October 5, 2021
Calendar highlights and upcoming events:
GSU membership meetings are coming up soon
Looks like we will be using Zoom again this year. If you have a preferred date and time for your meeting, let us know.

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GSU offices will be closed on Oct. 11
Our Regina and Saskatoon offices will be closed on Monday for the Thanksgiving holiday.

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Our new GSU staff representatives start on Oct. 12
Brian Lark and Mason Van Luven will be in the office bright and early after the Thanksgiving Monday holiday. Want to send them a welcome? Drop an email to Brian@gsu.ca and Mason@gsu.ca.
Three new directors elected to GSU Defense Fund
Sharlene Lark (Local 5 - Western Producer), Bruce Thompson (Local 15 - Nutrien) and Lynn Shaw (Local 15 - Nutrien) were elected to the board of directors of the GSU Defense Fund by the Sept. 24 meeting of the union’s Joint Executive Council. They join Wilfred Harris (Local 1 - Viterra) and Doug Kampman (Local 8 - Advance).
 
The GSU Defense Fund is administered by an elected five-person board of directors. The directors are elected by delegates to GSU policy conventions. Between policy conventions, GSU’s Joint Executive Council elects directors to fill vacancies. 
 
The market value of the Fund is currently estimated to be $5.3 million. With the exception of cash on deposit at Affinity Credit Union, all of the Fund’s investments are held with RBC Dominion Securities.
 
The Fund is invested conservatively with the primary objective being preservation of the principal while earning a positive rate of return.
 
The primary purpose of the GSU Defense Fund is to provide strike or lockout pay and benefits to GSU members. Subject to approval by the board of directors, financial resources from the Defense Fund can be deployed for purposes such as defending the union, keeping the union operational, or the legal costs of defending members’ collective bargaining and other collective rights.
 
The Fund’s finances are audited each year along with the independent annual financial audit of GSU.

Learn more about the GSU Defense Fund here.


Our first National Truth and Reconciliation Day
 
Sept. 30 was historic as we recognized our first Day for Truth and Reconciliation in our province and across Canada. It was a day for somber reflection as we honoured the victims and survivors of residential schools and considered how that legacy has affected Indigenous communities. 

As part of our Sept. 30 reflections, GSU staff considered how GSU has participated in the truth and reconciliation process, and what we can do going forward.

Some of our plans for 2021 - such as holding the blanket exercise [video link] at the March 2021 GSU biennial policy convention and distributing orange shirts at the Sept. 24 Joint Executive Council meeting - were thwarted by COVID and the cancellation of scheduled in-person gatherings. We have been successful in beginning to incorporate land acknowledgements into GSU gatherings and we have encouraged member participation in the Truth and Reconciliation process by sharing information and links in several of our Tuesday Members' Memo communications. GSU has also encouraged members and officers to attend training at the Canadian Labour Congress/Saskatchewan Federation of Labour's annual Spring School, where a course on Turtle Island is a popular option.

We will continue working toward increased participation and education in the remainder of the year and the coming new year.

If you have suggestions or would like to be considered for GSU or labour-sponsored training opportunities that include truth and reconciliation education, contact Steve Torgerson at GSU's Regina office.

If you need some advice about how to approach management with a problem, don't hesitate to call your GSU staff rep. No problem is too small and sometimes a brief comment, email, or meeting is all that's needed to address a situation. Call us when you think there is a problem to be fixed.


Our office renovation is finally complete
We made it through two seasons of construction at GSU's Regina office, and we are very happy with how everything turned out.

Make sure to drop by the GSU office and have a look around if you are in Regina (or Saskatoon). We`d be happy to give you a tour.

(Just in was you haven't already figured it out, the finished product is on the right.)
The Riders will be looking for revenge when the Stampeders come to town this Saturday. Want to be in on the action? Enter our draw and you could win two tickets to the game.

Thanksgiving is coming up this weekend and Nana is asking what you want to eat. Do you choose:

A. Turkey
B. Ham
C. None of the above.

Nana is needs your answer ASAP so she can go shopping. RSVP your answer to gsu@gsu.ca by 3:00 p.m. tomorrow, Oct. 6 and we'll enter you in the draw. Good luck!

Your poker face is better than you think
It's hard for us to look beyond our perception of ourselves and consider how others perceive us. Understanding The Illusion of Transparency may help.

Illusion of transparency is the tendency for people to overestimate how well their mental state is known by others. An example would be when you are standing on stage in front of a microphone convinced that everyone can see exactly how nervous you are.

Even when you feel like a nervous wreck, outwardly you appear much calmer than you feel inside. Don't believe it? Have a friend video you and when you watch the video, identify the moments you were feeling particularly anxious. Do you look as anxious as you felt? Likely not. And the harsh reality is that no one - or almost no one - actually notices how you are feeling, and even if they do notice they likely don't care.

Being aware of the illusion of transparency can be quite liberating. There is something freeing about knowing that the next time your heart is beating out of your chest at a social function, others likely won't notice and, even if they do, you probably aren't going to be on their radar by tomorrow.

Learn more here:



This article has been printed for entertainment purposes. The views and opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those of GSU, its members, officers, or staff.