The Vancouver Island District Council website has had 45,105 hits in its brief, recent history. In web lingo, that means the site has been accessed more than 45,000 times since the tally commenced in September, 1998. Total hits for February 1999 alone were 14,555.

Could this mean that there's real interest in labour initiatives "out there?" We know that an increasing number of VIDC delegates are getting 'on-line' and using e-mail and the web in conjunction with their VIDC and local endeavours. However, we on Vancouver Island don't number some 13,000, so it seems a reasonable assumption that others are looking in on us. Are we meeting their expectations? - are we meeting our own?

My association with the VIDC has spanned nearly a decade, and I've witnessed a constant refrain through the years. It's one that is echoed through all of CUPE, and is articulated in a multitude of ways. Its essence is this: we need to communicate better.

At conference after conference, and forum after forum, every CUPE sector reports the same, or very similar needs: to communicate better. That this percieved problem has not yet been solved seems to defy logic. Do we not have a multitude of "tools" at our disposal? Can we not use the telephone, snail mail, fax, and e-mail? Of course we can. So what's the problem? - why is it that we're so inclined to cite "communication" as the problem?

Why do we want to 'communicate better'? The fact of the matter is that most of us are so busy we find it hard to make time for effective communication. We might corresponcd with someone, or make a quick phone call, but doing so takes time and too often we feel we're just squeezing in what we're able. Sometimes the need to communicate becomes more a chore or task than a meaningful interaction between individuals. Most of us are relatively good at communicating with others when we need to do so, but such exchanges rarely address more than immediately pressing matters or concerns. They rarely move us strategically into the future.

When we exit CUPE gatherings, reassured that "communication" is the problem, but with no concrete action plan to address that problem, we end up doing what we've been doing for years - spinning our wheels.

Why, indeed, do we want to communicate better? I'd venture a guess that we'd like to share our knowledge and experience with others, learn from each other, and gather together our collective brain-power in order to develop goals, objectives and strategies for the advancement of our members' interests, both for the short and long-term. This is tricky within CUPE, for local autonomy is jealously guarded. The last thing any local wants is another (or others) making decisions that have an impact on the rest of the sector without the rest of the sector having some say in the matter.

So long as we value local autonomy, we must accept the challenges it presents for CUPE. It's been said that local autonomy is our biggest strength, and also our biggest weakness. We do need to communicate more effectively between and across sectors -- NOT because we need so much to share information but because we cannot realistically expect to make progress if we do not work together to develop short and long-term goals and objectives that every local can support and be willing to advance. We need to continue to share information, but we also need to communicate more effectively through dialogue that establishes common directions for the future.

What a VIDC Delegate Might Do ...

1. Take information back from VIDC and report back to the local Executive and membership. If time is not already allocated on local meeting agendas for a report from VIDC delegates, ask that time be allocated - or write a report for attachment to the local's minutes.

2. Post a copy of the VIDC newsletter, Island Views, at all worksites. Encourage members to share their views by contributing to the next edition of this newsletter.

3. Encourage members to access the VIDC web site, to establish an account and share in the discussion in the forums.

4. Post VIDC bulletins and other information distributed at VIDC meetings.

5. Volunteer to serve on a VIDC Committee, or discuss ideas or issues with the appropriate Committee Chair.

6. THINK long-term: does your "communication" contribute to immediate or short-term "need," or is it part of what's necessary to build toward longer term goals and objectives?

7. ASK, what do you want to see your local, or the VIDC, accomplosh before this year concludes? Within two years? Within five years? - What needs to be done to realise those accomplishments on your "wish list?"

8. Don't hesitate to ask questions, or to speak what's on your mind. Silence rarely contributes to progress.