Sisters and Brothers of Local 1996-O

On Sunday, February 28, 2016, Local 1996-O held a special meeting at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre in Toronto to talk about the future.

More than 500 were in attendance at this historic meeting, where they received a report from the Local Executive on the opportunities that exist to make fundamental improvements to our working conditions and to our collective bargaining strength.

Local President Sam Snyders delivered the presentation, based upon a new legal strategy which outlined how we could use the Canada Labour Code to our advantage, and a plan which could greatly improve our working lives.

Guest speakers included the Local Presidents from the other Bell Locals in the GTA– Brother Ray Mortimer from Local 26, Brother Jim White from Local 27C, Brother Doug Dutton from Local 52 and Brother Justin Connelly from Local 25. Together with Local 1996-0, these Local Presidents represent over half of the Bell and BTS technicians in Ontario and Quebec.

All of the Local Presidents spoke in favour of the following motion that was passed by over 90% of the Local 1996-O members in attendance:

“That the Local 1996-O executive continue to build alliances with other Bell and BTS locals and work with Unifor National to take whatever action is necessary to ensure that BTS members obtain the same rights and benefits as all other Bell members, and ensure that Bell and BTS can never again force members to scab against each other providing the majority of BTS locals agree.”

As President Sam Snyders stated at the meeting “We know that equality is achievable. We have a plan and are building a movement for change. It’s common sense”.