The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.
-George Bernard Shaw

When I first heard this quote, I never thought anything of it. This was quite a while ago. However, when I became a steward several years ago and started to move up the Union ladder I realized something was missing: Communication.

There are people who work at Bell to this very day that don’t know what their Union does for them. This is my fault. There are people who do not know who their stewards are. This is also my fault. And now being an interim President of our Unifor Local 6007, hardly NO ONE knows who I am. And that is definitely my fault.

I was a steward for many years and worked my way up to Chief Steward. Once I run for President this month and WIN I will be the official President and appoint a new Chief Steward until we have elections.

My short term goal is to make everyone aware of who I am and who the stewards are. That is just for starters. One way to increase awareness of the Union and our local is to tap in the social media game. Create a kick ass website, have a twitter account and a Face book account. Hell, maybe we will have an Instagram account and tell a story through pictures. I like that. I like that a lot. Thinking about it excites me.

I don’t have to go to a meeting and have someone say “Who the hell is Sonny?” That happened to me three times in the last few months. I don’t have to pick up the phone and hear “what the hell does my Union do for me?” That happens more often then I care to share.

Our local went through some major restructuring and controversy in the last couple of months. This catapulted me from Chief Steward to Interim President. Most people know what happened, some don’t. I wouldn’t dare discuss these controversial events. Well, not in my introduction blog anyway.  However we did go through many changes. Some of these changes were positive. A restructuring, if you will, or what I like to call a Local facelift.

As of now I am very happy with my crew. I have two chief stewards: Naseem Siddiqui and Leo Santaluce. I also have a very hard working secretary treasurer Dayanand Sabhnani (aka Dilip). These people make me strong. And when we combine all our talents I believe we can do some great and important changes. Changes for the better. The first step toward change is awareness. The second step is acceptance.

But before we take on the world lets get back to my little short term goal. Communication. I promise you that whoever is under our Local will know who I am along with my crew. We are very behind but we are working on it. To this day I still do not have a complete mailing list. It’s quite frustrating, I must say. That being said, if you are reading this blog then I am on the right track.

So since communication and awareness are the key words to this blog (by the way, this is my first time I ever did a blog, so please be gentle), allow me to introduce myself. My name is Sonny Malhotra and I am the President of your Local. Unifor Local 6007. Or should I say 6-Double-O-Seven? That just sounds a little cooler!