We had the opportunity to meet Dirk Linder, who represents Siemens Global Union Network, earlier this week.  Amongst the topics of discussion was union representation within Siemens companies across the globe, in particular the US.  With so-called Right to Work (for less) bills, unions are currently facing strong resistance to organizing in the US.  By networking with Siemens employees from both unionized and non-unionized shops, the hope is to raise awareness about the benefits of being unionized.  As a comparison, Siemens has 360 000 employees globally; of those employees, 120 000 work in Germany and the vast majority are unionized.  In the US, 60 000 employees work for Siemens, the vast majority of which are non-unionized.  If being unionized was so bad, why would Siemens tolerate this in Germany?  The company remains highly profitable, after all…

I’m very pleased to present to our members our latest Trustee and Auditor:  Daren Legault and Trina Swiednicki, respectively.  As many of you may know, Daren is a member of the Negotiation Committee and Trina is a former Auditor.  The Executive team welcomes them and looks forward to working together for a stronger Local Lodge 2468!