Candidate for NCR Regional Director – Matt Vanner

The views expressed in this biography are those of the candidate and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of PIPSC.

I’m a family person from the Ottawa Valley where I live with my wife and two teenage kids.  I’ve worked in National Defence as an IT for 20 years and have developed in both my career and union involvement concurrently.

I believe that my knowledge, experience, and passion for helping people make me an excellent candidate for NCR Director.

For 15 years I’ve been a steward representing members with all workplace issues from work descriptions to human rights complaints.  I have recruited and mentored stewards and local executive members.  I will bring these frontline perspectives to the decision making level of PIPSC.

I am a Vice-President of Consultation for DND.  I know how to advance the priorities of our members and build concensus at the top levels of our departments and I will do the same on the Board of PIPSC.  I organize, train and lead a team of 200 stewards and 6000 members across the country.  I can help organize in the NCR to connect more members to the union.

I served on the IT Group bargaining team and the PIPSC Central Table bargaining team.  I know the challenges we face improving our contracts and fighting-off concessions.  We need to listen-to and support our group bargaining teams and to change our approach to make bargaining a constant process instead of fighting one round at a time.

I find all this important work exciting and enjoy contributing my ideas, effort, and time to the union.  Work has changed and members’ lives and priorities have changed so PIPSC must evolve and adapt to meet the needs of the members in new ways or become irrelevant.  The pandemic taught us that the union must be far more agile to be able to address unexpected and widespread national challenges.

To be successful we need to reach our members as individuals and build PIPSC as a community.  We need to be present with members and offer services in ways that go beyond workplace disputes and collective bargaining.  This is particularly important and challenging in the NCR where our members number in the tens of thousands.  I want to build a strategy for member engagement and community building in the NCR.

Please vote for me to support my vision for an agile, innovative and connected union!

Original provided by the candidate