Report of the President to Executive Council

Bob Campbell - Item 6

Collective Bargaining:   The Negotiating Team met with the Employer’s team for the second time since the issuance of the PIC Report on February 3, 4 and 5, 2015. All of the RVPs have been tasked with completing visits to all of their locals that include walkabouts and meeting with the members. All have been asked to report back with feedback from the membership. I must say the results have been more than favorable and many comments in support of the bargaining team. As well, members are very supportive of visits from National Officers in their worksites.

The Communications Committee was instructed to complete and issue a special edition of our newsletter dedicated to bargaining. The committee did a great job and we have heard back from members how much they appreciated the information. Also inside was a poster stating “I support my Bargaining Team”, which has been posted in worksites across the country. 

We have completed our first Telephone Town Halls across the country with great success. We were represented by the PSAC, UTE National Officers and the PSAC Negotiator. This was an excellent forum to reach all of the members and get their questions and feedback.     

A National Day of Action is planned for March 18th.  We must continue to support the team and keep relaying to management that we are not willing to roll over.
 
EXECUTIVE COUNCIL RETREAT was held at the Fairmont Chateau Montebello hotel December 11-13, 2014. The council set priorities for the next three years and made individual commitments to represent the membership to the best of their abilities. The meetings were very productive, and I would like to thank Sister Morna Ballantyne for facilitating these discussions.
   
CONVENTION 2017 HOTEL: We have signed a contract with the Ottawa Westin Hotel for the next UTE Triennial Convention, which will be held July 19-22, 2017.

PSAC CONVENTION: Pre-Convention Committee Meetings were held February 16-20, 2015 in Ottawa. Brother Marc Brière sat on the Finance Committee, Sister Madonna Gardiner sat on the Bargaining Committee, Brother Bob Carpenter sat on the General Committee and I participated on the Constitution Committee.
 
The Convention will take place April 26 - May 1, 2015 in Quebec City, QC. UTE will be holding a Caucus meeting Sunday, April 26th at 8:30 am. All UTE members attending convention are invited to participate in the Caucus.

HISTORY OF UTE: We have engaged the Workers’ History Museum to produce a book and a video on the History of UTE. The work has begun and we will keep you advised of the progress.  I am very excited about this project as it is of paramount importance to preserve our history and our achievements. Many over the years have worked tirelessly for the members of UTE and this should be remembered.
  
NATIONAL OFFICE STAFFING:  We would like to welcome Sister Andrea Holmes to the National Office staff as an indeterminate Labour Relations Officer, and Sister Rebecca Laronde as an indeterminate Administrative Support employee. As well, we wish good luck and thanks to Sister Roxane Gunning, who has moved to New Brunswick.   We are currently running a selection process for a Determinate / Indeterminate LRO position to replace Sister Gunning. In the interim, Sister Debbie Ferguson accepted a term LRO assignment which greatly assisted us through these unplanned absences. We would like to thank Sister Ferguson for stepping up during this period. Her term ended on March 20th.
 
AGMS: The National Officers have started to attend local AGMs across the country and I would like to thank the Locals for working together on the dates. The feed back from the AGMs is that the membership is engaged and wants information. There is tremendous support for the bargaining team. The members understand that the decisions that will be made in the near future are very important and will affect not only themselves, but future employees of CRA.
        
Meetings with CRA:  We have had several meetings with CRA during this period mostly on several staffing related issues and Human Resources Policy changes. Due to the deteriorating relationship with CRA management and the current state of your contract negotiations, UTE nationally will continue to not participle in the Union/ Management Consultation Committee meetings until a fair Collective Agreement is reached. 

WEB/COMMUNICATIONS:

All of the information on the website is up to date. The new committee logos are finished and we will start using them as soon as the new website is finished.  The new website is nearing completion but is not ready to launch yet.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY:

All IT systems have been running well. Regular software maintenance of internal computers and servers was performed. We replaced two of our Xerox printers at the National Office with newer generation models. The new models provide faster scanning capabilities. We replaced the monitors on all the computers at the National Office.

DONATION : DECEMBER 31, 2014

DONATION : MARCH 31, 2015

NON UTE EVENTS: DECEMBER 31, 2014

NON UTE EVENTS: MARCH 31, 2015

GRIEVANCES:

Since our last Executive Council meeting, thirty eight (38) grievances, other than classification, were received at the National Office.

During the same period, fifty-seven (57) grievances were presented dealing with a variety of issues.  Sixteen (16) grievances were withdrawn.  In this quarter, we received fifty-three (53) grievance replies from CRA, thirty-seven (37) of which were denied. 

1. 1. Grievor was originally identified by the CRA as being an employee of Shared Services Canada (SSC) at time of grievance.  Employee has been confirmed as an SSC employee and the grievance is held in abeyance at the request of the grievor pending changes to the SSC classification system.
   2. One grievance held in abeyance at request of PSAC pending WSIB appeal.  WSIB appeal is being handled by legal services of PSAC.
   3. A Memorandum of Settlement is in the process of being signed.
   4. Grievances recently presented – employer requested extension – replies pending.
   5. Six grievances are being held pending a request for information under ATIP.
   6. Waiting for information on seven of these grievances.
   7. Grievances recently presented and replies are pending.

There are presently eighty-one (81) grievances in the National Office inventory which have not yet been presented at the Final Level.   Many of these grievances relate to the same subject matter and are considered groups.

POLICY GRIEVANCE

There was no policy grievances filed during this period.

CLASSIFICATION GRIEVANCES

There was no new classification grievances received during this quarter.

INDEPENDENT THIRD PARTY REVIEWS (ITPRs)

During this quarter, two new ITPRs were received in the National Office concerning staffing.  Two decisions were received and the ITPRs were dismissed. 

One application for judicial review of a decision from a previous quarter is still pending at the Federal Court.  No date for a hearing has been scheduled yet.

There are currently six (6) staffing ITPRs in our inventory requiring representation by the National Office.

Our office continues to receive multiple requests for ITPRs, but after a review of the grounds and circumstances by our officers, it has been determined that many of them do not qualify for ITPR.  For the most part, it appears that members are attempting to request ITPRs when they are screened out or when they have not passed the assessment phase.  We remind local representatives and members that members who are screened out may only avail of individual feedback and those who have failed the assessment stage may only avail of individual feedback, followed by decision review. 

CRA POLICY REVIEW GRIEVANCES

Currently there is one CRA Policy Grievance in our inventory.

March 4, 2015

President’s Itinerary
MARCH 2015

DECEMBER
3                      PSAC Holdings Board Meeting – Ottawa
                        PSAC Call Centre Committee Meeting – Ottawa
4                      PSAC Standing Finance Committee Meeting – Ottawa
                        PSAC Pension Committee Meeting – Ottawa
5                      PSAC-CRA NSCC Meeting – Ottawa
8-10                UTE Executive Council Meeting – Ottawa
11-14              UTE Executive Council Retreat – Montebello, QC
15                    Meeting with UTE Health & Safety and Equal Opportunities National Chairs – Ottawa
17                    PSAC Standing Finance Committee Meeting – Ottawa
17-18              PSAC NBoD Special Meeting – Ottawa

JANUARY
12                    Meeting with Workers’ History Museum – Ottawa
14                    Opening Remarks – Local UMA Session – Ottawa East
15                    DCL / Component Meeting – Ottawa
16                    PSAC Holdings Board Meeting – Ottawa
19-20              AGM Local 20002 – Prince George
21-23              AGM Local 20050 – Burnaby Fraser
26                    UTE Office Management Meeting - Ottawa

FEBRUARY
2                      PSAC Pension Committee Meeting – Ottawa
3-4                  AGM Local 00014 – Hamilton
5                      PSAC – CRA NSCC Meeting – By phone
5-6                  AGM Local 00020 – Thunder Bay
9-11                AGM Local 20007 – Burnaby Fraser
10                    UTE Executive Council Conference Call
11                    PSAC – CRA NSCC Meeting – By phone
12-13              AGM Local 20028 – Victoria
16-20              PSAC Pre-Convention Committee Meetings – Ottawa
23-25              AGM Local 20003 – Kelowna
26-27              AGM Local 20026 – Penticton

Respectfully submitted,

Bob Campbell
National President