COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE- YEAR IN REVIEW

Unifor 594's Communications Committee comprises four members; Richard Exner, Nic Skulski, Kevin Weanus, and myself being new to this committee since last fall. A shout-out has to go to Ashlyn Henitz for her contributions to this committee and for playing a major role in the planning and executing many of the activities for 2023 and prior.

As 2023 ended, the Communications Committee closed off its first year running on a set budget and plan. Overall, this was a positive step forward in our evolution, which helped us meet all our objectives, increased transparency and accountability, all while maintaining a balanced budget.

The objectives we set out as a committee include initiatives such as:

• Sharing with the community the history of Unifor 594, and who we are today
• Engaging with the membership on social media, through events and internal communications
• Supporting and engaging with other Union initiatives
• Engaging with and supporting local community initiatives and charities
• Supporting community organizations and initiatives that encourage teamwork, activity and healthy lifestyles
• Unifor 594 brand recognition

We set up a budget focusing on three categories: Advertisements, Sponsorships and Promotional Items. This is completed in January and brought to the General Membership Meeting for approval.

We plan advertisements to get our name out to the public along with a message of our values, and who we are as a local in the community. This category includes items such as billboards and other advertising outlets, radio ads, and social media ads. Did you see our holiday billboards going East and West on the Ring Road, or hear any radio ads in the last year?!

Promotional Items include updated signage and 594 branded items to hand out at public events. In the summer we had two new retractable banners designed, look out for them at any future events! What do you think of them?

The Sponsorship portion of our budget allowed us to invest in impactful community organizations, as well as labour-friendly events. We want to find events that are of meaning to our membership but also promote hardworking, healthy lifestyles. Since so many members find themselves heavily living at the hockey rinks year round we chose to enter sponsorship deals with Emerald Park Communiskate, as well as the Lumsden Sports Centre. Have you noticed the signs?



A fun community event we sponsored in 2023 was free entry for everyone in the community as well as our members to Moonlight Movies drive-in showing Top Gun Maverick. Two labour events Unifor 594 took part in in 2023 were the Labour Day Picnic and the Regina Pride Parade along with other Unifor locals in the area.

Working off a budget which was approved by the membership gives the committee the freedom to make time-sensitive decisions like purchasing promotional items and entering into advertising and sponsorship agreements that fall within our approved communications strategy as required. We must ensure we receive value for the membership dues that we spend on communication initiatives. In all decisions, we make sure that we uphold Unifor 594’s core values of Safety, Pride, Professionalism, Respect, Responsibility, and Community. Our goal is to support and participate in community organizations and events the best we can.

A non-monetary focus, but a big dedication of time for the Communications Committee is our social media. We take lots of time planning and trying to find informative posts that bring positive engagement from the membership as well as the community. Towards the end of 2023, we took an approach with a bigger focus on our members and the community in posting.

Tracking engagement on social media will help to identify what types of posts are most liked by our followers. It seems posts about members or events directly tied to our local and our community grab bigger reactions. We are going to take more of a focus on the strengths of our members, the history of our local, and the progress of unions and our union over the years.

Stay tuned as we continue to evolve and improve. If you have any suggestions or ideas of anything you would like to see from the Communications Committee please reach out to [email protected] or come chat with any of us.

In Solidarity,

Andrea Jordan, Information Officer

HEALTH AND SAFETY COURSE

I recently had the opportunity to participate in a Health and Safety course hosted by Unifor National's Super School at the Hotel Saskatchewan the week of November 6th. This course was the first time I took advantage of our union's paid education leave (PEL) and, like any educational course, all knowledge gained is valuable.

Our instructors, Kelly Bondy of Local 1285 and Bonnie Nantais of Local 195, both had decades of experience regarding health and safety in the workplace. Combining that with the other attendees from Locals 1-S and 649 and their experiences, there was a lot of information to share and take back with me to our workplace. There was a mutual understanding among the group that it is not an easy task to convince an employer that change is needed to benefit a worker's health and safety. Our current government has done very well picking apart the Sask Employment Act during its long tenure, stating that "an employer shall ensure insofar as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety, and welfare at work of all of the employer's workers. " Reasonably practicable is an incredibly weak language for workers. Regardless of whether we work in an office setting, a lab, or out in the elements, there is a constant focus on using our collective bargaining tools to fight to maintain or better our health and safety throughout all areas of the workplace - on our terms.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the course was doing a mock joint health and safety committee meeting. Despite the "mock" being in the title, the emotion and tension in the room was high as the company representative said all the right words to deflect accountability and at times turn a deaf ear to the safety concerns put forth by the workers. It made me realize that as workers we cannot be silent on any concerns we have in the workplace. Raise our/your concerns and document everything because if there is no record, then the company cannot be held accountable for a lack of corrective action.

If anyone has any interest in taking a course like this, check out Unifor National's webpage under Resources/Education or watch for courses being offered in The Conciliator. It is time well spent.

Chris Szala,

Instrumentation Shop Steward

• Congratulations Kyle Eberle (Section 5) and Mick who welcomed their second son Bronsyn Leslie born January 1, 2024.

Employee & Family Assistance Program

The Employee & Family Assistance Program (EFAP) is through Homewood Health and is available 24/7/365. Call 1-800-663-1142 or reach out to a trusted confident, friend or co-worker if you aren't feeling like yourself.