Dear Sisters and Brothers,
On April 28, 2022, PDGC Dave Flowers and I met with Air Canada regarding EAP Funding. Due to a change made by the Government of Canada, Air Canada and the IAMAW no longer qualify for the Government’s Employee Insurance Reduction Plan. The EI Reduction plan has funded the EFAP for the past 20 years.
Before January of 2021, companies applying for the EI Reduction required a Short-Term Disability plan (STD) that commenced after the fourteenth day of leave. The Government changed the eligibility to those companies with STD programs that begin after the seventh day. For this reason, the EFAP did not receive funding for the 2021 year.
For many years, our members have enjoyed the comfort of chatting to a peer for assistance with their concerns. Sometimes this was a need to vent about the work environment. Other members’ needs were far more intricate and required the help of a professional. The EFAP has helped our members at all hours without fail, and the team of caring individuals wants to continue to support our friends and colleagues. Currently, there is enough funding to continue our EFAP work. However, our program will terminate early next year without additional EI Reduction monies. I have met with the Negotiations Committee about their thoughts on bargaining to change our current STD to the required seven days. I didn’t receive any indication if the committee would pursue this line of negotiation or not. Also, I am not sure that Air Canada will want to negotiate this item.
Air Canada has offered to add IAMAW members to the company-funded EAP they use. The program consists of LifeWorks and Maple’s online app. LifeWorks is an equal program to Homewood, and Maple is essentially a 24/7 online medical walk-in clinic. We are unaware if the union members you know, and trust, will have a role in this program. Given our forty-plus years of working with our members, I believe our program exceeds anything the company can offer.
I realize this bulletin may generate many questions. Questions that we may not have the answers to right now. I will continue to update as I have more information. Today, we are business as usual, and your EFAP is still available to you for the foreseeable future.
In Solidarity,
Derrick Bashford
National EFAP Coordinator Transportation District 140, IAMAW
Month:May 2022
DL 140 Auditors Election October 2022
Dear Brothers and Sisters:
District 140 Auditor Elections will be held at our upcoming DL140 Convention being held in Ottawa, Ontario on Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday, October 25, 26 & 27, 2022.
There are to be to be three (3) Auditors elected in total, one (1) Western Region, one (1) Central Region and one (1) from the Eastern and Atlantic Regions combined.
Transportation District 140 Bylaw, Article 13.02 – Audit Committee reads as such:
(a) The Audit Committee shall consist of three (3) Secretary Treasurers, one per region of the Local Lodge affiliated with the District Lodge 140 and one (1) Trustee from the Executive Board.
(b) The Audit Committee will be elected at the convention for a four (4) year term. If one (1) of the Auditors is defeated in Local Lodge office, his or her successor will become the Auditor for the balance of the four (4) year term.
Any Member in good standing and meeting the qualification requirements in Article 5.07 of the DL140 Bylaws will be eligible to run. Those qualifications are:
a) A minimum of two (2) years continuous good standing in the IAMAW.
b) Attended a minimum of fifty percent (50%) of regular quorum meetings of the Local Lodge that their shifts would allow in the previous twelve (12) months prior to the close of nominations.
c) Any Member wishing to be a Candidate must submit a letter, to the DL140 Secretary-Treasurer, that if nominated the said member would accept the nomination. Included with this letter, there must be a letter signed and sealed from their Local Lodge Recording Secretary attesting the Member is in accordance with the above requirements.
Both these letters must be received by the DL140 ST, at least thirty (30) days prior to the opening of the Convention (Sunday, September 18, 2022).
At the Convention, Regional caucuses will be held attempting to reach consensus on the Auditor position from each Region. Failing consensus on any of the Auditor positions within the Regional caucus will result in an election on the Convention floor by the delegation.
Please post and circulate this Bulletin to ensure that all potential Candidates are aware of the qualification requirements. If any further information is required regarding this matter, please feel free to contact the undersigned.
In solidarity,
Alfredo Acrobati
Secretary-Treasurer
Transportation District Lodge 140, IAMAW
Stefanson Government Introduces Bill To Raise Minimum Wage
Dear Sisters, Brothers, and Friends,
For months now, Manitoba’s unions have been raising the embarrassing fact that Manitoba is set to have the lowest minimum wage in the country this year.
After refusing to do anything about this, today the Stefanson government scrambled to introduce a bill that would allow the government to make a one-off increase to Manitoba’s minimum wage in light of skyrocketing inflation. The bill doesn’t specify how much the increase will be, only that it will be more than the 40 cent increase government announced just a few weeks ago, to take effect October 1.
The government has also now committed to some sort of consultation prior to setting the rate of the additional minimum wage increase this year, and we need to make it clear that anything less than a living wage is unacceptable.
Attached you’ll find a short position paper we’ve drafted on Bill 44 – The Employment Standards Code Amendment Act (Minimum Wage), which we’re asking to have read into the official record in the Legislature tomorrow. If affiliates are interested in submitting supporting messages in favour of a living wage for the official record, please let us know – the more voices, the better!
In Solidarity,
Kevin Rebeck
President of the Manitoba Federation of Labour
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