MIRKO VARGA REPORTS at GE Canada the jurisdictional grievance is at Stage 4 of the grievance procedure and will be referred to arbitration. 

In the Cable Contracting Section the workload is ramping up slowly.  Unemployed members are reminded to check their status (e.g. filing unemployed cards, unemployed/outstanding dues) at the Union Hall.

The Netcom Training Committee has scheduled the next VOIP for March 19^th.  CATV members who have not registered should go to www.netcomtraining.org to register online.  Mirko will have more details at the next Unit #1 meeting.

 MARGE RANDALL REPORTS she will be taking over responsibility for Euro-Rite Cabinets from Harry Van Beest.  She will also be available for Schneider Foods as of mid March, 2005.  We will post notice of the change at Schneiders next week.

At SPUDS we have set a tentative date of March 16^th for a labour/management meeting to discuss several concerns raised by the bargaining unit. 

Sears has begun their new in-house apprenticeship program for small appliance technicians.  This apprenticeship program has replaced the technical trainee classification.  Also at Sears, the arbitration for Dan Watson has been set for April 21^st and 22^nd. 

At Trader Classified Media, the Union and the Company have been trying to resolve several outstanding grievances including a complicated lay-off grievance in the production department that is scheduled for a five day arbitration in mid April.  The Union and Trader have agreed to continue to have regular labour/management meetings in a mutual effort to deal with problems/concerns as they arise and to develop a more harmonious relationship in the future.

 HENRY PRITCHARD REPORTS the NCR Canada “Varied Work Week” arbitration scheduled for March 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th will have to be rescheduled due to termination from employment of a technician from Victoria.  An expedited arbitration will proceed on March 1^st and 2^nd on this matter.  The “Part Time Call-Out” arbitration remains scheduled to proceed March 29^th, 30^th and 31^st.  Also at NCR, the Automobile Reimbursement group grievance has been withdrawn after the employer declared the status quo will prevail and that they intend to address the matter at the bargaining table in June, 2006.  The membership meeting held in Burnaby on February 7th regarding the proposed incentive plan for Lower Mainland financial technicians culminated in a majority voting in favour of participating in the plan.

Henry also reports an NCR CSR3 technician at the Kamloops location has been laid off.  We are in the early stages of an investigation on the matter and will vigorously pursue a satisfactory outcome.

 JOHN PESA REPORTS dispatch has slowed down in the last couple of weeks, but overall has remained steady. Western Pacific Ent. was awarded upgrades to Pacific Center Mall; Mountain Pacific was awarded energy management work at Burnaby City Hall, Houle Electric has EA Sports Motion Caption Studios in Burnaby and Elworthy Electric is working at the bottling plant in Hope. Many jobs are out to tender and hopefully our contractors can be successful in their bidding. An eleven story addition to Bentall 5 and upgrades to Children's and Women's Hospital are some of the projects out to tender. The Market Recovery Program will be used aggressively when bidding against non-union contractors, to try to secure as much work as possible for our members.

DARCY BILN would like to take this opportunity to thank all the Local 213 members he has worked for over the past years both in dispatch and as a business agent.  Darcy will be leaving the union office as he has agreed to take on the Administrator’s duties for the Local 213 Electrical Workers Welfare and Pension Plan as of March, 2005.  Darcy looks forward to serving the membership in the new role and has every confidence that Harry Van Beest assisted by John Pesa will do a great job representing the Wiring Section.

 MIKE FLYNN REPORTS the appeal to the Superintendent of Pensions on behalf of the Fortis/IBEW 213 Pension Plan was sent February 9^th - now it’s a wait and see.  Contract talks with Fortis start Tuesday, March 1^st in Kelowna with the parties scheduled for a week of negotiations.

Mike met with the crew from Princeton Light & Power on February 10^th - proposals were put forward and now awaiting a time from the Employer to start contract talks.

CMC negotiations finally have a date of March 17^th to meet and hopefully come to a resolution.

Proposals with Edwards are being formulated.  Mike met with our members on Vancouver Island on February 22^nd and they are up to speed.  The Union is tentatively looking at a date in April to commence bargaining.  Mike will meet with the Kelowna group during the week of February 28^th.

At the City of Vancouver several issues along with grievances have occurred since the ratification of the Memorandum.  Meetings are set for March 7^th and 18^th to hopefully resolve.  Finally, to this point in time, the Union has not received a decision on the Job Posting arbitration.

 RANDY LOSKI REPORTS at the Cities of Kelowna, Penticton and Summerland we have gone through the proposal the company put forward around cost certainty of benefits and the result we came up with was that we could not purchase the same benefits that were included in the City benefit package.  We are now awaiting dates to reconvene negotiations.

Randy is meeting during the first week of March for four days of negotiations scheduled with Pacific Northern Gas at Prince Rupert. 

At Terasen Gas we have selected Marguerite Jackson to hear the Bruce Baker Job Selection grievance.  We are now awaiting satisfactory dates.  Randy recently met with Daryle Britton, the new Human Resources Vice President.  He has asked for a meeting with Ab Yates, Rav Ghuman and Randy to lay out the direction the company will be taking. Dwain Bell, the new Vice President - Distribution will also be present at this meeting.

 HARRY VAN BEEST REPORTS that proposal forms have been issued to the members at Simon Fraser University and will be collected by your Shop Steward, Steve Redey, by March 18^th.  Negotiations at Allied Shipbuilders are set to begin on March 4^th.

A reminder to the members that if you are working for a non-union contractor you must check in, as per Local 213’s Bylaws, with either Harry or John Pesa.  

Harry is looking forward to representing and working with the Wiring Section and is confident that together we can make a difference in our industry.

Shop Stewards are still required in the Wiring Section - if you are interested phone, fax or e-mail Harry.

**If anyone found a Pentax instamatic camera (black plastic) at the Local 213 Children’s Christmas Party, could you please drop it off at the Union Office.  The photos taken cannot be replaced.**