Administrative Professional’s Day

April 26th each year is Administrative Professional’s Day.

We are happy to advise that we had the privilege of sharing this past Wednesday with our Staff to celebrate Administrative Professionals Day. It was a wonderful opportunity to get out of the office in a completely different environment than we are used to and have a casual afternoon with the team that works so hard to serve our Membership.

While we appreciate what they do every day, in the hustle and bustle of life we don’t always get to express that. It worked well to be able to put some time aside and just have a little team bonding for a couple hours.

ATU Local 583 Steward’s Training with Cindy Watson

On April 15th and 16th, we hosted labour lawyer, Cindy Watson so she could facilitate our Steward Training. As this is a new term, we have plenty of new faces in our Steward ranks and we are pleased to say the training was very well received.

The training ranged from the basic to advanced Steward training as well as the role of a Union Activist. This really brought everything back full circle to show how critical it is that Unions stay up to date on education and the political environment with all three levels of Government.

We also had a visit from Jaclyn Johnson, Director of Campaigns for the Alberta Federation of Labour, who gave a quick synopsis on the AFL’s current campaigns.

AFL Convention 2023

We attended the Alberta Federation of Labour’s annual convention on April 20th to 23rd, 2023 in Calgary. As is the regular business at this biannual convention we dealt with constitutional changes and resolutions. The AFL also has its election of Officers every two years. In 2021 we supported incumbent Gil McGowan for President and Karen Kuprys as the new Financial Secretary Treasurer. We were pleased to see them running as a team this time and were proud to endorse them prior to and at convention. Our Sister Locals 569 Edmonton / Red Deer and 987 Lethbridge also endorsed the team. We are pleased to let you know that Gil and Karen will be representing us for the next two years.

The AFL plays a critical role in our campaigns to push back the current provincial UCP governments attacks on employment standards, the Labour Code, our pensions and even our abilities to protest in public if needed. The work that they have done the past 3-4 years is on a world class scale and we find it reassuring that we can work with the AFL on these ongoing campaigns until we prevail.

Provincial Elections

As of the writing of this newsletter the provincial government has declared a writ for this month’s provincial election. It is set to take place May 29th, 2023.
Historically our Local does not endorse parties in elections, because we know that it is always your right to choose the party you support if you’re voting along party lines. However, we will be vetting candidates that we believe support working families, public services and all those things that protect and should enhance our quality of life.

Similar to the municipal election we hope to endorse some local candidates and if not, we will be sure to share what we know to be the positions of the candidates in and around the Calgary area.
As a footnote, we are proud to announce that one of our own Members, Raj Jessel, is the Alberta NDP candidate for Chestermere-Strathmore and we know for a fact that his support for working families and ATU specifically is not just an election promise it’s been a lifelong passion that is already captured in the history of his work.

International President of ATU, John Costa, Visits Calgary

ATU Local 583 was honoured to host our International President and a delegation of other ATU representatives, including Executive Vice President, Yvette Trujillo. The delegation arrived in Calgary and visited ATU’s home office on Friday April 28th, 2023.

After spending some time taking in the ATU 583 history we have here at the office (including our Charter and photos of our past Executive Boards), it was off to a few locations around Calgary.

The first stop was at Oliver Bowen Maintenance Facility where President Costa and Vice President Trujillo were able to view the LRT fleet and meet some of our Members. President Costa even got in the driver’s seat!

Next it was National Day of Mourning where President Costa and crew joined us at the City Hall Worker’s Memorial for a somber wreath laying ceremony. We were lucky enough to have President Costa speak at this emotional event.

The final stop of the day was Spring Gardens garage where President John Costa and his delegation thanked our Maintenance/Operations Members and had a chance to discuss workplace concerns.
Overall, it was a very special visit and we are so pleased to have been able to host President Costa, Vice President Trujillo and their delegation.

Later this week they will honour several Alberta Locals with a dinner in Lake Louise.

Thank you to President Costa and crew who made the trip from the USA to visit with our Local representatives and Members.

(Photos from ATU’s Facebook page)

Maintenance/Office Update

It has come to our attention, in the Maintenance area, that some of our Members are missing out on job opportunities due to the improper application procedures. We want to add clarity on the proper way to apply for positions as there are two different forms when applying.

First there is the bid sheet which is only to be used when applying for a position in the same job function. For example: a Fleet Attendant to a Fleet Attendant, a bid sheet is acceptable in this case.

An internal application form (P201) would be required for any movements outside of the job function or out of the Maintenance work area that you are currently in. For example: Fleet Attendant to Preventative Maintenance Person.

It would be very unfortunate to see a Member miss a chance to be considered for another position due to not filling out the right paperwork.

Of course, if you need guidance, please do not hesitate to give us a call. We can provide some extra clarity on the process related to your individual scenario.

April 2023 New Members

We are pleased to let the Membership know that our Local has grown by 47 new Members as of our April 2023 per-capita report to the International.

Welcome to each new face! We hope to see you at our Regular Meetings on the 2nd Tuesday of each month to hear your voice on ATU 583 matters.

COPE 397 /jw