75th P/NWT RC -Edmonton Branch Report
President Report
As you know the president is unavoidably away – recovering from hip surgery. However the president’s report will be given by her very helpful executive.
Regarding the events held in Edmonton this year. Steward training was held at the Matrix hotel from March 15-17. It was great to see our members taking an interest in becoming stewards, upholding our contracts and representing their fellow stewards.
Labour School was also held in Edmonton from May 10-12. Our EROs presented courses on discipline, grievance handling, bullying and harassment and duty to accommodate.
And yes the Steward Council was also held in Edmonton. This time at the Chateau Lacombe. We had a sendoff for Grace Chychul who inspired many stewards both during her time as a CS employee of the federal government as well as through her facilitations as an ERO for a number of years.
We held a Prairie Regional Council in Saskatoon in 2017. I trained the Treasurers in the region during our President/Treasurer meeting held prior to the council. The council is akin to an AGM for the region. This year it will be held in Edmonton at…. The Matrix Hotel J
The activities that can change are the local activities that are held for members and or stewards. This year we had our annual branch picnic at Borden Park where approx. 75 members signed up. This park was reconfigured 3 years ago so it really is enjoyable to go there. There are brand new washroom facilities, a park for the children and apparently the swimming pool is being rebuilt and so it makes it even more attractive to have our events there. Lunch and learns were held only at the last AGM as the library closing has impacted our ability to hold events. Two sessions containing a total of 45 people attended our lunch and learns which were co-presented by Shannon Bittman and Nancy McCune. They were very successful and went a bit over due to the interest in the subject matter – sick leave and what PIPSC does for its members.
Hopefully we have a solution for some lunch and learns to occur this year.
Last year the institute initiated a youth council event in Ottawa. We had 2 attendees Chris T from the AFS subgroup and Blaine Lowery from Environment Canada.
Six members of the executive attended the PIPSC Annual General Meeting in Quebec on November 18 and 19 last year. This attendance is important in ensuring our Edmonton vote gets counted when decisions on the running of the institute are made. This year is again an election year. Voting takes 2 minutes.
The executive are familiar with the candidates so if you would like to discuss this prior to voting please feel free to contact us for inspiration. It is so important to vote and because we have such a good record in this region, we truly can influence the election of the successful candidates
Our steward appreciation award went to our own Holly Ruryk this year. Thank you Holly for all you have done for the Edmonton Branch and everything you continue to do as a member at large on the Branch.
Note we have an election every year. Please consider running for a member at large position. This is where you get your feet wet. We meet 10 times per year, the first Wednesday of the month. Our meetings are typically 1.5 hours and we provide supper after the meeting. We discuss issues such as lunch and learn, our AGM the PRC, steward councils, steward training and labour school. You would be expected to attend most meetings, however we do understand that sometimes life gets in the way. It would be great if we could entice some younger members to volunteer so that we could ensure we are addressing issues that are important to them.
Thanks for attending the AGM and enjoy yourself. Please remember that all proceeds from our raffle go to the Legacy Foundation
Note, Nancy McCune and Sean O’Reilly were our guest speakers at our March 28, 2018 AGM. Nancy purchased gifts to raffle off to support our Legacy Foundation which awards scholarships for our member’s children and grandchildren. We have a new VP Patrick Provost and a new member at large Erin Neeson.
Sharon Losinski, President
Edmonton Branch
April 13, 2018