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News - December 2007

The headlines for news items published during this month are listed below.

Click on the headline of your choice to see the entire text of the article.

• Winnipeg member’s personal gift mushrooms

into airlift of cookies to Canadian troops in Afghanistan

• Holiday message from National President

• Time for Locals to schedule meetings to ratify new By-Laws

• New union structure ensures accountability

and strong membership control

Winnipeg member’s personal gift mushrooms into airlift of cookies to Canadian troops in Afghanistan

Posted December 23, 2007

Christmas will seem a little more like home for some of Canada’s soldiers spending their holidays in dangerous desert combat zones of far-off Afghanistan.  And it started with the efforts of an NHWU member in Winnipeg.

Rhonda Mogk is a Local 50012 member at the Canadian Science Centre for Human and Animal Health.  The Centre is part of the Public Health Agency of Canada.

Rhonda’s fiancé, Kevin, an air force meteorologist from Winnipeg, is currently attached to the 5è Régiment d’artillerie légère du Canada, normally based at CFB Valcartier outside Quebec City.

Rhonda has been sending a weekly ‘care package’ to Kevin since he arrived in Afghanistan last summer.

“I mentioned to a number of colleagues and friends that I was planning on sending some home-made goodies, and they were all keen to help with something special for Christmas,” she says. “So, I sent out an e-mail inviting folks to join in and the next thing I knew we had over 10-dozen home-made cookies!”

Thanks to Rhonda’s co-workers, friends and neighbours, over 200 homemade ‘Cookie Care’ packages are literally winging their way towards members of the Regiment in the far-off deserts of Afghanistan.

Congratulations to Rhonda and all those who pitched in to give her a hand. Not even Santa could have pulled off this Yuletide delivery!

Holiday message from National President

Posted December 21, 2007

It is my sincere wish that this holiday season finds you and your families hale, hearty and happy. I would also like to wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year on behalf of myself, the National Office staff and the entire National Executive.

As you can see by previous articles posted to our Web site, your National Executive has made wonderful progress in recent weeks in creating a new invigorating structure for our Component that, if ratified, will ensure stability for many years to come.

We are at present readying ourselves to finalize our new By-laws; all Locals should receive them by the third week of January.  Our Component has struggled over this past year.  However, with the cooperation of the PSAC leadership, the hard work of the National Executive, and the fortitude of those many members who have stood up to accept leadership roles within our Locals…we have persevered!

We now head into 2008 with the knowledge that we will be ready for our National Triennial Convention, pride in the fact we have overcome adversity, and confident we will be able to meet the challenges and needs of you, the members, in the coming years.

Over the next several months, we will be escalating our activities.  Locals will be asked to endorse our new structure by ratifying a complete set of revised By-laws.  I will make myself available to attend all Local meetings to respond to any questions and concerns.

The Christmas holidays are a wonderful time for all of us to take a ‘time out’ from the rigors of our jobs, our everyday commonplace problems, and perhaps even the seemingly endless harshness of the ‘real world’.  We enjoy the company of family, friends and the general goodwill and warmth of people we don’t even know.  It is truly a grand time of the year.  We all need and deserve this break, so let’s enjoy it to the fullest.

As I get ready to head home to Newfoundland – my ‘island in the sea’ – for the holidays, I would like to leave you with a personal salutation, and my sincere hope you will all have a joyous and peaceful holiday.

To you and yours, from me and mine…God Bless.

                                                                                               Tony

Time for Locals to schedule meetings to ratify new By-Laws

Posted December 17, 2007

The NHWU’s By-Laws are its de facto constitution – the document that sets out the rules and requirements that must be followed by all levels of our Union.

The enshrining of a new set of By-Laws is a major step in our I’m Building My Union campaign to reshape and reinvigorate the NHWU.

In mid-January, the National Office will be sending out proposed new By-Laws for ratification by all NHWU Locals.  Accordingly, we are asking all Locals to set a date for a special general membership meeting in late January or early February for the purpose of discussing and ratifying these new By-Laws.

As National President Tony Tilley will be attending as many of these meetings as possible to answer members’ questions directly, please inform the National Office as soon as a Local meeting has been scheduled.

A great deal of thought has gone into the drafting of these By-Laws, and we would ask that Locals endeavour to involve the largest number of members possible in these ratification meetings.

New union structure ensures accountability and strong membership control

Posted December 12, 2007

A major cornerstone of the rebuilding of the NHWU has fallen into place with the agreement by the National Executive of a new structure for our union.

National President Tony Tilley welcomed the development as “a big step forward in the rebuilding and revitalization of our union.  Our new structure reflects the views of the many rank-and-file members I have met in my travels across the country in recent weeks.”

The national Executive met in Ottawa from December 4 to 6.

“We have succeeded in creating a lean, straightforward structure that cements the strong membership control that has always been a hallmark of our union,” Tilley noted.

“At the same time, it provides for unfiltered communication between our Local leadership and the National President.  These direct lines of accountability will ensure that the holder of our union’s highest office always knows where his or her responsibility lies.”

The National President will continue as the only full-time NHWU officer.  He or she will, among other responsibilities, oversee the operation of National Office and its staff.  The post of Vice-President also remains unchanged.  Both senior positions will be elected at our National Triennial Convention.

Eight Regional Vice-Presidents will also be elected to three-year terms by Convention delegates from their geographical areas.  An RVP will represent members in each of the following regions: Atlantic; Quebec; National Capital Region; Ontario; Manitoba; Saskatchewan; Alberta; and, British Columbia-Yukon.

The National President, National Vice-President and eight RVPs will comprise a National Council, which will meet twice a year.  This body replaces the current National Executive.

A new Advisory Committee, comprising the National President, National Vice-President and two RVPs, will meet three times a year (two of these coinciding with National Council meetings).  Its role is to assist the National President in his or her allocation of union resources to benefit the membership.

Finally, three Standing Committees – Finance, Health and Safety, and Organization and Structure – will be created, with membership drawn from National Council members.  Ad hoc committees may be created as required.

All the above will form part of new By-laws that Locals will be asked to ratify in the New Year.  (More about this shortly!)