President’s Report - Executive Council

Robert Campbell - Item 6

It has continued to be a very busy time since my last report in December.

I have had numerous meetings with Management, RVPs, staff of the UTE Office, PSAC personnel, Presidents and Members. 

SHARED SERVICES

We have been playing catch up since it was announced that CRA would be included in the transfer of our members as part of the Shared Services Agency. We now have a list of our members that will be transferred and their locations. I attended a meeting with John Gordon and the president of GSU to discuss how representation for the members being transferred will be handled. A resolution from the Standing Roles and Responsibilities Committee went to the last NBOD, transferring all the members affected as of April 2012. Until that time, we will continue to represent the UTE members. We are reviewing and making a list of all outstanding grievances and complaints we have for these members to try and get them finalized prior to the date of transfer. Our number one concern is to make sure the members are represented and the transfer goes as smoothly as possible. 

PSAC STANDING Committees

President John Gordon has appointed me or I have been elected to the following PSAC standing committees: Finance, Roles and Responsibilities, Chair of Discipline, Holdings and NBOD member on the Pension Fund (for employees of the PSAC).  All this extra work will certainly keep me busy.   

COUNCIL RETREAT

The national executive council held a retreat from Jan. 17th to 19th in Gatineau Quebec. Sister Gaby Leveque was our facilitator. She did a great job! I believe all participants came away with a better understanding of how we will work together while we strive to achieve the goals we set for the next three years.

CLC COMMITTEE BILL C-377 

As you are all aware, Bill C-377 is a private members' bill that has had three readings in the House (the member is part of the Conservative Government). If passed, this bill will force all unions to release their financial records to CRA. This information will then be published on a website that is accessible to the public. The CLC has set up a committee to gather information and to determine the costs and ramifications if this bill were to become law. Brother Gordon has asked our component to supply a participant who can provide clarification on CRA’s role and the cost impacts of this proposed bill to both the government and unions. Brother Kent MacDonald has been appointed to this committee and is working on gathering information. This bill could prove very costly to unions from the ground (local level) through to the national level. Our auditors have estimated that this change could result in a 33% increase in the cost of our audit. We will keep you informed of further information as it becomes available.

PSAC MEMBERSHIP PLAN

As I reported in December, I have been appointed to an ad-hoc committee by the President of the PSAC to help develop a membership plan to be presented at the up-coming PSAC Convention. The report that was developed was presented to the NBOD at the last meeting in February. The board decided that the plan should not be debated at the next convention, but presented as more of an "Aims and Goals" for the upcoming years; therefore, the time that had been set aside for the debate of the plan will instead be used for dealing with resolutions.

COMPONENT PRESIDENTS' MEETING

A meeting was held prior to the last NBOD in the UTE office boardroom. The meeting was organized and chaired by Tony Tilley the President of NHU. All presidents of components were invited and a majority did attend and participate. There were discussions on components' issues and some resolutions were discussed that were sent by components to the PSAC convention. We also discussed the CFIB and its relationship with the Bank of Nova Scotia. This meeting was very productive, so it was decided that we would continue the practice of holding such a meeting the day prior to all NBOD meetings. The chair will be rotated for these meetings and the next meeting will be chaired and organized by Todd Panas the President of Environment Component.

CFIB AND THE BANK OF NOVA SCOTA

Our campaign to inform our members and the public about the lies and propaganda spread by CFIB relating to our membership, their jobs, wages, benefits and pension, continues. We have written letters to the press and the CFIB. We have seen support from some MP’s and the press. We had a very good article printed in the Vancouver Sun by a reporter defending the CRA and the inaccurate and misleading information that the CFIB uses to further their goals. We have a campaign that will be rolled out at the presidents’ conference and we hope that the members stand up and defend themselves.

The Bank of Nova Scotia did reply to my letter, advising that they understand our point of view with regard to the CFIB and our right to speak out on behalf of our members, but that they also support small business in addition to unions and will continue to work with both.  We are in the process of meeting with other banks at this time and will be making some decisions on our financial needs in the very near future. Some other components are also considering moving their business to other financial institutions after the Bank of Nova Scotia’s response was shared with them.

AGMs:

I have attended many AGMs and have been able to speak to and with the general membership from all parts of the country. Having the opportunity to listen directly to members’ questions and debates is the aspect of the position of President that I find the most rewarding. Hearing firsthand the interests and issues of our members is invaluable in keeping the President in touch with what is going on in our locals and what is important to the membership.

At all of these events I took the opportunity to address the political and economic realities of our current round of bargaining along with the difficulties that we will probably face, as well as, the fight that is still ahead with this Government regarding our Pension and its survival in its current state.  I also discussed the comments being made by the CEO of the Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses (CFIB), Catherine Swift regarding our wages and pension and suggested to the membership that if they see the CFIB logo in a business window that they go in and explain to the owner why they may not be able to continue to shop in their establishment since their CEO would like to take money out of their pockets and in fact is blaming them (us) in part for the country’s current economical crisis.

NEXT ROUND OF BARGAINING:

We all know as we head into the next round of bargaining, that this will be a very difficult round and we will all have to stand up and support our negotiating team.

I have just been recently informed that Sister Gaby Lévesque, our PSAC negotiator for the last few rounds, has decided to leave the PSAC to pursue other career opportunities. Gaby has been a good friend to UTE over the years and did excellent work on behalf of our membership. Although we know that her knowledge and history with our negotiating teams will be sorely missed, we also want to acknowledge our appreciation for her past efforts and wish her well with her future endeavours.

Susan Jones, the director of the Negotiation Branch of the PSAC has informed us that Brother Morgan Gay has been assigned as our new negotiator and we all look forward to working with him. I have invited him to meet with council this week. Brother Lalancette and Sister Paquette have been in contact with Brother Gay to set things into motion for our next round of bargaining.        

PSAC CONVENTION:

The PSAC Pre-Convention Committees were held in Ottawa from February 12th to 17th at the Westin Hotel. Brother Chris Aylward sat on Finance, Brother Lalancette sat on Bargaining, Sister Robin Johnson was on General, and I was on the Constitution Committee. All of our committee representatives will make presentations to the UTE caucus on April 29, 2012.   

Just a couple of dates to remember:

Saturday, April 28, 2012:  1:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. - Reimbursement of loss of salary form, travel and hotel arrangements deadline.

Sunday, April 29, 2012:  7:30 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. - Registration at convention.

Sunday, April 29, 2012: - Convention begins.

Component & DCL Caucuses: 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.,

Regional Caucuses: 12:30 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.,

Orientation for First-Time Delegates: 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.,

Official Opening Session: 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Welcome Reception: 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

WEB/COMMUNICATIONS REPORT

Since the last report, we have worked with the PAC and Communications Committees to create a new website and business cards for our upcoming campaign.  We have also designed the registration system for the EO Regional Conferences in Vancouver and Montreal.  Two toolboxes were put online for our members, one from the Harassment Committee, the other from the WFA Committee.  More 2011-2012 calendars were sent out to the locals who requested them.  If you still have a need, please contact Susan Duncan.

All regular updates have been made to the website.  We are working on the Honours and Awards resolutions from the last Executive Council meeting.  It will be a work in progress, as we do not have the content readily available.  Recommendation no. 4 was that the UTE National Office create a web page to contain the biographies and photos of all past presidents of our component since it was created and Recommendation no. 5 was that the UTE National Office create a web page to contain the names and photos of all former members of the Executive Council since it was created. 

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY:

All IT systems have been running well.  Regular software maintenance of internal computers and servers was performed. We installed a wireless network at the National office so UTE mobile devices can access the Internet from our network and not the PSAC’s wireless network. We recently purchased Apple iPads for members of Executive Council and we are working to go paperless in our council meetings. Council members received training by Alex to setup the iPads and further training on how to make efficient use of the iPad will be provided during the March 2012 President’s conference. We also added the capability to display presentations from an iPad in our boardrooms at the National office. PSAC’s Unionware system is online and staff is trained on its new functionalities.

NON UTE EVENTS

DONATIONS/SPONSORSHIPS

GRIEVANCES

Since our last Executive Council meeting, forty-three (43) grievances, other than classification, were received at the National Office.

During the same period, thirty-six (36) grievances were presented dealing with a variety of issues.  In this quarter, we received ten (10) grievance replies from CRA which consisted of eight (8) being denied and or dismissed and two (2) withdrawn.

1 We have received the decision of the Federal Court concerning Currie and are engaging in discussions with the employer concerning all related grievances

There are presently fifty-five (55) 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.

Additionally, we have been experiencing delays by the employer with respect to the issuance of final level replies.   At the time of writing this report, a meeting has been scheduled with the employer for March 8, 2012 to attempt to resolve this matter.

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-two (42) of these grievances and await the employer’s decisions with respect to six (6) of these grievances.  As noted in the chart below, all but two (2) have been presented.

INDEPENDENT THIRD PARTY REVIEWS (ITPRs)

During this quarter, four (4) new ITPRs were received in the National Office, two of which were subsequently withdrawn.  Of the remaining two, one (1) is a non-disciplinary termination and one (1) a non-disciplinary demotion, both of which were referred to the PSAC for representation and are pending hearing dates.

Of the five non-disciplinary terminations or demotions which were pending hearing dates in our previous report, one (1) was dismissed, one (1) was allowed, two (2) were settled  and one (1) is still pending a hearing date and has been assigned to the PSAC for representation.  

Three (3) staffing ITPRs have currently been assigned to UTE Labour Relations Officers  and are awaiting hearing dates.

CRA POLICY REVIEW GRIEVANCES

There are currently no CRA Policy Grievances in our inventory. 

President’s Itinerary - December  2011 to March 2011