Local 1518 Executive Board Members

IVAN LIMPRIGHT, PRESIDENT, UFCW LOCAL 1518

Born and raised in the Aldergrove, B.C. area, Ivan joined Local 1518 in 1975 when he began working at the Overwaitea warehouse. In 1985, he was elected Chief Shop Steward, a full-time position he held until 1994, when he joined the staff of Local 1518. Ivan was first elected to the UFCW Local 1518 Executive Board in 1987, and served on the Board until he was hired as a Union Representative in 1994.

A graduate of the Labour College of Canada in 1991, Ivan has served Local 1518 members as both a Union Representative and Director of Member Benefits.

Ivan became Secretary-Treasurer of UFCW Local 1518 in 2001. In addition to being responsible for the day-to-day financial responsibilities of UFCW Local 1518, Ivan currently sits on the Board of Directors of the UFCW Pension Plan and the UFCW Health and Welfare Trust. Ivan remains actively involved in developing Local 1518's Member Benefits programs.

Ivan has worked throughout his career for Local 1518 members, and is dedicated to seeing that the union continues its role as a strong advocate for Local 1518 members.

FRANK POZZOBON, SECRETARY-TREASURER, UFCW LOCAL 1518

Frank Pozzobon brings a wide variety of experience to the position of Secretary Treasurer.

Frank first became a member of UFCW Local 1518 when he started working at Safeway in 1976. In 1987, Frank began working as a Union Representative for UFCW Local 1518. In 2000, Frank was promoted to the position of Director of Member Services, responsible for the supervision of twenty Union Representatives, in addition to coordinating the provision of Union services for 25,000 UFCW Local 1518 members.

Among his responsibilities was developing negotiations strategies, negotiating contracts, handling and coordinating grievances and arbitrations, developing up-and-coming leaders in the organization, providing Union education, and organizing new members into the Union.

Recorder - Nan Fredricks

Nan has been a Shop Steward for over two decades at MacKenzie Consumer Co-op in northern BC. Nan has also served on the union negotiating committee for 20 years, and on the Local 1518 Executive Board for 14 years. She was appointed by the Board Members to serve as Recorder in 1998.

Nan also sits on the Health and Safety Committee and conducts health and safety training for Local 1518 members as well as for the BC Federation of Labour.

Vice Presidents

Karen Palmer

Karen has been employed by Canada Safeway since 1969. She became a Shop Steward shortly after starting with Safeway, representing her co-workers on store related contract issues. In 1989 she ran for and was elected to the Local 1518 Executive Board where she has been re-elected to serve ever since.

Shortly after being elected to the Executive Board Karen was appointed to the Safeway Negotiating Committee in 1989 and again in 1993, 1996, 1997, and 2003.

Karen is a member of the Leukemia Fund and serves on several Executive Board Committees.

Lenore Peck

For almost 30 years Lennie Peck has served her co-workers in Local 1518. Lennie works for Save On Foods in Coquitlam. She has been a Shop Steward for 23 years and an Executive Board member since 1993.

Lennie has been on the Overwaitea/Save On negotiating committee since 1993. She teaches Basic Shop Steward, Grievance Handling and Arbitration, and Leadership courses in the Local 1518 Member Education Program.

Connie Buckner

Connie has worked as a Community Health Care Worker since 1991 in Cowichan on Vancouver Island. She’s been a Shop Steward and Co-Chair of the Health and Safety Committee for ten years bringing an abundance of enthusiasm to all her Union work.

Connie presented a brief to WorkSafe BC on the Working Alone Policy and continues to advocate for worker’s health and safety, not only in her own workplace but for all workers.

Don Fordyce

Don has been employed in the retail grocery industry for 28 years and has served on the Executive Board for 15 years. During that time he has worked with the Local Union’s organizing and education department, has served as a temporary Union Representative and as Negotiating Committee member. Don is also the former President of the South Okanagan Labour Council and is politically active in his community.

Kari-Anne Neave

Kari Ann has been employed by Overwaitea for 15 years in Burns Lake in northern BC. Kari Ann became a Shop Steward in 1998 and served on the Health and Safety Committee as the co-chair.

Kari Ann is very active in her community serving as a member on the Board of Directors of the local Chamber of Commerce, and is also involved in the Local Health Care Auxiliary as a Director.

Ken Bellows

Ken is a truck driver with Colonial Farms in the interior where he has worked for 25 years. He’s been a member for 26 years in both the industrial sector Local and Local 1518.

Ken served as Chief Shop Steward for a number of years and was elected to the Executive Board representing members in the industrial sector 15 years ago. He serves on the Board’s Health and Safety Committee

Kassandra Cordero

One of the ‘new comers’ to Local 1518, Kassandra has been employed at IGA in the Lower Mainland for just over two years. She is a Shop Steward in her store representing the interests of her co-workers. Kassandra is active in children’s camps and was active in Delta Police Youth Action Team.

Kassandra demonstrates the kind of determination and commitment it takes to provide strong, new leadership to Local 1518 members.

Dionne Crusher

Dionne has been a member of UFCW Local 1518 for almost 20 years. She is employed by Safeway in Vancouver. Since 1999 Dionne has been the Chief Shop Steward in her store and is committed to the health and safety of her co-workers.

She completed the Health and Safety Committee training and conducted Health and Safety Audits at workplaces all across the Lower Mainland on behalf of the Local 1518 members.

Dionne attended the Major Foods Bargaining Conferences in both 2002 and 2007.

Jennifer Vecchio

Jennifer is a Community Health Care Worker. She has been a Local 1518 member for almost 18 years and a Shop Steward 13 of those years. Jennifer and her family live in Nelson BC. She was first elected to the Executive Board 9 years ago and serves on the Health and Safety Committee of the Board as well as on the Women’s Committee, and fund raising committee.

Cristobal Cahis

Cristobal has worked at Save On Foods since graduating high school. Originally it was a job to pay his tuition at UBC, but during the time he worked at the store he became increasingly concerned over the way he and his co-workers were being treated by the employer. He became a Shop Steward.

He graduated from UBC, but decided to stay at Save On Foods when it was converted to a PriceSmart to join his co-workers in fighting the forced conversion.

Darrell Causey

Darrell started working for Woodward’s Food Floor 34 years ago and then moved to Safeway when it bought Woodward’s. He has been a Shop Steward almost half that time and was first elected to the Local 1518 Executive Board in 1999.

He has served on the Safeway Negotiating Committee 3 times and also serves on Executive Board standing Committees. Presently he is a temporary Union Representative providing services to members in the Lower Mainland.

Larry Ransom

Larry is a Safeway employee in Port Alberni on Vancouver Island. He has worked for the company for over 30 years. For over half that time he has worked to protect the rights of his co-workers as a Shop Steward in the store.

He has served on the Safeway Negotiating Committee, has been a delegate to the Port Alberni and District Labour Council, is a School Trustee and has taken an active role in the politics of his community.

John Howarth

John has worked for Coopers Foods in the interior for 31 years. In the years before Coopers was purchased by Overwaitea Food Group John did a good job in representing his co-workers in a non-union environment. When the Coopers workers joined Local 1518 John became a Shop Steward then a Chief Shop Steward in his store.

Lorraine Archambeault

Lorraine is a Community Mental Health Worker in Cranbrook, providing home health care for people under the Cranbrook Home Support agency.

She has done her job for 17 years, 14 years as a Shop Steward fighting to try and protect her co-workers and clients for the attacks on community based health care by the Campbell Liberals.

Susan Bayly

Susan has been at Canada Safeway in Victoria for 18 years. Much of that time she has been an activist and Shop Steward representing the members in her store.

Susan also represents UFCW Local 1518 on the Victoria and District Labour Council, and serves as a Board member on the Victoria United Way. She has also been active in funding raising for the Leukemia Fund.

Michelle Metcalfe

Michelle has been employed by Shoppers Drug Mart for over 17 years. She has been active in the very long fight to get Shoppers Drugs members a new collective agreement.

She has been a central part of the Union’s public leafleting campaign against Shoppers Drug Mart.

Eleanor Smith

A Community Health Care Worker in Penticton for 20 years, Eleanor has been a Shop Steward representing her co-workers for 18 of those 20 years. She has been a member of a number of Negotiating Committees in the Health Care Sector.

Eleanor also represents UFCW Local 1518 at the South Okanagan Boundary Labour Council.

Karen Belcourt

Karen has worked for Overwaitea/Save-On since 1983, and since 1985 has represented her co-workers as a Shop Steward. She has been a Vice President for 12 years, represented Overwaitea /Save On Foods workers on the last two bargaining committees.

Karen is active in the Wal Mart organizing team, bringing the message of the Union to Wal Mart employees.

In 2003 she graduated from the CLC Labour College of Canada. She serves as the Local 1518 representative on the Quesnel Labour Council, and she also sits on the Political Action Committee and the Women’s Committee.

Dave Diamond

Dave has worked for Save On Foods and been a member of local 1518 for almost 20 years! He works as a Senior Clerk in Kelowna.

Dave served on the Overwaitea/Save On Foods negotiating committee in 2003 and was a temporary Union Represen tative during 2005/06.

He is also active on a number of the Executive Board Standing Committees, including the Health and Safety Committee, The Member’s Emergency Fund, and the Donations Committee.

Sherry Earl

Sherry has worked for Overwaitea Foods for over 26 years. In 1993 when her store was first unionized Sherry became Shop Steward and served on her store’s first negotiating committee. Shortly after, she was elected Chief Shop Steward and was appointed to the Overwaitea/Save on province wide negotiating committee. Sherry has been on the Executive Board for 8 years and serves on a number of committees, most notably, the Health and Safety Committee.

Lucas Brunner

A member for over eight years, Lucas is a Clerk ll at Safeway. He has been active in the Union at the store level since shortly after joining.

Lucas is a Shop Steward and has been on temporary assignment with the Local Union as a Union Representative.

He is committed to insuring that the voices of all members are heard by the employers and the Union.

Wally Chan

Wally Chan has worked for Canada Safeway since 1998 as a Clerk ll and became a Shop Steward in 1999. He attended the Major Retail Foods Wages and Contract Conference in 2002 and served on the Safeway Negotiating Committee in 2003 bargaining.

Wally participates in a broad range of community based service activities including Labour’s United Way fund raising efforts.

Ravi Dhindsa

Ravi is the Chief Shop Steward at Sunrise Poultry in Surrey BC. He’s been employed by Sunrise for many years and now works as a Shipper.

As well as being active representing his co-workers, Ravi also coaches soccer and is active in his community.

Dave Wilson