CAW Group Insurance

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A message from Ken Lewenza – National President.

 

We are pleased to announce that the CAW Group Insurance Program is now available to all CAW members nationwide. As a CAW member, you are entitled to a wide range of benefits including a Group Auto and Home Insurance Program.

Our insurance partners are Breckles Insurance Brokers* and Aviva. Breckles has been our insurance broker partner for over 25 years and Aviva has been providing automobile insurance to groups, including many union groups, for over 50 years in Canada. Both of these companies are among the leaders in the insurance business in Canada and we are pleased to be partnering with them to deliver market leading insurance products to our membership.

All of the information you will need to participate in this program can be found at http://www.cawinsurance.com/index.html. You can also call 1-877-CAW-INSR (1-877-229-4677) if you would prefer to speak to a live representative.

The CAW is pleased to be able to announce this new and exciting program for the benefit of you and your family.

In Solidarity,
Ken Lewenza 
National President

Ontario Day of Action – Get Involved!

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The Ontario Federation of Labour has organized a Day of Action to highlight the devastating effects that will be realized upon implementation of the Drummond Report recommendations to SLASH PUBLIC SERVICES in  Ontario.

Please join with fellow Union members across Ontario on April 21 for this massive rally aimed against proposed public service cuts.

CAW Buses will leave our Union Hall at 600 Wabanaki Drive April 21at 9:15 am, return at 5pm.

 Come out and experience the solidarity among all workers across Ontario. This will be a great day! Please let me know if you plan to attend so we can arrange enough buses.

Canadian Labour Congress Free Workshop

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Waterloo Regional Labour Council & Canadian Labour Congress

are hosting a free workshop entitled:

 

Effective Lobbying Strategies and Tactics

When: Thursday April 26, 2012
Where: CAW Union Hall, 600 Wabanaki Drive
Time:5-9pm

Free Registration in advance, light dinner will be provided

To register, please contact:
Darlene Wilson
president@caw4304.ca

New Canadian Union!

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A Moment of Truth

The CAW and CEP are currently exploring the idea of forming a brand new Canadian union, to revitalize the trade union movement and provide an even stronger voice for working people and social justice issues. The two unions have launched a joint website for to provide current and relevant information to our members about the discussion currently taking place. For more information, please visit www.newunionproject.ca

Ski-a-thon Raises $6043.35

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Congratulations everyone!

On behalf of the ski-a-thon organizing committee, I want to thank everyone for your excellent effort this year. SPECIAL THANKS to PETER AND CATHY HILL for providing the opportunity to win their Florida vacation home accommodation prize. IT HELPED US RAISE MORE MONEY THIS YEAR!!

This past Monday, the draw was held for this prize at the Strasburg garage at 1pm. The lucky winner was our very own, Bob “Homer” Simpson!

And the head of the union charity committee, Lori Miller, along with committee member, Linda Paluveer, had the joy of presenting Anne Boehm, the director of the Kitchener and Area Sub-chapter of the Children’s Wish Foundation, with our donation of $6,043.35!

Special thanks also to Lori, and Kathleen Hogue for helping at the ski-a-thon as non-skiing volunteers. Thanks to Petra who is assuming more of the leadership of this yearly event (and who is looking for someone in the North to take over from me for next year!). THANKS TO ALL THE SKIERS who raised donations by getting people to sponsor them, and I was thrilled to see some new faces this year: Jim Brubacher and family, Bernard Breton, Ellis Huebner, Paul and Samantha Wagler, and the friends of our teens too.

The top 4 fundraisers this year were: Paul Eckmier @ $1,145.00, Dave Meyer @ $800.00, Bernie Schubert @ $540.00, and John A McDonald @ $531.35!

May God bless you all, as together we work to bring some joy into the lives of brave children coping with life-threatening illnesses. THANK YOU ALL AGAIN!!

Paul Eckmier

Union Meeting: Wed. Feb. 15, 2012

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Our monthly Union meeting is tomorrow, Wednesday, February 15th at 11:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. Please plan on attending. Doors open at 10:00 for the morning meeting.

New at this meeting will be the use of a projector to facilitate reports and the making of motions. Thanks to Leon for volunteering to set this up.

More details can be found under the Events menu:

Union Meeting – Feb. 15, 2012

 

600 Wabanaki Dr., Kitchener

AGENDA:

General Business

Doug Young Has Passed Away

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We regret to inform you that operator Doug Young passed away at noon today. He had a chest infection that he just couldn’t shake. He had been in hospital for over a month.

(Information provided by Ricki Germann)

Memorial Website here.

Obituary for Douglas Young

Young, Doug

Peacefully passed away on January 28, 2012 at St. Mary’s General Hospital, at the age of 55.

Loving husband of Barbara of 20 years. Father of Scott Young, Tony Levere and James Levere. Beloved uncle of Nicole (Will), Danny, John, Bonnie, Mark, and many more. Doug will be missed by his Mother Dorothy, Sister Sandra Glasgow (Bob), Brother Ron McLean of Georgia, Brother-in-law Lyle Levere (Pat), Charlie Levere, Sister-in-law Susan Smith (Jim), Jennifer Levere (Mark), Joy Markell (Randy), Joan Levere. Predeceased by his father Alexander.

Doug was an avid golfer. As of November of 2010, he had an impressive game of 79. He had a great sense of humor and was always a joy to be around. His laugh and sense of humor will always be remembered.

In lieu of flowers, donations to The Lung Association in Doug’s name would be appreciated. Donations can be made at the Henry Walser Funeral Home, 507 Frederick St., Kitchener, 519-749-8467. A private memorial service will be held at a later date.

Medical Issues – Your Right to Privacy

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Our president, Darlene Wilson, will frequently be posting private notices, for Union members only, in our secure area. When this occurs, we will post a note here drawing your attention to it. You will need to log in to access these memos.

This posting concerns your right to privacy when you receive requests for access to your medical records. To learn more, click the Members link above, or go directly to https://www.grtunion.com/members/?p=1515.

January 21 Rally in Support of Locked Out Caterpillar Workers

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CAW Local 4304 is joining the rally in London against Caterpillar on Saturday, Jan. 21st. The Bus will be leaving Kitchener from the CAW hall at 600 Wabanaki Drive at 8:30 a.m. A light lunch will be provided. We need the names of people that will be going on the buses. You can email the President, Darlene Wilson if you can join us. We need to know  ASAP. If we need additional buses we will get them.

It is time for our members here at Local 4304 to show the labour movement that this local cares about our brothers and sisters in London who are being victimized by a greedy employer. Make no mistake, this is an attack on the middle class. Unless we want to all end up as working poor, we need to stand up to these corporate bullies now.

Caterpillar Inc. is attempting to bulldoze Canadian workers

It is time to fight back!

Electro-Motive, a subsidiary of U.S. industrial giant Caterpillar Inc., wants to strong-arm workers at its London plant into a pay cut of over 50 percent, dropping hourly wages from $35 to $16.50. It is also imposing devastating cuts to benefits and pensions on members of CAW Local 27 at a time when the company has enjoyed multi-billion-dollar profits and a 20 percent boost to production over last year.

Greedy foreign-owned companies like Electro-Motive/Caterpillar, and far too many others, are exploiting Canada’s lax labour laws and shameful domestic investment protections to break unions and usher in a new era of precarious work and record corporate profits.

The labour movement must come together to stop Caterpillar dead in its tracks and defend good jobs in all sectors – public and private.

The Ontario Federation of Labour, the London and District Labour Council and the Canadian Labour Congress are calling on workers, retirees, students and community members throughout the province to join the Canadian Autoworkers in mobilizing for a massive Day of Action against Caterpillar in London on Saturday, January 21 at 11:00 am.

Join the rally at Victoria Park, the site of last year’s Occupy London camp, and take a stand against corporate greed.

The future of Ontario jobs depends on it.

Light Rail: Public Roads – Public Vehicles – Public WORK !!

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Many of you know, the Region has approved a DBFOM Procurement, which essentially means they intend for the LRT to go for tender to a private corporation; to not only Design, Build and Finance, but also to Operate and Maintain the system.

It is up to US, as citizens of the Region to let our VOICES be heard against this. The Region has made this preliminary decision, and is not planning on engaging the community on this important subject.

“Whether or not to hand over the Region’s single most important, and single most expensive, piece of municipal infrastructure to a private business for 30 years should be a major community conversation”, said Michael Druker, a founding member of TriTAG. “however, how this is being handled suggests that this crucial issue is meant to fly under the radar, and we do not believe this is appropriate.” For more info on this subject, visit TriTag.

Please visit the following link and let your Councillors know your opinion on this matter. http://www.tritag.ca/m/lrt

Merry Christmas

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Your Union leadership would like to wish everyone in Local 4304 the merriest Christmas ever. If you missed our president’s greeting on Twitter, it is here: twitter.com/caw4304.

Christmas is a time to gather together and share the joy of the season with friends and family. And so, this past Friday, about a dozen of us shared the joy of Christmas with our passengers through a carol sing at the Charles St. terminal. As this was the first time we’ve ever done such an outreach, we weren’t sure what to expect. What we experienced was a magical time of spreading smiles wherever we went.

After a warm up with music leaders Steve Huebner and Dana Dwinnell in the driver’s room, we moved out and began singing by the escalators. Then we moved down to the far end by the 25 route, and continued singing. A single mom with her child came up and offered us cookies. Then it was down to the Greyhound area, where a couple of passengers joined in. Next was the stairs by the number 8 route where we started getting requests from the passengers. A few more ladies joined in and sang with us.

Altogether we sang for about an hour, and then headed across the road to my condo. After some hot apple cider and Christmas goodies, a few of the residents joined in and we sung until about 9:00 pm. As we got into the spirit we even sang songs we didn’t have the words for, but it didn’t matter as by that time everyone had lost all their inhibitions and we just belted it out. John Brown, who was the first driver to move into Queen’s Place, took photos of it all. (Photo Gallery here: http://picasaweb.google.com/caw4304/CarolSing)

I think the Carol Sing will be an annual event at GRT.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Scheduling Report (North), December, 2011

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As a scheduling committee we are able to do our job best when we receive feedback from drivers about issues they are experiencing. Many times as a result of this feedback, adjustments have been made to schedules. We can only represent you well when we are made aware of the problems you are facing so please pass your concerns along to us via email or handwritten note.

During the fall sign-up management initiated a committee to review how we do the Sign-ups and look at ways to improve this process. This committee is comprised of the north and south conventional scheduling committee’s, mobility plus scheduling rep and management reps from operations and scheduling. We have had 1 meeting so far where we identified the problems and brainstormed about solutions. In January there are 2 meetings planned where we will look further at these ideas and decide which ones are helpful or not.

Respectfully submitted by,

Paul Wagler

Officers Sworn In

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The swearing-in ceremony for the newly elected union officers took place today at the National offices on Executive Place. Bill Gibson, our CAW National Representative, officiated. Following the reading of the oath below, we all gave our assent.

The officers swearing the oath of office were:

  • Darlene Wilson – President
  • Tim Jewell – Vice President
  • Laszlo Bori – Local Chair
  • John A. McDonald – Recording Secretary

L to R: Tim Jewell, Laszlo Bori, Darlene Wilson, Bill Gibson, John A. McDonald

 

Oath of Office:

“Give attention while I read to you the obligation:

“Do you pledge on your honor to perform the duties of your respective offices as required by the constitution of the Union; to bear true and faithful allegiance to the National Automobile, Aerospace, Transportation and General Workers Union of Canada, (CAW Canada), to the best of your ability and with complete good faith to support, advance and carry out all official policies of the National Union and this Local Union; to promote a harassment and discrimination-free environment and work to ensure the human rights of all members are respected; and to work tirelessly to advance and build the membership of our union; to deliver all books, papers, and other property of the Union that may be in your possession at the end of your term to your successor in office, and at all times conduct yourself as becomes a member of this Union?”

Officers respond, “I do.”

The Installing Officer then says:

“Your duties are defined in the laws of the National Automobile, Aerospace, Transportation and General Workers Union of Canada, (CAW-Canada), and in your obligation; should any emergency arise not provided for in these, you are expected to act according to the dictates of common sense, guided by an earnest desire to advance the best interest of the National Union and this Local Union. I trust you will all faithfully perform your duties so that you may gain not only the esteem of your brothers and sisters, but what is of even more importance, the approval of your conscience.

“You will now assume your respective offices.”