Business Manager Update August 2026

Members of IBEW 2228,

Here is an update before the summer is done.

The member list

Since the last update I have worked heavily on the member list. This work is very important for a number of reasons. From a high level, being a local where some members actually live closer to the North Pole than their Union hall (quasi slogan I am trying to adopt for convention), its hard to know who exactly our members are and this makes it only that much more important that we try. Further to that, with an accurate member list we can start filling in the many blanks that we have. Mailing addresses are paramount as they are how we mail out ballots for elections but I am committed (stubbornly so) to get the email address of all members so that we can level up our communication with our members. Objectively, I know our website is not visited often, so a lot of members will not see this message posted there. Discord helps with that. I know this message will get wider visibility there than it ever would on the website, but it is still not a complete fix, since not every member is on it either. That is exactly why getting your email address matters so much. It is the one way we can be sure to actually reach you directly, so as we go through the (accurate) list to make sure mailing addresses are correct, we are also going to be asking members for their email address, for anyone willing and happy to provide it.

Fewer members, stronger finances

I should bring attention to another reason however as to why our member list needed to be updated and that is because many members were missing from the list and we also had many inactive members on the list. Our final tally will actually leave us with hundreds of members less on our list. So while it may seem counter intuitive that having several hundred less official members is good for our union, I can assure you that from a fiscal standpoint it is excellent. The inactive members were not paying dues but we were obligated to pay a $24 per capita per month to the IBEW international for every member on the list. This will result in quite a decent cost savings for the local and I really want to thank everybody who worked on this.

Operating procedures

This leads me directly to another initiative that I fairly obviously now need to embark upon, I will draft Operating Procedure documents for the operations of the Business office. Aside from fixing this today, I will establish (documented) procedures to ensure we are never in this situation again. Further to that, there will probably be many other areas of the operations of the business office that will benefit from written, documented procedures and I believe that the one for the member list will just be the first procedure of what I plan to make a central book of.

Okay, so aside from the fact that over the next 6 months to a year that a number of you are likely to be contacted by the business Office confirming your contact information, I have a few other things I want to talk about.

Discord Terms and Conditions finalized

The Terms and Conditions have been finalized for the Discord server. I really need to thank those that worked on this as many people have contributed. As I write this message, they have been sent out to translation and once they are returned, the local will start the process of taking over administration of this server. Moderators will be assigned and acceptance of these Terms and Conditions will be mandatory for all users as of a certain date, but afterwards we will be posting links to this server on our website and promoting it among our membership. As mentioned previously, and as I suspect more of you are reading this from Discord than the website, I think this will be a really great tool to really expand not only connections from our membership to our Union leadership but also amongst members themselves. As great as this has been so far, I have hopes that this remains just the beginning.

Now, shifting gears slightly, I do want to get this message out rather than keep it in a perpetual state of draft…

Treasury Board (TBS) bargaining

As was mentioned earlier, TBS National steering committee has vetted our proposals and we have a date in early October where the Negotiating team will meet virtually to finalize the list of proposals that we will be exchanging with Treasury Board negotiator on Oct 14th. After these proposals are exchanged, they will be posted on our website.

Nav Canada

On the Nav Canada side there are a few things I would mention. One issue on the table right now is the installation of cameras in our facilities. To be clear up front, cameras should never be installed in break areas, and please let me know if anybody is aware that this has happened. Their use everywhere else is an ongoing conversation and I will make sure that they are very clear to everybody what their policy is on who actually gets access to any footage that is ultimately recorded. We also have our first grievance meeting for the Tech 1 classification merger coming up soon, and I am eager for what could be an invigorating challenge. And on top of all that, leave and OSI discussions remain a bit of a never-ending back and forth, but the discussions do continue.

Nasittuq wage arbitration concluded

As was posted earlier we are happy the wage arbitration for Nasittuq is now concluded with meaningful gains for our members. We are still seeking clarification about a few things and I will communicate the information to Stewards as they emerge but one thing I will confirm (to the best of my ability) is that Nasittuq is working hard to issue the backpay and reflect the new salaries on our member’s paystubs and that this should (hopefully) be done soon. I also had a meeting with Nasittuq Stewards and I want to thank all of those who attended, those who tried and followed up and I want to also apologize for any that were inadvertently not invited. If any member wants an update, please reach out and I will find a way of making sure you are brought up to speed on everything.

Reach out to me directly

I am also working on many other issues with many employers. And of course assisting our stewards and reps in supporting our members on individual or collective issues. The public facing side of our website is not always the ideal place to mention everything however as our employers do monitor this and truly I have a busy enough schedule without needing to also answer their concerns about my postings. I say this to encourage members to reach out to me directly about any issue or for a pulse check or high level list of issues or initiatives with your particular employer. I think it will be helpful when we have a secure platform with forums for individual member groups … 🙂

Thanks
In Solidarity
Jeff Wendt
IBEW 2228 Business Manager