MINUTES OF THE PRESIDENTS’ CONFERENCE
March 30, 31, April 1st, 2006
THURSDAY, MARCH 30, 2006
AFTERNOON SESSION
CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order at 1:15 pm. Betty Bannon, President
of the Union of Taxation Employees presided. All members of the Executive
Council were in attendance.
The session opened with the song Solidarity Forever in both French and
English.
Point of privilege – Terry Dupuis
On Monday night March 27th, the wife of our former Local President in
Calgary, and a UTE member herself was involved in a serious accident. Her
Father who was retired, and was a former UTE member was killed in the accident.
Bob Carpenters partner, Myrna was seriously injured, with broken bones,
broken sternum, collarbone, and damage to a vertebra. When speaking with
Bob the day after the accident, Myrna went in for surgery, and was expected
to recover fully, although it would be a long road to get to full recovery.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to Myrna and Bob in this time of need;
they are both very wonderful people, and friends. May God Bless and keep
them safe, and make Myrna's recovery a speedy and comfortable one.
The point was well taken by the Chair.
Point of privilege - Terri Uebele
Sister Melanee Jessup would appreciate the participants to sponsor her
in her participation in the relay for life for cancer.
The point was well taken by the Chair.
President Bannon went over the Harassment Policy and introduced the Complaint
Administrators, Marcel Bertrand, Shawn Bergeron, Patricia Payton and Lyson
Paquette.
She introduced the members of the staff from the National Office present
in the room and she then asked the 54 Local Presidents to introduce themselves. The
members of the Executive Council were then introduced.
SPECIAL PRESENTATION
President Bannon invited to the front Brother Kent MacDonald, Chair
of the Political Action Committee. Brother MacDonald explained that
one of the committee’s mandates was to provide more education to
the locals in order to assist them in lobbying their members of parliament
and the provincial and municipal politicians. He thanked Sister
Louise Laporte, from the Communications Section of the PSAC for her great
assistance to UTE during the campaign against the CRA and in helping
to organize the presentation.
Brother MacDonald introduced two members of the Canadian Labour Congress,
Brother Daniel Mallett, National Director, and Sister Patty Barrera,
National Representative within the Political Action and Campaigns Department
and also Brother Sean McKenny, President of the Ottawa & District Labour
Council. All three were invited to talk about lobbying. All
participants were provided with the Lobby 2004 briefing notes which can
be found on the CLC website.
A moment of silence was taken in memory of the members deceased since
we last met.
President Bannon introduced Sister Robyn Benson, REVP for the Prairie
Region and former member of UTE. Sister Benson would be a candidate
for the position of National President of the PSAC at the upcoming PSAC
Convention in Toronto.
HOURS OF SESSION
M/S/C Barb
Stewart/Louise Vallière
That the hours of session be as follows:
Thursday: 1:15 to 5:00
Friday: 0900
to 11:30; 1:15 to 4:30;
Saturday: 0900 to 11:45; 1:15
to 5:00 or end of business
MOTION CARRIED.
ADOPTION OF AGENDA
(See attached agenda, participants
list, observers list and Items
submitted by the Local
Presidents)
M/S/C Sarah
Redd/Alain Lachapelle
That the agenda be adopted as circulated with the following additions from
the floor.
1. 1st Vice-President
Job Description (Peterborough)
2. Sun Life (members with
no doctor) (Peterborough)
3. CAW & NDP (Peterborough)
4. Avian Flue (Shawinigan)
5. Client Services – Print
on demand (Thunder Bay)
6. ITPRs (Chicoutimi)
MOTION CARRIED.
OPENING REMARKS
President Bannon welcomed everyone to the conference and was extremely
pleased to confirm that the transfer date of the CEUDA and CEIU members
to UTE would be March 31, 2006 and that the delegates from CEUDA to the
PSAC Convention would be moved over on June 1st, 2006 allowing them to
attend as delegates the CEUDA Convention. President Bannon commented
on locals being under trusteeship and urged the locals to stop the in-fighting
and focus on working together for a common goal and get stronger as a Union. She
also mentioned that she would invite, at the next Presidents’ Conference,
someone from the PSAC to talk about harassment to help understand what
was considered harassment and what was not. In conclusion, President
Bannon wished everyone a good PSAC Convention and invited all participants
to the UTE Open House the next day.
EXECUTIVE COUNCIL BUSINESS
President Bannon reported briefly on some of the business conducted by
the Executive Council earlier during the week. (See Council Minutes March
2006).
The following resolutions were carried:
-
Be it resolved that UTE compensate CEUDA $475,000.00 for lost dues
because of the transfer of 2900 members to UTE.
-
Be it resolved that under Regulation 2.1.3 UTE, establish a new local
for the PSAC members in Summerside and that this be effective upon date
of transfer to UTE.
-
Be it resolved that UTE grant an amount of $1000
to Roxanne Fraser
from Shawinigan-South to support her in the practice of competition
badminton for the 2006 season.
-
Be it resolved that the UTE, through its President, make representations
to Headquarters to have the Leave with Income Averaging Policy amended
to reduce the minimum absence period to three weeks.
-
Be it resolved that the UTE, through its President, make representations
to Headquarters to get the employer to provide employees with the option
of taking a one (1) to three (3) week(s) leave without pay per year that
cannot be refused without a valid reason.
-
Be it resolved that the UTE Executive Council mandate all UTE representatives
at the national, regional and local levels to agree to only use RJOs
in WFA situations; and
-
Be it further Resolved that the UTE National
President issue UTE’s
position in writing to the Commissioner.
President Bannon advised that by the authority of Regulation 25.2, she
had put the Edmonton Local in Interim Trusteeship on February 3rd, 2006
and had appointed Brother Bob Campbell as the Trustee.
President Bannon met with the CRA Minister last week to discuss the Client
Service Counters. Both parties would meet again to discuss other issues
at a later date. The Minister had concerns with CRA services, specifically
on how they could save money. These concerns were brought to the
Executive Council attention earlier during the week. President Bannon
asked the locals to give some thought on how they could cut waste in the
day-to-day life, without affecting members’ jobs.
The By-Law Committee would make final changes to the Policy and Procedure
Manual and would report back at the June Council Meeting.
The Honours and Awards Committee chose for the 2006 essay the following
topic: Canadian and U.S. Relationships and its effects on Unions in Canada.
The Finance Committee developed templates on how to
prepare a budget and
prepared a feasibility study on onsite childcare. (copies attached).
The remaining Council business would be dealt with on Sunday, April 2.
President Bannon talked about the Council Retreat, commenting that after
each convention, the Executive Council meets to look at the UTE’s
vision for the next three years and that three (3) goals came out of the
meeting:
1) To develop Local Executives
through Local Officers Courses, allowing 5 seats per local. The PSAC
Course would be looked at to see if it fits UTE’s needs in terms
of modules that could be used by RVPs to augment the formal training.
2) To increase AGM attendance
and members’ activisms. This would be an exercise to be done
by the locals and the regions. They should look at why members are
not attending these meetings. They should also follow up on the action
plan that came up following the employees’ survey and also share
best practices.
3) To better communicate
with members of PSAC, PIPSC and the CRA and between Council Members. To
look at the possibility of having a news magazine vs a newsletter and
to clarify with CRA the number of seats on local, regional and national
levels that CEUDA occupied with respect to consultation.
REPORT OF THE NATIONAL COMMITTEES
Brother Lalancette introduced the members of the Committee,
Sister Pamela Abbott, Co-chair, Brother Jean-Pierre Fraser, TC Local Representative
and Sister Lyson Paquette, Technical Advisor. Brother Gary Kaschak,
representing the TSO Locals was absent.
Brother Lalancette mentioned that the Committee would be meeting in April
to deal with a resolution passed from this body to revise the bargaining
process. He added that the bargaining demands could be sent anytime
now to the National Office and referred to Bulletin 04-06 on the website
for instructions.
ITEMS SUBMITTED BY THE LOCAL PRESIDENTS
1. Contract Employees (Saint
John)
Local: Employees
are retiring and then re-hired immediately as term employees and they
are not being covered by the collective agreement. In many situations,
they do the exact same work with the same job description as before they
left. If the employer would staff the job, our members within CRA
would apply for these jobs. Could this issue be addressed?
Many
locals went to the microphone to share similar situations.
President: This issue has to be dealt with
locally first and if need be, it should be passed on to the RVP before
we could bring it to the national level.
The meeting recessed at 1700 hours.
FRIDAY, MARCH 31, 2006
MORNING SESSION
The Conference was called to order at 09:00 a.m. with President Bannon
in the chair.
2. Compensation Service
Delivery Renewal Project (Saint John)
Local: Explained
that the above project was gone since last week and that they were very
concerned that now without the Human Resources employees in place, members
with special issues and/or human resources needs i.e. pay for acting
positions or disability insurance would now be taking care by the Team
Leaders who are already overworked and not properly trained.
Some locals shared what was happening in their work place:
- they are experiencing mistakes on pay cheques re.: tax deductions;
- the members do not receive acting pay or compensation pay;
- they have issues with the travel status;
- they filed numerous grievances re.: pay cheques
- this was a training issue; the employer was asked to provide proper
training;
- the employer was abusing the employees;
- the staff was not in place long enough to take care of the problem;
- management was as frustrated as the members;
- both the team leaders and the union representatives would be busy;
m/s Denis Brunette/Louise Vallière
Be it resolved that the Executive Council makes all necessary representations
to the Agency and to Public Works (PWGSC/TPSGC) to limit the rate of
recovery to 30% of an employee’s pay, regardless of the reasons
for, or the total amount, of the recovery.
MOTION CARRIED.
Local: Where
would the pressure be first put, the Treasury Board or CRA?
President: Stated that CRA would be the
first place. It follows the compensation guidelines set by Treasury
Board. Locals should list specific problems encountered with compensation
issues and give them to their RVP by the end of April.
3. Small Claims Court
(Ottawa TC Local)
Local: Explained
the legal process they went through to fine their scabs. It stated
that the judgments were favourable to the local for all cases. The
scabs had 20 days to file a defence and only one scab did file a defence. The
judge ruled that the case would be used as a *precedent setting case*
and that all other cases would be adjourned until that one was dealt
with.
The defendant would then try to have the judge rule that the PSAC Constitution
was not enforceable. If the decision was in favour of the local,
the case would be going to trial and then whatever party loses, they would
appeal to the Superior Court of Ontario. If the local wins the case,
*everybody in Ontario would be awarded their fine*. The local added
that it would cost more money to go ahead but that it was a question of
principle and that it wanted to let the scabs know that there were
consequences in crossing picket lines.
It was noted that in Ontario there was a two (2) year time limit to fine
the scabs from the date they crossed the picket line.
President: As far as the law was concerned,
the fine of scabs cannot be punitive in nature. They would have to be compensatory
in nature. She believes that a court can’t interpret
the Constitution of a union. If the local loses, it was her intention
to immediately (or before to be proactive) have a working group of politicians
together with the PSAC lawyers to come up with wording to make the fines
compensatory. This would then be brought before the NBoD to
be included as a regulation and then to be moved into the Constitution
at the 2009 PSAC Convention.
4. Terms and Conditions
Letters / Administrative Letters (Ottawa HQ)
Local: Was
looking for input from other locals on the issue. The members that
were coming back from extended sick leave were vulnerable people. They
were being given a terms and conditions letter stipulating the hours of
work, how much time for breaks and lunch hour, whom to call if they were
sick etc. The employer was threatening and intimidating these members
who were having medical issues and was pushing them to take early retirement.
Many
locals were experiencing similar situations.
President: Replied that members should be looking
at discrimination grievances.
Point of privilege – Jean dePeiza
Each or most of us remember the passing of Sister Diana Gee at the last
Triennial Convention. In recognition of her commitment and dedication
to her community and her Local, Local 00013 has passed a regulation creating
five (5) achievement awards in her name. These awards would be made
to grade 8 Aboriginal Students at the First Nations School of the Toronto
District Board of Education annually. The first award would be handed
out in May 2006. We hope that the students would use these awards
as an incentive to pursue their education.
Point of privilege was well received by the chair.
REPORT OF THE NATIONAL COMMITTEES
Brother Chris Aylward, Chairperson of the Committee, presented his Co-chair,
Brother Kent MacDonald, the Presidents’ representative, Brother
Norbert Wenzel and Sister Lina Ruel, the Staff Advisor. He
then updated the participants on the following subjects:
- The First Aid Policy should be available within the next two (2) months.
- The Managers’ Training should be ready
and rolled out in the fall.
- The employees’ pamphlet should also
be available in the fall.
- The Job Hazard Analysis for Field Officers was being worked on and
was moving ahead.
- Protective footwear in the workplace: The
NJC would now cover the full cost (the amount has yet to be agreed
to with the employer, approximately $145.00) instead of providing
an allowance as it was done in the past. The
employer had agreed to that initiative.
- Posters were available to bring back to the locals to remember that
April 28 was the National Day of Mourning for workers injured or killed
on the job.
- The Committee would start planning the Regional and National Conferences
for 2007. It would be asking locals for input on what they would like
to see covered in these conferences.
Brother Denis St-Jean, Health and Safety Officer from the PSAC made
a presentation on the Overview of Regulatory Initiatives – Canada Labour
Code, Part II. Documentation was distributed to the participants.
REPORT OF THE NATIONAL COMMITTEES
Brother Nick Stein introduced the members of the WFA Committee, the
Co-chair Brother Marcel Bertrand, Brother John Kosiba, TC Local Representative,
Brother Doug Gaetz, TSO Local Representative and Brother Pierre Mulvihill,
the Technical Advisor. Brother Stein elaborated on the following:
- An article would be in the next UTE Newsletter
on Regional Job Offers vs Permanent Lateral Moves.
- A resolution was passed at Council stating
that: the Executive Council mandate UTE Representatives at all levels,
locally, regionally and nationally to only use Regional Job Offers
in WFA situations and that the National President would issue UTE’s
position in writing to the Commissioner.
- A guaranteed ever-reasonable job offer vs
reasonable job offer: a guaranteed ever-reasonable job offer was
a guarantee from the Commissioner that an effected employee would
be guaranteed future employment without specifying where the job
would be or at which level and salary it would be. While a reasonable
job offer would be offered only to surplus employees. The
offer would be made at the same time the surplus letter would be given
to the employees and the letter would come from the delegated manager.
- Locals that do not have a WFA Committee should address their concerns
and issues to their RVP.
ITEMS SUBMITTED BY THE LOCAL PRESIDENTS
5. Staffing (Edmonton)
Local: Would
like to wait for the Staffing Committee to report.
6. ACS-SP (Jonquière)
Local: Would
like to wait for the Staffing Committee to report.
7. Health & Safety – New
Regulation 19 (Windsor)
Local: Wished
to withdraw this item as it was dealt with in the morning. The
local congratulated the committee on their good work and the presentation
done in the morning by Brother St-Jean.
8. Scabs Reports/Updates – CEUDA & their
Designates (Peterborough)
Local: Stated
that Council was to submit a resolution showing the number of designates
to the NBoD. Could an update be given on that?
President: Council did approve the resolution. It
was decided to first ask Sister Turmel for the report and that if it was
necessary we would submit the resolution. She commented that during the
October NBoD meeting, she asked that the Board be provided with the number
of designates, their region etc. Sister Turmel agreed that she
would provide the report but we have received nothing yet.
CEUDA was supposed to issue a notification to its branches outlining
the constitutional requirements for designates. We would pursue
that issue with CEUDA and ask for a copy of Ronny Moran’s letter
to avoid such situations with future strikes.
A Toronto Local added that they asked the CEUDA Local President from Branch
24 if they had taken any kind of action against their scabs and he answered
that his committee members did not received any written complaints and
that it was too late now to pursue any action.
9. Observe & Attest
Initiative (Peterborough)
Local: Wished
to defer the item until the Staffing Committee Report was presented.
10. CEUDA/CEIU Transfers to UTE (Peterborough)
Local: Wished
to withdraw the item as the answer was provided earlier.
11. 2004 Strike – 25% of Pay
of Designated Employees (Montréal)
Local: Asked
what it should do with the money paid by the designated members? Could
the local get a receipt as union deduction and what would happen with
the ones that did not pay?
President: Explained that the money had
to be sent to the PSAC Center for them to issue a dues receipt and then
it would be sent to the Regional PSAC Office where it would be placed
in the Regional Hardship Fund.
She reiterated that the local should attempt to collect the money by
way of a letter or a discussion outlining to the members their constitutional
obligations and explaining the ramifications of not paying. If the
members do not pay, they were violating the Constitution and they were
subjected to discipline. The local should form a three (3) persons
committee to investigate the facts and establish that the members were
designates and were requested to pay and that thus they were in violation
of the constitution. The Local should then prepare a report
and have recommendations for discipline that would be voted on by the
membership.
12. Workplace Safety and Health Policy
(Montréal)
Local: Presented
a motion (attached letter – J.
Drozd)
m/s Christian
Bonin/Denis Brunette
Be It is resolved that the Executive Council and the Health and Safety
Committee pressure the Agency to modify its policies on Threats and Assaults
so that:
(1) The court procedures be limited to the Agency and not against the
employees who follow the Agency guidelines and properly execute their duties
as employees of the Agency.
(2) The Agency fully assumes the responsibility of the follow-up to these
matters through the security head of the TSO Local, including legal and
criminal investigations.
(3) That the complaints which are laid by our members be treated by the
Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) irrespective of place of residence.
President: Noted that that issue was brought
to the National Health and Safety Committee a few years ago and that
obviously it was not clarified.
m/s Doug
Gaetz/John Kosiba
That the motion be amended as follows:
Be it Resolved that the Executive Council and the Health and Safety
Committee pressure the Agency to modify its policies on Threats and Assaults
so that they can address the concerns raised at the March 2006 Presidents’ Conference.
MOTION TO AMEND CARRIED.
MAIN MOTION CARRIED.
13. Performance Reviews (work assessments)
(Peterborough)
Local: Asked
if any local had seen a performance evaluation form Y 280 that the employer
had created showing 5 boxes instead of the 3 as follows: excels, exceeds,
meets, marginally meets and does not meet?
Some
locals said that they had told management that they did not agree with
the use of that form and to stop using it.
L. Cassidy: Chair of the Staffing Committee drew
attention to the fact that the committee was sent a draft copy, that
the committee was not in agreement with that scale and that the locals
should grieve on that issue. The committee was trying to arrange
a meeting with the employer to discuss further on that particular issue.
14. Placement Criteria – Requiring
Accounting for PM1 Collection Officers (Peterborough)
Local: After
looking at the placement criteria of all PM1 external competitions across
Canada, it wished to bring to the attention of the other locals that there
was no uniformity for PM1 external competitions that management had in
place. The local brought up a few examples and stated that they would
refer the issue to the Staffing Committee. The Committee stressed
the importance that by bringing up the issue again and again, maybe one
day, the employer would be fairly consistent and transparent across Canada.
Other
locals explained that they had experienced the same situation. Some
locals had tried to have the introductory and intermediate accounting removed
and bilingualism removed for positions in Windsor and Peterborough but
without success. Management’s explanation was that these criteria
may be useful for career path and/or expected job changes in the future. A
local explained that they had to argue with management that PM1s were
not required to travel and yet this was still a criterion.
L. Cassidy: Chair of the Staffing Committee commented
that this was an ongoing issue and that management had been successful
in arguing that there was a requirement. If the job description requires
knowledge of accounting procedures and principles and it did not limit
the pool, then they were perfectly within their rights to do that. Their
explanation was that by asking for accounting they did not have to test
the accounting knowledge of the individual.
15. Communication / Web Updates (Peterborough)
Local: Locals
were emailed on March 14, 2006 with a revised UTE Organizational Chart
where all the Local Presidents were listed and the chart did not match
the UTE Structure that was shown on our website. Please make sure
that the information sent out is accurate.
The local commented on the fact that some information should have been
sent with respect to Women’s Day, March 8, either from the National
President or the National EO Committee.
President: Passed on the comment to the
EO Committee to take note for the next year with respect to the Women’s
Day, March 8.
Local: Noted
that on March 17, the UTE Logo changed to a green logo with Happy St-Patrick’s
Day. It went back to its normal red color only on the following Monday
afternoon. It makes him question the professionalism of his union. There
were numerous days throughout the year that we could celebrate. Where
do we draw the line?
President: Stated that it was her decision
to do that. She went on to say that Google often had themes on their
opening page i.e. Christmas, Valentine’s Day, the Olympics etc… and
that she found Google quite professional. She asked that the green
logo be put on the website and be taken out as soon as possible and that
she personally thought that it was not unprofessional. She concluded
by saying that she would not mind if the logo was blue on St-Jean Baptiste
Day and that the line would be drawn by her.
Local: Local
President concluded by saying that he just wanted to express his opinion
and that he knew that it was shared by some other people, but obviously
not by all.
REPORT OF THE NATIONAL COMMITTEES
The Staffing Committee was invited to report on their activities. The
Chair of the Committee, Sister Linda Cassidy introduced the members of
the Committee as follows: Sister Pamela Abbott, Co-chair, Sister
Madonna Gardiner, Presidents’ Representative for the TC Local. She
went on to mention that there would be an election the next day for the
position of the Presidents’ Representative for the TSO Locals and
that Brother Shane O’Brien, Staff Advisor was absent with permission
to get ready for the Open house. Sister Cassidy reported on three
issues.
- There was nothing much to report on ACS. The conversion was supposed
to be ready for March 31st and it wasn’t ready. There was
a meeting scheduled for April 5th with the employer and an update would
be sent out to the locals shortly after. It was agreed at the retreat
in February that briefing notes of all meetings with the employer would
be provided on a timely basis to keep people informed. We would
be re-contacting the locals to make sure that the names that they had
provided sometime ago for the SP Trainers were still accurate. Very
little information had been added, on purpose, to the employer website
on ACS so March 31st would go by and nobody would notice that they were
not ready.
- With respect to Term Employees, as of February
17, 2006, 275 terms were now indeterminate employees. Even though the employer
had committed to better monitor and manage their term employees,
there was now another 900 terms over three (3) years of service in UTE. They
were still to receive the draft of two (2) documents: the Directive on
Management of Term Employees and the Staffing Bulletin on Directive for
Re-Hire that were supposed to be available in April 2006. Sister Cassidy
stressed the fact that those two documents were very important to force
a mandatory two-year review of the term positions. The documents
should also clarify what their requirements were and outline exactly
how managers should conduct the review. The documents would also
give the locals tools to make sure they do the review properly.
Note: The review should be done individually for every member employed
for over 2 years and it should also be done through a regular ongoing discussion
and not wait for the 2 year period to be over. The committee recommends
that this topic be a regular agenda item on the locals’ UMC meetings
to verify which members were on the list. Mistakes were made on those
lists and they had to be checked carefully. In two different situations,
a PIPSC member was on one of the lists and an indeterminate employee was
also on a list.
The committee would continue to work closely with the employer on the
recommendations that came out of the Term Study, as they were very important
to the members and the organization.
- The committee’s position on Performance Evaluation was that if
members get a performance evaluation that contains any aspects that were
not related to their assigned tasks (article 58 of the collective agreement)
i.e. : quotas, aspects of their character or how well they get along
with others, then they should refuse to sign the evaluation and they
should grieve. The Staffing Committee should be kept
informed through the RVP who would send the information to the committee
in order to address the situation immediately with the employer. (Ref.
February 2004 Staffing Minutes)
ACS - Jonquière 10004:
Local: Would
like the Staffing Committee to address the issue of the CR2s mostly in
TC Locals in Québec in order to have their job description reclassified. At
the beginning of this month, mediation with CRA was undertaken to rewrite
the job descriptions. New tasks were added and the local would like
to ensure that they were taken into consideration. There should be
no CR2s anymore. Sister Cassidy had been sent the list of the new
tasks.
L. Cassidy: Shared the list with the other members
of the committee and when these particular job descriptions would be
received for the committee’s review, the Committee would make sure
that these comments are included.
Local: Could
the employer force an employee to sign an evaluation form that would show
the next year’s expectations? Sister Cassidy replied that they
can’t, but they could put a copy of it in the file without the employee’s
signature.
Observe and Attest Initiative - Peterborough 00008
Local: With
regard to the PQP Process, specifically the Observe and Attest vs the
individual feedback, could the chair of the committee expand on that?
And would the employer provide the legal opinion?
L. Cassidy: The committee was maintaining its
position that Observe and Attest was part of learning and performance
and therefore members could grieve. The employer was insisting (even
though it was not part of staffing) that it was subject to individual feedback
and decision review only. The committee would encourage filing
a grievance if members had concerns or questions.
On the legal opinion aspect, Brother O’Brien was asking the employer
on a weekly basis but nothing had come out yet.
Local: When
they reopen the collective agreement, would there be discussions about
the government removing marriage leave and replacing it with a one time
special leave?
President: The employer was concerned that
the union may want to address other topics other than the salary bands.
There would be no negotiation other than the SP rates of pay.
Staffing - Edmonton 30025
Local: Found
that management was not doing a decision review. It was rubber-stamping
the decision of the individual feedback. Could this issue be addressed?
L. Cassidy: She reiterated the committee’s
view that by filing grievances it was the only way that things would change
and improve. She added that the reviews were getting more contentious
in the field. Individual feedback and decision reviews were done
on the actual competencies by competency consultants. She stated
that some of those consultants were very condescending and were intimidating
the members. The Staffing Committee and the Local Executives
would have to remain diligent and keep getting the members to grieve.
President Bannon asked the Edmonton, Jonquière and Peterborough
Locals if their staffing issues on the agenda had been covered. All
three locals answered yes.
16. Discussion on CRA 2010 Video (Ottawa
TSO Local)
Local: Emphasized
that after seeing the mentioned video, there were some serious concerns. They
were wondering where Michel Dorais had been not to see what was happening
with Client Services. One of the worries of the members was the statement
made that there was no growth in Ottawa while we had seen jobs leave to
go to other areas and that the only area where there was still a growth
was in Collections and Audit. The Agency was now an Agency of Collections
and Audit. The local was concerned about the message the video
was delivering on good service and how would the employer take care of
the people in Ottawa if there was no growth in Ottawa. The local would
like this issue brought to the attention of the Commissioner because
the moral in Ottawa was very low.
Another
Ottawa local had the same feeling after seeing the video. People
were very upset, frustrated and disgusted. The 2010 Vision was seen
as being for young people, the municipalities, the provinces and corporate
institutions and that if the employees couldn’t be productive and
be excellent, then there was no place for them in the Agency. Management
mentioned several times that if employees did not support the 2010 Vision,
management would find them another place to work.
President: Requested that members that had
concerns and concrete issues to put them in writing and to send them
to their RVP who would take care of forwarding them to the National Office.
Point of privilege – Brother C. Bonin
Brother Bonin asked to be replaced by Brother John Drozd as he would not
be attending the Conference the next day.
The point was well taken by the President.
The session recessed at 4:30 p.m.
SATURDAY, APRIL 1ST , 2006
MORNING SESSION
The Conference was called to order at 09:00 a.m. with President Bannon
presiding.
President Bannon thanked everybody for coming over to the Open house.
Point of privilege – Brother S. Bergeron
Brother Bergeron suggested to the participants to fill in the Crowne
Plaza Appreciation Card and to include the person’s name if known.
The point was well taken by the Chair.
17. Public Service Health Care Program
(PSHCP) Changes (Ottawa TSO Local)
Local: Expressed
its concerns about the fact that there was no coverage anymore (as of September
last year) on the birth control shots that use to be paid by the plan. The
only coverage for birth control for women was the pill. One of the
concerns was that after 35 years, women were not supposed to take the pill
because it increases blood clot risks and other health problems. The
plan was discriminating and action should be taken.
President: Drew the attention to the fact
that the new plan came out public only last week on the NJC website and
that she had sent the bulletins to the field. She also had to send
them to CRA because they did not know anything about that. She found the
situation very disturbing that the union had to inform the employer. There
was one issue regarding co-insurance for spouses where the form had to
be signed and sent in by March 31st and Human Resources didn’t
know anything about it.
One
local mentioned that a member applied for co-insurance and was told by
Pay and Benefits in Winnipeg not to go ahead with her application because
they didn’t know if that benefit would apply to CRA.
18. Security re: mailing of Pay Statements
(Surrey)
Local: Could
the employer be asked to hold the statements and to send them electronically
for the purpose of keeping the information confidential and not to lose
them in the mail? Members of the local were told that they couldn’t
use the office address.
President: That situation was raised during
Council and she was advised that yes the statements could be mailed to
the working address. A number of people had their statements mailed
to their office address.
Could the banking information be taken off the pay statement?
President: Said that she could ask the employer
but she doubted that they would change it.
19. Agency’s use of a Change
Agent (Surrey)
Local: Brought
this issue as a point of information for other locals. Management
asked the Team Leaders to ask for volunteers in each team to be acting
as Change Agents. Those Agents were being trained by management
to refer people to the Assistant Director (ADR) with respect to any issues
members may have and of course members were not refer to their union.
Those Agents were also required to report back on how many people were
being referred to different places.
President: Asked if that situation was happening
anywhere else? No other situations were noted by other locals.
It was suggested that the submitting local try to deal with the issue
locally first and further advise if necessary.
20. Review of September 2005 Presidents
Conference Minutes (Peterborough)
Local: The
item was withdrawn by the submitting local.
21. Problem Resolution Program (PRP) (St.
Catharines)
Local: Would
like to know if it has been centralized in other areas?
Ottawa TC Local said that their PRP had been centralized to Sudbury and
that they may get a lot from former SORO.
President: How many locals have PRP within their
local? Many locals did.
How many locals have PRP in their region but centralized somewhere? The
whole Ontario Regional Offices Region.
Note: NORO and SORO had been merged and were now called ORO.
22. Dress Code (St. Catharines)
Local: Wanted
to inform the other members that the dress code was still an issue and
would like to know what could be done.
President: Reiterated her position that
there was a ‘national’ dress code which was - clean and neat
- that existed since the 80s and that she would provide a copy to the locals
when she would be back in the office. She stated that members could
tell management that there was no ‘local’ dress code and
that if they wanted to make any changes, they would have to bring it
at the national level. She furthermore advised that if management kept
on talking about a local dress code those members should contact their
RVP.
Other
locals shared their comments on the issue and some of them were quite
entertaining.
23. Official Languages Policy (St.
Catharines)
Local: Stated
that in order for management to plan ahead and be able to serve on a national
level, it was requesting imperative staffing for bilingual positions. The
local commented that if it kept hiring bilingual people, the English community
would be left behind. The local wanted to know if other locals
were experiencing that situation where management was over-staffing bilingual
positions.
Other locals were in fact experiencing the same thing. One
western local said that management was pushing to have more bilingual
positions and that it provided training during working hours. The
local did not have an issue with that situation.
The Summerside Local commented that the employer had the ability to
use the Student French Emersion Program to offer indeterminate employment. The
concern was that members on term positions and long term acting positions
could miss a job opportunity because some positions could get filled
through that program based on the bilingual requirements.
The Moncton Local commented that the opposite situation was happening
in their local. Management was re-evaluating all the jobs and was
looking at taking away the bilingual bonus. Its rationale was
that there was too many francophones working in the office.
One other local said that as long as it was not mandatory from management,
it did not have an issue with that situation.
A Quebec Local said that management kept on saying regularly that there
was no local or regional inventory. There was only a national inventory
and that every region had to demonstrate that it could service a national
inventory. Since the employer had created bilingual imperative jobs it
did not provide the training budgets accordingly. The local
stressed the fact that it was a discriminatory situation for unilingual
members and that complaints should be filed, by phone, through
the Office of the Commissioner to Official Languages.
President: Asked on a show of hands if there
were more bilingual positions that there used to be? Not too many hands
were raised.
24. Safety Officers – Northern
Ontario (St. Catharines)
Local: Advised
as a point of information that management was cutting back on Safety
Officers and also on the locations that those officers were going to
serve from.
C. Aylward Chair of the National OSH Committee stated that the committee knew about the problem and that it was a major
concern because those Safety Officers were responsible for the enforcement
of the code. The committee would be vigilant and would keep a close
eye on that situation.
25. PM3s Generalists (St. Catharines)
Local: PM3s
would be made generalists in Audit Division in order to handle both the
GST and the Tax. Would there be any grievance campaign with respect
to that issue?
L. Cassidy: Chair of the Staffing Committee reported
that they received a document with the proposed new harmonized ranges
last November. Subsequent to that, both parties had met again on two
occasions with respect to the impact of the ranges and workload. The
Staffing Committee would be sending the minutes shortly after the next
meeting with all the specifics for each local.
Brother Kent MacDonald, Chair of the Political Action Committee introduced
as members of the committee, Brother Nick Stein, Co-chair, and Annette
Melanson, Presidents’ Representative. He then invited Sister Melanson
to inform the locals on the primary and secondary MPs. Sister Melanson
said that following a request to all locals to send out the name of their
MPs for lobbying purposes, the response was quite good. She reminded
the locals that had not sent their information to please do so. Brother
MacDonald came back to say that as of today, they were launching a community
newspapers campaign and that the list was in the committee minutes as well
as information about the plant-gate of April 26th. He then
went on to talk about the lobbying kit, an important tool to help the locals. A
copy was provided to each participant. He commented further that
one of the achievements of that exercise was to have the MPs to recognize
who we were, why we were important to them, that we were professionals
and also that when we want to talk to them, they would know there would
be a specific purpose and that we would provide them with the right information. The
Committee answered a few questions.
Recess for lunch
AFTERNOON SESSION
The meeting was called to order at 1:15 hours. President Bannon
was in the chair.
SPECIAL PRESENTATION
Captain Ed Smith from International Children
Awareness (ICA) presented
a few slides from Cameroon to show how the money that UTE donated in
September was spent. Captain Smith mentioned that their objectives for 2007
were to return to Azi-Menji and Alou to complete these projects as well
as identify the next water project. Following the last September
President’s Conference challenge from Sister Bembridge to have
the locals collect a dollar per member, below are the amounts that had
been collected:
Northern and Eastern Ontario Region
Peterborough: $154.00, Kingston: $284.00, Belleville $333.00, Thunder Bay
$250.00 and
Sudbury: $1500.00.
Saint John Local and the Convention Host Committee $1800.00
Victoria $451.00
Burnaby Fraser: $250.00
Ottawa TSO: $900.00
ITSO: $700.00
Ottawa TC: $1100.00
The PSAC Social Justice Fund Steering Committee has contributed the amount
of $3,000.00.
The hat was passed among the participants and the amount of $1465.00 was
raised.
m/s Dough Gaetz/Barb Stewart
That the Executive Council double the amount collected and that the money
come out of surplus.
MOTION CARRIED.
President Bannon presented Captain Smith with a UTE Shirt to show UTE’s
appreciation for the work that has been done.
ITEM SUBMITTED BY THE LOCAL PRESIDENTS
26. Employment Equity used as a placement
criteria (St. Catharines)
Local: Could
the Staffing Committee advise on this issue?
L. Cassidy: Chair of the Staffing Committee stated
that the employer had issued a clear bulletin on that issue that specifically
indicated when it could be used. It may very well be used and
should be used when there was a demonstrated gap.
Some
locals shared their views.
ELECTION OF THE LOCAL PRESIDENTS’ TSO REPRESENTATIVE ON THE NATIONAL
STAFFING COMMITTEE.
Brother Doug Gaetz nominated Sister Terri Ruyter, Burnaby Fraser and Sister
Jean dePeiza seconded.
Brother Greg Krokosh nominated Brother Alain Lachapelle, Laval and Sister
Colette Fortin seconded.
President Bannon declared the nominations closed.
Brother Alain Lachapelle was elected to the National Staffing Committee.
m/s Barb Stewart/Lynn Scott-Cadieux
That the ballots be destroyed
Brother Lachapelle thanked everybody and stated that he would do his best
to serve the members.
REPORT OF NATIONAL COMMITTEES
Brother Campbell, Chair of the Finance Committee reported briefly that
the sample statements were distributed and to make sure that each local
had a copy before they leave. The Finance Committee was thinking
of a Treasurer Workshop for the next September Presidents’ Conference.
27. Security of Service Agents (Belleville)
Local: Where
does the employer stand with delegation of authority if an incident occurs
in the office while members are servicing the public?
President: Stated that there was accountability
and due diligence at all levels, from the employee to the Commissioner. Whether
it was a team leader or acting team leader that person would be held accountable
if she/he knowingly puts a member in a dangerous situation. There
has been a bulletin issued by Leon Page given suggestions to the field
and through further discussions with the union, they became minimum standards
for all office that had Client Services. Management was told at
NUMC and through committee meetings that by cutting the services, the
public would take it out on the first person they see, their employees
and our members.
The
locals shared comments and concerns on a few situations and asked that
training be provided to team leaders or whoever was in place and had
authority. They
added that there were tools in place and that the union must enforce
that they be used.
28. PM3s and PM4s Investigations Job
Descriptions (Belleville)
Local: Addressed
that the job descriptions were basically the same other than how they were
rated. The Special Enforcement Program (SEP) had no job description
yet. The local was being told that the job descriptions were being
written for a long time now and nothing was happening.
L. Cassidy: Chair of the Staffing Committee requested
that the locals provide her with all the information they had and that
she would look into that and would report back in the minutes after the
meeting in two weeks.
29. First Vice-President Job Description
(Peterborough)
Local: During
last Convention, it was said that the job description would be provided
on paper within about six (6) months. The Executive Council Minutes
of September 2005 stated that the delay in posting the Executive Assistant
(EA) job description was the re-writing of the job description due to now
having a full-time First Vice-President (FVP). The December 2005
minutes stated that the EA job description was sent for classification
and when received we would advertise for the position. It also stated
that there were discussions to define specific duties for each position
(the National President and the First Vice-President) and that when completed,
the statement of duties would be distributed to Council and each Local. Was
there a copy available of the job description for the FVP?
President: Answered that there was not one
available and that she had reported to Council earlier during the week
on the issue. She added that if people had questions on issues that
had been covered in the President’s report that they should ask
their RVP.
The Local went on to say that the statement of responsibilities for
the EA position (*bilingual imperative) advertised the week before was
rather exhaustive and that the FVP could have very well handled that
job short of the fact that he was not bilingual. 1) Aren’t the
two jobs overlapping? 2) *Aren’t we excluding people that could
do the job and are willing to learn the second language?
President: Answered that there was an overlap
between the President, the First Vice-President and the EA jobs. There
would not be a detailed job description for the FVP as there was for the
EA. There was not one as well for the National President. They
do whatever we have to do. The FVP was doing office, finance and
political duties and in the absence of the National President, he was looking
after every duty including union business approval. Once they had established
that the full-time FVP would be a political position, they looked differently
at the EA position. The EA would now have to advise, research,
write etc.. as opposed to the old position.
She
emphasized the fact that there were realities where the EA position had
to be bilingual and that one of them was that when the National President
and FVP were unilingual, the EA must be bilingual.
30. Sun Life (Peterborough)
Local: The
local commented that their main concern about that issue was that it would
be a very difficult and stressful process to go through Sun Life for members
who did not have a family doctor. The local would like the union
to be pro-active on that future dilemma and to have Brother Gordon from
the PSAC find out from Sun Life what the directions to take were.
B. Campbell: He had a conversation with Brother Gordon on that specific
issue and it was becoming a problem. The Joint Committee talked to
Sun Life and they would look into that before it becomes a bigger problem. He
concluded saying that UTE would follow-up with PSAC in about two (2)
months.
Other
locals commented as well on the shortage of doctors and on the problems
they were facing.
31. CAW & NDP (Peterborough)
Local: The
issue was withdrawn by the submitting local.
32. Avian Flue (Shawinigan)
m/s Francine Bouchard/Benoît Séguin
Be it Resolved that the UTE National President meet the employer to demand
that action plans be set-up to counter the consequences of an upcoming
pandemic.
MOTION CARRIED.
33. Client Services – Print
on Demand (Thunder Bay)
Local: Print
on Demand was currently being handled by the Call Centers but because
of the backlog, management was now instructing Client Service Agents
to provide that information at the local level. The local was looking
for comments from the Presidents and asked if the union would allow management
to change their policies and practices to accommodate their needs?
A
few locals agreed that management was doing that. The Summerside
Local said that a memorandum went out stating that no one was allowed to
get the printout from different offices anymore and to call 1-800 if they
needed the service. A local commented that it depended on what
time of the day the request was made and to which supervisor they had
been talking to.
President: Acknowledged that across the
country when the request for a printout was made, it took about 2 days
to get it. She suggested that the submitting local ask its Director
about who instructed the change and why before the union takes any action.
34. Independent Third Party Review (ITPR) (Chicoutimi)
President Bannon advised that there was not enough time left to
discuss that item and if there were any further queries on the issue to
please bring them to their RVP. She added that there would be an
ITPR session in May with 5 members that had volunteered their name.
She also stated that at the next September Presidents’ Conference,
there would be a feedback session from the locals on the Developing Membership
Activism Course as to know what plan did they make following the course,
was the course of assistance to carry out the plan and did they followed-up
the plan? etc..
President Bannon announced a draw of 2 UTE Jackets and the winners were:
Alain Martineau from Sherbrooke and Mike Braithwaite from Ottawa HQ.
CLOSING REMARKS
President Bannon’s closing remarks were short and precise. She
emphasized the fact that there was a lot of work ahead if they wanted to
win the fight on Client Services and that they would have to talk to the
politicians. She also stated that work had to be done in developing
our Local Executives, our Communications and in increasing attendance at
the Annual General Meetings (AGM). These were the three (3) goals
set by the Executive Council for them to achieve and that they could only
be achieved with the help and assistance of the locals.
President Bannon wished all a safe trip home.
The meeting adjourned at 5:00 pm.
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