/management talks. They have psychological, financial, emotional (and the list goes on) effects on everyone involved and to many who don't understand the process it can seem like the easiest way to enact change. Honestly it is in the short term, but in the long view it is quite negative to the whole process.

If you are essential, you don't have the option of striking, which makes wildcats even more appealing. Binding arbitration for these workers is the last step in negotiations. If you hit the last step usually both sides face situations where an arbitrator will decide on what a fair contract will entail. For those areas that are deemed essential, binding arbitration is the last resort, and in some ways it is the only resort when dealing with a Government that is so easy on the pocket book when it comes to their own wages and looses their wallet when the wage increases are proposed for a larger mass. For unions like AUPE they have just recently been negotiating with a government that is only interested in one financial outcome (Four Year Deals with 0,0,1%,1% increases). There are many arguments at play but ultimately this comes down to politics and taxes.

The argument by the Alberta Progressive Conservatives is an attempt to control a very real situation down the road where contracts are expiring and the cost of binding arbitration will be a very real hit on the governments bottom line. The cost of living has gone up so much in Alberta that any arbitrator in their own sound mind would see this glaring fact. This means a high probability of a salary increase. If is was the opposite way the government would be all over binding arbitration. In this case it is the unions who stand to gain and for a government that prides itself in keeping taxes low. In order to be paying a large amount of employees a few percentages above the cost of living the government would have to be find the money through the very tax payers that voted them in. From the data shown they are not willing to raise royalties for oil, and the next in the line are the tax payers. This also plays with the pension shortfall, but I'll stick to these two Bills

The good and bad news is really the same sentence. Voter apathy has made this both a winnable and looser of an argument. If enough people would just get out to vote and make sure their MPP knew that they would not be getting voted in the next election one of two things would happen. Either parliament will drop the issue, or they will take their chances in a long standing mostly PC province.

When I was first in a union a few things pop into my mind. Usually it is a protest I saw on television, or a movie corrupt union boss, or a litany of mixed messages. Like pensions, it takes a few choice moments in your life to realize the importance of the union world. Organized labour is necessary to insure fair representation. It is the power of organized labour that is a real threat to those that need to undermine the cost of reducing taxes and advancing an old idea that in order for capitalism to work variables like wages need to be manipulable.

The second part of this equation is the fines. I am also an OH&S connoisseur. So when I hear that a Union can face fines that immediately outweigh the fines placed on negligent employers concerning safety I choke a little bit on this Bill. Understand that when dealing with such large issues, the fact that money plays in this is an uncomfortable factor. In real terms the government has decided that it is easier to silence the labour market with just the spoken word of something like a wild cat strike through automatic fines. If you are keeping score, if the employer is unsafe and you get injured, the company may face fines up to jail time. If a union just whispers the idea of a strike, they face fines of a million dollars a day and the immediate stoppage of union dues.

How many times have you said something to a co-worker that was over the top? Now picture your wage connected directly to the government reacting to another person taking your idea to the next level. It's a scare tactic that is so outrageous it is dangerous to think it actually has happened. You are now guilty for the very freedom of speech that you are granted in the constitution. No harm is meant to people over the talk of a wildcat strike. So why would it cost a person their very salary for uttering the word "Strike". I wonder how we can

Imagine if the government suggested that companies to stockpile large sums of money just to ensure that in the case of things like oil spills, they could clean it up . Companies would have to not only fund the clean up, but prove that they won't go bankrupt before the clean up was completed. From a spectators point of view this is a valid request. However the world is full of risk, and funding accounts just in case of one of those risks is admitting that errors will happen.

In a labour world we sign Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA) that state if this happens we will do this or that or whatever. If it says "An employer will or an employee must, than there are consequences and privileges for both sides. When an individual signs an agreement, they too have obligations, that must be followed. For example, when the government says to a manager that they will get a bonus if they find cost savings or achieve a desired level of output, they will be expecting a bonus. The government is under contract. If they go against the contract they can be held liable for damages. The unique difference here is that the employer in this case can influence the laws. In this case they are mobilizing on this front with a heavy hand.

I want to point out that in this situation, the Province is saying that they are looking out for the majority of Alberta workers, that they speak as if they are on side with a majority. Unfortunately I find it hard for any Government with the current turn out of voters as being able to ever say they are speaking for the majority. This move is wrong on many levels, and hopefully the courts will reverse this very oppressive move.

CUPE Convention - Quebec City: Thursday

My favorite day of convention I would like to admit is Thursday. I have only been to two conventions, but of those experiences this is my favorite day. Today after a great evening of listening to strategic directions, we made our way into the meat of the convention. We had many resolutions to cover and what I enjoyed the most about the whole process is that both the pro and con speakers gave great arguments for both sides. There was a moment where based only on the arguments I could have gone either way.

We had a conversation on quorum that unfortunately will never come up again. Two years ago we had a resolution come forward to change quorum from 50% to 30% of the available membership. This convention that number was raised to 40%. The arguments were compelling in a very sad way. On one hand it would be incredible to have a convention that lasted to the end of the Friday afternoon. On the other hand it is literally impossible to have quorum when so many people must return home by plane. The sad fact is that there are moments in the week where we come close to losing quorum. A situation that has been used by provinces like Ontario to act as protest. The floor of convention should never suffer issued of quorum considering that they are all paid to be on the floor. Humanity however has their flaws and one of them is experiencing the region for which they have traveled. I don't think I will ever truly understand this but I think it has more to do with a deeper understanding of National combined with the failures of human nature.

We stepped into the Strategic Directions document for the last time. The second draft covered only a fraction of the suggestions. When you look at the document though I think it should be re-titled. It should instead be a manifesto on the next two years. The boat of CUPE is steered through many issues. At the helm of the ship is the NEB. A group of people who have either been elected by special diversity groups or through a respect of the caucus process through the provinces. These people are CUPE veterans, who are placed in the positions to organize the needs of CUPE. They are extremely important jobs and before the convention is even running they are planning the direction that they hope CUPE will continue to follow. Keeping this in mind, the document that is produced for the national body at convention is as much a glossary of resolutions and directions that CUPE is targeting and on track to support. I think if more people understood this they would probably treat the document very differently than they do now. What is evident is that many groups that don't see their issues in the paper are adamant that the document include them. The question is whether the dynamics of the floor would turn down the document.

Every convention there is a resolution that doesn't make the crowd happy and today these resolutions most of the time are lined up to take the floor. After passing sector groups in resolution 904 (previously 74) we moved into a resolution that talked about opening up the NEB. This one talked about having a young worker position on the NEB. As a young worker myself that was given opportunities through these types of positions I had a unique perspective. My counterpart Trevor Davies said it perfectly in his address. From my perspective the NEB is too important to install a young worker in the NEB. The NEB however was added to with 2 diversity positions that at this moment only cover hlaf of the diversity groups. One could suggest that the NEB including all of the committees should be looked at for the most optimal method of representing their members. If you look at the members we have a very heavy eastern group, with Quebec and Ontario being able to sustain quorum with Ontario alone.

CUPE Convention - Quebec City: Friday

Final Day

Short Day

Like so many that have come before it, convention was winding down Friday. The anger and frustrations of those who had planned to be at convention for the full day disenfranchised over the simple reality that we all can not fit on the same planes going home.

The convention floor was noticeably thinned out. All the talk about quorum was just not enough to convince those to stay. Our local had decided not to succumb to pressure to leaving early and we watched as of the few remaining resolutions on the table were discussed while we in turn passed the strategic direction for the next two years. My guess is that of the 250 resolutions refered to the NEB, much of them that did not deal with the document would be tabled or defeated at a later date. We made it to almost 1pm on the floor. Quorum was lost just after we were able to refer the resolutions to the NEB. It stings far less this time than last as we had planned to leave in the afternoon in Vancouver 2011. This time, I was happy to be a part of convention in Quebec and with any luck be able to see it again two years from now.

I would like to sum up the convention into a few parts. The floor, Off the Floor, the Politics, and Hope.

Convention Floor

The floor of convention is an amazing experience and I feel recharged whenever I am among so many labour friendly faces. It is democracy at work, and I am happy to see so many willing participants in the process. Structure on the floor is paramount and for many who have been to more than one of these can clearly see some structural failures and triumphs depending on your perspective.

If you are coming to convention to make sure your resolution passes you need to do one thing first. Reassess your reasons for the trip. The strategic document is everything when it comes to the direction of CUPE. 280+ resolutions were submitted and in the 5 days we dealt with just under 50 (if you loosely count). You have a 1:6 shot that your resolution is going to hit the floor. Now if you have the committees in your grasp, those odds will increase dramatically if you can convince them to push forward the resolution.

If you are coming to understand the issues, please stay home. Although the convention floor uses the introduction of resolutions as soap boxes for reinforcing which way a vote should go, you need to have a labour background to understand why left leaning groups do what they do. We had many people speak about not supporting the NDP and instead creating our own party. Which is a wonderfully valid point, but politically would involve a deeper understanding of politics than I think we are willing to go. Besides this the NDP are at this moment our allies and severing ties with the party would be abrupt and probably severe. While all parties eventually to curry power move to the center on issues, the NDP are at this moment our party. Like it or not and unless they start really messing with our foundation of dogma we will be holding hands for quite some time. The reasons for why our union goes the direction it does is historical and ideological. Changing that would be like telling an economist that the free market can be controlled.

If you are going because you think you can independently make change, while it is possible it is rare. I had two surprising things happen to me at convention. A young worker ran for president and failed, and my president ran for the NEB and succeeded. Each did very little to officially run for the position and only one was successful. The national level is full of caucuses. They have respect for other caucuses, and unless you control the caucus you are not achieving anything substantial. I am constantly amazed by our affliction towards caucus choice, and think it is dangerous if misused. The layout of the convention is very heavy in the east. So much so that if Ontario itself were to go for coffee, all business would cease on the floor. When you look at Alberta with out the gentlemen agreements we could very well not even be sitting on the NEB.

Off the Floor

Convention is from 9am - 5pm with a two hour lunch. Before 9am there are sector and group meetings that interested parties can be a part of, and after 5pm sector, group and provincial meetings discuss and decide where they have come from and where they wish to go. You can be consumed by CUPE from 8am to 1am everyday if you can manage it. For me since I am on a provincial body I would help out with our 50/50 raffle to support our Alberta flood victims. After convention I found sector groups to be a part of, helped choose Alberta's location on the floor, participated in evening events by the hosting provinces and helped out with the BC/Alberta party. I managed to get to bed at 9pm one night. While the rest went as late at 1am.

While most of these events are not sponsored or given the weight of the convention floor, I would wager that they are as important or perhaps even more important than the goings on of the convention floor. I'll get into this when I talk about the politics of CUPE. The group and one on one discussions that happen after hours is what makes CUPE so strong socially. Make no mistake the union movement is a socially driven movement. You will get more education, and more honest debate off the floor than on it. It has to do with time. You frankly have more time to listen to the topics and the political powers have far less control. It is why candidates make sure to honor sector groups, provincial caucuses, and after hours events. The power of the convention floor is evident when you factor in caucus choices. In fact I would say it is the number one factor for everything that goes on convention floor.

If you ever have the opportunity to go to a national convention, make sure you spend as much time in off the floor as you do on it. You will gain information that would never be shared during the commencement of the agenda.

Politics

The issues that you deal with at a Local level are magnified and sanitized at the National level. I am constantly reading between the lines when I am at convention. We are a 150 million dollar national body. Items that are covered in these arenas are financially liable and as such come with many interested parties. You will see self preservation of many factors of CUPE. Understanding this web is almost impossible, but if you follow the money you usually see why the politics of CUPE are simple on some issues and utterly complex in others.

As an Alberta local we have quite the advantage when it comes to the National. I would like to think of us in the CUPE family as the uncle that says it like it is because he has nothing to loose. We have roughly 160 spots on the convention floor. Our province has a spot on many of the committees, councils, and this year holds a GVP and a RVP on the National Executive Board. We could vote against every resolution and even protest the convention floor with a walk out and still convention would move forward. Alberta can look at the administrative parts of CUPE a little differently than provinces that may be swayed by the shear power of their electorate body.

CUPE National Agenda

If you think it doesn't exist, think again. When you go to convention, there are people who wish to stay in power who have lobbied various groups for support. The National also supports other bodies like the Canadian Labour Congress, NDP, International Unions, and many smaller groups. The labour movement voice does and can change but the organization of the philosophies are left leaning by nature.The ideologies at work are vital and they need to be supported. Getting people there is difficult at times, so the process of convention is set up to lead the audience in a direction that they would naturally get to if given the proper amounts of time. This exercise is ongoing throughout convention whether it be on the floor or off.

Ontairo, Quebec, Coastal Provinces, Prairie Provinces and Territories

Convention is important for many reasons, but when it comes to votes, we are not in any sort of real control. Alberta is near the bottom. In fact if you were to Take the first two eastern provinces in this list and host a convention, you would have the majority of the votes. Locking down Ontario and Quebec is not hard to understand. Without these two on board very little business would occur. Understand this and you understand why quorum will never be lower than 50% and caucus choice is of paramount importance. I would say provincial representation is why the NEB is our best bet at fair representation after convention. The dynamics of the NEB is complex and should not be taken lightly. There are many biases at play on the NEB, and we can only hope that they are thinking of the bigger picture issues.

Say what you mean, and mean what you say.

Unfortunately this is not what happens. While I follow this mantra this is not the norm at convention. There are different reasons for this, so don't worry if you find out later that you were being kept out of the loop because in some cases you just don't control as much as you think you do. I have been on both sides of this and I can tell you sometimes you fall into positions while other times it is highly engineered. During convention a major underlying tone is on elections. The president, treasurer, five general vice presidents, fourteen regional vice presidents, two diversity vice presidents and committees (precursor) are decided in the span of 5 days. For some of those positions, people run months in advance, while others slide in with little or no effort. What I have been learning is that convention is as cut throat as any sort of politics I find that nationally the plays are so much more dramatic than at a local level.

Podiums

You will find at convention that when people speak at the mic, they're not only speaking their mind in a healthy debate. They're also applying for name and facial recognition, on issues in order to curry favour. Pro and Con microphones are literal stages and you will find that along with healthy debate comes a narcissistic nature of ones ability to hear themselves speak. This is the dynamics of convention, and it grinds on those who are here for something more than the politics of well... politics. Truth be told, people who speak at the mic are committee members, elected representatives, as well as educational plants that are positioned to guide and control the debate. Political aspirations are realized or quickly fade when speaking on a podium. For some it seems the very reason they were sent to the convention floor.

Hope

What I loath at convention is always shadowed by the hope that this process brings. Being that I have been to two conventions, I will say that for the next convention we should do a few things differently.

Delegate Status

Being that we are from Alberta, we should send a full contingent. Except instead of sending a full group of voting members we should send 2/3 voting and 1/3 alternates. We could even go as low as 50/50 but it would allow us to not only save some money on the trip, but it would prepare our executive for what convention entails and allows us the freedom to experience the national convention for more than just our voting privileges.

Resolutions

We need to submit meaningful resolutions to convention. Being a part of convention means trying to craft a better union. Resolutions submitted to convention should be well thought out and our responses to resolutions should be given the weight they deserve. While I enjoy having the freedom to vote on the issues as they come, I was surprised how through some of the debates I was stuck on the fence and could have jumped either way.

If the NEB looks at the remaining resolutions, we should as Alberta be suggesting ways to strengthen CUPE and patch the cracks in our administrative structures. Such as proposing different ways of conducting committee meetings. Cutting the red tape when it comes to supporting Local initiatives, changing the ways we incorporate education, and even taking a stark look at our structure in general. The band-aid solutions presented at the conventions perhaps are not working the way they were intended. We should be suggesting honest changes to the structure of CUPE, so that the NEB can take an honest look at the perceived problems.

The Future

Convention pumps me up, and I enjoy the group as they use their experiences to craft the next two years. I wish there was a way to transfer this feeling of hope to our membership. When I return home from convention I find that many people are not even aware that some of these issues facing us are even registering on their radar. The convention with all the politics aside, is a group of people that generally believe that together as labour we are stronger than apart. I would like to thank my local for sending me, and if given the opportunity I would welcome being able to go again.

Convention Wrap Up

I am absolutely happy to have been a part of the convention in Quebec City. We covered many issues, I was involved in many convention floor and after convention activities. I am better prepared for the continued and new direction of the National. I am excited with my Local's involvement in Quebec. Many times I got to hear our local verbally speaking on issues. I witnessed text book inclusion of our executive that helped draw me into the Local business. I am proud to be wearing the number 37 and I think that for the most part our Local was respectful to the principals endorsed by CUPE.

I did not see the city considering how busy I was with convention, but that is a good thing. My overall impression of the convention is that for the most part things went exactly as they were planned. Alberta made an interesting choice voting our Local president as the NEB regional vice president for Alberta and honestly I am going to have to wait and see if it was a good move. Don is not a stranger to the National and should be able to hold his own but his appointment to the role was not our official plan and was either kept on the down low, or was spur of the moment. Either causes me great concern for CUPE Alberta's role in the NEB. I hope to have a better discussion on this at the Executive meeting as there are many layers to this development that affect Local 37 for the next two years.

While I admit going to this convention has been a great expense for the Local, I believe that if you are involved in as much as CUPE National provides, it is a great educational component of understanding how our huge union operates.

CUPE Convention - Quebec City: Wednesday

Along with some of the more major resolutions debated, and comments to the strategic directions we had elections. Boy oh boy we had an election.

I woke up unhappy with the previous days events but I knew there was nothing I could do about it. My projections were only that, and we will only have to wait and see what happens to this new turn of events. As it sits right now our president will be elected to the NEB, and he will be expected to put on top of his presidential duties a minimum of 8 weeks a year of extra CUPE National work. My nerves are calmed considering that he would have had this conviction to his schedule if he had been elected as a Diversity VP for aboriginal issues.

After reading the new resolution 904 previously 74 it is clear that the NEB is really keen on watching this pass. It was referred after some good conversation, but I know it will be back to the floor.

The powerful referral tool was placed on the floor today. Used more than once I think it was used properly. We had a few resolutions that really did not seem to come out right. What wasn't referred was a motion to raise the strike pay. For many years the strike pay members would receive $200 a week 10 days after the strike began. A meagre sum to those who are on strike and in truth needed to be increased and fast. We had this conversation last convention but the issue was not resolved and it died on the floor. The resolution was debated very honestly, and with the support of the floor passed. Keeping in mind other resolutions concerning strike pay were submitted the NEB in their wisdom put forth their own version of that which was submitted.

The elections which usually are predetermined installations, was met with a special surprise. Being that is was year of the young worker, we had a late entry for the position of the President. A young woman named Lydia Dobson, decided quite late to run. For the floor this meant an election, for me this meant we could see democracy in action, and at the very least provided a tool for finding out how accepted our President is. Lydia didn't run soon enough, she didn't campaign and she didn't make caucus in every region know about her. She just ran. It was pure and in the end she lost but she didn't loose outright. After looking at the numbers she managed 20% of the vote.  If she is savvy she will use this to her advantage, in whatever she chooses to do down the road.

We also partook in a lunch time rally for the outside workers in Quebec City. Outside workers like myself who are asking for a contract while the mayor is asking to go over the collective bargaining process. Admittedly the language gap was a problem for me. But the message is sound. Outside workers are fighting the mayor when the mayor should let the bargaining committee bargain. Hopefully he got the message.

The afternoon dealt with GVP elections, to which people who did their homework ensured that 5 candidates ran for the 5 positions. A simple election that will result in a strong upper level NEB. TO be clear this is an appointment by respected caucuses across the board.
Convention is a lot of many different important moments. For some who go to the convention it has more to do with the resolutions, others to understand where CUPE is headed. Even more so the appointment of the National Board is paramount to their goals. Depending on your reasons for being there you can say that elections are just quick because we want it to be quick. When Lydia ran against Paul it added two hours to the convention floor. Which is all fine unless you are expecting to get a resolution on the floor. 

The final part of the day was specific to the Alberta Division. The previous caucus that we put forward was in error in a motion passed to remove the National Reps from the room. For about 30 minutes Paul Moist addressed the audience of those who attended and informed them of the ruling. We were in error. The national reps are never to be asked to leave a room because they are placed in our hands to not only help us. The general feeling of the room was to rebuild the relationships between the reps but I suspect there is something more to the whole situation. While I can't prove anything from what I have learned, almost everything that happens at National level is planned out in some sort of higher level purpose.

These days are long, but as we progress the National convention for me is getting more interesting. I am looking forward to the following days.

CUPE Convention - Quebec City: Tuesday

Breakfast and a meeting over the communication factor of CUPE was great to be a part of. I was able to hear about a few people who had won awards for the work done on CUPE websites. We talked about CALM. The Communication Association of Labour Media (website). The message was a simple one. What is the best approach to reach the main body of our listeners. Around the CLC Congress there will be a communications conference to cover helping the members reach their goals. They spoke about considering using the tools provided by CALM. I will look into being a member of the CALM team. One unsuspected return from this group was a great return of critical comments they had for this web site. Which I will be taking into account for a rebuild down the road.

Tuesday is exactly what I thought it was going to be. Productive. After starting the day with a communications breakfast, the floor was able to dive into 5 resolutions (57, 219, 106, 296, & 144). In which we started with quite tame situations. Resolution 296 was the only defeat. The wording was as strong as it could have been, but even so the membership deferred to a con microphone. I will be sure to remind those in the seats that stacking the deck at the NEB is just the same or perhaps even worse than encouraging councils to have young worker positions on the councils. It was however probably the right move considering the experience in the room.

After dealing with the rather tame resolutions we took a moment to break for the CLC. The Canadian Labour Congress President - Ken Georgetti took some time to tell us about their perspectives on where unions are and can be. His speech was wonderful but perhaps requited by all in the room. While I love the arguments for believing in what we do. I think these speeches should be reserved for the beginning of the convention.

I am reminded that the speeches are used as a lead into resolutions. It is in some cases the first educational tool some of the delegates have ever seen on the issues. Keeping that in mind the educational component to the convention is a necessary task considering the complexity of some issues. When writing this I had forgotten that it took quite some time for me to even understand the issues that CUPE faced and exactly where I, my local, my division, and the national actually stand on the issues.Many times the positions are very different.

The afternoon was set up around a panel of speakers that spoke on their experiences in their areas of expertise. We rounded into the strategic directions document and spoke on the major issues. I have been on the other side of some of these papers and one problem always plagues them. Every year someone sees a group that isn't covered by the document, and to be included in the document will in many avenues reduce the amount of work to be done on other issues. One major reason for the strategic directions paper is to help paint a picture of what can be seen as important for members, and outline the actions of those resolutions that come to the floor.

We finished up the day with a few more resolutions and stopped just short of the resolution to lobby the government to increase the flight attendants from 1:50 passengers to its previous 1:40 ratio.

The most surprising event in Alberta was happening in and out of the convention floor. During the Alberta Caucus, while going through the business a few interesting events played out. Our president of Local 37, Don Monroe who is also the Calgary Area Vice President decided to run against the CUPE Alberta recommendation to support Jody Carey as caucus choice for regional vice president of the NEB. While I am happy to support our president for the role I am concerned about what it means for the relationship with CUPE BC who has honored the agreement with CUPE AB to allow us the General Vice President Role on the NEB. My president will now have to do 3 official roles - Local President, Calgary Area VP, and cover the required reading and responsibilities of the National Executive Board. I wish him luck with his decision to run as caucus choice for such an important role. I am probably struggling with this turn of events more than he is.

CUPE Convention - Quebec City: Monday

Convention Begins.

Today is the formality of Convention. Today we will welcome all, we will watch stragglers find their seats, today we will hear from the president, we will hear from the treasurer, and we may hear from the floor.

Of all the days this will be the slowest when it comes to CUPE convention. The convention started at 9:30am. The Presidents report started at 11am and will most likely go through lunch. Paul is a great speaker, he knows his talking points. I feel for him for many respects. CUPE is being attacked by many organizations. Other unions are raiding, global issues not only highlight the issues in globalization but are great examples of what happens when a company wants to pad the bottom line by exporting work to low wage countries. Paul spoke on what is being done to pension funds, and what happens with tiered attacks.

Paul talked about bill 377. He talked about the politics of Canada. He talked about the Harper government. 

Unions will always be fighting an idea that everyone can be super rich. It pits labour forces against each other. When it comes to labour forces competing with each other the only party that wins is the employers bank accounts. People need to wake up and realize that only some of us will be very successful in capitalism. Union workers want to live a comfortable life, and do the jobs that need to be done. Not gold plated comfortable. More like a comfortably warm worn sweater.

We broke for lunch, full of hope that Paul Moist and his team were on top of the issues, to be proud of who we are and be proud of what we are striving to be.

After starting the lunch hour by selling 50/50 tickets, we hope to raise money for CUPE flood victims in Alberta. Having four 50/50 draws hopefully will raise a good chunk of money. Everyone likes a 50/50.

Charles Fleury spoke on the financial report. It was filled with pretty obvious statements. He talked about Bill 377 and the effect it will have on unions. He talked about slowing down spending on new property for CUPE and start managing them. He spoke about increasing the strike pay and the reality of what our strike back campaigns were doing and how they were increasing in frequency. In the end, the report was as thick as all of the paper so far printed in the packages we were given. It was hard enough for me to even get through most of it in the time allotted. It was surprising to me how many people were able to get up and commend the hefty report. I will work on understanding these reports faster.

We ended the day with the NDP leader Thomas Muclair. He gave a great speech on the government and how it stands with the NDP. Some of his comments were frightening, but not extremely surprising. He said that we may be at a stage where the children of parents will be worse off not better in the years to come. He spoke to every worker needing a pension plan and in fact went as far to say a defined benefit plan.

What I liked most about the speech was perhaps not the topics he chose to speak on, it wasn't the political bruising, it wasn't even the truths that stuck in my mind. It was the continued examples of why deregulation is so dangerous. Why private business will always fail when it comes to very expensive government services. I have been coming to a realization that is becoming more hardened. It is that people who are searching for profits, will find every avenue that will allow for more. It doesn't matter what it is. The search for profit will erode even the best laid plans. We are managing a system that will always favour one way of ideological thinking. Ideologies that take decades to prove.

We ended the day with the resolutions committee coming together for two resolutions. We had a spirited debate on the resolution 38 which was seen by Ontario as the weaker resolution. Both 19 and 38 were passed with very little opposition. The political forum was a little disappointing. Many of the people who were vacating the convention hall could not stay for this forum. We had about 1/20th of the convention population stay for the event, which is not great but after hearing the level of questions I wasn't surprised. Most of the comments were designed around a fear that the caucuses would not be able to choose the diversity level NEB members. We ended the day with a good start to the convention.

CUPE Convention - Quebec City: Sunday

After going to bed I quickly went to my first sector meeting for water and wastewater and low and behold the first read between the line moment happened as we we were reading the resolutions. I am waiting with anticipation to discuss resolution 74. I have no doubt it will be long.

For years I have been looking at the inner workings of CUPE. Coming from Alberta we have the unique perspective of seeing things from the other side of the coin. When it comes to the National everything is big and sometimes we ignore glaring issues to focus on the bigger picture. Resolution 74 is just one of the ways I think CUPE is trying to clean up the interior of CUPE.

At this convention we have 80 delegates. Ontario has 4 times that in seats. If you look at the seating chart which I have included below.

You can see that the representation is quite heavy in the east.

My day was extremely full. I attended the Municipal Sectoral, the Pensions Forum, and drew for the order in which the seating chart was set up. I chose first, and I picked Quebec.

The rest of the day is a blur. I ended up falling asleep in my room. I missed the welcome event from 8pm to 11pm but I think I needed sleep more than mingling.

CUPE Convention - Quebec City: Saturday

For those of you that know CUPE as a national body. This week marks the biannual convention. I along with many other CUPE members have been drawn to Quebec City. A city of half a million french speaking beautiful people. I have to admit I feel like a hobo whenever I go to Quebec. Alberta bred with a huge english dictionary of vocabulary. I thank God for google translate.

I have been honored with attending this years convention and I hope that my efforts while I am here are to better the CUPE collective. All politics aside I enjoy being part of CUPE. For the next week the politics of hundreds of voices will be scratching at the michrophones to speak about everything this union stands for. Omnibus bills will line the stage, and with Over 300 total resolutions, it will be an interesting week.

One major difference in the convention is the access to the resolutions online and the almost perfection of tablet devices to handle the long days. I imagine that the wifi will be taxed. I plan on very busy days and even busier nights. The name of the game is mingling and meetings. This year is an especially good year for Alberta. If everything goes well we will have two members in the NEB. Alberta and BC traditionally swap the GVP roles and our turn is this year. We will have a RVP and GVP in the NEB, which is big news when you consider the role of the NEB. They will be going over the remainder of the resolutions that don't make the floor this week. They sit as Liaisons on committees and weigh in on big issues that come up through the two year term.

I hope that this trip is worthwhile. While I will make as much of the time I have here, the atmosphere of CUPE is very heavy in specific provinces. I am always worried that perhaps being the small province at the table comes with obvious disadvantages. I will let you know as the days progress how I feel about this convention as opposed to my first experience. The awe factor is a little worn now. The language barrier is my humbling experience at the moment. Thank you google.

Ratification of Proposals - Check, Radio media is frustrating once again - Check

We have a great set of proposals this year. I would like to wish the best of luck to the bargaining committee on achieving each one of the proposed changes. With that said, we will not get everything we are asking for. Which is good considering that negotiations required give and take. If you want to know what the proposals are please contact the hall. We ratified the proposals and we have given the bargaining committee the ability to alter them as they see fit.

Now for radio. QR77 has been trying out a new set of radio hosts now that Rutherford has been placed into early retirement. Today they decided to talk about over inflated pensions by us civic workers and the repeat gorrila breakout.

I can not tell you how much it took every fibre of my self to not call in. I have to remind myself that sometimes it is just a slow news day and that when news reporters don't have the full story they will go into speculation and titilation to fill in the required minutes of their story.

The zoo keepers are our union members and I can tell you that like many of our union members they are not excempt from the bitter use of improperly applying discipline. We have what I like to call a progressive discipling model. That means that when you make an error or do something against policy or procedures you start out with a verbal repremand. This progresses to a written warning, then a two day suspension and finally after a four day suspension you are terminated with the City. This is not my prefered method of discipline but it is regularily used by our corporation to document and provide an exit strategy for management.

That means when I am insubordinate, or damage property, or show up late, or.... you get the point, I will be able to count on a progressive discipling structure. This is good because I am supposed to be following guidlines and striving to be a good employee. When I do wrong I need to be bumped into the right direction. That is how the process should work.

Every so often though, we get a situation where people who have been with the company for quite some time have a bad year and a half. Let me illustrate.

If my car doesn't start and I am late for work I get a verbal warning, then I make an error in policy and I get a written discipline. After and argument with a new foreman I get a two day suspension. Now my cheque is a little lighter and after a slight scuffle with my vehicle/equipment I am being automatically written up for a preventable accident.  A few months later I make an honest mistake because of my two year progressive discipline structure I am sent home for four days. Now I'm on egg shells, and one false step and I am terminated.

Sometimes when a mistake or violation is so severe a manager will skip steps to make sure that the error never happens again. But they are supposed to be very special cases. Like if I am driving while intoxicated which is a safety concern and validates stronger punishment.

Lets bring it back to the zoo keepers. When the media starts interjecting their infotainment on these situations two things happen. One it elevates a situation to something much more than it is. Two it focuses attention on what outsiders think is a valid punishment without accepting that the system is already set up to deal with these issues. Since each department attaches different levels of severity for doing wrong, every single department has a different set of special cases.

The Zoo is a very interesting case for many other reasons and we are fighting a constant desire by management to what I as an outsider can only see as a drive to get lower paid workers by increasing the zoological society and reducing unionized workers. The flood is not helping matters since the zoo is in an absolute rebuild. It is forcing financial, personel, animal and who knows what other issues that normally would be ironed out over the course of the fiscal year.

The truth is journalists like those on QR77 or in the paper or on television are trying to get your attention, and unfortunately they can't just report on the news anymore. Now they have to spin issues and introduce political and personal angles. Staying neutral is becoming a money losing opportunity and it makes me uncomfortable everytime I hear the media jabber on about situations they refuse to report failry on.

I personally don't like progressive discipline. Severity is a huge factor in following policy and the difference in being late and stealing should be treated differently. Just like hateful behaviour and not filling out a form properly should be dealt in a different mannor. The expectation is that both parties will be able to just sit down and talk this sort of thing out. The reality is far different, and I find that both sides are spending far too much money fighting issues that should be tant amount to just a stern conversation.

In this case the Gorillas saw an opportunity to escape their cages and explore the kitchen. If I was a caged primate I would be watching that door like it was my mission in life. The keepers made a mistake, and unfortunately the politics of the zoo carry much further into honest mistakes and offer no solutions down the road for less human driven errors to be made.

Ratification of Proposals - Appreciation BBQ

Ratification of Proposals

The Ratification of Proposals is this week. On Wednesday at 7pm Sharp we will be congregating at the Dream Centre (4510 Macleod Trail SW). This is a very important meeting because we (those who come with the advice of the bargaining committee) will be deciding what proposals will be going forward to the City.

Please do not miss this meeting. If you have something happening on Wednesday night (like a Vertigo Theater play that I do) reschedule and go to this meeting.

Every year I hear about something that needs to be changed or improved. This is your chance to vocalize and understand what will be negotiated at the table. This may be a difficult contract with all that is going on this year. Elections are upon us, and it makes for an interesting political football when elected members speak on issues such as contract negotiation. Being informed will be your biggest asset.

This is not a meeting do discuss LAPP. I am a 12 year employee, you may be rounding out your career. There is only one clause in our contract that covers LAPP and 4.43 only speaks to participation. This meeting has more to do with our contract negotiation than it does with the politically charged and changing views on Defined Benefit Pension Plans. Pensions are an absolutely important part of Civic life and we need to be fighting this beyond the collective agreement. Please direct your comments to Doug Horner and your MLA.

Appreciation BBQ

September 29th, 2013 from 11am to 2pm we will be at 223 Castleridge Blvd. NE (Prairie Winds Parks). This will be our site for Hot Dogs, and Burgers. Short notice, but if you can make it please come out and join us.

Bylaw Committee has been Dissolved.

I have been on the by-law committee for years. I think it is one of the most important committees established and I take the decisions made in the committee very seriously. I received a letter today that outlines the dissolution of the committee. This last year has been difficult. I won't minced words. This was a good thing for now.

The by-laws as they sit right now are not perfect, but they do work most of the time. The committee comprised of many different walks of our union has in the past year been very difficult to attain quorum. Last week I was the only one in attendance and months before that I contributed to the no quorum when I had to work nights. It is a difficult decision for many leaders to dissolve a committee, and I think we will get to hear from the membership in September when the general meetings restart on whether they thought this decision was good for them as well.

Dissolution is in this case was the best move for this committee. My hope is down the road the committee is reformed and when changes that need to be made are required. Our dedicated members will heed the call, I am sure of that.

Stampede Breakfast Wrap

I would like to thank all those who came out to the CUPE 37 Breakfast. This year was a blast with great food, good people and a band who were able to create a very good experience for all that came. This year we had two clowns, a snow cone machine, and lots of sun.

Next year I hope that we can come together and make an even better event. It is always nice to see old faces and new members learn about each other.

Stampede Breakfast

Click here fo Information on the Breakfast

We welcome anyone and everyone to come down and enjoy some good times and food at the hall this Saturday. Click the link above for information.

Incident Investigation

If you are a job steward please consider this.

In our June meeting a motion was passed to pay for an accident investigation course put on by the Alberta Municipal Health & Safety Association. I suggest that you take your Local up on this because some of our members are involved in accidents. Being able to investigate an accident is an important skill for your lives as job stewards. Even better is that if we get a large number who want to take the course it could be put on at the union hall. Unfortunately the course is to be held with no book offs or per Diem. It is worth looking into.

CUPE Alberta Division - All Committees Meeting

As I am the Liaison to the pension committee most of this report will be concentrated towards a pension theme.

This weekend, in between working nights (employee shortage), I am sitting with a great group of individuals who are passionate about the world of pensions. Our committee along with many others are discussing those things that matter to not only those in the union world, those who could benefit by a more friendly labour work environment.

For example we are getting back to the basics again with a push for a better more robust CPP program. Not only would this improve fellow union members, but it would definitely improve all Canadians. What is apparent to this committee is the complex conversation that must happen with employees and employers throughout the workforce.

I am always reminding our members that CUPE is HUGE. Many of the issues faced on a Local level are also experienced from other Locals, Divisions and National bodies. CUPE Alberta our provincial division of CUPE is an active member when it comes to issues that effect the people of Alberta.

We will be here for the weekend doing the work of division.

On a different note, this Tuesday will be our general meeting, and as I know many of you are very busy you should come to the last meeting before the summer break.

Noteworthy - Friday Relief

I do full time relief once every 6 weeks. It happens on Friday and a couple of months ago it was my turn.

We get phone calls all the time about what is happening in the field. In most cases the phone calls come too late, but it is important to document what happens in the course of our members lives.

I have learned that the moment you think you have solved a situation, another one pops up behind it. We had a hell of a winter when it came to the JEQ. After much frustrations, managers in Roads put forward a solution that seemed to solve the issues of pay discrepancies. I knew that the solution would help the majority of the workforce, and when it the proecdure took over I found that like everything the membership decides something always falls through the cracks.

On Friday I had an individual come in who had fallen in the crack. He was on the other end of the spectrum. His story was an emphasis on what I am constantly learning in the union hall. As a very senior employee with Roads, and because of the JEQ his job was red circled. After the amendment he lost about $1/hr on his job. We were dealing with a majority of employees in the department watching helplessly as their paycheques severely declined due to a line in an agreement. In order to fix the bigger problem of the labour pool within Roads, one of the line items was that no more red circling would occur in Roads.

I think it is important for people to understand that for every action, there is an opposite reaction. The amendment was for all purposes supposed to solve a very difficult situation. While it achieved this for the majority of the workforce, for some there was the opposite effect.

I am a big believer in the process of job evaluation, I am not so hot on the process by which we implement the structures. For many people in life, the changes occurring because of the JEQ has both created and destroyed opportunities. I would like to believe that we don't intentionally close those doors on our members, but I think on a level we do.

I have been told by people that I over analyze situations. Guilty as charged. As our decisions may create new opportunities for those around us, we must also accept that those same decisions will strip others.

2011 - 2014 Collectives are here

It took a few years but the new books are here fresh off the press. Goto the hall and pick your copy up today.

2013 Education Day - After Convention

Of the two courses that I chose, CUPE turns 50 was my mornings education day. We talked about CUPE's history as well as some personal highlights to the various moments in the movement.

The course was very well put on and I have ample amounts of historical data that I think many in our Local might find interesting. I need to scan it, but when that is done I will be providing it here below if you are interested in the course information.

<to be updated>

CUPE Alberta Convention 2013 - Friday

The final day of convention was interesting.

Results for our area are as follows.

- President: Marle Roberts

- GVP South: Kim Storebo

- Recording Secretary: Scott Cush

- Treasurer: Jody Carey

- Calgary Area VP: Don Monroe

- Calgary Area Alternate VP: Deb Magson

You may be wondering why my name is on this list? Well after deliberations and my nominators holding off to see who would be running for the position of Secretary. No one openly ran for the position. After my my name was put forth I was committed to the process. I ran against Lee-Ann Kalen, and after a small lull, my worthy competitor and I had an election. As stated before I had put feelers out for support and I thought given the information at hand I had to run. Turns out I was right.

I will say that I am dealing with an aftermath for my decision. Depending on how a person looks at the elections, my very running may have contributed to my fellow Local 37 brothers chances. Since election results are confidential.  I can say that I probably did play a role in some of the electorate, but placing the blame solely on my shoulders would also be overstating the situation. I'm working on putting out fires in different areas, but in this case I may never get these embers totally out. The way I look at it my Local accepted me and put my name forth and I know I can not only do this job, but make it better. I have two years to help people see what I can do. I have a plan and in the next few months I can see if I can get buy-in on my ideas. I have been a part of CUPE for long enough to know that a two year run is long enough to help out the movement in any capacity. I will look forward to doing my best through this term.

I will say the final day of the convention was a long day. With no break through lunch the delegates not only stayed through the convention keeping quorum quite high, they stayed through the constitutional resolutions. The constitutional part of the afternoon was not my highest moment. Being on the constitutional committee we were faced with three resolutions that were hot topics on there own but for whatever reason they were not updated on the screen. It was a little embarrassing  because the paperwork we had on the table and the on the minute screen updates were adding a level of confusion to an already interesting set of resolutions. To add to the confusion, I misspoke on a few of the resolutions. I was surprised that we would even be presenting them. In many of the past conventions, quorum is usually lost after the elections. Either way the hot topic resolutions were differed to the next convention as well a general resolution was passed to rewrite the constitution to be in a better more understood vocabulary.

Overall I think the convention was overall a success. With a few hiccups overall the business of the provincial Division has been done. I am always comforted by the various opinions and views on the direction of the Division. In this case the system has checks and we made sure to use them.

Next Convention is in the South Part of Alberta.

CUPE Alberta Convention 2013 - Thursday

A lot has happened in a day. We are about 80% through the resolutions. Caucus choice is decided and still no one officially has run for the position of the Secretary. We had some great speakers. One of which was a lawyer that explained the complex nature of LAPP. He was very calm and was able to describe the situation that the pensions system is under considering all of the issues that the financial system has gone through in the last few years. It was very informative to me but I don't think many of the people about to retire wanted to hear of what may be to come.

The AFL talked with us. Gil laid out simply that we are at the hands of a Government that for decades has been lowering the taxes brought in with Alberta's oil to a point that it looks ludacris for any sane business man not to invest in Alberta. Basically we are giving away the oil for far less than our counterparts. Interesting discussion on why this is. But basically he said we could raise a few billion more in taxes from oil and still be lower than the market now. Interesting stuff indeed.

I have put feelers out and I have some support but not as much as I was hoping for. Weird thing is no one has put their name forth. I am at a loss for this issue.

The banquet was tonight, good feelings for the night. Our local is hosting a hospitality suite tonight and from the looks of it, it we will get our Area Alternate as Don Monroe and we have a shot at putting Peter in the Treasurer spot.

I will say that of most of my CUPE Alberta events, this one seems very low key. Perhaps it is the changing of the guard or maybe the issues are just very real and open to the floor. I am looking forward to the final day tomorrow and then the education day on Saturday.

CUPE Alberta Convention 2013 - Wednesday

There is a part of me that loves the way politics work, and there is a part that hates it. Like games of chance just imputing slight variables can change everything.

Today we commenced with the 63rd annual CUPE Alberta convention. I heard from the Mayor of Fort Macmurray and I don't know if she is the same age as me, but she sounds like a CUPE fan.

Overall things went very well. The days events are steaming along. The issues that I thought would boil over have still stayed simmering. The president gave a great speech. The treasurer gave a great explanation of costs and he struggles with when it comes to funds. The National director for Alberta was honestly the person who took the most grilling. I guess when you get a few choice longstanding Reps retire, replacing them is an art.

After listening through the day, what I am absolutely fondly remembering is the importance of communication. Sitting on both ends I can say that communication never gets old. When I first got to the executive they gave me a binder of Locals printed with phone numbers and information about the executive. I would be lucky to have an up to date anything on file. Years later, with the communication system in place we still seem to miss important facts.

Which is what I wanted to change but I just couldn't do.

This time it was another member who brought forth the expenses of the president. Highlighting the vehicle, I was glad to see another person bring it up. However a committee was struck and it seems as if the expense is actually warranted. Seems safety and the threat of higher costs is the deciding factor. I'll never know what goes through peoples minds when it comes to this stuff, but I have tried.

I don't know why but this year is an odd one that to me seems like a vacuum in elections. Positions up:

• President - One person running.
• Treasurer (1 year) - Two people running.
• Secretary - No one is running.
• General Vice President South - Three people running
• Alternate Area Vice Presidents - Some vacancies.
• Young Worker Vice President - No one is running.

We have a interesting situation brewing and I am interested to see where it would go given the vacuum. Basically positions that were not supposed to be up for election are now available and we have a race for the positions. Once again we are dealing with the same argument about diversity in the higher positions. I never thought that coming from a large local would be a negative for running for positions, but it seems that it has.

Tonight is the hospitality suites and my hope is that the vacuum I see before me sucks a few good people in. I would love to rerun for the position of Secretary... but politically I just can't unless I have buying from some of the caucus. It's simple and it sucks for me, but if the time is right I am ready. Lets see what happens to the candidates later on in the conference.

This is funny because there is very little official campaigning. If it was like this two years ago I would have been in heaven as the GVP - South. It's all about timing my friend.

Till tomorrow.

CUPE Alberta Convention 2013 - Tuesday

Well after going through a day full of constitutional resolutions, we are ready for the main event. I will not be running for an executive position, but I will be applying for a committee.

The politicking has already begun. I have been told that there will be Treasurer race and if the Recording Secretary (who is running I am told) wins, we will have a Recording Secretary position to fill. From our Local we have Don Monroe running for either Calgary Area VP or Alternate depending on if Kim Storebo wins her bid for the GVP South.

As much as I want to run for the Recording Secretary Position I am at a crossroads. Too many Local 37 running for positions is a moral killer for the other locals, and quite frankly, it's not something you just get up and run for. I need a majority vote without hurting the other candidates from our Local. Perhaps it is something to look forward to next term.

Peter is a great choice for the Treasurer position. He has been a Trustee for four years, knows the books of CUPE Alberta and has been up to the challenge in this type of position with his time with our Local. I think given the right environment off the floor he will be a force to watch out for.

Either way I am going to fall asleep to the musing of our business for tomorrow and be ready for a long day of CUPE Alberta business. I look forward to the opportunity.

FYI - Gas is $1.35/litre up here. Everyone drives a truck, and they speed through school zones. I saw my first million dollar trailer house <just guessing>

CUPE Alberta Convention 2013 - Monday.

Arrived in Fort Macmurray in the small airport, phoned in the shuttle, our comrades from Lethbridge short their luggage are ready to check in. My room is ready but as for the others, a small wait on their rooms will be required. Fort Mac is a busy City and my guess is a lot of travelers go through the building. I start unpacking, get about 90% done when the fire alarm goes off. I get my coat, my phone and my wallet and head out to what I think is a false alarm.

First off everything is fine. As I did check in, there was some issue with some smoke. I don't know everything, but what I do know is there was a fire. The fire dept did make a wonderful response time, and the fire in laundry room was thrown out the window and doused with snow. The fire doors were not exactly kept closed so there is some smoke around the hotel.

Like all emergencies we were all in disbelief. I left my room thinking it was a drill. When I walked to the pool area and I saw people panicking as they quickly dried off and workers scrambling to contain the fire. The situation did not feel real. I left the hotel out the back of my wing. As I walked towards the front door. I had guessed there was a muster point there. There was kind of. Emergencies create a little bit of chaos. While it looks like the hotel reacted quite well under the circumstances, I would like to suggest that when I saw the staff of the hotel running into the smoke filled hallway, it was hard to comprehend what they could possibly do given the tools at their disposal.

When I got to the front I saw this:

The fire dept sprang into action, pushed the burning towel or whatever it was outside the window and the process of ventilating and inspecting the wing was underway. My group decided to walk to a pizza and steak joint to have some food and warm up.

As far as I can tell, the smoke is on the first floor of the south wing. I know very little about the condition of the wing, but I do know that those who were staying on that wing are being relocated. I have a double bedroom, so I know if anyone needs to stay with me, they are welcome. As for the convention, I believe that other than the smell of electrical smoke in the air, we are a go.

Glad to be in Fort Mac!

I voted Yes on the LoU. Here's why.

First off let me say this is letter is exactly the direction I thought we were going before we implemented the JE structure. To have this letter in writing makes me very happy. I'm looking at this from an angle that most who are not involved in the union business will perhaps overlook. From my point of view this is where I already thought we were going. If this passes it will be finally official.

Leaving aside the idea that we are not dissolving this process, I with as much as I know about the JE was quite awe struck with the offer before me. The letter which speaks about two scenarios. The first being about Roads specifically to labour pools and rates of pay is more than I was hoping for.

Coles notes for Roads are as follows.
- Everyone (In Roads) gets placed at their appropriate pay grade, they then get the step that they were at before December 3, 2012.
- Red Circling disappears unless you are going to be retiring in the next 3 years.
- Loaders will be the only Local 37's to get retro pay other than those jobs that were not yet rated.
- Pending approval of what has been called a L/O/D or Labourer/Operator/Driver positions that Roads is somewhat keen to create.

The second clause covers everyone else in all the other departments. It assumes that most of these other areas are not generally considered labour pools and will be covered by base positions, or relief situations. It also states that they too will be placed at the previous step they were at before the December 3, 2012 implementation. A correction that is much needed that has been causing distress over the last 3 months.

What this says is if we agree with this LoU we will be able to place everyone at the proper step level. Which is above and beyond anything I could have imagined possible since my opinion on the median was that the job would be attached to the appropriate step and when an employee works those jobs, the pay follows those in affected jobs. My guess is that the administration of my thought process was too difficult to track. Which is why I am satisfied with the proposed solution.

I have a few concerns. My gut feeling is that this solution will in fact solve so many more issues than the consequences of not taking this action. Issues like a workforce fighting the step procedures for 1976 hours, solved at the stroke of a pen. This solution although not perfect but incredibly generous considering the Terms of Reference and Implementation of the JE. I would rather see this solution through and work out the kinks later.

I am very close to this process and I don't want to see Job Evaluation bent so that what was considered highly important then, can still be seen now that way. Thirty years of bending the rules created many interesting perspectives on job relevance.

My concern is of the first clause. Written with very specific tones of one Department. By far Roads employees have been suffering at the hands of the implementation of the JE. The very structure of Roads is that of a Labour Pool. The clause should correct this for Roads, and for the many Loaders that have watched the top job hip checked to the middle. My concern is for the other departments that also have a more minor structure around labour pools. How will they be affected or perhaps not affected by this LoU?

Some would say that if we all don't win, we should just walk away from this, return to what we had and start again. I can say I don't agree. From my experience in the process we had far more people loosing out on possible income because our 30+ pay rates that were far more damaging to our members. This solution will most probably cover many more of the employees covered by our Local. It will create 9 months of wage increases for our members. The overall good in my mind outperforms almost all of the potential bad.

For me this vote is a correction on an oversight concerning labour pools. It is not perfect, but it is very close to what a good solution would be from my point of view. Like everything, time will tell how this proposed solution will pan out. I am a little worried about the other labour pools out there, but because they are offset in their time schedules. Roads has felt the pinch first.

I hope that no one after this is pinched if this LoU is approved. Lets see how it all pans out.

Urgent JE Vote Friday March 15, 2013 7a-7p

As much confusion and anger over the application of the JE process a solution to this situation is underway.

On Friday March 15th, from 7am - 7pm a vote will be taken. From what I am told each hour on the hour a power point presentation will be offered to anyone interested at the union hall. Your vote is required to the solution being proposed. As I have been working nights, I have no insight on what is being proposed other than to say one of the clauses in the implementation will be addressed at the vote.

My best guess is that the step procedure will be covered as it is the most heated discussion I have had members off their insights to. What I am told is that there will be no retro pay. and that members will be is the vote is successful returned to their step as seen before the December implementation. 

This means our members will get returned to the appropriate rate of pay and that jobs will become more about seniority than about dollars. Which in my perception is more agreeable to our overall health as a workforce. I can't yet see any huge issues with this change. My gut reaction is this is a great step forward, and I am currently looking for any weaknesses in the proposal. I will be in attendance at one of the information sessions. Small issues are the retro, duration of red circling for some of the positions, and what will happen if all rates are considered equal. I can see more movement in the relief lists as well as lateral bumping in the various departments. What is clear is that this looks good for the membership, the City is on the hook for some real cheddar financially and the situation of step 3 and 2 employees income will be addressed.

Go to the hall and vote. It take a few minutes to listen, a few minutes to vote and hopefully a solution to many of our members suffering wage decreases in labour pools, and relief lists. This is important to each and everyone of you and you need to voice your opinion on the solution being brought forward. I will try to update you as I find out more information.

March Nights. CUPE Alberta

March has in the last few years been all over the place for me. This March is no different. I have been working nights for the next few weeks and will be in Fort Mac for CUPE Alberta Convention. I will be doing my reports as usual on this site.

CUPE Alberta is an important connection our Local should be a part of. For many reasons, we are going to try to make some changes, and align with many other Locals on issues that not only our Cities deal with but the Provinces as well. I have never been to Fort Mac. My guess is that I won't see anything more than the inside of the airport and the hotel for four days.

Nights with the City is such a different world. With all the snow I would like to highlight the great work our fellow Roads brothers and sisters are doing in the wee hours of the morning. Many of the roads I have been driving are in great shape considering the snowfall. In Water the very small staff of dedicated workers are in the shadows making sure the City is operating.

Two days ago I was part of a night of 3 choked mains. And while the City sleeps the sewers don't. In my position, we see homeowners in distress, and renters frustrated with infrastructure. I am always surprised how many people renovate illegal suits without doing the basics first (probably because their illegal). Access hatches buried, or built over. We do what we can but it seems that people are for the most part just blinded by the basics and constantly paying for band-aid solutions.

We see constant bills by plumbers who are happy to bill $800 for minimum service and a very easy allure to pointing the finger to the City. Unfortunately what most of my job boils down to is who is responsible for the maintenance or replacement. On the whole most people do not consider the health of their sewer line before they purchase a house. Almost 100% don't have any money in their budgets for fixing their sewers. No matter where you live in the City people all deal with very similar situations. I am very happy to be working for a Corporation that wants to take care of their infrastructure internally from service lines to treatment. Front line City employees are impartial and do their job knowing the system is complex and full of variables. If it wasn't for an impartial employee services would suffer.

I will not be able to attend a few of the regular meetings coming up. I missed the Executive meeting this week, will miss the General due to work, and will miss the job stewards due to CUPE Alberta.

Like I said, March has always been month full of activity.

Please take some time to go to the General meeting next Tuesday. As always you're strengths are always welcome to the inner workings of the union.

Congrats to the new Executive. Election deconstruction.

I was unsuccessful this year in my bid for Recording Secretary. It was a good try and I wish Elizabeth all the best in the next two years. I must admit I was hoping I would be sitting in her spot.  I'm not the guy who has regrets, so I will learn from my mistakes and just do better next time.

Winners: Recording Secretary - Elizabeth Tweedale. Vice President - George Carnagie. Assistant Sargent-at-Arms - Cyril Wilson, Ted Bradley. All other positions were acclaimed.

I am going to switch gears for this site. But keep in mind I have my mind on elections coming in the future. I am going to start dedicating my time to reorganizing my priorities. Which will be to start touching more members lives. I have been deconstructing the election. Here is what I have found.

Around 1900 members were sent out a letter with a prepaid letter inside. For around 5 minutes of involvement we had just over 500 members mailed back the letters. Just under 100 came out to vote for the morning of the election. Of the 30% that voted I received roughly 1/6th. Which at 4th place means that I was part of a vote split. What was most surprising was how well some did while others did not. Frank West for instance squeaked to 2nd just over Cyril Wilson.

I have a problem in need of a solution, in this election there were 70% of voters that needed to voice their opinion. I understand a few will never vote, but in 6 years our election changes have only been able to help raise the overall voter turn out this time by 20%. We are missing something, and it will be my goal to find out how we can truly maximize participation. I had thought that technology is the solution, but I may only be partially right. I am going to start rethinking reaching the members.

I'll keep in touch.

Election Day is this Saturday. Please vote.

When I first started down this road, I wondered what I would face if I ran for the position of Recording Secretary. I wasn't nervous like I have been in the past. I felt comfortable in my decision, and in many respects if I don't succeed on Saturday, I will run again in the future. I believe in my goals, I believe that change is possible, and I know that it will take constant communication with the membership as a whole.

I found that out of all of the elections I have been a part of, this one felt special. My opponents are good people who are running for good reasons and I can respect their decision to run. My hope is that on Saturday I am elected to the position, and we can continue to fight for issues that matter with the membership. I believe as well as I am sure all the others believe they are the right person for the position.

With that being said, we are down to the last days to mail-in the ballot. Perhaps with mail service as it is if you haven't mailed off your election letter, you should do it today, but also make time and come down to the hall on Saturday morning from 9am - Noon so that you can cast your vote. You can only vote if your ballot has not been picked up by the election committee. Every vote counts and if you haven't voted yet, I encourage you to make the time.

I would like to thank all of the candidates who have put their name forth. It takes a lot of guts to put your name out there and I know that each person had to think very hard about running. I have to be honest though, we have many people running, and for a position like this my hope is that we get a clear 50% +1 majority vote. The candidate should lead knowing they are the majority favorite. Otherwise like most scenarios in politics, the winner can sometimes be the split vote minority winner. Personally I think I have a 50/50 shot at this and those are great odds considering how many people are running.

I look forward to Saturday, and hope that the new Executive work well together towards our new contract talks, and the issues that have been at the forefront of the membership. I would also like to thank everyone that took the time to vote, and made the time to be part of their union business. With your help I hope to not only increase involvement but create an easier way of being part of the processes.

Election Forum Done

The forum was minimally attended, but the attendees were thoughtful.

The Forum was attended by these nominees:
- Scott Cush (Me)
- Elizabeth Tweedale (Incumbent)
- Robert Dauphanais
- Frank West
- Cyril Wilson
- Dave Knudsen
- Ted Bradley.

We were missing a few of the nominees, but from who came it was a good forum.

For myself, I highlighted my 4 Goals, and answered questions that came from the audience. I have to admit I was a little abrasive and I apologized to the members. Dafydd said it was more passion than aggression. Either way I felt like I said what I came to say and from here on out it will come to the members.

I would like to apologize to anyone that came for 9am - 12pm. I got that time wrong and it wasn't until I was driving out of my garage that I was corrected. If you were involved in that I am sorry for the confusion.

I think I did pretty well with my execution in the forum, but I had some good competition. The forum was clean and I enjoyed my part in it. I wish all the luck to those who are running, and look forward to the final results.

Get your mail in ballot filled out and send them on in. I will be at the final voting day waiting on the results. Till March, ask me anything you wish if you see me in the field. This week I will be in Spring Gardens.

CORRECTION

Election Forum is from 2 to 4pm on Feb 9, 2013 at the Hall.

Goals are important.

I have a few goals to share with all of you. I have a chosen four for reasons of length in this post I would like to share why I chose these goals for the position.

Goal 1
The Job is very complex. I am looking to create a streamlined form and function position. If it is in the bylaws, I will be doing it.

The Recording Secretary shall:

1. Keep full and accurate account of the proceedings of all regular, special membership and board meetings.

2. Record all alterations in the By-laws.

3. Answer correspondence and fulfill other secretarial duties.

4. File a copy of all letters sent out and keep other secretarial duties.

5. Prepare and distribute all circulars and notices to members.

6. Preside over all membership and board meetings in the absence of both the President and Vice President.

7. Have prepared and sign all authorizations for payments.

8. Be Ex-officio on all committees.

9. In conjunction with the other fulltime officers, be aware of all grievances and act on them where applicable.

10. Recruit new Job Stewards.

11. Receive assistance from the office staff to fulfil his union responsibilities.

Goal 2
The collective agreement is our legal agreement with the City. If elected I will be actively finding ways to strengthen the agreement, and correct issues that have been bogging us down over the last few years. We are part of an organization that has many different forms of collective language. Some of it can apply to our Local and help create stronger language for us as a whole.

Most of the time, we have a slew of ideas to help strengthen our contract. And most of the time the bargaining committee cuts those ideas down to a few strong potentially attainable items. This makes sense in the bigger picture. I would like to suggest that we should be able to do both. Cleaning up the wording in the collective agreement should not be put on the back burner because every year we have to deal with the consequences of some soft wording and how it is interpreted to our members.

Let me give you an example 5.16 talks about overtime distribution. I can tell you that in all the years I have been active, I have never seen this clause enforced. Why? Because it is nearly impossible to equalize OT over all of the various departments. Each area has a different way of distribution, and because the distribution can only be argued at very specific times in the year, it is up to the employees to keep the managers in line. It is possible to file a grievance but it is very complex in the execution. If the clause is not working, we need to clarify it.

When Overtime is not distributed equally, employees end up against one another over money that should be spread out. In the end when the City pays 1976 hours of overtime, they have basically paid for at least one employee to be with the City full time. Which in the bigger picture is perfect for keeping our members employed, and giving back to the system.

Goal 3
Technology is with us, and we need to use it to our advantage. One of my aggravations is going to general meetings, committee meetings, executive meetings, and every year talking with a member who thinks nothing is happening with the union and exclaims just how much the union is letting them down. The easy answer is "You are the union, and it is up to you to be an active member and go to at the very least the general meetings." However I would suggest that there is a very real role of the active member who can not go to the meetings. They are very important to the process and at the very least we need to inform them.

The Recording Secretary has some very real duties that would be able to find solutions to this problem. At the least we need to inform the membership, via email. I would like to suggest this could be accomplished with easy mailing lists. I can do better. I would like to suggest that we could not just to email. We could use our website as a records archive, mass text messages to your phone in emergencies. We have a twitter account, we have a facebook page. We could ramp up the social media to help you be informed.

My ultimate goal is to be able to have members vote on much more than just elections in the comfort of their own homes. General meetings are important to hashing out the issues, but as outside workers the meetings are just not working for the majority of the membership. The core of our Local is well informed, and they help to make monthly decisions. Vital information is being held up by processes that are just not fast enough for the issues we face today. We need to start changing, and incorporating newer forms of distributing our information to members.

Goal 4
CUPE is large, and our affiliations are diverse. You need to know why it is important to be connected to the CLC, AFL, North/South Coalitions, CCDC, CDLC, CUPE Alberta, CUPE National, AMSHA, MEBAC, LAPP, and the list goes on.

Many of you think that our Local is not spending time on the issues that matter to you, and you're probably right. The issues that Unions must be a part of are vast and clear. The ultimate goal of unions are not just bound to your Local agenda. We are connected in many more ways then that. The Recording Secretary should have information you will need to connect deeper to union matters that broaden your views and help everyone understand how the bigger picture will effect our Local. I can make simple changes in our document controls to archive the data.



I know I can do this position. I can promise you that I will never lie to you, I will disclose what I can, and you can always come to me with your issues. I will tell you what we can do for you, and what we can't. We need to work together, towards a stronger workforce. February 9th from 9am - Noon will be an Election Forum. Come to the Hall and ask of of us running any sort of questions you want in order to help you make a better decision. See you there.