Jackie Nettleton, Saskatoon Area Council Representative
Report to the Prairie Region Council
October 2012
On April 28 The Saskatoon and District Labour Council (SDLC) organized the ceremony for the Day of Mourning for workers killed on the job. It was well attended with the mayor, several city councillors and the provincial labour minister in attendance. I laid a wreath on behalf of the Area Council. Recently retired Ag. Local 40022 member, Howard Willems, gave a presentation on his campaign to have a registry for all public buildings containing asbestos. He showed the CBC television interview that was done with him on this subject. I was struck during the candle lighting ceremony at how many of the deaths were asbestos related.
On May 20 a few of us went to Prince Albert National Park (Waskesieu) and distributed information regarding the impact of the budget cuts to Parks Canada. Karen Zoller also delivered information at a local historic site. The public seemed fairly receptive but there were no actual members from Parks with us.
On June 6 the AC participated in the United Way Day of Caring. The SDLC organized a pancake breakfast for all the volunteers and then each group went out to our different projects. Our project was “Taming the Wild” which was rejuvenating the memorial garden at Girl Guide House. We received a nice “thank you” in the Star Phoenix from the United Way, along with the other participating groups.
For Public Service Week we organized a bbq for members after work at a downtown park. It was surprisingly well attended despite the constant rain. We had a small building to shelter in but because of the miserable weather nobody stayed for long. From the amount of food we went through we estimate that there were about 170 people.
On June 16 Nancy Johnson, Nicole Wurm, Carol Casey and Sister Hladun carried our banner in the Saskatoon Pride Parade. There were six uniformed CBSA members as well. This year the weather was great and the previous year’s attendance record was broken.
Every year Saskatoon Unions get together to put on a bbq at an inner city park for Labour Day. Several PSAC members helped with food preparation and serving. The Area Council had a table at the event and gave out balloons and lady bug tattoos. We had our “We Are All Affected” banners up and tshirts on which sparked a fair number of questions.
J. Nettleton