President's Report - Executive Council

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETINGS (AGMs):

Since the end of September, the National Officers have attended several local Annual General Meetings (AGMs) across the country. I would like to thank the Locals for their cooperation in scheduling these meetings. As usual, members are engaged at these assemblies, asking questions and wanting to be informed about the key issues they are facing in their workplaces.

On behalf of the National Officers, I want to congratulate our Locals on all their hard work, and thank them for their warm welcome and for their commitment and dedication to our members and our Union.

EXECUTIVE COUNCIL RETREAT :

The Executive Council Retreat will be held in person from Tuesday, January 16 to Thursday, January 18, 2024, at the Fairmont Hotel in Mont-Tremblant, Quebec. At the Retreat, we will set our priorities and key objectives for the current three-year cycle and identify the best ways to conduct our union business and achieve the goals we have set for ourselves.

PSAC 2024 TRIENNIAL NATIONAL CONVENTION :

The 20th National Triennial Convention of the PSAC will be held from May 26 to 31, 2024 at the Shaw Centre in Ottawa.

We have submitted to the PSAC the list of Union of Taxation Employees (UTE) delegates who will represent our Component at the Convention, as well as the resolutions submitted and approved by our delegates at our last Convention. UTE is entitled to eighty-four (84) delegates in addition to the National President as a member of the National Board of Directors (NBoD). There is no registration fee for delegates. All delegates must register by January 26, 2024, by completing the online registration form. Each accredited delegate will receive a link and password to register.

Observers will be able to register from January 8, 2024, and have until March 1, 2024 to do so. A link will be available on the PSAC Convention website at that time, along with additional information regarding their participation. PSAC members in good standing may attend conventions as observers. Please note that the number of observers is limited by the space available on the convention site. Observers do not have the right to speak or vote during debates on resolutions, and cannot vote in elections. The registration fee is $300 for each observer and must be received no later than April 1, 2024. No refunds will be made after April 26, 2024.

We are also in discussion with the PSAC to submit our preferences and specific needs regarding the selection of hotel rooms, caucus rooms and the Hospitality Suite during the convention.

We will keep you informed of any developments as more information becomes available.

CANADA LIFE AND THE PUBLIC SERVICE HEALTH CARE PLAN:

Our Political Action Committee has prepared a campaign to denounce the unacceptable situation in which many of our members and retirees find themselves since Canada Life became the administrator of the Public Service Health Care Plan. The campaign was launched on October 24. To increase the pressure, our members attending the UTE National Mental Health Conference in Ottawa gathered and held a demonstration on October 25 in front of the Canada Life regional office. Several media outlets covered the event.

I would like to thank the UTE Political Action Committee for their excellent work on this issue.

At the last meeting of the PSAC National Board of Directors, held in early November, I spoke of the magnitude of the problems and the disastrous consequences for our members and their families, and asked the Alliance leadership to follow UTE's lead and launch a national campaign to increase pressure on Canada Life and the federal government. Shortly thereafter, the PSAC announced such a campaign.

JOINT CONSULTATION COMMITTEE ON VIRTUAL WORK ARRANGEMENTS:

The UTE/CRA Joint Consultation Committee on Virtual Work Arrangements met again on October 30. Another meeting will be held soon, and the Committee will then provide an update on the progress of its work.

RELOCATION OF THE UTE NATIONAL OFFICE:

As announced on September 21, the UTE National Office will move from the 8th floor of 233 Gilmour Street in Ottawa to the 4th floor of 275 Bank Street in Ottawa, effective January 1, 2024. We have signed a ten (10) year lease. Construction and preparation work on our new premises is still underway. Additional fit-up work will also be required. In addition, we are in the process of purchasing new furniture and equipment. We are not yet certain when we will be able to fully occupy our new premises. As a result, we will continue to occupy the 8th floor of the building at 233 Gilmour Street for the months of January and February 2024, and will pay rent to PSAC Holdings.

MEETINGS WITH THE CRA CHIEF HUMAN RESOURCES OFFICER:

I continue to have frequent discussions with the Agency's Chief Human Resources Officer regarding important issues and pressing matters.

I have also had discussions with other senior executives of the Agency concerning current issues and important matters such as:

• CRA Black Employees Network;
• Workforce Planning Advisory Committee;
• Quarterly Security Program Update Meetings;
• Future building for the National Verification and Collections Center (NVCC) in Shawinigan;
• Staffing and temporary funding for term employees in Assessment, Benefit and Services Branch (ABSB) call centers for the fall of 2023;
• Access to generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools for CRA employees.

MEETINGS WITH THE CRA COMMISSIONER AND THE DEPUTY COMMISSIONER:

Following up on the issues raised by Local Presidents at the September Presidents' Conference, I met with the Agency's Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner to discuss the following issues:

• Refocusing government spending initiative;
• Message from the Clerk of the Privy Council on the war between Israel and Hamas;
• Internal investigations and the attitude of investigators;
• Staffing and temporary funding for term employees in the call centers of the Assessment, Benefit and Services Branch (ABSB);
• Early termination of term employees to avoid conversion to indeterminate status;
• Planning a face-to-face meeting to discuss office space in the future NVCC building in Shawinigan.

STAFFING AT THE NATIONAL OFFICE:

On October 30, we began a selection process to recruit a Financial Administration Officer. The 1st Vice-President, Brother Doug Gaetz, and I are forming the selection board. We have reviewed the curricula vitae of those who applied and will be inviting candidates who meet the selection criteria to come in for a technical test in the near future.

In addition, we were notified a few weeks ago of the departures of Natasha Larose, Administrative Assistant, and Mathieu Juneau, Labour Relations Officer. They are leaving our organization to pursue other career opportunities. Natasha has worked for our union for over five years and has given us a great deal of service. As for Mathieu, he worked for us for over eight years and also gave us extremely valuable service. Among other things, he made a major contribution in the field of health and safety. I would like to warmly thank them both for their excellent work and their contribution to our union and its members.

We will be posting selection processes over the next few weeks to fill the vacant positions.

CONTRACT WITH THE OTTAWA HOTEL:

Our contract with the Delta Hotel in Ottawa will expire at the end of 2024. We are currently in talks with a number of hotels to sign a new three-year contract. We will keep you informed of any further developments as they become available.

WEB/COMMUNICATIONS:

Our website is working well, and updates are ongoing.  We created a campaign on the PSHCP and the move to Canada Life.  We also created a video on the same topic. As part of the Communications Committee, we produced the December newsletter. We are putting the final touches on the new member booklet and plan to have it printed in January.  We created the input call for EO committee members.

INFORMATION/TECHNOLOGY

We purchased new Dell laptops to replace all the computers at the National Office. We renewed all our Microsoft 365 licenses. 
For the new office.

• We signed a new Internet service contract with Rogers and we will be moving our backup Internet service from Bell to the new location when we move. The current Internet service contract with Rogers will be cancelled when we move.
• We purchased new network equipment.
• We purchased a new UPS system for our server room.
• Multiple cabling companies will provide quotes to re-wire the new office.
• New audio-visual equipment will be purchased for the new main boardroom and the other smaller boardrooms.
• Moving contract has been signed with Xerox to move our 2 Xerox printers to the new office.

Donations/Sponsorships

As at 29 November, 2023

Non UTE Union Events 
Événements syndicaux autres que ceux du SEI 

GRIEVANCE REPORT

September 1st to November 30th, 2023

During Q3, one hundred twelve (112) new grievances were received in the National office. Twenty (20) grievances were presented. Twenty-one (21) final level replies were received from CRA, sixteen (16) were denied, two (2) was partially allowed, two (2) were withdrawn, one (1) was settled.

1. Settlement discussions failed. Proceeding to 4th level hearing. Awaiting documents from member.
2. Grievance held in abeyance pending claim for damages arising from Phoenix pay issues.
3. One grievance awaiting hearing date, and 3 grievances from one member are in discussions for a settlement.
4. One file, waiting on member to provide requested documentation, including ATIP response.  One file awaiting for meeting with HQ function, and for the  three other grievances filed by one member, a MoS was signed on April 12, 2023 and will be implemented in the following year, having said that, these grievances are placed in abeyance until the employer has executed its obligations by April 2024.

There are presently two hundred thirteen (213) grievances in the National Office inventory which have not yet been presented at the Final Level dealing with a variety of issues.

POLICY GRIEVANCES

Further to the Return to Work Protocol signed by the parties at the conclusion of our last round of bargaining, the statutory freeze complaint filed by the bargaining agent has been withdrawn. 

Regarding the Policy grievance for Scheduling of Vacation Leave, UTE is waiting for a hearing date. 

Regarding the Policy grievance for Scheduling of Hours of Work happening at Summerside local, UTE is currently in discussions with CRA.

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

No CRA policy grievance was filed during this period.

National President
ACTIVITY REPORT – DECEMBER 2023
MARC BRIÈRE

Acronyms

ABSB – Assessment Benefit and Service Branch
AGM – Annual General Meeting
CERB – Canada Emergency Response Benefit
CRA – Canada Revenue Agency
CCSC – Compensation Client Service Centre
FAB – Finance and Administration Branch
HRB – Human Resources Branch 
IT – Information Technology
NBoD – National Board of Directors
NVCC – National Verification and Collections Center
PAC – Political Action Committee 
PSAC –Public Service Alliance of Canada
SLRO – Senior Labour Relations Officer
UMA – Union Management Approach
UTE – Union of Taxation Employees

Respectfully submitted,

Marc Brière
National President

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