President's Report - Executive Council

COLLECTIVE BARGAINING:

As mentioned in my previous report, our bargaining team unfortunately had no choice but to declare impasse in our negotiations with the employer. We were awaiting a decision from the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board (FPSLREB) on our request to move the bargaining process forward to the next step. We have now received the Board's response. Although the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) opposed the request, the Chair of the FPSLREB has informed us that she agrees with us that the parties are at impasse and has requested the establishment of a Public Interest Commission (PIC).

However, the Commission has indicated that it is appointing a mediator to work with the parties until the PIC hearing dates. Mediation sessions with the Employer are therefore scheduled for December 20-22. As for the PIC hearing dates, two dates have been proposed in early 2023. The dates of these meetings should be confirmed shortly.

While we wait for the mediation sessions, we need to increase the pressure. That's why UTE and PSAC have confirmed that a National Day of Action will be held on Monday, November 28 to step up our pressure on Treasury Board President Mona Fortier.

The theme of the event is: Where's Mona?

In-person events will be held in all regions across the country and a virtual national event will also be held that day starting at 7:00 p.m. (EST) with PSAC National President, Brother Chris Aylward, and National Executive Vice-President, Sister Sharon DeSousa.

This day of action is for PSAC members working for Treasury Board as well as those working for separate employers such as the CRA.

In order to increase the chances of a successful event with a high rate of member participation, the PSAC will be holding virtual texting and phone call campaign days to members leading up to the day.

In addition, members of our Political Action Committee and bargaining team, Regional Vice-Presidents and Local Presidents continue to organize meetings with selected Members of Parliament and government Ministers. I am planning meetings with the opposition MPs who are National Revenue's official critics as well as the Liberal MP for my riding, Greg Fergus. He is also the Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and to the President of the Treasury Board.

Finally, I personally conveyed to the Minister of National Revenue, the Honourable Diane Lebouthillier, and to the Commissioner of the Agency, Bob Hamilton, the message that members are frustrated with waiting years for their contracts to be renewed. I reiterated our outrage that our bargaining team is the only PSAC team currently negotiating with the federal government that has not received a wage offer from the employer.

I have warned them that we cannot wait any longer if there is no significant progress in our bargaining.

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETINGS (AGMs):

The holding of Annual General Meetings (AGMs) by our Locals is in full swing. The decision to hold their AGMs in a particular format rest with each of our local executives. Many have chosen to continue to hold their AGMs virtually, while a few Locals have chosen to experiment with a hybrid format. Finally, some have decided to resume holding their meetings strictly in person. Of course, we continue to encourage our Locals to remain vigilant about the health and safety of members and to take all necessary measures and precautions for face-to-face meetings.

The UTE National Officers are proud and happy to attend as many of our local AGMs as possible, regardless of the format. Not surprisingly, the main topic of discussion is the situation we find ourselves in with respect to bargaining for the renewal of our contract.

I would like to congratulate the Locals for their hard work and efficiency at the meetings.

I would also like to thank our Information Technology Specialist, Alex Thon, and the various technicians from Electronic Language Communications Ltd. (ELC) for their excellent work in providing technical support at the meetings. And I would also like to thank our Web/Communications Officer, Susan Duncan, for her excellent work in assisting the Locals in their preparations for the AGMs. This is a great example of teamwork.

MEETINGS WITH SENIOR CRA OFFICIALS:

I continue to have monthly meetings with the Agency's Chief Human Resources Officer, during which we discuss various important issues. We also have ad hoc discussions as needed.

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

• Meetings on potential employee return to the workplace;
• Updates to the Agency's security programs;
• Compensation: overpayment files and employee transfers between departments and agencies.

MEETING WITH THE CRA COMMISSIONER:

On October 31, I met with the Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner of the Agency regarding the following topics:

• Employer collaboration to assist the union in reaching out to its members in a virtual environment;
• The state of our collective bargaining.

MEETING WITH THE MINISTER OF NATIONAL REVENUE:

On October 24, I met with the Minister of National Revenue, the Honourable Diane Lebouthillier. The only topic on the agenda was the state of our collective bargaining.

STAFFING AT THE NATIONAL OFFICE:

The selection board, consisting of our Senior Labour Relations Officer, Shane O'Brien, and my Executive Assistant, Daniel Camara, continued their efforts to fill the last position in the Administrative Support Group of the UTE National Office.

They had one candidate take the usual tests, but unfortunately, he did not meet the minimum threshold required to be considered for the next step.

Efforts to fill the position continue.

As you know, Brother Kent MacDonald's last day on the job was November 10^th, after over fifteen (15) years of service as a Labour Relations Officer with the Union of Taxation Employees (UTE). Prior to that, Kent served as Local President and Regional Vice-President for 18 years. In addition, Kent was appointed a Life Member at the 2008 Triennial Convention.

Brother MacDonald, with his dynamic personality and vast experience, will be greatly missed. On behalf of our Union and myself, I would like to thank him for his invaluable service to our organization and its members and we wish him the very best of health and happiness and a long and happy retirement to come officially in early 2023 after his current leave of absence.

In order to fill the position of Labour Relations Officer left vacant by Brother MacDonald, I have asked a selection board, consisting of our Senior Labour Relations Officer and my Executive Assistant, to initiate a selection process. The notice of offer was published on September 20^th.

In accordance with the collective agreement between the UTE and the Alliance Employees Union (AEU) (Unit V), preference will be given first to qualified candidates in the following order

1. Employees 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; and
4. members of the Union of Taxation Employees.

The committee has reviewed the resumes of those who applied and will be inviting those candidates who meet the selection criteria to come in for a technical test in January 2023 in the order of the area of selection as specified above.

Please note that we will also need to initiate a staffing process in the next few months to hire a replacement for Brother Shane O'Brien in the position of Senior Labour Relations Officer. Brother O'Brien has indicated to me that he will be leaving within the next year to enjoy a well-deserved retirement.

Finally, as I have already mentioned on a few occasions, we will also be putting in place a staffing process to hire a Communications and Media Relations Officer.

SOLIDARITY WITH CUPE EDUCATION WORKERS:

On November 3, the Ford government in Ontario launched an unprecedented attack on education workers represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), including early childhood educators, secretaries, librarians, teacher assistants, custodians, maintenance staff and information technology (IT) professionals.

With Bill 28, the Ontario government sought to impose a four-year contract on education workers ordering them to return to work and threatening them with massive fines if they did not comply.

This bill invoked the notwithstanding clause, pre-emptively nullifying the protections of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms regarding the fundamental right to the collective bargaining process.

In other words, Bill 28 sought to destroy free collective bargaining and undermine the union by eliminating any hope of challenging the legislation in court.

This was unprecedented in Canadian history.

This was a serious threat to all workers not only in Ontario but across the country.

We decided to support the education workers represented by CUPE by issuing a message on November 3^rd, encouraging all UTE members living in Ontario to join them and show our support and solidarity in defending our Charter rights by joining a picket line or sending a letter to the attention of Ontario Premier Doug Ford denouncing this attack on our constitutional rights.

We also encouraged all of our members across the country to do the same and to support our sisters, brothers and friends in other unions who are already on strike elsewhere in the country.

Finally, thanks to the solidarity of everyone across the country, and the support of many parents and citizens, the Ford government backed down under pressure and agreed to repeal its Bill 28.

This is a great victory and a great day for the labour movement, for workers, for solidarity, and for our democracy!

I would like to sincerely thank all of our union representatives and members who have shown solidarity and support for education workers in Ontario.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE CANADIAN LABOUR CONGRESS (CLC):

The 30^th CLC General Assembly will be held from Monday, May 8 to Friday, May 12, 2023 in Montreal.

We are following closely the situation regarding the registration fees per delegate, the deadline for receiving credentials and the hotels recommended by the PSAC in order to make the usual reservations for the Executive Council Officers who wish to attend this meeting.

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 switched our mobile phone provider to TELUS and we received new mobile phones in this process. We purchased a new AC unit for our server room. We implemented a new charge back system for Locals who want to purchase Microsoft 365 licenses for their local executives and stewards. We had our first hybrid AGM and everything went well.

WEB/COMMUNICATIONS:

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

We were recently given permission by PSAC to extract the personal email addresses from UnionWare.  We did so and imported 28,282 new email addresses to our distribution list.  This is significant as we now can send messages to 32,701 addresses.

One of our locals recently asked if a field could be added to UnionWare to flag members who needed braille or large print documents.  We contacted PSAC and are pleased to announce that there is a new field that can be used for this.  Please contact Louise Dorion (dorionl@ute-sei.org) for instructions.

We continue our work on the new website.  We have approved the graphics and layout of the new website.  The programs and forms to make it work are currently being worked on.  Once that is complete, they will be working on importing our current content into the new website. While the company we are working with is dealing with an employee shortage, we still expect the website to be completed in the early part of next year.

DONATIONS / SPONSORSHIPS

As of November 25, 2022

Non-UTE Union Events

As of November 25, 2022

GRIEVANCE:

GRIEVANCE REPORT
SEPTEMBER 1st 2022 to NOVEMBER 30TH, 2022

During Q3, forty-nine (49) new grievances were received in the National office. Fifty-nine (59) grievances were presented. Fifty-four (54) final level reply was received from CRA, fifty-three (53) were denied, one (1) was partially allowed. Upon review of 3 files, they were closed as there was no merit.

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. Grievance hearing to be held in Feb. 2023.
3. Three grievances awaiting disposition of unfair labor complaint.
4. 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. Grievance to be held in abeyance pending resolution of discussions with Compensation.

There are presently one hundred ninety-nine (199) grievances in the National Office inventory which have not yet been presented at the Final Level dealing with a variety of issues.

POLICY GRIEVANCES

There were three (3) Policy Grievances sent to adjudication during this period, dealing with Articles 6, 25, 27, 28 and Vacation Policy. These grievances were presented during the last quarter and replies received in this quarter. All grievances were denied.

CLASSIFICATION GRIEVANCES

There were no new classification grievances filed during this period.

INDEPENDENT THIRD-PARTY REVIEWS (ITPRs)

There were no new ITPR grievances filed during this period.

CRA POLICY GRIEVANCES

There were no new CRA policy grievances filed during this period.

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. This complaint has now been scheduled with the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board for January 2023.

PRESIDENT’S ITINERARY

DATE             ACTIVITY                      PLACE

AUGUST 2022

30-31             Special PSAC NBoD meeting                      Ottawa

SEPTEMBER 2022

2                    Meeting with PSAC – Political action – MP visits          Gatineau
5                    Attending Labour Day Festivities                                   Ottawa
6                    NCSS meeting                                                               Gatineau
7                    Meeting - UTE Structure review                                     Gatineau
8                    Meeting with the CRA Assistant Commissioner, HRB   Gatineau
9                    Meeting with PSAC – Political action – MP visits           Gatineau
12                  Component Presidents’ meeting                                    Gatineau
14                  Meeting with PSAC - MP visits, Swag, Mobilization      Gatineau
14                  Meeting with CRA – Public Holiday on September 19   Gatineau
15                  Meeting with CRA - Journey to Hybrid                           Gatineau
15                  Virtual National Launch CRA Charitable Campaign 2022   Gatineau
16                  Meeting with the CRA Assistant Commissioner, HRB         Gatineau
20-21             Executive Council meeting                                             Ottawa
22-24             Presidents’ Conference                                                  Ottawa
26                  Component Presidents’ meeting                                    Gatineau
28                  AGM Moncton Local 60008 (virtual)                              Gatineau

OCTOBER 2022

3                    NCSS meeting                                                       Gatineau
3                    NBoD Training session – SharePoint                    Gatineau
6                    Meeting with PSAC - Swag, slogans                     Gatineau
6                    PSAC Standing Finance Committee meeting        Gatineau
18                  PSAC Standing Finance Committee meeting        Gatineau
18-21             PSAC NBoD meeting                                            Ottawa
22-23             EO National Conference                                        Ottawa
24                  Meeting with the Minister of National Revenue      Ottawa
25                  Meeting – Black Class Action                                 New York, USA
26                  Meeting – Follow up: Executive Council Retreat, Workshop   Gatineau
26                  AGM Toronto West Local 00051 (virtual)               Gatineau
27-30             PSAC NBoD retreat                                               Mont-Tremblant
31                  Meeting with the CRA Commissioner                    Gatineau

NOVEMBER  2022

2                    Special Executive Council meeting                       Gatineau
3                    Meeting with the CRA Assistant Commissioner, HRB  Gatineau
4                    PSAC Holdings Board meeting                             Gatineau
6                    Special PSAC NBoD meeting - Bill 28 (Ontario government)  Gatineau
7                    Component Presidents’ meeting                            Gatineau                
9                    Meeting - UTE Structure Review                           Gatineau
10                  Meeting - CRA Corporate Compensation – Pay issues  Gatineau
10                  Meeting with CRA - Journey to Hybrid                   Gatineau
10                  Meeting - UTE Structure Review                            Gatineau
15                  PSAC Founders’ Day Celebrations                        Ottawa
16                  NCSS meeting                                                        Gatineau
18                  Meeting - UTE Structure Review - Committee Mandate   Gatineau                          
21                  Meeting with PSAC – Mobilization Planning            Gatineau

Acronyms:

AGM - Annual general meeting
CRA -  Canada Revenue Agency
EO -  Equal Opportunities
HRB – Human Resources Branch
MP – Member of Parliament
NCSS - National Strategy/Strike Co-ordinating Committee
NBoD - National Board of Directors
PSAC - Public Service Alliance of Canada
UTE - Union of Taxation Employees

Respectfully submitted,

Marc Brière
National President

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