CHAIRPERSON’S REPORT: January 2016 by Barb Abrams
Happy New Year to all! I hope everyone had a joyful Christmas and New Year. We are going to be in for another busy year in 2016. We are having a rally in support of the “Hamilton’s Steelworkers” on January 30 2016. The sign-up sheet is on Ed’s table. The Local has ordered a bus and we are hoping to fill this bus with active members and retiree’s. The rally will be at “City Hall” and then march to the “Convention Center”. I’m told that this is not far, so govern yourself accordingly. There will be (5) speakers at City Hall and 4 speakers at the Convention Center where we will be able to get coffee and donuts etc. The bus will leave the hall between 11:00 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. on the 30th.
I wrote a letter to Premier Wynne regarding the cost of hospital parking. This was sent to the National for their approval. I have seen, since writing this letter, that the hospital parking fees are going to be adjusted in October 2016. We will have to wait and see if this helps as many cannot afford to park at the hospitals. I have seen many people walking to the Walmart parking lot that is quite away from the hospital. Shameful that we have to do that.
In Tim McKinnon’s “Chairpersons Report” there was an article regarding a GM Unit Facebook page. I was a little confused about this as it stated that this is for active members only. At our Executive board meeting on Monday, I asked about this facebook page and was told that it was for retiree’s also. This group was created as one of the ways to keep you informed as we head into negotiations this fall. If you would like to access this group, ask someone who is a member or send a friend request. I did get a request from the administrator of this group but didn’t know who he was. I deleted his request but have since confirmed his request. I’m sure that Tim can explain it better than I can.
I’d like to thank all who helped out at our Christmas meeting with keeping the sandwich trays full and Nick for ordering the turkeys and for Roger and Rob who handed out the turkeys. I hope everyone that won a turkey enjoyed it.
We are meeting with 4 of our members after this meeting to see if we can get our “Recreation” committee up and running again. Many of our members are missing the weekend functions that we had once a month. The convenors are all still doing a great job with looking after their activities.
We are getting a lot of complaints about the Retiree’s Center being so cold. The Delta group have been informed of this and are trying to get it corrected.
On Monday, January 18th the “Health Coalition” had a small rally in Hamilton at the Sheraton Hotel as some of the MP’s were meeting there and we have to get the word out about cuts to our health system and hospitals. Thanks to all who attended this rally.
Just a friendly reminder to the associate members to pay their dues. Roger will take the dues and give you a card or you can pay the dues upstairs on a Wednesday.