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Thursday November 20, 2008
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Thursday November 20, 2008
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MINUTES OF THE PRESIDENTS’ CONFERENCE
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| Absent: | P. Abbott, RVP, Pacific Region replaced by J. Ackermann C. Aylward, RVP, NCR, replaced by H. McGoldrick S. Bergeron, RVP, Prairie Region , replaced by G. Esslinger N. Stein, RVP, Southwestern Ontario Region, replace by N. Wenzel D. Lalancette, 2nd National Vice-President |
M/S/C D. Brunette/B. Oldford
That the hours of session be as follows:
Thursday: 1:15 to 5:00
Friday: 09:00 to 11:45; 1:15 to 5:00
Saturday: 09:00 to 11:45; 1:15 to 5:00 or the completion of business
MOTION CARRIED.
(See attached agenda, delegates list, observers list and Items submitted by the Local Presidents)
M/S/C J. VanSydenberg/J. Drozd
That the agenda be adopted as circulated with the following additions.
MOTION CARRIED.
President Bannon started her remarks by saying that they will be informative. She talked about the Bargaining Communication Process and how to get the information from the PSAC.
- Prior to the Monday activity, the coordinators should have contacted the locals.
- The locals should have already named coordinators for the activities.
- Part of the information that should have been discussed is how the locals want to receive the material from the PSAC, either sent by email or be picked up at the Regional Office.
- When locals are requested to conduct an activity, they should also prepare a report for their RVP who will then send it to the National President at the National Office and to the coordinators.
- The locals were asked to report to their RVP about the last Monday activity.
- The National Committee will be meeting on Wednesday of next week to talk about further actions unless we have a contract by Friday.
The National Office will be putting together a team for a 60 km walk for breast cancer next year. Each participant must collect $2000 to have the privilege of walking in the team. During the conference, there will be a 50/50 draw ticket handled by Sister Cassidy and Brother MacDonald.
A memorandum went out asking the locals to bring their harassment statistics to the Presidents’ Conference and to give them to Marcel Bertrand or Lyson Paquette.
The Locals were asked to share with the members the bulletin on ICA. ICA has been working on a CD that will be sent to Locals as soon as the French version is finalized.
UTE has endorsed a Bank of Montreal credit card for quite some time now. During the 1st week of October members that are on the mailing list for the newsletter will receive an offer for the card under the National President’s signature.
With respect to the 2004 Designates and Scabs, the information received pertained only to our Component. The PSAC did not provide any information on any of the other Components. We had close to 800 designates and 238 members paid as required under the PSAC Constitution.
The Minister had requested a meeting with Sister Bannon. PIPSC will not attend as previously scheduled. It was also noted that when the Minister was in Halifax, an irate client made a big scene because he could not get answers to his questions without an appointment. The timing was excellent!
President Bannon reported briefly on some of the business conducted by the Executive Council earlier during the week. (See Council Minutes of September 2007).
Resolutions and recommendations on the following topics:
- New Regulation 27.2 on Excluded Positions
- Amendment to Regulation 24.8 to defer the awarding of a scholarship for 12 months
- No dues increase in January 2008
- Sponsorship of $500.00 to the London Devilettes Pee Wee A
- Assistance to a member with disability – September Presidents’ Conference
With respect to Regulation 27.2, President Bannon clarified that the amendment was intended for people holding union positions. Members sitting in excluded positions must step away from any union position for the duration of the period that they occupy the excluded position. On the concern of what is a temporary position and what is not, she clarified that this situation would be more for a member who would be acting for someone being on leave, but not someone who would be in an acting position for 12 months. She was asked if she would set in writing a definition of what is temporary and she agreed to do so.
The Jonquière Local asked for permission to pass a donation box for a member who has a degenerative illness and needs to collect $30,000 for the cost of a trip to China for an operation.
The Point of Privilege was well taken by the President.
President Bannon asked the members of the Honour and Awards Committee to come to the front.
Brother Terry Dupuis, President of the Committee, introduced the members of the Committee. Sister Sarah Redd, Presidents Representative, Brothers Denis Lalancette (absent) and Jerry Dee, members of the Executive Council.
President Bannon presented the Life Membership Award to Sister Linda Cassidy, former RVP for the Atlantic Region and presently working as a Labour Relation Officer in the National Office. A “long” standing ovation was given to a well deserved person. Sister Cassidy gave a very emotional thank you from the podium. (The submission documents were sent with the Executive Council Minutes of September 2007)
President Bannon also presented the first UTE Humanitarian Award to Brother Bill McCallum from the London Local in recognition of his outstanding commitment to humanitarian causes. Brother McCallum is a registered embalmer and works in the London Office. He offered his services to the United States Army plea for experienced embalmers to assist in the recovery of victims as a response to Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. The US Army had him flown down within 48 hours of his offer to help. Moments before departing, his Local President informed him of the intervention from the UTE National President in getting him leave with pay. She went on about his attributes saying that his trip was to be for ten days, but no one else was able to last more that 5 days. Brother Bill did this for more than 21 days. The local wrote in the submission that to call him a friend was an honour and a privilege.
Sister Bannon mentioned that she met Bill for the first time the day before. Sister Bannon concluded saying that part of the award was an amount of $2500 to be given to the charity of his choice. Brother Bill has chosen to give the money to the International Children Awareness (ICA).
Brother McCallum thanked UTE and commented that if it were not for UTE and a caring local executive, we would not have what we have today. It’s because of his union intervention that he was able to go with leave. He would have gone anyways he said. We should always remember that our union cares and that it is so important. Brother McCallum commented that he accepted the award with great honor and humility, not just for what he did, but for what he was able to do in the partnership of his brothers and sisters of UTE. Brother McCallum gave a very informative slide presentation on the New Orleans’ Hurricane Katrina.
Sister Grundy informed the participants that the Edmonton Local 1st Vice-President, Sister Jade Roemer had arrived and that she would take delegate status.
The Point of Privilege was well taken from the President.
Brother Dupuis presented the Godfrey Côté Award of Merit to Sister Eileen Hickey for all of her extensive work for the union and the members, for her commitment to achieving the aims and objectives of UTE and for having exhibited exemplary service at any level of UTE.
Brother Dupuis also presented a Long Service Award pin to the following members:
30 year service pin
- Gwen Jackson
25 year service pin
- Gary Esslinger
- Alfred Stewart
20 year service pin
- Doug Gaetz
- Gerard Ennis
- Jean-Pierre Bonin
- Eileen Hickey
15 year service pin
- Brian Oldford
- Joe Parris
- Annette Melanson
- Madonna Gardiner
- Audrey Flynn
- Jean de Peaza
- Jim Imlach
- Johann Ackermann
10 year service pin
- Gerald Skanes
- Esther Burt
- Al Rollins
Brother Dupuis went over the list of winner recipients for the scholarship which is listed in the Honour and Award Committee Report passed at Council during the week.
Sister Barb Stewart suggested that these recipients be listed in the next newsletter.
The meeting recessed at 1700 hours.
The Conference was called to order at 09:00 a.m. with President Bannon presiding.
Brother Ackermann read out a missing person request asking that anyone who finds news on Rod Pavan in the Ontario media, to please forward same to him.
The Point of Privilege was well taken by the President.
Brother Cosmo Crupi and Sister Annette Melanson, members of The Political Action Committee, made a presentation on Political Activities as a Public Servant (copy attached). Brother Stein, Chair of the Committee, was absent as he was at the bargaining table.
Local: Explained that members of the Call Site Centre were being laid off and they were wondering if Service Canada was taking over the work of CRA?
President: Answered not to her knowledge. They provide information and access via computers, but they do not answer tax questions, etc. The Local also commented that a lot of CRA information was on their website.
President: Asked the locals to look at what was on the Service Canada website and to report back to her. A local suggested that there should be some kind of meeting of the Call Centre Executives to discuss issues that they do not know how to deal with. On the question "where are all the Call Centres located", about 12 Local Presidents indicated that they have one in their local.
Local: Would like to know if UTE could send these cheques to the local’s address instead.
Campbell: Chair of the Finance Committee, explained that some cheques are sent to the individual and some to the local. The cheque that is sent to the members address is their personal advance. UTE will not send personal advances to the local because it’s not their money.
Local: What can the union do to ensure that there are some positions that remain unilingual to ensure the members keep their jobs? The local should be monitoring competitions to watch when there are bilingual positions posted instead of unilingual when they don’t need to be. UTE also had lots of complaints from Anglophones that there are jobs posted as bilingual that don’t need to be.
President: Commented that this issue had definitely been discussed by the Staffing Committee and that we had received lots of complaints from Anglophones as well. The Staffing Committee is trying to monitor this issue and the locals should do the same at the local level.
A local noted that the Official Language Policy states that they cannot staff bilingual positions to the detriment of the staff. In some locals, management now gives a 3 hour course every week to teach the other official language.
Brother Lorne Roslinski served motion to amend the agenda.
MOTION TO AMEND THE AGENDA CARRIED.
President Bannon introduced Sister Louise Casselman, PSAC Social Justice Fund (SJF) Officer.
Sister Casselman thanked UTE for the opportunity to speak to the members and explained what the SJF is doing. She mentioned that Unions play a very important part in social justice here and around the world. She commented that the SJF worked among other countries with Columbia, Burma and Guatemala to bring justice and a better work environment for the workers. There will be a video ready in October on one of the trips made to Columbia with CUPE, CUPW and the PSAC providing some of the comments on why it is so important to defend Public Services. There is also a book called the People behind the Coal that the SJF helped to publish that give an idea of the work that is being done. She concluded saying that there would be a Stand-Up Activity on Parliament Hill on October 16 to let the government know that we care about poverty in Canada and around the world and that if we want to beat poverty we have to have quality public services.
Sister Hardy from the Summerside Local donated a cheque in the amount of $546.00 to the Social Justice Fund. The amount was raised among the members in the local.
Local: Sister Vicki-Lynn Smith spoke on her encounter in Montebello. She and Brother Mark Calderone went to Montebello and were rather surprised that no other members from UTE were attending. The 10 top corporations from Canada, US and Mexico were meeting to make decisions for the rest of the country and these decisions do not even have to go through parliament, (Wal-Mart was one.) She explained that one of the reasons they have problems in places such as Afghanistan was because there are no public services. Sister Smith passed around a petition against the SPP.
Local: Commented that after having experienced all kinds of complaints on health problems due to air quality, a survey was prepared and sent out to the members on Illness at the workplace. The employer did not want to be involved as they felt that this would cause problems. The company that is doing the statistics is still working on this, but we know that 98% of the responses are showing that people are experiencing health problems in the workplace.
The local mentioned that they had sent out 1500 surveys and that if other locals needed information on this process, they could contact the local.
President: Asked that a copy of the survey be sent to her office for distribution.
The Calgary Local located in the Harry Hayes Building is experiencing a multitude of problems. The employees no longer trust the employer nor the new owner of the building when it comes to mould allergy problems, etc. The following question was raised: "What do we do to be proactive for our people"?
President: While she acknowledged the concern of the locals, she advised that if locals are to do a survey of some kind they need to have a picture in their mind as to what it is that they want to accomplish. Depending on their needs, the National Office may be used as well as the CLC and the PSAC Regional Offices to help the Health & Safety Activists in the locals.
The meeting was called to order at 1:15 p.m. with President Bannon in the Chair.
Sister de Peiza announced that Toronto Local 13 had established the Diana Gee Memorial Fund. The main objective of the fund is to assist or encourage aboriginal students in the Toronto area to pursue education after the grade 8 level. In the past, Local 13 had been able to present awards to fifteen students at graduation. Local 13 had received Registered Charitable Status for the Diana Gee Memorial Fund. She added that any donations from the locals would be appreciated and can be made to the Diana Gee Memorial Fund, c/o UTE Local 00013, P.O. Box 17006, Toronto, ON, M5E 1Y2. A tax receipt will be issued accordingly. The UTE Executive Council had already passed a resolution and would be contributing $1,000 annually to this fund.
The Point of Privilege was well taken by the President.
M/S L. Roslinski D. Hardy
That the following item be added to the agenda: Special meeting for Call-Centers.
MOTION CARRIED.
Local: Reported with sadness the death of two UTE members from the Peterborough Local, Sister Sharon Doran who died of cancer on July 6, 2007 at the age 55 and the sudden death of Brother Steve Morrich at the age of 50 of a heart attack.
The local made reference to Regulation 28 – Protocol on Mourning that states that it is the responsibility of the local to let the National Office know of the death of one of their officers or members. Locals are reminded to let the National Office know in the future.
Local: Inquired that if any employees wishing to work part-time for CRA after retiring would have the opportunity to do so or would it be offer only to certain upper management?
President: Replied that she had sent the Commissioner a copy of an article from the Canadian Association of Retire Person (CARP) magazine and asked if there was any news on the impact of CRA employees with respect to phased retirement? He responded that the way he understood the amendment was that once in affect this would apply to the CRA and that he would ask Brian McCauley, Assistant Commissioner, Legislative Policy and Regulatory Affairs Branch to get back to us on the status of the Bill that will carry this change. He added that if and when such a change becomes law, we will have to turn our attention to determining how it will be implemented in the CRA. The response from Mr. McCauley was that the change was planed to be in the second Budget Bill. It has not been tabled yet and we expect that it will be late fall before we see the Bill that includes that change. He will let us know when it appears publicly.
Local: Asked if members were covered by the UTE policy?
President: Answered that members are covered if UTE National is paying for the expenses or has authorized the event. Local activities are not covered.
People that are invited to come to a National UTE Event such as a Presidents’ Conference, National Staffing Course or National Conference and for whom we pay the expenses are covered, but not the observers because they are not funded by UTE.We have insurance that covers only for accidental death and dismemberment.
We will have to clarify this issue with the Insurance Company. Brother Campbell took notes to verify this and as well would look into coverage for Non-UTE Events.
Local: Commented that the UMI approach to match one activist to a management member was admirable, but not feasible in large offices. In their local the number of union activists forces each activist to take around 6 or 7 sessions each.
In Surrey, each TC representative had to attend UMI sessions twice and will be finished by the end of November 2007.
Headquarters commented that they have about 1500 managers for 15 activists which means about 20 UMI sessions to attend. They are not matching one to one, but rather 3 to 10.
Policy and Planning are also experiencing the same situation. St.John’s TC suggested to use other good activists that are not on the local executive.
Local: Was concerned because they have now had two Presidents removed and asked if there was not a more transparent way to deal with this?
President: Explained that the investigations were conducted in accordance with the PSAC Constitution and that our by-laws virtually mirror the PSAC. To change the process, it would take a resolution to be passed at our Convention and the PSAC Convention to change the Constitution. The reason the result of the investigation was not published was because of the Oath of Office and to protect the confidentiality of both the complainant and the respondent.
Local: Informed that they have staff that has been successful in achieving appointments with other departments. In their office they have very little opportunity for career development. One of the problems they have encountered is when people are considered for dual employment they can’t access their sick leave credits, vacation pay or compensatory time accrued in the other job, etc.
President: Confirmed that this policy came from Treasury Board and the Canada Public Service Agency who are responsible for the Interchange and Acting Program for the Government (not CRA). UTE got involved once when one of our members had to use personal leave to take an interchange position. We contacted the Agency and the member no longer had to take personal leave. CRA is only following up the Agency’s rules. UTE is working with CRA on that issue.
Other locals have experienced the same situation.
Local: Commented that a number of members at the local have asked that we talk about increments and the possibility of additional increments. They are of the view that it should not take 8 or 9 years to get to the top level, but that there should be 2 or 3 increments. With the permission of the chair and the floor, the local asked to have this item removed from the agenda since the negotiating team was at the table.
President: Reiterated that the Bargaining Team was dealing with this issue.
President Bannon asked the Communications Committee to report on their activities. Brother Campbell, Chair of the Committee, introduced the other members: Brothers Barry Melanson and Sabri Khayat and Sister Susan Duncan. He then asked the participants for feedback to know how the newsletter was received by the members and asked the locals to send in articles. The Committee would also like feedback about the next one due to the material that was published in it. He mentioned that people could go to the website and sign up for all updates. He also commented that every local will get two laminated copies of the booklet called “Tips for the Chairperson” which will come handy for their Annual General Meetings.
Local: Commented that Team Leader(s) were required to attend ADR training and that the local had put a stop to it. The local asked what was happening about ADR?
President: Answered that Brother Campbell had been sitting on a committee that was dealing with replacing “ADR” and that a bulletin will be going out shortly.
Campbell: Replied that at the last meeting the bulletin was just being submitted to the Board of Management for their approval. The new system has addressed everything that we were opposed to in ADR. The existing system will be replaced. There will be people that you knew as an ADRA, but their role will be slightly changed. On the question "would there be a local consultation on who would do the training", Brother Campbell answered that there had been some discussions, but nothing has yet been finally decided.
Local: Asked if the employer had an official policy on rescinding notices of retirement.
O’Brien: Senior Labour Relation Officer answered that there was no clear employer policies on that, but there was some grievances on this issue.
MacDonald: Labour Relation Officer added that the Superannuation Section has no official requirement that members cannot rescind their retirement up until the date they initially set as their retirement. In other words, they can rescind their request to retire up until the last date. He cautioned the members though that when the process is started there was a lot of paper work done on behalf of the members and that any changes could mess up their pay.
Local: Asked if UTE had a public stand on the support our Troops Campaign?
President: Replied that neither the PSAC Board of Directors nor UTE has discussed an official policy on support our troops as no one has ever raised it.
An observer explained that all across the country there were bases that have families of members serving overseas. The family Resource Centres are in danger of being removed because of cut-backs and they were looking for help with books and toys in good shape, etc. If anyone has anything to donate they can contact their local resource area under the Department of National Defense.
President: Added that the Resource Centres will be posted on our website. She added that there was probably no one in the room who did not support our troops.
Local: The local commented about the possible problem with Team Leaders having access to this information.
Khayat Chair of the Staffing Committee, answered that there were many requests on sharing of information which according to the CRA Policy is supposed to be confidential. Sister Cassidy has issued a bulletin yesterday on the matter and it will be sent out to all locals.
Cassidy: Labour Relation Officer reiterated that UTE has never been in favour of the Team Leader having access to the information. However, the employer believes that your Team Leader should have access to your information to ensure that if you meet a competency they do not need to do the Observe and Attest. The AD’s and the Selection Boards do not have access to these marks and if it happens that they give out the information, they are in contravention of the policy. The discipline is a minimum of a 30 day suspension to dismissal. This item should be added to the next local UMC meeting to ensure that this does not happen. The employer owns the system so it may be a difficult thing to prove that they abused the situation.
President: Noted that only the individual Team Leaders have access to their teams’ information
Surrey TC Local stated that in acting positions Team Leaders have access right away.
Local: Said that there are situations where the person at the cash counter is told that taxpayers need to have exact change and that they have to bring the money to the bank afterwards. Discussion ensued.
President: Noted that no members should be transporting cash to the bank due to safety and also because it is not part of their job. A manager should be going to the bank.
Local: Asked if UTE has an official stand or policy on concession bargaining. Members asked about things like giving up items for other things.
President: Answered that the bargaining demands that had been tabled with the employer are on our web site and that she was not aware of anything the team was willing to give up.
Local: Advised that everyone should be aware of an incident that occurred in their local last summer where by the time they realized that mediation was not going to be an option, they had to wait a long time before someone was available to make an investigation. When you have undue delays, it causes extra stress on the members. Once a harassment complaint is filed, you really need to ensure that there is an investigator that can step in within a reasonable period of time. Discussion took place.
President: Stated that this item was discussed at Council.
The item was withdrawn by the local with the permission of the floor.
Local: Wanted to know where UTE was at with this situation.
President: Stated that a resolution will be going to the NBoD stipulating that if the PSAC is not prepared to follow up on the monies not collected, that then the people who have paid should be reimbursed and that the monies be taken out of the PSAC Surplus. She reiterated that either the Components enforce the PSAC Constitution or they should take this clause out. She also stated that the resolution going to the Board will include designates from all Components because it affects a group of members, not just UTE members.
Locals discussed their frustrations about the situation.
President: Talked about her frustration with the other Components and the Board who will not enforce the Constitution. She emphasized the fact that to collect the monies from designates who get a full pay cheque, while their Brothers and Sisters are out on the picket line for them, is the right thing to do. She noted that she has slightly changed the previous resolution and that she will send a copy to all locals and asked every single President to write their REVP’s (make sure they open the email) on Monday to ask them if they will support the resolution that she will be tabling at the next NBoD in October.
The meeting recessed at 1700 hours.
The Conference was called to order at 09:00 a.m. with President Bannon presiding.
He announced that the amount of $514.00 was collected for Brother Richard Duhaime of Jonquière.
Sister McClean talked about some of the activities that will be organized by the Host Committee for the National Convention in Vancouver next summer. She drew attention to the Wednesday night activity which will be a 3 hours dinner cruise around the Vancouver Harbour on the Queen of Diamonds. She invited the people to look at their site under Vancouver Cruise and that for additional information to contact her or Sister Ingrid Hagglund, Chair of the Committee.
President Bannon introduced Brother Jean Bergeron from the Montréal Local, former UTE National President and Life Member who was attending the Conference.
President Bannon informed the participants that Brother Michael St-Cyr would replace Sister Janet Albinet from the Winnipeg Local and that Brother Michael Ell would replace Sister Gwen Jackson from Calgary.
Local: Commented that they approached the Director under the directive of the UMI to do a desk drop of the bargaining coasters on July 1st..The Director did not see a problem with the coasters, but the problem came from the Regional Office in Toronto who said no to the desk drop or distribution in the workplace on the employer’s time. Why wasn’t the employer advised about the upcoming distribution of the flyer?
President: Answered that there was no direction issued and that the decision was left with each local to decide what was best for them.
Many locals did a desk drop without asking permission.
Local: Stated that the National President’s Report of June 2007 contained some deadlines and was wondering if others were aware that the date to submit the resolutions was March 21st, 2008. He stressed the fact that usually the deadline was the last day of the March Presidents’ Conference and that it gave the locals extra time to submit their resolutions.
President: Stressed the importance to get enough time to get everything ready for the Convention Committees and how we would be short of time if the deadline was extended. She confirmed that at least the last three times the deadline had been set for the last day of President’s Conference, but that this time the conference was at a later date and that was why these dates had been picked. She drew attention to the fact that March 21st was also the deadline for submission of names for delegates to Convention Committees and that April 4th was the deadline for submission of names for Convention Delegates and Observers/Alternates. The Convention Committees meeting would be held from May 9-11, 2008 at the Crowne Plaza in Ottawa and that the Convention Call would be going out in January. She emphasized the fact that the dates are set by the Executive Council in accordance with UTE By-Laws.
Local: Mentioned that during the summer they had organized a demonstration against the sale of the buildings and it was very successful. The local was disappointed with the lack of response to their request to circulate the petitions. He also commented that when we sing Solidarity Forever, it’s not just about singing. The local concluded saying that he could hold on to the petition for another month since there would be other buildings for sale and urged the Locals that did not respond to do so.
President: Indicated that it was a big loss for us and all Canadians.
Local: Was told by a few members that they were concerned about the O&A process. It seems that some managers doesn’t want to go ahead with this process because they are close to retirement and that some members don’t want to be observed and attested. Can we have some explanation on how the O&A affects everyone?
Khayat: Chair of the Staffing Committee, answered that UTE was advised that there were Team Leaders who asked their employees to respond in writing concerning O&A. They had this stopped right away as the O&A is an observation of the person’s work, not based on the employee’s response. Brother Khayat also stated that UTE is against O&A as this is an exercise in futility, especially when members have been doing their job for a long time. He advised the locals to provide the Staffing Committee with issues for submission to the employer.
President: Confirmed that the Staffing Committee was looking into this and added that O&A was the closest we could get to grandfathering.
Several locals expressed that this method was just to get input from the employees instead of observing and attesting.
Local: Expressed their concerns with the fact that there were members that have worked over 30 hours and that the extra hours were not pensionable. What can be done?
President: Confirmed that the employer considers that any work over 30 hours is not pensionable for part-time workers. There is an article written by Brother Mulvihill on this subject in the newsletter.
Mulvihill: LRO said that the Committee needs to know where this is happening and that the Committee is currently working with the PSAC on this issue and they need details from the locals to build the case.
Local: Asked if all management representatives sitting on OSH Committees should be excluded positions? The Canada Labour Code states that they should be. (as stated in the interpretation bulletin from HRDC).
Aylward: Chair of the Health & Safety Committee suggested that locals that have management representatives that are not excluded members should inform the National Office and the H&S Committee will ask the HRDC for their interpretation. Members that are having a problem in their local and where UTE has not been able to help, should get a written interpretation of the Code from the HRDC official in their area.
On a show of hands, the vast majority of locals have committees where management representatives are excluded.
Local: Commented that we as unionists need to ensure the fairness of the staffing processes in the locals and that from time to time, the employer can provide valid business cases to make appointments without competition. The Local wanted to know UTE’s opinion on appointments without competition.
O’Brien: SLRO recommended that representatives should be careful not to get caught between members on this matter. While those members who are being appointed without competition will prefer that approach, others may wish to exercise recourse against these appointments. Local representatives should strongly resist giving the employer their approval, but instead should attempt to get the business case and other information from the employer for fact finding purposes only. If management has a valid business case, they will rely on it to support using that mechanism. If there is an abuse, we need to inform the employer at the outset. He also reminded the participants that notwithstanding the Union or the employer’s position on any given appointment without competition, the members always have a right to challenge the employer’s decision.
Local: Spoke about the employer’s revised performance and assessment scales.
Cassidy: LRO commented that the extended scale that the employer is using allows for too much abuse. To the question "will this process generate more grievances", the answer was only if members are willing to grieve and yes they should do so.
Local: Asked if there would be information on our web site?
President: Passed on the message that there will be a link to the PSAC website called ‘Information for Ontario Voters’ as they have prepared information on the upcoming elections.
Local: Noted that at the last March Conference a show of hands indicated that we still support the fact that if you are a local executive you can’t sit on a selection board. It was agreed that something would be written to remind the membership.
President: Noted that the bulletin has not been issued yet, but it will be shortly.
Local: In March, Brother MacDonald spoke on the wrong information provided to those who wanted to take the one month off and continue to work for CRA. One member received instructions from HRDC on how to collect CPP payments. He followed the instructions as told and ended up being disciplined by the employer and investigated by the RCMP for fraud while still working with CRA. Sister Bannon was supposed to bring the issue to Lysanne Gauvin. Do we have any news on that?
President: Confirmed that she met with Lysanne Gauvin and raised the concern that UTE has on the matter. She was supposed to bring the situation to HRDC and hopefully have something written to advise their employees our members on the fact that yes people can to this and what are the proper procedures from HRDC.
President Bannon asked the Finance Committee to come at the front and report. Brother Campbell introduced the members of the Committee, Brother Cosimo Crupi, Sister Esther Burt and Sister Stephanie Wolff from the National Office.
Brother Campbell commented that the Committee was going over the upcoming budget for the next National Convention and wanted to ensure that everyone understands about how the previous budget was dealt with including the overspending. He mentioned that the Salary Line Item for staff was well above because they had to hire additional staff which was approved and that also the Committee Line Item was also higher because there has been a need for more meetings. He stated that a note will be posted on the web site with respect to the resolution passed at Council on the non dues-increase of 0.25 cent for next January.
The meeting was called to order at 1315 with President Bannon in the Chair.
Brother Dupuis, Chair of the Honour and Awards Committee, invited Brother Khayat, RVP for the Region of Montréal to say a few words and to present the next guest speaker Brother Jean Bergeron. Brother Bergeron presented with praise to the recipient Sister Ghislaine Audet, Secretary of the Montréal Local, the Honorary Membership Award for her meritorious service. Sister Audet has been providing administrative services to the local for over 30 years and well deserves this acknowledgement.
Sister Audet appreciated and was moved to be addressed in French by the Sister Bannon and to receive the award.
President Bannon, introduced the Bargaining Committee, after they marched to the podium: Sister Pamela Abbott, RVP for the Pacific Region, Brother Shawn Bergeron, RVP for the Prairie Region, Brother Chris Aylward, RVP for the National Capital Region, Brother Nick Stein, RVP for the Southwestern Ontario Region, Brother Jean-Pierre Fraser, Local President Representative for the Taxation Centre Offices, Brother Dave Miller, Local President Representative for the Tax Service Offices , Brother Seth Sazant, PSAC Research Officer and Sister Gaby Levesque, PSAC Negociator and last, but not least, Brother Denis Lalancette, 2nd National Vice-President and Chair of the Bargaining Committee. Brother Lalancette started by thanking Sister Levesque for her hard work, determination and knowledge throughout the process. He reiterated the team’s wish to have an agreement before the expiry date and stated that the negotiations were going well because the employer was more forthcoming and seemed willing to bargain in good faith. He mentioned that the team had finished dealing with all the demands that fell into the housekeeping and procedural categories and were now starting to negotiate the major demands. He acknowledged that the strong support from the members was keeping everyone focused at the bargaining table and was contributing to the positive attitude and productive work to date. The team answered a few questions.
Local: Commented that there were employees working 37.5 hours who were being paid for 15 hours only and that it took three months before they went to the union to let them know that they had a pay problem. These members wanted to know what was wrong. They also wondered how many more members were not coming forward. The local had written the Commissioner outlining the problem. He responded in one paragraph saying that unfortunately we did not provide him with the names and the description of the problem encountered related to each individual. The local will prepare a complete file next Monday and will submit it to him by hand. The local expressed its frustration and concluded saying that there was no excuse for this to happen.
President: Acknowledged the local’s concerns and stated that last year she gave instructions to the locals that they were to send her the names of the members with all necessary information including the PRI via their RVP. As they received the files were being sent by email to Lysanne Gauvin and a copy went to the people working under her supervision. In most cases we were receiving answers. She warned the Local Presidents that there was a huge project on its way concerning pay recoveries that will result in pay deductions shortly. She will be meeting with the Commissioner when all the details are put together.
A few locals talked about different problems they encountered on compensation.
Sister Cassidy announced that they sold for $1232.00 for the 50/50 draw ticket and that the winner will go home with the amount of $ 616.00. The lucky winner was Sister Earla McClean from the Surrey Local.
Local: Explained that the employer was accepting applications for these positions and that the successful candidates were placed into union jobs, but that they did not pay union dues. These persons should be members and should be paying dues even though they were on a management program. The local was asking for the support of the conference to have these people become members. The Local wrote to John Gordon and he replied that this was a bargaining issue.
President: Replied that this program was a Treasury Board program and that it has been around for a long time. She will have a look into this.
Local: Expressed his concern that if members from Client Service Call Sites give out their surnames that the taxpayers could track them down and called them at home.
Other locals confirmed that some members were required to give out both their first and last names and some other were only required to give their last names. Other members give out aliases.
Other locals commented that this situation had occurred, but that it was not threatening.
Local: Requested that their local receive a list of the demands that were not accepted and the reason why.
Paquette: Advisor to the Bargaining Committee responded that the locals that sent in more than ten demands received a letter of explanation.
President: The National Office will follow-up on this issue.
Local: Shared that they have a member who received a maternity benefit top up and she had asked Compensation to have additional taxes deducted. The answer from Compensation was that they would not do that.
President: Explained that she had inquired into this issue with CRA and was told that they do not have the mechanism in the system to do it. She will add this issue to the list for discussion with CRA.
One local suggested to have a Trust Audit Exam done on the issue and see what happens. In the meantime, members could make installment payments any time.
This item was withdrawn by the submitting local.
Local: Commented that with respect to Individual Feedback (IF), we should have someone in the room representing our members to keep the employer accountable to what they say in the IF process or any other part of the staffing recourse.
President: Answered that there was a working group being set-up on recourse and that we have been offered to participate.
37. Leave without pay - OTTAWA TC LOCAL 70030
Local: They plantgated the coasters and requested LWOP under code 9100. Management said that plantgating requests would be posted under 9990 as LWOP other reasons.
President: Replied that this was not listed in the Collective Agreement and that the employer took the position to enforce the collective agreement. She also mentioned that as long as the employer grants the leave it did not matter under which code it came under.
Local: Addressed their concern that management recruits recent university graduates in the spring of every year.
O’Brien: SLRO confirmed that this directive was the only one that requires consultation with the union. The employer has been committed to look first at internal candidates. He requested the local to send this issue to Brother Khayat, and to copy Sister Cassidy. Brother O’Brien added that if you join an apprenticeship program and are already an employee, you only have to complete the balance of your probation.
This item was withdrawn by the submitting local.
Local: Stated that their local has signed up people over and over and are still showing as rand.
President: Reiterated that these cards are only updated by the PSAC Membership Section. She suggested to the locals to provide her with examples (copies of the signed cards) and they will be brought to the PSAC with the complaint. She emphasized the fact that the deadline for signing up rands was November.
M/S Lorne Roslinski/Gerard Ennis
Whereas the increased use of Call Centres by the CRA is causing a number of concerns and issues within the Locals.
Be it Resolved that UTE organize a meeting to discuss Call Centres in general and Call Centers issues; and
Be it Resolved that this meeting be held no later than April 2008; and
Be it Further Resolved that the following list of participants be fully funded:
- Executive Council Members;
- UTE Presidents Representatives from the Staffing Committee;
- 2 members from each local that represent members from Call Centers:
- one being the Local President or Delegate; and
- a Local Executive or Local Steward or Member who works in the Call Centers
M/S Pam Jabal/Jaime Van Sydenborg
That the question be called.
MOTION TO CALL THE QUESTION CARRIED.
MOTION CARRIED.
President Bannon advised that the following persons will be running for office at Convention:
2nd National Vice-President: Denis Lalancette and Chris Aylward
1st National Vice-President: Bob Campbell
President : Betty Bannon
President Bannon took the opportunity to thank the Bargaining Team for coming over and reporting on their week. She said that she was moved by them as they were marching to the podium all dressed the same to give an update on the spot while collective bargaining was happening. She talked about having the goal to have a contract prior to the old one expiring. She went on to say that this will require a lot of support from the people in the room and the whole membership and that we need to ensure that members are talked to - NON STOP - about BARGAINING. The National Strike Coordinating Committee will be meeting next Wednesday to talk about the issues that have occurred during the week and about what actions will be put in place for the upcoming weeks. She concluded saying that she feels that we can get an agreement before October 31st.
The meeting adjourned at: 5:00 p.m.
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