The stucco work has come to a halt while we await the arrival and installation of new windows. Roughly 80 percent of the building has been covered in a scratch coat, with the final 20 percent awaiting window installation before the remaining scratch coat and stucco can be cleanly and precisely applied.

It’s been an interesting process, particularly when the aged wooden soffits were torn down. GSU staff watched dirt, straw, substantial dust bunnies, newspaper, and even a pair of old dress shoes fall past their windows.

Undertaking renovations during a global pandemic has proved interesting as manufacturers struggled to get supplies and keep their reduced workforces safe with COVID protocols, and that slowed down and sometimes stopped the flow of products. We remain hopeful that our window company is able to get our windows put together and shipped to us by mid-August so the stucco project can be completed by early autumn.

In the meantime, if you are missing your old dress shoes, let us know.

GSU members can face many weather-related challenges, whether it’s working in a confined space in the heat of the summer months or diving into frigid water in the winter.

If you work anywhere other than a climate controlled office, check out your employer’s policy on working in extreme conditions. Your employer may also post relevant workplace policies on an employee information board.

Information links on extreme weather and Saskatchewan workers are linked below. Check it out, but be aware that your employer’s extreme temperature policy may go beyond this legislation.

Legal overview of what covers whom
www.ccohs.ca – temperature_legislation

General fact sheets and Information for all workers
www.ccohs.ca – temperature

Information on thermal stress Canada Labour Code (Federal)
www.canada.ca – thermal-stress-work-place.html

Hot Conditions – Worksafe SK
www.worksafesask.ca – Hot Conditions Guidelines_2021_v3

Cold Conditions Worksafe SK
www.worksafesask.ca – Working in Cold Conditions-Fact-Sheet_v4

As always, don’t hesitate to contact a GSU staff rep if you have questions or need assistance.

There has been considerable debate about Canada Day celebrations.

The tragic discoveries of unmarked graves at Canada’s Residential Schools sites has left many of us unsure how to appropriately and respectfully celebrate Canada Day, and if Canada Day 2021 is a day we should be celebrating. Cowessess First Nation Chief Cadmus Delorme’s shared his thoughts on the upcoming statutory holiday when he was interviewed on CBC’s The National on June 27.

“I would never tell somebody what to and what not to celebrate. You know, in 2021, we all inherited this. Nobody today created residential schools. Nobody today created the Indian Act. Nobody today created the Sixties Scoop. But we all inherited this. And if we want to say we’re proud Canadians, then we will accept the beautiful country we have today, and we will accept what we all inherited.

And what I would challenge is: Everybody on Canada Day in this country, if you say you’re a proud Canadian, read the Truth and Reconciliation ‘Calls to Action.’ Over 100,000 residential school survivors told their story – including my parents – and they created the Truth and Reconciliation ‘Calls to Action.’ Bring that into your personal life, your social life, your business life. And read the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls ‘Calls to Action.’ There’s 231 Calls to Action. If we can all own those a little bit in this country, in one generation we would overcome so many challenges today, that our next generation won’t inherit this. We will make them more as Dreamers.”

You can watch the complete interview with Chief Delorme starting at :36 in the clip, above.

If you are a Local 15 (Nutrien) member you can expect to receive a copy of your newly-signed collective agreement booklet soon.

GSU staff reps are working through their spring visitation schedule and they are distributing agreements as they go. If a staff rep has already been through your area, we will be sending agreements your way by mail.

If you don’t receive a copy of your agreement in June, get in touch with us and we’ll get one in the mail to you. In the meantime, you can always view or print your agreement online on GSU’s web page at gsu.ca.

According to GSU general secretary Hugh Wagner, June 6 marked the 85th anniversary of GSU.

 “The union was founded by country elevator and Regina head office employees of Saskatchewan Wheat Pool in 1936 at the height of the Great Depression,” said Wagner. “Two of the early rallying points for union members were a pension plan and the eight-hour day.”

 A central current of the unionizing effort was the common desire for dignity and respect in the workplace. Many of the same themes prevail today, even though the working world and how it is organized have undergone dramatic changes in other respects.

 “I often think of the courage and solidarity of the early union pioneers as they undertook a noble cause under less than ideal circumstances,” Wagner said. “We could all use a booster shot of their spirit.”