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Jun 2016 THE SNAG SHEET MONTHLY NEWSLETTER OF CANADIAN AIRWAYS LODGE 764 International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Representing Air Transport Workers in British Columbia and the President’s Report Yukon To most members “The Union” is a single giant entity that is responsible for all of the bad things that occur in their working lives and is run by people who stay up at night Inside this issue: trying to figure out new and inventive ways to ruin your life. But how many of you have President’s Report 1-3 taken the time to look closely and understand how your Union actually works? How is it governed? How can you effect change within “The Union” if you are not happy with what Water Bombers 4-8 you see or hear? Who do you have to scream and bitch at to get a satisfactory resolve to any specific issue or problem that you have? What are the procedures and processes Airports/ Cargo Report 8 that you can use to effect changes to the way “The Union” operates and represents the Tech Ops Report 9 membership? MTU Report 9-10 Your “Union”, the IAMAW, like Cerberus is a three headed creature in terms of its gov- ernance structure with Local Lodges, District Lodges and a Grand Lodge that essentially Photo FrontPage 10 equate to Municipal, Provincial and Federal governments. One taxpayer (or dues payer AC Pension Report 11 in this case) sending their money to three different levels of representation that all tell you that (insert your issue here) is not their responsibility and that you have to go talk to the Local or the District or the Grand Lodge to resolve your particular issue. Sound fa- miliar? If you understand how “The Union” is structured and which level of representation deals with which issues and how to effect change, it becomes much easier and less frustrating for members to get their questions answered and their issues resolved. Page 2 THE SNAG SHEET MONTHLY NEWSLETTER OF CANADIAN AIRWAYS LODGE 764 Each level of the IAMAW provides specific services and and the rest of the Grand Lodge Executive Council is representation to our members. Grand Lodge maintains charged with administering and upholding the Constitu- the membership lists, the IAMAW Pension Plans, schol- tion between conventions but the membership has the arships, leadership education, strike funds, strategic re- actual Constitutional power of “The Union” – if they sources and planning in addition to research support for choose to get involved and use it. collective bargaining for example. The IAMAW Constitution can be amended at every District Lodges are comprised of affiliated Local Lodges Grand Lodge convention however all constitutional that are grouped together either geographically or by amendments must first be presented and passed by the common workplace interest, like Transportation District membership at a monthly General Membership meeting 140, to which LL764 is affiliated. DL140 represents mem- of any Local Lodge. Any group of members can propose bers at Local Lodges in all ten (10) provinces who work a Constitutional amendment through their Local Lodge. primarily for airlines or aviation and airport maintenance All constitutional amendments which have been duly au- and support services providers across Canada. District thorized by the membership of a Local Lodge are ulti- Lodges are also the official bargaining agents recognized mately sent to the floor of the Grand Lodge Convention under the Labour Code that have the authority to negoti- where the delegates will debate and vote on all properly ate and sign collective agreements on behalf of all mem- submitted constitutional amendments. bers who are associated with that District Lodge. District Lodges and Local Lodges are formed under and The Local Lodges, including LL764, are responsible for must comply with all provisions of the IAMAW Constitu- the direct interaction with our members on a day to day tion but they also have their own sets of Bylaws which basis. The Local supports our workplace Shop Commit- supplement the Constitution and govern the internal ad- tees, Senior Stewards, Health and Safety representatives ministration and representation of each particular Lodge. and Shop Stewards to name just a few. We are the peo- Bylaws are the set of rules that stipulate how a Lodge ple who get “The Union” information out to you, the mem- must conduct its business in a manner that complies with ber, and hopefully we get information and feedback from the Constitution yet is tailor made to the unique circum- our members to help drive the priorities and activities of stances and requirements of that Lodge’s membership “The Union”. The Local Lodge provides the first line of as proposed and ultimately approved by that member- workplace representation for our members with their em- ship. ployer and we are typically the first point of contact for complaints about “The Union” from our members. Like constitutional amendments, Local Lodge and District Lodge Bylaw amendments must also be presented and The IAMAW was founded by nineteen (19) Railroad Ma- passed by the membership at Local Lodge General chinists in 1888 and one year later thirty-four (34) Local monthly meetings. The Local Lodge General meeting Lodges came together to hold the first IAMAW Grand vote is the final step to adopt and implement a Local Lodge Convention in 1889. The purpose of that first con- Lodge Bylaw proposal but after District Lodge Bylaw pro- vention was not so much to ride around on little tiny mo- posals are approved by a Local Lodge they must then be torcycles wearing red Fez hats but to write the Constitu- sent for debate and ultimately voted on by the Delegates tion that would establish the governance structure of the to the annual District Lodge Convention to get final ap- IAMAW that still exists today; although admittedly the proval. motorcycles and Fez are more entertaining. The Grand Lodge held conventions either annually or biennially from So by now you may be sensing a theme here. Local 1889 to 1970. Starting in 1972 the Grand Lodge Conven- Lodges are like the gateway drug where everybody and tion has been held every four (4) years. everything starts to get involved before moving on to the harder, more serious drugs at the District Lodge and The IAMAW Constitution is owned, controlled and re- Grand Lodge. vised by the entire membership through the Grand Lodge Delegates to the annual District Lodge Convention and Conventions. International President Robert Martinez the quadrennial Grand Lodge Convention are nominated Page 3 THE SNAG SHEET MONTHLY NEWSLETTER OF CANADIAN AIRWAYS LODGE 764 and elected by all affiliated Local Lodges from within their These conventions are where all decisions about the membership ranks. For those of you who follow along at business, budgets and direction of the IAMAW are ulti- home you will have seen the notices of nomination and mately made by the elected Local Lodge delegates to the election over the last four (4) months for the LL764 dele- conventions. The elected delegates act as the proxy rep- gates to the 2016 District Lodge and Grand Lodge Con- resentatives and carry the votes that represent all of their ventions. Local Lodge membership. The 18th Annual DL140 Convention will be held in Banff, All convention delegates must attend 50% of the Local Alberta from October 17 – 19, 2016 and the 39th Grand Lodge General Membership meetings in the 12 months Lodge Convention will be held in Chicago, Illinois from prior to the nomination meeting. If you feel that the sau- September 4 – 9, 2016 and LL764 will be sending our full sages that are being served have been giving you heart- complement of delegates to both conventions as we do burn and you would like to see if you can get a new sau- for each convention. sage recipe put on the menu to replace the old one; then you should come out to the LL764 General monthly It is important that our Local Lodge membership is repre- meetings starting in September. You can come and hear sented to the greatest possible extent at these very im- the delegate reports after they return from both the portant events. Not only to have our members’ voice Grand Lodge and District Lodge conventions and you heard on the issues that are important to our members can see how the Local Lodge 764 sausages get made but to also hear firsthand from all of the other delegates every month. It will give you a chance to determine for who go to represent their Local Lodge members’ con- yourself if you would like to enter your name to become a cerns and issues. It is extremely important for as many of sausage Chef at the IAMAW culinary institute. our members as possible to go and see firsthand how the IAMAW sausages are made. In accordance with the LL764 Bylaws all LL764 Execu- tive and Officers will be up for nomination and election The IAMAW is a very large international organization that this fall for the next term of office that will commence on makes sausages that must be served on an industrial January 1, 2017. The nomination and election for the scale so they are not always to everyone’s liking. The 2017 DL140 Convention delegates will take place in Feb- District Lodge sausages are made closer to home at the ruary 2017. I invite all of you to come out to a LL764 little Mom and Pop deli just around the corner. Because monthly General Membership meeting in any month to the District can create their sausages to better suit the see for yourself how “The Union” makes the sausages at tastes of a smaller cliental with similar likes and dislikes the Local Lodge 764 level.

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