Although it is summer, the TWU is not resting. Members of your Executive Council and your Local Officers are working on a number of challenging issues such as off-shoring of our jobs and excessive contracting out of our work.

    Work goes on preparing and presenting grievances and arbitrations.  The day-to-day operation of the Union continues and all the while we remember that our first priority is preparing for our next round of bargaining with TELUS.

The national Unemployment Clock, first introduced May 6th on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, is now on display on a billboard in Vancouver.  The petition is still available at www.keepjobsincanada.ca, and I encourage all of you who haven’t yet signed the petition to do so.

I want to thank all of those who have worked so hard to make the campaign a success.

The campaign is not over.  Your Public Awareness Committee is exploring new ideas and will be announcing them soon.  We look forward to continued success in bringing this important issue to the attention of Canadians.

The Membership Outreach Committee is engaged in final preparation for a training program and a series of events across Canada this fall.  Their goal is to bring an improved understanding of the TWU bargaining process to all members from coast to coast.  We want to be sure that when we elect our Bargaining Committee in February, and when we have our Bargaining Convention in April, that every member is involved and standing together.

Some dates to remember are November 15th, 2009, the deadline for resolutions to the February 2010 Convention, and March 1, 2010, the deadline for Locals to present resolutions for consideration at the Bargaining Convention.

The TWU is an employer and many of our employees are covered by a Collective Agreement between the TWU and COPE 15.  Negotiations are underway to renew that agreement.  The TWU Committee consists of John Carpenter, Tamara Marshall and Lori Blackhall.  John and Tamara are the TWU spokespersons for bargaining with COPE 15.  The aim of the TWU is to enter into a revised collective agreement with COPE 15 and I hope that can be accomplished soon and with as little disruption as possible.

Keep an eye out for events near you in the fall.  The more each member understands our bargaining process and the more each of you is involved in setting our goals, the more successful we will be.

I encourage everyone to visit the TWU website daily, read the Hotline, Transmitter and Bulletins, attend Local meetings, and call your Local Shop Steward.