Federal and Provincial Awards Recognize RWDSU's Commitment to Reservists' Rights (6/15/07)

Northern Joint Council President Derik McArthur (right) receives award on behalf of the RWDSU from Lieutenant-General W.J. Natynczyk.

The Canadian Forces, the unified armed forces of Canada, has recognized the RWDSU Northern Joint Council's efforts to protect the jobs of Canadian Forces reservists. The NJC is working to negotiate language into all of its contracts that protect the jobs, seniority, and all other benefits of Canadian Forces reserve members who have to temporarily leave their jobs for training or military action.

The first of two awards was given to NJC President Derik McArthur in February by the Canadian Forces in the province of Ontario, and the second is a national award presented at a ceremony on June 8th. The National Employer Support Award recognizes organizatins that have been particularly supportive of reservists' military service.

"We are the first union to have taken such an active role in protecting the men and women in the military in the workforce," McArthur says. "We have these protections in about 70 percent of our contracts now, and we are working through the rest of them as they come up."

McArthur is a reservist in the army infantry battalion and has been since 1989, and he knows first-hand the need for protecting the jobs of working people who also serve in the armed forces.
"I was working at a retail food job, and I had to leave for several months for military training exercises," McArthur says. "My boss told me 'well I guess you quit, feel free to reapply for your job when you get back.' When you are in training, or on a NATO mission or serving overseas, it's terrible to know you will have to find a new job, or at best will have to start over again at your old one without your old salary or benefits. That's why we have made job protection for military members a top priority in all of our new contracts."
Canadian Forces members are currently serving in Afghanistan, the Balkans and Bosnia.