Standing Strong and Building Tomorrow in Atlantic Canada

Dear Sisters and Brothers;

It has been five months since the new Atlantic Canada Regional Council was formed. Since that time the executive and delegates to the new Council have been putting in place the foundations needed to build a strong and productive Council. It is critical that we have these building blocks in place so that we can increase market share and provide better services to our members.

I would like to report on some of the initiatives that we have embarked upon since July 1, 2011:

Organizing We are consolidating and streamlining our organizing efforts to produce results. We have gathered an inventory and priority list of upcoming organizing activities. We have also embarked on an aggressive top down approach with our existing and potential contractors. The new Regional Council is re-engaging these contractors and delivering a new message of partnership and value.

Health and Welfare One of the first activities of the new Council was to undertake a thorough review of the various health and welfare plans. We have identified several areas and opportunities to save money and improve benefits to all our members. We are in the process of devising a comprehensive approach that will combine our purchasing power and provide improved benefits to all members of the new Council.

Dispatching One of the benefits of a new Council must be the ability to offer our UBC contractors a highly skilled, safe and mobile workforce. Our contractors have to know that we will supply workers when they are required. We are developing a new and more responsive dispatch system for work outside your Local and province (attached). While all Local dispatching will continue as per Local By Laws and practices, the new system will provide members wishing to travel for work beyond their Local, with a fair and systematic approach.

Servicing Day to day servicing continues with the staff from each region. We have modified the duties and responsibilities to allow more time to be spend on your needs and priorities. We are monitoring these workloads to ensure that we assign staff to work on the issues that our members feel are most important.

Jurisdiction The new Council has embarked on a campaign to educate our members, staff and UBC contractors to be extra vigilant on jurisdictional matters. We must focus greater attention on protecting our existing jurisdiction. We will be more aggressive at mark ups and following up to ensure that we perform all the assigned work of our trade. In cases where contractors fail to properly assign our work – we will challenge those decisions.

Industrial Sector The new Council is very aware that we also represent many allied workers in various industrial sectors. We are developing a special focus on this sector to ensure that we meet their needs within the new structure.

Finances One of the first challenges we faced was to create a structure that had a sound financial basis. We are putting in place stringent accounting and auditing systems to ensure the finances of the new Council are properly and professionally managed. We are on budget with our initial projections and we will continue to make the necessary structural changes to ensure we are fully accountable with the members’ money. The trustees of the new Council have been trained and are mandated to apply strict due diligence when auditing the books of the Council.

Leadership Our future success depends on the development of new leaders within the new Council. Since our formation we have provided training to several members in Las Vegas and are developing new shop steward, supervisory and orientation programs. We are developing new and innovative ways to encourage and welcome the next generation of leaders to step up and get involved.

Brothers and Sisters, the mere process of consolidating three provincial Regional Councils and Local 1588 has been very time consuming. It has required much travel, many meetings, some difficult decisions and plenty of listening and consultation. I sincerely appreciate the dedication and commitment that many members have given to me and the new Council since June.

Together we have put in place a strong foundation that will allow the United Brotherhood to continue to grow and prosper in Atlantic Canada.

Thank you for your support as we stand strong and build for tomorrow.

Solidarity,

Gus Doyle
Executive Secretary Treasurer
Atlantic Canada Regional Council
of Carpenters, Millwrights and Allied Workers