District Lead Speaker DBU #029/2025−2026

Local strength in chairing meetings and constitutions can facilitate member engagement in, Federation work, democratic processes, and the empowerment of local districts and bargaining units. In order to develop greater local capacity with parliamentary procedures and constitutions, it is recommended that each District identify a “Lead Speaker”.

• Lead Speakers may be the President, the Educational Services Officer, the Constitution Officer, or another member who is able to chair meetings locally on a regular basis.
• The role of the District Lead Speaker would be to serve as a local chair, an expert, a support, and a mentor to the bargaining units as it relates to constitution and parliamentary procedure.
• Members identified as the Lead Speakers would be invited to attend centrally provided foundational virtual training in the Fall-Winter, comprised of the following workshops: Introduction to Chairing Meetings; Constitutions 101; Meetings, Minutes, Motions; and Advanced Chairing.
• The first 3 workshops are provided through Union Training Academy (UTA) and the UTA schedule can be found in DBU012. Lead Speakers identified after UTA trainings can work with their Field Secretary to find time and resources to support this work.

An ongoing training and support to the District Lead Speakers are provided throughout the year. This can help with ongoing capacity development, which can be supported through your assigned Educational Services field secretary, who can also serve as a support to a local Speaker prior to, and/or during AGMs.

Each district is asked to identify a Lead Speaker and to forward their name and contact information to peter.bates@osstf.ca and meera.patel@osstf.ca by September 30, 2025.

Please contact Peter Bates at peter.bates@osstf.ca with any questions about this memo.