Letter of appreciation from new Unifor Council 4000 President Dave Kissack
December 29, 2017
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Brothers and Sisters of Unifor National Council 4000.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the membership who participated in the election process for the position of President of the Council. Weather you ran as a candidate, were part of the elections committee or as in brother Harding’s case assisted the council as interim President or simply a member voting, everyone contributed to getting us where we are at today. As we are all aware it has been a long and drawn out process. As many elections campaigns go it has had both positive and negative attributes. However, it is now complete, and together we need to forge ahead. Many of our members raised valid issues and concerns during the election campaign to all the candidates that I feel we need to address. In my campaign literature I tried to briefly address some of those concerns and briefly outlined my plan to go forward with the future of our Council. In the upcoming months it is my intention to meet with the executive of the Council and with the locals to gain a more accurate focus on our issues and develop a specific plan for the future of our Council. We cannot simply follow the same path that we have been on but need to develop a business plan and follow that plan to become more efficient at what we do. |
New Unifor Council 4000 President Dave Kissack |
My goals are straight forward to get our union membership engaged, ensure our locals are functioning properly to effectively service our members needs, mentor and train our younger members to transition into union positions and to ensure all our Regional Representatives are properly trained to perform their duties. I cannot do this without the assistance and commitment of each member of our Council. There will be some growing pains associated with this plan but together we will work through them to become a better and stronger Council. It is time that we once again learn what solidarity really means, every member of this Council is equally important. United we stand divided we fall.
Soon we will also have the challenge of entering collective bargaining and must put the elections behind us and focus on the issues that affect our members. To fully develop any bargaining agenda, it is important that we as a Council meet with the membership and discuss their issues within the workplace while respecting that it is not enough for us to simply go into bargaining to achieve wage increases. We must also address the social environment, working conditions and benefits for our members.
We need to ensure Council 4000 has functioning committees that support all aspects of the Council and recognize the uniqueness and knowledge that all our members can contribute to enhance our Council. And once again we must distinguish ourselves through respect and compassion for our peers. We must formulate a plan to also participate within the communities we live in and foster social development in this country. I pledged to all the membership throughout my campaign that my goal is to ensure every member of our Council is treated fairly with dignity and respect not only from our union Brothers and Sisters but also from the employers we deal with or the customers we service. I intend to honour that pledge and will strive for nothing less from myself or any other member of this Council.
Let us not forget it is the members that will drive this process and only through soliciting their input and using it to formulate the direction we are going in will we be successful. I am looking forward to the challenges we will be facing together in the future and the accomplishments we will achieve.
Lastly, I would like to thank my predecessor Brother Barry Kennedy for his dedication, hard work and commitment in getting the Council to where we are at today. I am sure I will be calling him many times during our transition period and it brings me further confidence knowing he will be an ongoing support mechanism for the Council he helped build. I wish him success in his new position as our staff representative.
In Solidarity,
Dave Kissack
President
Unifor National Council 4000
Soon we will also have the challenge of entering collective bargaining and must put the elections behind us and focus on the issues that affect our members. To fully develop any bargaining agenda, it is important that we as a Council meet with the membership and discuss their issues within the workplace while respecting that it is not enough for us to simply go into bargaining to achieve wage increases. We must also address the social environment, working conditions and benefits for our members.
We need to ensure Council 4000 has functioning committees that support all aspects of the Council and recognize the uniqueness and knowledge that all our members can contribute to enhance our Council. And once again we must distinguish ourselves through respect and compassion for our peers. We must formulate a plan to also participate within the communities we live in and foster social development in this country. I pledged to all the membership throughout my campaign that my goal is to ensure every member of our Council is treated fairly with dignity and respect not only from our union Brothers and Sisters but also from the employers we deal with or the customers we service. I intend to honour that pledge and will strive for nothing less from myself or any other member of this Council.
Let us not forget it is the members that will drive this process and only through soliciting their input and using it to formulate the direction we are going in will we be successful. I am looking forward to the challenges we will be facing together in the future and the accomplishments we will achieve.
Lastly, I would like to thank my predecessor Brother Barry Kennedy for his dedication, hard work and commitment in getting the Council to where we are at today. I am sure I will be calling him many times during our transition period and it brings me further confidence knowing he will be an ongoing support mechanism for the Council he helped build. I wish him success in his new position as our staff representative.
In Solidarity,
Dave Kissack
President
Unifor National Council 4000
