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Date:                January 19, 2012 To:                   All Members of Local 867 From:               Alex Forrest, President UFFW, Chair of the Manitoba Fallen Firefighter Foundation. Re:                  Official Charitable Status for the Manitoba Fallen Firefighter Foundation On Behalf of the Manitoba Fallen Firefighter Foundation I am proud to announce that we have received formal approval for Charitable Status from Revenue Canada. The Manitoba Legislature recently passed legislation enabling the Firefighters of Manitoba to create a Charitable Foundation for the purpose of creating a memorial to the more than eighty Manitoba Firefighters who have died in the line of duty since the Province of Manitoba was created.  Included in this total are sixty-seven Winnipeg Firefighters who gave the ultimate sacrifice. The legislation also tasks the Foundation with educating the public about our job and our sacrifices and assisting the spouses and families of fallen firefighters. The Foundation Committee will be composed of representatives of all areas of firefighting including wild land, forestry, volunteer, urban professional, military, native and private firefighting groups as well as family members of our fallen Brothers and Sisters.    I have the honor of being the first Chair of the Foundation and I have been politically active on this issue with the incredible support of the UFFW Executive.  However, it is Dave Naaykens, the Treasurer of the foundation, who has done much of the paper work required to attain charitable status and I would like to thank him for his efforts. Property within Memorial Park has been assigned to us to build the memorial and we hope that we will soon be able to unveil the exact site and the memorial set up. We have had many active and retired members ask us about making a donation to the foundation.  We will soon be set up to accept donations and provide receipts but we ask everyone to be patient. On behalf of the Foundation I assure you that the memorial will be something for every Firefighter in this province to be proud of.

Date:                January 16, 2012 To:                   All Members of Local 867 From:               Alex Forrest, President, Chair Negotiating Committee. Re:                  Negotiations Our current contract expired on December 26, 2011 and, as per the Fire Departments Arbitration Act, we served notice to bargain with the City of Winnipeg on October 1st of 2011.  We also exchanged proposals at that time. We began preparations and research for our proposals last spring and since we exchanged proposals we have had many meetings, both with the City and with our Bargaining Committee  We have put considerable time and effort into attaining a negotiated settlement but we have been unable to come to an agreement with the City.   We have reached an impasse and so we have filed with the Minister of Labour our intent to progress to Binding Arbitration.   We will now be putting our full efforts into preparation for the Arbitration Tribunal.   Until the Arbitration begins we will continue to bargain with the City in an attempt to reach an agreement on as many issues as we can so we can minimize the arbitration. This has been a tremendous amount of work and I want to thank the members of the negotiations committee for their time and efforts. We will, of course, keep the membership up to date on any further developments or progress.

Fire Fighters to take a Leadership Role in Finding a Solution to the Problem of Apartment Complex Tenants with No Insurance Fire Fighters have decided to take a leadership role in regards to the problem of tenants of apartment complexes who have no insurance. Recent fires in apartment complexes have brought to light the large number of tenants who do not have any type of insurance to cover their belongings or to provide for their need for short term accommodation after a fire. During the next few months the United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg will be embarking upon an educational blitz in an attempt to inform the citizens of Winnipeg that people who rent an apartment need to have tenant’s insurance. We will also be asking the City of Winnipeg, the Province of Manitoba and the insurance industry to sit down with us and attempt to figure out a solution to this problem. There is a very strong need for low-income individuals to be able to access tenant insurance and one solution that we are researching is having insurance as part of the cost of rent for an apartment.

Date:                December 19, 2011 To:                   All Members of Local 867 From:               Alex Forrest, President RE:                 Firefighter License Plates Many members may have heard me in the media talking about the fact that firefighters should soon have the ability to purchase a firefighter license plate. After discussions with Minister Andrew Swan we believe that these license plates will be available by the end of the year. This is another example of the NDP supporting our membership. Also after these discussions we understand that part of the proceeds will go towards firefighter charities such as the Manitoba Fallen Fire Fighter Foundation. Please stay tuned for the details and we hope that all firefighters will support this worthy cause and proudly display the fact that we are Winnipeg Fire Fighters.

Date:                December 7, 2011 To:                   All Members of Local 867 From:               Alex Forrest, President Re:                  Chief Reid Douglas On behalf of the Executive of Local 867 I would like to congratulate Reid Douglas on becoming Fire and Paramedic Chief for the City of Winnipeg. Over the past five years UFFW has worked with Chief Jim Brennan to create a strong Fire Department.  During the years in which he was Chief we enjoyed a good working relationship and good, open lines of communication with Chief Brennan and his staff.  The difference in our Department between now and where we were five years ago is immeasurable. We know that Chief Douglas will continue the excellent work that was done by Chief Brennan and this will make our Department even better and stronger.  We look forward to working with Chief Douglas, to keeping the lines of communication open and to making our Fire Department the best in Canada, and in fact the best in North America.

Date:                November 15, 2011 To:                   All Members of Local 867 From:               Alex Forrest, President Re:                  Hall Visits Over the course of the next few months President Alex Forrest will be visiting every hall and every shift.   Alex will be visiting your hall and your shift but as this will involve more than one hundred visits it will probably take until the end of December to complete.  Please be patient and some time before the end of December Alex will be on hand at your hall to discuss Contract Negotiations, WCB and Pension as well as answer any questions that you might have.

Date:                October 28, 2011 To:                   All Members of Local 867 From:               Alex Forrest Re:                  Alex Forrest Appointed to the Board of the Canadian Mental Health Association The following is a letter confirming the appointment of Alex Forrest to the Board of the Canadian Mental Health Association. Throughout the year the CMHA runs awareness campaigns and fundraising activities and we encourage all UFFW members to get involved and support this worthwhile charity.

Date:                October 5, 2011 To:                   All Members of Local 867 From:               Alex Forrest, President UFFW, Chair Public Relations Committee Re:                  Provincial Election Victory It was a huge night for UFFW as the NDP won every seat that we were asked to assist with. We were asked to go into the toughest battles and we literally were the backbone of every campaign. We are very proud of how the membership got behind us and we thank every UFFW Member who came out to assist us. This is tough work and we have become the largest and most skilled group of political workers in the Province but we could not do it without the solidarity of our members. Again, we have to become involved in politics as every aspect of our profession relies on the decisions of politicians.  It is our safety that is at stake and that is why we take this very seriously.