| TO: | Executive Council Alternated Regional Vice Presidents Locals All Staff |
RE: Minutes of the UTE Political Action Committee, February 17, 2010
The UTE Political Action Committee (PAC) met February 17, 2010 in Toronto, Ontario.
| In Attendance: | Nick Stein, Chair of the Committee Cosimo Crupi, Co-Chair of the Committee Brad Feraday, President’s Representative |
AGENDA
- Review the results of the UTE Bill C-10 Campaign.
- Confirm the presentation at the March, 2010 Presidents Conference on how a Parliamentary Bill gets through Parliament to Royal Assent.
- Review the “Issues to Political Parties and Candidates” for a Federal Election.
- Consider an article for the next UTE Newsletter.
- Discuss the PSAC Pension campaign.
1 - The campaign consisted of filing grievances, returning collective agreements to MPs, plantgating buttons for members to wear & wearing black clothing in the workplace on November 2, 2009. The UTE National Office also set up a “You Tube” Video on the UTE web but we are not aware of the number of “hits”. The Committee would like to express our sincerest THANKS to the Locals, Members, Council and National Office Staff for their contributions and hard work in this campaign.
The Committee reviewed the entire grievance campaign that was held and as well reviewed the comments that were received for a general discussion. The Committee has taken both the positive and negative feedbacks into consideration for the next time we go down a similar road. A total of 9988 grievances were filed which is roughly 38% of the membership.
The Committee had discussions relating to the returning of the collective agreements and have noted comments that were received. Also it was pointed out that there would be no way to track the number of C.A’s that were sent in.
The Committee reviewed the Button Campaign as well and even though this was a simple thing to do, there were no negative comments on this.
Overall, the Committee was pleased with the results of this campaign knowing full well there is need for improvement the next time we decide to run a similar action.
2 - It was confirmed that a staffer from the National New Democratic Party of Canada (NDP) would do a power point presentation at the March 2010 President’s Conference.
3 - This topic was discussed again and the Committee agreed that we may have to revisit this issue and possibly add another item depending on what happens with the Federal Budget and the Pension issue.
4 - The Committee Chair agreed to submit an article for the next UTE newsletter.
5 - Although the “Hands Off Our Pensions” Campaign is a PSAC Campaign, it was agreed after discussion with the UTE National President, that the Committee Chair should contact all RVPs to ensure that Locals are aware and participating in the PSAC “Hands Off Our Pension” Campaign. The Committee determined that some PSAC Regions were ahead of others and this was passed on to the UTE National President.
Respectfully submitted,
Nick Stein – Committee Chair
