SUMMER 2010 NEWSOn behalf of Table Officers, Rick Ratcliff, Walter Moodie, Neil Armitage and Bill Johnson, I would like to wish everyone a safe summer.
As most of you are probably aware by now, Mike Mahar has accepted a position with the International Union as a Representative. I have been asked what will happen now that he has gone.
As per the By-Laws of the Local, under both the Presidents’ duties and the duties of the Executive Vice-President it states, “in the absence of the President/Business Agent’s office, the Executive Vice-President shall perform all the duties of the office of President/Business Agent”. It also states that, “in case of a vacancy in the office of the President/Business Agent, to fill the vacancy, the person holding the office of the Executive Vice-President will preside until the Local elects a President/Business Agent to fill the vacancy”. It further states under the duties of the Executive Board, “vacancies in any one of the Executive Officers’ positions shall be filled by election when practical”.
The Executive Board met on July 8, 2010 and unanimously endorsed me to be the Interim President/Business Agent. They also unanimously voted to not hold an election until December of this year during the regular election cycle.
The logic behind this decision is one of timing and cost. We all agreed that it would not be practical to call a Special meeting during the summer as some members may not be available to have their names put forward for nominations. That would mean that the earliest possible time to call for nominations would be in September with elections in October. Then the position would only be until the end of the term (December 31, 2010). This would leave the new President in the position for only two months prior to the next election. Nominations would again be held in November with elections in December for January 1, 2011 Officer installment. There is also the cost of the election which would be in the $5,000 - $10,000.00 range, depending on how many vacancies were created by candidates vying for a new position.
I believe with twelve years of experience as Executive Vice-President and the many opportunities relieving under serving President’s, builds my credentials as your Interim President. I am looking forward to the new challenges and expect that there will be many along the way. I assure you I will be working with the other Officer’s so that there will be no loss of representation. Everything will get done in a timely manner. We will also be using Neil Armitage, Chief Steward of Operations and Bill Johnson, Chief Steward of Maintenance/Office to help out in the office as needed.
I know that Mike was a well respected President and I can only try to fill his shoes. He was not just a great President, he was a good teacher and I have learned more from him over the last 20 years as we both progressed as Stewards into the positions we currently hold. He is still going to be working out of Calgary and is only a phone call away. The opportunity that he was offered is an incredible, once in a lifetime offer. Not even 1% of the Union Officers are ever given that chance. I know that he will do as good a job for the International as he has done for us. He will be missed on our level; however, he will be able to do so much more for all members of the Amalgamated Transit Union.
I was in the garage a couple of Saturday’s ago and I had a Shuttle Operator ask me why ATU Local 583 would not agree to give Shuttle Operators travel time and coffee money? We have had a number of calls as well in the office. They were telling us that a Management Exempt Supervisor was stating this. I have written Mr. Fred Wong, Director of Calgary Transit, to inform him. If that is in fact the position of the City, we are willing to meet at their earliest possible convenience to add this payment to the Community Shuttle Operators. I do not expect a favorable response. It is important to tell you that this Local has had travel time and coffee money for Community Shuttle as part of our contract negotiations for the last number of rounds. In all of these rounds, the City has flatly refused to move on this issue. I will let you know what Fred’s response is, in the next newsletter.
The last issue is the usage of the Internet from your home or laptop. We have had a couple of Operators that have made comments about the work of some of the Supervisors. If Management finds out about such comments, the employee will be called in and disciplined for it. Please, if you do have a Facebook page, do not invite anyone from Management to join it. That is how they have found out about the other people. You think they are your friends, you invite them, they read your blogs and then all of a sudden you are being called in.
I would make a suggestion to Management, why not set up a site where employees can, without fear of reprisal, tell you how they feel about this job and their Supervisors. It would be better than any survey you have ever done and I am sure you would get quite the awakening.
A reminder about the Family picnic. It will he held this Sunday, July 25th at Bowness Park, all the fun starts at 10:00. All members in good standing and their families are encouraged to attend. If you haven’t seen the posting, check out the bulletin boards in the garages or the ATU web page.
Fraternally,
DOUG JOHANNES INTERIM PRESIDENT
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