Recap of the April 3, 2017 Unifor National Council 4000 Executive Meeting
April 29, 2017
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The Unifor National Council 4000 Executive Board met in Edmonton, Alberta on Monday, April 3, 2017. The Council’s Executive discussed and debated a variety of agenda issues, including an overview of the Council 4000 membership; the necessity of conducting CNTL Local Chairperson training courses; establishing and electing Skilled Trades Representatives amongst our Unifor Council 4000 Skilled Trades membership; conducting elections for the positions of 1st and 2nd Vice President for Council 4000, and items referred to the Executive following the Council’s 6th Triennial Convention held at the Fort Garry Hotel November 25-26, 2016 in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Our Council 4000 Membership Despite the country’s struggling economy these past couple of years that has lead to significant job loss across Canada, including in the rail and transportation sector, the Council 4000 membership has nevertheless grown the past year. |
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This is thanks in part to the organizing that has taken place in Atlantic Canada, with new members joining Local 4005 from Bay Ferries (Yarmouth, N.S.), CHEP Canada (Moncton, N.B.), and Securitas (Edmundston, N.B.), and with CN Transportation Ltd. (CNTL) hiring again in Locals 4001, 4002, 4003 and 4005. CNTL presently sits at 933 members across Canada.
Here is a breakdown of our membership as of the end of January 2017:
Here is a breakdown of our membership as of the end of January 2017:
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Local 4001 |
Local 4002 |
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Canadian National Railway |
513 |
VIA Rail Canada |
298 |
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CN Transportation Ltd. |
393 |
Canadian National Railway |
296 |
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VIA Rail Canada |
123 |
CN Transportation Ltd. |
68 |
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Rocky Mountain Catering Co. |
66 |
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TOTAL |
1095 |
TOTAL |
662 |
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Local 4003 |
Local 4004 |
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Canadian National Railway |
530 |
VIA Rail Canada |
560 |
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VIA Rail Canada |
389 |
Canadian National Railway |
480 |
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CN Transportation Ltd. |
254 |
CN Transportation Ltd. |
105 |
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Toronto Terminals Railway |
38 |
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TOTAL |
1211 |
TOTAL |
1145 |
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Local 4005 |
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VIA Rail Canada |
174 |
Bay Ferries |
15 |
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Loblaw Atlantic Wholesalers (DC24) |
159 |
Securitas |
15 |
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Loomis Express |
117 |
Cummins |
14 |
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CN Transportation Ltd. |
74 |
Securitas |
15 |
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Loblaw Atlantic Wholesalers (DC06) |
51 |
Wajax
Equipment |
11 |
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Canadian National Railway |
46 |
DHL Express |
5 |
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World Trade & Convention Ctr Halifax |
42 |
Nova Scotia Federation of Labour |
5 |
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CHEP Canada |
28 |
TOTAL |
756 |
The above numbers were compiled using employer address listings and our published seniority listings (excluding members promoted to non-Union positions but whom remain on the seniority list). The number of dues paying members will be less, as the above list includes members in good standing, but whom are not paying Union dues due to being off on Short Term or Long Term Disability Benefits, Workers’ Compensation, or authorized/unauthorized leave of absences.
The Council 4000 membership numbers by employer are as follows (as of January 31, 2017):
The Council 4000 membership numbers by employer are as follows (as of January 31, 2017):
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Unifor National Council 4000
Membership across Canada |
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Canadian National Railway |
1865 |
Bay Ferries |
15 |
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VIA Rail Canada |
1544 |
Securitas |
15 |
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CN Transportation Ltd. |
894 |
Cummins |
14 |
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Loblaw Companies |
210 |
Securitas |
15 |
|
Loomis Express |
117 |
Wajax
Equipment |
11 |
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Rocky Mountain Catering Co. |
66 |
DHL Express |
5 |
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World Trade & Convention Ctr Halifax |
42 |
Nova Scotia Federation of Labour |
5 |
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CHEP Canada |
28 |
TOTAL |
4884 |
Unifor Council 4000 CNTL Local Chairperson Training
With our CNTL membership continuing to grow, we have seen many new members step forward to participate in their Union, being elected as new Local Chairpersons, Vice Local Chairpersons and Grievance Officers in their respective terminals. The Council 4000 Executive has approved a cost sharing initiative between the Council and the five Regional Local Unions to establish training courses for our local CNTL leadership dedicated to Unifor/CNTL Collective Agreement matters. The course material is being developed now and plans are to conduct training sessions in June or July of 2017 at a location yet to be determined.
Unifor Skilled Trades Council and Membership
Last year, Unifor National Council 4000 President Barry Kennedy appointed Regional Representative Dave Kissack to serve as the first ever Skilled Trades Coordinator for Council 4000. This appointment was made pursuant to Article 2, Section 2.02 of the National Council 4000 Bylaws. Brother Kissack himself is a Skilled Tradesman as he is certified both as a licensed mechanic/ technician and a Red-Sealed Chef at VIA Rail. He is an excellent choice to serve in this capacity.
All Chefs who work aboard VIA Rail’s Canadian – between Vancouver and Toronto – are members of the Skilled Trades Program and Council. We now want to sign up our CN members who are Automotive Mechanics/Technicians under Agreement 5.1 and Intermodal Heavy Duty Mechanics under the 5.1 Supplemental Agreement.
There has also been discussion about our membership who work as Conductors and Locomotive Engineers at CN Savage Alberta Railway at Grande Cache and Grande Prairie, Alberta being part of the Unifor Skilled Trades Council.
All our Skilled Trades members at CN will be receiving an additional 1% wage increase effective January 1, 2018, the final year of a four-year agreement we negotiated with CN in February 2015. Council 4000’s five Regional Local Unions will be communicating with our CN Skilled Trades members.
We would have a minimum five Skilled Trades Representatives elected from CN (minimum one for each of the five Locals) and Skilled Trades Representatives from VIA Rail from Locals 4001 and 4002. These Representatives would attend and participate in the Unifor Skilled Trades Council, Conferences and various Area Sub Councils across Canada. Brother Kissack would coordinate our Skilled Trades Committee and Representatives for Council 4000 and our five Regional Locals.
It costs just one half hours’ dues once per year to belong to the Skilled Trades Council and National Council. More information will be forthcoming in the weeks ahead.
Unifor Council 4000 Elections
Discussion was held on the recent election of the Council’s Secretary Treasurer on March 24. Present elections are conducted in accordance Article 2, Section 3 of the Council 4000 Bylaws, whereas ballots are mailed-out to members’ residences via Canada Post. These mailouts include a private ballot envelope to insert the ballot and a return postage-paid envelope to place the ballot in and mail it back through Canada Post before the date specified by the Council’s National Election Committee (NEC).
Inquiries will be made to determine the feasibility of conducting future elections by electronic voting. Initial thoughts are that electronic voting would be more cost effective than the present mail-out/mail-in process. The Executive will review this further at our next meeting scheduled for May 13, 2017 in Toronto.
Unifor Council 4000 First and Second Vice Presidents
As in accordance Article 3, Sections 2.07 and 3.09 of the Unifor National Council 4000 Bylaws, the Council’s Executive Board named the new First and Second Vice Presidents from within the Executive Board, which is comprised of Dave Judge – President of Local 4001; Brian Donaldson - President of Local 4002; Frank Consiglio - President of Local 4003; Kesang Kashi - President of Local 4004; Steven Harding - President of Local 4005; Danny Andru – Secretary Treasurer of Council 4000 and Barry Kennedy – Council 4000 President. Regional Representative Dave Kissack sits on the Executive Board representing the interests of the Council’s full-time elected Regional Representatives.
With our CNTL membership continuing to grow, we have seen many new members step forward to participate in their Union, being elected as new Local Chairpersons, Vice Local Chairpersons and Grievance Officers in their respective terminals. The Council 4000 Executive has approved a cost sharing initiative between the Council and the five Regional Local Unions to establish training courses for our local CNTL leadership dedicated to Unifor/CNTL Collective Agreement matters. The course material is being developed now and plans are to conduct training sessions in June or July of 2017 at a location yet to be determined.
Unifor Skilled Trades Council and Membership
Last year, Unifor National Council 4000 President Barry Kennedy appointed Regional Representative Dave Kissack to serve as the first ever Skilled Trades Coordinator for Council 4000. This appointment was made pursuant to Article 2, Section 2.02 of the National Council 4000 Bylaws. Brother Kissack himself is a Skilled Tradesman as he is certified both as a licensed mechanic/ technician and a Red-Sealed Chef at VIA Rail. He is an excellent choice to serve in this capacity.
All Chefs who work aboard VIA Rail’s Canadian – between Vancouver and Toronto – are members of the Skilled Trades Program and Council. We now want to sign up our CN members who are Automotive Mechanics/Technicians under Agreement 5.1 and Intermodal Heavy Duty Mechanics under the 5.1 Supplemental Agreement.
There has also been discussion about our membership who work as Conductors and Locomotive Engineers at CN Savage Alberta Railway at Grande Cache and Grande Prairie, Alberta being part of the Unifor Skilled Trades Council.
All our Skilled Trades members at CN will be receiving an additional 1% wage increase effective January 1, 2018, the final year of a four-year agreement we negotiated with CN in February 2015. Council 4000’s five Regional Local Unions will be communicating with our CN Skilled Trades members.
We would have a minimum five Skilled Trades Representatives elected from CN (minimum one for each of the five Locals) and Skilled Trades Representatives from VIA Rail from Locals 4001 and 4002. These Representatives would attend and participate in the Unifor Skilled Trades Council, Conferences and various Area Sub Councils across Canada. Brother Kissack would coordinate our Skilled Trades Committee and Representatives for Council 4000 and our five Regional Locals.
It costs just one half hours’ dues once per year to belong to the Skilled Trades Council and National Council. More information will be forthcoming in the weeks ahead.
Unifor Council 4000 Elections
Discussion was held on the recent election of the Council’s Secretary Treasurer on March 24. Present elections are conducted in accordance Article 2, Section 3 of the Council 4000 Bylaws, whereas ballots are mailed-out to members’ residences via Canada Post. These mailouts include a private ballot envelope to insert the ballot and a return postage-paid envelope to place the ballot in and mail it back through Canada Post before the date specified by the Council’s National Election Committee (NEC).
Inquiries will be made to determine the feasibility of conducting future elections by electronic voting. Initial thoughts are that electronic voting would be more cost effective than the present mail-out/mail-in process. The Executive will review this further at our next meeting scheduled for May 13, 2017 in Toronto.
Unifor Council 4000 First and Second Vice Presidents
As in accordance Article 3, Sections 2.07 and 3.09 of the Unifor National Council 4000 Bylaws, the Council’s Executive Board named the new First and Second Vice Presidents from within the Executive Board, which is comprised of Dave Judge – President of Local 4001; Brian Donaldson - President of Local 4002; Frank Consiglio - President of Local 4003; Kesang Kashi - President of Local 4004; Steven Harding - President of Local 4005; Danny Andru – Secretary Treasurer of Council 4000 and Barry Kennedy – Council 4000 President. Regional Representative Dave Kissack sits on the Executive Board representing the interests of the Council’s full-time elected Regional Representatives.
Steven Harding President, Unifor Local 4005 1st Vice-President Unifor Council 4000 |
The First Vice President will assume the position of National Council 4000 President in the event of a sudden vacancy in the position, while the Second Vice President will serve as the Council’s Secretary Treasurer in the event of a vacancy. If the vacancy on either position becomes permanent with more than one year left in the term, an election will be held as in accordance Article 2, Sections 1 and 3 of the Council 4000 Bylaws.
Elected as First Vice President is Steven Harding, President of Local 4005, while Frank Consiglio, President of Local 4003, and elected as Second Vice President. Brother Consiglio previously served as the Council’s First VP. The terms of Vice Presidents for Council 4000 are three years. |
Frank Consiglio President, Unifor Local 4003 2nd Vice-President Unifor Council 4000 |
Unifor Council 4000 Convention Matters
Two items that were referred to the Executive following the Council 4000’s 6th Triennial Convention held in Winnipeg were discussed and debated at the April 3rd Executive meeting. These were appointing members in good standing to the full-time positions of Regional Representatives instead of by election, and restoring a second Regional Representative to service the Council's and Local 4004's membership in Quebec.
There are a few Unifor Local Unions that appoint members in good standing to full-time positions that service their Local Union membership, positions like our Council's Regional Representatives. This is to ensure that members with adequate experience, training, qualifications and professionalism are placed in these important roles and not just elected based on what in many cases comes down to a popularity contest. These appointed positions in other Locals are determined by a rank and file committee endorsed by that Local Union’s Executive and generally serve in set terms. In cases of Regional Representatives who are members of and continue to contribute to their employer pension plan, based on pension plan rules, appointing would have a detrimental effect to their pensionable contributions so this notion is advantageous in that regard. But this is not applicable to CNTL Owner Operators, whom do not belong to a pension plan as dependent owner operators, or other members of Council 4000 and its five Regional Local Unions that do not have pension plans.
There was discussion of the prospect of considering this with the present CNTL position based on the importance of properly servicing this growing membership, but a consensus was not reached amongst the Council’s Executive.
The establishment (restoring as presented at the Council's November 2017 Convention) of a second Regional Representative to service the Quebec membership and the logistics involved with this will be discussed further at the Council's next scheduled Executive Board meeting, which will be May 13, 2017 in Toronto, Ontario.
Retired Unifor Local 4001 President John Dowell and Secretary Treasurer Tony Andrzejewski
The Council’s Executive Board was joined with Executive members of Unifor Local 4001 on Sunday evening (April 2nd) for a dinner to honour past Local 4001 President John Dowell and Secretary Treasurer Tony Andrzejewski, who both retired last year following many years of Union activism with Unifor and our previous Unions; the National Automobile, Aerospace, Transportation and General Workers Union of Canada (CAW-Canada) and the Canadian Brotherhood of Railway, Transport and General Workers Union (CBRT & GW).
On behalf of the Council 4000 Executive, and the Unifor Local 4001 Executive, we thank Brothers Andrzejewski and Dowell for their many years of Union service in representing our membership.
Two items that were referred to the Executive following the Council 4000’s 6th Triennial Convention held in Winnipeg were discussed and debated at the April 3rd Executive meeting. These were appointing members in good standing to the full-time positions of Regional Representatives instead of by election, and restoring a second Regional Representative to service the Council's and Local 4004's membership in Quebec.
There are a few Unifor Local Unions that appoint members in good standing to full-time positions that service their Local Union membership, positions like our Council's Regional Representatives. This is to ensure that members with adequate experience, training, qualifications and professionalism are placed in these important roles and not just elected based on what in many cases comes down to a popularity contest. These appointed positions in other Locals are determined by a rank and file committee endorsed by that Local Union’s Executive and generally serve in set terms. In cases of Regional Representatives who are members of and continue to contribute to their employer pension plan, based on pension plan rules, appointing would have a detrimental effect to their pensionable contributions so this notion is advantageous in that regard. But this is not applicable to CNTL Owner Operators, whom do not belong to a pension plan as dependent owner operators, or other members of Council 4000 and its five Regional Local Unions that do not have pension plans.
There was discussion of the prospect of considering this with the present CNTL position based on the importance of properly servicing this growing membership, but a consensus was not reached amongst the Council’s Executive.
The establishment (restoring as presented at the Council's November 2017 Convention) of a second Regional Representative to service the Quebec membership and the logistics involved with this will be discussed further at the Council's next scheduled Executive Board meeting, which will be May 13, 2017 in Toronto, Ontario.
Retired Unifor Local 4001 President John Dowell and Secretary Treasurer Tony Andrzejewski
The Council’s Executive Board was joined with Executive members of Unifor Local 4001 on Sunday evening (April 2nd) for a dinner to honour past Local 4001 President John Dowell and Secretary Treasurer Tony Andrzejewski, who both retired last year following many years of Union activism with Unifor and our previous Unions; the National Automobile, Aerospace, Transportation and General Workers Union of Canada (CAW-Canada) and the Canadian Brotherhood of Railway, Transport and General Workers Union (CBRT & GW).
On behalf of the Council 4000 Executive, and the Unifor Local 4001 Executive, we thank Brothers Andrzejewski and Dowell for their many years of Union service in representing our membership.
(L-R) Unifor Local 4001 Secretary Treasurer Sandy Barwell, retired Secretary Treasurer Tony Andrzejewski, retired President John Dowell, and Local 4001 President Dave Judge |
Unifor Local 4001 President Dave Judge and Unifor Council 4000 Regional Representative Ron Shore toast and pay tribute to John Dowell and Tony Andrzejewski |
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