Financial Secretary Treasurer
Today you should receive a link with your electronic ballot for an important election in our Local: the Financial Secretary-Treasurer (FST).
Elections are not the fastest or cheapest way to pick people for jobs, but when the work involves decisions that affect the membership, then it is important to hold elections so that the union remains accountable to you. As you receive and cast your ballots to elect our next FST today, I also invite you to think about if this is a role you may want to run for in the future yourself. The more members get involved in running our union, the better off and stronger we will be. To be clear, the role of FST is not to be an accountant. Just like we would never hire staff lawyers through elections, we are also not looking to elect an accountant in this role. The union hires professional chartered accountants and bookkeepers, and the FST provides leadership and oversight to represent the membership in the day-to-day operation of our Local. For example, I invite you to read the profile of the FST of Unifor National: Len Poirier | Unifor National
In a lot of ways, the FST is the glue that holds the Local together with responsibilities that include:
- managing the everyday operation of the office;
- ensuring membership lists are up-to-date and all applications for membership are properly handled;
- overseeing the preparation of annual financial statements for the Local by staff, and ensuring these are certified by an independent auditor for the Executive Board; and
- performing the duties of Recording Secretary and Secretary Treasurer as needed according to our Constitution.
For this election, we have two candidates to choose from:
Charlotte has served as Vice-President of the Central Region since 2017 and EAP coordinator since 2021. Charlotte brings a lot of experience and leadership in various roles in the airline industry and diverse roles within the union supporting the membership.
Wade is the incumbent, having served for 12 years as FST and 37 years in aviation, and many years as a vice chair.
Please take the time and cast your vote for the candidate you think will represent you best in this role.
Electronic Voting Begins on Thursday, April 27, 2023 at 12:00 Noon and ends Tuesday, May 02, 2023 at 11:59 AM.
If you have not received a link to your ballot in your personal email (non-AC email) by noon on Thursday April 27, 2023, then follow the link below to register! Every vote counts!
https://www.unifor2002.org/Services-Departments/Elections/Update-Your-Voter-Profile
B1 Passes
We hear you: the B1 passes remain a top concern for the membership. It is simply unfair to arbitrarily grant B1 passes to some employees and leave Unifor members behind. It’s clear that if the company feels the need to grant other employees the B1 passes, it’s only to compensate for inadequate compensation or benefits in other areas, but this can’t be done at our expense. The bargaining committee is taking this issue very seriously, and the Union has raised the issues concerning B1 passes at the UMHQ (Union Management Headquarters) meeting earlier this month, and we will continue to press the company on this again in the future.
I also want to acknowledge that many members have sent the Union form emails to show support for raising this issue. We love to see members being engaged, and I invite you to continue supporting your union leadership in further escalating this issue. Instead of form emails, please consider sending specific examples to your district leadership showing exactly how the B1s have directly affected you with real life examples. A form letter from 100 members is not nearly as strong as 25 members explaining how it has affected them directly.
Another issue I would like to highlight is the GIDIP , members should have the choice to opt out , I hope Unifor take this issue seriously too.
In my opinion the B1 passes should have never been a deal to the Pilots to begin with.
All employees should be treated equal ...every human being is equal in God's sight.
Go back to every employee be categorized as C2 and perhaps offer an equal number of C1 incentives! Who don't like it feel free to take an exit pass !