NSGEU Presidents Break Ground On Union’s New home

NSGEU President Joan Jessome, Past President Greg Blanchard, and Secretary-Treasurer Darren McPhee break ground on the spot where the union’s new office and convention centre will stand this time next year.

On Friday, June 22, NSGEU President Joan Jessome was joined by Past President Greg Blanchard to break ground at the corner of Wright Avenue and John Savage Drive in Burnside where the union’s new home will soon stand. It was announced during the event that the new building’s state-of-the-art conference centre will be named for Blanchard, who was instrumental in the transformation of what is now NSGEU, a union, from what had been an association, NSGEA.

Along with the Greg Blanchard Conference Centre, which will be able to accommodate meetings of up to 300, the 58,000-square-foot building will also include space to support other member activities, including a hearing room, a board room, and several other multi-purpose meeting rooms. Construction is slated to start in July.

“Workers coming together to discuss common cause is what NSGEU is all about,” says Joan Jessome. “We’ve experienced tremendous growth in membership over the past decade, and this new building will give our members even more opportunity to meet one another and share their thoughts and ideas.”

Members of the NSGEU Board of Directors, which is made up of 33 public sector workers from across the province, will also be on-hand for ceremony. The board has been considering the need for a new building for the last several years; last fall, it voted in favour of going forward with the project.

NSGEU has been at its current home, which is on Eileen Stubbs Avenue in Burnside, for 20 years.