Before any reform, we measure what’s actually happening. Staff workload, local health, where the money goes, which services are reaching members and which aren’t. How many grievances are backlogged? How long is the average member waiting for representation? Which locals are thriving and which are collapsing under caseload? Right now, nobody’s tracking this. You can’t fix what you refuse to count, and you can’t ask members to trust the process when there’s no data to back it up.
I actively practice what I’m promising to do as First VP. Leaders shouldn’t need an official role to demonstrate how they show up. The townhalls, the member insight dashboard, the delegate toolkit. All built before winning anything, with a small team and limited resources. That’s not a slogan. That’s how the office should operate.
When a local is struggling or a staff member is falling behind, the first question isn’t “who’s failing?” It’s “do you have what you need to do your job?” Staff, stewards, local presidents. If the tools are broken, the training is outdated, and the caseloads are unsustainable, that’s not a people problem. That’s a leadership problem. Fix what’s setting people up to fail, then hold everyone to a higher standard.
Stewards, local presidents, bargaining teams, committee members. These are the people holding the union together at the ground level. They deserve training that’s current, relevant to their collective agreement, and built for the fights they’re actually in. Not a generic course that hasn’t been updated in a decade. Not a video before bargaining. Real investment in the people who show up for members every day.
The union exists to make sure working people have a good standard of living and their rights are protected. Wages, representation, workload, safety. The number one issue members raised across every sector and every region was the same: affordability. Paycheques aren’t keeping up. Grievances sit for years. Caseloads are unsustainable. Get the basics right first. Everything else flows from that.
The First VP/Treasurer’s job is oversight. That means asking hard questions about spending, hiring, and priorities, even when those questions are uncomfortable. If the person in this role owes their seat to the people sitting around that same table, who’s actually doing the oversight? Members deserve a First VP who answers to them.
Two terms as First VP/Treasurer. That’s it. By the end of that, you’ve either delivered on what you promised or you haven’t. After that, real succession planning, knowledge transfer, and room for the next generation of leaders to step up. The goal is to build something that outlasts any one person in the role.