Minutes of the Workforce Adjustment Committee Meeting

In attendance: Pamela Abbott          Chairperson
                        Bill Blair                    Co-Chairperson
                        Hicham Youssfi         TSO Presidents’ Representative
                        Sylvie Lahaie             TC Presidents’ Representative
                        Kent MacDonald        Staff Advisor

1.  Review of the previous minutes

The Committee reviewed both the Committee’s previous minutes and the minutes of the joint Committee meeting from September 24, 2012.

2.  Review Agenda for the afternoon Joint Committee meeting

The agenda items are:

1. Combined Affected Employee and / or Preferred Status list
2. Update on Cost Containment Plan
3. Update on Records Management

1)   Combined Affected Employee and/or Preferred Status list

There are currently 287 members in affected and/or preferred status. The following is a breakdown per region:

Atlantic             34 members
Quebec             44 members
Ontario              86 members
Head Office        32 members
Prairies              49 members
Pacific               42 members

The RVP’s will be sent a copy of the Regional list.  (Note: The National list is broken down per region and not per office as in the past.  Thus, the regional breakdown is per the employer’s regions.)

2)   Update on the Cost Containment Plan

UTE will be seeking an update as to the status and number of members left on the affected list as per the Cost Containment Plan.

3)   Update on Records Management

UTE is concerned about the retention of our SP01 members who were affected by the elimination of Records Management and will be discussing our concerns with management.

3. Continuous Service – Transition Support Measure

Sister Lahaie was concerned that the information on the definition of service  for Transition Support Measures (TSM) was not communicated down to the local level. Sister Lahaie bought this issue of the wrong calculation for service for TSM to the Committee’s attention. This was communicated to the employer who agreed with us and that the correct information would go out. There  was an assumption on our part that the employer would correct this information in the field and communicate it to all levels. As this did not happen, we will bring this up at the afternoon meeting with the employer.

4. Roundtable

• Rumours

Brother Youssfi discussed the issue of “rumours” in the current working environment in relation to speculations on what Vision 2020 means and concerns with the upcoming and past budgets etc. Sister Abbott reiterated the same thing Brother Campbell has said, “As soon as you hear a rumour, bring it up to National as soon as possible so we can question the employer in the hopes of putting the rumour to rest.”

• Communication

The Committee discussed its role when WFA Notifications take place. Brother MacDonald explained that WFA Notifications are contained consultation with the National President and that he is asked to attend on behalf of the President. Communication then goes from the employer to the RVP, then to the Locals and then the members affected or impacted. While there may be no role for the Committee in this process, it was agreed that the Committee should be provided with the Notification information package as soon as we know it is being presented to the members.

• WFA Policy Grievance – Transfer of our members to Shared Services Canada

Brother MacDonald informed the Committee that the English version of the Grievance Decision came out on March 14th, 2013, in which the grievance was denied. Copies were distributed to the Committee and as soon as the French version is available, it will be forwarded to the Committee.