IUOE News - Fall 2011

Younger members
offer their ideas for
increasing membership
By Leslie Dyson
Members under the age of 30 were invited to come to
the union hall in Burnaby in June to talk about strategies
to increase membership in the Local Union.
Working in small groups, they said there are many
persuasive reasons for people to want to become members
of Local 115. They said that membership:
• opens the door to a variety of trades, projects
and employers
• leads to good wages with regular pay increases
• means more attention to job safety
• gives access to a dispatch system
• comes with apprenticeships and upgrading
training
• brings better working conditions, representation,
mentoring and dignity
• leads to camaraderie with other members
They were supportive of the decision to create a series
of promotional
videos. They said
the videos should
stress exciting
careers, BIG
equipment and
pride in the beautiful
things that
are built by operating
engineers.
“Go back to
how fun it was and
is to build and create
things,” wrote
Doug Suffield.
“Show that this
is a complex,
problem-solving,
Taping for a series of promotional videos
took place over the summer.
think-on-yourfeet
career.”
Younger members of the Local Union were invited to come to
a meeting in June to talk about ways to connect with members
and help develop strategies to increase membership.
They recommended a good soundtrack and showing
attractive people.
Taping for the videos began shortly after with visits
to the training site and several OE contractor companies.
The Local Union thanks everyone who came out for
the meeting and especially everyone who’s participated
in the production of the videos.
If you want to be among the first to see what the
videos will look like, come to the general membership
meeting at the OE hall at 9:30 a.m. on Sept. 17.
September 2011 News 11