News - June 2006                    Previous Month         Following Month

The headlines for current month's news items are listed immediately below. Click on the headline of your choice to see the entire text of the article.

PSAC issues input call for bargaining proposals from our CFIA members

Members urged to contact their MP

re portability of maternity/paternity benefits

Contest – Send us your photo mementos to mark our 40th Anniversary!

CFIA joins Agriculture Union in co-development

of Duty to Accommodate training

Birthday Bike-A-Thon raises more than $6,000 for charity

PSAC issues input call for bargaining proposals from our CFIA members

(Posted June 28, 2006)

The Public Service Alliance of Canada, our bargaining agent, has issued the input call for bargaining proposals for the next round of negotiations for our members employed by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

The current collective agreement expires December 31, 2006, and the PSAC is planning to serve the employer with notice to bargain in September 2006.

The PSAC has set a deadline of August 14, 2006 for receipt of bargaining proposals from all Components. Therefore, the Agriculture Union National Office must have received all bargaining proposals from our Locals no later than July 28!

Members urged to contact their MP re portability of maternity/paternity benefits

(Posted June 16, 2006)

The House of Commons will soon suspend sitting for the summer, sending Members of Parliament back to their ridings across the county. Seizing the advantage of a minority government, Agriculture members are being asked to contact their M.P. to protest the lack of portability of maternity/paternity benefits between Treasury Board employers and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

Howard Willems, 4th National Vice-President, has written Local Presidents to urge they and their members meet their M.P.s – formally or informally – to call for an end to this discriminatory practice, which applies to employees transferring from Treasury Board to an Agency and vice-versa.

In addition to the PSLRA, the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Employment Equity Act both prohibit discrimination against women and provide for the elimination of barriers to employment, job opportunity and promotion.

A copy of Willems' letter, as well as a high-useful fact sheet on this important issue, are available by clicking on the following link:

Maternity/Paternity Benefits Transfer Issue

Contest – Send us your photo mementos to mark our 40th Anniversary!

(Posted June 9, 2006)

Like anyone celebrating a 40th anniversary, we at the Agriculture Union are getting more than a little nostalgic.

So, we’re having a photo memories contest.

Many of our members have photos or slides of past union events stashed away in photo albums, drawers and attics. We want you to dust those off and send them to us at the National Office, 233 Gilmour St. Suite 1000, K2P 0P2. We’ll be sure to return them once we’re done with the photos.

Please remember, to the best of your ability, to describe each photo or slide submitted: who’s in it, and where, when and why the event took place.

Don’t worry if your photos are faded, or even ripped. We have access to the latest scanning and photo editing technology to make them almost as good as new. (Mind you, we can’t promise to trim those old hairdos or bell-bottom pants!)

A random draw of the names of all those submitting photos will be made. Three lucky members will win a prize.

Electronic photo files are more than welcome. Just e-mail them to our Webmaster at: pryde@travel-net.com.

Your participation will also allow us to build a picture archive for the benefit of future Agriculture Union members.

CFIA joins Agriculture Union in co-development of Duty to Accommodate training

(Posted June 7, 2006)

In an unprecedented move, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has agreed to join our union in co-developing training on duty to accommodate’.

This marks the first-ever joint co-operation with the CFIA in training matters. It represents a breakthrough in the employer’s willingness to co-develop training outside the formal strictures of collective bargaining. Negotiations had led to an earlier agreement with CFIA to co-develop and co-deliver training on harassment.

Evidently impressed with this new-found co-operation, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada has decided to follow the lead of CFIA and begin co-development of training with our union.

The development of the joint training is, however, still in its early days. We will keep our members informed of further developments.

Birthday Bike-A-Thon raises more than $6,000 for charity

(Posted June 6, 2006)

A birthday is usually the one day of the year when you can count on being the centre of attention. But, for Brenda Baergen, it’s a chance to shine a light on those less advantaged.

Every year, the Agriculture Union Regional Vice-President for Northern Saskatchewan celebrates her birthday by organizing a ‘Bike-A-Thon’ for charity. This year’s charity is ‘Nashi’, a local group that works to raise awareness of the human trafficking of young Ukrainian women into the European and North American sex trade.

So it was that 12 hardy (and not-so-hardy) souls set out on a stormy Saskatoon Saturday, June 3, for a challenging 40 kilometre cycling event. And forget all that nonsense about Saskatchewan being flat as a pancake. The farther north you go, the hillier the province becomes.

The first of the two photos shows Marianne Hladun, our union’s National Director for Equal Opportunities, at the start of the event in Saskatoon. (We are assured by Marianne that the beer was for medicinal purposes only.) The second shows the weary but exhilarated cyclists at the completion of their route.

At last count, our intrepid riders had raised $6,100. Those interested in learning more about Nashi or in making a donation can visit http://www.nashi.ca/.

Congratulations to all, and a belated happy birthday to Brenda!