ALBERTA YOUTH WORKER KNOWS ALL ABOUT WORK!

CUPE Alberta Young Worker:  Rob Peebles

My first report for the position of CUPE Alberta Young Worker:

I was born January 17^th 1985 in Trail BC. At one year old my family moved to Whistler BC where I lived until I was 21. 

I was born with a hole in my heart and went through open-heart surgery when I was 5. As a child before the surgery my blood would often get too oxygenated and I would pass out or not get enough oxygen and get very cold and pass out. I was flown to children’s hospital a few days after birth and I attribute that to why I love flying but fall asleep right immediately upon sitting down and buckling up. Due to the surgery I had a few learning disabilities and was generally behind the rest of the kids my age.

As a child I had three passions, fishing, golfing, and building tree forts. I would often spend my free time fishing with my little sister at one of the local lakes called Nita Lake, Alpha Lake, and Lost Lake. My father knew the head pro of the Whistler Golf Course and would allow my dad, little sister and myself to go play three holes of golf a few nights a week. As I recall, we had up to 9 tree forts; local kids banded together build to tree forts as high as ours -- none of which would pass building code.

For my 10^th birthday my dad bought my sister and myself a driving range pass and we would often hit up to 36 buckets of golf balls a day. We would often talk about our dreams of becoming professional golfers and we spent hours putting and chipping on our carpet.

School was tough for me and I knew I was a working class kid -- a very blue-collar kid among many Richie Riches. I learned the meaning of hard work in school as I found it very difficult due to the learning disabilities, but I couldn’t let those rich brats beat me at anything. I would often spend six or more hours a night doing homework and would learn and relearn my lessons.

My working career started at the age of 14 as I was hired as a summer student labor at the Whistler Golf Club.  The 4 a.m. start times taught me quickly the habit of becoming a morning riser as I had to ride my bike into work and, for fear of getting on the boss' bad side I would often be half an hour early. This would mean I had to be up 3 a.m. so I got very used to going to bed before the sun went down.

I continued to work up the ranks at the Whistler Golf Club and continued to wake up early every morning and at the age of 16, I started to work weekends while going to school in the spring and fall.

I decided I should build on what I knew and wanted a career, so with the recommendation of my golf course superintendent, I enrolled in Fairview College in Northern Alberta in September 2003.

When I graduated the Turfgrass Management program I moved back to Whistler and worked as foremen for two golf courses and there learned the meaning of working for far less than one's worth. As a college graduate I made $10 an hour, the same wage I earned as a summer student at the Whistler Golf Club.

During the winter of 2005/2006 I got a job with the Resort Municipality of Whistler as a Bylaw Enforcement Officer.  This was my first experience of being a CUPE member and even though I was only hired as a seasonal temp, I felt like I belonged to something. My starting wage was $16.50 with +10% in lieu of benefits, and I had weekends off, which was a very rare thing for me. I got the biggest paychecks of my life and paid off my education.

In the spring of 2006 I moved to Grande Prairie, Alberta and took a position as the Assistant Superintendent at a golf club.  I would often work seven days a week, 14 hours a day and I figured out I was making less than $5 an hour by the time I got my paycheque.  After six months, I went to another golf course, which had somewhat better working conditions.

The second job had a tiny bit better working conditions, but after nearly two years of working 14 hours a day, six days a week making $5 an hour, I knew I had to leave.  I realized this career was going to kill me.

I searched long and hard and found a job with the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo in Fort McMurray.  I knew it was for me as it was unionized through CUPE.  My dad was a CUPE member with the resort municipality of Whistler and he spoke highly of the union and I remembered the good wage and working conditions I had as a bylaw officer.

When I got to Fort McMurray I was pleasantly surprised.  Firstly, I thought I was going to be sleeping in a work camp with a landscape covered in oil. I found out I only had to work four days a week, 10 hours a day; it felt like I was working a part time job compared to what I had been expected to do.  I spent a lot of time and money getting my health back from my burned out years, a battle which I am still struggling with. I am a foreman at the Parks Branch department on the turfgrass management crew. I take care of restoring the city's landscapes after contractors rip up an area, fixing landscapes that have been ripped up by vehicles and snow plows during the winter, and the biggest most challenging of my career is growing grass on the areas that have been contaminated by salt after the snow clearing operations.

I got involved with the union as the Parks Department was in a bad need of a Shop Steward as many employees were unaware of their rights. Many parks employees called the days before a shop steward as “the dark ages.” After seeing these issues I asked how to get involved with the union, and a planner at the parks department got very excited when she found out I wanted to get involved. I got my basic and advanced shop steward training and started attending the general membership meetings.

After getting involved, I got a lot of stewarding experience. After many investigations and outcomes with union members at the parks branch I started to get pretty good at asking the right questions.  At our local AGM I got nominated to the position of recording secretary as sisters Myra Ross and Della Kerfont felt I was very organized and a good person for that role on the executive. Luckily,  I won the vote for the role of the position of Recording Secretary and that’s where I really started to get involved.

Since being voted in as recording secretary I have been getting involved with multiple committees. I have to keep an eye on the amount of committees I get involved with as the fatigue symptoms I gained from my burn out years still remain and rather than letting someone down or not performing a task I usually struggle through and get the job done.

YOUNG WORKERS

My sister has always been a voice for the people being harassed, but because she stood up for those being harassed, she usually ended up getting fired. After my years of hearing the frustration in her voice and seeing her fatigue, I told her to find a job with CUPE no matter what.

Thankfully she got on with CUPE 3550 in Edmonton. She now reports that her and her supervisors have a great working relationship where everyone is treated fairly and there is no reason to fear her supervisors. Her health has gotten better; she has started paying off her education costs and is a very happy person. After seeing this change, I realized these situations are happening too often, and young workers need to know about unions, and they need to know about what CUPE can do for them.

I want to talk to the young workers to let them know I’ve lived it and I know why they do it but they need to give up the struggle to climb the corporate ranks because, in the end, they won't have much money and what little money they may have will be paid to fix their health. If you look around, everything these days costs more and just making ends meet requires you to be on the top of your game for fear you will lose your job, but not with CUPE. We get fair wages, and getting involved with your local union helps strengthen the union, enabling it to make a stronger case for better working conditions and wages and safety.

THE PLAN

I am exploring priorities and the direction that I should be adopting. I hope I can meet young workers face to face and get them the information they need and inspire them to get involved with their local, and hopefully the CUPE Alberta Division. Many young workers have expressed their interest in getting a young worker committee started, which I am hopeful will become a reality.

The Young Worker committee will talk about what young workers want to get out of CUPE and we will find out why more young workers are not getting involved. I’m hoping to complete a survey of young workers and get some feedback.

Brother Rob.