Skilled Trades Association, CAW Local 199 St. Catharines (General Motors Unit) | ||||||
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What Are We Doing?
Our first week had a few of us exchanging e-mail addresses. The feeling was that after being unemployed we needed to stay in touch for moral support. Being laid off is like leaving your family. There are many strong friendships which are torn apart by layoff. We decided to form a support group to help each other get through this time of upheaval. It didn't take long before we realized how angry we were at GM, for once again treating us with disrespect. Management was again laying us off while aggressively working the trades that were kept on. No more, "ENOUGH IS ENOUGH" We had a meeting with our union leaders. They gave us an extensive update on activities and allowed our spokesman to talk to the potential members. A rough outline for forming a support group was handed out. People were asked to become members and e-mail addresses were taken. A steering committee was formed to address everyone's ideas and concerns. It was their challenge to create a name, decide what we wanted to do and how we were going to do it. The steering committee met and the name Skilled Trades Association (STA) was born. We had to decide what we were going to do and how? Getting back to work was our first priority! It soon became apparent that we were becoming more than we had originally intended. For instance, what happens when we get back to work? We didn't want this GM lay off roller coaster to continue with no regard for our welfare, that of our families and the security of our community. So the association became more than a support group for laid off trades people it became a motivated, dedicated group ready to assist our leaders assertively, so they could present a more power, unified voice, in our behalf. It is strong members that make a union great and it wasn't all that surprising to find that everyone we talked to was ready to support us and renew their support and strong voice, to the union. I don't want to get into a pep rally here. You know how excited we are and how passionate we are to see this through. We decided that for the immediate goal of full employment, we needed most of our friends on the inside to help and become members. They never let us down. Many phone calls were made. We decided to put our contact information in flyers, put an information letter in the CAW local 199 news and send letters to the many levels of government, the head of GM Canada and the Ministry Of Labour just to name a few. We decided to heavily support our regular union meetings, have our own steering committee meetings each week and have unit meetings with our leaders once each month. We needed a motto to be guided by, so we created our mission statement. Our mandate is to help strengthen our union by supporting our leadership and creating a Skilled Trades Association dedicated to the full employment and the well being of all trades in our plant and across Ontario. We are also committed to supporting our friends in production and being responsible community members helping out where we can. We decided to create this web site to help introduce us and give everyone an opportunity to read about our efforts and to become a member. We agreed on what we needed from members on the inside of the plants to do to help us and help preserve their own jobs. That is covered under "How Can I Help" and "Work Smart - Work Safe". We have given out support buttons, flyers and stickers asking for your support and you have responded positively and without hesitation. We have had a meeting with Walt Lastewka, which went very well, with more to come. Jim Bradley intervened in our behalf with the Ministry of Labour to have GM face their responsibility concerning their illegal abuse of the 60-hour rule. Our letter campaign has been very successful in letting people know we are fed up. We are aware that at some point our escalating agenda may cause a commotion that will be heard all the way to Detroit. It will be up to St. Catharines management to own up to their responsibilities prior to that. | ||||||
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We have done many things since our inception. It has been a severely inclined learning curve. We give accolades to our leadership for their support and insights during this time in our growth.