News - January 2009              Previous Month         Following Month

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Kelowna Local President almost reaches 100!

Community involvement by Agriculture Union Locals and their members: help us publicize your good works!

Agriculture Union Social Justice Fund officially launched

Kelowna Local President almost reaches 100!

(Posted January 20, 2009)

(It didn’t take long for our Locals to respond to our appeal for stories of our members’ good works in their workplaces and communities. What follows is the first of what we hope will be many human interest stories to receive deserved publicity on our Web site.)

Sometime in the near future, Doug Nelmes will pass the century mark. No, not in years. But, rather, in something equally impressive: the one hundredth time he has laid down and donated blood.

Doug is President of Agriculture Union Local 27, representing our Canadian Food Inspection Agency members in the Okanagan Centre area of British Columbia. The Kelowna resident has also been recognized as a ‘champion’ in the Canadian Blood Services’ Partners for Life program. The program works with community organizations, corporations and governments – in this case, the CFIA – to promote frequent blood donations by workplace colleagues.

Doug didn’t need a lot of encouragement to get involved. A long-time blood donor, he had already organized the relatively-small Kelowna CFIA office six months before CFIA formally joined Partners for Life in the July 2007. All this effort was part of the 2007 Public Service Challenge, a friendly B.C.-wide challenge that pits federal and provincial employees against one another to see which group can donate the most blood throughout the summer.

The Local President continued (and continues to this day) to organize group donations to the Kelowna blood donor clinic roughly every two months. The photo above shows Doug, at the left in the back row, and a group of colleagues from his CFIA workplace.

Not content to rest on his laurels, Doug is now involved in his latest project, building on his leadership role in a successful province-wide CFIA donor campaign challenge held from January to April 2008.

Congratulations Doug! Not too many people can reach 100 and still be as energetic as ever!

Community involvement by Agriculture Union Locals and their members: help us publicize your good works!

(Posted January 17, 2009)

Day in and day out, Agriculture Union Locals and their members are active in their communities, expanding labour’s beliefs in co-operation and concern to the broader populace. Such social and charitable work is to be admired and appreciated.

However, much of this selfless work is taken for granted. We believe that much more of this community activity deserves wider acknowledgement, and that we as a union have our part to play in publicizing the volunteer efforts of Agriculture Union Locals and members.

Most of you will have noticed two articles, each accompanied by a number of photos, that appeared on the Agriculture Union Web site in December 2008. They are perfect examples of community activities by our Locals and members that merit national recognition.

This, then, is an appeal for less modesty on the part of you, our Local executives! If you or your members are involved in volunteer activities inside and outside the workplace, we are keen to promote your work to a nationwide audience.

So, please take digital photos and e-mail then, along with a brief explanation of the activity involved, to the National Office c/o gauthic@psac.com. If more information is required, we will be sure to be in touch with your Local contact person. As well, we will ensure that the same Local contact person has an opportunity to review a draft article before it is posted on our Web site.

Obviously, we can’t publicize activities we don’t know about. So, don’t be shy. Help us promote your good works in the broader community.

Agriculture Union Social Justice Fund officially launched

(Posted January 3, 2009)

The Agriculture Union is pleased and proud to unveil our own Social Justice Fund (SJF). In keeping with the labour movement’s historic and continued commitment to spreading social and economic justice, our Fund is dedicated to building capacity in our communities and around the globe for people to participate and flourish.

Subject to review every three years, the SJF will support projects aimed at providing:

• access to affordable, safe food supplies;
• marketing opportunities for agricultural products;
• safe working conditions;
• access to quality education; and
• anti-poverty initiatives.

The fully-transparent Fund, approved at last August’s Triennial National Convention, is governed by the National Executive. A special Committee will administer the SJF and approve specific projects and programs proposed by Agriculture Union members within the parameters approved by the Executive.

We urge our members to read a more-detailed document on the Agriculture Union Social Justice Fund by clicking HERE.