2011 Local President's Annual Report

This report is being published on the local’s blog in advance of the 2012 Annual General Meeting to give all members the opportunity to read it before the February 2nd meeting. It is my intention that we have a dialogue on the local’s activities rather making a formal one-way presentation.

When I stepped up to help our local in January 2011 I wasn’t sure at the time what exactly I was getting myself into. A few days later I met with Meraiah Krebs, when she was still our Agriculture Union National Director, and I quickly learned that there was a lot to do and that I wouldn’t be able to do everything myself.  I would have to organize what needed to be done, prioritize my time and efforts and then do only what I was capable of either doing alone or with the support of our union leaders, union staff and service officers.

My 2011 priorities became obvious:

1. Restructure the local’s finances by improving our investments and reducing our bank service charges. We had been paying more in monthly service charges than we were receiving in interest payments from our investments. Now we have reduced our average monthly service charges to less than half from $10.50 to $5.15 and have significantly increased the interest rates on our investments from 0.15% to an average of 2.12%.
2. File our previous 3 years of financial statements to the Agriculture Union so that they would send us our local’s dues allocations. For 2009 and 2010 this was worth over $26,000. For 2011 this was worth on average over $3,000 per quarter with the last quarter to be paid in 2012 once we file our 2011 audited financial statement.
3. Compile an accurate, up to date and maintainable local membership list. While a monthly list of members is provided from the Agriculture Union, it is never as up to date as the membership list we maintain in the local. Ongoing communications with the Agriculture Union’s membership clerk Christine Gauthier helped to resolve problems with and improve the quality of our membership list.  This effort has also included a lot of outreach activities to give members the opportunity to sign a membership card and receive the benefits of being a full member, for example, the benefit of attending and participating in the Annual General Meeting. The local now has 32 more full members than one year ago while we have a net loss of 16 members before even considering the unknown impacts of Shared Services Canada to come on April 1, 2012.
4. Create interest in the local’s activities by improving communications through our blog, email messages, bulletin boards and kiosks. With more members aware of what the local is doing the greater the opportunities for members to become involved in those activities. With a volunteer on every floor we could expand communications to include desk drops.
5. Represent the local at the Agriculture Union’s eastern Ontario regional seminar, at the PSAC NCR’s triennial convention, at the Agriculture Union’s national triennial convention and at Ottawa regional council meetings. I also have the privilege to represent the local as the co-chair of the L’Esplanade Laurier Occupational Health and Safety Committee.  I consider that to be one of my most important duties to help ensure the workplace health and safety of my brothers and sisters.
6. Learn about how the union works by attending free courses, such as Talking Union Basics, Workforce Adjustment and Communications, by speaking with the leaders in our union and networking with my union brothers and sisters at union events.
7. Plan for 2012! It is obvious to me that we need a full executive team, a team of stewards and other volunteers to help with the job of running this local to support each other. 
• I will be running for local president for 2012 and I hope that you will support me. There is still a lot of work to do and I hope that you will help me. There is free training available and lots of support to help us move forward. As well, in 2012 we will need to review our local’s by-laws and structure to make sure that it truly reflects our needs.
• I have also been actively seeking people to run for the remaining 3 positions on our local executive team: vice-president, secretary and treasurer. In addition to continue to do everything that was started in 2011 we will also want to become more active in communicating with and responding to our members’ needs. 
• There are lots opportunities to volunteer on both larger and smaller scales all which will make a huge difference for everyone.  For example: 
• Spending 30 minutes every few months to change the poster on the bulletin boards on each floor. 
• Spending your lunch time at a kiosk in the lobby to hand out calendars or other information. 
• Taking a free union course to learn how to become a steward, the first and sometimes only point of contact many members will have with the local. 
• Becoming a member of the Occupational Health and Safety Committee including helping with floor inspections.

Thank for the opportunity to be your president in 2011.