The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada
The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada
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Regional Directors Report to the 76th Prairies/Northwest Territories Regional Council, Winnipeg

May 24 - 25, 2019

Submitted by Nancy McCune

Board Activities

At the beginning of the year we review our strategic objectives and plan how we are going to achieve our objectives. We are constantly evaluating whether or not the activities we are involved in or asked to undertake are in line with our objectives.

PIPSC Strategic Directions 2016-2018

Purpose

Building community to act collectively to improve our members’ lives

Mandate

Our mandate is to provide the highest quality representation to members collectively and individually

  • by providing effective bargaining, labour relations and other member services,
  • by actively promoting and defending the rights and interests of members,
  • by vigorously safeguarding and promoting professional standards.

Vision

An influential and respected advocate for our members’ interests and for the public good

Strategic Overview

Key Result Area

Value to our members

Goal for 2018

  • Preserved and improved working conditions and benefits for our members
  • Value of professional public jobs recognized and protected
  • Services responsive to the current and changing needs of our membership
  • Strong and increased member affiliation to PIPSC

Strategies

  • Enhance the internal cohesion and solidarity among bargaining units
  • Increase and diversify member mobilization
  • Refine and implement a strategy to combat contracting out
  • Assess relevance of and satisfaction with collective and individual services to members
    Increase member appreciation of benefits of membership

Key Result Area

Enhanced influence

Goal for 2018

  • Stronger relationships and access to key decision-makers in government and with departments
  • Stronger relationships with other unions, affiliates, community allies, professional associations
  • Enhanced public profile for the Institute

Strategies

  • Develop and implement a government relations strategy
  • Assess and prioritize our relationships with departments and other stakeholders
  • Mobilize members to build relationships at the regional level
  • Invest in effective communications to increase PIPSC’s credibility and relevance

Key Result Area

A model organisation

Goal for 2018

  • Expanded ability to meet the needs of the organization 
  • Achieved a sustainable financial model
  • Clear and effective governance model and structure
  • Maintain a high level of volunteer and employee satisfaction

Strategies

  • Pursue new sources of revenue
  • Invest in growth and development of key service offerings
  • analyze dues funding models to ensure sustainability
  • Engage the Board in a review of the current governance structure 
  • Commit to a defined governance model
  • Engage staff and volunteers to identify drivers of satisfaction
  • Capitalize on the diversity of volunteers and staff

The strategic objectives for 2019-2021 will remain largely unchanged. There will be some minor wording changes to the key result areas and some of the strategies need to be updated.

Legacy Cup Challenge

The members of each region are encouraged to donate to the Legacy Fund. The region that donates the highest amount per capita will receive an extra scholarship.  Unfortunately we did not win the cup in 2018; BC/Yukon region was the winner of the cup.

Committees of the Board

At the Board meeting in January members are chosen to sit on the committees.  Here is the list of Prairie/NWT Regional members for each committee for 2019:

By-Laws and Policies – Christine Freeman

Elections – Patrick Provost

Election Appeals – Meena Bhatti

Finance – Sharon Losinski

Human Rights – Samah Henein

Information Technology – Todd McCoy

Member Services – Robert Trudeau

Professional Recognition and Qualifications – Rohit Chhabra

Science Advisory – Patrick Ccherneski

Thank you to the members who volunteer their time to make these committees a success. For those of you that put your name forward and were not chosen, please be patient and keep applying and also put your name forward to become a friend.   

PIPSC Lobby Day

PIPSC had a lobby day on February 5 that the Board and other PIPSC members participated in. Rob Trudeau, Samah Henein, Leslie Yasul and I took part from the Prairie/NWT Region.The topics were Science, Tax Fairness, Contracting Out and Phoenix.

PIPSC Building, 250 Tremblay

The building is almost fully leased. There is only 11,000 square feet of vacant space left on the 5th floor.PIPSC occupies space in the basement, first and second floors. The conference centre on the first floor will be undergoing a renovation soon as will a portion of the second floor. The building is more desirable to lease as the commuter train will soon be operational and there is a stop adjacent to the building.

Board Minutes

The open session minutes from Board meetings can be viewed through your portal account on the PIPSC website.

As part of my Board duties I sit on the following committees: Bylaws and Policies (chair), Executive Compensation, and the PIPSC Pension Plan. I will also volunteer for other ad hoc committees or task forces if the subject is of interest to me and it provides value to our members.

Regional Activities

In addition to chairing the Regional Executive meetings and planning for regional and steward councils, I have had the opportunity to attend a number of Branch AGM’s. In conjunction with these AGM’s, if time permits I like to do some type of member engagement such as coffee chats at workplaces, lunch and learns and I do enjoy doing workplace visits as it’s always interesting and amazing to see what type of work our members do.

The Region recently formed a Young Professionals Committee. We have 7 members on the committee; 1 from each of the 5 large branches and 2 from the small branches. The objective is to engage more members 40 and under.

All of our Regional Executive minutes can be viewed under our Regional tab on the PIPSC website

I would like to thank the members for placing their faith in me for another three years as the Director of the Prairie/NWT Region. I will do my best to guide the region in the right direction and ensure your voice is heard at a national level. Thank you to the regional executive, branch presidents and members for all your hard work and dedication. I would also like to thank the Prairie/NWT PIPSC staff for all you do for our region; our members are lucky to have you.

I you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me either via email at nmccune@shaw.ca or at 403 795 2989 (cell).