Opening Statement



Friday 13 May 2011

Very Tight Race -2nd VP by 1 Vote!!

Our Elections Committee has declared a winner in the very close election race for TSU 2rd VP! Final Results: Frank Bruno [560] Teresa Placha [559]. Frank won by one vote! Official results were sent out by email today. 

Last night, the sequestered votes had to be opened and confirmed because the final results in the race had been so close. There aren't any existing provisions in the new school voting by-law for OT's , LTO's, or anybody else who didn't appear on the available polling station member lists at each school. OECTA Provincial therefore has required a sequestering procedure, to guarantee all our members their right to vote, while trying to safe guard the integrity of our election process. [see my posting below] Otherwise TSU wouldn't have been able to proceed with in school voting this year, as per the terms or lack thereof of the by-law as written up and the passed at TSU UAGM 2010. [See my next posting below that]

The Elections Committee and candidate scrutineers met yesterday for another recount. They would then have also opened and verified the sequestered ballots for 2nd VP since it was so close. The Elections Committee would have had to rule on accepting any disputed ballots, without doubt a contentious issue few members have paid mind to until now. The committee then would have declared a winner. In the end, as we have learned it came down to a one vote difference.

There has been a one vote win in past TSU elections. This is rare, but our elections have often been quite close. Allegations fly. Therewasa tie even once. In this case, our procedure then as it is now, is for the winner to be determined by a name draw from a hat, in the presence of both candidates. The hat draw seems pretty rinky-dink to me, but what else can we do? It's written into our by-laws! TSU election reform often was, and remains, a contentious issue. How can we better deal with all the many issues that can arise in a professional manner? There aren't any easy answers. We are of course bound by our current election by-laws and the decisions of our local TSU Election committee for this year at least.

Kudos must go out to our Election Committee for all their hard work under these most difficult of circumstances. They had to deal with a lot of uncertain issues that arose throughout the election process this year. There are  some interesting school voting resolutions in the UAGM [Unit Annual General Meeting] booklet provided to your staff rep. One concerns online and telephone voting. These will be debated and voted upon Wednesday May 18. All of our members are encouraged to attend. The resolutions warrant your consideration. We all need to work together to better deal with  the problems we have faced with in school voting this year. Please take a look at the resolutions booklet and plan to attend!

So then, we now have a declared TSU 2010-11 Executive as indicated with the stars;

President: Rene Jansen [Completing 2 Year Term]*

1st VP: Gerarrd Ardanaz [589] *      Antonella Dicarlo[530]
2nd VP: Frank Bruno[560]*              Teresa Placha [559]
3rd VP: David Chiarelli [536] *         Sheila MacMillan[529]
Secretary: Gillia Vivona [570] *          Eva Lipinski [502]
Treasurer: Rosemary Lavery [Acclaimed]*

Three Councillors:

Dave Szollosy [677]*
Bianka Hudek [627]*
Luigi Martelli [525]*
Darin Sciberras [490]

What's my opinion? This executive lineup could work if everybody can put aside their personal ambitions until next May's TSU presidential year election, and just focus on serving our member's best interests. Most will. Others will jockey for position. Odds the executive will work it out? Low, but I will hope I'm wrong.

The most immediate concern for me is that everyone involved in this year's election maintain a professional demeanor, regardless of whether they or their chosen candidates won or lost. Otherwise we end up with a toxic work environment. Any lack of professionalism undermines the most important TSU duty of all  -providing the best service possible for you, our members.


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