MINUTES OF THE PRESIDENTS’ CONFERENCE
September 21-23, 2006
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 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 and the session opened with
the song Solidarity Forever in both French and English.
President Bannon introduced Brother Dave Flinn, Life Member of the PSAC
and former UTE National President.
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 then asked the 54 Local Presidents to introduce themselves. The
members of the Executive Council were then introduced. Brother Aylward,
RVP for the NCR Region was absent with permission. She mentioned
that Sister Donna Nitz, Finance Administration Officer, would be retiring
in December and that this conference was her last one.
OPENING REMARKS
President Bannon welcomed everyone to the conference. She started
her remarks by saying that we were going toward bargaining and that members,
through their locals, could submit demands all year round. She hoped
that this round would be different and that the new Commissioner would
show his true colors during negotiations. She stressed the importance
for the Locals to be solid, work together and engage the membership now
in the bargaining process. She commented on the fact that there were
approximately 1300 members affected by Work Force Adjustment (WFA) and
that we must force the employer to use the Appendix A on reasonable job
offers rather than permanent lateral transfers. WFA should be a
standard item on every UMC Agenda. Sister Bannon encouraged
the locals to open their email regularly, as there would be important notices
on many topics and particularly on bargaining. She concluded saying that
this week there would be many committees that would report on their activities
and that the RVPs would be able to answer any questions the participants
may have.
A moment of silence was taken in memory of the members deceased since
we last met.
HOURS OF SESSION
M/S/C Lorne
Roslinski/Jos Parris
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
lists and Items submitted by the Local Presidents)
M/S/C Doug
Gaetz/Alain Lachapelle
That the agenda be adopted as circulated with the following additions from
the floor.
- National Directory on Third Language (Halifax)
- Sun Life and Retroactive Pay (Saint John)
- Public Service Modernization Act (Saint John)
- Designations (Bathurst)
- Client Service - CRA vs Service Canada (Shawinigan-Sud)
- Pay Problems (Montréal)
- Security Services (Montréal)
- Week-end Seminar for Local Officers (Saskatoon)
- Sun Life – Disability (ITSO
MOTION CARRIED.
Point of privilege - F. Bouchard, Shawinigan-Sud
Sister Bouchard wished to congratulate Sister Sylvie Beaudoin, from
Shawinigan-Sud, who did not hesitate to jump in cold water to help save
two kids from a tragedy after their parents’ vehicle went head
first in the Saint-Maurice River last week on September 16.
The point of privilege was well taken by the President.
EXECUTIVE COUNCIL BUSINESS
President Bannon reported briefly on some of the business conducted by
the Executive Council earlier during the week. (See Council
Minutes September 2006).
Resolutions and recommendations on the following topics were carried:
- International Children Awareness Organization
- Use of the PSAC Local Officers Kit
- New Position for a Senior Labour Officer
- UTE Humanitarian Award
- To move $30000 from line item Professional Fees to Office Expenses
for the purchase of new computers
- Update of Regulation 13 on Per Diem Allowance
- TELUS Services
- Sponsorship to Thunder Bay Minor Hockey Association
- Bill C-269 on Employment Insurance: ask PSAC to establish an email
campaign to members of parliament to have the Bill passed in the House
of Commons
The remaining Council business would be dealt with on Sunday, September
24.
REPORT OF THE NATIONAL COMMITTEES
Brother Campbell, Chair of the National Communications Committee introduced
the members of the Committee, Brothers Sabri Khayat, Co-Chair and Barry
Melanson and Sister Susan Duncan, Staff Member. Sister Duncan gave
a brief presentation on the changes that were made to the web and asked
the participants to write any questions or comments they may have on the
Evaluation Sheet included in each kit. Brother Campbell concluded
saying that all the updates for the Help Book that was provided to all
locals some time ago could be found on the web site and that the newest
locals may contact Sister Duncan, by email, to get a copy of the book
if they have not been sent one already. The Committee received very good
feedback on the newsletter and asked that more articles and suggestions
be submitted.
Sister Linda Cassidy, Chair of the National Staffing Committee was invited
to report on the Agency Classification System for Special Program group
(ACS-SP). Sister Cassidy introduced the members of the Committee,
Sister Pamela Abbott, Co-Chair, Brother Alain Lachapelle, TSO Representative
and Sister Madonna Gardiner. Brother Shane O’Brien was absent
from the table as he was acting as the Executive Assistant. Sister
Cassidy thanked Brother Lachapelle and Sister Gardiner for reviewing the
job descriptions in their new short format. She went on explaining
the ACS Training that would be taking place very shortly in the Regions
and the Locals. At the request of a local, she acknowledged that
a UTE Bulletin explaining the process would be written on the issue. Sister
Cassidy answered questions from the participants. (See attached
copy of the Staffing Sub-Committee Report presented at Council during the
week)
Point of privilege – G. Ennis, St. John’s
Brother Ennis thanked the National President for the sympathy card received
following the passing away of his spouse’s father and as well the
numerous phone calls, flowers, donations, cards from many UTE brothers
and sisters.
The point of privilege was well taken by the President.
ITEMS SUBMITTED BY THE LOCAL PRESIDENTS
1. HEALTH AND SAFETY OF SERVICE
AGENTS (Belleville)
Local: Are
the Service Agents feeling that they are working in an unsafe place?
Would
like to see a minimum of training for these Agents.
President: Reiterated that specific local
issues should be raised at the Local OHS Committee meetings. She
mentioned that before raising this as a national issue, we would have
to hear from other locals and that it was the Local OSH Representative
responsibility to report any incident.
N. Wenzel: Member of the National Health
and Safety Committee urged the locals to report their situations in order
for him to inform the H & S Policy Committee to revisit their recommendations.
A few locals went to the microphone to address their concerns.
President: After hearing the locals’ issues,
she stated that she can’t concretely say that the recommendations
were not working. This can’t be raised at the National Level
because the Local OHS Committees had not dealt with the issues, as they
should.
President Bannon introduced Sister Jacquie de Aguayo, Coordinator of the
Representation Section of the PSAC who was invited to talk about what is
not harassment.
The meeting recessed at 1700 hours.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2006
MORNING SESSION
The Conference was called to order at 09:00 a.m. with President Bannon
in the Chair.
2. CRA & Social Development Canada (SDC) COLLECTION INTEGRATION – TRANSITIONAL
ISSUE (Belleville)
Local: There
have been anomalies with the pay and compensation process and union dues
deductions.
Brother Phillips from the London Local and Brother Reid from the Belleville
Local would provide the National Office with all the examples of the anomalies.
A few locals went to the microphone to explain their problem on the issue.
President: Required that each case be forwarded
to the RVP.
3. CORPORATE TAX ADMINISTRATION
FOR ONTARIO (CTAO) (Belleville)
Local: Was
seeking additional information from the President, as they did not want
the same transitional issues happening for these people as for the SDC.
President: Reiterated that this was the
reason why we needed to know sooner than later about the issues with the
HRSDC transfer and the pay situation and that there were on-going discussions
with the employer about the transfer of the Ontario Corporation Tax (OCT)
to CRA. Two meetings took place with the employer during which
it was made very clear that our concerns were regarding the impact of the
people coming over and our members. Management has committed to
keep the union inform. They acknowledged that they had problems with
the transfer of HRSDC and that they do not want the same situation to
happen.
The Government of Canada should be signing soon a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA)
with the Government of Ontario that will lead to the CRA administering
Ontario provincial corporate income tax.
4. BULLETIN 03-06 UTE
DIRECTIVE ON EAP REFERRAL AGENTS (R.A.) (Jonquière)
Local: Asked
a clear direction of where we stand on the issue. Could we or could
we not have referral agents at the local level?
President: Answered very clearly that the UTE’s
position was that local executive and/or stewards were not to be referral
agents and that we would discourage any member from becoming one.
J. Dee: President
of the National EAP Committee reiterated that the UTE’s position
has not changed on that issue. We do not want our members or any
managers to become R.A. because of the dual roles situation. The upcoming
National EAP Conference would be very useful to members as it would give
more information on the issue.
With
respect to how many seats to which UTE was entitled when meeting
with management now that CEUDA was no longer participating, Brother Dee
answered that all the UTE Committee Members were attending when meeting
with the employer.
Locals: Expressed
their views on the issue and are looking forward to a good debate on
the issue of Referral Agents at the National Conference next November.
President Bannon announced that the next UTE Triennial Convention would
be held at the Hyatt Hotel in Vancouver. She added that a note on
that issue was sent to all locals not too long ago.
Point of privilege – M. Ettel – Edmonton
Sister Ettel expressed the local disappointment about the fact that they
were not formally advised that they had not been selected as the location
to hold the Triennial Convention in 2008.
Point of privilege – D. Quist, Peterborough
Brother Quist suggested that for future reference that a letter be sent
to the inviting locals that were not successful.
President Bannon answered that a letter would be sent in the future to
thank the locals that have sent a proposal.
REPORT OF THE NATIONAL COMMITTEES
President Bannon invited Brother Stein, Chair of the National WFA Committee
to introduce the other members of the committee: The Co-Chair, Brother
Marcel Bertrand, Brothers Doug Gaetz, TSO Local Representative and John
Kosiba, TC Local Representative and Pierre Mulvihill, the Technical Advisor. Brother
Stein went on to say that Sister Bannon had asked that the committee develop
a bulletin on the employer’s recent announcement on the WFA Guidelines. He
confirmed that a meeting was scheduled with the employer the following
Monday to discuss, among other topics, these guidelines. Although
the committee had not approved the bulletin yet, Brother Stein read a draft
of what could be covered. He stated that these guidelines were the
employer’s interpretation of the provisions of the collective agreement. Brother
Stein’s closing remarks were to thank the Locals and Council members
for being vigilant and for keeping the committee informed on this important
issue. He also asked the locals to pay special attention to term
employees, our members, as they don’t have job security under the
collective agreement. The committee answered a few questions.
5. NEW ELECTRONIC NETWORK POLICY GUIDE (Ottawa HQ)
Local: Said
that they were told by PIPSC that the policy had been released and that
Jean Laronde stated that what they would consider union business would
be issues related to strike, anti-management or similar topics sent to
all members. Could we accept her verbal explanation of the facts?
President: Replied that unless proven otherwise,
we could take Jean’s word on that. She added that UTE had not
been informed of members being disciplined for having contacting the union
by email. She strongly urged the locals to take away
any union business, email or documents from their work computer.
Locals: A
few locals commented on topics for issues of which they had been told
by the employer not to use the email system.
The Montreal Local stated that they had won a grievance based on the
fact that the employer has an obligation to inform employees on the usage
of the electronic system and to give appropriate training. The
local suggested that for members who have been disciplined, they should
verify if the employer provided training on the usage of the E.S.
Point of privileges – T. Dupuis, Saskatoon
Brother Dupuis wished to advise that Brother Bob Carpenter’s life
partner who lost her father in a car accident in which she was involved
and critically injured, was on her way to recovery and was working part-time.
They will get married next September 30th.
Brother Dupuis presented Sister Betty Bannon with a 30 year pin to show
the UTE’s appreciation for her dedicated services during all these
years.
6. UPDATE ON BARGAINING
PROCESS FOR THE NEXT ROUND (Ottawa HQ)
Sister Bannon suggested that the local postpone this item until the report
of the Bargaining Committee.
7. UPDATE ON WORKFORCE
ADJUSTMENT FOLLOWING CRA ANNOUN-CEMENT (Ottawa HQ)
Local: This
item was withdrawn by the submitting local.
8. PQP : PRE-QUALIFICATION
PROCESS (Outaouais)
Local: Stated
that the intervention was not a political one. The local would
like to know why the Agency has two ways for staffing jobs. In Quebec
to be promoted you have to pass the PQP while in the other provinces
people are being given only in-house test.
Could the Staffing Committee ask the Agency why because we should be treated
like the rest of Canada?
President: Asked Brother O’Brien to
comment.
O’Brien: Advisor
on the Staffing Committee commented that the issue of PQP being used almost
exclusively in Québec had been raised with the Employer by UTE and
also by PIPSC. He added that at a recent meeting with the employer,
they were informed that PQP would be used across the Country and that they
would make an announcement soon on new measures to be followed that all
offices use PQP. It would take several months to be rolled out
but that was the clear direction that would be announced from headquarters
to the field. Any exception to that direction would have to
be approved by the Assistant Commissioner.
President: Emphasized that UTE did not encourage
management to use PQP but that if they were to go ahead then they should
be used everywhere.
Local: The
submitting local asked if the PQP was transferable when applying for
a job.
O’Brien: Explained
that we were told in 1999 that the PQP staffing was portable and that there
was no need for on-going testing. UTE Believes that when the employer
realized that when all the testing would be done in 8 or 9 years, the competency
assessors would be out of a job, then they re-thought about it. Now,
only certain competencies would be portable and they decided that the Technical
Competencies would have to be re-tested from time to time as technical
knowledge changes over a reasonable period of time. People’s
skills and ability improve or sometimes decrease over time. He reiterated
the UTE’s position that they should come up with a standardized
test used from coast to coast to determine the level of competency and
once competent, always competent.
9. PART-TIME CALL CENTRE
STAFF (Saint John)
Local: Expressed
many concerns with the fact that term employees (approximately 50% of the
call centre staff) had their hours cut. They mentioned that a letter
was sent to the Commissioner from Sister Ferguson, Client Services Steward
outlining the concerns, asking for his intervention and asking him to
answer a few questions.
The local found out not too long ago that the same situation was happening
across the country and some of the concerns were that: headquarters needed
70/30 ratio of part-time to full-time hours in call centres; bilingual
staffing would be hard to recruit; supplemental hours were not pensionable;
who would get the extra hours of overtime when it gets busy in January,
February and March.
When would the employer offer full time status?
Other locals were experiencing the same situation where term employees
were working 30 hours over a 5 day period. While their pay was lower
these members had the same needs to fulfil as indeterminate employees such
as : transport, meals and day care fees to name only a few. Management
were hiring lots of terms because they knew that eventually the pressure
would become too high and unbearable and that employees would leave. It’s
unacceptable!
In some locals their full-time staff was not replaced; management would
rather hire term employees.
We need a national policy for term employees in order to have some consistency
instead of leaving it open for misuse and abuse.
President: Acknowledged the concerns of the locals
and informed them that we would wait for the Commissioner to answer Sister
Ferguson’s letter and then we would have the Staffing Committee
look into it.
10. 2 APPEAL INTAKE CENTRES BY 2008
(Burnaby Fraser)
Local: Informed
the participants that they would be the Western Intake Centres for all
the appeals coming from Winnipeg west and that the good news was that they
would have more CRs to do the administrative work. Sudbury was the
other centre. The local was concerned about the employer changing
jobs and building little empires in certain areas on the back of the CRs. The
employer shuffles the PM1s and PM2s to have them deal with objections and
not the screening intake part. Be prepared to lose your CRs.
One
local suggested that the WFA Committee should push the employer to identify
and declare these positions as being affected ones.
President: Stated that the Appeal Section
went ahead on their own with that initiative and neither the union nor
the employer staff relations knew about all that. There would
be a meeting next Monday on that specific issue.
11. ACTING PAY LEVELS FOR INDETERMINATE
EMPLOYEES (Surrey)
Local: Asked
all the locals to forward that issue as a bargaining demand. It should
be back on the bargaining table. The employer was taking advantage
of the situation when there was a break in service. The employees
start at the beginning of the pay scale every time. We need something
in writing in order to have everybody treated the same.
President: Answered that this issue was
at the bargaining table the last time and that the employer said no.
Many locals went to the microphone to support the submitting local. They
stated that indeed this important issue should go back to the bargaining
table to include both the permanent and term employees.
Some locals informed the floor that there were people working on acting
jobs year after year and that the employer would not recognize their
experience.
12. LONG TERM TERMS (Surrey)
Local: Asked
if something could be done for term employees that have been employed for
a long period of time? They should have a chance to become permanent.
President: Responded that the Staffing Committee
was dealing with the issue. She went on to say that in the past,
the 5 year rule stipulated that after working 5 years as a term, management
would make them permanent or break the service and often they broke the
service. The union’s position was that the employer should meet with
each term and review their situation after 2 years and if their work was
permanent in nature, then these people should become permanent. Management
at the national level was following the rule a little better compared to
the local level where they did what they wanted and this was wrong. She
added that members coming from CEIU were told by management that when
they would transfer to CRA, they would have to wait the 2 years before
having their work reviewed, which means August 2007.
Locals commented that the employer was making sure that there was no
member in a position to become permanent. In the past, it used
to be 2 or 3 years before the break in service while now it is done on
a yearly basis so they would not be identified on the 2 or 3 year list.
We should seriously look into that because our members are valuable
to us.
13. UNION EMAIL AND HOW IT’S
USED (Surrey)
Local: Suggested
that we should inform people on how to use the email system. We
should be using the Bcc or the group addresses instead of the large amount
of addresses.
President: Thanked the local for their input. She
would talk to the IT person.
14. HARASSMENT – DISCLOSURE
OF DISCIPLINARY MEASURES (Peterborough)
Local: Gave
an historic overview on the steps taken by the National UTE Harassment
Committee since 2004 in trying to determine the CRA’s position on
the interpretation by the Public Service Human Resources Management Agency
of Canada on disclosure of disciplinary measure in harassment cases. The
employer maintains its position not to reveal the details about sanctions
taken regarding a valid harassment complaint. Could we do any test
case to follow up on this?
Bertrand: Chair of the National
Harassment Committee indicated that on September 8, the committee contacted
the CRA Officer in charge of Access to Information and that he promised
that we would have an answer this week. We have just verified with
his office, and we will not have an answer.
We
will now contact the Ombudsman of the Agency to provide us with an answer
to what we are asking for many years.
15. PSLRB – Brain Decision vs
CRA (Peterborough)
Local: Summarized
the decision on the case of Rhonda Brain dated June 9, 2006. The
local asked that Brother O’Brien comment on the term "Expedited
Adjudication Decision".
O’Brien: Explained
that the Union agreed to use of the expedited adjudication route to clear
up large back log of grievances that would not have a wide reaching affect. Generally
these cases have straightforward arguments and are quite often very brief
with a view of getting rid of individual cases that are precedent cases. Brother
O’Brien drew attention to the fact that members would be entitled
to a leave under clause 14.07 to see their representative about filing
a grievance and that the leave would not be granted to talk about an appeal,
an ITPR or a Human Rights complaint. He concluded saying that
with bargaining approaching soon, members may want to submit demands
with respect to leave for purposes other than filing a grievance.
REPORT OF THE NATIONAL COMMITTEES
Brother Lalancette, Chair of the National Bargaining Committee introduced
his Co-Chair, Sister Pamela Abbott, Brother Jean-Pierre Fraser and Sister
Lyson Paquette, Technical Advisor. He commented that a great amount
of work had been done following both the 2005 Convention resolution and
the resolution from the Peterborough Local presented during the Presidents’ Conference
of September 2005. The resolution stated the following recommendation:
that the Collective Bargaining Committee undertake a thorough review of
the 2003/2004 bargaining process, including strike activities of September
and October 2004. This review should include, but not be limited
to the following: (1) receipt of bargaining demands (in light of resolution
234); (2) prioritizing of demands; (3) composition/size of negotiating
team; (4) strike activities; (5) full report by region/local of all disciplinary
actions taken as a result of strike-breakers. (See attached supplemental
report).
A questionnaire was designed (copy attached – document A & document
B) to elicit feedback from the locals as to the members’ overall
satisfaction with the strike activities. The questionnaire would be an
excellent work tool to refer to. The last item was to prepare a
complete report by locals and regions of all disciplinary measure taken
against scabs (copy attached).
The Committee Chair reminded the possible dates of the next bargaining
process (See Union
News Vol. 4, No. 2 – September 2006). He
also asked the Local Presidents and their executive members present to
start to work now on the strike structure in order to ensure an efficient
distribution of additional information and publication of eventual bulletins. He
also underline that the next process will not be easy with the government
in place that announces cuts and that the implementation of the Agency
Classification System (ACS) will also contribute to complicate the process. He
concluded saying that the sooner we get ready for bargaining and the
most people we get involved to face the employer will leave him with
no other choice than to take us seriously.
Brother Lalancette thanked the committee members and the National Office
staff for their excellent work in preparing today’s report. He
concluded saying that the committee had complied with the resolution of
the Peterborough Local. He recommended that all locals start to get
ready now for the next round of negotiation. The committee answered
a few questions.
16. SCAB LEGISLATION – PARLIAMENTARY
2006 FALL SITTING (Peterborough)
Local: Commented
that the PSAC web site on September 6 provided information that the use
of scabs should be stopped and made reference to two Bills that would be
presented to Parliament. Both Bills could be down loaded from the
PSAC site.
The
local asked that the package of information they had today be referred
to the Chair of the National Political Action Committee (PAC) to follow
up on this and inform our own membership.
Melanson: Member of the PAC informed the
participants that Bill C-257 on Federal Anti-Scab Legislation would be
presented on October 18. For more information, members should
visit the Canadian Federation of Labour web site: canadianlabour.ca.
17. UTE CALENDAR OF EVENTS (Northern
BC and Yukon)
Local: Thanked
the National Office for holding the National Staffing Course right after
the Presidents’ Conference as this initiative gave the locals a
chance to bring observer(s) that would not have normally attend because
of the cost. The local withdrew the resolution that was distributed
on the floor and asked for any ideas on how events could be combined
together without causing any issues or having to bring a resolution.
President: It has caused a few headaches
for the national staff members working on the logistics and the booking
of bedrooms for both events. One of the issues was the last minute
changes of delegates to the Staffing Course. Nevertheless, we will
look at possible options for the future.
18. A DAY IS A DAY (St. Catharines)
Local: Wanted
to know when would this issue happen?
President: Answered that numerous follow-ups
were made with the CRA up until recently. Last fall we were
told that this would be done by November. The last comments
we received was that they were apologizing, that they were working on it
and that they would come back to us as fast as they could. We
will push them to move on this issue but at the same time we have to
think about our members in compensation who would be working on this.
19. WFA REASONABLE JOB OFFER VS PERMANENT
TRANSFER (St. Catharines)
Local: The
item was withdrawn by the submitting local.
20. INDIVIDUAL LEARNING PLANS (ILP)
(St. Catharines)
Local: Wanted
to know where UTE stands on that issue and what was the purpose of ILP?
A local responded that according to her Director, the ILP would be used
more and more in the future for granting education training and for staffing
purposes and that if the training courses that they received were not indicated
on their ILP, the employer would choose first the employees that have indicated
their training courses with their evaluation.
President: Suggested that locals asked the
employer to be briefed on ILP as to who should fill them out and how
they should be filled out.
21. PRE-RETIREMENT SEMINARS (Penticton)
Local: Explained
that the Government offers from time to time these 3 day seminars on pre-retirement
and that CRA would not cover the expenses to attend. Would UTE be
prepared to develop, promote and present these courses to UTE membership? They
went on to say that the Human Resources used to gave them and that now
Public Works & Government Services were certifying facilitators
and that CRA was not prepared to have the former HR facilitators certified.
President: She would ask the employer more
details on the issue as to know among other things why the former HR
facilitators were not being certified.
Some
locals advised that they have been given the course. The Surrey
Local added that HR had given the course a few years ago and that the facilitator
had moved to Winnipeg. They also added that PIPSC has all the information
on their web site.
22. UPDATE ON UMI (Ottawa HQ)
Local: Wanted
to know if UMI was up and running?
Campbell: Member of the National Steering
Committee stated that the Atlantic was up and running since 1997. The
sessions on train the trainer were given and they were starting to give
the course. The QUMI was going well for quite a few years and their
training would be starting next Monday. In Ontario, except for NCR
they were naming the trainers and the course was scheduled to start on
the 1st of October. NCR had a pilot course before the summer. Rocky
Mountains and Prairie had an initial meeting but the trainers had not been
chosen yet. The Pacific Region was on hold because PIPSC had withdrawn
from the process due to a contractual problem. He concluded saying
that there would be only two teams that would train the trainers to ensure
that the same training would be given all over the country.
23. NATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY CONFERENCE
(Surrey)
Local: Brought
the issue because the conference would be held in August 2007 and that
they would like the date to be changed.
President: The committee looked at all the
possible dates and the hotel availability for 2007 was in August. We
couldn’t book in 2008 because it is Convention year.
24. CHANGE AGENTS – LACK OF
CONFIDENTIALITY (Surrey)
Local: The
item was withdrawn by the submitting local.
25. HQ SR&ED REALIGNMENT PROJECT
(Surrey)
M/ J. Ackermann/
That the item be withdrawn
The motion to withdraw was lost for lack of a seconder.
Local: The
Headquarter Local wanted to talk about the issue because they feel that
PM1s should not be doing the job of the CO1s.
Locals
commented that the employer was moving the workload around again. The
employer was taking functions away from various employees within each
office to centralize the work to one location and as a result people
would be losing their job.
The session recessed at 5:00 p.m.
SATURDAY, APRIL 23, 2006
MORNING SESSION
The Conference was called to order at 09:00 a.m. with President Bannon
presiding.
SPECIAL PRESENTATION
President Bannon invited the Honours and Awards Committee to the front.
Brother Dupuis introduced the members of the Committee, Brother Denis
Lalancette, Co-Chair, Brother Jerry Dee and Sister Linnett Moldovan. He then
invited Brother Bertrand to present a special award to one of our former
members. Brother Bertrand gave a brief history of the recipient,
Brother Normand Pelletier, before awarding him with the Godfroy Coté Award. This
award was presented to Brother Pelletier for his commitment to achieving
the aims and objectives of UTE and for exhibiting exemplary service at
any level of UTE.
Brother Dupuis named the recipients for this year’s Scholarship
Awards as follows:
National Awards:
Véronique Bélanger – Québec – Diana
Gee Award
Leanne Hagglund – Pacific
Regional Awards:
Mélanie Brunette – Montréal
Christopher de Guzman – Prairie
Stéphanie Lapointe – Québec
David MacPherson – Atlantic
Al-Karim Aziz Madhavji – Pacific
Carissa Samoluk – Rocky Mountains
Kaashiv S. Sampath – Greater Toronto
Michelle Schram – Ontario - Southwestern
Amanda Tom – National Capital Region
Nicole Westlund – Ontario – Northern and Eastern
The following recipients were recognized for their dedicated and most
appreciated service with the Union of Taxation Employees.
Brother Lalancette presented a 25 year pin to Brother Marcel Bertrand,
RVP for the Québec Region.
Sister Gwen Jackson, the Calgary Local President presented a 25 year pin
to Sister Barb Stewart from the Ottawa Tax Service Office.
Brother Kent MacDonald, the RVP for the Northern and Eastern Region presented
Sister Debbie Harold, Headquarters with a 15 year pin. Sister Harold served
many years with the Kingston Local before joining the Headquarters Local.
Brother Dupuis presented a 30 year pin to Brother Bob Campbell, 1st Vice-President.
Sister Sigrid Hagglund, and both Brothers Denis Brunette and Gilles
Bélanger
thanked the Committee and UTE for the award given to their respective
children.
26. CASH OUT OF VACATION & COMPENSATORY
LEAVE (Peterborough)
Local: Asked
for some comments regarding the vacation leave briefing from the PSAC.
2nd VP: Brother
Lalancette responded that he had not assisted in the briefing and that
his email was just responding to Sister Bannon email on the issue. He
commented in his email that this was a good example of what the employer
would say: Why should we give employees more when they are not using
what we give them.
27. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS – 8
AUG. 06 RELEASE FROM 1ST V.P. (Peterborough)
Local: Stated
that following a convention resolution, locals were to provide financial
statements to the National Office. The local asked for an update
as to know if there were locals that did not comply with the resolution.
Campbell: Stated that there were still some
locals that have not sent their financial statements and that he would
advise of the ones during the report of the National Finance Committee.
28. COMPENSATION UNIT (CU) – PROBLEMS
?? (Peterborough)
Local: Reported
that there were lot of problems with the Compensation Unit since they
had changed last year. They explained that one of their members had applied
for Leave with Income Averages (LWIA) and was told by CU that they had
received the application when actually they don’t. The member
waited for the LWIA’s money to be deducted and it has not been corrected
as of the most recent pay. Another problem with CU was that they
do not return calls when they say they would do so. They may be
overworked or not have the response to a question but as a courtesy they
should call back one way or the other.
Locals
have been told that people in Compensation Unit do not answer phone calls
simply because they do not have responses to the questions asked and
that they don’t know what to say.
President: Confirmed that Brother Mulvihill
was collecting all the concerns noted by locals.
UTE will meet with the employer on this issue and outline our concerns. She
added that their biggest problem was that they do not have enough staff;
the members are overworked and under-trained.
Why was it the PMs and the CRs who have been transferring jobs that were
not being paid?
REPORT OF THE NATIONAL COMMITTEES
Sister Bannon invited the National Finance Committee to report on their
activities. Brother Campbell, Chair of the Committee introduced the
other members of the Committee, Brother Kent MacDonald, Co-Chair, and Sister
Pamela Abbott. Brother Bruce Wilson was absent.
The Committee made a presentation (copy attached) with the objective to
present the Local Treasurers a template of financial statements and reporting
formats, as well as facilitating the preparation of financial statements
by reviewing the duties of the Treasurer, looking at record keeping and
by examining the statements that should be presented to the Local Annual
General Meetings.
Brother Campbell commented that they were hoping to be able to eventually
direct deposit the money related to travel for all Conferences, Conventions,
Training Courses etc. He emphasized the fact that the information regarding
the financial statements belongs to the members and it should be provided
to them when they ask.
29. PAY INCREASES FOR CROWN/DEPT./AGENCY
EXECUTIVES (Peterborough)
Local: The
item was withdrawn by the summiting local.
30. REVIEW OF MARCH 06 PRESIDENTS’ CONFERENCE
MINUTES (Peterborough)
Local: Asked
if the President could give an update on CEUDA scabs and designates?
President: The PSAC National Board of Directors
would be having a strategy session on October 16-17 and she was planning
to bring up that issue and refer to the Constitution with respect to scabs
and designates. She would also bring forward the lack of attendance
of the PSAC Leadership at the NDP Convention in Québec. We
would have a better idea after the meeting. She added that she
would report in her December report to Council.
Locals: What would happen with UTE/PSAC members that do not pay?
President: She reiterated that the PSAC
Constitution was very clear on the fact that all the designated members
would pay 25%. She noted that she had been quite specific when the
whole process started on the responsibilities of the Local Presidents. Although
not all the UTE Locals had collected the money, they were attempting
to do so.
The Saskatoon Local President, a former member of CEUDA confirmed that
the 25% was collected and remitted to the hardship fund because they had
taken very seriously the information contained in the letter from Ronny
Moran.
The
submitting local concluded by saying that the issue would be on the agenda
again as the problem had not been resolved.
31. NATIONAL DIRECTORY ON THIRD LANGUAGE
(Halifax)
m/s Doug Gaetz/Madonna Gardiner
Be it Resolved that the Union of Taxation Employees develop and adopt
a National Policy that UTE does not endorse creation of this National Third
Language Directory and that the employer cease making the request for employees.
MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY.
32. SUN LIFE AND RETROACTIVE PAY (Saint
John)
Local: Referred
to a copy that was included in the participants’ kit on important
information for PSAC members who had received Sun Life rehabilitation
income benefits and recommended that UTE publish the great news.
President: Confirmed that the news was received
from one of our members. She was very surprised that as a member
of the PSAC NBoD she was not advised about this important piece of information.
The Ottawa TSO Local received a copy via email last August from Brother
Ed Cashman.
33. PUBLIC SERVICE MODERNIZATION ACT/UMCS
(PSMA) (Saint John)
Local: Asked
how many times per year must the UMC meet?
President: The legislation states a minimum
of 2 times per year. You could meet more than 2 times per year
but not less than what the legislation stipulates.
34. DESIGNATION (Bathurst)
The item was withdrawn by the submitting local.
35. CLIENT SERVICE – CRA VS
SERVICE CANADA (Shawinigan-Sud)
Local: Asked
if the following information could help our fight and campaign to keep
open the service counters at CRA?
They were informed by members of Service Canada that CR-5s would move
up to PM-1 and eventually PM-2 by having to pass only one or two small
exams. They had also been informed that the hours of service would
be extended to 6 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays. Furthermore, they
would have a partnership with institutions such as Local Community Health
Centers where they would not have to pay any rent fees.
President: Replied that we had not been
informed or briefed on this issue and that the counters fight would not
be over until CRA confirms that they would keep the counters opened. She
added that Service Canada has pretty much taken over the counter service
for most of the Federal Civil Service and that they were answering questions
on anything except taxes.
The
Winnipeg Local commented that CR-5s are moved to PM-1s and all they do
is to escort people to a phone.
36. COMPENSATION - PAY PROBLEMS (Montréal)
The item was withdrawn by the submitting local.
37. SECURITY SERVICES (Montréal)
Local: Read
a resolution passed at the March 2006 Presidents’ Conference and
would like to know what has been done since.
Be it Resolved that the UTE 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.
President: She would contact Brother Aylward
to get the information on the issue.
Point of privilege – D. Lalancette
Brother Lalancette thanked Sister Michelle Tranchemontagne for the services
rendered to the UTE members for many years and wished her well on behalf
of all the UTE members. He noted that a card had been signed during the
day and remitted to her. Sister Tranchemontagne thanked the participants
and added that it was with a little nostalgia that she was attending
the conference for a few days and that she would always keep an excellent
memory of UTE.
The point was well received by the President.
38. WEEK-END SEMINAR FOR LOCAL OFFICERS
(Saskatoon)
m/s Lorne Roslinski/Greg Krokosh
Be it Resolved that the UTE National Office develop a week-end seminar
to educate these Local Executive Officers who have assumed office after
a trusteeship and that these seminars take place in the City of that Local
and that all costs be paid by the National Office.
MOTION DEFEATED
39. SUN LIFE – DISABILITY (ITSO)
Local: Gave
a lengthy explanation on cases where it takes to long for members to get
reimbursed. The local then asked how UTE could get the PSAC to put
pressure on Sun Life so that our members are paid in a reasonable timely
fashion. The local also reminded everyone that Brother Campbell,
at the last Presidents’ Conference, informed the participants that
he had been told by Brother Gordon who was in charge of the portfolio
that we should have some information in about 2 months.
President: Clarified that this was not at
the bargaining table. The PAC could look at this issue and report
at the next Presidents’ Conference in March 2007.
Campbell: Informed the participants that
after a recent discussion with Brother Gordon, he was hopeful that we
should have something on this issue after the NBoD meeting in October.
ELECTIONS TO STANDING COMMITTEES
Bargaining Committee
Dave Miller was elected as TSO Representative to the Bargaining Committee.
Jean-Pierre Fraser was acclaimed as TC Representative to the Bargaining
Committee.
By-Laws Committee
David Quist was acclaimed to the By-Laws Committee
Staffing Committee
Alain Lachapelle was elected as TSO Representative to the Staffing Committee.
Madonna Gardiner was acclaimed as TC Representative to the Staffing Committee.
Technological Change Committee
Brian Oldford was acclaimed as the Representative to the Technological
Change Committee.
Health and Safety Committee
Norbert Wenzel was acclaimed to the Health and Safety Committee.
Equal Opportunities Committee
Cindy Little was elected to the Equal Opportunities Committee.
Employee Assistance Program Committee
Hector Walters was acclaimed to the Employee Assistance Program Committee.
Finance Committee
Esther Burt was elected to the Finance Committee.
Honours & Awards Committee
Sarah Redd was elected to the Honours & Awards Committee
Workforce Adjustment Committee
Doug Gaetz was acclaimed as TSO Representative to the Workforce Adjustment
Committee.
John Kosiba was acclaimed TC Representative to the Workforce Adjustment
Committee
Harassment Committee
Patricia Payton was elected to the Harassment Committee.
Communications Committee
Barry Melanson was acclaimed to the Communications Committee
Political Action Committee
Annette Melanson was acclaimed to the Political Action Committee.
M/S/C Doug
Gaetz/Jacques Lafontaine
That the ballots be destroyed.
MOTION CARRIED.
CLOSING REMARKS
President Bannon commented that all the work that was done by the members,
the locals, the regions and the national was really important and it
was done for the membership. One of the reasons our Component was so
strong was because the members have always come first. These conferences
have become excellent education tools through the information that has
been and would be shared. She noted that there were new National
Committees and President Representatives on each of them and that the input
that they get was as invaluable for the RVPs as it was for her. She
invited the locals to continue to work hard for their members while they
would continue to work hard nationally and in the regions. She
wished everyone a safe trip home.
The meeting adjourned at: 4:00 p.m.
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