Convention delegates renew AUPE, prepare for successful future
EDMONTON – Delegates to the 29th annual convention of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees last week used the event to renew their union and prepare it for future successes, newly re-elected AUPE President Dan MacLennan said today.
Convention ended at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 22, with the swearing in of AUPE’s new Executive Committee – made up of MacLennan, now in his historic fifth term as president, Executive Secretary-Treasurer Bill Dechant, and Vice-Presidents Krista Koroluk, Jason Heistad, Garnett Robinson and Brad Smith.
“With a large field of excellent candidates for both the Secretary-Treasurer and Vice-Presidential positions, convention delegates made selections that show the breadth of talent and dynamic nature of AUPE,” MacLennan observed today.
“I was particularly pleased to see that delegates chose a vice-president from each of the union’s four sectors, and that so many of our new Executive Committee are younger members,” he said.
MacLennan noted that three of AUPE’s new vice-presidents are under 40 and that one is under 30. “Opponents of the union movement like to portray it as aging and tired. Clearly that is not the case with AUPE. Our convention delegates elected a good mix of experienced leaders like Bill Dechant and Garnett Robinson, and enthusiastic young leaders like Krista Koroluk, Jason Heistad and Brad Smith.
“With leadership like this, it’s clear that AUPE is in very a good position to continue its recent successes well into the future,” MacLennan said.
Members of the new Executive Committee have been elected to two-year terms.
MacLennan, a Correctional Officer on leave from his job at the Calgary Correctional Centre received 551 votes to his sole opponent’s 69 on the morning of Friday, Oct. 21.
Late Friday afternoon, Dechant was elected as AUPE’s Executive Secretary-Treasurer. The veteran Local 004 member from Edmonton was elected from a field of seven candidates in voting that went on for six ballots throughout the afternoon.
Just after 6 p.m. Friday, Koroluk, Heistad, Robinson and Smith were declared vice-presidents from a field of eight candidates.
Koroluk is a health-sector home-care worker from Lamont, a member of Local 043/008. She was elected to her second term as VP.
Heistad, from the union’s Education Sector, is an employee Olds College who has served as Chair of Local 071/002. He is also a member of the Innisfail Town Council.
Robinson, a Local 006 member in AUPE’s Government Service Sector, works at the Lac La Biche Youth Centre. He was also elected to his second term.
Smith, of Edmonton, is a member of the union’s Boards, Agencies and Local Governments Sector, employed by the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission in St. Albert. He has served as Treasurer of Local 050.
While the focus of the 2005 convention was the Executive Committee elections and important union business, the year’s largest union event was also the time for honouring the service of members of the AUPE community.
Friday afternoon, delegates honoured nine new Life Members — Dave Borgstrom of Local 002, Carol Drennan of Local 001, Eva Luczynska of Local 002, Ed Mardell of Local 002, Reynold Morgan of Local 095, Michael Rennich of Local 003, Peggy Steward of Local 071, Wendy Webber of Local 009 and Heather Yuhasz of Local 001.
Members of Local 095 also established a $500 educational bursary in Morgan’s name for each of the next five years. “You have treated me as a brother and I will continue to be your brother,” said Morgan, who has accepted a position as a Membership Services Officer in AUPE’s Calgary Regional Office.
Biographical material on each of the new Life Members can be found by clicking on AUPE Publications on the Home Page and following the links to Eyeopener, a newsletter published daily during convention.
Ed Mardell, retiring from his post as AUPE’s long-time Executive Secretary-Treasurer after a year of health challenges, was the subject of a moving tribute on Saturday morning.
Former AUPE president Carol Anne Dean described Mardell as “the epitome of what a real trade union brother is and should be.”
She recalled Mardell’s steady hand and calm demeanor during the 1990s, when AUPE was under assault by declining membership and government cutbacks. “His efforts brought a rekindling of faith in ourselves and our union,” she said. “He was kind and gentle, and he was always part of the solution.”
She urged Mardell in retirement after 28 years of service to AUPE to “apply the same tireless energy you have shown this union” to recovering his health.
More than one speaker broke into tears describing Mardell’s influence during the crisis of the 1990s.
For his part, Mardell spoke of his pride in being part of AUPE, and thanked union members, staff and his family for their support. He particularly thanked “the nurses, AUPE members, who have looked after me over the past few months. You’re really doing a great job.”
Incoming AUPE Executive Secretary-Treasurer Dechant announced that a boardroom at union headquarters in Edmonton would be named the Ed Mardell Room.
Also on Saturday, delegates sadly remembered AUPE lawyer G. Brent Gawne, who died suddenly this year on July 11. Gawne, who was 52, had served AUPE and the union’s members for more than 20 years.
“Brent was a wise counsel, a person who left us far too early,” AUPE Senior Manager Pam Kirkwood told delegates.
Kirkwood announced the creation of the annual $2,500 G. Brent Gawne Memorial Scholarship, which will be open to all post-secondary students in Alberta, funded by AUPE in Gawne’s memory.
A record 646 delegates were accredited to attend this year’s annual convention, the largest in the union’s history. Each day of the convention, total attendance exceeded 800 delegates, life members, observers, guests and staff.
Numerous Alberta politicians attended the event, including Liberal Leader Kevin Taft, New democrat Leader Brian Mason, Tory Infrastructure Minister Lyle Oberg, New Democrat MLAs David Eggan and Ray Martin, and Liberal MLAs Dan Backs, Hugh MacDonald and Rick Miller.
On Friday, convention was addressed by Canadian Auto Workers union National President Buzz Hargrove, one of Canada’s best-known labour leaders.
“If the rest of the labour movement had your union’s spirit and energy,” Hargrove told delegates, “we could change this country!”
Hargrove praised AUPE’s growth and Dan MacLennan’s leadership, and called on the Alberta government to “do something for the working people of this province.”
Photo: AUPE’s new Executive posed for a photo at the union’s 29th Convention. Left to right are: Bill Dechant, Secretary-Treasurer; Garnett Robinson, VP, Dan MacLennan, President; Krista Koroluk, VP, Jason Heistad, VP; and Brad Smith, VP.