Report on DL140 Convention, Victoria, BC (John Vincent)

PHOTO: New Delegates at the DL140 Convention

By John Vincent
District 140 and Local Lodge 16 Communicator

Transportation District 140 Convention 2019 was held in Victoria, BC located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island. Victoria is also the capital of British Columbia and it’s also known as the “The Garden City”. The convention was hosted at The Hotel Grand Pacific.

Special thanks to both Local lodge 764 and Local lodge 16 for being part of the host committee. A major “thank you” for all hard work organizing to setup the convention. We had 52 delegates and 30 guests this year.

We had a wide array of speakers throughout the two days with a packed agenda dealing with many topics such as the changing world of technology, automation, political action, communication and more. As a whole, we have many new sisters and brothers participating this year. It’s a major shift in participation and more involvement within Transportation District 140. Special thanks to Stan Pickthall, IAMAW Canadian General Vice President for joining us and sharing wisdom on the current state and the future of the union.

As the Transportation District 140 Communicator, I owe special thanks to past communicators who had setup great communication channels such as website, Facebook and Twitter to reach out to the members of this large cross-country district. Without the past setup I wouldn’t, and couldn’t, succeed. Special thanks to this framework previously set up by the previous communicator of District Lodge 140, Vincent Constantineau and guidance of Frank Saptel, Canadian Communications Representative.

Ultimately, with communications, face-to-face still ranks as the best way to move forward. It has been the old-school method yet remains the best. Without the face-to-face engagement, communication as a whole loses the human touch. It takes all of us to communicate with each other and share the knowledge and wisdom learned at the convention. Organizing has been a key part of success for Transportation District 140. Without the help Organizers we, as a district, wouldn’t have grown to this extent.

Overall, this was a great convention. Thank you for giving me an opportunity as District 140 Communicator to reach out to members of not only this District 140, but the IAM as a whole with this report. Together we can all make the difference to our members and labour movement. Solidarity!  “We are the IAM”!

 

John Vincent
jvincent@iamaw16.ca
LL 16 Twitter @iamll16