Dear Brothers and Sisters:


What an incredible, action-packed year we’ve had!

In terms of union affairs, your business agents were engaged on all fronts in 2011, negotiating several collective agreement renewals, including with CN, Purolator and Molson, to name just a few.

Teamsters was also heavily engaged in the community, working with many different charities to support and ease the suffering of thousands of Canadians everywhere.

Thanks to the dedicated work of our team across Canada, our union was more present and influential in Ottawa than ever before. We lobbied the government on a wide variety of topics such as the health and safety of rail workers and the protection of pension plans. Our common sense approach seemed to strike a chord with federal politicians, who listened closely to what we had to say.

Teamsters Canada also trained hundreds of delegates to help them face increasingly complex labour relations challenges.

Our communications campaigns caught the attention of our members. We launched new Web sites, and our Facebook page drew an unprecedented number of visits and comments.

As a result of the economic uncertainty, hundreds of workers joined our union in 2011. It seems that people feel, more than ever before, that unions are relevant and useful.

Record-breaking profits for banks

We recently learned that banks and banking institutions rake in almost $6 billion in administrative fees every year. These outrageous fees, which helped them earn a whopping $23 billion in profits this year, are increasingly making Canadians feel that this money is being made on their backs. For example, did you know that banks charge you fees if your account balance falls below $1,000 or $2,000?


This year, we also opposed Ottawa’s decision to reduce business taxes from 16.5% to 15% effective January 2012 because this will deprive the federal government of billions of dollars that could be used to create or preserve jobs or be invested in sorely needed infrastructure work.

This hidden subsidy to corporate executive salaries is not only unacceptable, it has a direct impact on your finances. After all, it’s our taxes that pay for bridge and road construction, we’re the ones who’ll feel the pinch of higher property taxes and we’re the ones who will see our buying power shrink. Meanwhile the big corporations taxes are going down!

Citizens are mobilizing

Fed up with banks, citizens rallied together this year to protest that they’ve had enough. The best example is the Occupy Wall Street movement, which has spread to many large cities and is making a lot of noise. And then there is Molly Katchpole. Her Change.org petition helped force the US banking industry into reversing its policy over debit card fees. Even public figures and major financiers have come out in favour of a more equitable distribution of wealth.

The young have been criticized for being apathetic to social issues. Well, they’ve just proven us wrong in a big way. Not only is this new-style social movement taking different forms (Internet and in the streets), it is continuing to spread and will force politicians and industry leaders to reconsider our current social model.

Nothing is possible without you

For all these reasons, 2011 will be a year that will go down in history. People clenched their fists, unions rebuffed right-wing attacks, and we saw that anything is possible if we stand strong.

The slogan “Stronger together” is the driving force behind labour’s involvement and the quest to protect the middle class, but none of this would be possible without all of you, our 125,000 members from coast to coast.

In closing, I wish you, your family and friends a merry Christmas and a fabulous New Year.

Solidarily,


Robert Bouvier
President
Teamsters Canada