days until our Collective Agreement expires, we are preparing, we are united and we will make change.

Welcome Back and the Road to “Normal”

We wanted to take the time to celebrate the return of our colleagues to work and to look to ahead and advise you of what we want to accomplish in the near and distant future.  Your Component Executive has been working hard throughout the pandemic to protect the interests of the membership as a whole and to ensure that Health and Safety was a primary focus.  We have had the benefit of a stellar Health and Safety Committee and are truly grateful for their tireless work. We will continue to work closely with the Health and Safety Committee and to ensure that Health and Safety is sacrosanct for all members.

The impact that the new world reality has had on each one of you cannot be understated. These reasons are varied and as diverse as our membership itself.  We are sincerely pleased that all the members to date have been recalled and those who can and want to be at work are.

Having said that there is still much work to be done.  Our Grievance Committee and its members and administrative staff have been working hard throughout the pandemic and will continue to do so. Their work is crucial to the legal aspects of the workforce, and we have made gains in many areas surrounding Collective Agreement provisions and protections. We thank them for their work and are committed to addressing violations and concerns as they arise and to use the grievance process to the extent required.

Collective Bargaining and negotiations will continue, and we have confidence that our legal counsel and unified ACCEX will result in the best possible outcome despite the constraints of the language we are working with during this reopener.

All Committees that fall under our auspices will be bolstered and will slowly be returned to pre-COVID strengths. We want to ensure that the membership has all of the resources they require to be well informed and engaged. Our committees are a big part of that. It is our belief that when the members are educated and well versed in their rights and responsibilities, we will all benefit from that collective strength.

In solidarity,