Report of the National President - Executive Council

COLLECTIVE BARGAINING:

On January 6th of this year, the first of two days of hearings before the Public Interest Commission (PIC) took place. The PSAC’s negotiator and the research analyst took the entire day before the arbitrator to justify a series of improvements to the collective agreement of our members working at the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).

On January 20, it was CRA senior management's turn to present its positions. The Agency continued to propose concessions and to reject most of our demands. Worse yet, the employer still hasn't tabled its wage proposal while it continues to reject ours. Given that the employer took the entire day to make its presentation, our negotiator accepted the arbitrator's proposal to submit his rebuttal to the Agency's presentation in writing.

Not wanting to sit idly by while waiting for the Commission’s recommendations, which should be made public by the end of March, the decision was made at our last meeting of the National Strike Coordinating Committee (NSCC) to organize strike votes throughout the country starting the week of February 17. This is in order to put more pressure on the employer and at the same time be prepared to resort to pressure tactics, including strike action if necessary, in the middle of the personal income tax filing period.

In accordance with bylaw 15A – 3.7.4 of the PSAC, the National President of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), Brother Chris Aylward, released a memo to that effect on January 29, 2020, authorizing a strike vote for members of the Canada Revenue Agency bargaining unit.

We have established a schedule for the strike votes.

We held a conference call of the Executive Council Officers in order to make sure everyone was on the same page regarding the way the strike votes are to be organized.

Our Second National Vice-President, Brother Adam Jackson, and I prepared a message that was published and sent to our members. We also worked on speaking notes that were made available to the various speakers. I also recorded a video on this matter that was posted on February 13.

Finally, we were all surprised by the CRA’s “bargaining status” email sent by the Commissioner to all staff on February 14. As in the last round of bargaining, the Agency again tried in a dishonest way to influence our members on the eve of the strike votes. We immediately asked PSAC to look into the possibility of filing a complaint with the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board for bargaining in bad faith on the part of the Agency. Based on the advice of its legal counsel, PSAC concluded that the message sent by the employer justified the filing of a complaint, which we did on March 2nd. We issued a press release the same day.

I have given several radio, television and print media interviews on the current state of our negotiations.

AGMs AND CRA OFFICE VISITS:

The Annual General Meetings (AGMs) season is still going on and UTE National Officers continued to visit CRA offices and attend as many of our Local meetings as possible.

I had the opportunity and privilege to speak to many of our members. Naturally, the main topic of discussion is revolving around our negotiations with the Agency and our decision to proceed with strike votes. It is with great pride that I see how much support we have from our members.

MEETING WITH THE MINISTER OF NATIONAL REVENUE:

I contacted the Minister's office and had a meeting with her on February 7. The purpose of the meeting was to continue my discussions regarding the return of in-person service counters to the CRA. During our meeting, I also took the opportunity to discuss our negotiations and clearly expressed our members' frustration with the employer's stubbornness in refusing to address the significant concerns raised by our members in our bargaining demands.

EIGHTEENTH UTE NATIONAL TRIENNIAL CONVENTION

On January 13, we sent out the notice for our next Convention.

We also sent out a series of information bulletins surrounding convention business. I invite all our members to read them. These bulletins are intended to be an excellent reference tool for those attending a convention for the first time and a great reminder for those with more experience.

I am asking the Regional Vice-Presidents to remind their Locals that attendees at the next convention have until Saturday, March 21, 2020 to register and submit their resolutions and that the convention committees will be held May 1-3.

CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION OF THE CANADIAN LABOUR CONGRESS (CLC)

We were able to reserve rooms at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver for UTE Executive Council Officers who expressed a desire to attend the 29th Constitutional Convention of the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) to be held Monday, May 4 to Friday, May 8, 2020 at the Vancouver Convention Centre.

UNIONWARE WAGES UPDATE

PSAC made the last adjustment in its UnionWare system for union dues to be collected by the federal government employers for all PSAC members.

This adjustment consisted of updating our members' wages to reflect the latest collective agreements in force.

Due to delays caused by the employer (Treasury Board), PSAC had to postpone the wage adjustment but they are now able to do it.

For a number of years now, PSAC has not been able to collect the full amount of dues paid by our members working at CRA because wages have not been adjusted in the UnionWare system due to problems with the Phoenix pay system. Among other things, the UnionWare system was not taking into account the wage increases obtained by our members following the decision by the Conciliation Board of the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board (FPSLREB) regarding the dispute over the 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 wage increases.

The average member should only see a small increase in their dues.

The adjustment to the dues payable following the salary update will not be retroactive. Therefore, no arrears in dues will be owed as a result of this exercise.

Losses of revenue incurred by PSAC, some of its Components and Locals (only if union dues are calculated via a wage percentage) will be part of PSAC’s interference complaint against the federal government to be heard by the FPSLREB.

WEB/COMMUNICATIONS:

Our website is working well and updates are occurring in a timely fashion. We recently purchased a green screen and used it with the latest video we produced. The green screen allows us to customize the background for our videos and photos.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY:

All IT systems have been running well. Regular software maintenance of internal computers, servers and network was performed. We purchased new computers for employees at the national office. We renewed all our Office365 licenses. We also renewed our Bell mobile contract and with it we received new phones for the RVPs and UTE management. We sold the old mobile phones a fair market value to offset the cost of the new phones. We purchased a paper tray for Mark’s printer so he can print in letter and legal format.

DONATIONS / SPONSORSHIPS:

Donations/Sponsorships
Dons/Commandites
As of March 4, 2020 / Au 4 mars 2020

Donations/Sponsorships
Dons/Commandites
As of December 31, 2019 / Au 31 décembre 2019

NON-UTE UNION EVENTS:

Non-UTE Union Events
Événements syndicaux autres que ceux du SEI
As of March 4, 2020 / Au 4 mars 2020

Non-UTE Union Events
Événements syndicaux autres que ceux du SEI
As of December 31, 2019 / Au 31 décembre 2019

GRIEVANCES:

GRIEVANCE REPORT
December 1st 2019 to February 28th, 2020

During this period, sixty-four (64) new grievances were received in the National office. Twelve (12) grievances were presented and eleven (11) replies were received from CRA, eleven (11) grievances were closed.

There are presently one hundred thirty-nine (139) grievances in the National Office inventory which have not yet been presented at the Final Level dealing with a variety of issues.

1. Grievance in abeyance pending HRT and WSIAB complaints. The complaints are still active and outside legal counsel has carriage of the file. The complaints are currently held in abeyance.
2. These grievances are held in abeyance pending a statutory freeze complaint scheduled for Sept 9 to 12, 2019
3. Pending tax appeal
4. Presentation pending informal discussions

POLICY GRIEVANCE

There were no new policy grievances filed during this period.

CLASSIFICATION GRIEVANCES

There were thirty-one (31) new classification grievances filed during this period. One (1) was closed due to untimeliness.

INDEPENDENT THIRD-PARTY REVIEWS (ITPRs)

There were no new ITPR’s received in the National Office this quarter. Seven ITPRs that were reported previously have been concluded in this quarter and awaiting the decision. The hearing date with respect to the only ITPR outstanding has been scheduled for April.

CRA POLICY GRIEVANCES

There were no new CRA Policy Grievances received in this quarter. 

PRESIDENT’S ITINERARY

DATE       ACTIVITY                                                                                                        PLACE

NOVEMBER 2019
20              Bargaining talks                                                                                              Ottawa
25              PSAC’s NSCC meeting                                                                                 Ottawa
26 - 28      FTQ Convention                                                                                             Quebec
27              Conference Call with the CRA Commissioner                                               Quebec
28              Conference Call – CRA Pacific/Prairie Regions Analysis Update                 Quebec
29 – 30     PSAC Health & Safety National Conference                                                  Montreal

DECEMBER 2019
1                PSAC Health & Safety National Conference                                             Montreal
2 – 4         Executive Council meeting                                                                         Ottawa
5                NUMCC Meeting                                                                                       Ottawa
17              Plantgate – CRA EXs performance bonus flyer                                        Ottawa
18              Plantgate - Ottawa Centre - Local 70004                                                   Ottawa
18              PSAC Holdings Board committee meeting                                                 Ottawa
19              Plantgate - Ottawa TSO – Local 70010                                                      Ottawa

JANUARY 2020
6                Public Interest Commission Hearing - CRA/UTE-PSAC                          Ottawa
15              Meeting – CRA Human Resources Assistant Commissioner                 Ottawa
15              Meet and Greet – Information session for members - Ottawa ITSO – Local 70009     Ottawa
20              Public Interest Commission Hearing - CRA/UTE-PSAC                          Ottawa
21              PSAC’s NSCC meeting                                                                           Ottawa
21              PSAC’s National Joint Strategy Committee Meeting                                Ottawa
29              Site visit of Hamilton offices and AGM – Local 00014                              Hamilton

FEBRUARY 2020
3                Conference Call – Executive Council - Upcoming strike votes               Ottawa
4                Meeting - PSAC NBoD Committee on Representation Issues               Ottawa
5                Meeting on upcoming strike votes                                                          Ottawa
7                Meeting with Minister of National Revenue                                            Ottawa
11              PSAC Social Justice Fund Steering Committee meeting                        Ottawa
11-13        NBoD meeting                                                                                          Ottawa
14-15        Interregional Conference - Quebec and Montreal regions                      Gatineau
18              Site visit of Vancouver TSO and AGM – Local 20027                             Vancouver
20              Site visit of Fraser Valley TSO and AGM – Local 20007                         Surrey
24              AGM – Shawinigan - Local 10005                                                           Shawinigan
25              AGM and strike vote – Trois-Rivières – Local 10027                               Trois-Rivières
29              AGM - Penticton – Local 20026                                                               Penticton
Acronyms
AGM – Annual General Meeting
CRA – Canada Revenue Agency
FTQ – Fonds de solidarité du Québec
ITSO – International Tax Services Office
NBoD – National Board of Directors
NSCC – National Strike Coordinating Committee
NUMCC – National Union Management Consultation Committee
PSAC – Public Service Alliance of Canada
TSO - Tax Services Office

MEMBERSHIP:

Respectfully submitted,

Marc Brière
National President