Election 2009 His and Mine

During the Month of June 2009 , My Brother and I are both looking for your Vote. My Brother (Darrell Dexter) is on the verge of making history in Nova Scotia. His goal is to provide good leadership with a government accountable to you the people of this fine province. My goal is very similar but much narrower, I am only looking to provide good leadership and accountable to you the members of Local 508.

During the Provincial Campaign My Brother is relying on his years of experience and his hard work as an example of what you can expect from him as Premier. His personal credibility with the people of Nova Scotia is at the center of his campaign. I believe that we are very similar in this,I am also asking you to look at my personal credibility. During my 20 years at Metro transit I have worked hard to represent you the members at both the committee level and as a member of the Executive Board. When I first ran for office I promised to keep the concerns of members as a cornerstone to what I would do.The first Election I was involved in members had a deep concern around their personal information being leaked onto the floor, after they were called into a meeting. I promised that would not happen with me and it has not. When I ran for Vice President I promised to make the position one that would be included in all aspects of the Unions day to day business. I believe I have been successful in this as well. With this in mind I would like to ask that when you are looking for a VP that you look at who is most likely to dedicate their time to making sure that the position does not slip back into the abyss.Elect the person who is most likely to put the interest of Members above his own and will dedicate himself to insuring that your rights are protected. I believe that I am that candidate.

Next Week you have the opportunity to help my Brother fulfill his goal,two weeks later you can help me achieve mine.In closing I would ask that on June 9th you vote Dexter and on June 24th you do it again.

As always , In Solidarity

Rick Dexter

Election 2009

Brothers and Sisters

Yesterday I was nominated to run for a second term as your Vice President. I have graciously accepted that nomination. Today I want to provide you with some information on what has been accomplished over the last three years. During my term as Vice President I have worked hard to transform the position from one that sets in the back of the room to one that has a strong voice for the Membership.

When given the opportunity by President Dan MacDonald, I was able to become part of the HRM selection committee for the EFAP carrier. When that task was completed, I became a member of the EFAP committee for the HRM. This has allowed the ATU to have a voice with HRM on issues around the deliverance of assistance to you the members. The creation of the new Return to Work program has also been a success in bringing those who wanted to be involved back to work and allow them to have income while transitioning to their regular duties. The RTW designed by the co-operative work between HRM and the ATU is now being used at seminars put on by the Nova Scotia Federation of Labour. They are using our program as a design for what all employers should have. Most recently they used our program for an example while doing a presentation for Public Service Alliance of Canada.

When negotiations where going on I was asked to look at the spareboard and how it would work with an eight (8) hour rule. With knowing that the Employer was intending to hire enough people to cover the work: their quote at the time, “We will never allow this happen again”, I brought forward changes that protected the income of the spareboard member at a level we had never achieved before. I spoke mostly about protecting hours and quality of life issues. I was successful in getting agreement for the following: Overtime after forty hours, day shifts and day reports off by 8pm, elimination of three piece shifts and an increase in ten hour shift.

During my term as Vice President; with the help of President Dan MacDonald; we moved this Local to become more involved with issues outside of the Illsley garage. We brought forward issues that were requested by you the members to Management, the shelter at the bridge terminal brought forward by Operator Shane O’Leary resulted in meetings between us, management and the administration of the Sportsplex to allow for the trailer. This was a good first step; we further pressed management for a new facility at the Bridge Terminal. When the money was in place and it appeared the facility was in danger of not being built, Dan and I met with members of the Legislature and organized a petition.

The petition was read in the Legislature. Then I set in front of the Provincial Law Amendments committee, where I successfully argued for the change to the city charter. This allowed for use of the Commons land to build a new facility. We are currently finishing the Geo-thermo study and construction should start shortly.

Another issue brought forward by you the members was around security and safety on the buses. We worked diligently for you and pushed for the cameras on buses. We are now near completion of having all the buses equipped.

Over the last year, the Employer has gone through a number of changes and trying to build working relationships has been high on our priority list. You achieve nothing if you are not listened too. This was proven when they brought forward changes to the late and miss policy. We were able to get more reasonable changes by having many discussions with Management. When they tried to bring in a policy on drug testing we formed a coalition with other HRM Unions and are currently working towards a joint solution to this problem. Having joined with the other Unions has already saved us over Ten thousand dollars in legal fees.

Brothers and Sisters over the last three years I have tried to make my position one that has a strong voice for you. I have done this by being available to you the member 24hrs a day seven days a week. When there were incidents that occurred on the road a simple phone call would see either Paul MacDonald or I show up at the scene, sometimes both. I have come in on my vacation, days off and even left major family events to be there for you. I would suggest that you ask those who are running to replace me if they have the same dedication. Ask them if their spouse will allow them to put you first. Mine does.

I understand that there has been a lot of internal strife over the last three years; even so we accomplished a lot. Just imagine what we could accomplish if we all worked together; as a team. Operator Lyndon Baker has offered for the position of Financial / Recording Secretary and I would encourage your support for him in this role.

In closing I would just like to say that I have enjoyed working for you these last three years as Vice President. This added to all the years of committee work (pick committee, route review, RTW, EFAP just to name a few), as well as my term as shop steward and chair of club 508 has rounded out what I believe has been a long and dedicated service to you, the Members of Local 508. I hope you will allow me to continue this service and look forward to your support in the upcoming election.

In Solidarity

Rick Dexter