Yukon Employees' Union November 2015 Newsletter

Yukon Employees’ Union2285-2nd Ave.Whitehorse, YukonY1A 1C9

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Yukon Employees’ UnionNov. 2015Breaking new trail for workers' rights & social justice.

NEWS

It’s been 50 years of YEU!Please join us to celebrate our

50th Birthday in true Yukon style!

Live music by Paul Bergman & Friends Appetizers by Antoinette’s Cash Bar


50th Birthday in true Yukon style!Please join us to celebrate our It’s been 50 years of YEU!







Live music by Paul Bergman & Friends Live music by Paul Bergman & Friends Appetizers by Antoinette’s Cash BarAppetizers by Antoinette’s

Page 2 “Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.” William James YEU News Nov. 2015

Brother Blair Andre wins Council Seat, Village of MayoLong time YEU activist & Executive member Blair Andre wassuccessful in his bid to join the Mayo’s Village Council. Blairbrings his work ethic and level head to the table and we wantto send him our sincere congratulations!

We actually wish to congratulate so many Yukon Employees’Union members for their decisions to run for office in therecent campaign season. We have a record number of YEUmembers holding office as a result. In the Village of Mayo,Mayor Scott Bolton and Council members Joann Aird, TrevorEllis AND Blair Andre are members of Local Y034, Mayo;Heart of the Yukon. That’s the mayor and 3 of the 4 councillors.Pretty good ratio...

In Whitehorse, re-elected City Councillor Jocelyn Curteanu is an active PSAC member, busy on a couple of PSAC Regional Committees.

We asked Blair if his union activism helped prepare him for his new rolein town government and he repliedwith an emphatic yes. Union activists learn everything from howto run meetings and parliamentaryprocedure to negotiation and contractanalysis. Those are good qualitieson a Village Council.

His desire to get involved at the community level wasa natural evolution. He says he has been

told more than once that if you want ot have a voice, you’d bet-ter get involved. He shares returning Mayor Scott Bolton andthe previous council’s positive and cooperative vision for theVillage of Mayo.

Blair’s personal goals during his term include the continuedimprovement of water & sewer infrastructure and improvedstandards for roads and drainage. There are several infrastruc-ture programs underway that he looks forward to moving for-ward as well. Blair believes the most important goal is to main-tain positive working relationships with the First Nation of Na-Cho Nyak Dun, Yukon and Federal governments and the peo-ple of Mayo.

We asked Blair for a bit of advice to anyone considering tossing their hat into the union acti-

vism or political ring. His advice is sound, as we have come to expect from Blair.

“Be prepared to give up a little time & make sure to do your homework. At the end of the day, public service can be very fulfilling especially when a vision is completed.”

Blair has never been one to stand down from a challenge. We think the Village of Mayo will be well served by Blair and the new Village Council. He tells us his unionservice helped reinforce the importance of lis-tening to people and finding common ground to solve problems.

We once again extend our congratulationsnot only to Blair and the Mayo council butto all Yukoners who let their names stand ascandidates and those who helped campaign.We appreciate your sacrifice of family time

and giving up the comfort of armchair observer status!

CONGRATULATIONS!

Blair Andre has servedon three consecutiveYEU Executives and ischair of YEU Local Y034,Heart of the Yukon, Mayo

Page 3 “No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise.” Winston S. Churchill YEU NEWS Nov. 2015

“ Increased focus on victim safety; minimize re-victimization inthe courts; more use of Victim Impact Statements; increaseduse of analysis of the dynamics of violence against women intrials and sentencing; victims should have access to legal adviceand advocacy….”

These are a few of the recommendations brought forward byCourt Watch Yukon at their August 2015 public seminar, coor-dinated by the Women’s Coalition and funded by theCommunity Development Fund. The Court Watch programaims to improve women’s experience of the criminal justicesystem by providing oversight and practical recommendations. to the Yukon courts.

In June 2014, fully trained CWY volunteers began observingcourt proceedings in Whitehorse relating to violence againstwomen, sexualized assault and spousal violence. Volunteershave taken note of court room environment, mutualizing lan-guage, respect and dignity shown to the victims, and dualcharging. Dual charging occurs when RCMP are called to anincident of spousal violence and charges are laid against bothparties. This has resulted in victims of spousal violence alsobeing charged with an offence.

CWY was specifically interested in observing language used tominimize or mutualize violence in court. Mutualizing language“…implies that the victim is at least partly to blame andinevitably conceals the fact that violent behaviour is unilateraland solely responsible of the offender”.(1) For example ‘wife orspousal assault’ becomes ‘argument’ or ‘altercation’.

Minimizing language differs from mutualizing language in thatit only conceals violence. A woman expressed to the court thatshe was “afraid in her home with the accused there makinginappropriate comments.” Her comments were recorded as ‘shewas annoyed to hear those comments’. Studies have shown acorrelation between the use of minimizing and mutualizing lan-guage and lighter sentences. Observers note mutualizing lan-guage was used more often in the court room than minimizinglanguage. The use of either to describe violence offers an inac-curate picture of the incident and the violence that occurred.

Observers noted that it often was difficult to hear in the courtroom and that there were inappropriate comments made bycourt workers, members of the legal community and supportworkers. There was disclosure of sensitive information thatwould affect confidentiality and inappropriate comments madeabout accused, victims, counsel and judges. Observers alsonoted staff on their cellphones, falling asleep, and rolling theireyes during proceedings.

Observers noted that in sexualized assault trials, consent,dynamics of violence against women and safety concerns were

brought up either by theCrown and/or Judges. This is an improvementsince the last CWY pro-gram. However, inspousal assault casesdealt with outside of theDomestic ViolenceTreatment Option(DVTO), (meaning theaccused has plead notguilty and has chosen togo trial), it was rare for the dynamics of violence againstwomen to be brought forward.

Women interviewed by the YSWC Coordinator expressed thatre-victimization/re-traumatization, negative experiences withthe justice system and court room environment were barriers totheir participation. If they had support, positive social respons-es and believed their safety concerns were respected they feltthat their experiences would be more positive and they wouldengage more with the process.

Court Watch Yukon was revived by the Yukon Status of WomenCouncil in April 2014, a 2002-2004 pilot program of theVictoria Faulkner Women’s Centre. Volunteers began observingcourt proceedings in Watson Lake and Dawson City inDecember 2014 and will continue to observe court in thosecommunities until August 2016. We are looking for volunteers;the court circuits are once every six weeks.

The revival was made possible by the generous support of theCDF, Crime Prevention & Victim Services Trust Fund,Department of Justice Canada Victims Fund, The YukonAboriginal Women’s Council and the Yukon Law Foundation.

As of September 2015, CWY has been back in court observingproceedings and will continue doing so until August 2016.CWY would not be where it is today without the hard work anddedication of its volunteers. Our stakeholders - the PublicProsecutions Service of Canada, Crown Witness Coordinator,Aboriginal Court Workers, Victim Services, OffenderSupervision Services, and various defence lawyers have beenintegral to training and answering questions of the volunteers.

If you would like to volunteer or learn more, contact Reem Girgrah, Court Watch Yukon Volunteer [email protected] or 867-667-4637

Follow at: yukonstatusofwomencouncil.blogspot.ca or follow Court Watch Yukon on Facebook

Submitted by the Yukon Women’s Coalition (1) Coates, L. & Wade, A. (2004). Telling it like it isn’t: obscuring perpetrator responsibility for vio-

Court Watch Yukon Seeks Safer Courtroom Experience for Women

Page 4 “It seems the harder I work, the more luck I have.” Thomas Jefferson YEU NEWS Nov. 2015

CLC Pacific Winter School in Harrison Hot Springs BC, Jan-Feb ‘16

For over 40 years the Canadian Labour Congress has offered labour training atHarrison Hot Springs for union activists of all stripes. CLC Pacific’s Winter Schoolis an educational opportunity like no other. In fact, it’s North America’s largestlabour school.

Each year YEU invites our members to apply for the chance to experience a week atWinter School. Immerse yourself in a unique union training experience and growyour skill set. There are many courses to choose from and all will help you in yourcareer and your union activity. Winter school courses run Sunday through Friday.

We’ll be accepting applications in early November, once the Education Committeefinalizes the 2016 approved course list. We’ll post the courses & application formsonline as soon as they’re available.

Application deadline; Nov. 30th. Please visit yeu.ca or call 667-2331 early November.

After September’s successful bargaining conference, theelected preliminary bargaining team got down to business thispast week.

Your bargaining team comprised of Anton Berger, AmberHarder, Lisa Joinson, Justin Lemphers and Jessica Young.Executive Vice-President Sue Christianson met with thegroup in Whitehorse from October 20 to October 23rd.

All the top priority proposals were reviewed and discussed bythe team. Proposals with monetary impact – for examplewages & vacation leave will be forwarded to secondBargaining Committee, slated to begin their deliberations theend of November.

All other proposals reviewed and adopted the team will beexchanged with YG’s team the week of November 16th. Oncethe team tables the proposals, we will make those proposalspublic and accessible for all members who are interested infollowing along.

Receive regular bargaining updates; add your name to our electronic email update list. Visit yeu.ca to sign up today.

YG Pre-Bargaining Team Prepares to Meet Employer

YG Pre-Bargaining Team members Lisa Joinson, JustinLemphers, Anton Berger, Amber Harder and Jessica Young withPSAC negotiator Erna Post & YEU VP Sue Christianson.

YEU Supports YoungWomen Exploring Trades

& Technology Event

YEU Vice-President Sue Christiansonawards a lucky winner one of three iPodnanos and iTunes card prizes at therecent YWITT event. YEU has been aproud supporter of this event for manyyears.

Sue says “It’s always gratifying to wit-ness the excitement of empoweredyoung women!

http://yeu.ca/for-members/yg-bargaining-2015/

Page 5 “ The Beginning is the most important part of the work.” Plato YEU NEWS Nov. 2015

Open Letter to Mike Nixon, Minister of Health & Social Services

As a nurse, I can't believe your response to issues raised byourselves and the NDP concerning the Community Nursingbranch. I'm amazed at your lack of understanding of the real-ities healthcare professionals face in our rural communities andI shake my head at your blasé attitude toward the health & wel-fare of rural Yukoners.

As Union President, I am now more worried than ever for thehealth of nurses in the communities who tell us they are strug-gling and suffering. Whether your recent comments werebased on misinformation, naiveté, arrogance or indifferenceyou've misrepresented and manipulated the truth.

Let me take a few moments to point out where you’vemissed the mark.

1. Nurses in communities are leaving their jobs or choosingnot to return to Yukon for new contracts. Your response thatyou’re “working with the YRNA on recruitment & retention”tells me you haven’t done your homework. Have you investi-gated why there is such a high rate of turnover? Your numberswere wrong as well; 2 nurses have chosen to retire and anoth-er 3 have simply given up…quit; not your stated 1 retiree and1 resignation. Sure, turnover happens but the spike in resigna-tions and retirements with more certain to come should haveyour alarm bells ringing. Community Nursing is in crisis. Inmy opinion, morale is the lowest it’s been since the service wasdevolved from the Federal Government.

2. Nurses worked alone in rural healthcentres for 182 days from March until theend of August. In one community, the healthnurse worked alone for 52 days over thebusy summer tourist season. Yukon is theonly jurisdiction in Canada which allows anurse (and a community) to be placed in thatdangerous position. Working alone placesnurses at greatly elevated risk of injury, vio-lence and fatigue and increases the odds oferror, putting patient safety at risk. No otherfirst responders are expected to work alone;no firefighter, no RCMP, no-one.

3. You assert that Yukon nurses have neverworked alone in a community for longerthan five consecutive days; not true. That’sthe result of flawed accounting of the truehours worked. The clock stops after fivedays; weekends aren't counted–even when

nurses work through the weekend-and stat holidays aren't cal-culated. And though you may not be counting weekends,you’re certainly paying for them as overtime costs sky-rocket.

4. Although you stated (incorrectly) that YG employs 40 com-munity nurses, your staff corrected that number to 32. In fact,there are only 22.5 staffed nursing positions to serve the needsof rural Yukoners. Although there are 4 “float” positions to actas backup staff, those positions haven’t been filled for years.You tell us there are currently 11 vacant positions; that’s meansthe Yukon Government needs to hire 50% more nurses simplyto meet its own required staffing levels. That's not normalturnover; that's a critical failure to manage operational needs.

Putting the numbers aside, there are problems in CommunityNursing that need scrutiny. In my opinion, high turnover insuch a critical area indicates serious systemic malfunction.Prolonged position vacancies, chronic recruitment/ retentionproblems and the departure of committed long-term employeesmean something is wrong. I suggest you take a look at howthings are working at Community Nursing and get things fixedbefore something awful happens.

Our members are talking. They’re talking to each other andthey are certainly coming to talk with us. There are real prob-lems in Community Nursing that this letter cannot address.You need to show some leadership and make it possible for

these exhausted and under-resourcedprofessionals to continue to provide thehigh quality care they are trained to pro-vide.

One more suggestion: If you genuinelycare about your employees and the healthof rural Yukoners, get out from behindyour desk. Travel to each health center -I’ll even drive you myself. Have openand honest conversations with the nurses.Allow them to speak freely without fearof reprisal or recrimination.

I think you’ll be surprised at what youlearn… unless of course you alreadyknow but are choosing not to act.

Steve Geick. YEU President & Proud Community Nurse

Page 6 “Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore.”― L. Frank Baum YEU NEWS Nov. 2015

Meet Tory Russell Member of the Month

Tory Russell is a long time Yukoner, a familiarface to many. You’ll often see Tory at theFireweed Community Market in the Council ofCanadians or NDP booth, walking the walk andworking tirelessly for causes she believes in.

This summer Tory became our volunteerextraordinaire, offering her time & energyhelping ensure Yukoners were registered tovote in the federal election. Tory spent manyhours manning the YEU’s booth at the outdoormarkets, notably on a cold and snowy Saturdaymorning at the Wharf when even our laptopwas having trouble staying on task.

She says “I was worried that rural folks withoutcivic addressing would get turned away onElection day. I was proud to see my union ded-icating resources to ensuring people were reg-istered to vote. It felt great to volunteer to sup-port democracy. We went to markets, pancakebreakfasts, and candidates' debates.

A lot of people were surprised to find they werenot registered yet in the end, Yukon's voterturnout was among the highest in the country!And that's the best result of all, becauseengaged citizens are good medicine for democ-racy.” Thanks Tory, for all your hard work!

YEU is proud to host the 7th annualCanadian Labour International FilmFestival in Whitehorse. Join us for a freeevening of films exploring the world ofwork and those who do it.

Films from around the globe shine theirlight on unique stories you won’t seeelsewhere. The CLiFF is a rare opportu-nity for Canadian & international filmmakers to share compelling storiesabout real people and issues.

Each year we offer a selection of filmsranging from comic shorts to animatedfilms & hard hitting documentaries. Weinvite you to join us for a full slate of filmexperiences, all FREE and well worthwatching.

7pm Thursday Nov. 19thYukon Employees’ Union

2285 2nd AvenueWhitehorse Yukon

www.labourfilms.ca or yeu.ca

Page 7 “The best endings are the ones that lead to new beginnings.”― Mathangi Subramanian YEU News Nov. 2015

Shop Steward Co-ordinator: Full time, 2-year termSALARY: $67,379 to 78,824 per annum based on 37.5 hours/week (under review)

Application deadline: November 13, 2015

Yukon Employees Union is looking for a dynamic, collabora-tive and motivated individual to join the YEU team and take alead role in supporting capacity development across our shopsteward network.

Reporting to the Executive Director, you will work closely withYEU elected leadership, Local executives and chief shopstewards to identify training needs and lead the creation anddelivery of a training plan. Your significant knowledge oflabour relations issues, principles of administrative law andnatural justice as well as your familiarity with grievance pro-cesses will enable you to motivate and support new and exist-ing shop stewards in their role. You have substantial knowl-edge of the union structure and values, and the benefits andchallenges associated with unionized work environments. Youhave a thorough understanding of the role of shop stewardsin the workplace and in the union.

The ideal candidate for this position is an individual who takesinitiative and who possesses superior communication andconflict resolution skills. You are experienced at identifyingand solving problems in a pragmatic and collaborative man-ner, and you are comfortable engaging members from variedbackgrounds to deliver information in an educational setting.Strong writing skills and computer literacy are required for thisposition.

Conditions of employment:• Class 5 driver’s licence• Willingness to travel to Yukon communities• Willingness to work flexible hours on occasion

Applications should be sent to:

Laura Hureau, Executive DirectorYukon Employees Union201-2285 Second AvenueWhitehorse, YT, Y1A [email protected]

Please note: We welcome applications from all equity groups.

Yukon Employees’ Union Job Opportunity

All of us at YEU extend our deepest sympa-thies to Roma Walker’s family and friends.Roma was a very special woman and herloss will be keenly felt.

Roma became involved in her Union sever-al years ago and represented her co-work-ers at the Watson Lake Hospital through tworounds of bargaining. She ensured thevoice of her community reached those whoneeded to hear it.

We were saddened to learn that Roma hadfinished her dance with cancer. We hope herbeautiful energy and wonderful optimismcontinue to warm those who knew her. Herfamily was everything to her and her chil-dren her greatest joy.

We at YEU were lucky to work with RomaWalker and her light will be missed.Thank you, Roma.

Roma Walker with 2014 Hospital Bargaining Team

mailto:[email protected]

Page 8 “Rather than turning the page, it's much easier to just throw the book away.” A. Liccione YEU NEWS Nov. 2015

Meetings & EventsY010 Monthly Meeting: 2nd Tues., 5:30-7:30 p.m., Westmark Y017 Monthly Meeting: 4th Wed., 7:30 p.m., YEU HallRegional Women’s Cttee AGM: Wed Nov 25 5:15pm, YEU

StaffChristie Harper, Union Advisor; [email protected] Koser, Union Advisor; [email protected] Patterson, Union Advisor; [email protected] Huston, Intake Advisor; [email protected] Olsen, Financial Officer; [email protected]

Shop Steward Round Table: Nov 25, 9am - noon, YEUTUB Courses: TUB Course for Aboriginal Workers Nov 21, 22YEU Monthly Exec Meeting: 2nd Thurs., 6:30-9:00 pm, YEU Hall

Roseanne Elias, Receptionist; [email protected] Miller, Membership Services; [email protected] Turner-Davis, Communications: [email protected] Cuppage, Executive Assistant; [email protected] Hureau, Executive Director; [email protected]

Yukon Employees’ Union Office, 2285 2nd Avenue Whitehorse YT Y1A 1C9 PH: 867-667-2331 FX: 867-667-6521 Toll Free: 1-888-YEU-2331 Email us at [email protected] Visit www.yeu.ca, follow us on Facebook & Twitter or visit our blog; www.theunionbillboard.com

Office Hours: Monday through Friday, 8:30 am - 5:00 pm.

IMPORTANT MEETING!for Union Members in Dawson City:

Monday November 9,

6pm in the Art Room,

Robert Sevice School

We have a new Local! Dawson City workers Local Y033 & Local Y026,

Klondike YG workers have merged to help build momentum & strength. We have an Executive

and some great ideas; now we need you!

We’re trying something new in Dawson (don’t we always?) Let’s work together and

create something to be proud of.

PLEASE join us! 6pm November 9th at the Robert Service School.

Contact Elizabeth with any questions. [email protected]

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Yukon Employees' Union November 2015 Newsletter