I have always been a working fool: part of my Dutch heritage I guess. In 1965 and between 1968-1981, I worked for private industry and did a bit of everything.
I have suckered and picked tobacco in Delhi,Ont., picked apples in Osoyoos, B.C., emptied boxcars of oil drums and frozen sides of beef in Churchill, Man., rode horseback on a three day cattle drive in Barriere, B.C., loaded flatbeds with tons and tons of anchor chain in Vancouver, B.C., jump started and drove off with seized (repossessed) logging equipment in Northern B.C., baled hay in three provinces, and the list goes on. In 1981 I started working for the Federal Government of Canada.
I was appointed to my first government position with Revenue Canada in Vancouver. I was promoted from the position of income tax collector to that of collections investigation officer in 1983 and transferred to Ottawa in 1985 after promotion to the position of training and development officer. I left Revenue Canada to join the
Immigration Refugee Board in Calgary in 1988 as one of the first 35 Counsel to the Board.
It was at the Calgary IRB where I first became a union activist with the Canada Employment Immigration Union for which I served as Shop Steward and local Vice-President point of service. My unfair labour practices complaint against management of the Calgary office resulted in my transfer to Montreal IRB in 1992. There I was first elected local President, then National Coordinator and finally as the first National Vice-President for all members of CEIU employed by the IRB across Canada.
During this period, I learned of the trade union history of my grand-father who was a member of the Sociaal Democratische Arbeiders Partij (Social Democratic Labourers Party) and an officer of the Dutch railway machinist union, the Nederlandse Vakbond Van Spoorwegen Personeel, now known as the FNV Bondgenoten . During the Nazi occupation of Holland, he took part in the 1941 February Strike , the 1943 April-May Strike and the 1944 strike in support of the Allies Operation Market Garden.
I also learned that my mother had been an employee of the largest Dutch office-workers union, Algemene Bond Mercurius, before emmigrating to Canada. It must be in my blood!
Over the years, I have Chaired CEIU's By-Laws Committee, Co-Chaired the Convention By-Laws Committee and served on the Finance Committee, National Immigration Committee, CEIU-OPEIU Collective Bargaining Committee and the Structure Committee. While at the Immigration Refugee Board and in my capacity as the National Vice-President CEIU-IRB, I Co-Chaired the National Labour Management Consultation Committee, the Policy Safety and Health Committee and was the "union" member of the Advisory Committee on Employment Equity as well as various other working groups. In 2002 I was awarded the Queen's Golden Jubilee medal for my work on employment equity at the IRB.
On November 21, 2002 I resigned my position as NVP CEIU-IRB to accept a staff position as the National Resource Officer at CEIU's Headquarters in Ottawa.
Since joining CEIU as a staffer, I have become the President of Local 225 of the Canadian Office and Professional Employees Union (COPE), the union to which employees of CEIU belong.
I invite you to explore the PSAC and CEIU Home pages for an excellent overview of collective bargaining, pay equity, labour relations and other issues faced by Canadian government workers.
I also invite you to visit the COPE Local 225 home page for more information on my union.
Canada Employment and Immigration Union
A Component of the Public Service Alliance of Canada representing 17,500 members who work for the Government of Canada at either the Immigration Refugee Board, Citizenship and Immigration Canada or Human Resources Development Canada.
Public Service Alliance of Canada
PSAC Locals that are grouped under a federal government department, like the Immigration Refugee Board, form a Component and together, these Components form the Alliance. The Alliance is comprised of 17 such Components, the Canada Employment Immigration Union being one of them.
Canadian Office Professional Employees union Local 225
COPE, formerly known as OPEIU before the June 2004 split off of Canadian locals.
This Union Ring site is owned by Robin Kers, National Resource Officer, CEIU.
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