Travelling Salesman

Behind every great movement lies a great man, or woman, such as the case might be. In the initial days of unionizing employees of National Defence, the man was unquestionably Ken Green.

In June 1953, Brother Green was elected National Secretary-Treasurer of the newly created National Defence Employees Association. In October, he hit the road on a cross-Canada organizing expedition. The dues check-off had not yet arrived; therefore, he was forced to use his own money. By November, both he and the association were broke so he had to return to Ottawa for a new stake.

Union dues finally started to arrive in January 1954 enabling Ken to set out once again. The following month he even felt brave enough to buy a car with a loan from a Credit Union. The Association assured him they would stand behind the loan as a guarantor, even though they had no money to speak of at the time. The resulting 1954 Chev was loaded with a typewriter, files and paper, and thus turned into an office on wheels.

Brother Green returned several times to the larger bases to complete organization work but mostly turned over the fine-tuning to the provincial vice-presidents. In September 1954, Ken was appointed to a vice-president position on the parent Civil Service Federation, but he still retained his Association duties.

Ken continued to devote his energies to a long and storied career in the Union. In recognition of his devotion and unselfish service to the membership, the Ken Green Scholarship is now offered to deserving children of Union of National Defence Employees members in good standing.