Meeting Minutes
PIPSC Professional Recognition and Qualifications Committee (PRQC)
Date: Mar 8, 2024
Place: PIPSC
Meeting time: 9:00 AM—4:30 PM ET
Meeting minutes taken by: Coralie Leduc
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Present: |
Regret: |
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Thomas Landry - Chair - SP - ATL |
Fatima Hashmi - Member - SUN-RT - ONT |
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Guests: |
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Ryan Campbell - Research Team Lead |
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1. Words of Welcome, a round of introductions, and adoption of the agenda |
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The chair offers words of welcome and emphasizes the importance of ensuring meaningful deliverables this year. Members introduce themselves formally, providing an overview of their expertise and motivation to join the committee.
Thomas states that a good cross-section of PIPSC groups is represented through members and friends of the committee. The continuation of Joanne Bouchard as a member and David Yazbeck as a staff resource is an asset, and the expertise and insight from new members are welcome. This year, the chair will enforce attendance as much as possible and be stricter on absence.
The agenda is adopted through consensus. |
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2. Adopting minutes from the previous meeting (Dec 15, 2023) |
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Minutes for the PRQC Meeting on December 15, 2023, will be sent, reviewed, and approved by the previous committee members. Once approved, Coralie will send them to translation and post them on the PRQC webpage. |
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3. Review of previous PRQC activities |
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The committee discusses what was done over the past year to determine what this year`s work plan will entail for the current year. Previous PRQC activities focused on three main projects: Navigar, language in collective agreements and classifications, and performance management.
1- Navigar After the board reviewed PIPSC’s Navigar Project, it was reassigned to a specialized task force. The committee would like to know more about the project's current status.
2- Language in collective agreements and classifications Joanne and Gerry led the review of the language used in collective agreements to identify common themes across groups, point out the strengths, and suggest how the committee could assist the bargaining team in improving collective agreement language.
A business case to work with selected Bargaining Groups was prepared and presented to the Executive Committee. However, once this project was presented to the bargaining committee, the PRQC was told to hold back. This was a disappointment since the PRQC had invested time and effort into it. If this issue is revisited by the committee, it will need the full support of the board. As such, a key goal for this year is to improve communication between the board and this advisory committee to ensure the production of deliverables.
The PRQC also investigated a salient issue concerning the disadvantageous classifications of professionals and poor recognition of credentials from abroad—a significant obstacle in ensuring equal pay for equal work. Since classification is a significant issue for PIPSC, the committee believed this could have been a great opportunity to spark reflection and debate on the matter since it impacts most, if not all, members of the Institute.
A second business case to strategically determine how this issue emerged and how the Institute should proceed was presented to the Board in the hopes of launching a full investigation of the situation. This was also held back.
3- Performance management The PRQC wants to redefine the current approach to performance reviews and performance management to help members be better prepared and use them to their advantage. Instead of adopting a reactive approach to performance reviews (e.g., what a member should do if they receive a poor review to protect themselves), it suggests revamping it as a proactive tool for empowerment. For example, it is critical to negotiate work conditions through performance management, including using overtime and other resources to meet goals.
During a performance review, a member could communicate to their employer that to meet objective A, they will need x amount of overtime or resources. By having it written down in their review, they could be better situated to obtain the support they need, have their overtime paid, and protect themselves at their next review if their objective wasn’t met due to inadequate support. After all, our members are professionals in their field, and the shift to remote work during COVID-19 is evidence of professionals functioning without micromanagement. The core question for members to answer should be: " What work conditions do you need to deliver the best product/service to Canadians?” |
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4. Candid discussion with PIPSC President Jennifer Carr |
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Jennifer Carr, President of the Institute, stops by for a candid conversation with the PRQC. Jennifer expresses one of her visions and hopes that the PRQC can help in fulfilling: She wants our members to feel proud to be professionals and proud to be unionized. She wants to resensitize and socialize our members on core issues and relationships with their employers, using the newly formed internal and external communications teams. She states that professionals can and should be proud to work in their field and for their employers. However, they must recognize that the latter might not always adequately recognize professionals' work. Limited resources make it difficult to uphold the integrity of professionalism in Canada. With upcoming elections, our members should collectively advocate for what matters to them so they are prepared if there are budget cuts yet no changes in expectations for employee performance. This is a crucial time for our members to track their overtime and see it remunerated, as this could increase their pay significantly without depending on important bargaining changes. The President suggests that perhaps a template on how and when our members can ask for overtime recognition could be prepared.
The committee chair, Thomas Landry, expresses that the committee has and continues to share this vision and that, unfortunately, poor communication between the committee, the board, the executive committee, and the President’s office over the past year made it difficult for the PRQC to deliver on this vision. This year, the committee aims to communicate its work plan to the board, explain why it is important for the Institute and its members, and explain why the selected projects are the best way to proceed. To this effect, consistently drafting post-meeting reports and the board liaison’s role in communicating the committee’s projects will be critical. As such, the committee sets the objective of frequently talking with its ambassador to the board to ensure they're well-informed of committee activities and to check in with the Executive Committee to ensure they understand what the PRQC is working on.
President Carr would like to further broadcast PIPSC wins to our members. For example, International Women’s Day would have been a great opportunity to promote the fact that the Institute is the union that managed to get ten days of paid leave for domestic violence. As a union, PIPSC should show its members that we have the power to enact change and continue to ensure we are recognized as professionals.
Approvals process: To have their projects approved by the board, PRQC members should communicate with their regional director(s) about what the committee is working on, why it is important, and what kind of support they need. This applies to the request to change committee terms to three-year mandates.
Committee members’ role is to ensure they report to their regional director after every PRQC meeting to inform them of what is happening. In this case, the committee must increase awareness of and excitement for this survey.
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5. Discussing the 2024 Work Plan |
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Committee members should remain careful not to over-exert themselves as they devise this year’s work plan. As such, the committee should communicate what projects and objectives they are interested in pursuing and subsequently communicate it with David and Waheed to receive support in achieving them.
The proposed work plan has three main areas:
1- Communication: ensure proper communication between all parties involved in committee activities
The committee would like to develop a communication strategy and consult the relevant communication teams. The communications team lead will be invited to the next PRQC meeting in April.
2- Distributing a member-wide survey to draft a White Paper
3- Revamping the performance management tool
*The recommendation for the education department to work on this has to come from the board. If greenlit, the department is to see what is feasible using existing staff. The PRQC is to be conscientious and avoid adding stress to the organization at this time.
Link with collective bargaining: There are two main tools in bargaining that empower members as proud professionals: their collective agreement and the clear language within it. To maintain professional recognition and qualifications, there is a need for provisions in the collective agreement that allow members to request training, conference participation, staff, and overtime to meet their objectives and retain their status as Professionals. While paragraph 1B of the collective agreement vaguely mentions agreement between supervisors and employees on how their work will be done in the best interest of Canadians, it lacks specificity for professionals to push for what they need. Even if this paragraph is frequently cited in grievances to communicate dissatisfaction with one’s management, the language could further support our members properly. Educating members on their collective agreement is necessary for effective negotiation, and the recently added paragraph on performance management should be explored further from a training perspective.
One of the greater challenges in accessing training opportunities is due to budget cuts, particularly in conference attendance. Perhaps establishing a leave code that allows for paid leave for conference attendance within one’s collective agreement could address this issue. Currently, employees often have to use vacation time for conferences, which may be discouraged due to liability concerns from management. As such, introducing a specific leave code for professional development conferences could streamline the process and ensure attendance for work-related events.
Because leave, training, and conference attendance are often left up to a manager’s discretion, there is a need for a tool where members use their performance reviews as a means to negotiate their objectives. This would allow professionals to repatriate recognition for their initiative and effort to remain qualified. With increasing limitations on travel and budgets, professionals risk losing time and recognition, which has a tremendous impact on their careers and credibility.
If members were trained to approach their performance reviews as proactive tools instead of a disciplinary mechanism, discussions between employees and employers could look more like this:
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6. Member survey |
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The committee is joined by Ryan Campbell, Lead of the Research Team, and the afternoon is dedicated to finalizing the survey draft. Ryan shares that even if some questions seem innocuous, it will be interesting to look at responses from different departments and groups and see if they provide meaningful insight on a particular issue.
When designing the survey, three main areas must be addressed:
To ensure a high return rate, the survey must be adequately promoted. The goal is for the survey to be more than just filling out a form – it should make people feel empowered, excited, and ready to get involved.
The board liaison, Waheed Khan, drops by and introduces himself to the new committee members, reiterating his role as ambassador of the PRQC. He explains that this committee occupies an advisory role for the board and has the duty to bring attention to pressing issues using their expertise. Committee members are to help draft reports for Waheed to present at board meetings and modify them according to their own region.
Collecting data through a survey is a great opportunity to provide evidence and support the suggested initiatives. Waheed will provide the board with a copy of the PRQC’s 2024 Work Plan. The White Paper emerging from the survey will provide the members and the Board with a concrete deliverable.
Timeline for the survey:
The committee is to prepare communications to promote the survey to members. These communications should:
Communication #1: Introduce members to the survey. Communication #2: Remind them of the survey. Communication #3: Launch the survey (along with other communications prepared for the National Public Service Week. |
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7. Planning the next meeting |
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Next meeting(s)/Prochaines réunions:
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8. Roundtable and Closing Remarks |
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During the roundtable, every member expressed satisfaction with a productive day’s work and looked forward to working together. Since the committee's leadership is likely to change next year, it will be critical to establish solid, well-communicated groundwork to facilitate the committee handover. |
9. Meeting adjourned.