From the desk of the DBR District 250
Sisters and Brothers:
Happy New Year!
On behalf of the Officers, Business Representatives, and staff of Northwest District 250, I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all the best for the 2010. We have made it through 2009 – one of our most difficult years on record – and we take this opportunity to thank all of you for your ongoing support and solidarity.
In the coming year, we will all do our best to survive the Winter Olympics, and will seek opportunity to grow our membership in new ways. We are now seeing the signs of economic recovery, and business economists are predicting a turn-around in employment for workers in all sectors.
With the Christmas Season behind us, there has been time for us to reflect upon the hardships we endured through 2009. Certainly, for all of us as a Union, this was the most challenging year of this decade. We saw our membership drop significantly as the impact of the recession hit hard – especially in our manufacturing and heavy industry sectors. IAM-represented workers were laid off across most sectors where we represent them (the exception being our automotive sector, where there is still moderate demand for Automotive Technicians). Membership levels were reduced by 10-15%, with a corresponding reduction in operating revenue for our District. In many other workplaces we saw our membership enter into EI-sponsored workshare agreements.
With the loss of membership in 2009, your Business Representatives and secretarial staff both undertook substantial cost-saving initiatives (elimination of auto allowances and work-sharing arrangements, respectively), and the Local Lodges increased their contributions returned to the District – all in an effort to maintain our levels of service to our membership. At the same time, it was a heavy year for negotiations and grievances – with many employers seeking concessions. We bargained dozens of automotive and small shop agreements; and we bargained for over six consecutive months with Finning (concluding negotiations with a zero-cost agreement, but with no concessions).
In 2010 we are looking towards building our District Union back up, and we are seeking your help. In the IAMAW organizing is our number one priority.
We know that our Unionized workplaces have been difficult for our members, even with first class IAMAW representation. We also know that there are many non-Union workplaces where the employees do not have any representation at all, and in those workplaces employees are at the whims of their employers.
They have no seniority, no paid benefits, no job security, and no assurance of a living wage rate. They have no assurance of respect and dignity in their workplaces. In summary, they have no guarantees whatsoever.
We know that many of you have friends and family members who have been treated unfairly in their workplace; we also know that you would like to help them.
Introduce them to IAM District 250; we can help them to organize their own Union and gain strong, professional representation as IAM members with a solid Collective Agreement. Their anonymity is assured, and we will do all we can to build for them a better workplace. We also know that many of your co-workers have been laid off in the past year, and now find themselves in those same no-union workplaces – we want to help them get back to the IAM.
Please contact your own Business Rep or our District 250 offices at the numbers shown on this letter for more information. Once again, best wishes for success in 2010. We look forward to working with you all in the coming year.
Stay Rock Solid!
Stan Pickthall
Directing Business Representative
