President:
Mark Gardner (Downsview)Vice President:
Ryan Baptiste (Huntsville)Janis Apilan (Downsview)
Recording Secretary:
Patricia Whitehead (Windsor)Financial Secretary:
Marie Derane (Ottawa Walkley)Treasurer:
Laurie O’Hara (London)Trustees (3 positions):
John Longley (Lindsay)Jon McCrea (Guelph)
Danielle Bartley (Pt. Union)
Guards (2 Positions)
Jerome Arboleda (Brampton)Jan Westerman (Oshawa)
Guide:
Rebecca Stewart (Mississauga)Ralph Benson (Lindsay)
Most of the elections have been declared “no contest” as the number of candidates does not exceed the number of positions. Candidates for those offices have been declared elected. The
positions of Vice President and Guide do require the members to vote to determine the election in those contests. Below you will find information from each candidate for those positions.VICE PRESIDENT ELECTION
Ryan Baptiste - Allow me to introduce myself, I am Ryan Baptiste. I am a DE4 out of the Huntsville office. I started with Serco in 2016, and had been involved with the Union since 2017. In that time I have completed two levels of Steward training, spent three years as a steward for the North region, was elected to the bargaining committee in 2019 to represent our membership. I have also been one of the respondees to the "ask" email since its inception. Eventually sitting on the executive committee as a recording secretary for the last term. I have spent time working in offices throughout the province including Clinton, Guelph, Orillia, Barrie, Huntsville, and North Bay. I have also attended all Union meetings except for one over the past 3 years. I am passionate about human rights, workers rights, and ensuring things are done in accordance with our collective agreement. I strive to make myself available for members when they have questions or concerns. I am currently an elected municipal councillor and sit on various committees and boards in my region. I've spent time on the management side of things, and on the Union side. I feel this position would afford me the opportunity to utilize all of my skills to their capacity and offer a unique insight. I am counting on your support this election, as my skills can only helps strengthen us as a local. Thanks for your supportJanis Apilan - I am running for the Vice President position because there are improvements within our Local that I think would be beneficial to all members. My experience as a Union Steward and as a member of the previous Collective Bargaining Committee has encouraged me to take an active role in strengthening our Local 9511 by empowering its members. The goal I have in mind is to improve communications within the Local and allow for easier access to information for our members. To start this change I have recently proposed and recieved approval for the creation of a Communications & Member Engagement Committee with the Executive Council.
Those whom I have had the privilege of training as a new CSA can attest to my tenacity in encouraging them to be well informed. I hope that I am fortunate enough to be chosen by you to foster this change in the role of Vice President. Thank you for your time.
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GUIDE ELECTION
Rebecca Stewart - Hi, my name is Rebecca Stewart. For those of you who don’t know me, I’ve been a CSA3 since 2013. I have worked at the Brampton, Orangeville, Kitchener and Guelph offices until the Mississauga one opened back in 2018. I’ve always enjoyed helping my fellow employees, both DEs and CSAs, by sharing knowledge and solving challenges together. I’ve
volunteered in the Social committee, Joint Health and Safety committee and I continue to assist our fellow members in various ways. I would be honoured to be elected for the position of Guide.Ralph Benson - My name is Ralph Benson and I'm running for the position of Guide on the Local's Executive Committee. Currently I work out of the Lindsay DTC as a DE3 and I've been with Drive Test for just under 9 years. At my previous employment, I was a Union steward for 18 years and spent the last 11 on the Executive. While my role was mostly collective bargaining, employer relations and grievance arbitration, I have a good working knowledge of most Union positions and Union processes. Since joining USW #9511 one thing that I have experienced is a genuine lack of communication between the Union Executive and the individual member. I think that you should be better kept advised of the decisions made on your behalf at the Local's meetings and how it is your money is being spent. I will make sure that better lines of communication are opened. I'd like to see a process where meeting agendas are posted well in advance of the meeting date and that afterward meeting minutes are always available to the members. While I understand it's difficult being inclusive considering the size of the province and the locations of the job sites it's pretty hard to feel involved or represented if you never hear what's going on. Put me in as Union Executive Guide and I'll do my best to get the information to you.
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The vote will be conducted by mail-in ballot, and ballots have already been sent. The package includes a ballot, a small plain envelope, and a pre-addressed, postage-paid return
envelope. Members are asked to indicate any selections they wish to make, place the ballot inside the small plain envelope, and then put the small plain envelope containing the ballot into the return envelope and mail it back. Sender information is on the return envelope and must be included for the ballot to be counted. Once verified, the plain envelope containing your ballot will be separated from the return envelope, and amassed with all the other plain envelopes before being opened. This maintains the secret ballot nature of the voting process.Ballots need to be returned so that they may be received by Monday,
April 29, 2024. The ballots will be counted on April 30, 2024.