April 9th, 2010

USW Week of Action

 The United Steelworkers will be at the City Center Mall this weekend on Saturday April 10th.  We will have a display set up to help provide information and awareness to the public regarding the strike in Sudbury, Ontario - Port Colborne, Ontario and Voisey Bay Newfoundland.

 This is part of what we will be doing to help our brothers and sisters to garner support for the fight that has lasted almost 9 months now against Vale Inco.

NOTE:

 We will also be handing out application forms to help start up a SOAR chapter here in Thompson.

What is SOAR?

SOAR is the United Steelworkers' way of proving that important work remains after retirement. Work that gives meaning to the word "active" in Steelworkers Organization of Active Retirees.

SOAR is an organization directly affiliated with the United Steelworkers. It keeps the ties that bind you to the union as strong as when you were a working member.

SOAR was established on May 3, 1985, by the Steelworkers' International Executive Board to address the escalating social, economic and political concerns of Steelworker retirees and their families. SOAR is open to all Steelworkers holding honourary United Steelworkers' retiree membership cards, their spouses, widows or widowers.

SOAR is composed of local chapters, district and provincial level units as determined by the union's executive board. Officers will be elected to two-year terms at SOAR conventions.

The purpose of SOAR is threefold:

• to better the communities in which you live;
• to advance the policies of the United Steelworkers;
• to engage in political and legislative action safeguarding and enhancing the economic security and general well being of all its members and older and retired persons.

Above all else, SOAR has been established to serve you and make you an active retiree.

Why SOAR?

Thousands of Steelworkers' retirees have said they want to continue to be actively involved with their union. Now the United Steelworkers has created a way for you to remain active through SOAR - a special associate membership organization for retirees and their spouses.

• You'll be inside the Union, not outside looking in.
• You'll know what is happening at the provincial and federal levels of government, and in the various government agencies that administer laws for retirees, and you'll know what's in the works for senior citizens long before others do.
• We'll advise you on where you or your local chapter can turn for provincial or federal assistance.
• Your voice, joined with thousands of other retirees, will have a thundering impact in places where decisions affecting retirees are made.
• Your concerns will also be raised at our union's district, national and international conferences.

In other words, we intend to make your voice and your concerns heard.

The possibilities are endless. None of us can afford to stand back and simply watch events unfold. SOAR will be a major force for justice and fellowship as it grows and expands. We urge you to join.

We will be providing more information as to the development of the Thompson SOAR chapter soon.