Analogous

The dictionary describes analogous as follows: comparable in certain respects, typically in a way that makes clearer the nature of things compared.  Synonyms: comparable, parallel, similar, akin, corresponding, related, kindred, equivalent.

And now for the rest of the story:

The Blogging Consortium was ever hopeful that we would be able to shut our computers down today, but alas that will not be the case.  Until such time as we have a more democratic and less self-serving clowder of provincial officer’s we will remain vigilant!  A special thank you to Ritchie Gural and Michelle Gawronsky for sort of mentioning the blog.  Free speech is alive and well!  Thank you.

As many of us predicted prior to Convention the “Stay the Same Slate” mostly won again.  We would like to thank the individuals that stepped forward and allowed their names to stand for the various provincial table officers positions.  You did us proud to at least try to make a difference in our Union.  We really can’t see what a majority of our members see in most of the individuals that have been elected as our provincial officers.  Again. the saving grace will be that this president will probably not be around long enough to finish her term, but then we are faced with the first vice-president assuming the position as president.  It is astounding how we will ever be able to tolerate this buffoon, and yes maybe she should do some interpretive dancing.  Did anyone think she was funny or is she just a sad reminder of the predicament we find ourselves in.  She did promise in her speech to defend the Constitution and only time will tell if she is up to the task, however, her tenure as our forth vice-president lead us to believe this statement is another empty promise.

We are also shocked that our membership was not able to curtail our presidents spending and make her more accountable to the Board of Directors.  We were however able to put the brakes on to her pop in visits with our various locals around this province.  It is always interesting that our president wants our respect, but is not able to respect us with the same clarity.  We also believe it is punitive of her as the chair of Convention to come down from the podium to speak on issues she would like us to support or even speak on resolutions from the Chair.  Please note: (When the Chair has been challenged, the Chair is required under our rules of order to step aside and the Chair then goes to the next person in line.)  It almost appears that she does not believe that we can figure things out for ourselves or is it her propensity to be autocratic that makes her behave the way she does?

Our president talks about WE, but make no mistake that this is only the rhetoric she uses to get re-elected every two years, there is no WE in her vocabulary.  Well brothers and sisters we were successful in keeping Convention to every two years and allowing for ourselves to be heard.  A step in the right direction.  Let’s keep this clowder’s feet to the fire for the next two years and hold them responsible for every decision they make that is contrary to our wishes.  The Risk and Strategy Committee is made up entirely of our president’s appointees, so we must be vigilant in ensuring these members are looking out for our best interests.

Lastly to note the talk about the costs of various other campaigns that we are requesting appear to be incumbent on money.  How is it then that this president has drained our defense fund of $5 million to support Health Care but we don’t appear to have money to support other issues that are near and dear to our hearts and that effect our membership as well.  This is not a spiteful blog, but more of a voice for those members that do not appear to have one.  We will persevere in spite of a couple of disgruntled members.

Our president was also heard to say that the MGEU will be finding out who the bloggers are and putting a stop to this.  It appears she has the money to spend on trying to find us but not the money to support our membership’s campaigns.   A little self-serving don’t you think?  When we started out earlier this year there were exactly 100 invitations sent out to the Board of Directors and members to view this blog.  We are proud to say that we are now at over 10,000 hits strong and growing daily.  We have attracted attention from all over the world including but not limited to the UK, Ireland, Netherlands, Italy, Romania, Mexico and the US.  In spite of a mostly oppressive leadership we are being heard.  Thank you to Ed Miller who we believe is the lone dissenter in finding the Consortium.

See you soon.

What’s Love Got To Do With It?

 

What’s love got to do with it? 

A couple of us from the blogging consortium are sitting here in our room looking at the lights at Portage and Main as the traffic flows by and having a cuppa.  Tomorrow is election day for our new president and provincial officers and we can’t help but reflect over our president’s endorsements on her web page.  There are a number of individuals who have endorsed this president that are off work until April, 2019.  We believe that these individuals may have endorsed our president so they may remain off work, because you never know what may happen to the Rationalization Vote Committee with a new President.  Maybe a NEW president will work with other Unions in this province against our common enemy and NOT against each other. 

There are three Directors, one Vice-president and one BBF that have endorsed this president, but not one of them says anything about her integrity and acumen.  Some of the adjectives used to describe our president are; “not scared, smiling, confident, compassionate, determined, reliable, warrior, strong, dedicated, committed, passionate and accessible.”  Strong sentiments coming from her friends, but nowhere does it say she is fair, above reproach, or intelligent.  We believe that intelligence should be the number one trait in any leader.  If one is intelligent then we believe that they are more likely to be passionate, accessible, strong and confident.  A smiling president gets us nowhere!  A president wearing tights and a cape does nothing for our membership!  Just because you love her does not make her good leader!  That is your personal choice and many of us do not share your sentiments.  

We can all agree that the labour movement in Manitoba will be facing some major challenges within the next couple of years.  We will be saying good-bye to some of our members through lay-offs, deletions, contracting out and even relocation to other Unions.  It is our hope that at the end of the day when the dust has settled, we have a president and provincial officers that have done their very best to preserve this Union.  Unfortunately, we are perceived by others in the Manitoba Labour Movement as being the bully.  We have little likeability under our current president and no one is willing to work with us.  If this is a sign of a great leader we come up Spades.  If this is not a sign of a great leader then we are failing our membership, terribly.  We can make a change tomorrow morning when we elect anyone but Michelle Gawronsky for the position of president. 

She talked in her speech about working together, but what we have seen is that she is very good at this, but only with the people she chooses.  Most members don’t make the cut.  Read the President’s five minute updates, it is always about her and what she has done.  Then she comes to Convention and talks about WE.  We do not believe that this membership is so naive not to see through what she is doing.  She is after all running for re-election.  A good leader relies on others and shares the load.  Not this president.  She said that changes will happen only over her dead body, yet Pallister refuses to meet with her.  He is going over her live body!  Is this effective leadership?  She takes credit for things that she is not responsible for and she talks about being smart, yet not one of her endorsements says that about her. 

Think before you vote, our jobs depend on it!  See you in the morning! 

PS:  good referral on the three year Convention.  WE need to continue to have a say!

Incompetence Continued…

Incompetence continued….

“Michelle joined the Home Care team in Vita in 1981 and she is still employed as an HCA in Home Care.”

Very interesting statement for so many reasons.  First there is the issue of her “injury” that ended her career as an HCA, EMS Coordinator and Paramedic.  Now she is claiming she is an HCA for the Home Care Program?  How does one do this?  Think about what is actually being said here.  She is accommodated into a new position as an Activity Worker at the Vita Personal Care Home because of an injury that does not allow her to work as an HCA.  Now she wants us to believe that contrary to her accommodation, she has continued to work as an HCA.  This would be putting herself at great risk as she would not be insurable by Workers Comp working as an HCA anywhere.  Is she really that reckless with her own safety, we believe NOT.  Do we really believe that any employer would allow someone on an accommodation to work in a field that they have been accommodated from?  Does our president and her friends believe we are this gullible?

We are so glad to see that our president and her friends are reading the blog and responding to what we are saying.  When our presidents web page was first posted there was no mention of her working as an HCA in Home Care. Screen shots were taken at that time that show this to be a fact.  The new blog went out yesterday and now we read the above statement saying she has been with Home Care since 1981?

Good work guys! “Michelle joined the Home Care team in Vita in 1981 and she is still employed as an HCA in Home Care.” 

We know that she has not always shown up on the Home Care Seniority list.  If, as she claims she has been employed as an HCA in Home Care since 1981, why can’t we find her seniority?  The last time her name appeared on the seniority list was in 2012 and it listed her seniority as 0 hrs.  Somebody has some ‘splainen to do.  What we do know is that no one employee in any of the Regional Health Authorities can work more than one full time EFT.  So where did she fit the casual position into the mix if she was working a full time EFT at Vita Personal Care Home?  Sounds good in theory but her claims just don’t pass the smell test.

Never mind even if our president is re-elected her tenure may be short lived as there will be some significant changes in the Home Care Program in Manitoba.  We need to pay attention to her employment status when these changes happen because we are sure she will claim she has been an employee with some other group not affected by the changes since 1900.

Lastly let’s look at what we are hearing about the potential layoffs within the Civil Service.  Again, we come back to the decreased number of MGEU members and what significance that will be to our bottom line.  We are not sure at this time if the budget projects any significant losses in revenue, but we can be sure that between the changes in Health Care, layoffs and contracting out of services, the MGEU will be taking a hit.  Our president assures us she will be there fighting for our rights but she can’t even get an audience with our premier.  Check out the pictures of our president and Brian Pallister on her youtube video posted in the previous blog.  She looks like a puppy trying to get her masters attention.  Insignificant comes to mind!

Vote NO to increased spending.  Vote NO to a three year Convention.  Vote NO to allowing any interference to our Constitution, By-laws and Policies between Conventions.  Vote NO to re-electing this president.

See you at Convention!

Incompetence

Incompetence

 

The dictionary describes incompetence as follows:  inability to do something successfully; ineptitude

And now for the rest of the story:

Who is sending out our president’s message?  First on her Web Page http://gawronsky.ca/

Her web page came to us titled, “Funniest website EVER!”   Someone has goofed by putting this up in the public domain without it being finished.  Incompetence abounds!  Take notes brothers and sisters this is exactly what the Board of Directors have been dealing with for the past six years.  No one ever believes how totally unqualified and inadequate our president and her friends truly are.  There have been some changes to this website since it was first posted earlier today, but it is obvious it still needs work.

Go to her endorsement page and what do you see?  The usual cast of characters.  Mostly Health Care Employees (big surprise) with a smattering of her most loyal supporters!  No changes in her base of support ever.

Then there is the youtube video.  http://m.youtube.com/watchv=_dbMPpd7WBI&feature=youtu.be ﷟HYPERLINK

Our president talks about no contracting out, no layoffs and no cuts, however on the same day there are not one, but two, notices that directly contradict the president’s claims.  The three major issues that our president promises she will be protecting this membership from during her tenure.  Oops, more rhetoric from our esteemed leader!  Check out the two items from the Winnipeg Free Press and CBC News that speak to layoffs from Red River Community College, as well as the privatization of the Churchill liquor store??

https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/red-river-college-cutting-jobs-programs-to-cope-with-funding-shortfall-485304814.html

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/churchill-liquor-store-1.4853456

If you ever doubted where her heart lays, check out how much she talks about her beloved Health Care.  You may also note she “is still employed at the Vita nursing home; injury forced her to change her career from an HCA, EMS Coordinator and Paramedic to an Activity Director.  Instead of giving physical support she now provides the emotional and mental support to the Residents.” We thought she has a job in Home Care. What?  If what is being said is true this would make her a CUPE member.  So why is a CUPE member by her own admission running for the MGEU Presidents position.  This is an atrocity.  She has had so many jobs that even she doesn’t know the correct answer!  Perhaps the correct answer is she never did work for Home Care as we have been saying.

Has she compromised those individuals from the Southern Health Authority that swore out affidavits attesting to her employment history back in 2014?  It would appear so.  At least two individuals swore she had a full time EFT with the new CUPE local and a casual position with Home Care???

Then there is a list of courses she has taken since becoming an MGEU member, such as; Building Respectful Workplaces, Respecting our members, Bullying in the workplace, Representing our members and Exploring leadership.   If she learned anything at these course’s she has failed to put this information into practice.  Her normal behaviour is of a bullying nature to Board Members, the membership at large and the staff, everyone but her “close circle of friends.”

Resolutions

Convention Resolutions

The dictionary describes a resolution as follows: 1. a firm decision to do or not to do something.  2. the action of solving a problem, dispute, or contentious matter.

And now for the rest of the story;

The MGEU resolutions for Convention 2018 have been posted to the MGEU web page.  There are 14 Resolutions that speak to decreasing the number of Conventions from our present two years to every three years.  At this juncture it may be prudent to continue to have Convention every two years so we the membership maintain a say in what is happening within our Union.  We have spent the past six years with an ineffectual president and the past two years with ineffectual provincial officers. There was also a suggestion that if the present two day Convention is not enough time to conduct the business of the Union, then we could potentially look at increasing Convention by one more day.  If this was put into effect what would we really accomplish?  We would accomplish nothing, because the reasons stated over and over again for increasing the length of time between Conventions was to save money.  Nonsense! This is our money so we should continue to have a say.  A Convention every three years for a potential three days would keep the costs of Convention the same. (three days every three years, six days every six years) No savings there and less opportunity for us the membership to have a say! One has only to look at where the vast majority of these resolutions are coming from to see who this will ultimately benefit.  Again, it is the friends and supporters of our current president in terms of the Community Support Component, Brandon area Liquor and Gaming Authority, Social Sciences Area 5 and the Technical/Professional Component that have put this resolution forward yet again for the third time.  Could the MGEU membership possibly withstand another three years under the current regime, not to mention there would be no cost savings.

Then there are the various resolutions that want to increase the number of members being elected to attend Convention, mostly from Health Care groups.  This would allow Health Care to be a majority at any Convention in the future if the MGEU is at all successful in the Rationalization Votes.  If our Constitution needs to be revamped, maybe it is time to think about a committee to put together a new constitution and increasing our next convention to include time to pass this.

A previous Board and Provincial Officers changed our structure not so many years ago to be inclusive, not exclusive.   Again, if the objective is to decrease the amount of money spent on Conventions, increasing the number and make up of delegates does not achieve this.  With all the issues happening in the Health Care Sector in Manitoba at this time, there may not even be a significant number of Health Care Locals left after the Intermingling Votes.  We really do have to think in the long term about what we do at this time because the world as we know it may look entirely different a few months from now.  IT IS NOT THE TIME TO MAKE LARGE CHANGES WITHIN OUR UNION.  Let’s let the dust settle and come back in two years and see what is left of the MGEU.  If as predicted by this blogging consortium the MGEU Health Care groups cease to exist within the MGEU the point to all this fuss is moot.

Having gone through most of the rest of the Resolutions it appears that this membership is asking for things that will cost us the membership a lot more money, including meal allowances and per diems to name a couple.  This may be prudent in time but if we are looking at the potential loss of 14,000 members from Health Care our current budget will be millions of dollars less than what it currently is at this time.  Along with the decrease in membership from our potential losses in Health Care we will also be looking at a significant loss and layoff of staff members.  If our current president is re – elected she may have to curtail her expensive trips to places like New York City and the monthly provincial tours she currently enjoys.  Let’s also hope that if the majority of our membership takes 0’s in pay increases then so will our president, as has been past practice with former presidents faced with the same situation.

With a potential decrease in membership and an increase in spending, the dues we currently pay may have to be increased.  One more thought is if our president drains our Defense Fund she may impose a special levy to replace the money she has spent.  Furthermore, if our predictions for the direct service workers in the Home Care Program are true you can rest assured our president will be back to the Board with her hands out for more money.

Let’s all just remember when we are at Convention this year that we are being asked a lot by this president and her friends.  Maybe the time has come to think sensibly about monetary issues, the size of our budget, the potential loss of members and the great debt occurring to our Defense Fund before we spend any more money on things we have lived without so far.  The majority of this membership will be taking no increases in salaries or benefits for the foreseeable future, so maybe the time has come to be more fiscally responsible so there is an MGEU for our children and our children’s children.

There are just a couple more resolutions that should be mentioned at this time.  There is a resolution that would allow the Board of Directors the ability to fix errors to our Constitution between Conventions.  Knowing how our current president ignores the Constitution, By-laws and Policies would we allow for there to be more potential for mischief to be perpetrated on this membership?  We say NO.  Members are wanting to increase the time between Conventions, send more members, then allow our Board of Directors and Provincial Officers to play silly bugger with our governing documents?  No way! There has been a major loss of trust within our membership towards the provincial officers and president, that allowing the power to change anything between Conventions that is not currently allowed, would be stupid in the extreme.

Lastly there is a resolution that speaks to a campaign for our Civil Service and other members that should be taken into consideration.  Knowing that we have spent $5 million on Health Care the least we can do is to insure our other members are being looked after also.  Vote YES to this resolution.  Let the debates begin!  If any of our Provincial Officers vote in favour of increased spending it may be time to send them down the road.  This is after all our money they are pissing away!

See you at Convention!

Camelot

Camelot

The dictionary describes Camelot as follows: 1: the site of King Arthur’s palace and court.  2: a time, place, or atmosphere of idyllic happiness.

And now for the rest of the story;

We are surprised to hear that a number of current Board Members have given up their positions and do not plan to attend Convention.  What is happening in Camelot?   These aren’t just any Board Members, these are individuals that have been a major support to our president for some time.  Will the Areas they come from still support this president even in the absence of her friends?  We have been hearing for some time that there were issues within the hierarchy of our Union, but even we are stunned!

We are ever hopeful that our blog has reached out and sparked even just a few members into thinking that there has to be a better way than the auto-cratical rule we have been under for the past six years.  If we are unable to find out what is happening within our Union, except for those things the president wants us to know, what has changed?

Let’s look back at the blog entitled “Unscrupulous” from July 5, 2018.  In this blog it was stated that, “We know that there are going to be some significant changes in the Home Care Program that will have a major impact on our president’s employment in the not too distant future.”  While we are certain that we know what will be happening and have for some time, we have decided to allow our president to make this information known to the rest of our Union brothers and sisters.  Whatever way you slice this, there will a major impact in the Community Support Component, from which our current president resides.  At issue is the significant loss of employment, and since our president is not really a member of this Component she may be one of the first to be let go.  Where will she land this time?  Civil Service, EMS, Crown Corp?  At least one of her wishes will come true and that will be to decrease the size of the Board of Directors.

The implications facing us, the membership of the MGEU, at this time is that nothing in Health Care is certain, except there will be some major changes.  Both candidates running for the president’s position are members in a Health Care group that will be impacted by Bill 29 and other internal issues within our government’s Health Care Mandate.  How will this affect us the membership?  First thought is that no matter who wins the President position at Convention they may not be able to fulfill their position for the two year term.  So, not only do we have to think carefully about who to elect as President, but the position of First Vice-president becomes even more important as we head into Convention in the very near future.  Who to elect?  The options for the First Vice-president are as diverse as could be imagined.  First, we have a woman who has been our forth Vice-president for the past two years.  The question we should be asking ourselves is what has she done on her own that would allow us to vote for this candidate.  Nothing as far as we have been able to determine, except she is a friend and loyal supporter of our current president.  Then we have a brother that put his hat in the ring at our last Convention to run as Forth Vice-president.  He did very well all things considered, so maybe we should give him the chance.  We hear he is smart and articulate.  What a change that would be!

If, as we believe Camelot is falling, then let’s look at electing those candidates that come with new and fresh ideas and not the usual suspects, friends and supporters of our current president.  We believe that we are seeing a movement within the MGEU to rid us of the old guard that only look after their own, and to move to a more selfless group.  About time.

Almost forgot, there is a new member to the Rationalization Votes Committee! Another Civil Servant! Our present fourth vice-president has been tapped by our president. We can be sure it is not because of what she knows about Health Care. We feel the reason she is there now is because some of the president’s friends will not be attending Convention, so our president has decided to get her some exposure and facial recognition. As stated earlier in this blog she has done nothing for the past two years, but we believe this is too little too late. Again the benefit here is for our president to keep her majority and has nothing to do with what is best for our membership.

See you at Convention!

Money!

Money
The dictionary describes money as follows: a current medium of exchange in the form of coins and banknotes; coins and banknotes collectively.

What are Intermingling votes, Rationalization votes etc.  The Manitoba Government has passed legislation in the form of Bill 29 entitled “The Health Sector Bargaining Unit Review Act.”  Basically, what this is, is the Government felt they were spending too much time and man power bargaining collective agreements within the Health Care Sector in Manitoba.  They are wanting to decrease the number of bargaining units and also to stream line bargaining into appropriate bargaining units.  For example, the government wants all technical/professional groups to be under one collective agreement with one Union doing the bargaining.  Why aren’t the various Unions in Manitoba getting together to fight this?  Because the Government has written into Bill 29 that there is no avenue for the parties to take this act to the Labour Board or court for any kind of action.  In other words, we are all stuck with this.

And now for the rest of the story:

What some of you may know and others not, is that our president was successful in asking the MGEU Board of Directors for another two million dollars for the Rationalization Votes Campaign at the last Board meeting a couple of weeks ago.  This brings the total amount of money promised to five million dollars, and who knows, she could be back with her hand out for more.  It is our understanding that when our president came to the Board of Directors for the first time back in the spring 2018 requesting money for this campaign our Board gave our president three million dollars.  This was taking into account that the last time the MGEU was part of the intermingling votes in the rural area the campaign cost between $1.7 and $1.8 million dollars inclusive.  Figuring on costs being a bit higher now, we believe the Board felt $3 million was adequate for our campaign this time around.
Now we are looking at an additional $2 million for what?  We know our president has around 20 members and others off of work until April 2019.  We further know that there are presently somewhere around 10 members being housed in furnished apartments at Fort Garry Place.  Not only are we paying for apartments, we will also be giving the out of town members a per diem for each day they are away from their communities.  We know we are paying for the MGEU wrapped vehicles as well as mileage for others.  What is important to note is that these same vehicles are spending about as much time parked on the third floor of the parking garage at the Union Centre as they are on the road.

Then there are all the benches around the various facilities as well as the new MGEU commercials related only to health care.  The money being spent is coming from our defense fund.  This means that in the event of any strike action in the next few months our strike fund could be decreased by the $5 million our president has requested.  What about the rest of us?  It appears not to matter to our president what this means for all other groups not involved in the rationalization votes.  This action by our president should be raising alarm bells for the rest of us.  What we are also hearing from her committee is that they believe we may have some difficulties winning the votes in Prairie Mountain and the Interlake again.  If this is true we stand to lose the $1 million increase in funds for the MGEU after the last round of votes in 2012-2013.  How is she ever going to repay the debt to our defense fund then.  Any way you look at this, the mathematics make no sense.
Furthermore, as far as we can ascertain there is no accounting to our Board of Directors for the money spent so far and this will probably stand true for any future money spent.  How much is too much?  If we are the greatest Union in the Province of Manitoba with the best collective agreements why do we have to spend so much money on this campaign?  Our win should be in the bag.

If you read over some of the past blogs regarding how our president likes to spend our dues money, we believe the MGEU has been bleeding money since this president came to power.  It would be interesting to have a forensic audit on the MGEU books to find out exactly how much our president has cost us in unnecessary spending over the past six years.  She appears to believe that our purse is really all for her.  How can we continue to support this president when she lies about almost everything she says and she does not feel inclined to talk to us, the membership, about what she is currently doing. Member driven indeed!  Question her and see what you get.  Crocodile tears.  Really you think this makes us feel bad for you?  You wanted to be the president, put your big girl panties on and act like a president of the largest union in Manitoba.

One last thing to note is that our president has told a number of Health Care people from other Unions that she had to buy a house in Winnipeg for Health and Safety reasons.  The truth of the matter is something else entirely.  The MGEU have paid for and continue to pay for an apartment for her to live in while she is in Winnipeg.  So, the question is who did she buy a house for or did she really buy a house?
There are so many untruths out here as told by our president that one is loath to know the truth on any subject.  Time to vote NO for this president.  We also know that our present fight should be with the Pallister Government in conjunction with other Unions in the province and not with each other.  It is after all the Manitoba Government who is sitting back in their ivory towers smelling rarified air, that are laughing at the money being spent by our Union.  One good job action taken by any one of our Components could send the MGEU to the poor house!