USJE members from the Prairies Region gathered in Edmonton on November 13-14 for a training session as well as a rally at the Department of Justice. The two-day training session brought together over 30 USJE members, as well as the National President, Regional Vice Presidents (Zef Ordman, Valda Behrens, Shauna Ward, Heather McKinnon, Kirk McIntosh and Jeff Sandelli) and USJE staff.
Day one focused on learning about the collective bargaining process, introduced by RVP Sandelli and then detailed by PSAC regional representatives Oneil Carlier and Carm Chan.
The participants then hopped on a bus and made their way to the Department of Justice to hold a demonstration on the one-size-fits-all return to office mandate. They also took the opportunity to denounce the Federal Budgetary Cuts in Departments and Agencies under the Ministries of Public Safety and Justice which will negatively impact the mental health and well being of our members and potentially jeopardize public safety.
Upon returning from the rally, the group split into breakout groups to review and prioritize bargaining demands from the region. This task flowed into day two, when participants worked to motivate on specific demands. Through this rigorous prioritization process, the group was able to narrow down some of the demands most important to the membership.
The conference finished with elections held to select delegates and alternates for the PSAC National Bargaining Conference in February 2025. Seven delegates and seven alternates were elected:
SV: Satinder Bains and Sandra Morin and the 1st and 2nd alternates: Carlos Portillo and Tyler Monteith.
EB: Hatem Hammad and Madison Hawkes as alternate.
PA: Alex Creamer, Connie Anderson, Brenda Schreiner and Nicole Akhenak. The Alternates: Karen Hess, Kendra Cherrett, Christa Masko and Thomas Lanctot.
USJE extends its gratitude to all participants, PSAC representatives, and staff for making the session successful. The final regional Bargaining Training conference takes place November 13-14.