Report of the President - Executive Council

Report of the President - Executive Council
September 2012

First National VP Election

With the departure of Brother Aylward, we begin the process of electing a new 1st National VP for UTE. A call for nominations was sent to all locals with a closing date of June 1st. We conducted the election by Email voting using our independent auditor Andrew Foreman CA, from Andrews & CO. The voting commenced June 18th and a successful candidate was declared on July 4th after three ballots.  Congratulations to Brother Marc Brière. This process served our needs well as it reduced the time that a mail in ballot would have required by several months. Using this method also increased our voter participation significantly over the average mail in ballot.

As a result of the election of Brother Marc Brière, an election process is currently underway for the position of Alternate Regional VP for the Montreal Region.

Boycott of National Public Service Week

The National Board of Directors of the PSAC adopted a resolution whereby they asked all members not to participate in any activities in support or recognition of National Public Service Week (NPSW), which took place during the week of June 10 to June 16, 2012.

We asked all UTE members to not participate to send a clear message to the federal government that it is not acceptable to cut jobs and threaten our security; and then continue to offer us a piece of cake as a token of appreciation.

We received reports from across the country that our members did boycott this federally recognised event, and many locals held their own events to show appreciation for their members.

Hotel Contract

We have negotiated a new contract for our hotel and meeting needs for the next three years with the Fairmont Chateau Laurier Hotel. This new contract carries some changes to our hospitality and smoking room needs.

UTE Convention 2014 - Windsor Ontario

We have finalized negotiations with the Caesars Windsor Hotel for our next Convention. The convention is set for July 2014, Registration is set for July 14 and the convention will close on Saturday July 19.  We are convinced that this hotel will meet and exceed all of our convention needs, however it should be noted that Caesars Windsor is not a family oriented facility.

Budget Announcements 2012

On June 27, 2012, management at the CRA informed those employees affected by the budget impacts, and the National, Regional and Local unions have been briefed on the specific details. Management has informed us that there are 671 affected members of UTE, and 1289 affected CRA employees, in total.CRA has identified 18 initiatives across the country where these budget cuts will take place. Of these 18 initiatives, there are 4 in particular where the bulk of UTE members will be affected.
They are:

  1. Closing Cash and Enquiry counters and Eliminating in-person Out reach services (285 affected UTE members)

  2. Transforming Enforcement Programs (208 affected UTE members);
    broken down as:

    1. Criminal Investigation Program, (CIP), (88 affected UTE members); Centralization from 32 sites to 6;
    2. Special Enforcement Programs (SEP) (78 affected UTE members); Discontinued and resources to be transferred to Compliance;
    3. Voluntary Disclosure Program, (VDP) (29 affected UTE members); transferring resources to Assessment & Benefits Branch; and
    4. Informant Leads (13 affected UTE members); relocating from St. Catharine’s to Scarborough.
       
  3. Consolidation of Management in TSO`s and Regional Program Management (68 affected UTE members); broken down as:
    1. Consolidation of the management of TSO's (41 affected UTE members)
    2. Consolidation of Regional Program Management (27 affected UTE members.

      UTE has been informed there will be no office closures, at this time.
       

  4. Closure of the National Forms Call Center in Winnipeg, (20  affected UTE Members)

For specific information in regards to your particular office, please contact your local union representative. We have been  working with CRA management at all levels to review the information provided to us, and will ensure all of the WFA committees are informed and engaged throughout this process. We must ensure that all of the people affected are aware of their rights under the collective agreement and that CRA lives up to their obligations.

As of the writing of this report, the CRA has been optimistic that it will be able to offer guaranteed reasonable job offers (GRJO’S) to most of our effected members. However UTE still believes as we did from the day of the announcements that these initiatives our just a beginning, as the announced initiatives do not bear any where near the costs savings that were announced in the 2012 budget. We will continue to be vigilant and responsive to these circumstances.

During the up coming Executive Council and Presidents meetings, we will be discussing how UTE will proceed with its political action and member mobilization to counter the Governments attacks on the Public Service and UTE has committed its full support to the PSAC’S “WE ARE ALL AFFECTED” campaign.  At the request of PSAC National President Robyn Benson, I now sit on a PSAC NBOD Political Action Committee. 

Our first National day of action is scheduled for September 15th; all of our locals should be communicating and participating with their PSAC regional offices.

Meetings with CRA

During this time period, the National office has had several meetings with the CRA Management on Various topics such as, Value and Ethics; Discipline; Job Description Reviews; Fourth Level Grievance Procedures, and the onset of locally developed Dress Codes.

Assistant Commissionaire of Human Resources, Cheryl Fraser has retired from the CRA and we await news of her replacement. We wish Cheryl well in her future endeavors.

Next Round of Bargaining:

The UTE National Bargaining Team will be meeting and exchanging demands with CRA starting on September 24th.  We all wish the team great success and they have our full support.

National Course

There will be a UTE National Grievance Course held in Ottawa September 28 to 30th.

Web/Communications

Since the last report, we completed the registration system for the Health and Safety Conference and updated some of the other web-based systems.  We are up to date with minutes, reports, and putting photos up on the web.  We will be printing calendars for the years 2013-2014 shortly.  We would like the locals to contact Susan Duncan and let her know how many calendars they think they will need this year.  If you are requesting more than a small percentage above your membership numbers, please let us know why.  We would prefer to send out more if needed than to run out of them at the National Office, while boxes are gathering dust at a local. We are planning to make changes to our website and will provide more information in a future update.

Information Technology

All IT systems have been running well.  Regular software maintenance of internal computers and servers was performed. The power shutdowns at the PSAC building during July and August went well and none of your servers experienced any failures. Use of the iPads during the June Executive Council meeting went well. We will still use both methods (iPads and paper binder) for the September Executive Council meeting. In my last report I mentioned that we are looking at changing our internal phone system. We received several quotes and a decision will be made after the Executive Council meeting. We also had discussions with various cell phone providers with regards to changing our smartphones and Executive Council will discuss the options and make a decision. Our email system needs to be upgraded before year end and we are looking at various options for the new email system.

DONATIONS/SPONSORSHIP: Sept. 5, 2012

RECIPIENT/BÉNÉFICIAIRE

CITY/VILLE

AMOUNT

APPROVED BY

   

MONTANT

APPROUVÉ PAR

BUDGET

 

18,000.00

 

Marshall Bouma-Legacy

Bathurst

250.00

Bob/Chris

Diana Gee Memorial Trust

Toronto

1,000.00

Council/Conseil

L'École Carrefour Étudiant

Bathurst

500.00

Bob/Chris

Victor Cossette

St-Narcissse, QC

300.00

Bob/Chris

Victoria Fastball Club

Victoria

300.00

Bob/Chris

SUSC Eagles

Saskatoon

300.00

Bob/Chris

College of Piping and Celtic Performing Arts of Canada

Summerside

300.00

Bob/Chris

Mikayla Simmons

Summerside

300.00

Bob/Chris

PEI Heat Midget Girls Softball Team

Summerside

500.00

Bob/Chris

Penticton Barley Mill Midget Hockey Team

Penticton

300.00

Bob/Chris

North Star Minor Hockey Association

Oyster Bed, PE

500.00

Bob/Chris

Pascal Desjardins

Petit-Rocher, NB

300.00

Bob/Chris

Heart & Stroke Foundation - Ride the Big Bike Event

Ottawa

300.00

Bob/Chris

Cape Breton Volleyball Club

Sydney

300.00

Bob/Chris

H.O.A. Hockey Programs- Jeremey Ditzel

Halifax

450.00

Bob/Chris

Marcelle Perron

Chicoutimi

500.00

Bob/Chris

SOMBA Tigers Midget AAA - Donovan Abbott

Penticton

500.00

Bob/Chris

United Way of Greater Saint John

Saint John

100.00

Protocol

CHEO Tiny Hearts Magazine

Ottawa

367.25

Bob/Denis

1st Summerside Guides

Summerside

250.00

Bob/Denis

1st St. Eleanor's Brownies

Summerside

250.00

Bob/Denis

1st Summerside Sparks

Summerside

250.00

Bob/Denis

Prince County District of Girl Guides

Summerside

250.00

Bob/Denis

CLC - Kid's Camp

Winnipeg

500.00

Bob/Denis

Summerside Figure Skating Club

Summerside

250.00

Bob/Denis

St. Louis Gymnos

St. Louis, PE

250.00

Bob/Denis

Michael Blow - Allied Memorial Rememberance Ride

Ottawa

500.00

Bob/Denis

Saskatoon Connexion Girls Ball Team

Saskatoon

500.00

Council/Conseil

Le week-end pour vaincre les cancers féminins

Montréal

500.00

Council/Conseil

The Mathieu Basque Scholarship Fund

Saint John

500.00

Council/Conseil

Business is Jammin'

Sydney

250.00

Bob/Denis

Crimesense Magazine

Ottawa

439.57

Bob

Sydney & District All-Stars Team

Sydney

300.00

Bob/Marc

Under 16 Girls Provincial Softball Team

Summerside

250.00

Bob/Marc

Team MacFadyen

Kinkora, PE

250.00

Bob/Marc

Hospice Simcoe

Barrie

500.00

Bob/Marc

SABA

Summerside

300.00

Bob/Marc

Alex " Sugarcamp" MacDonald Memorial Golf

Cape Breton

500.00

Bob/Marc

Roxanne Fraser

Shawinigan-Sud

350.00

Bob/Marc

 

Total spent

 

14,506.82

 
 

Balance - UTE

 

3,493.18

 
 

Presidents' Use/A l'usage du président

 

2,000.00

 
 

The Mission - Christmas

Ottawa

200.00

 

Ottawa Food Bank - IN LIEU OF CARDS

Ottawa

200.00

 
 

Total spent

 

400.00

 
 

Balance - President

 

1,600.00

 
 

Total Balance - Donations - UTE and President

 

5,093.18

 
 

Donations from Surplus

     
 

ASSÉ

 

1,000.00

Bob

UCTE Local 60601 Strike Fund

 

3,000.00

Bob

The Canadian Red Cross - The Thunder Bay Flood Fund

 

2,000.00

Council/Conseil

 
   

6,000.00

 

NON UTE EVENTS – Sept. 5, 2012

RECIPIENT

REASON

AMOUNT

BÉNÉFICIAIRE

RAISON

MONTANT

 
 

BUDGET- 2012

     

20,000.00

 

Samantha Simpson

AFL - Women's Winter Solstice

     

510.00

Susan Yaciw

BCFED Regional Conference

     

411.08

Colette Fortin

NBFL Midterm Conference

June 3-5

Saint John

 

757.38

Randolph Roussel

NBFL Midterm Conference

June 3-5

Saint John

 

592.38

Gabriel Bourdon

CLC Ontario Region's Summer School

July 15-20

Port Elgin ON

 

660.15

Cheryl Crossman

CLC Midterm Conference

June 3-5

Saint John

 

518.55

 
 

TOTAL SPENT/DÉPENSES

     

3,449.54

 
 

BALANCE

     

16,550.46

 

Approved - No Claim Received

       

Approuvé - Aucune réclamation reçue

 

Location

Advance

Approved

     

Location

Avance

Approuvé

 

Sharon Fletcher

PSAC Racially Visible Conference

April 1-3/11

 

895.09

895.09

Tamara Wilton

2012 Accomodation Law Conference

April 3-4

Edmonton

 

398.00

Sébastien Chouinard

QFL - Youth Camp

Sept 19-21

Montréal

 

675.00

Jérôme Martel

QFL - Youth Camp

Sept 19-21

Montréal

 

675.00

 
 

NET BALANCE

     

13,907.37

GRIEVANCES

Since our last Executive Council meeting, thirty-two (32) grievances, other than classification, were received at the National Office.

During the same period, eight grievances were withdrawn after a review of the files and twenty-eight were presented dealing with a variety of issues.  In this quarter, we received twenty-five (25) grievance replies from CRA which consisted of twenty-two (22) being denied and or dismissed, one (1) allowed and two (2) partially allowed.

OPENED INVENTORY

REC’D

TO BE
PRESENTED

AWAITING
REPLY

ADJ.

CLOSED

Nov. 96 – Aug 31/05

3810

 

 

1

3809

Sept 01/05 - Sept. 1/06

169

 

 

1

168

Sept 2/06 – June 15/07

174

 

 

1

173

June 16/07 – Sep 12/07

53

 

 

3

50

Sept 13/07 – March 31/08

114

 

 

2

112

Apr 1/08 – May 31/08

60

 

 

5

55

June 01/08 – Sept 26/08

46

 

 

7

39

Sept 27/08 – Nov 21/08

33

 

 

2

31

Nov 22/08– March 27/09

54

 

 

2

52

March 28/09– June 10/09

26

 

 

7

19

June 10/09 – Sept 04/09

36

 

 

5

31

Sept 05/09 – Nov 30/09

35

 

 

2

33

Dec 1/09 – March 5/10

47

 

 

8

39

March 6/10 – June 1/10

41

 

 

8

33

June 1/10 – Aug 31/10

15

 

 

 

15

Sept 1/10 – Nov 29/10

26

 

 

2

24

Nov 30/10 – Feb 28/11

25

 

 

1

24

Mar 1/11 – May 20/11

25

 

11

13

11

May 21/11 – Sept 8/11

45

22

43

9

30

Sept 9/11 – Nov 18/11

18

 

64

7

15

Nov 19/11 – Feb 21/12

43

1

104

6

26

Feb 22/12 – May 18/12

12

2

1

1

8

May 21/12 – Aug 31/12

32

20

2

1

9


  1. MOA pending implementation
  2. Awaiting information from grievors
  3. Tentative MOU being reviewed by the grievor and manager for three grievances and one grievance held in abeyance at the request of the grievor
  4. Presented during the last quarter

There are presently twenty-five (25) 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. 

Further to Brother O’Brien’s March 8, 2012 meeting with the employer concerning delays by them in issuing final level replies, 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.

CLASSIFICATION GRIEVANCES

There was no new classification grievances received during this quarter.

OPENED INVENTORY

REC’D

CLOSED

OUTSTANDING

Jun 04/00 – Dec 31/01

168

137

31

Jan. 01/02 – March 31/06

229

229

 

April 1/06 – Sept. 1/06

6

5

1

Sept 02/06 – Sept 26/08

94

94

 

Sept 27/08 – Nov 21/08

26

25

1

Nov 21/08 – March 27/09

4

3

1

March 28/09 – June 10/09

1

1

 

June 10/09 – Sept 04/09

3

2

1

Sept 05/09 –  March 5/10

2

2

 

March 6/10 – June 1/10

2

1

1

June 1/10 – Feb 28/11

4

 

4

Mar 1/11 – May 20/11

2

 

2

May 24/11 – Nov 18/11

0

 

0

Nov 19/11 – Feb 21/12

1

 

1

Feb 22/12 – May 18/12

0

 

0

 

ACS-SP CLASSIFICATION CONVERSION GRIEVANCES

 

To date, we have provided representation for forty-two (42) of these grievances and await the employer’s decisions with respect to one (1) of these grievances.  As noted in the chart below, all but two (2) have been presented.

OPENED INVENTORY

REC’D

PRESENTED

WITHDRAWN

OUTSTANDING

June 01/08 – Sept 09/09

57

10

11

36

Sept 10/09 – Nov 30/09

0

14

0

22

Dec 1/09 – March 5/10

0

5

0

17

March 6/10 – June 1/10

0

3

0

14

June 1/10 – Aug 30/10

0

0

0

14

Aug 30/10 – Nov 29/10

0

0

2

12

Nov 30/10 – Feb 28/11

0

0

0

12

Mar 1/11 – May 20/11

0

5

0

7

May 24/11 – Sept 8/11

0

0

0

7

Sept 9/11 – Nov 18/11

0

0

0

7

Nov 19/11 – Feb 21/12

0

5

0

2

Feb 22/12 – May 18/12

0

0

0

2

INDEPENDENT THIRD PARTY REVIEWS (ITPRs)

During this quarter, two new ITPRs were received in the National Office concerning staffing,  both of which were subsequently withdrawn.

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

CRA POLICY REVIEW GRIEVANCES

There are currently no CRA Policy Grievances in our inventory. 

August 31, 2012


President’s Itinerary
June to September 2012 

June 2012

 

 

4th to 7th

Executive Council

Ottawa

7th

National UMC meeting

Ottawa

8th to 10th

Winnipeg members appreciation 

Winnipeg Man.

11th 

Meeting with Andy Foreman 1st VP vote

Ottawa

11th to 14th 

Arbitration hearing AEU

Ottawa

19th

PSAC Political Action Committee

Ottawa

21st  to 24th

Regional EO Conference

Winnipeg Man.

 

 

 

July 2012

 

 

6th to 8th

Winnipeg members appreciation 

Winnipeg Man.

10th

Meeting with Lisa Addario re. member

Ottawa

12th

Meeting CRA re Organization & Classification

Ottawa

12th 

Meeting with CRA re. WFA

Ottawa

 

 

 

August 2012

 

 

 

 

 

22nd

Quebec Inter regional meeting

Quebec City


MEMBERSHIP

 

JULY / JUILLET 2012

 

 

RAND

SUSPENDED

TOTAL

 

 

RAND

SUSPENDUS

 

ATLANTIC REGION / RÉGION DE L'ATLANTIQUE

 

 

 

 

 

Saint John

297

6

 

 

303

Bathurst

69

 

 

 

69

Moncton

75

2

 

 

77

Halifax

301

21

 

 

322

Sydney

97

2

 

 

99

St.John's TC/C.F. de St.John's

356

15

 

 

371

St.John's DO/BD de St. John's

429

1

 

 

430

Summerside

734

22

 

2

758

Charlottetown

78

 

 

 

78

 

2436

69

 

2

2507

QUEBEC REGION / RÉGION DE QUÉBEC

 

 

 

 

 

Jonquière

483

12

 

 

495

Québec

231

5

 

 

236

Shawinigan-sud

1021

22

 

 

1043

Trois-Rivières

53

 

 

 

53

Chicoutimi

83

2

 

 

85

 

1871

41

 

0

1912

MONTREAL REGION / RÉGION DE MONTRÉAL

 

 

 

 

 

Sherbrooke

100

4

 

 

104

Montréal

877

12

 

 

889

Rouyn-Noranda

36

 

 

 

36

Montérégie

205

 

 

 

205

Laval

307

5

 

 

312

Outaouais T.S.O./B.S.F. Outaouais

69

4

 

1

74

 

1594

25

 

1

1620

NATIONAL CAPITAL REGION / RÉGION DE LA CAPITALE NATIONALE

 

 

 

 

 

Ottawa Headquarters/Administration centrale d'Ottawa

2910

230

 

24

3164

I.T.S.O./B.S.I.O.

370

43

 

6

419

Ottawa T.S.O./B.S.F. d'Ottawa

362

25

 

2

389

Ottawa Centre / Ottawa-Centre

351

79

 

14

444

Ottawa Technology Centre / Centre de technologie d'Ottawa

1284

218

 

11

1513

 

5277

595

 

57

5929

NORTHERN & EASTERN ONTARIO REGION / RÉGION DU NORD ET DU SUD DE L'ONTARIO

 

 

 

Kingston

86

 

 

 

86

Belleville

153

11

 

1

165

Peterborough

73

 

 

 

73

Thunder Bay

104

1

 

 

105

Sudbury T.C. /C.F. de Sudbury

1426

137

 

 

1563

 

1842

149

 

1

1992

SOUTH WESTERN ONTARIO REGION/RÉGION DU SUD-OUEST DE L'ONTARIO

 

 

 

 

 

Hamilton

578

105

 

 

683

Kitchener

298

8

 

 

306

St. Catharines

195

 

 

 

195

London

370

 

 

 

370

Windsor

211

2

 

 

213

 

1652

115

 

0

1767

GREATER TORONTO REGION/RÉGION DU GRAND TORONTO

 

 

 

 

 

Toronto North / Toronto Nord

627

45

 

5

677

Toronto

914

84

 

1

999

Toronto West / Toronto ouest

496

10

 

5

511

Barrie

128

1

 

 

129

Toronto East/Toronto est

588

30

 

 

618

 

2753

170

 

11

2934

PRAIRIE REGION/RÉGION DES PRAIRIES

 

 

 

 

 

Regina/Régina

195

 

 

1

196

Winnipeg

346

37

 

 

383

Winnipeg CCSC/CASR de Winnipeg

201

3

 

 

204

Winnipeg T.C./C.F. de Winnipeg

1572

21

 

 

1593

 

2314

61

 

1

2376

ROCKY MOUNTAIN REGION/RÉGION DES MONTAGNE ROCHEUSES

 

 

 

 

 

Calgary

839

36

 

1

876

Edmonton

691

72

 

7

770

Saskatoon

219

2

 

 

221

Lethbridge

67

 

 

 

67

 

1816

110

 

8

1934

PACIFIC REGION/RÉGION DU PACIFIQUE

 

 

 

 

 

Penticton

226

 

 

 

226

Vancouver

582

96

 

1

679

Victoria

306

9

 

 

315

Burnaby Fraser

586

2

 

 

588

Surrey

887

89

 

 

976

Kelowna

71

10

 

 

81

Northern B.C. & Yukon/le Nord de la CB et du Yukon

128

5

 

 

133

Burnaby Fraser Call Center/CA de Burnaby Fraser

341

24

 

 

365

 

3127

235

 

1

3363

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unallotted

42

236

 

 

278

 

24724

1806

 

82

26612