Anna Alers Alers, Local 1000A

RCSS|
Thunder Bay, Ontario

Anna Alers Alers became a union steward by accident.  

She hadn’t been a union member for very long when she attended a membership meeting.  When the union representative put out a call for anyone interested in becoming a steward, the co-worker beside her elbowed her in the ribs and told her to put her hand up.

“I said, ‘what am I putting my hand up for?’  The next thing I knew, they said ‘OK, we have a steward, and you’re on the bargaining committee.’”

In the 12 years since then, there have been measures – and not always equal – of frustration and reward as the frontline union representative for workers in the Real Canadian Superstore in Thunder Bay. The pressures of being responsible to customers, her union brothers and sisters, and to management are sometimes too much. More than once, she has wanted to leave it all behind, but she persists.

“Anything that’s worth getting is not easy to get,” she says.

Alers Alers brings strong qualities and commitment to a tough job, according to Roland Lapins, the staff representative assigned to that store.

“She’s a diligent, intelligent steward who has a good grasp of the collective agreement. And, like most good stewards, she’s practical and professional,” says Lapins. “Her plan is to fulfill her steward duties properly.”

Alers Alers explains that stewards have greater success when the members are aware of workers’ rights and involved in the union. Many members think that stewards can do it all, but that’s a misconception.

“The more people in more seats at a general meeting, the more seriously the company will take us. But a lot of members think it’s all going to be solved by the five stewards in the stores. We’re not super beings. We can’t do it all. We need the numbers because when we go to the company, they say: ‘Yeah, you and what army?’”

So what keeps her going? The wins. The caring for other people.  The excitement of new challenges and opportunities. And the bonds she has with other union activists.

“Every once in a while we get the boulder up the hill, and we make things better for people. That’s what keeps me going,” says Alers Alers. Every time I’m ready to take my toys and go home, I think, we’re almost there. I have to stick around and see it through.”

It helps greatly that her union, UFCW Local 1000A, regularly offers training and the chance to participate in various networks. She’s always building skills and relationships with others from across Ontario who are on the same page as she is when it comes to union and social activism.

“If I felt I was completely alone doing this, I would have gone home long ago, she says. Every time I go to one of those meetings, I feel so validated. Sometimes, when I feel I’m banging my head against the wall I can call up one of my union brothers and sisters and have a conversation. It validates, reenergizes, and gives you the confidence to go ahead.”

Alers Alers is a member of Local 1000A’s Political Action Network, and co-chair of the Women’s Issues Network Region 3. She has been through several rounds of bargaining, and has worked in federal and provincial election campaigns.

She loves music, walks, spending time with friends, and being an “auntie” to her niece and nephew in Thunder Bay. She would like to have more time with her out-of-town family members. Aside from union business, she spends most of her time at home and with friends, a counterpoint to having moved a lot as a child. Her father was in the U.S. Air Force, and she was born on a military base in Iowa.