Pride Month
June is Pride Month in Canada (although Calgary’s own Pride Parade takes place in September). This is a time for us all to celebrate diversity and to refocus our commitment to equality for all.
While many know the history of Pride in the United States and the associated Stonewall riots, Canada has its own rich LGBTQ2SIA+ history.
Join us this month on our blog for a post that focuses on the history of LGBTQ2SIA+ rights and freedoms in Canada.
We are wishing all of our LGBT Members and their families a wonderful month of celebration!
Negotiations Update
We’ve met a number of times in negotiations and things were moving pretty good up to early June. The things we’ve agreed to so far have been pretty non controversial, like renewing Letters of Understanding and house keeping items. Unfortunately, the City’s lead negotiator was just replaced, so it looks like there will be little opportunity to get much done over the summer. There are a few things worth noting though.
-We’ve informed the City negotiators that they will have to get a new mandate or we will not reach a deal.
-As long as we remain in negotiations the vacation match on retirement will remain in place in its current form.
-A couple of Civic Unions have reached a memorandum and will be voting on it in the coming weeks. The wage is 1.5% retro to Jan 2021, 1.5% retro to Jan 2022 and 2% in Jan 2023. The other changes are specific to their Collective Agreements.
We will provide a more detailed update specific to our Local as soon as we can put the information together.
ATU 583 Membership Meetings – Summer Cancellation
As is past practice, the Membership of ATU Local 583 has voted on a motion to suspend the July and August Membership Meetings. This motion has passed.
With so many Members on vacation, it can be difficult to make quorum for the summer meetings.
Members will be given credit for attendance of these two meetings in accordance with the ATU constitution. In lieu of the Summer meetings, the Executive Board of ATU Local 583 will see to the business of the Local.
We will see you September 13, 2022 for our next meeting.
ATU Local 583 Scholarship
In early July we will be unveiling our new scholarship. This has been in the works for some time, first through the work put in by the Scholarship Committee to settle on the requirements and then through the Membership voting on the Bylaw amendment that would allow the scholarship to come to life.
This scholarship will be administered through ATU Local 583’s Scholarship Committee. It is a $10,000 fund that is set to be split among applicants who meet the requirements. Applicants must be dependants of a Member in good standing of Local 583, in their second year or above of post secondary schooling and must be in good academic standing at an Alberta post secondary school.
Further information will be forthcoming at the beginning of July when we post the scholarship on our website and in garages on Union bulletin boards.
If you have any questions, you are welcome to give us a call at the office at 403-258-1258 Ext 0 or you can email our admin at jacinda@atu583.com.
We are delighted to be able to bring this opportunity to our Member’s dependants! Stay tuned for the final update in July on atu583.com!
Picnic RSVP Reminder
A kind reminder that our Picnic is July 24, 2022 at Heritage Park. Entry starts at approximately 10 AM.
We have mailed out invitation letters to all Members in good standing. As the letter states, we do require you to RSVP for this event. Heritage Park requires us to have accurate numbers for entry and lunch.
To avoid any day of event disappointment, please give us a call at 403-258-1258 Ext 0 to register to attend!
This is sure to be a wonderful time and we are very excited to spend the day with all of you.
LAPP the 85 Factor
As we have been getting several questions on this topic, let’s clarify what the “85 Factor” is. If your years of service plus your age equal 85 or higher, you have reached your 85 Factor. This means if you are 55 or older you are able to retire without any penalties on your pension. Your pension is then calculated using your years of service and that value would not have reductions.
Of course, this means if you have not reached your 85 Factor, you can still retire as early as 55, but there will be penalties on your calculated pension.
As always, we are here to assist you with any questions or concerns you may have. An Officer can set aside some time to speak with you about retirement if you would like some help understanding the process, your options or anything else. Give us a call to set up a meeting time at the office. You will want to talk to your financial advisor or an LAPP pension expert before making a final decision but we can help get you going in the right direction.
ATU Northwest Conference
We are affiliated with the Northwest Conference which is an educational opportunity for delegates from ATU Locals from Western Canada & the Northwest United States.
This year the conference education focused on mental health, something we believe to be truly important, especially in today’s climate.
Local representatives had two days of training which included discussions on Covid 19 and its impact on mental health in the workplace, warning signs of mental health and substance abuse issues as well as tools & resources for addressing workplace violence. Our Local representatives participated in the open discussions on all topics, bringing to the table our own experiences with how Members of Local 583 were laid off during the pandemic, the resulting issues our Members experienced and the long term effects the pandemic as a whole has created.
The Northwest Conference is important in many ways. Not the least of which is allowing us to come together and discuss how each Local deals with their civic governments and their own work area management.
We look forward to the representatives we sent utilizing these tools and strategies in the workplace to benefit our Membership.
Summer 2022
We would like to take this opportunity to wish all of you a safe and happy summer!
