By-laws
Special Convention
Brothers
and Sisters,
Well, the Convention is over and it was a 100% success. This
was an exercise, and an example, of democracy in action, which
could
not be equaled.
We now have a set of By-Laws that have been sent for approval
to the IBT headquarters in Washington, DC. And once they are
approved
the final hurdle between us and removal of the trusteeship will
have been lifted, and so we should be out of tusteeship by the
new year.
This Convention was remarkable. The debate was informative and
enlightening, the friendship and solidartiy was second to none.
The pride in our Union was so strong, it was truly moving. All
the delegates were there to do the work of the Brotherhood and
handled this important business in a professional, focused and
courtesy manner. Though the issues that we dealt with were varied,
and some were extremely contentious, everyone treated everyone
else cordially and with respect. Everyone who wished to speak
on any issue was allowed the chance and no one was shouted at
or booed
(though many were applauded). And so, in the end, we had all
the delegates agreeing and unanimously approving the new by-laws.
Following
that vote, the applause was thunderous and shook the meeting
room.
This was a Convention where there was no doubt that all delegates
were carefully judging all matters before them and then voting
properly, in clear conscience, to do the right thing. There were
motions passed that insured a little more security for the smaller
lodges because the larger lodges were willing to share the burden.
This was a Convention where it was obvious that all of the delegates
were thinking of the Union as a whole and voting to protect its
viability. This was a Convention to be proud of and it was populated
by Delegates that all of us should be proud of. This was a Teamster
Convention and it could not have gone better.
Some of the highlights were:
-
The
slide show (complete with music) that Brother Helfenbein set
up which contained pictures of members at work, demonstrations,
meetings, convention, and at play and was interspersed with slides
taken from CP's archives, was a huge success.
-
Seeing
former System Federation General Chairman Henry Thiesen arrive
as a guest to help us herald in this new age and Division.
On Sunday, Brother Thiessen also gave quite a good talk on the
pensioners and their needs, as well as reliving some of the earlier
days of railroading and the BMWE. When we voted to make Henry
Thiessen the first lifetime member of the TCRC MWED, his grin
was ear to
ear, even if his eyes were a little misty.
-
Teamsters
Canada President Bob Bouvier explained our trusteeship, its process
and its progress. I am extremely grateful to President
Bouvier for taking time out of his demanding schedule to make
it for two days of our Convention. All the delegates were anxious
to meet him and President Bouvier took the time to talk to
everyone who did. He is not only a great Union leader, he's a
great guy
and I think that everyone there was impressed, not only with
his
knowledge on labour issues but also with his approachability
and easy nature.
-
General
President Hoffa couldn't make it, but he did take the time to
record and send a short film congratulating and wishing
us all
well and for success on our Convention.
The TCRC was represented by Brother Benoit Brunet, Vice General
Chair Greg Edwards, General Chair Dave Able and Vice President
Hucker. It was great to see all of them and to have them
share this weekend with us.
-
President
Simpson of the BMWE Division of the IBT also came and it was
an honour, and a pleasure to see him again, but
more importantly
to have him with us as we completed our first set of By-laws.
-
The
By-laws committee, comprised of Chairman Ross Terry, Brother
Della Porta, Brother Brake and Brother MacDougal
did a fantastic
job of putting together and fine tuning the By-laws.
They were assisted by President Bouvier's Administrative Assistant,
Brother
Ron Douglas (a Constitutional genius) and Teamsters Canada
General Counsel Stephane Lacoste, who as you will probably
recall was
the architect and administrator of our recent direct
election.
Thanks
is too small a word for these Brothers, the Convention
could not have been such a success without their dedication
and
hard work.
They not only put together the By-laws, they also spent
all of friday evening and on untill 1330 on Saturday,
finalizing their
report and recomendations for all of the 21 proposed
amendments. Brother Terry delivered this report clearly and precisely
which insured that everyone understood the articles prior
to their
voting.
-
Friday
night, the President of Joint Council 90, Roy Finley, held a
reception in our Convention's honour which
was well
attended and very enjoyable. It was fantastic having
Teamsters from the
TCRC, Local 362, Teamsters Canada and the TCRC MWED
all mingling and talking and learning from each other. Sharing
a beer
and a
laugh. That's what solidarity is all about. Thanks
to
Brother John Doerksen, not only for being at the reception
but
also for everything
that he did for us during the three days of the Convention.
It was much appreciated.
-
All
day Saturday was spent working on the By-laws, voting on amendments
and then, finally passing the
By-laws as
a complete
package. And
as stated before, the By-laws were adopted unanimously
in their entirety.
-
The
banquet was another success and gave all of us time to converse,
mingle and enjoy ourselves after
the preceeding
two days of non
stop work.
-
Leo
MacGrady, LLB, QC gave us a presentation on the "Duty
to Accomodate" and on 217.1 of the
Canada Criminal Code (formerly known as
Bill C-45). This
is the law that will see the employers
criminally charged and facing jail time
for negligence in the workplace which causes
death or injury.
Not only is this subject matter riveting,
Leo is an excellent speaker and delivered
it perfectly, insuring that everyone left
there
with a lot more knowledge than when we
arrived. The handout to this presentation
was also extremely well put together and
I have orderd
60 more of them to be sent out to
our RTW committee members and other activists.
-
We
also went over every night to the TWU picket line at the Len
Werry building (Telus). You should
have
seen the
picketers
surprise
and unbridled joy on Friday night, when I introduced
them to President Bouvier. They could not believe
that the Teamsters
Canada President
would walk their line with them. But walk it
he did, for a
couple of hours, along with about 30 or so
delegates from our convention.
There were at least 40 Teamsters over there
each evening of our Convention, and no matter how
much that meant
to the TWU
picketers,
as Brother Townes said, it is important to
us as well, because it keeps us aware of why we
do the
work that
we do.
-
When
you stay in a hotel room for three nights, every day new shampoo
and soaps are left, even
though you
haven't used all
of the previous
day's. Therefore we asked all of the delegates
to bring their extra soaps and shampoos down
to the
convention
hall
every
morning to
be collected in a bin at the back. Once the
Convention closed, myself Brother Terry,
Brother Daniel
and Brother Arter carried
them all (and there were a lot, we had a
full recycling bin) over to the Mustard Seed Ministry
Shelter
and donated them
on behalf
of "TEAMSTERS CARE" a project that
our Division has been spearheading. The volunteers
that took them from us, were amazed
and couldn't thank us enough, explaining
that simple toiletries like these ate up
a lot of their budget and our donation would
really go a long way.
-
My
only regret is that I did not arrange simultaneous translation
for our Brothers
from Quebec and
I promise that I will
never make this mistake again. My thanks
to Tony Della Porta, Joey
Tirelli
and Serge Delongchamp for translating while
the Convention went on, but they could
not keep up
with everything
and as I have
said, my apologies and I will not make
this mistake again.
That's
a quick overview and believe me, it cannot even come close to
giving this weekend justice. I truly was amazed at the dedication
and selflessness of the delegate body as a whole and the professionalism
with which they performed their duties and thank them all for
this.
Thanks also the guests, to Brothers Kyle Rightmyer and Dennis
Arter for being Sargeants at Arms again and to Roberta Ciolli
for handling
the Registration.
Over
the next few days we will be getting all of the pictures that
were taken there onto the website, so go check them out
at www.tcrcmwed.ca
Remember,
TEAMSTER PRIDE + TEAMSTER UNITY = TEAMSTER STRENGTH
Fraternally,
Bill Brehl
President
TCRC MWED
Pictures
of the Convention >>>
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