Hi everyone,
It’s us: your fellow unionized workers of YG.
It has been some time since our Local has sent a newsletter to members, and those of us who are already involved in the running of our union Local have a lot of information to share and invitations to extend to the rest of you.
Solidarity is a word we build by trial and practice,
Local Y010
BARGAINING: let’s get ready
Anyone who has worked for the Yukon government for longer than a year will know that the last round of collective bargaining between the Government of Yukon and its unionized public service workers almost ended in a vote to strike
And we weren’t alone: around the world, workers have begun taking historic strike action at levels not witnessed since the days of the old-timers and the far, far distant past of the last century.
Why all this ruckus?! Do people like standing on picket lines? Or do our communities perhaps face cost of living and housing crises; mental and physical healthcare crises; more precarious jobs with less secure benefits and worse conditions; chronic understaffing and burnout; rising fears and incidents of discrimination, violence and harassment; the impacts of active wars, fires and other climate changes; and a general sense that the struggle is harder these days?
All of these things affect us as workers in various ways: how much peacefulness, energy and stability we feel; how much free time we have, and how we’re inclined to spend it; how we’re doing on a community level; and our basic safety, rights, and ability to do a good job at work.
Our current contract with our employer expires in December 2024. That means prep for bargaining is rolling into gear now, and this is an important time to get involved if you want to help shape our biggest issues and priorities for bargaining the next collective agreement.
Give bargaining input: share your ideas on the attached bargaining form to make sure what you have to say will be considered in the bargaining process. The best bargaining issues are those that are held in common by a lot of workers and where we have a real solution to put forward that will improve the safety and well-being of our lives as workers, is achievable, and will be good for our communities as a whole.
Stay in the loop: If you’re getting this newsletter via e-mail, you’re on the Y010 mailing list for information and updates along the way. If you or your co-workers aren’t getting e-mails, please make sure you are in the member database correctly by contacting the YEU hall
You can also check with the hall and get sorted out if you’re not sure whether you have signed and submitted your union member card, which you’ll need to vote during bargaining.
For the rules nerds: Our bargaining process is set out in Section 15(B) of the PSAC Constitution. Local Y010’s bylaws also contain bargaining committee information.
Y010 and YFL at the Fireweed Market
Building on past tradition, Local Y010 will be with the Yukon Federation of Labour at the market again this summer! This time, we wanna talk bargaining with our fellow YG workers whose lives will be affected by the next round of collective bargaining and its outcomes. Which is all of us, of course. (We also like to just chat and pet dogs.) We’ll have everything you need to submit bargaining input on hand at the market stand.
See our poster with the dates for our market stall (attached in this newsletter). Show us you put it up on your worksite union bulletin board and our treasurer will sing you a song! (Maybe).
Don’t have a union bulletin board at your worksite? Tell us and we can help you get one up.
If you have time to volunteer at the booth (set-up, take-down, booth shifts), we will welcome you gladly and set you up with a flashy Y010 water bottle in gratitude.
E-mail Lisa Keenan at LocalPresidentY010@yeu.ca to enquire.
This is a union shop! The role of the shop steward
Union shops come with a role called the shop steward. Stewards are workers who have been trained by the union to understand and help their co-workers apply our collective agreement; support fellow workers for fair workplace discipline and grievance processes; and work with others to build worksite cultures that care for those of us who spend our working lives there.
Shop steward networks work best when enough people take on the role that most or all of the Local’s “shops” (for us that could be a branch, unit, or work site) have a steward in them, and people personally know a steward who is also their co-worker. We’re a long ways from that now, and we are actively recruiting.
If you have a co-worker (or two) you think would make great stewards, you should tell them so.
Have prior stewarding experience yourself, or want to try it out? We need ya.
E-mail Lisa Keenan at LocalPresidentY010@yeu.ca to enquire.
Newly elected! Here’s the Local Y010 executive committee
Unionized employees of YG belong to one of five Yukon Employees Union (YEU) Locals: Y010 (YG workers); Y017 (YG’s HSS workers); Y034 (YG workers in Mayo & Stewart Crossing), Y043 (YG workers in the Dawson area), and Y045 (YG workers in Watson Lake).
Local Y010 (ours) is the largest of these—most of the unionized workforce of the Government of Yukon is organized into it. Y010 held an Annual General Meeting (and Rosie the Riveter community picnic!) on April 27, and elected the current members of our Local’s executive committee. See the attached list of our new executive.
More on stewards …for the curious
From page 4 of the YEU Shop Steward's Handbook:
Having active Shop Stewards in the workplace is incredibly important to the overall health of the union, for at least two reasons. First, organizing a workplace is not an activity that can be done once and then left in place. Workplaces are fluid, with employees coming and going. Even when the workforce is relatively stable, people do not naturally continue to think about and participate in union activities without regular reminders. Stewards do some of this ongoing organizing work, even if it is simply by publicly identifying themselves as a union representative to their co-workers. With an identifiable Steward, members have a visible presence of the union at their workplace, they know that there is someone to talk to about workplace conflicts or complaints about working conditions, and there is a ‘go-to’ person for general union-related questions. Without a Steward in the workplace, it becomes easy to forget about the union’s presence altogether, or to think of the union as some ‘other’ group of people.
The second reason that Stewards are so important is that [collective agreements] do not simply enforce themselves.
Y010 hoodies for sale!
Canadian Union made. Thick. Perfect for the Yukon. Steel zipper. Price is $80 per hoodie (below cost!) Contact Lisa Keenan (fcfs –sorry no holds, as we don’t have the storage space for very long!)
Black 1 x-small 1 small 2 large
1 x-large
1 xx-large 1 xxxx-large
Help the work along: union boards and committees
Our Local is affiliated with several Yukon labour boards and committees with current vacancies posted. If you are interested in learning more about their work or being nominated for an open position, contact those indicated below.
Yukon Federation of Labour: seeking a secretary for the YFL executive board. Contact: YFL President Teresa Acheson at yfl@yukonfed.com
PSAC North Yukon Area Council and committees: seeking interested members. Contact PSACWhitehorseRO@psac-afpc.com
Yukon Area Council President: Winnie Hoe
PSAC North committees:
Indigenous Peoples committee
Access committee
Pride committee
Women’s committee
Racially Visible committee
Health & Safety committee
Young Workers committee
That’s it for now!
Chair Gord Reed
Chair Sherry Masters
Chair Roberta Wurtak
Chair Linda Moen
Chair Derek Yap
Chair vacant
Chair vacant
Look out for another Y010 summer infoletter in a few months. In the meantime, stay tuned for more upcoming opportunities to talk bargaining planning, and don’t wait for permission to talk to your shift mates, cubicle buddies, or (especially if you feel like you have no allies at work right now), reach out to your Local and start thinking and talking about what our working lives are going to need in the years ahead of us.
…Do you have something you’d like to see in a future newsletter?
E-mail LocalPresidentY010@yeu.ca
