National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

We would like to continue to acknowledge the pain and hardships experienced by our Indigenous communities as a result of the residential school system that operated into the late 1990’s. It is our hope that through continued work with these communities and their allies, that healing can be achieved.

Please join us this month on our blog for a more in-depth post on this deeply important day.

Electronic Dues Payments

That’s right Members! You read that correctly. We have been approved by the International to accept electronic payments for dues and insurance. This means our retired Members and Members on LTD/LOA will SOON be able to pay us by card in the office or by E-Transfer from the comfort of your homes. Our Financial Secretary Treasurer, Harry Lew, has been hard at work on this project and we are in the final stages of getting it set up.

We will post as soon as we can when this option is live and ready to use!

It’s An Election Year

As most of you are already aware, this year marks the end of our current Executive’s term. Election nominations will take place at the November 8, 2022 Regular Union Meetings.

Detailed bulletins will go out within the timelines as defined in the ATU Local 583 Bylaws with all of the information you need to be ready to campaign and/or vote.
This will be a very busy time for the office staff who will be preparing the ballots for mail out.

To ease some of that, please be sure your address is up to date. Once we send out ballots, they cannot be sent out again so our office having your up-to-date information is imperative. As we have mentioned previously, when you change your information with the City, we are not notified.

Of course, if something does happen with your mailed ballot you can still vote in person and information on that process will be available as a bulletin as well.

Stay tuned!

Retirement Banquet October 1, 2022

We are in the final weeks leading up to our annual Fall Banquet in Honour of our Retirees.

We had a few suggestions from our previous banquet and are pleased to let Members know that your voices have been heard. We had extensive conversations with Grey Eagle about several items of interest. One of the biggest being disabled parking. Previously, Grey Eagle only had disabled parking near the casino. Since our discussions they have added eight more disabled parking spots near the hotel entrance. As with our previous banquet we will also have golf carts ready to assist Members who would like a ride to the entrance from their vehicles.

We are very excited to see everyone together and to celebrate our esteemed retired Members! See you there!

Charter Runs

We have recently had some queries regarding Dispatch adding “Charter Runs” to Member work.

There is a shortage of drivers for school bus runs and the district asked the City to step in so kids could get to school safely and on time.

Of course, this doesn’t mean Dispatch can simply add a charter run on to your signed up work. They can ask and you can accept or decline. However, if you are on spareboard, that work can be assigned to you.

If you have any questions regarding this process, please do not hesitate to call us at the office.

Mental Health Check In

As we enter the last quarter of 2022, we want to take some time to acknowledge the importance of mental health.

It has been a stressful couple of years. As we finally seem to have some breathing space from Covid and its variants we may still be suffering the long term mental and emotional effects a pandemic brings. This means it is more important than ever to check in with yourself and your well being.

We have a number of newsletter articles and blog posts referring to mental health but we always want to make it a priority.

If you believe you are experiencing negative effects from poor mental health you have coverage through your city benefits for counselling. Unfortunately, there is still a somewhat prevalent stigma against seeking this type of health. Nothing could be more important and it is absolutely nothing to carry any shame over. Your mental health is linked to your physical health much more than you may realize. Symptoms of anxiety and depression can manifest physically as stomach aches, body aches, headaches, trouble sleeping, an inability to focus and more.

We are encouraging our Members to take some time each day to check in with themselves. If you are feeling as though you need professional advice, it is time to take that step. While it may be difficult to take that initial step in reaching out, you deserve to feel as well as possible.

If you would like assistance taking those first steps to getting some extra help or you simply want to speak to an Officer, please give us a call or shoot us an email. We are more than happy to assist.

Is Your Beneficiary up to Date?

Something we periodically remind Members about is to be sure their beneficiary information is up to date.

We don’t want to think about a time when we might not be here, but planning ahead is definitely something we advise. Unfortunately, we have had instances where a Member has passed and a previous spouse was left on as a beneficiary. This makes for a regrettable situation that we are unable to correct.

If you have had a change in family status (a newborn, a marriage, etc.) and you are insured through ATU Local 583, you may want to inquire and update as needed. To do this you can call 403-258-1258 Ext 7 and speak to our administrative assistant, or email her at lori@atu583.com.

Steward Appreciation

We held our annual Steward Appreciation night on August 27, 2022 at the Union Hall.

Historically this is an evening where the Officers cook (BBQ) for the Stewards and everyone has a wonderful evening. This year was no different and our feedback on the evening was overwhelmingly positive.

We cannot thank our Stewards enough for the work they put in for the Members of Local 583. This work is imperative to the running of the Union and allows Officers to keep a finger on the pulse of the Membership.

Of course, they are also largely the ones who attend call ins for Members (something that is extremely important, please always take a rep with you to meetings with management) and report back to the Office on the situation for that particular Member. This can lead to the grievance process where we seek to have discipline rescinded or lessened.

A hearty thanks once again to our wonderful Shop and Job Stewards, you do wonderful work.

Milestone Pins for Members

A very quick update on the pin mail out for this year – we are in the process of mailing them out. You should receive yours in the next few weeks!

COPE 397 /jw