Report of the President - Executive Council

PEI  PSTAR: The official announcement was made in January 2013 that CRA would be assuming the administration of PEI provincial sales tax, effective April 1, 2013. We anticipate 21 new UTE members in Prince Edward Island because of this initiative. There will be 2 waves of PEI provincial employees transferred to the CRA; the first on April 1, 2014 and the second on April 1, 2015.

CIP Structure in CPB:  We were officially advised on December 12, 2013 of CRA’s plans to transform the Criminal Investigation Program in the Compliance Programs Branch. This new vision does not include any positions at the SP level. We developed a National Grievance strategy as a result of this initiative and we will continue to represent these members on this issue.
 
PSAC CHARTER CHALLENGE ON Bill C-10:  This is the legislation that rolled back our negotiated wage increase in 2009.  A hearing date before the Ontario Superior Court has been secured and has been fixed for the entire week of October 21, 2013. In the meantime, cross-examination of our witnesses who submitted affidavits is scheduled for April of 2013.

Response to the Parliamentary Budget Officer's Report:  On January 14th, we responded to this attack, as indicated below: 

“Members across the nation have been bombarded with attacks on their benefits and wages as being “too rich” or “too generous.”  You have no doubt read in the papers articles quoting the Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page saying that the average public servant costs taxpayers $117,000.  Of course, you and I know that none of our members earn or cost such money.

The report prepared by the PBO is not reflective whatsoever of our members who work hard for their salary and are held to very high standard.  In fact, the average salary of a PSAC member is 50-55K per year.  The report quoted in the media includes ALL public servants including parliamentarians and bureaucrats (MPs, their senior cabinet support and the Prime Minister’s Office).  His figures are also inflated because of the projected calculation of severance.

The excellent services that our members provide are being consistently and strategically eroded by this government and this report just adds fuel to the fire in the media and with those taxpayers following such preposterous generalizations.  We agree that transparency is of paramount importance when delivering public services and would hope but have failed to see the government following its own preaching’s.

When comparing public servant wages to those in the private sectors there is no evidence that ours are outpacing those in the private sector – with of course one caveat.  We have seen just and fair advancements in the area of pay equity which account for a better living wage in some cases.  The fact that we have successfully fought a very long battle to ensure women are paid the same as men is something to be celebrated, not chastised.  We believe in equality regardless of how the private sector acts.

In addition, please note that the number of EX or senior management positions in the public sector have ballooned while the government has outsourced lower paying jobs to private firms.

I ask you to remember these points when asked by others who claim this study to be truth, that while it sure would be nice to make what they are claiming, we in fact, do not.  We work with integrity and pride to protect the tax programs and the administration of benefits for the public of Canada; we don’t enjoy “golf days” or corporate parties or have car allowances and fitness memberships; we work for the public.  Always hold your head up high for the services you provide and bring that same pride to defending your hard-earned benefits and wages.”

THE NEXT THREAT; AN ATTACK ON UNION DUES:  It is expected that Harper Government will table some form of legislation before the end of the current sitting, which will be an attack on the Rand Formula and the method that union dues are collected. This is a part of the Government’s continued attack on organized labour. This latest action is expected to be the most severe and adverse in the history of unionized labour.  We must actively campaign and lobby against this legislation. The severe implications of this legislation on our members and and on all working people has to be explained to our members.  The corporate agenda is to lower the wages and working conditions of labour so they can increase their profits. We have asked Sister Morna Ballantyne from the PSAC to do a presentation on this subject at our upcoming Presidents’ Conference. 

MeetingS with OPPOSITION PARTY CRITICS FOR NATIONAL REVENUE:  I was asked by the Political Action Committee to reach out to the Opposition Party Critics for National Revenue to discuss with them all of our members’ current issues.  Sister Melanson and I met with the Honourable Scott Brison, P.C., M.P. on February 13, 2013; and I met with Mr. Murray Rankin on February 25, 2013.  Both were eager to hear about our issues with the CRA. They committed to briefing their caucuses and taking up the cause of declining public services.

Meetings with CRA:  We had several meetings with CRA during this period on issues including IT Help Desk Renewal, Personal Security Screening, Regional Policies, CRA-CBSA Service Review, and Remote Listening of GST/HST Rulings Enquiries. 

WEB/COMMUNICATIONS:

During the last quarter, we have:

• updated Cold Fusion on our current web server to address a vulnerability.

• ensured that changes to our email system did not adversely affect our website’s systems.

• started setting up our new web server.  We are replacing hardware that is out of warrantee and at the same time updating the software we are running to the most current.  This included updating our version of Cold Fusion (programming language) and moving our web databases from Access to MS SQL.  These last two changes required programming changes to many of the systems that run ‘behind the scenes’ of our website.

• created the registration forms for the Mental Health Regional Conference in Montréal.

• created an “RVP Grievance System” in order for RVPs  to record grievances at the third level.

• transferred from our in-house email list system to MailChimp.  This outsourced service allows us to see who has opened our messages, visited our site because of the message, or shared the message.  Social media is an important tool that we are taking advantage of by helping our members share our message.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY:

All IT systems have been running well. Regular software maintenance of internal computers and servers was performed. We purchased new Dell laptops (3) for the RVPs who were scheduled for a replacement in 2013. We purchased a new Dell server to replace our out of warranty web server. We also upgraded our web server software to the latest version to provide added features and security. The new Cisco IP telephony phone system and digital PRI lines were installed in January and everything is working well. The migration of our Exchange email server to the Microsoft Exchange Online email service went as planned. The new email service is functioning very well and everyone seems to be connected via their smartphones and tablets.

NON UTE EVENTS: MARCH 7, 2013

DONATIONS/SPONSORSHIPS: DECEMBER 31, 2012

DONATIONS/SPONSORSHIPS: MARCH 7, 2013

GRIEVANCES

Since our last Executive Council meeting, thirty-three (33) grievances, other than classification, were received at the National Office.  Sixteen (16) of these were filed by members challenging the Criminal Investigation Program (CIP) reorganization.

During the same period, twenty-six (26) grievances were presented dealing with a variety of issues.  In this quarter, we received forty-two (42) grievance replies from CRA which consisted of two (2) allowed; thirty-eight (38) being denied and or dismissed and two (2) being withdrawn.  Of those grievances denied, ten (10) were related to the wearing of Harper buttons.

1. Grievance awaiting a hearing date from Redress Section
2. Grievor was originally identified by the CRA as being an employee of Shared Services Canada at time of grievance.  Member insists that she is a CRA employee.  CRA to confirm employee status.
3. MOAs have now been concluded for seven of these grievances, but files will not be closed until the terms of the settlements are given effect.  The final grievance deals with BC PSTAR employees’ entitlement to severance upon retirement.  As this has far reaching implications, discussions are ongoing.
4. Grievance replies are awaiting the signature of the Assistant Commissioner of Human Resources.

There are presently forty-six (46) grievances in the National Office inventory which have not yet been presented at the Final Level. 

As noted in previous reports, the number of outstanding adjudications and the delays in same remain a concern for our office.  Discussions continue to be held with the PSAC, but to date, no resolution has been found.  The major difficulty being experienced is the large volume of adjudications in inventory at the PSAC and the lack of Grievance and Adjudication Officers on strength to deal with them. Additionally, the Public Service Labour Relations Board is attempting to deal with its large case inventory, but they too lack sufficient human resources to deal with them.

At the insistence of the National Office, the employer continues to work on its backlog of outstanding responses.  Our office continues to monitor the timeframes for response and discussions are ongoing with them to minimize delays at the final level of the grievance procedure.  Improvements have been noted, but some minor delays are still being experienced. Concerns have also been raised with the employer by Brother O’Brien about problems encountered in a specific Region in receiving timely replies and in scheduling hearings within reasonable time frames. The CRA has recently reorganized its workloads and has committed to addressing these problems.

POLICY GRIEVANCE

During this period, the final level reply to one Policy Grievance concerning “use of employer facilities” was received. The grievance was dismissed by the employer and has been forwarded to the PSAC for referral to adjudication.

CLASSIFICATION GRIEVANCES

There was one new classification grievance received during this quarter.

ACS-SP CLASSIFICATION CONVERSION GRIEVANCES

To date, we have provided representation for forty-three (43) of these grievances and await the employer’s decision with respect to one (1) of these grievances.  As noted in the chart below, all but one (1) (SP0632)  have been presented.

INDEPENDENT THIRD PARTY REVIEWS (ITPRs)

During this quarter, two new ITPRs were received in the National Office concerning staffing, with one subsequently closed.

There is currently only one ITPR in our inventory requiring representation by the National Office.

CRA POLICY REVIEW GRIEVANCES

There are currently three CRA Policy Grievances in our inventory, all at the second level of the grievance procedure. 

March 5, 2013

President’s Itinerary
December 2012 to March 2013

ITB :  Information Technology Branch
CBSA : Canada Border Services Agency
NSCC: National Strategy Coordination Committee