Hot Tubbin' For Justice

One of my roles in CUPE is as a member facilitator (labour education instructor). The weekend before the stewards conference I was supposed to co-facilitate a course in Courtney but it got cancelled. My co-facilitator then asked if I would be available to volunteer to do some role-play theatre pieces for the upcoming shop steward conference. I said yes, not really knowing what to expect. Oh, did I mention that this workshop was on a Saturday morning and that it was scheduled to go until 5:30pm?! Harsh. Needless to say I wasn't feeling it the night before and was irritated that I had agreed to do it because all I wanted to do was sleep in. The workshop was 6 shades of awesome. One of the best learning opportunities I've ever had. I went in skeptical and left motivated, inspired and excited because I learned something new. There were about 10 of us from CUPE BC Union Education,  CUPE 23 (Burnaby Civic), 15 (Vancouver Inside), 1004 (Vancouver Outside), and 391 (Vancouver, Sech...

"So..Um...What is it that you do again?"  I spend a lot of time explaining to people what it is I do for the union, so here's a rundown of my activities. I am a proud member of the Canadian Union of Public Employees - local 2950. I am an administrative assistant in the library at the University of British Columbia - that's my day job. Do I get paid extra for my union work? Nope, but I am happy to do it and am committed to make things better for our members. At this point in my life I have the time to go to evening labour council meetings, to attend conventions, to be a shop steward, to sit on both the executive and contract committees, the University Health and Safety Committee... So here's a little bit of a breakdown of what I do for 2950 and for CUPE: Shop Steward As a steward I've had to read the collective agreement numerous times to understand what the responsibilities of the employer and the workers are. I attend grievance meetings, usually with ...