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Latest Why Unions Matter contest winner's entry is short, sweet, smart, and fun.
Ottawa (25 Mar. 2014) — Barely six month from when the National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) launched the Why Unions Matter contest and we’re pleased and gratified to see such a spectrum of people taking up the challenge.
After hearing about contest from her teacher, Aimee Shannon submitted her YouTube entry
We are especially heartened by the number of entries we’re receiving from student-aged Canadians — they might not be members of unions themselves, but it’s clear that their parents and their teachers are talking to them about the labour movement and its many virtues.
The latest winner is a case in point. Aimee Shannon is a Grade 10 student in Vancouver. Her teacher had heard about the contest from another student and encouraged Aimee and all her classmates to submit their own entries. And Aimee, whose parents both belong to unions — her mother is a registered nurse and her father works for Canada Post — rose to the occasion.
Her entry is a spoken-word poem that she performed via webcam straight onto Youtube about how “fantastical” unions are. At one point, she even rhymes “democracy” with “policies [that] are constantly of worthy quality.”
Short, sweet, smart, and fun. Thank you, Aimee, and congratulations!
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Unions Matter by Aimee Shannon
Unions. Now, what would we do without this magical importance that we're told is so fantastical? Well, how about all those benefits? Those non-wage benefits like drug and dental and vision plans? Seven more dollars every hour and the power to demand. Demand fair treatment to the parents, teachers, workers we all love and a solid pension plan that will soon support my old man. Unions showcase our democracy, allow us to be audibly ensuring that the policies are always constantly of worthy quality. So what would we do without this magical importance that's clearly so fantastical? Less benefits, less security, less wages, pensions and more obscurity. So that, my friends, is why I do hereby declare that unions matter. |
Want your chance to win $1000? Submit an entry — poem, song, video, letter, writing — to whyunionsmatter@nupge.ca and your entry will entered for the next round!
More information:
NUPGE launches Why Unions Matter contest
Why Unions Matter contest rules
NUPGE
The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is one of Canada's largest labour organizations with over 340,000 members. Our mission is to improve the lives of working families and to build a stronger Canada by ensuring our common wealth is used for the common good. NUPGE