Report of the President - Executive Council

COLLECTIVE BARGAINING:

Work is well underway to prepare for the next round of negotiations between UTE/PSAC and CRA for a new contract. As a result of our August 5th message regarding the formal process for the collection of bargaining demands, Locals have submitted over three hundred (300) demands that our members feel are most important to them.

In addition, the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) sent on October 15^th the notice to bargain to the Commissioner of the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) for the next round of negotiations to renew our members' contract.

The Union of Taxation Employees (UTE) National Bargaining Committee met in early November to discuss and prioritize the demands received. The draft package of demands was created and sent to the PSAC Collective Bargaining Department.

I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank all the members of the committee for their excellent work.

In accordance with UTE Regulation No. 10, Brother Adam Jackson, 2^nd National Vice-President and responsible for Bargaining, Brother Jamie vanSydenborgh, Regional Vice-President of the Southwestern Ontario Region and Co-Chair of the National Bargaining Committee, and I have selected the members who will be part of our bargaining team.

The team is composed of the following nine (9) members:

• Adam Jackson, 2^nd National Vice-President
• Jamie vanSydenborgh, Regional Vice-President, Southwestern Ontario Region
• Brian Oldford, Regional Vice-President, Atlantic Region
• Ashley Green, President of St. John's Taxation Centre Local, Presidents' Representative for Tax Centres
• Dan Aiken, President of the Charlottetown Local, Presidents’ Representative for Tax Services Offices
• Eddy Aristil, Regional Vice-President, Montreal Region
• David Lanthier, Regional Vice-President, National Capital Region
• Andria Cullen, Regional Vice-President, Greater Toronto Region
• Kimberley Koch, Regional Vice-President, Pacific Region

Please note that Senior Labour Relations Officer, Brother Shane O'Brien, is also part of the team as a technical advisor for UTE.

Now, the newly formed team will be meeting in early December with our negotiator, Brother Morgan Gay, as well as Pierre-Samuel Proulx, PSAC Research Officer, to review the draft package to develop the final package of demands and to decide on our priorities.

On November 19, we posted a message on our website announcing that negotiations between the two parties will start in the week beginning January 11, 2022.

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETINGS (AGMs):

As indicated in my activity report (president's itinerary), I have had the pleasure of attending several general meetings since the beginning of October. Unfortunately, these meetings have been held virtually as we still have to comply with the recommendations and restrictions put in place by local, provincial and national public health authorities. That being said, I am glad that our Locals are able to hold these very important meetings for our democracy.

I have had the opportunity and privilege to listen to the members present at these meetings talk about the issues that are important to them. I also took the opportunity to address our members and answer their questions as a guest speaker. Not surprisingly, the two (2) main topics of discussion were the Policy on mandatory vaccination against COVID-19 for Federal Employees and the upcoming round of bargaining.

I would like to congratulate the Locals for their hard work and efficiency during the meetings. I would also like to reiterate the excellent work of our Information Technology Specialist at the National Office, Alex Thon, in keeping everything running smoothly.

MEETINGS WITH SENIOR CRA OFFICIALS:

I continue to have monthly phone calls with the Agency's Chief Human Resources Officer during which we discuss various important issues.

In addition, I have had conversations with other senior Agency officials regarding current issues and topics such as:

• Monthly meetings on potential return to the workplace;
• Security Update (Artimis) - Finance and Administration Branch;
• Policy on mandatory vaccination against COVID-19 for Federal Employees;
• Review of the Pay Equity Act.

MEETING WITH THE CRA COMMISSIONER:

I also met with the Commissioner of the Agency to discuss the following three (3) issues:

• the reorganization of offices in some regions;
• the Policy on mandatory vaccination against COVID-19 for CRA employees;
• the next round of bargaining.

In addition, in the spirit of the union-management approach, I have agreed with the Commissioner that we will have quarterly meetings via the Teams platform to discuss certain concerns or important issues. Of course, if important events occur and we need to discuss them, other informal meetings will be added.

STAFFING AT THE NATIONAL OFFICE:

The process to hire an administrative assistant is still underway. We have used two external recruiting firms. Unfortunately, we have not found any qualified candidates who are willing to relocate/reside in the National Capital Region.

As a result, we have decided to reissue a notice to employees working for the PSAC or other Components, UTE members and also to the general public. We have now received several applications that meet the selection criteria. However, we have not yet had the opportunity to interview candidates due to various pressing priorities within our organization.

We hope to continue the process before the end of 2021.

EXECUTIVE COUNCIL RETREAT AND MEDIA TRAINING:

A training for Executive Council officers on best practices when giving media interviews will be held at the Hilton Lac-Leamy hotel in Gatineau on January 17 and 18, 2022. Following this, we will hold a retreat for the new Executive Council on January 19 and 20. At the retreat, we will establish our priorities and objectives for the current two-year cycle and identify the best ways to conduct our union business and achieve our goals.

PSAC 2022 NATIONAL TRIENNIAL CONVENTION:

We have provided the PSAC with the list of Union of Taxation Employees (UTE) delegates who will be representing our Component at the 2022 Triennial National Convention of the Alliance as well as the resolutions submitted and approved by our delegates at our last convention. For this convention, UTE is entitled to sixty-nine (69) delegates in addition to the National President as a member of the National Board of Directors (NBoD). The registration fee for the convention is $300 per delegate and is paid by UTE. All delegates attending the conference will be required to complete the registration form and register online. Instructions for online registration will be distributed individually to confirmed delegates.

For observers, registration instructions will be sent to us by the PSAC at the end of January 2022. The Alliance will not accept any registrations before that date. The registration fee for each observer is also $300 and must be received by April 1, 2022.

We have also provided the PSAC with our preferences and specific needs regarding the selection of hotel rooms, caucus rooms and hospitality suite during the convention.

We will keep you updated when we have more information.

Respectfully submitted,

Marc Brière
National President

WEB/COMMUNICATIONS:

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

We have created a survey to get feedback from our members and activists about our website and what we should change.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY:

All IT systems have been running well. Regular software maintenance of internal computers, servers and network was performed. We purchased new laptops (took advantage of Black Friday discounts) for the RVPs that were scheduled to received them next year. We renewed our virus protection cloud service and Microsoft 365 for another year. We are continuing to have virtual AGMs for the Locals who couldn’t do them in the spring or early summer.

DONATIONS / SPONSORSHIPS:

Donations/Sponsorships
Dons/Commandites
As of November 19, 2021 / Au 19 novembre 2021

NON-UTE UNION EVENTS:

Non-UTE Union Events
Événements syndicaux autres que ceux du SEI
As of November 19, 2021 / Au 19 novembre 2021

GRIEVANCES:

GRIEVANCE REPORT
September 1st 2021 to November 30th, 2021

During Q3, twenty (20) new grievances were received in the National office. Thirty-five (35) grievances were presented. Thirty-eight (38) final level replies were received from CRA, thirty-two (32) were denied, three (3) were partially allowed, one (1) was settled and two (2) were withdrawn. Twenty-five (25) grievances were closed; five (5) were not adjudicable, and one (1) was settled and two (2) 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. This grievance has been outstanding for a number of years and will likely not be resolved anytime soon. The member is no longer working for CRA and the matter has been delayed due to extensive and complicated legal proceedings.
2. Consultation is occurring regularly with respect to these grievances. These 20 grievances are related to a successful Statutory Freeze Complaint, but grievors are seeking unique and specific corrective actions, discussions are held with the employer to agree upon appropriate corrective measures.
3. Reply held in abeyance pending WCB appeal.
4. Grievance is related to Job Description and awaiting final version of Job Description.
5. Three grievances held in abeyance awaiting ATIP information and one grievance awaiting disposition of unfair labor practice complaint.
6. Three grievances awaiting disposition of unfair labor complaint
7. Two grievances awaiting the implementation of all provisions of a Memorandum of Settlement. One grievance held in abeyance pending disposition unfair labor practice complaint. One grievance held in abeyance pending claim for damages arising from Phoenix pay issues.
8. Hearing scheduled for December 2021.
9. Ongoing discussion with the employer concerning potential settlement. Grievor is not responding to emails and phone calls.
10. Many of these grievances are with respect to work descriptions and we are awaiting the final versions of the descriptions.

There are presently one hundred thirty-seven (137) grievances in the National Office inventory which have not yet been presented at the Final Level dealing with a variety of issues.

The Senior Labour Relations Officer has contacted the employer’s Director of Labour Relations to discuss and resolve the issue of significant delays in the issuance of final level replies for some grievances. The employer has agreed to speak with their respected officers with a view to giving priority attention to the grievances in question. While some improvement has been noted, delays by one of the labour relations advisors issuing replies is still problematic and regular follow-ups are being made with the Director of Labour Relations.

POLICY GRIEVANCE

There were no new policy grievances filed during this period.

CLASSIFICATION GRIEVANCES

There were no new classification grievances filed during this period.

INDEPENDENT THIRD-PARTY REVIEWS (ITPRs)

One (1) ITPR was received during this period and two (2) were closed, with both cases resolved successfully without proceeding to a hearing.

CRA POLICY GRIEVANCES

There were no new CRA Policy Grievances received during this period.

PRESIDENT’S ITINERARY:

DATE           ACTIVITY                    PLACE

September

7                    Meeting with CRA - Potential return to workplace               Gatineau
7                    NBoD Federal Election Oversight Committee                     Gatineau
8                    Meeting - Membership Assignment to Locals                      Gatineau
9                    Meeting with the CRA Assistant Commissioner, HRB         Gatineau
9                    Virtual National Launch CRA Charitable Campaign 2021   Gatineau
9                    Meeting - Membership Assignment to Locals                      Gatineau
13                  Component Presidents’ meeting                                          Gatineau
14-16             Executive Council meeting                                                  Ottawa
16                  Meeting with Encore – Presidents’ Conference                   Ottawa
21-24             Presidents’ Conference                                                       Ottawa
21                  PSAC NBoD meeting                                                          Ottawa

October

1                    Arbitration Hearing: PSAC Pension Plan Contribution Rates     Gatineau
4                    Component Presidents’ meeting                                          Gatineau
5                    Meeting with lawyer                                                              Gatineau
5                    PSAC NBoD meeting                                                           Gatineau
5                    CRA Orientation Experience Session                                   Gatineau
6                    PSAC SJF Steering Committee Meeting                              Gatineau
6                    Interview with Radio-Canada                                                Gatineau
7                    Arbitration Hearing: PSAC Pension Plan Contribution Rates   Gatineau
7                    AGM Winnipeg TC Local 50031                                            Gatineau
12                  Special Executive Council Meeting                                        Gatineau
14                  Meeting with the CRA Assistant Commissioner, HRB           Gatineau
14                  Meeting - Debrief with Encore – Presidents’ Conference       Gatineau
14                  Meeting with Ad-Hoc Committee on Membership Assignment to Locals      Gatineau
15                  Meeting with CRA - Security Program update                        Gatineau
18                  Meeting - UTE Website redesign                                            Gatineau
18                  Executive Committee meetings -Nominations for Bargaining Committee     Gatineau
18                  Meeting with CRA Commissioner                                           Gatineau
19-21             PSAC NBoD meeting                                                             Gatineau
20                  AGM Winnipeg CCSC Local 50032                                        Gatineau
21                  AGM St. Catharines Local 00016                                           Gatineau
22                  Meeting with CRA - Policy on mandatory vaccination against COVID-19  Gatineau
24                  AGM Saint John Local 60005                                                 Gatineau
25                  Component Presidents’ meeting                                             Gatineau
26                  AGM Sydney Local 80004                                                      Gatineau
27                  Meeting – Response on CRA’s Policy on mandatory vaccination against COVID-19  Gatineau
27                  AGM Toronto West Local 00051                                             Gatineau

November

2                    PSAC NBoD meeting                                                             Gatineau
5                    Discussion with the Bargaining Team                                     Gatineau
8                    Special Executive Council meeting                                         Gatineau
16                  PSAC NBoD meeting                                                              Gatineau
17                  AGM Bathurst Local 60006                                                    Gatineau
18                  PSAC Holdings Board meeting                                              Gatineau
22                  Special Executive Council meeting                                        Gatineau

Acronyms

AGM – Annual General Meeting
CLC – Canadian Labour Congress
CCSC – Compensation Client Service Centre
CRA – Canada Revenue Agency
HRB – Human Resources Branch
NBoD - National Board of Directors
NEEDC - National Employment Equity and Diversity Committee
NUMCC - National Union Management Consultation Committee
PSAC - Public Service Alliance of Canada
SJF – Social Justice fund
UTE – Union of Taxation Employees

MEMBERSHIP:

Respectfully submitted,

Marc Brière
National President