THEBACHA/FORT SMITH
Anne Sebert has been a union member for a long time, but it was only within the last couple of years that she started to serve in a leadership role.
Anne Sebert is the new president of Local 2 of the Union of Northern Workers in Fort Smith. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo |
In January, Sebert was elected president of Local 2 of the Union of Northern Workers (UNW) in Fort Smith.
"I'm enjoying it," she said of her new role, explaining she likes interacting with the membership and other leaders of the local. "We have a great executive presently and they're so supportive, so encouraging."
She said she ran to ensure the membership is served and represented, and that the local has a positive role in the community, continues to function effectively, and promotes its activities, programs and goals.
The new president was chosen in a byelection to replace former president Chris Wanamaker, who left Fort Smith for a job in Alberta. She will serve the remainder of Wanamaker's term of office until November. There will then be annual elections for the executive.
Sebert said she plans to run again at that time.
Before becoming president, she was the local's secretary-treasurer for more than a year.
Sebert, who is the executive assistant with the Town of Fort Smith, explained she became more involved with the union at that time because of concerns at the workplace.
The employees of the Town of Fort Smith went on strike for 15 days last summer.
Sebert said the concerns which led to the strike are no longer a factor.
"Things are passed. It's a great work area now," she said. "I think the majority of employees are very happy."
Sebert has worked for the Town of Fort Smith for almost 15 years. Before that, she was an administration clerk with the GNWT in Hay River for 13 years, meaning she has been a UNW member for about 28 years.
As the executive assistant with the Town of Fort Smith, she has a varied role, including assisting the mayor and senior management, and even helping draft bylaws and write funding proposals.
"It's just how involved the senior management of the day wants to have me involved," she said.
Sebert said she enjoys her job, especially the interaction with fellow workers and the public.
"It's a nice place to work and the duties are so varied," she said. "There's never a boring day."
While she was born in the Netherlands, Sebert has lived in Canada almost all of her life after her parents immigrated to Ontario in the 1950s when she was just a year old.
Sebert came to the NWT in 1977 and has lived in the North ever since, except for two years when she lived in Grande Prairie, Alta. She has also lived in Hay River and Yellowknife for a few years.
In the mid-1990s, she took a leave of absence from her GNWT job in Hay River to complete the two-year management studies course at Aurora College in Fort Smith. The community grew on her.
"And then this position with the town came open and I applied on in and got it in '98," she said.
As president of Local 2, Sebert has a number of roles - running meetings, co-ordinating with the UNW's head office in Yellowknife, organizing activities, ensuring members are properly informed and receive available education, and dealing with workplace issues.
"There are always going to be things that happen in the workplace that people have issues with," she said.
UNW Local 2 represents about 400 workers with the Town of Fort Smith, the Fort Smith Housing Authority and the GNWT, except teachers at schools and unionized workers at Aurora College.
Sebert said one of her goals as local president is to encourage more members to come out for meetings and to become shop stewards.
The new local president is a strong believer in the value of unions, noting they have struggled over the years to win many benefits - sick days, holidays, job protection, good salaries, overtime pay, maternity leave, a five-day workweek and more.
She summed up her opinion, by saying, "The unions, they support the worker."
