Item 5

PRESIDENT’S FOLLOW UP ITEMS

EXECUTIVE COUNCIL MEETING

MARCH 2002  

• Our letter that was written to the CCRA regarding “Hazard Pay” for our members receiving mail was translated and sent to all locals.  The answer we received from the CCRA was also sent out.  A follow up letter will be sent to the CCRA as they totally missed the mark on the request.

• The challenge to the CCRA Staffing was heard October 1, 2001 and no decision has been received as of the date of writing of this report.

• An e-mailed was sent to the CCRA regarding the television show “Blue Murder” entitled “Death and Taxes” that aired December 7, 2001 .  They have advised me that they were not contacted prior to the airing of the show and according to their “legal” people the show did not have to contact them.  We have also obtained a copy which we will view and decide if we are going to send comments to the show’s producer and or the CCRA.

• The UTE bibs were ordered and have been received.  We have 25 that say “Host Committee” with the UTE-SEI logo f ron t and back and another 225 with just the UTE-SEI logo on the f ron t and back.

• As instructed by resolution in December, I requested from CEUDA, PIPSC and the CCRA the mandate of the National ADR Steering Committee.  I did not hear from either CEUDA or PIPSC but was sent the “Terms of Reference” from the CCRA which I forwarded to Council.  Linda will report on the information that she was to obtain.  However, the decision regarding whether or not to start sending someone to the Steering Committee meetings is still outstanding and should be discussed by the Council.   

•  The roll up of the information requested by Al ain Jolicoeur concerning the events of September 11, 2001 office by office has been requested by the National Occupational Safety and Health Policy Committee.  When it is received we will share it with the Council.

• A plaque for Sister Joyce Boettcher (Godfroy Cote Award) was received and was presented by myself at the Edmonton Local Annual General Meeting.  The sister was taken totally by surprise and appreciated the award very much.  A Certificate (Award of Merit) was also received and forwarded to the To ron to East Local for Brother Ron Stokal.

• A $500 donation was made to the Hamilton Workers Health and Safety Centre in memory of Brother Dick Martin.

• At our meeting in December it was passed that :

Be it resolved that the Executive Committee write “UTE Rules of Order” to be used at all meetings of the Union of Taxation Employees; and

Be it further resolved that the “UTE Rules of Order” be presented to the March 2002 Executive Council for ratification.  

When this was passed in December I said that we would not start with a blank page but would obtain elect ron ic versions of the PSAC-AFPC Rules of Order and work from them.  At this point in time, an UTE-SEI English version has been completed and when I went to have the French changes done I found out that the PSAC-AFPC did not have a full elect ron ic version in French.  The document they sent us only had 11 or 12  pages.  They are currently having the French document scanned and will send it to us as soon as possible.  Once that has been done, I will have the same changes done in the French version and forward the document to the Executive Committee for their review.  Prior to the June Executive Council meeting the approved documents will be sent to the Executive Council for their review and then tabled at the June meeting for ratification.  

·        A new set of Regulations were sent out after the amendments that were made in December 2001.  

·        An elect ron ic version of the December 12, 2001 Public Service Staff Relations Board decision was sent out by the National Office.  

·        The item of “union posting” was discussed at a meeting in January 2002 with Jacques Cloutier .  The Council was advised of the outcome of that meeting but I will repeat it here for the minutes.   

Al though we appear to be going down the same road as the CCRA on our line of thinking (legal) the fact that the negotiating team has signed an MOU which partially states as follows:  “the parties agree to establish a joint bi-lateral committee to meet and consult on the issues surrounding the possible implementation of elect ron ic bulleting boards for posting of notices or other materials that shall require the prior approval of the employer” has now entered the equation.  The thinking on “elect ron ic bulletin boards” and “hard copy bulletin boards” will be identical thus we have two choices.  We go ahead and do the work on the hard bulletin boards and just let the committee know or let the committee as agreed to at the bargaining table, go ahead and do their work which will flow over to the hard boards.  Both Jacques and I agreed that it would be better if the committee did the work but we could give them our thoughts regarding the issue of “reasonable” to be used by local Directors when authorizing or denying a document for local posting.  

We also agreed that we would both work to have the committee ready to go to work upon signing instead of waiting for the 90 day period to start organizing the committee.  Council members who are interested in sitting on this joint committee should give me their names before the end of the March 2002 Council meeting.  

·        I met January 29, 2002 again with Jacques Cloutier of the CCRA regarding 4^th level grievances.  We concentrated on those grievances that had been presented and were awaiting replies.  The numbers were much better than when we met in October.  We both agreed that we would continue to monitor the situation and meet again in the next quarter.