40
YEU 10TH TRIENNIAL CONVENTION 2023 Youth Director’s Report Jordan Laudon My name is Jordan Laudon, and I was acclaimed as the Youth Director on the Executive Board of the Yukon Employees’ Union in the fall of 2021. I joined the executive of the YEU to better understand the Yukon Employees Union, and to learn how to better represent my peers in my local chapter (Diamond Tooth Gertie’s, chapter Y018). I was elected Chief Shop Steward of local Y018 in 2017, and Vice President in 2019. I continue to serve as Vice President in my local to this day. Our executive shepherded Diamond Tooth Gertie’s through big successful years before COVID, the hard times during the pandemic, and helped usher in a major resurgence during the last two years in Dawson City. We re-established the defunct Joint Labour Management Meetings, as well as the Health & Safety Committee. With the support of my local executive, I have taken the lead in two separate contract negotiations with our employer, the Klondike Visitor’s Association. Under the leadership of our executive, we made material changes to the wage scales, sick leave, and protected employees unable to return to Dawson during the pandemic. In my capacity as a shop steward, and as V.P., I have sat in on countless disciplinary meetings and butted heads with management on several occasions. I have personally identified several unfair labour practices in my local that have been rectified with management over the last few years. When I was acclaimed as the YEU Youth Director, I was the only delegate in attendance who was eligible and willing to serve. The Youth Director’s position is reserved only for applicants 35 and under, traits which few convention delegates possess. The Yukon Employees Union has had difficulties engaging our younger members for years; a problem which continues to this day. I have aspired to make material changes to the union’s education, outreach, and bursary programs to encourage engagement among all membership, particularly younger Yukoners. In my capacity as the Youth Director of the YEU, I took chairmanship of the Education Subcommittee in the spring of 2022. As part of this role, I also assumed control of the bursary program for the duration of my term on the YEU executive. Prior to these metrics, the awarding of our bursaries had appeared largely arbitrary. I believe the YEU is better served by clear and specific guidelines under which to assess our bursary program. In consultation with the other members of the education committee, we set a fair and objective grading rubric for assessing bursary applicants in 2022 and 2023. The bursary program, which currently offers nine scholarships of $1000 per year, has not been updated in over thirty years. The priorities and financial needs of our community have developed in the interim. If we want to engage our membership and Yukoners at large, we must meet people where they are. I have proposed a substantial overhaul of our bursary program. Delegates will see in our triennial resolutions that I have proposed a vastly different vision of the bursary program for the future. The education committee is proposing a large increase in both the number of annual bursaries and the value of said bursary. As part of our proposal, we are seeking to engage with all Yukoners, particularly with members of our community who are most often marginalized. The YEU has an opportunity to engage and connect with our youngest members, and the bursary program is a golden opportunity to do so. I benefitted greatly from several scholarships and bursaries in both my undergraduate and graduate degrees. The Yukon Grant was the difference between finishing my graduate degree and being forced to delay my education. The budget for the bursary program is miniscule in the YEU’s total budget, but it is
41
an opportunity to support our most ambitious Yukoners, and to demonstrate the collective values of the YEU. For these reasons, I am advocating for a portion of our bursaries to be tied to specific marginalized groups. I will never forget the bursaries that allowed me to navigate my education. The Yukoners who benefit from our bursary program will be left with a profound impression of the YEU, as well. To engage our existing membership, however, continuing union education has been one of our most useful avenues. The education subcommittee has been engaging and advising the YEU staff on what type of information and education best serve the membership. Working closely with Lynne Pajot, the YEU’s education offer, we have seen substantial increases in membership engagement in Whitehorse and the communities via our zoom workshops around Yukon Government pension programs and benefits programs. We have endeavored to make these programs more frequent and advertised more frequently to serve our membership. We have also been developing programs specific to our many smaller communities, such as Pelly Crossing, Carmack’s, Watson Lake, Beaver Creek, Destruction Bay, Dawson City, Haines Junction, Carcross, and the many work camps spread between the communities. While the distance remains a limiting factor, continued engagement with members and local executives remains paramount. Community days in Watson Lake and Dawson City have been developed and executed in the 2023 season, with varying degrees of engagement. In my two years in this position, we have learned several lessons on how to engage and educate our members, and we continuously strive to perform more effectively for our members. The development of these programs has been the current focus of my work both as the YEU Education Committee Chair, and integral to my aspirations of the continued development of the YEU at large. It has been an honor serving this term; It is my hope that I continue to learn and grow alongside this union for many years to come.
Jordan Laudon