Nanaimo SP Sub Group Minutes of 2016 AGM March 1, 2017
ABC Country Restaurant, Nanaimo, BC
1. Call to Order – The meeting was called to order at 5:55pm. Seventeen members were present, including executive members Dan Leus, Sean MacConnachie, Mary Thiess, Linda Nichol, Lyse Godbout, and Nick Leone.
Absent executive members: Linnea Flostrand
2. Approval of Agenda – There were no additions to the agenda.
3. Adoption of Minutes from 2015 AGM – Motion to accept the minutes: Steve Baillie/Mary Thiess passed.
4. Business Remaining from the previous Agenda: none
5. Annual Financial Report – Mary Thiess presented the financial report. It was noted that, due to a change in the formula used to calculate our annual allowance coming for 2017, we are projected to run a small deficit in the coming year (i.e. based on 2016 spending, we will spend $150 more than our projected annual allotment in 2017). Although we currently have sufficient funds to cover this budget overrun (current balance over $2,600), this cannot continue indefinitely (i.e. the sub-group will eventually run out of money). At this point, this is just a word of caution; no specific change in projected spending is proposed at this time. . Motion to accept the report as presented: Sean MacConnachie/Steve Baillie passed.
6. Election of Vice-President, and Secretary–Sean MacConnachie was acclaimed as Vice President (two-year term), Linda Nichol was acclaimed as Secretary (two-year term).
7. Appointment of Members-at-Large – Linnea Flostrand, Lyse Godbout, Nick Leone, and John Candy were appointed as Members-at-Large. These are one-year terms.
8. Report from the President – See attached report. Local Issues: there are a lot of questions coming up about the Science Renewal Campaign process from staff. There were 12,000 applicants and a lot of people got filtered out which left many people questioning the process. Local management was unable to make any improvements in response to people’s concerns. Overtime: black booking which refers to OT not been recorded officially but taken off upon verbal agreement with managers. Pacific region is the worst for this habit – and as much as 38% of OT is not recorded officially. There is some thought that problems with Phoenix are fueling the black booking. So people are encouraged to email their managers when you enter OT to Phoenix.
Public Service Survey: the upcoming Public Service Survey is important to complete. The results of the survey provide a comparison of how the Pacific Region is fairing and the issues compared to other regions. Employee engagement in union/ employee: need to keep figuring out ways to get more engagement particularly from newer employees. Occupation Health and Safety: right now there is a focus on needing to name functional groups on site, then representatives for each function group and alternates for each representative. SP Collective Agreement: almost all are biologists (Bi-). We have ~ 115 members in our subgroup. Across the country there are ~ 7000 members in all SP that are represented as a group at the contract bargaining table. Ratification vote: remember to vote. A gift was given to Steve Baillie: as a huge thank you for all his years as a Steward and also as a long term executive member.
9. Guest Speaker – Thomas Landry provided information about the tentative collective agreement. He discussed and highlighted several aspects. The science integrity piece in the agreement will be important going forward. Sick leave will be dealt with separately and no change to the delivery or terms of the current sick leave system has been made. He talked in detail and answered questions about other aspects of the tentative agreement.
10. Adjournment – Meeting adjourned 8:00pm
Nanaimo PIPSC/SP Sub-group AGM 2016
President’s Report
2016 in review – major local issues
- National Hiring campaign, fair and equitable
- Overtime claims/blackbooking – Auditor General Report - UMCC
- Public Service Employee Survey – bridging gaps
- OSH – ensuring a safe workplace
- Employee engagement – utilization of union services, information flow and strengthen bargaining position
Overview of where we and our collective agreements fit in
- Change in government, change in bargaining approach
- 18 unions with 280K federal employees
- PIPSC is one of those 18, has almost 70K employees
- PIPSC is national and so has regions and branches within regions
- almost 50 groups each with assortment of classifications (i.e. BI)
- SP is one of those groups and includes Scientists and Patent examiners (Chemists etc)
- SP group is national and so has subgroups, Nanaimo is our local
- I am president of the local subgroup (115 members), Thomas is president of the National Group (7K members)
- You can participate at the PIPSC level (Branch) or group level (Sub-group) or at the regional or national scale as well
- Collective agreements are bargained at the group level nationally, with coordination between groups
- loss of severance pay last round drove ‘Better Together campaign’ with coordinated efforts between the 18 unions
- Better together campaign laid foundation for protecting sick time
Collective Agreement
- Change in government, change in bargaining approach
- Delay in settling contract strategic in awaiting new government
- Previous government inflexible/legislated sick time loss and rigid on 0.5%/yr
- Muzzling of scientists/lack of evidence based decision making, led by PIPSC SP group, was on the campaign platforms and contributed to change in government
- New government has provided opportunity for progress on bargaining issues
- SP Bargaining team provides a recommendation of accepting the contract – translates into ‘we are confident this is the best we can get without a strike, we think you won’t strike with this offer’
- Alternatives were to continue to negotiate or reject offer, leading conciliation/strike
Nanaimo SP Sub Group 2014 AGM Agenda
March 1, 2017
ABC Country Restaurant, Nanaimo, BC
AGENDA:
- Call to Order
- Roll Call of Executive
- Approval of Agenda
- Adoption of Minutes from 2015 AGM
- Business Arising from the Minutes
- Annual Financial Report from the Treasurer
- Election of Vice-President and Secretary
- Appointment of Members-at-Large
- Report from the President
- Guest Speaker: Thomas Landry, update on ratification of Collective Agreement/Q&A
- Other new business
- Adjournment
Attendance List
- Linda Nichol
- Mary Thiess
- Lyse Godbout
- Wayne Hajas
- Diana McHugh
- Henrik Kreiberg
- Malcolm Wyeth
- Michael Folkes
- Arlene Tompkins
- Sean MacConnachie
- Steve Baillie
- James Mortimer
- John Candy
- Nick Leone
- Lisa Christensen
- Dan Leus
- Mark Higgins