We have hired a new permanent Staff Rep for the Western region.
*Patty Ducharme has been an activist, elected official and staff person in the labour movement for 20 years.
She has handled grievances, sat on negotiating teams as a team member and as an officer (notably with Treasury Board of Canada, Canada Post and the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency), led bargaining, developed education courses, promoted equity (she is a Metis woman) and mobilized members.
Patty has worked in several provinces, in a host of senior capacities, among them, Director Finance and Administration for the Union of Northern Workers in Yellowknife, National Executive Vice-President PSAC in Ottawa (where she was also the trustee for the Union of Postal Communications Employees), as the Regional Executive Vice-President PSAC BC and as a legal officer for Canadian Union of Public Employees in Burnaby, BC. She has a BA in French Literature, and a law degree from UBC.
Patty will join us in July/August for some training and work out of Toronto for a few months, then be in Vancouver where she already has a home, in September.
*That brings me to a big, big thank-you to Anu Dawit-Kanna, Vancouver CMG president who has been filling in doing a fabulous job since Chris left. She has set up innovative meetings with CBC management and has impressed members, elected officials as well as the managers she deals with, with her professional, proactive approach. We loved having Anu join our staff even if it was only for a temporary period, and in fact we would have snapped her up if we hadn’t been forced by circumstance to hire someone with years of experience (given our recent departures), who is also bilingual.
If you see Anu, please give her a big thank-you for the effort she has put in on your behalf. Anu returns to her CBC job at the end of this month.
*Since Anu cannot keep filling in as Western staff rep for the summer months until Patty is in place, long-time CMG activist and leader John O’Connor will be released to fill in for June and July. John can be reached at cmgdop@gmail.com or 306 539 3648
Carmel Smyth,
National President, CMG