Report of the President - Executive Council

COLLECTIVE BARGAINING:

Last June, we held virtual meetings across the country regarding the negotiation of our new contract. The participation of members in these meetings was acceptable considering that it was a first experience and that we were still at the beginning of the negotiation process.

We all agree that the negotiation of our new contract is obviously of paramount importance to all our members, and we need to find ways to engage them, especially in the virtual environment in which we operate.

We also did a text message and phone call campaign to our members prior to the meetings. This campaign went very well and I would like to take this opportunity to thank the members, including many of our union representatives, for their involvement and excellent work.

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and the Union of Taxation Employees-Public Service of Canada (UTE-PSAC) negotiating teams continued negotiations during two meetings held from July 12^th to 14^th and August 31^st to September 1^st.

At the July meeting, our team presented our wage demands for fair annual increases that, at a minimum, keep pace with inflation. We also asked for protections against contracting out. CRA rejected our demands.

At the last meeting, our team unfortunately had no choice but to declare an impasse in negotiations and asked the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board (FPSLRB) to help us move negotiations forward. The scenario that occurred in the last round of bargaining repeated itself again this time. The employer is asking us to make concessions, is refusing to meet our key demands and has also refused to make a wage offer to us even though Treasury Board has made wage offers to other PSAC bargaining units that also represent federal public service employees. This is unacceptable and downright insulting. Especially when you consider the skyrocketing inflation, the significant increase in interest rates and the extraordinary work our members have done since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic by administering not only the federal government's tax programs but also its emergency financial assistance programs and by assisting other federal departments in urgent need.

We will have to stand together once again, strong and united, in order to show the employer that we will not let them walk all over us. Our members deserve much more respect and consideration. Enough is enough!

We must continue to give our bargaining team our full support. To allow our members to show their support for the bargaining team, we have included a poster with two slogans (both sides) in a mailing with the October edition of our Union News. I ask that everyone use this poster and display it prominently in the workplace and at work-related meetings or when our union organizes mobilization activities. It is important for the employer to see and know that our members are thinking about bargaining at all times and that they unequivocally support our bargaining team.

While we wait to hear from the FPSLRB, our political action committee, in collaboration with the PSAC, will be organizing meetings with some federal MPs and government ministers to increase the pressure on Treasury Board and the Canada Revenue Agency to negotiate seriously with us in order to move forward with negotiations for the renewal of our contract. For my part, I am planning meetings with the CRA Commissioner, the Minister of National Revenue, the opposition MPs who are the critics of Revenue, and the Liberal MP for my riding.

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETINGS (AGMs):

The holding of Annual General Meetings (AGMs) by our Locals are back in full swing this fall. Some Locals will continue to hold their AGMs virtually while others are choosing to resume holding them in person. Since the public health authorities are no longer imposing health restrictions at this time, the decision to hold their AGM in a particular format is up to each of our Local executives as is normally the case. Of course, we strongly encourage our Locals to remain vigilant about the health and safety of members and to take all necessary measures and precautions to ensure this if the meetings are held in person.

It is very important for our members to attend these meetings so that they can fully participate in the democratic life of our union and have a say in the decisions that are made.

UTE National Officers continue to attend as many of our Locals’ AGMs as possible. As a guest speaker, it is always a pleasure for me to address our members and answer their questions.

I wish our Locals all the best in organizing the upcoming AGMs and sincerely hope that many of our members will attend.

MEETINGS WITH SENIOR CRA OFFICIALS:

I continue to meet monthly with the Agency's new Chief Human Resources Officer, Sonia Côté, during which we discuss various important issues. I would like to thank her predecessor, Dan Couture, for his continued collaboration over the years as we collaboratively addressed the various important issues we faced.

I have also had discussions with other senior Agency officials regarding current issues and topics such as:

• Meetings on potential return to the workplace;

MEETING WITH THE CRA COMMISSIONER:

I also spoke with the Agency Commissioner regarding the following topic:

• The employer's cooperation in assisting the union in reaching out to its members in a virtual environment.

STAFFING AT THE NATIONAL OFFICE:

A selection committee, composed of our Senior Labour Relations Officer, Shane O'Brien, and my Executive Assistant, Daniel Camara, continued their efforts to fill two (2) positions within the Administrative Support Group of the UTE National Office.

They were able to identify one (1) candidate, Gabriela de Sousa Nunez, who met all the hiring criteria required to fill one of these positions. They made a recommendation to offer her indeterminate employment. The UTE Executive Committee endorsed this recommendation and Gabriela will join our National Office team effective September 6, 2022.

It is still our intention to fill another administrative assistant position as soon as possible and our efforts are ongoing.

EXECUTIVE COUNCIL RETREAT AND MEDIA TRAINING:

We held the Executive Council Retreat in Gatineau on June 20^th and 21^st followed by a media training on June 22^nd and 23^rd.

The discussions at the Council Retreat were very interesting and productive and our group identified the main priorities that we need to address before the end of this shortened cycle. Among these, the review of the UTE structure is at the top of the list. I have already announced that an Ad Hoc Committee will be formed with a mandate to consult with various stakeholders to assess the situation and to prepare and present recommendations to the Executive Council on possible changes to the structure of our union. It seems obvious that the multiple changes brought about by the Agency in its own structure and ways of doing things have an important impact on the different components of our union and its members. The composition of this committee will be announced shortly.

In addition, I have decided to hire an external consultant to assist us in this very important process.

To start the consultation process for our structure review, we will first hold a workshop on this topic at the September Presidents' Conference.

Once the committee is in place, I will meet with its members to discuss the mandate I am giving them and the way forward.

Regarding the media training, it went very well and I can safely say that the officers of the Executive Council enjoyed the exercise very much.

NOTICE OF OBJECTION – TAXABLE PHOENIX DAMAGES:

On July 28, we issued a reminder to our members to tell them once again that our union strongly recommends that they file a notice of objection to the Notice of Assessment from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and, for our members residing in Quebec, also from the Agence du revenu du Québec, for the year 2021 regarding the portion of reported income that represents general damages paid under a settlement agreement negotiated by the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) as compensation for stress, aggravation and pain and suffering, payable to all PSAC members in recognition of the effect of the Phoenix pay system and the delay in the implementation of a collective agreement on the membership. In this message, we have provided proposed language to be included in the notices of objection to make it easier for our members.

We will continue to monitor the situation closely and I intend to ask the PSAC if it intends to retain the services of an accounting firm specializing in tax matters to advise it and to represent all PSAC members, including UTE members, in the legal process.

Respectfully submitted,

Marc Brière
National President

INFORMATION/TECHNOLOGY

All IT systems have been running well. Regular software maintenance of internal computers, servers and network was performed. We purchased a new Dell server to replace our current server which will be out of warranty shortly. We replaced the phone system at the National Office with Microsoft’s Teams phone system. This new phone system integrates calling features within the Teams applications.

WEB/COMMUNICATIONS:

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

We have created two new expense claim forms, one for the upcoming Presidents’ Conference and one for other in-person events.  The latter form can be used for national and local events.

The UTE calendar for the years 2023-2024 is being printed and a copy will be sent to each member with the October edition of our publication ‘Union News’.  Extra copies will be available at the national office for locals who need them.  We will also be printing accessible calendars and sending those to the locals who have requested them.

DONATIONS / SPONSORSHIPS 

Non-UTE Union Events
Événements syndicaux autres que ceux du SEI
As of September 7,2022- Au 7 septembre 2022

GRIEVANCE:

GRIEVANCE REPORT
JUNE 1st 2022 to AUGUST 31ST, 2022

During Q2, one hundred thirteen (113) new grievances were received in the National office. Seventy-four (74) grievances were presented. Fifty-five (55) final level replies were received from CRA, fifty-one (51) were denied, three (3) were withdrawn and fourteen (14) closed.

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. Discussion ongoing with the employer. Hearings to be held in the near future.
3. Three grievances awaiting disposition of unfair labor complaint.
4. Two grievances awaiting the implementation of all provisions of a Memorandum of Settlement (MOS). MOS is expected to be concluded in May 2022. 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.
5. One grievance was scheduled for Dec 2021, but subsequently held in abeyance at the request of the grievers. Waiting for information from griever on two related grievances were the griever self-represented.

There are presently two hundred nine (209) grievances in the National Office inventory which have not yet been presented at the Final Level dealing with a variety of issues.

POLICY GRIEVANCE

The policy grievances to which we referred to in our last report were rescheduled due to changes in the employers’ organization, these grievances were heard at the Final Level in August 2022 and the response is expected shortly.

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)

During this quarter we received Two (2) ITPR’s but after further review, these ITPR’s were withdrawn.

CRA POLICY GRIEVANCES

There were three (3) new CRA Policy Grievances received during this period, dealing with Articles 6, 25, 27, 28 and Vacation Policy.

STATUTORY FREEZE COMPLAINT

As a result of the CRA unilateral actions in scheduling extended Hours of Work, and scheduling Saturday work without overtime compensation, we were successful in persuading the PSAC to file a Statutory Freeze complaint against the CRA. Brother O’Brien worked in collaboration with PSAC Legal Services and outside Legal Counsel in the submission of the complaint which was filed on March 14, 2022. No hearing date has been established yet.

PRESIDENT’S ITINERARY – SEPTEMBER 2022

DATE             ACTIVITY                      PLACE

MAY

25                  Special NBoD meeting – PSAC National Convention                 Gatineau
25                  UTE caucus - PSAC National Convention                                   Gatineau
26                  Meeting – Virtual townhall meetings on bargaining                      Gatineau
26-27, 30-31   PSAC National Convention                                                         Gatineau
26                  AGM Local 10008 – Montreal                                                      Gatineau
27                  All candidates campaign managers meeting                               Gatineau
30                  Special Executive Council meeting                                             Gatineau
31                  Meeting – UTE Caucus – PSAC National Convention                Gatineau
31                  AGM Local 00013 - Toronto Centre                                            Gatineau

JUNE

1-2-3              PSAC National Convention                                                         Gatineau
1                     CRA virtual orientation session                                                  Gatineau
3                     NBoD meeting – PSAC National Convention Adjournment       Gatineau
6-7-8              Executive Council meeting                                                         Ottawa
9                    Meeting re: agenda items for the NUMCC                                  Ottawa
9                    NUMCC Meeting                                                                         Ottawa
10                  RVPs townhall preparation meeting                                            Gatineau
13                  Component Presidents’ meeting                                                 Gatineau
13                  RVPs townhall preparation meeting                                            Gatineau
13                  Preparation meeting for Executive Council Retreat                      Gatineau
14-16             NBoD meeting                                                                            Ottawa
14                  PSAC Standing Finance Committee meeting                             Ottawa
14                  Meeting with CRA – Update on COVID-19 vaccination policy    Ottawa
14                  Townhall meeting on bargaining – Atlantic Region                      Gatineau
15                  Townhall meeting on bargaining – British Columbia Region        Gatineau
16                  Townhall meeting on bargaining – Prairies Region                      Gatineau
17                  RVPs townhall preparation meeting                                            Gatineau
20-21             Executive Council Retreat                                                           Gatineau
20                  Townhall meeting on bargaining – Quebec and National Capital Regions   Gatineau
22-23             Executive Council Media training                                                Gatineau
22                  Townhall meeting on bargaining – Ontario Region                      Gatineau
28                  Meeting with CRA – Assistance to ESDC                                    Gatineau

JULY

4                    Component Presidents’ meeting                                                 Gatineau
6                    Meeting - new UTE website                                                        Gatineau
7                    Special Executive Council meeting                                             Gatineau
11                  Meeting with CRA - Potential return to workplace                      Gatineau
11                  Meeting with PSAC – Bargaining (PSAC Regulation 19)           Gatineau
12                  Meeting - UTE Structure Review                                                Gatineau
13                  Meeting - UTE Structure Review                                                Gatineau
14                  Meeting with the CRA Assistant Commissioner, HRB                Gatineau
15                  NSCC meeting                                                                            Gatineau
15                  PSAC Holdings Board meeting                                                   Gatineau

AUGUST

15                  Component President’s meeting                                                 Gatineau
16                  Réunion avec le commissaire de l’ARC                                      Gatineau
24                  Meeting - UTE Structure Review                                                 Gatineau
24                  Meeting with PSAC – Political Action planning                            Gatineau
26                  Meeting with the CRA Assistant Commissioner, HRB                 Ottawa
29                  Component Presidents’ meeting                                                  Gatineau                                                                               

Acronyms

AGM - Annual General Meeting
CRA - Canada Revenue Agency
ESDC – Employment and Social Development Canada
HRB – Human Resources Branch
NSCC - National Strategy/Strike Co-ordinating Committee
NUMCC - National Union Management Consultation Committee
NBoD - National Board of Directors
PSAC - Public Service Alliance of Canada
RVP – Regional Vice President
UTE - Union of Taxation employees

Respectfully submitted,

Marc Brière
National President

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