The Heart of the Local

There’s a knock at the door.

“Sorry to interrupt. I just wanted to come and say hello, since I saw you were here.”

It was Geoff Ryan. He happened to notice that Rose Touhey, Karl Lafrenière and Kenton Little, of Local 70130, were all huddled in a small office. After some friendly chitchat, Ryan adds:

“I just wanted to also say that I gave a bargaining update at the executive meeting, yesterday. I think the words that I used were ‘Karl, your Local is doing a phenomenal job in supporting the bargaining team. We all see it and we all really appreciate it.’”

“We wish Locals across Canada were as active as yours.”

Ryan isn’t alone in his opinion. During Local 70130’s 2013 AGM, Regional Executive Vice-President Larry Rousseau also took some time to praise the Local. At the time, Rousseau said he often uses that Local as a model for others to emulate.

“I continue to use them as an example of what Locals should look like and how involved and committed they should be – in the workplace as well as outside the workplace,” said Rousseau, in a recent telephone interview.

Rousseau admits that this Local faced an uphill battle from its creation. He recalled his first site visit, when Pɑssport Canada first moved its operations to the outskirts of Gatineau. “This is going to be a huge mess,” he thought.“It was a Local with some really big challenges. But against all expectations, things really started to change.” Local 70130 was born in 2008, after it split off from another Local, which represented members at the then-named Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. Our union’s national executive had endorsed the creation of a Passport Local in the National Capital Region; a subsequent vote of the membership made the split official. Local President Rose Touhey explained that, before the split, there was little union presence on the passport side.

“At the time, the local president was doing it all by herself. You can imagine, for 2,500 people, how much work she had,” she said.

Touhey had been involved with her union in her previous job. It was when she saw a manager yell at one of her co-workers in her new workplace that she first noticed the need for a strong union presence.

Over the next few years, she would go from doing “all kinds of jobs in the union” to becoming local president.

With the help of others, she pretty much had to build a Local from scratch; there were a lot of issues to resolve. Plus, they had to deal with an employer who wasn’t used to having union presence in the workplace.

“We did have to struggle a bit to get going. At first, management wasn’t very receptive to us,” said Touhey.

“We filed a lot of grievances… a lot.”

It was around that time that a local team started to solidify. Isabelle Beaudoin, currently one of the Local’s vice-presidents, had just put her name forward, offering to help the Local. Eager to learn the ropes, she enrolled in quite a few courses, including the PSAC’s Union Development Program.

It was 2008; Beaudoin’s regional vice-president, Louise Patrice, was seeing great potential in this rookie union volunteer. Before Beaudoin left for the Union Development Program, Patrice told her, “you’ll see; you’re going to become a great union leader.”

“It’s true; I told her it would change her life,” said Patrice, who added that she was immediately struck by the eager youth members at Local 70130.

Recalling the first time she met Isabelle Beaudoin and Karl Lafrenière, Patrice said she saw stars in their eyes.

“I spotted them right away. I said: ‘we need to invest in those two youths. They’re incredible.’”

According to Patrice, the students soon surpassed their teacher. Her newest recruits were hungry for more responsibilities – for more files to be delegated to them.

“I’m very proud of them. I consider myself their godmother.”

It was Patrice who pushed Karl Lafrenière to run for the position of assistant regional vice-president in 2009; two conventions later, he became vice-president of the region. But back in the late 2000s, Lafrenière was heavily involved at the local level – part of an industrious trio. Working together, Karl, Isabelle and Rose started to make some significant breakthroughs in the workplace.

“They were a young gang,” said Patrice. “The talent was there. They had the enthusiasm. All they needed was some recognition and encouragement.”

The proof was in the pudding.

It took a tremendous amount of work, but management eventually came to see the union differently. One section’s director asked the Local to come see her in order to find solutions informally, before taking the grievance route. That process proved so successful that other directors started adopting it.

Pɑssport Canada went on to present an award to that director, for ushering in a new era in labour relations. For her part, Touhey was also verbally recognized for her hard work by the CEO and her director.

Likewise, Touhey’s Local can’t say enough about her hard contributions, which built a path for management and the union to work cooperatively.

“It’s because of Rose and because of the Local,” declared Karl Lafrenière.

It’s not to say that there aren’t problems anymore; but this approach has dramatically improved things in the workplace. It’s also led to many members having a positive opinion of the union and wanting to get involved.

“Many Locals have a hard time recruiting people; we have always have had a lot of interest. We try to make sure that everyone can participate in their own way,” said Touhey.

She says she often get requests that range from just a ‘hey, I want to help’ to a ‘if you need somebody, let me know’.

“That’s how we usually get people: people approach us.”

That’s sort of what happened with Jay Lamothe, one of the Local executive’s ambitious youth members.

“I used to carpool with Isabelle Beaudoin; she’s my neighbour,” explained Lamothe. “She would talk to me about everything the union did – not just inside of work, but outside. It really got me interested.”

His first task was handing out PSAC bracelets. As his colleagues started to identify him more with the union, Lamothe got more involved. He’s currently one of the other local vice-presidents.Members of the local executive have also labeled him as their creative director. He’s designed stickers and posters. The Local also credits him with coming up with the idea for the team jerseys that made such a splash during the 2014 convention (though he humbly credits his fellow vice-president, Kenton Little, for “putting the wheels in motion for it to actually happen”). “I’m a proud member of my Local,” declared Lamothe. “We’re such a strong team; what better way to identify ourselves than a jersey?” “I really wanted us to stand out.” Unbeknownst to many, those jerseys were also the precursor to Beauchamp Dabear, the UNE’s littlest member. During convention, Dabear made appearances everywhere, sporting his Local 70130 jersey. He sort of became the unofficial convention mascot; he even had his own observer badge! Given his charm and popularity, most people would never guess that Beauchamp materialized from a series of random events. “The manufacturer printed us a proof – a mini-version of the jersey,” explained Kenton Little. The proof consisted of two crudely-cut individual panels: one for the front and one for the back. “I thought that we should get it sewn together,” said Little. “My mom has a sewing machine and she could turn that into a t-shirt.” “And it was free!” exclaimed Rose Touhey, with striking excitement. And so, mom is recruited. A few days later, Little returns to find that mom has placed the t-shirt on a teddy bear. As for Beauchamp’s name? It’s simply the default name that the manufacturer uses when proofing jerseys (it’s always a good idea to use especially long names for proofing!). Despite having his own Facebook group showcasing all of Beauchamp’s adventures (including trips to Florida and Cuba!), the stardom doesn’t seem to have gone to his little furry head. Recently, he even accompanied Karl Lafrenière’s eight-year-old daughter to school. Rumour has it he might also have a body-double. “People have fun with Beauchamp,” mused Touhey. “Doug really likes him! He made Karl bring him to the national executive today.” Indeed, Beauchamp was introduced as a special guest, that day, by the national president himself. For Kenton Little, the man behind Beauchamp DaBear, getting involved in the union wasn’t something he had envisioned when he first joined Pɑssport Canada. “I had never experienced a workplace with a union; I had no idea what that was all about,” said Little.

Then he got introduced to Rose Touhey and members of his Local; he decided to get more involved with the union. Eventually, he attended a regional seminar, where he developed a passion for grievance-handling.

“Kenton has a lot of initiative,” said Touhey. “What I love about Kenton is that I can say ‘here’s this, can you do it?’ and he always says ‘yes’. He’s not afraid to just go and do it. Kenton’s a self-driven go-getter.”

“Those are my nice words for the day,” she added, jokingly.

“Is this being recorded?” asked Little. (it was) “Can you send that to me? I want to put that on my union resume.”

Speaking of union resumes, Little had shown up to the interview with a document in hand: a long list of cool stuff that Local 70130 had done over the years. The kind of outside-the-box thinking that led to Beauchamp DaBear is evident in many of the Local’s other initiatives. For example, they designed stickers identifying the Local’s contact information; they affixed these to the very popular PSAC calendars to ensure that their members knew how to reach them. Membership cards are incorporated into every activity. A few years ago, they invited everyone for cake and held a draw for an iPad. To be included in the draw, members had to sign a union card.

“At that time, we already had a low Rand number. But after that draw, we must have signed up another 50 Rands,” explained Touhey.

A quick scan of the latest Rand report shows that Local 70130 has an especially low Rand percentage; quite a feat for a Local that has close to 900 members!

During that same cake party, they also decided to promote their Facebook group. Not only did they create a flyer, but members found those flyers stapled to every paper plate!

“You don’t have a choice; you’re going to see it whether you like it or not,” quipped Touhey.

And the local president isn’t shy about sending her members out for photo ops either, especially when the media is around.

“It’s become a bit of a joke; we give the flag to Darrell Klerks (the local treasurer) and say ‘go get yourself on camera.’ Once, Larry was on camera; we sent a bunch of members with the flag to stand behind him.”

“We try to have fun and make it silly,” added Touhey. “But it’s good, right? Because, then we promote it to our members; it goes on the Facebook group and people see that we’re doing things and are active.”

And the Local’s activism extends far beyond the workplace. Recently, they participated in a food drive for the Ottawa and Gatineau food banks; they even designed a poster! A few weeks before that, they collected a ton of warm articles of clothing, as part of a mitten-drive organized by Marc Blanchard, a TC bargaining team member who was struck by the large number of homeless people in Ottawa.

“Isabelle Beaudoin had this brilliant idea to go to second-hand stores,” explained Karl Lafrenière. “They went to one close to work; for $10 they got a huge bag. They bought everything.”“Diane McDougall went to her manager, and the manager helped,” added Touhey. “They went around the building and asked people to bring in stuff the next day. We ended up getting other stuff from members of the Facebook group.” McDougall, the Local’s new human rights representative, is the woman behind the UNE’s popular Be Like Diane campaign – a campaign that asked our members to emulate Diane by interacting with our Facebook content. McDougall has been a very active member since 2013; it’s only recently that she decided to run for a Local executive position.

“I love that woman like crazy,” said Touhey. “She just gives me happy vibes whenever I think about her.”

Likewise, members of Local 70130 are crazy about their Local President. Late last January, they got together to really show her how much they really care.

“Rose is always the one thanking and congratulating people on Facebook,” explained Karl Lafrenière. “But at some point, I said to people, ‘you know what, guys? She’s thanking everybody. She likes everybody. She inspires everybody. But who is saying thanks to her?’”

“We should say a big thank-you to Rose. She’s working hard… she’s like the heart of the Local.”

As Lafrenière tells it, Touhey quickly moved up to the position local president as different people left. While some people join a local with the goal of eventually becoming president, Touhey got thrust into the position and never stopped working diligently on behalf of the membership.

He says he couldn’t imagine a better local president.

So the Local immediately started looking into getting her an award. While Kenton Little wasn’t around to hear it this time, he got more praise, this time from Karl Lafrenière, for being the go-to guy (“Kenton has connections here and there; he’s fast with those things” – yes, that’s recorded too!).

For her part, Dianne Brown, the Local’s health and safety rep, wrote the message that was inscribed on the award. In recognition of your Reliability, Organization, Strengths and Endurance demonstrated in your protection of members’ rights. The capitalized qualities spell out Rose. After luring Rose to one of her favourite restaurants, members of the Local presented her with the award. Lafrenière said she wasn’t expecting a surprise at all. “She needed to be recognized.” He says that his “freakin’ awesome” local president is constantly working on behalf of the membership. After putting in a long day at work, she goes home to update the Facebook group to keep the members informed. According to Lafrenière, Touhey considers it a duty.

“If you think about it, that’s probably why our Local is so recognized,” he explained. “She’s everywhere and she doesn’t stop. She makes sure that everything that needs to be seen is seen. It’s a lot of work.”

“If I sit down on the couch after I get home from work, I’m crashing! But it won’t be long before I hear my Blackberry going ‘PING! PING!’”

It’s usually Rose, asking for some translation help with the Facebook group. The Local is very focused on making sure its messages are equally accessible to its Anglophone and Francophone members.

“We’re working together – we’re all putting in some degree of energy,” said Lafrenière. “But, I’m translating messages that she’s already spent quite a bit of time crafting. And she’s done that in between getting home, getting dinner started, getting her kids to Jiu-Jitsu…. She never stops.”In the middle of all of that, Lafrenière is receiving – PING! PING! – translation requests. “Her determination is unbelievable.” But even though it’s a lot of work, he says Touhey has a knack for engaging people and making the work fun. While there are so many members actively taking part in the Local’s vitality, he contends that Touhey is a powerful driving force behind the Local’s success. “There aren’t enough words to say how awesome she is.”

 

We’ve taken the liberty of shamelessly stealing a few great pics from Local 70130’s Facebook page; you can catch these and others on our Flickr account. If you’d like to echo some of the kudos found in this article, we encourage you to leave a comment below!