Congratulations to Sarah and Michael Myers – recipients of the Beverley Haitse Scholarship. 

Wishing them the very best in their studies!!!

Saskatchewan Federation of Labour (SFL)

Prairie School for Union Women

June 9 – 13, 2013

Waskesiu, Saskatchewan 

Approximately 80 km north of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, tucked away amidst the beautiful evergreens and poplars, is the scenic town of Waskesiu.  The Saskatchewan Federation of Labour hosts the annual Prairie School for Union Women attracting Sisters from all over the Province/Canada from the various Unions (ie CUPE, SGEU, COPE, UFCW, CUPW, ATU, et cetera).  There were approximately 150 Sisters enrolled in the 2013 school.  Many repeat students and many, like me, attending for the first time.  

There definitely was a buzz of enthusiasm at the Opening Ceremonies – a few familiar but many new faces of women trade unionists.  The atmosphere was very inviting.  The evening was an opportunity to introduce ourselves with each other after a plenary session discussing building labour movements. 

My first choice of class was to be Transforming Conflict into Union Activism; second choice was Unionism on Turtle Island.  I was enrolled into my second choice.  At first I was a little disappointed but very soon after my attendance into this class, I was thrilled that this was the class for me. 

*Unionism on Turtle Island

This course was designed for non-aboriginal workers who wanted to learn more about Aboriginal issues and who wanted to work in solidarity with their First Nations and Metis brothers and sisters.  Issues discussed included, history, spirituality, creating a representative workforce, Aboriginal issues and the bargaining table, opening the union to Aboriginal activists.   

I had no idea of what to expect – Unionism on Turtle Island?  For many years I have heard about this and only understood that it had to do with something about Native Studies.  Interesting but my thoughts were that it really was geared more for the First Nations peoples.  I was pleasantly surprised that it benefits us all learning about treaty rights; residential schools; Metis history; Myths and Misconceptions about First Nations and Status peoples; First Nations terms; OKA stand-off; Indian Act; Racism; Partnership Agreements.   

Our class size was small compared to the others.  There were 14 students and two facilitators.  The class had a good mixture of ethnic backgrounds that made the class that much more interesting.  The Facilitators were both of Metis ancestry and spoke of both current and past events affecting First Nations peoples.  They also spoke openly about personal experiences.   

I would encourage everyone to consider taking an educational from their respective Division affiliates.   

In this report I can easily just site off the hand-outs that were distributed throughout the week.  This class offered was very intense with many tears shed.   Tears shed when we watched the video about Residential Schools; or when we watched the documentary on the OKA Stand-off.  I realized how little I knew of these two subjects.  I mean I’ve heard about both, mostly from what the media broadcasted, but never any stories from the directly affected First Nations peoples.   

I would like to close off by sharing with you The Story of Turtle Island

Long ago, before the Earth was here, all was water.  Many creatures lived in the water, swimming about. 

Far above the clouds, there was however, a land where lived a powerful chief.  His wife was going to have a baby.  In that Sky-Land was a great tree with four large roots, stretching out to each of the four sacred directions, and bearing many kinds of fruit and flowers.  One night the chief’s wife dreamed that the great tree had been uprooted.  The chief perceived that this was a dream of great power, and thus must be fulfilled. 

With great effort, the tree was uprooted, leaving a large hole in the sky.  The chief’s wife leaned to look through the hole, but lost her balance and fell.  Grasping at the tree as she fell, she only managed to hold onto a handful of seeds.  The water creatures below saw her falling.  They realized that she was not a water creature and tried desperately to think of a way to help her. 

“I have heard,” said one, “that there is earth far below the waters.  Perhaps we should try to get some for her to stand upon.” One by one the animals tried to dive down far enough to retrieve land, but one by one they failed. 

Finally brave little muskrat tried on last time.  Deeper and deeper she dove until her little lungs almost burst.  Suddenly she found a bit of land.  Scooping it up, she frantically swam to the surface.  But alas, where to put the land?

Turtle said, “Put it on my back.  I will hold up the Land and the Sky Woman.” 

And so they did.  Sky Woman landed safely on Turtle’s back and was very thankful.  She cast the seeds about.  The Land became ever so beautiful.  Some people call that land “America”.  Others call it “Turtle Island”.

 Respectfully Submitted,

Eva McKaeff

Prairie School for Union Women

June 9-13, 2013

Report by Heather Dillabaugh 

I attended the Transforming Conflict into Union Activism.  The course was geared towards being able to understand basic conflict resolution theory, the difference between functional and dysfunctional conflict and how gender and culture affect how we view and act in conflict.

The week was centered around learning a Solidarity Skill Set to be used in conflict. There were seven key areas we focused on.

After a week of education, we all left with the following skills:

1. Encouraging the Speaker (Body Language)
2. Open-Ended Questions
3. Restating Key Points
4. Reflecting Emotions
5. Validating Values, Indentifying Interests
6. Generating Options, Choosing a Solution
7. Setting Limits, Taking Action

There were 21 people registered in the class and we had two instructors.  We did a lot of role playing in groups of three. One person (speaker) would tell their story of conflict, the next person (questioner), using tools they learned in the class, would ask questions and the third person was the observer and would assess our body language, the questions asked, etc.  Feedback was given to both from the Observer. It was an excellent model to learn from.

I encourage all members to get union education.  You will leave feeling empowered!

COPE Conference

June 7-9, 2013

Report Submitted by Heather Dillabaugh

The COPE Conference is the first conference I’ve ever attended and was completely enthralled by everything!

There were a number of speakers that were very interesting to listen to.

Ken Georgetti, President of the Canadian Labour Congress, spoke and thanked COPE for its work on Bill C-377.  He predicts that Bill C-377 will end up in the courts.  Georgetti also stressed that we (unions) have to learn to communicate differently and put out a different image of ourselves.  We are about fairness and have to explain the union advantage.

Another speaker was Education Rep Marie-Josee Naud from  the Quebec Federation of  Labour and she spoke on defending define benefit pension plans.

Alexandre Boulerice, MP, Rosemont-Petite-Patrie, NDP Labour Critic, spoke and states that be believes Stephen Harper’s strategic plans are a quick, irresponsible exploitation of natural resources and lowering Canadian wages by abusing the temporary foreign worker programs.  He also noted that it’s interesting that Harper prefers to use private members bills to attack unions as opposed to Lisa Raitt, Labour Minister to change the labour code.

Kevin Rebeck, President of the Manitoba Federation of Labour, stated that it’s not perfect in Manitoba but with and NDP government they are inside rather than outside the bull horn.

Rebeck explained that federal trade deals are costing Canadian manufacturing jobs and those jobs are transferred to low wage non-union jobs.

There were other speakers but this report is getting very lengthy so I will close.

I encourage everyone to try to attend a conference, even if as an observer only. It will be well worth your while and you will receive a tonne of education in a short period of time!

Handling Grievances Workshop Report (CUPE course)

Friday, June 21^st, 2013, 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm

Ottawa Area Office, Ottawa

Facilitator: Kim Monette (CUPE Local 4000 – Health Care Workers)

Reported by Debbie Rebeiro

The course was a part of a two-day workshop ‘Introduction to Stewarding – Handling Grievances’. I attended a part of it to learn about ‘Handling Grievances’ since I had done earlier the ‘Stewarding’ part by itself.

The following are my notes:

• Types of grievances were discussed:

1. Individual
2. Group
3. Policy/Union Grievance

• How to investigate a grievance and get the facts. CUPE /COPE has a grievance form which can be used to record facts.
• Ask member for authority to view their personnel file. Get all records and history of any discipline in the past, etc.
• All facts must be properly recorded.
• After investigation is done, if possible try to fix the problem before filing a grievance.

What is a grievance? was role played – by experienced steward (in role) training a new steward (in role).

A grievance is when the employer is in violation of:   A Collective Agreement

Article No.

Health & Safety is violated

Workplace Policy is violated

A legislation is violated

Full redress and rectify if possible.

An exercise on ‘How to fill out a grievance form’ was done.

Mock grievance meetings were role played.

‘Non-effective grievance meeting’ vs ‘Effective grievance meeting’ with the Employer were role-played to show the difference in effectiveness.

The workshop went well and was good.

dr/cope 491

June 24, 2013

Bargaining Skills Workshop (CUPE Course)

Location:  CUPE Local 4000 Hall, 32 Colonnade Road, Ottawa

May 23 & 24, 2013

It was my very first ‘Bargaining’ experience and as such was an eye-opener for me. I have learned that there are specific steps and a structure to follow.

The following handouts were given to us:

1. Bargaining Skills Participant’s material which included – The Bargaining Process, Various Tips on how to Take Good Notes, how to Communicate, what to Observe, on Body Language, on Listening, on Making a Deal!
2. Proposed Amendments to the Collective Agreement (Management Team)
3. Bargaining Skills Player’s Manual – Union Team, which included:

• The Bargaining Scenario
• Proposed Amendments
• A Fact Sheet on Flexible Benefits – Resisting Benefits Concession
• Several activities on what and how to Caucus, and how to Communicate during Bargaining.

1. A mock Collective Agreement
2. The Collective Bargaining process in Ontario

Before bargaining commenced we needed to have in place the following:

1. Union Bargaining Committee
2. The Union’s Proposals
3. Membership support
4. A good negotiator
5. Background information
6. Bargaining strategy
7. Goals
8. Our Options
9. Choose the best option
10. Risk vs. Prediction
11. Other tactics
12. Understanding the Employer

The workshop was indeed a first experience for me and it was delivered in the form of role plays. As I went through the processes and role play I noted the following are important:

1. Taking very good notes
2. Everyone in our team should take notes
3. Being very alert and observant
4. Always noting body language of management
5. Being aware of your own body language and what signals you’re sending
6. Pay careful attention to what Management is offering, do not turn off a good deal
7. Protecting our already in place benefits
8. Being prepared, caucus effectively
9. Seek for fair settlement
10. Have sensible goals
11. Discuss fully why and what
12. Draft fairly the settlement

The workshop was well done! We held several caucuses before and in-between Bargaining. The Bargaining scenario was role-played as well.

CUPE Staff Reps Tony Cristiano and Chantale … facilitated the workshop. Both are great facilitators.

Observation: CUPE Reps take charge to take issues farther with the employer.

dr/cope 491

Dealing with Workplace Conflict

Workshop held at COPE Ontario office, Toronto

April 4, 2013

I feel very privileged to have been able to participate in this training session.  As an administrative assistant, I think this workshop is of utmost importance to help deal with conflicts in the workplace.

We begin with an overview of definitions and sources of potential conflicts in the workplace; we were given several concrete examples in a first attempt to identify what conflicts are.  Disagreements are unavoidable; however, they do not always escalate to become a conflict. Varying opinions and approaches to the business side of your workplace can bring about disagreements. It can become a distraction and be disruptive, or it can help bring about changes.  This workshop presented us with strategies in order to settle disputes before the issues need to be dealt with through mediation or arbitration.

Conflict occurs when people have different wants, needs or expectations, which is what we find in most workplaces.  However, it is important to know that there are three different types of conflict: manager and employee conflict, work team conflict and peer to peer conflict.  The two most common sources of conflict are susbstantive conflict and interpersonal conflict.  The fact that this session brought together unionized workers from various workplaces and employers, I found the discussions around these two common sources very interesting and enriching.  We were presented with possible strategies to help solve conflicts stemming from these two common sources.

The types of managerial actions can also cause workplace conflict.  It became clear to me during this session that conflicts may arise when employees do not understand the reason for some programs or decisions, disagreements around work assignments, or even lack of leadership.  It can lead to frustration and unhappiness affecting the work of the organization.

Conflicts can have negative results, and they can have positive results.  In training sessions such as this one, we are given examples of both.  Conflict can be beneficial despite the cost of working through it.  It can bring about growth in the organization as well as strength in the workforce.

We were also presented five strategies to deal with conflict:  avoidance, accommodation; competition; compromise; collaboration.   The key to deciding an effective response is to know the results you want to achieve.

The training kit we received contained documents that I find very useful.  This document presents all the above information as well as supplementary guidelines that I keep handy.  It includes suggestions on dialogue to resolve issues as well as its key elements to provide assistance in preparing the dialogue.

In conclusion, I have enjoyed this session and the sharing of personal stories brought about by the participants from various workplaces.  I am also convinced that this one-day workshop should be presented as an introduction to the subject.  Too many ramifications are brought forward and  need to be addressed with discussing conflict in the workplace.  We may have glanced for a few minutes on the bullying aspect of relationships in the workplace. However, if my memory serves me correctly, we felt we could go on forever when this subject came up.

I look forward to other training courses in this field; the more members are aware of the definitions, outcomes and strategies, the better our workplaces can be.  We live in an uncertain time for unions in this country; the last thing we need is for the workforce within our ranks to be divided.  We need more and more training around this subject in order to avoid negative impact on our workforce and in our workplaces.

Submitted in solidarity,

Madeleine Vachon

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