And while Elena Smith was at this meeting, it's one of the last few she'll be attending as president of the BNTU. That's because they're in the transition period, and next month, she'll be handing over the reins to the newly elected president, Ruth Shoman.
But as you know, it's been tense in the union since Shoman was elected. She'd resigned from the post, only to later rescind that. Still, the BNTU decided to stick with her as president.
Today, we asked Smith if Shoman was feeling a little more welcomed.
Elena Smith, Outgoing President, BNTU
"Well I won't be able to speak how she feels, I don't know. I know that something of that nature would of course put certain stress on anybody. I am not the one involved in that and its stressful to me, because I am the current leader and so I have to be able to find a way how to deal with the matters from both, I have to be able to understand her side, but also understand what my members are asking and what they want the union to do. So, I am sure its stressful for her and I hope that come July she'd be able to go forward and do the job of the president and I won't say peacefully, because no president has it easy. You will always have challengers; you will have people around the table who will not support what you do, who will not support your ideas, who will not support any new things that you bring to the table for whatever reasons; whether they don't like you personally, whether they don't agree with that, whether they think it's too costly, whether it's not benefitting their area - so there are several reasons why people don't support you and we have to understand that as humans and being in organizations, as a leader you will never get a hundred percent support, but if your cause is genuine, if you genuinely are looking forward to the best interest of your members and your organization, then people will see that and people will know that you really and seriously want to do what is best for the union and they will support you."
