Report of the National President - Executive Council

COLLECTIVE BARGAINING :

As we approach the next round of bargaining between UTE/PSAC and CRA for a new contract, 2nd National Vice-President, Brother Adam Jackson, has prepared a message to our members that we released on May 25 regarding the ongoing process of collecting bargaining demands.

As in previous rounds, we are collecting bargaining demands from members and our Locals in preparation for our bargaining demands package.

Among the important next steps, notice to bargain collectively will be served to the Canada Revenue Agency prior to the expiration of the collective agreement as required by law. The National Bargaining Committee will have to meet to discuss, select and prioritize our demands. The new bargaining team will then be established and we will be able to begin negotiations with the employer.

COLLECTIVE BARGAINING WITH UTE EMPLOYEES :

On April 22, following the tentative agreement reached on April 19 with the Alliance Employees Union (AEU), Unit V, the AEU National Office employees ratified the new three-year contract covering the period from March 19, 2021 to March 18, 2024. We have received the translation of the document and expect to officially sign the new collective bargaining agreement in the near future.

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETINGS (AGMs) :

The Annual General Meeting (AGM) season is at an all-time high and I have attended several meetings as a guest speaker. Despite the fact that the meetings are held virtually, the feedback received continues to be extremely positive and member attendance has increased slightly compared to 2019.

Members have no difficulty using the Zoom platform. One of the main topics of discussion is the amount awarded for the Phoenix settlement which is considered by the CRA to be taxable income.

Several other meetings are scheduled this spring until the end of June.

Once again, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the locals for their hard work and resilience in these difficult times. Indeed, our local representatives are doing a great job of preparing for this event in collaboration with our IT specialist, Alex Thon, who is supported by our communications/web officer, Susan Duncan. I would also like to sincerely thank Alex for agreeing to work evenings during the week and sometimes weekends in addition to his regular weekday schedule. This is greatly appreciated and the quality of service provided to the locals and our members is simply exemplary and the comments received are very complimentary. 

MEETINGS WITH THE CRA :

I continue to have monthly phone conversations with the Chief Human Resources Officer.

In addition, I have had meetings with other Senior Officers of the Agency regarding various current issues and topics such as:

• CRA Orientation Sessions - Online Product;
• Agreement regarding the late implementation of the new Article 60.01 of the collective agreement;
• Extended Hours of Work and Shift Scheduling in Call Centers;
• Agency 2030.

STAFFING AT THE NATIONAL OFFICE :

As a result of the recent selection process for the position of Labour Relations Officer, the selection board, consisting of the Executive Assistant to the National President, Daniel Camara, and the Senior Labour Relations Officer, Shane O'Brien, identified Sister Shirin Amiri as the successful candidate for the position.

As a result, on March 31, the Executive Committee endorsed the National President's recommendation to appoint her to this position for a one (1) year term.

Sister Amiri assumed her duties on April 19. We welcome her and wish her all the best in her new job!

With respect to the position of Administrative Assistant to the National President, and following an unsuccessful selection process, I held discussions with Sister Carmen Ménard. Sister Ménard has worked as the Administrative Assistant to the PSAC Director of Finance for the past eight (8) years. In our dealings, both verbally and in writing via e-mail, I have been able to ascertain the excellence of her communications in both official languages.

On April 12, I conducted a lengthy interview with Sister Ménard at the National Office and I must say that she impressed me and passed with flying colors.

As a result, the very next day we held an Executive Committee meeting which endorsed my recommendation to proceed with her permanent appointment to this position.

Sister Menard joined us on May 3rd. I invite you to join me in welcoming her to our ranks and wishing her every success in her new job!

In closing, the National Office has been operating with fewer administrative assistants than budgeted for over a year. Recently, we came to the conclusion that we could no longer continue to run the day-to-day operations in this manner.  

On May 20th, we launched a selection process to hire an additional person. Our Senior Labour Relations Officer, Shane O'Brien, my Executive Assistant, Daniel Camara, and my Administrative Assistant, Carmen Menard, are responsible for this process.

In accordance with the collective bargaining agreement between UTE and AES (Unit V), preference will be given first to qualified candidates in the following order:

1. Members of the Alliance Employees Union (AEU) Bargaining Unit V;
2. Other members of the Alliance Employees Union;
3. Employees of the PSAC and its Components who are not members of the AEU;
4. Members of the Union of Taxation Employees; and
5. The general public.

We will keep you posted as soon as the selection process is complete.

MEETING WITH THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY OF CANADA'S TREASURY BOARD CRITIC

During a meeting held on March 3, the Conservative Party MP, Luc Berthold, told us that he wanted to establish a channel of communication with our union. However, he was aware that federal public servants had been greatly affected by the draconian cuts made by the former Prime Minister of Canada and leader of his party, Stephen Harper, and that the level of confidence in his party is probably very low. Nonetheless, he reached out to us and told us not to hesitate to call on him if we needed to apply pressure on Treasury Board on certain issues.

As soon as the PSAC informed us that the Canada Revenue Agency had upheld its decision to treat the settlement money received for the Phoenix pay system fiasco as taxable and that Treasury Board had still not put in place the claims process for former members, I decided to schedule a meeting with MP Berthold. 

I met with him on May 17th via a virtual meeting. I told him that it was inconceivable to treat these people this way and I asked him to put pressure on Treasury Board to finally make available the form that former federal government employees and former PSAC and UTE members will have to fill out in relation to the general compensation of the Phoenix settlement. I also denounced the lack of cooperation from Treasury Board in the interpretation of the Phoenix agreement. This has led the Canada Revenue Agency to maintain its decision that the amount awarded is taxable.

The MP mentioned that he has received many complaints from citizens in his riding regarding the problems experienced by former federal public service employees. He appreciated the fact that we asked for his intervention. He showed us a letter that has already been given to all members of the Conservative caucus to be used to put pressure on government ministers. He committed to continue to put pressure on the President of the Treasury Board, the Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, both inside and outside the House of Commons.

On another note, MP Berthold mentioned that his party has not yet abandoned the idea of making life easier for Quebec taxpayers by allowing them to file a single tax return. However, he will be contacting us in the near future to discuss the issue to ensure that their proposal does not cause job losses. I indicated to him that we are open to discussing this issue with him but that this does not mean that we will agree with their final proposal and that we will remain extremely vigilant on this issue. In closing, he indicated that the idea of making life easier for Quebecers during tax season would be part of his party's next election platform. To be continued.

PSAC REGIONAL CONVENTIONS :

We are now in the midst of the PSAC Regional Convention circuit. We are trying to have a National Officer at each Regional Convention. As of the date of this report, I have attended the PSAC Conventions in British Columbia and the National Capital Region. I would like to congratulate Brothers Jamey Mills and Alex Silas on their respective elections as Regional Executive Vice-Presidents and wish them a successful term. The remaining Regional Conventions for the Northern, Atlantic, Ontario, Quebec and Prairie Regions are scheduled to take place at the end of May and throughout the month of June.

CLC CONVENTION :

Most Executive Council members will attend the 29th General Assembly of the Canadian Labor Congress, which will be held virtually from June 16-18, 2021.

UTE 2021 TRIENNIAL CONVENTION :

The Triennial Convention is fast approaching and the preparation work is actively ongoing at the National Office. We are in constant communication with Encore Canada who will be providing the online broadcast of the convention. At the March Executive Council meeting, the terms of reference for the convention committees were adopted. Convention committee members, Credentials Committee members and Convention Nominating Committee members were also elected. All participants are now registered and the committees deliberated on resolutions in virtual sessions held April 27-30. All committees have submitted their reports and the National Office staff is in the process of finalizing the preparation of the documents to be sent to the delegates and observers as soon as possible. A big thank you to all the National Office staff who have done a tremendous job in organizing and bringing this to a successful conclusion.

We invite you to continue to watch our Convention Bulletins series to stay informed about this event. Also check out the UTE 2021 Convention website for more information.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS :

This is my last report to the Executive Council as your National President for the term that is ending. It has been an honour and a privilege to serve in this capacity and I have enjoyed working closely with the Officers of the Council over the past four (4) years. I would like to sincerely thank you for your hard work and friendship and wish each and every one of you the best of success in your future endeavors. I would like to take this opportunity to wish Sister Linda Koenders, outgoing Regional Vice President for the National Capital Region, a wonderful retirement filled with happiness and health. You have earned it Linda!

I have also had the opportunity to meet and talk frequently with our local representatives on various occasions. Whether it was at national or regional conferences, annual general meetings, or at the distribution of documents at the entrance of the offices, I had a lot of fun and I could see the passion and dedication of our activists. It is heartwarming and I would like to thank you again for your excellent work and outstanding dedication to our members.

I have also had the opportunity to meet our members at annual general meetings and visits to Agency offices. It always brings me great joy to be able to talk directly with members to hear what they have to say about the issues that matter to them. It keeps me connected to the reality of what they do on a daily basis. I was absolutely delighted to meet and talk with so many of our members.

I would also like to thank all of the National Office staff for their excellent work and dedication to our members. As usual, they provided professional and quality service.

Thanks also to our First National Vice-President, Brother Doug Gaetz, for his support, friendship and advice during my term. Doug has a lot of experience and he does not hesitate to share it with me. As the second highest ranking officer in our organization, Doug has been called upon to fill in for me and he has always done so willingly. I appreciate it very much and I know I can count on his support. Thank you Doug!

I would also like to thank a few people in particular who have worked closely with me at the National Office and with the Executive Council. They are Sylvie Bastien, Daniel Camara and Shane O'Brien.

Sylvie is the person who has made sure I always have what I need, no questions asked. She helped me from the very beginning of my presidency until her recent retirement. Thank you Sylvie and I wish you a long and happy retirement!

I certainly could not have accomplished my work without the presence at my side of Brother Daniel Camara. I convinced him to join me at the National Office and I have never regretted my decision. On the contrary! Daniel is calm and a quiet force (well, not all the time quiet!) who knows how to listen to me and endure my mood swings and give me good advice. He has done a lot of good things for UTE members and I am very grateful to him. Thanks to you Daniel!

As for Shane, he was able to give me the benefit of his vast experience and he also gave me good advice. I agree with my predecessor, the late Brother Bob Campbell, that Shane O'Brien is one of the finest strategists I have ever met in my life. I haven't always listened to him but we agree the vast majority of the time and I know I can always count on him. Thank you so much Shane!

I will have more to say at convention and to write about in my National President's report for convention.

Thank you everyone and long live the Union of Taxation Employees!

WEB/COMMUNICATIONS:

Our website is working well, and updates are occurring in a timely fashion.

We have made some improvements to the online forms used to claim salary and expenses.  We will now only have two forms, an Expense Claim form and an RVP/Staff Expense Claim form. The Expense claim form should be used whenever salary alone or salary and expenses are claimed. The RVP/Staff Expense Claim form asks for less information and does not have a salary component. 

We have added the building addresses to the information about our locals on the web. This information will be helpful in assisting members who do not know which local they belong to, especially in cities with multiple locals.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY:

All IT systems have been running well. Regular software maintenance of internal computers, servers and network was performed. All the employees have been working from home since the closure of the PSAC building. Since working from home, we have started to use more of our Microsoft 365 cloud services (Teams, OneDrive, SharePoint, etc.).

The virtual AGMs via Zoom have been going well. We have completed 37 AGMs and another 2 are scheduled in June.

DONATIONS / SPONSORSHIPS:

Donations/Sponsorships
Dons/Commandites
As of May 25, 2021 / Au 25 mai 2021

NON-UTE UNION EVENTS:

GRIEVANCES:

GRIEVANCE REPORT
Mar 1st 2021 to MAY 31ST, 2021

During Q1, seventy-eight (78) new grievances were received in the National office. Thirty-two (32) grievances were presented. Thirty-three (33) final level replies were received from CRA, nineteen (19) were denied, six (6) were partially allowed, one (1) was allowed and two (2) were settled. Thirty-six (36) grievances were closed; two (2) were not adjudicable, and three (3) were withdrawn.

1. Grievance in abeyance pending HRT & WSIAB complaints. The complaints are still active and outside legal counsel has carriage of 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. Previously held in abeyance presented May 2021
4. Reply held in abeyance pending WCB appeal
5. Awaiting DHCE investigation and report
6. One grievance pending Memorandum of Settlement
7. Hearing scheduled for June 2021
8. One grievance awaiting final job description and one grievance scheduled for hearing in June 2021
9. Pending appeal
10. One grievance awaiting ULP decision and three grievances awaiting ATIP information
11. Grievances pending ULP decision
12. Two grievances pending implementation of a MOS. One grievance held in abeyance at grievor request, one grievance pending ULP decision
13. One grievance awaiting information from local, two grievances scheduled for June 2021

There are presently one hundred forty-nine (149) grievances in the National Office inventory which have not yet been presented at the Final Level dealing with a variety of issues.

Discussions are ongoing with the employer with respect to the disposition of grievances related to Hours of Work and the Statutory Freeze Decision concerning the same in which we were successful we anticipate the resolution of the grievances in the near future.

Some delays were experienced due to a recent vacancy caused by the departure of one of our Labour Relation Officers and as a result in establishing new hearing schedules which were disrupted by the pandemic.

A selection process was conducted to fill the vacant position and a successful candidate was appointed on April 19, 2021. Furthermore, grievance scheduling has resumed. Both of these factors will contribute to having grievances heard in a more timely manner.

POLICY GRIEVANCE

There were no new policy grievances filed during this period.

CLASSIFICATION GRIEVANCES

There was one (1) new classification grievance filed during this period.

INDEPENDENT THIRD-PARTY REVIEWS (ITPRs)

Three (3) ITPRs were received in the National Office during this quarter where representation has been requested by the National office.

CRA POLICY GRIEVANCES

There were no new CRA Policy Grievances received during this period. One grievance received in a previous quarter was allowed at the Joint Committee level (level 3) of the procedure.

PRESIDENT’S ITINERARY

DATE           ACTIVITY                    PLACE

MARCH

2                    NBoD Conference call                                                                               Gatineau
2                    Meeting - Clause 60.01 remedy                                                                Gatineau
2                    Meeting with the Minister of National Revenue                                         Gatineau
3                    Meeting with MP Luc Berthold regarding Bill C-224                                  Gatineau
4                    Social Justice Fund Steering Committee meeting                                     Gatineau
8-9                 Bargaining meeting AEU, Unit V - UTE                                                     Gatineau
9                    Meeting with Encore Canada – Presidents’ Conference                           Gatineau
10                  Meeting with Encore Canada – Presidents’ Conference                            Gatineau
10                  Calgary TSO Local AGM                                                                            Gatineau
11                  Monthly meeting with the CRA Assistant Commissioner, HRB                   Gatineau
15                  Component Presidents’ Meeting                                                                Gatineau
16                  Strategic Business Resumption Update - CRA                                          Gatineau
16                  NBoD conference call                                                                                 Gatineau
16                  Meeting – UTE/PSAC campaign on contracting out                                   Gatineau
16                  Meeting with Encore Canada – Presidents’ Conference                            Gatineau
17-19             Executive Council meeting                                                                           Gatineau
17                  Regina Local AGM                                                                                        Gatineau
18                  Winnipeg TSO Local AGM                                                                            Gatineau
19                  Follow-up meeting - Strategic Business Resumption Update                      Gatineau
23-26             Presidents' Conference                                                                               Gatineau
23                  Rouyn-Noranda Local AGM                                                                               Gatineau
24                  Jonquière Tax Center Local AGM                                                                  Gatineau
25                  Trois-Rivières Local AGM                                                                               Gatineau
27                  Shawinigan-sud Local AGM                                                                           Gatineau
30                  PSAC Holdings Board meeting                                                                      Gatineau
31                  Executive Committee meeting                                                                                Gatineau

APRIL

6                    Consultation meeting with CRA’s HR   Gatineau
6                    Meeting with lawyer – Arbitration case                      Gatineau
7                    Meeting with lawyer – Arbitration case                      Gatineau
8                    Monthly meeting with the CRA Assistant Commissioner, HRB                      Gatineau
8                    Arbitration hearing: UTE employees’ contribution to PSAC pension plan                      Gatineau
8                    Meeting with lawyer – Arbitration case                      Gatineau
10                  Penticton Local AGM                                                Gatineau
12                  Component Presidents’ Meeting                              Gatineau
12                  Meeting with the CRA Assistant Commissioner, HRB                      Gatineau
13                  Meeting - PSAC Rules of Order Refresher                      Gatineau
15                  Demo CRA Orientation Experience - Online Product                      Gatineau
15                  Fraser Valley TSO Local AGM                      Gatineau
16                  Pre-meeting - Management team - Bargaining with AEU                      Gatineau
17                  Sudbury Local AGM                      Gatineau
19                  Bargaining with AEU, Unit V                      Gatineau
19                  Federal government budget – Debrief for the NBoD                      Gatineau
20                  CRA Orientation Session with new employees                      Gatineau
20                  Vancouver Local AGM                      Gatineau
21                  Special Executive Council Meeting                      Gatineau
21                  Toronto East Local AGM                      Gatineau
22                  Kelowna Local AGM                      Quebec City
23                  PSAC Virtual Events Platform Presentation                      Gatineau
26                  Convention Committees meeting for Chairs, Co-Chairs and Technical Advisors                      Gatineau
26                  Meeting - PSAC Rules of Order Refresher                      Gatineau
27                  NBoD conference call                      Gatineau
27-30             Convention Committees                      Gatineau
30                  NBoD Meeting                      Gatineau

MAY

3                    CRA - National Union-Management Consultation Committee Meeting – “Dry-Run” for the plaftorm                      Gatineau
5                    Ottawa TSO Local AGM                      Gatineau
6                    Meeting with the Delta Hotel Ottawa management team                      Gatineau
6-9                 PSAC BC Regional Convention                      Gatineau
10                  Component Presidents’ Meeting                      Gatineau
11                  NBoD conference call                      Gatineau
11                  Ottawa HQ Local AGM                      Gatineau
13                  Monthly meeting with the CRA Assistant Commissioner, HRB           Gatineau
13-16             PSAC NCR Regional Convention                      Gatineau
13                  Meeting with CRA: Contact centre hours of work matrix                      Gatineau
17                  Special Executive Council Meeting                      Gatineau
17                  Meeting – MP Luc Berthold regarding Phoenix                      Gatineau
18                  Social Justice Fund Steering Committee meeting                      Gatineau
19                  Meeting with Encore Canada – Triennial Convention                             Gatineau
19                  Meeting with PSAC: Contact centre hours of work matrix                      Gatineau

Acronyms

AEU – Alliance Employees’ Union
AGA – Assemblée générale annuelle
AGM – Annual General Meeting
CRA – Canada Revenue Agency
LRO – Labour Relations Officer
NCR – National Capital Region
NBoD - National Board of Directors
PSAC – Public Service Alliance of Canada
TSO – Tax Services Office

MEMBERSHIP:

Respectfully submitted,

Marc Brière
National President