January 29, 2019 

Anything can happen, but here's what we have on our calendars for January 28 - February 1

  • The Tuesday Members' Memo is emailed to GSU members weekly on Tuesdays. If you know a co-worker who doesn't receive the TMM and would like to, have them call GSU toll-free at 1.866.522.6686 or send an email to  gsu@gsu.ca
  • staff representative Steve Torgerson met with a member on Monday to go over a harassment investigation report 
  • Steve Torgerson will attend a Local 4 (Grain Millers) bargaining committee meeting on Thursday
  • Questions? Contact a GSU staff representative at either our Regina or Saskatoon office. 




A GSU member reached out to staff representative Steve Torgerson with questions surrounding performance reviews, goal setting and their rates of pay. 

Torgerson and the member talked about the specifics for the Company's pay for performance plan and how the member can plan ahead to ensure they could engage with the performance reviews for the year. 

It is important, whether you believe in performance reviews or not, to learn how your Company conducts their performance reviews and what it is used for. If it has a baring on your wage increase then you need to ensure you understand what you need to do to get the most out of your performance reviews. 

Make sure you participate in any goal setting or base line setting of expectations for the year. Always provide feedback to your Manager throughout the process, both positive feedback if you agree and more importantly negative feedback if you disagree with what is being recorded about your performance. 

Waiting until your annual pay increase, as a result of your performance review, is almost too late. You must speak up during the process to make sure you are heard. 

If you have any questions about your  performance review process at work or the pay for performance system reach out to your GSU staff Representative. Your GSU Staff are here to advise and assist and all calls are confidential and will only act on your behalf if you instruct them to do so.
 
 



Time for another RUSH ticket draw! 

For a chance to win 2 tickets to the game on February 9, 2019 at 7:30 against the Calgary Roughnecks all you need to do is send in to gsu@gsu.ca your entry by completing the sentence below. All entries sent in by Friday, February 1 at 5:00 p.m. will be entered to win.

Even though we live on the Prairies and we know Winter is going to be cold and we know there will be at least one of those days where walking in the snow makes an eerie squeaking noise, it is still awful to wake up to temperatures in the - 40 C. To enter to win complete the following sentence:


It is so cold in Saskatchewan that ....


We look forward to all the entries and the winner will be announced, along with the best sentences, in next week's TMM. 
 
 

Bargaining Update


Local 4 - Grain Millers

UPDATE: GSU Local 4 - Grain Millers gets set to begin negotiations
 
The Local 4 bargaining committee is set to meet on Thursday, January 31 to finalize preparations before negotiations. 

The committee will meet for the first time with their counterparts from the Company on January 12 & 13. Once they have met an update will follow in the TMM.

GS's Bargaining Committee: staff representative Steve Torgerson, Glen Wlaschuk, Alex MacKay, Ryan McNabb, Kerry Whitters and Tyler Chorneyko as alternate.



Local 8 - Advance

UPDATE:  Conciliation Between AEA/GSU Local 8 and Advance Tank Production/Tank Centres
 
The first conciliation meeting between the AEA/GSU local 8 and Advance Tank Production/Tank Centres was held on Friday, January 25.
 
Both parties described the unresolved bargaining issues to the provincially appointed conciliator and engaged in an exchange of ideas for settling the collective bargaining impasse. Follow up meetings will be held on February 4 and 5.

GSU's Bargaining Committee: general secretary Hugh Wagner, Doug Murray, Ron Gerlock, Dion Elliot and Steve Holliday



Learn more about the bargaining process and how it works

The Manitoba Government and General Employees' Union has done a great job of explaining bargaining in their Bargaining for Beginners web page and accompanying  infographic. You can check those out here. 




How to CYA at Work

Record keeping - fun, right? But: it can really help you cover your butt at work when you need to. So how DO do you organize, file, and otherwise keep track of your meeting notes, emails, and phone calls? Today's guest post brings you some excellent advice from Belle of  Capitol Hill Style - CHS on CYA, so to speak. Thanks to Belle for passing along these tips (and welcome back to the blog)!

Working in politics taught me a number of valuable lessons, the most important of which was how to keep excellent records. I save emails, letters, memos, and meeting notes because you never know when you're going to need a paper trail. So when Kat asked me to write a post detailing how to cover your ass at work, I was happy to oblige.

Let's start with the foundation of CYA, keeping good records:

Meeting Notes

I have over 30 small, spiral-bound notebooks that span my entire career. On the outside they are labeled for job and date, e.g. "Congress. May '07- Oct. '07." On the inside, you'll find my meeting notes for every appointment labeled with the names of all attendees, their affiliation, and the details of our conversation.
These notes are a record of what was said, what was promised, and what the outcome of the meeting was. Keeping accurate notes will help clear up miscommunications and help you refresh your memory before your next meeting with those same people no matter how much time has passed in the interim.

To read the other tips for CYA at work follow this link:  How to CYA at Work


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