Glen Korstrom
Northern News Services

NNSL (Sep 13/99) - For the first time in the history of the Union of Northern Workers, the president is not an employee of the GNWT.

Georgina Rolt-Kaiser is the new president and she remains employed as a nurse at Hay River's H.H. Williams Hospital.

The town of Hay River administrates the hospital through the Hay River Community Health Board and all nurses at the hospital are members of the UNW.

"I love my job as a nurse and I love my community," said Rolt-Kaiser.

"People have asked what I would do if I won $5 million. Where would I live? I say it's so hard to say because I love the North."

Rolt-Kaiser, who is originally from Ontario and has lived in the North for 15 years, has been the Hay River regional UNW vice-president for the last six years.

Rolt-Kaiser's election as president capped a three-day UNW triennial convention at the Yellowknife Inn last week.

Inuvik's Daniel Michaud is the first vice-president and Fort Smith's Maureen Johnston is the second vice-president.

The new regional vice-president's are Fort Smith's Grant Pazuk, Hay River's Kelvin Yee, North Great Slave's Dollie Ablitt and Saamba K'e's Josie Gould.

One vacant RVP position is in Inuvik because Michaud was sitting as the RVP when he was elected first vice-president.

Otherwise, at the convention, delegates decided to replace full-time paid RVPs with volunteer RVPs.

After discussion on closing regional offices, delegates voted to keep regional offices open and to help the volunteer RVPs by adding additional service officer positions.

Day to day union business, like grievances, negotiations and classification appeals will be handled by service officers.

RVPs will help organize at the regional level, carry out the union's political awareness mandate and encourage membership involvement.

Union delegates spent much of the convention's third day debating the budget.

First, one budget was voted down. Then there was discussion, motions and amendments creating a new budget. Some of the budget discussion was held in-camera and finally a budget emerged.

The three-year budget shows emphasis on increasing staff, finding extra money for communications, keeping the regional offices open, keeping RVPs paid until Dec. 31, 1999, and increasing membership services.

The convention also approved an initiative to take to the PSAC national convention in April to increase strike pay entitlements for employees in the North.