MINUTES / COMPTE RENDU
SP Executive Meeting / Rencontre de l’exécutif SP
April 10, 2017 / 10 Avril, 2017
Presence / Absence --- Présences / Absences
Daniel Ingram (PRA/NWT – PRA/TNO) P Norma Domey (NCR – RCN) P
Elizabeth Ptasznik (PRA/NWT – PRA/TNO) P Steven J. Colwell (BC/YUK – CB/YUK) P
Enzo Barresi (ONT) P Sushil S. Dixit (NCR – RCN) P
Judith Leblanc (QUE) P Tarek Salem (NCR – RCN) P
Marcel C. Beaudoin (NCR – RCN) P Thomas Landry (ATL) P
Michael A. Forbes (ONT) P Suzelle Brosseau (PIPSC – IPFPC) A
Nicole Deschenes (PRA/NWT – PRA/TNO) A Donald Lefebvre (NCR – RCN) P
1) New Business
▪ Thomas
o Post mortem meeting of Bargaining Team will be held as soon as Suzelle returns
▪ Enzo and Bargaining Team thanked for responding to emails/questions
▪ ACTION - ENZO
o Collect Questions and Answers and provide to Judith so they may be distributed in an upcoming SP Group Newsletter in order to more rapidly disseminate information
▪ ACTION - MARCEL
o Organize a conference call for 3-4 weeks after Executive meeting in order to confirm with people what they need to do
▪ ACTION - ALL
o Participate in conference call after draft copy of minutes distributed in order to ensure everyone is clear on what is to be done
2) Action Items Review
▪ Business case for Hybrid Meetings (Enzo/Thomas)
o Business case developed
o Hold Exec Meeting in conjunction with QC/ATL subgroup presidents meetings in Quebec City
▪ Quebec City not in Golden Triangle (Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto) thus more expensive
o Regional meetings
▪ Approximate cost provided
o Zonal meetings (QC&ATL, NCR&ONT, PRA/NWT&BC/YUK)
▪ Approximate cost provided
o Zonal Meetings + Exec meeting in QC
▪ Approximate cost provided
o Zonal Meetings + Exec meeting in Toronto
▪ Approximate cost provided
o Discussion
▪ Daniel
● 3 zonal meetings should be the focus
● >75% of subgroup presidents want zonal meetings
● Should focus on meeting in Toronto in order to get approval from Board
▪ Tarek
● PIPSC spending is up significantly
● Need to get more engagement from the regions
▪ Marcel
● Should focus on Quebec
● Find out why Quebec regions are not involved in group activities
▪ Enzo
● Toronto option middle of the road price-wise
● Keep as a fall-back position should board reject Quebec City
▪ Judith
● Look at cost of Montreal as alternative QC/ATL zonal meeting
● In Quebec, and also part of golden triangle
▪ Elizabeth
● Need to have an action plan with clearly defined deliverables prior to spending money
▪ Michael
● Only 1 subgroup in all of Quebec applied to send delegates to SP AGM
▪ Sushil
● Agree with need to focus on Quebec City
● Will be good to have AGM/presidents meeting in french
▪ Donald
● Echoed the need to improve connection with non-golden triangle subgroups
▪ Enzo
● Toronto Subgroups are very healthy, no need to go there in order to improve engagement
● Make it as easy as possible for Quebec Subgroups to interact with Executive Committee
▪ Norma
● Would look bad to go to Quebec City and have no Quebec City members show up
● Communicate with Quebec subgroups to find out why they are not engaging prior to spending money
▪ ACTION - THOMAS
● Move forward with business case for zonal/hybrid meetings (in french) in Quebec City. If resistance, fall back to a Toronto position.
▪ ACTION - TAREK
● Develop reason for Executive Meeting to be held in Quebec
▪ PIPSC Document Storage
o Presented info to group
▪ PIPSC uses Google Docs
▪ PIPSC Informatics simply purchased a domain name
▪ Informatics can create usernames and administer access
▪ Currently in a testing phase
▪ Only being rolled out to member bodies that request it
▪ Will allow for ensured continuity
▪ Will allow for collaboration on documents
▪ Version control and backups
o ACTION - MARCEL
▪ Prepare presentation on PIPSC Document Storage
o ACTION - MARCEL
▪ Set a full 30 minute time slot on next executive meeting
● MOTION
3) Standing Items
▪ Science Committee
o Moving ahead with Strategic plan
o Concentrating on implementation steps
▪ Survey
● Out late spring
▪ Monitoring and public relations
▪ Shrunk from 14 to 6 activities for ease of understanding and implementation
o ACTION - NORMA
▪ Share Science committee strategic plan with Executive
o ACTION - MARCEL
▪ Put SAC Strategic plan on agenda
▪ 30 minute time slot
▪ Norma as lead
▪ Communications
o Judith working on newsletter
▪ Use as a secondary way to communicate with members
o Get articles from President, Chief Steward, Bargaining Coordinator, etc
o Norma noticed the Lunch and Learn notice (for River Road) was getting moved around from webpage to webpage, and has disappeared.
o ACTION - JUDITH
▪ Investigate what happened to River Road L&L article
o ACTION - JUDITH
▪ Communicate with Jean in order to have all articles put up by SP subgroups forwarded to her
o ACTION - ALL
▪ Newsletter articles for Judith
▪ Information Technology
o No need to purchase McAffee Antivirus
o Old Laptop disposal
▪ PIPSC no longer takes care of it
▪ Up to discretion of Executive Committee
▪ MOTION - Executives to dispose of old laptops in a responsible manner according to recommendations provided by Daniel. Note the laptops are currently too old to be given to most schools.
● CARRIED
o WebX Licence
▪ Deferred
▪ ACTION - MARCEL
● Put as standing item under IT
▪ Finances
o Request for treasurer to provide more detailed financial reports to executive
▪ Membership
o Deferred to dedicated discussion
▪ Subgroups
o ACTION - MARCEL
▪ Add to standing Items
▪ Stewards
o # of stewards consistent
o More younger women becoming stewards
o Need to get info on number of stewards per department
o Norma
▪ Requested training, been denied several times
o Tarek
▪ Waiting list currently exists for steward training
▪ Training is a regional responsibility
o Elizabeth
▪ Will continue to work with Judith/Enzo to keep stewards informed and up to date
▪ Swag
o Room in the basement of PIPSC with lots of stuff in it
o If subgroups want stuff to give out, simply ask them
o Will bring to SP Group AGM
4) SG-PAT Petition
▪ Donald
o Provided, in an email dated 20 Mar 2017, a draft outline of a “SG-PAT Business Case” to the President, Bargaining Team Chair, PIPSC Representative and 50 Victoria Sub-Group President (i.e., Secretary of SP Group Executive Committee) in preparation for the next bargaining session, where the proposal can be expanded upon to include other classifications of the SP Group. The business case is in its preliminary phase and should be a good tool to address, as a minimum, the concerns of the SG-PATs (e.g., the petition).
▪ Steven
o Only a small percentage, no need to act drastically
▪ Thomas
o Need to focus and work with the people who wish to remain in SP group
▪ Norma
o Need to determine the lessons learned from the bargaining and how it continues to impact interactions with SG-PATs
▪ Thomas
o Proposal came from Treasury Board, not Bargaining Team
o Communications broke down in a number of places
o Some people (approx 6% of SG-PATs) are upset
o Deal is unfair
▪ ACTION - MARCEL
o Find date for Lunch and Learn with Thomas
5) SP AGM
▪ Booked at the Delta in downtown Ottawa
▪ Hospitality suite friday evening
▪ All done within PIPSC Guidelines
▪ Reports needed
o President
o Financial
o Chief Steward
o Membership
▪ Recognition
o Recognition ceremony for Jean, Bargaining Team, Tanya, David Johnston
o Thomas will present all but Bargaining Team
▪ Delegates
o MOTION - Invite Marcie, Brian and Dave to AGM as observers, with costs to be covered by SP Group
▪ CARRIED
o 84 applicants
o Some subgroups submitted no names
▪ Tarek
● Enzo should communicate directly with subgroups in order to find out why no-one volunteered
▪ Daniel
● Open up to everyone
● Need more clarification with respect to observers
● Re-evaluate selection policy
▪ Enzo
● Historically delegate coordinator has done the job
▪ Steven
● Need to rework delegate selection policy to account for increasing number of members who do not have a subgroup
o ACTION - MICHAEL/ENZO
▪ Communicate directly with subgroups who have no delegates to get volunteers
▪ Guest Speaker
o Denis Harrison from Université du Quebec en Outaouais
o Topic - How can Public Science and Academic Science work together and complement each other
▪ Swag
o MOTION - Tarek to order t-shirt, pens, pins (all with Canada 150 logo) for all delegates/observers at the SP AGM
▪ CARRIED
o ACTION - TAREK
▪ Design and order t-shirt, pens, pins (all with Canada 150 logo) for all delegates/observers at the SP AGM
●
6) Membership Report
▪ 6942 members
▪ 345 Rands
▪ 25 subgroups
▪ 938 people not associated with any subgroups
7) C-27
▪ Tarek
o There should be a mobilization committee
o Held a talk/discussion on Bill C-27
▪ 55 people attended
▪ Were provided with contact information for their MPs
▪ Previous lobbying successes were explained
o Thomas
▪ SP group should be focussed on a topic that we (the SP group) can use as a part of bargaining as opposed to a broader topic which is better focussed upon by PIPSC National/Region/branches
o After round table, general feeling of executives is there is no need to have C-27 (for example) be the main focus of an SP-centric direction. Rather, the SP group should look to see if there are activities done by PIPSC National / Regions/Groups where the SP group could take part.
o In addition, need to look to see if there is something the SP group could focus on that is properly within our scope of responsibility
8) Bylaws
▪ Discussed Bylaw resolutions as submitted to By Laws committee by Bryan Van Wilgenburg
▪ ACTION - NORMA
o Contact Bryan to inform him of the By Law amendments currently being proposed by the SP Exec
▪ No end-date for Bylaws committee
▪ Questions were raised as to parameters of committee
o Number of members
o Scope
o Length of existence
o Length of term on committee
▪ Enzo
o No need to change simply for the sake of change.
▪ Thomas
o Bylaws committee mandated (by inference) to end at 2017 AGM
▪ Thomas’ attendance at Bylaws meeting
o Support expressed for Thomas to have attended Bylaws committee meeting in January.
o As president, Thomas has right to attend all SP Group committees
o It was indicated that Thomas should have indicated ahead of time his desire to do so.
▪ Secretary’s note - Examining the email discussion after the meeting, Thomas contacted the head of the Bylaws committee on December 19th (meeting was scheduled for January 12th) indicating his desire to attend meeting.
o ACTION - MARCEL
▪ Set full 45 minute item for Bylaws committee mandate at the next Executive Meeting
9) Steward Retention
▪ 4 Stewards for BC/Yukon stepped down in close succession
▪ 10 questions asked around the topic of why they no longer wished to be a steward:
o 1) How would you describe your experience as a Steward?
o 2) What contributed to you deciding not to continue as a Steward?
o 3) If it was a negative experience, is there anything that PIPSC could have done to support you?
o 4) What was positive about your experience as a Steward?
o 5) Is there anything that could convince you to stay on as a Steward ? What would need to change for you to continue as a Steward?
o 6) How was your home/work/union life balance while a Steward ? Did any part suffer ?
o 7) Did your relationships in the workplace change as a result of becoming a steward ?
o 8) Did you find the following helpful during your time as a Steward ? (Y/N)
o 9) How often did you attend ? (Y/N)
o - Steward Council
o - Advanced Steward Training
o - Other Union training (H & S, executive training etc.)
o 10) As a Steward, did you feel that your efforts were appreciated ?
o - By co-workers ?
o - By Employment Relations Officers (ERO’s) ?
o - By PIPSC ?
▪ General responses
o When you come back from extended leave that requires you to resign as steward, process for re-activation/renewal of steward process complicated
o Once you complete steward training, no follow-up afterwards to see if further assistance is required
▪ Daniel
o PIPSC support for Stewards is very poor
o PIPSC training is very outdated
▪ Build internal SP Stewards network
▪ Need to improve PIPSC Stewards support
▪ If we (SP group) don’t provide better support and tools to stewards, we may be setting them up to fail
▪ Need to prepare for next round of Steward Councils
o Not only for those who participate, but for those who do not participate
10) Exit Interview
▪ Sushil provided updated questionnaire via email
▪ Need to determine who will administer questionnaire and compile answers
▪ Should be determined by whomever departing person is most comfortable with.
11) Re-voting
▪ Privacy concerns
o With limited revoting, concerns on a person’s choice no longer private.
o Would be able to determine who they voted for
▪ IT problems
o Currently can be done on case-by-case basis
o Difficult to set up for automation of process
▪ Make it clear on next ballot that revoting will not be permitted
12) Collective Bargaining Agreement
▪ Richard Beaulé replacing Suzelle
o Suzelle expected to be back early May
▪ PIPSC is currently verifying the English and French versions of the CBA match
▪ SHould be done by April 14th
▪ Expected date of signing to be communicated April 14th
▪ Based on AV signing speed, expected to be signed before end of April
▪ What happens if it takes >90 days to be implemented
o Members do not need to do anything
o PIPSC will file a Group Policy Grievance
▪ Penalty will be interest on back pay
▪ Need to inform members they do not need to file individual grievances
▪ Newsletter should be sent out to members containing all of the various timelines
▪ Full text of the CBA will be up on PIPSC website shortly after signing
13) Workplan
▪ Donald presented an outline of the straw man SP Group Executive Orientation plan Handbook
▪ Donald to coordinate with Daniel to further develop a first draft of the handbook for executive review, where the handbook supplements the Workplan
▪ Daniel and Donald will combine edits and will submit “an updated” Workplan (in that the proposed Handbook will be a supplement to the Workplan) to the Exec for May 26th
▪ ACTION - DONALD
o Coordinate edits with Daniel and submit updated Handbook to the Exec for the May 26th Executive meeting
,shak
14) Budget
▪ Zonal & President’s meetings
o Approximate cost provided
▪ Team Building/Executive Training
o Approximate cost provided
▪ Bylaws committee
o Approximate cost for 3 face to face meetings provided
o Look at options for 1, 2, 3 meetings per fiscal year
15) Round Table
▪ If people disagree with Judith on things which are posted (or not posted) to the various SP Group social media accounts, bring to next executive meeting
▪ 2 new Subgroup applications
o Downtown Vancouver
o Downtown Edmonton
16) Meeting Adjourned
▪ Next meeting May 26th
▪ Meeting adjourned at 16:30