Retired International Secretary Jack Moore died on Saturday, December 12, 2015, at the age of 88. Memorial donations may be made to the Jack F. Moore/IBEW, 11th District Scholarship Fund at MSU, 300 South Jefferson, Suite 100, Springfield, MO 65806, or to Fairhaven Children's Home, 3132 N., Fair Haven Loop, Stafford, MO 65757.

This is the time of year when many people in communities around Nova Scotia and PEI rely on their local food bank to get through the holidays. On Thursday, November 26th, Nova Scotia Power employees at the Point Tupper and the Port Hawkesbury Biomass generating stations will be trying to fill a half-ton truck with non-perishable food donations for the Food Bank in Port Hawkesbury. You can drop off your donation in the plants' store rooms. Point Tupper is leading the way; let's see whether other units around Nova Scotia and PEI can help make Christmas easier for those who are less fortunate than we are.

Please note that the regular Unit 5 (Halifax) meeting will take place Wednesday November 18, rather than Wednesday November 25, due to work travel of the Unit Chair. (For clarity, this is not a quarterly meeting that that Business Manager attends.)

Danny Cavanagh, NS president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, was elected on Wednesday October 28 as the new president of the 70,000-member Nova Scotia Federation of Labour. Brother Cavanaugh, who has held the CUPE position since 2005, replaces retiring president Rick Clarke, who headed up the organization for the past 26 years.The 48th Convention of the Federation of Labour wrapped up Wednesday at the Holiday Inn Harbourview. About 300 union members and supporters from across the province gathered together for three days to set the agenda for the provincial labour movement over the next two years.

A tentative agreement between IBEW Local 1928 negotiating committee and the City of Summerside was ratified 100% by the membership of the bargaining unit in a vote taken on September 18, 2015. The eight-year deal will see annual general increases of 2% a year.