Last weekend, Krystle Harvey, a member of Local 00383 in Sturgeon Falls, Ontario, attended what could be her last union event with the PSAC. Harvey just landed a new job outside Statistics Canada, which means, in addition to saying goodbye to her great co-workers and a job that she really liked, she also has to say goodbye to the union.
“I’m going to miss the union the most because I met so many amazing people and got to do so many amazing things,” she said.
After the training session was over, Harvey took to Facebook and called on her co-workers to get involved. Her status update read in part: “I urge all my stats co-workers to become more involved in your union! Because if you won’t fight for your rights then who will?”
Harvey, a 29-year-old employee at Statistical Survey Operations, admits she didn’t always think unions were so great. In a previous workplace, her main experience with her union was seeing it protect individuals who didn’t really deserve to be protected.
But luckily for us, after getting a job at Stats, Harvey got involved with our union and her opinion quickly changed. She currently holds the position of secretary in her Local. Her involvement, she admits, was a bit of an accident. At the behest of one of her friends, Harvey signed up for a course on political and social activism.
“One of my friends said ‘come, it’ll be so much fun – we’ll have a great weekend,’” recalled Harvey. “And… my friend didn’t actually end up going.”
Nonetheless, Harvey spent the weekend learning more about the union and getting to know members of her local executive.
“It got me a lot more involved – and it got me wanting to get me more involved with this particular union.”
It should be noted that Statistical Survey Operations has a number of longstanding issues that still need to be addressed. Our members hope that this round of bargaining will lead to a much fairer workplace. Harvey believes that becoming aware of these issues helped fuel her union activism.
“I didn’t really know about the issues before I got involved. Once I got involved, I started seeing all of these issues and wanting something to be done about it.”
Last weekend’s training session allowed 11 participants to talk about these issues. Despite the training being open to all PSAC members from the North Bay and Sudbury area, the only members who showed up were from Harvey’s Local.
One member who attended felt it was a pretty sad turnout, but Harvey doesn’t quite see it that way.
“Of all the people in North Bay, of all the Locals – we were the only ones who showed up,” she said. “I think that says a lot about our Local and how involved we are – and how united we are.”
Harvey’s new job outside Stats Canada is a management position. She jokingly admits that she probably won’t be as free to praise unions.
“But I still absolutely believe in unions, regardless of where I’m going and whom I’ll be working with,” she added.
In fact, Harvey is making sure her enthusiasm for the union lives on after she’s gone. In addition to urging her co-workers to get involved, Harvey is compelling her older brother Trevor, who also works at Stats, to get involved in the union.
“I told him, ‘Trevor, my legacy has to live on; so you need to become more involved.’”
Join us in wishing Krystle the best of luck in her new career – and Trevor the best of luck in his union involvement! Leave a comment below!