General Meeting and Update

GENERAL MEETING

Date:    Tuesday, March 15th
Time:    6 p.m.
Location: Morris J. Wosk Boardroom, Level 7, Central Library

Door Prizes: $50 gift certificate to the Naam on 4th Avenue

The agenda has been sent through your CUPE 391 email. Paper copies will also be coming through internal mail. Please post them on your union boards.  Stewards, please encourage members at your worksite to attend.

Food and refreshments will be provided.  Send your childcare receipts to the union mailbox and they will be honoured.

Notes on the Meeting
The call continues for Bargaining Committee members.  The committee will be chose this month and will begin to meet in April.

Call for a Grievance Chair.  We are sad to lose our excellent and long serving Grievance Chair Lily Gee.  Lily has supported many members during her term of office and has a brought clearer understanding of VPL policies, how to mediation should and can work and upheld our collective agreement in all her endeavours.  We will miss you, Lily.  Please come back, Shane.

The Executive will be presenting two sets of Terms of Reference for Classifications and Part-time/Auxiliary committees tonight;  the Shop Stewards Committee will be next.

The Executive has set a date for a Shop Stewards Social on April 20th.  Book-off is available if you are working.  The Executive also needs to know how many shop stewards, union contacts still need to take the Introduction to Stewarding workshop.  We can have CUPE 391 tailored workshop if we get the numbers.  Full book-off is provided for education.

Education:
Naramata Naramata School  One of the week-long courses offered is the “Steward Learning Series”.  Naramata is in the heart of the wine country and is situated on Lake Okanagan.  Members are expected to carry out volunteer duties associated with the workshops when they return to libraries.  Any union course looks great on your resume; so does the hands on experience.  These workshops reflect the work done human resources, labour relations, houses of parliament and adult education.  We cannot lose either way.  We need to have more union participation to be successful in defending and improving collective agreement and working conditions.

Call for Nominations
:  Our Nominating Committee has sent out the first call for nominations.  Positions open: President, Second Vice-president, Recording Secretary, four Members-at -Large and one Trustee.

Pensions: The CLC (Canadian Labour Congress), CUPE and other union are currently campaigning to have the CPP (Canadian Pension Plan) expanded. SeeCLC CPP campaign.  There are printouts of the new changes to the CPP at the meeting.

The business of union-bashing in Wisconsin is closer than we think.  See your CUPE 391. e-mail for the rest of the blog.