Chief Steward Election Dates and Times for Royal Windsor and Horner/Arrow

Local 1996-O,  Chief Steward Election period is now open, for the following common localities, 416 West (Arrow and Horner) and 905 Central (Royal Windsor)

Please ensure you exercise your right to vote for your Chief Steward.                                                                                             Members may vote at your assigned work centre only on your own time prior to start of shift or on lunch break.

PLEASE NOTE STRUCTURED CABLE TECHNICIANS AND PULLERS ARE NOT ELIGIBLE TO VOTE

Time and Dates:

Arrow & Horner – Tuesday May 22, 2018, from 7:30am – 1:30pm

Royal Windsor – Wednesday May 23 , 2018, from 7:30am – 1:30pm

 

 

 

 

Celebrating National Nursing Week with our thanks

nurses

Celebrating National Nursing Week with our thanks

May 7-13, 2018

In recognition of the hard work and dedication of nurses throughout Canada, Unifor celebrates and salutes all nurses on National Nursing Week, held on May 7 to 13 this year.

There are an estimated 415,000 nurses across Canada. The profession has grown by 18 per cent over the past 10 years, including both Registered Practical Nurses (RPNs) or Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs) and Registered Nurses (RNs). In many provinces, RPNs/LPNs represent more than a quarter of all regulated nurses working in Canada.  Any health service organization that wants to provide quality sustainable nursing care undeniably needs practical nurses!

Nurses play a vital role in delivering quality care, along with a team of skilled allied health care professions including personal support workers, continuing care attendants and others who provide direct and indirect care that is critical to the well-being of their patients. Nurses understand that they function within an entire team of workers who are competent and efficient in often difficult situations.

Practical nurses know mutual respect and teamwork are critical for upholding the highest standards of access and quality health care. The dedication, compassion and resilience of practical nurses from coast to coast to coast and all their vital contributions to offer excellence in patient care is at the back bone of the health care sector.

As we show our collective appreciation for nurses this week, it is also a reminder that much more must be done to ensure that all health care workers are able to provide care in workplaces that are safe, healthy and conducive to the well-being of patients and care providers.

Statistics show that health and social services is one of the most dangerous industries in Canada, based on injuries that lead to loss of work time, and incidents of violence that are rising as the health care system is stressed to its limits. Unifor calls for a renewed commitment by governments and employers to commit to violence free workplaces, enforce preventative measures and provide comprehensive training and resources.

Nurses and their colleagues in health care are increasingly over-burdened in the face of hospital overcrowding, chronic short-staffing and budget cuts. With an aging population that requires complex care, they still manage to meet patients’ needs competently.

And even with all these workplace challenges the nurses continue to provide dedicated quality care. Join us in saluting nurses in your community.

National Day of Mourning

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

National Day of Mourning

This is our 34th year of observing April 28 as the National Day of Mourning to remember and honour those workers who have died or who have been injured on the job.

As we reflect on the importance of the Day, we pause to keep our three Unifor brothers who lost their lives at work last year, in our thoughts.

Our fallen members since last Day of Mourning 2017:
Adam Bowden, L.112 Toromont – January 30, 2018
Eric Labelle, L.8284 Expertech – July 4, 2017
James G. Macleod, L.10-B Domtar Pulp Mill – June 29, 2017

We take a solemn moment to remember all workers across our country that went to work and did not come home, as well as the hundreds of occupational disease cases caused by asbestos and other chemical exposures.

Unifor continues to fight for removal of asbestos from workplaces and buildings as asbestos continues to be the number one cause of occupational death in Canada. More than 2,000 people die every year from diseases caused by exposure to asbestos—mesothelioma, lung cancer, and asbestosis. Death from mesothelioma increased 60 percent between 2000 and 2012.

We fight every day to make a difference by demanding that the places where Canadians work
must be safe. We have demanded workplace protections for victims of domestic violence and
we are taking on the stigma of mental illness and factoring it into what makes a workplace
healthy and safe because we know that not all injuries are visible injuries.

On April 28, please participate in Day of Mourning events in your workplace and your
community. We call on our politicians to make Occupational Health and Safety a priority when
considering legislation that impacts workplaces and communities.

The message is clear – one workers death is one too many. Fight for the living, mourn for the
dead.
In solidarity,
Jerry Dias                                                        Sari Sairanen
National President                                         Director, Health, Safety and Environment

Earth Day April 22

 

On April 22 we celebrate Earth Day.

This is a day to reflect on the importance of our environment and the clear connection that it shares in our daily health.

We need to build a green economy that transforms the mode of production and consumption in our society, making existing jobs more environmentally sustainable, and simultaneously creates new decent paying, full time, safe and healthy green jobs in all sectors of society.

We need strategies that will put public interest above corporate interest; a strategy that recognizes the threat of climate change; and one that sees Canada capture a larger share of the new jobs and growth spawned by the global shift to renewable energy.

Our members demand that we protect their jobs and incomes.  At the same time, our members also demand that we work hard to improve the environment.  Both demands are reasonable ones to put on our union. Both demands would serve us well.

For future generations – for our future – participate and demonstrate support for environmental protection this Sunday in your community.

In solidarity,

 

National Health, Safety and Environment Department