May 9, 2019 - Dear members,
Our Local Union is undergoing progressive changes aimed at reinvigorating, prioritizing, and engaging our membership. For quite some time, many of you have been asking for more opportunities to be mentored or further develop your skills as activists. Ensuring our future leaders receive the education they need is a top priority for our Local’s Officers.
As President, part of my role is to make appointments for spaces made available to our Local in courses being offered by our Union, and these are conducted in accordance with the overall Union’s guidelines where applicable. The Local recently canvassed Unit Officials and Leadership Development Students and graduates from within District 3 to apply to participate in the District 3 Summer School “Facing Management”, “Leadership for Action”, and “Advanced Grievance” courses, as well as the District 3 Facilitator Training. Vice-President Donna Hokiro, Secretary-Treasurer Michael Phillips and I reviewed dozens of applications, and were overjoyed to see the level of interest, skill, and commitment displayed by your fellow members. The application form also solicited demographical information to ensure we provide opportunities to promote diversity and equity in our selections.
Please join me in congratulating the following applicants who will be participating in this latest round of educational opportunities:
Cory Anderson – Unit 202
Josh Babstock – Unit 204
Elana Felty – Unit 51
Darrin Graw – Unit 34
Pam Garding-Smith – Unit 203
Alina Gherghinoiu – Unit 51
Karen Hannah-Masse – Unit 207
Paul Hutchinson – Unit 203
Ryan Johnston – Unit 51
Kandis Kiland – Unit 26
Laura Rincon – Unit 213
Len Specht – Unit 7
Gigi Wojdyga – Unit 213
Rachel Worley – Unit 4
David Skrober – Regional Executive Officer – Alberta
In order to ensure all members like you benefit from the knowledge gained by these activists in their courses, I have asked each of them to submit a short report regarding what they learned and general commentary about their experience. The intention is to make this compiled information accessible to each of you in order to promote a better general understanding of all the exciting activities our Local participates in and are available to you. Transparency and communication are values we promote.
As other courses become available in different parts of the country, it will be my pleasure to continue to provide each of you with more detailed communications about what we are doing to make sure you have a chance to participate. This Local is yours; I work for you, as all Officers do, and I strongly believe you should know what we do in our efforts to represent your best interests. In the near future, you will be receiving more information about opportunities on our revamped Local Committees; stay tuned!
As always, I encourage you to follow us on Facebook and Twitter @usw1944, and to visit our web site at https://usw1944.ca as often as possible, so that you may know what we do when we work for you. Please encourage fellow members to do the same. Thank you!
In Solidarity,
Isabelle Miller, National President of USW Local 1944