Hello Brothers and Sisters: I am honoured to run for Business Manager and Financial Secretary for IBEW Local 115 in this upcoming election of 2020. I have been very proud member of Local 115 for 26 years. As a second generation member IBEW Local 115 has always been a part of my life. In my time here in the Local I have had the privilege of talking with most of you and have enjoyed our conversations.
During my time with Local 115 I have been fortunate to serve the membership in many capacities. I have tried to be involved with our Local to see how the business end of the organization runs.
My backround with this Local is such:
November 2012 - present - Organizer/Dispatcher/ Union Representative
2014 - 2020 - President of Local 115
2011 - 2014 - Vice President Local 115
2008 - 2011 - Unit Chairman Kingston
With these experiences and my time in the Local I have witnessed how the industry has changed and the fights we have had for the greater good of the electrical Industry. As President I was a delegate to the IBEW Construction Construction Council of Ontario (CCO) for the past 6 years. Working with the Business Managers and Presidents from all the other locals in Ontario has been educational and fulfilling as you get a peek into how the other locals adapt with the cycles of construction. I have a high comfort level in this room of people when bringing forward issues, asking advice or looking for job calls in other locals for our membership.
Having been an Organizer I have travelled to other Locals for Blitzes as well as hosted a blitz for our organizers in our area. These blitzes are invaluable to a local in retrieving data about your jurisdiction in a short period of time. Working with these men and women allowed me to see how other halls are targeting certain sectors of our industry. Ideas that we have brought forward to our contractors to discuss, which led to a low rise and high rise residential agreement that is now in effect to make us more competitive in these sectors.
Being a dispatcher for the hall has given me the opportunity to speak with most of you at one time or another. It has also given me the opportunity to get to know the other dispatchers in the other locals. This experience has allowed me to talk to the other halls about how their dispatching of manpower works and the pros and cons of what our hall is doing in this capacity, which I will address in my platform.
Having been a part of the Executive Board for over a decade I have learned the business side of this Local. The knowledge of the Constitution, Collective Agreeement, Bylaws and Policies and the responsibilities attached to officials. Getting to sit in on negotiations, joint conference board meetings with our local contractors, going to lobby days with politicians has been very educational. Sitting with our contractors and bringing membership issues forward so they can see our struggles while listening to what their everyday concerns and obstacles are. I have a good working relationship with the contractors built on respect and trust for each other. The IBEW membership and contractors are a team that pushes the electrical industry to be better. Together we show the rest of the industry that workers matter, that each person is worth paying a decent wage with benefits and retirement savings. We also push for safety guidelines together to keep workers safe.
IF ELECTED
Job Line
A job line lets the membership know what calls are out there on a daily basis. It also gives the member the choice if he/she wants to take a call. The member then has the responsibility of checking the line daily to see what jobs are there and to put their name forward for the jobs posted that they choose. It gives transparency to the local. I believe their should be a motion made to adopt a job line and a vote on it so that the membership can make the decision as a whole. One of the challenges a job line creates is calls that need to be filled for other locals in a timely manner. We get a lot of last minute calls from other locals that need calls to be filled that day or the next. Local 115 has a long, great reputation of filling these calls and would not want to jeopardize calls lost to our membership because we could not fill it within the timeline of our job line. This can simply be addressed by calling members for the job in order and logging those calls to display for the members on the line the next day. I know personally from dispatching and talking to dispatchers, that if you have success and good relations with a local they will always call the locals who fill their jobs quick and easy with no hassles. This little part can go a long way in getting as many members as possible to out of town calls.
Stabilization Fund
The stabilization fund is always a sensitive subject. Having done two presentations on this for increases and going through the history of the fund I am well versed with it. The stabilization fund is a tool that helps keep our costs even with the competition while providing our members with the highest pay possible. It also allows the contractor to make profits to keep their businesses thriving. Our non union competition's charge out rates are usually much lower than our cost per person total package rate. I will give reports on jobs won and lost with the stabilization fund at the unit meetings. I will also inform the membership of moneys deducted from contractors if they have not followed the rules. I believe if the membership hears these reports, good discussion can happen for us all to improve how it works.
MarketShare
Earlier I spoke about the new residential agreements we have negotiated with our local contractors. These new agreements and wages schedules allow us to compete in these sectors. These are 2 sectors in the industry that have been ignored for decades and is work that is crucial to obtaining stability to the IBEW. If we have our members working in all sectors of the industry we will gain momentum. If we choose to ignore it further and neglect it when we have an abundance of work we will never be a staple in these sectors. Working with our contractors and developers in the area will open the door for opportunity. Once in the door our members and contractors will show that the IBEW is who they should be working with.
In Closing
I would like to thank you for visiting the website and reading platform. This organization stands up for the workers and improves the electrical industry for all workers in it. I have the upmost respect for the IBEW and its values. I promise as Business Manager I will uphold the integrity honour that it stands for. I have proven that I am available to the membership in my tenure here. I will continue to be there for the membership in any capacity I can.
I want to lead this membership into prosperity. Together with respect for our brothers and sisters and our contractors, working as a team, we can achieve more maketshare and a presence in the whole industry.
I want the membership to always feel the door is open for any discussion good or bad. We are all in this together. I feel I am an easy person to talk to and a good listener and welcome all questions. I want this membership to take pride in their local. I will be accountable for the decisions made, responsible for the actions taken as any good leader should. With honesty and respect I will communicate with the membership. I pride myself on being a person who respects people. We will all make mistakes but getting back up, dusting off and pushing forward, learning from those mistakes is how we show our worth. If we all work together there is nothing we can't take on. The IBEW is about strength in numbers,having a voice and having eachothers backs. This is how I want to lead and what you can expect from me.