MINUTES / COMPTE RENDU
SP Executive Meeting / Rencontre de l’exécutif SP
May 26th, 2017 / 26 Mai 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) P Donald Lefebvre (NCR – RCN) P
Guest (Late PM only) - Stephane Aubry
1) Opening remarks
▪ Thomas
o Follow up communication (with respect to bargaining and questions on Collective Agreement) is very important
o Bargaining team has received questions on : 15 minute breaks, back pay, professional development leave accorded to PCs
▪ Sushil
o Need to get the right message out right from the start
o Much harder to correct wrong message one it has gained momentum
▪ ACTION - MARCEL
o Add round table to future agendas
2) Action Items Review
▪ Bargaining Team questions and Post-mortem
o Enzo - Will collect questions (from members) and answers relating to Collective Agreement and pass to Judith for inclusion in a newsletter
o Thomas - Should wait until after the post mortem
o Enzo - Will add Judith to the Bargaining Team Distribution list so she can collect the questions and answers automatically going forward
o Clarify minutes of last meeting to indicate the Q&A send to Judith to be post-ratification
▪ ie - post 91 days no back pay, professional development leave, etc
▪ ACTION - MARCEL - Clarify minutes
o Thomas - each group will do individual post mortems, then a common post mortem
o Marcel - Should send a newsletter to members indicating a post-mortem will be done
o Tarek - Important for all of exec to have information in case members of bargaining team are out of office and not reachable by email.
o Thomas - SP Exec has no input in post-mortem
o Thomas - SP Exec will have input after post-mortem completed
3) Standing Items
o Marcel - Members should not have to put on a confidentiality notice on their emails to executive members. Confidentiality should be assumed
o Thomas - If the email is shared within PIPSC (Secretary's note - PIPSC in this case means SP Exec and PIPSC Staff themselves as required) no need to worry about confidentiality. If being sent outside of PIPSC, need to ensure confidentiality of members
o Tarek/Daniel - Need to look at it upon a case-by-case basis. Can’t have a blanket policy
o Norma - Should remove the names, only provide the data and context required for the discussion
o Thomas - Reminder that Exec business should stay within the Exec
▪ Science Committee
o No meeting since last SP Exec meeting
o Science Unmuzzled (on Facebook) is a good source of information
▪ Treasurer
o Scan and send to Nicole internet receipts
o Financial report presented
o Allocation arrived on May 7th
▪ Budget
o Secretary note - All items in this are dealing with discussion for Budget presentation at SP AGM on the 27th of May
o AGM costs
▪ Approximate cost provided
▪ Combines cost of SP and PIPSC AGM
▪ Includes hospitality events
● Room cost, Alcohol, snacks, etc
▪ Sushil - Lower cost
▪ Daniel - Split SP and PIPSC AGMs
▪ Michael - Keep cost the same
▪ Norma - Lower cost
▪ Thomas
● This also covers increase in cost of AGM in case we have to move to outside of the NCR
● Combination of SP and PIPSC AGM in one line item allows for more flexibility in dealing with last minute changes
▪ Norma - Keep cost the same
o Executive Expenditures
▪ PIPSC only covers sending Sp Executive President to subgroup AGMs
▪ This line item includes executive support to members
● For Example - Regional Representative participation in subgroup activities
▪ From April 10th Executive Meeting
● Team building approximate cost provided
● Cost will drop if we attach it to an executive meeting
o Subgroup Expenses Support
▪ Rename Subgroup Expenses as Subgroup Support
▪ All items referring to subgroups will be placed under Subgroup Support
o Administrative costs and equipment
▪ Previously covered under Executive Expenses
▪ Included laptops, internet reimbursement, sharepoint charges, postage, shipping, software, hardware, etc
▪ Approximate cost provided
o Promotional Materials
▪ Approximate cost provided
o Bargaining
▪ Covers flight change fees (for example when TB cancels bargaining after BT members have flown to Ottawa), hospitality for Bargaining
▪ Approximate cost provided
o Bylaws Review Committees of the Executive
▪ Rename Bylaws Committee to be Bylaws of the Executive
▪ Approximate cost provided for 5 meetings
o Subgroups
▪ Covers Lunch and Learns, hospitality for SP Presidents Meetings
▪ Approximate cost provided
o Stewards
▪ Stewards Counsel hospitality
▪ Approximate cost provided
4) Communication
▪ Judith
o Lack of communication between Richard (Richard Beaulé), Bargaining Team and Judith.
o Judith often finding out about things after others have already communicated it to the members
o Feels cut out of the loop and a lack of respect for her position as Communications Director
▪ Use Newsletter to give guidance about Collective Agreement
▪ Judith will reach out to Bargaining Team members to get information
5) IT
▪ SP Exec to let Dan know what they have done with the laptops
▪ Dan will verify with CostCo to see about problems with noisy laptops
▪ MOTION
o $100 per executive per year to purchase reasonable laptop accessories (for example: USB Key, mouse, adaptor cables)
o CARRIED
▪ WebX
o Discuss at next Subgroup Presidents Meeting
o Approximate cost provided
o ACTION - ENZO
▪ Put WebX on Agenda for subgroup presidents meetings
6) Membership
▪ Will be presented at AGM
7) Stewards
▪ Will be presented at AGM
8) Swag
▪ Will be presented at AGM
9) Science Committee
▪ Will be presented at AGM
10) Subgroups
▪ MOTION
o Endorse creation of Yukon SP subgroup
o CARRIED
▪ MOTION
o Expand Halifax subgroup to include Annapolis Valley to encompass the 12 SP members not currently in a subgroup
o CARRIED
▪ If SP Executive wishes to communicate with members, first route to be used is through the local subgroups
▪ Zonal meetings
o 19 August
▪ Western Meeting
▪ Prairies/NWT and BC/Yukon regions
▪ Held in Vancouver
▪ Enzo and Thomas to attend with Regional Reps
o 23 September
▪ Eastern Meeting
▪ Atlantic and Quebec
▪ Held in Quebec City
▪ In conjunction with SP Executive Meeting
▪ To be attended by all members of SP Exec
o 14 October
▪ Central
▪ Ontario and NCR
▪ Held in Toronto
▪ Thomas to attend with Regional Reps
11) SAC Strategic plan
▪ ACTION - MARCEL
o Put as recurring item under Science Committee
▪ Norma will seek input from the exec and will communicate with exec discussion held at SAC
12) PIPSC Document Storage
▪ ACTION - MARCEL
o Put as full item on agenda for next SP Exec meeting
13) River Road Lunch and Learn
▪ Currently on subgroup page
▪ Not clear why it has been moving around.
14) Bylaws Committee
▪ Look at other groups which have a Bylaws committee
o AV group (for example) has a Bylaws committee established within their group Bylaws
▪ ACTION - NORMA
o Norma to prepare:
▪ 1 - proposed mandate to share with Executive for next face to face meeting to prepare a standing committee for bylaws
▪ 2 - Workplan to bring three (at a minimum) Bylaws changes to the next SP Group AGM
▪ Bylaws committee will bring forward to the Executive Committee the model constitution with three Bylaws changes (as requested in previous SP Executive Committee meetings) for November to then bring forward to the SP group AGM in 2018
15) Workplan
▪ ACTION - DONALD
o Send out communications plan
o Send out Orientation Handbook for the SP Exec
▪ 5 member committee
o Daniel, Donald, Marcel, Judith, Enzo
▪ 1st Draft of handbook to be sent out by the 19th of June to the Executive for review and comments
▪ Committee to review comments and check for cross-references to PIPSC Bylaws, etc
16) Bargaining Preparation
▪ 1st Post Mortem
o Thomas - After postmortem, look on how to get best involvement from the Executive, subgroups and stewards
o Enzo
▪ Survey to members
▪ Bargaining conference ranks priorities based on survey responses
▪ Bargaining proposal based on priorities
▪ Discussion was held regarding how PIPSC assigns negotiators and whether or not Suzelle would be reassigned to the SP Group for the next round of bargaining. The consensus of the executive was that we will request she continue with the Group but it will ultimately be PIPSC who decides.
▪ Discussion on process/timeline to collect information/goals/needs/wants from members
▪ Some members want a say in the composition of the Bargaining Team
o Thomas - Having all classifications on bargaining team is less important than having a good bargaining team with a good negotiator
17) 15 Minute Breaks
▪ SG-PAT problem
▪ Management claims that SG-PATs have always had breaks. If Patent Examiners wish to have breaks listed separately, weekly production goals will be adjusted to ensure same amount of work per week is done after signing of CA as was done prior to signing.
▪ It was claimed at the bargaining table (by Treasury Board) that implementation of 2x15 minute breaks at CIPO would cost several million dollars in lost production
▪ Management (at CIPO) stated that just because it was stated at the bargaining table does not mean it is true or how something was meant to be interpreted
▪ Enzo/Thomas - If it was stated by TB at the bargaining table, it is the position of TB
o Can very much be used in arguing over the interpretation of a clause in CA
▪ Stephane Aubry spoke to the Head of HR (which encompasses CIPO) at ISED
o National Consultation meeting will be held June 13th
o Meeting will be held between Stephane Aubry and ISED HR
▪ TB has yet to send out copies of the CA to individual departments
▪ SG-PAT subgroup exec waiting on a statement from CIPO management on how they (CIPO Management) will interpret this clause in the CA.
18) Round Table
▪ MOTION
o SP Exec to reimburse Executive members who wish to purchase a copy of Sturgis.
o CARRIED
19) Meeting adjourned
▪ 16:45