SP 2019 AGM - President’s Address

President’s Address

Welcome SP members to Montreal for our annual SP AGM.

This is a great time in our history to be a member of the SP group.

During this last election, PIPSC members elected three SP members in positions of power and authority.

We elected a SP member as a full-time Vice President and we elected two SP members as Regional Directors. One in the National Capital region and one in BC/Yukon Regional Director.

We are third largest group within PIPSC with well over 8,000 active members.

We have much to be proud of.

As a union and as a group, we are once again in Bargaining.

With this round of bargaining, PIPSC has instituted a Central Table approach to bargaining issues that touch all of our members.

The Central Table issues being negotiated include - an Economic Increase, the duration of the contract, an additional Family Leave day, Parental Leave, Compassionate Care Top Up, Article 43 – Harassment and Pay Rules (Phoenix).

PIPSC has branded this campaign as the “Do Better” campaign and PIPSC members are being reached through email and being asked to sign up for the campaign.

We are challenging our employer to “Do Better”.

Our SP members are participating in education sessions and showing their support for their Bargaining team by holding up “I Support My Bargaining Team” signs and having them posted on our SP Facebook page.

Record numbers of SP members are opening up the Do Better Campaign and SP Bargaining email updates. We are engaged.

During the last round of bargaining, we negotiated Scientific Integrity into our SP Collective Agreements.

This past summer, the federal government adopted our model of Scientific Integrity, which obligates members and, more importantly, their departments to uphold rigorous scientific standards and practices.

This Scientific Integrity policy helps protect federal scientists from political interference.

This historic inclusion to our Collective Agreement represents a tremendous achievement for our group.

As a union, we are also looking forward to the replacement of Phoenix.

We look forward to a pay system replacement that pays people correctly and on time.

We have made many strides as a union and as a group.

We have much to be proud of.

And we are Better Together.

Elizabeth Ptasznik

SP Group President