MINUTES
Executive Meeting - April 5, 2019
Presence/Absence
|
Daniel Ingram (PRA/NWT – PRA/TNO) |
P |
Ann Theriault (NCR – RCN) |
A |
|
Elizabeth Ptasznik (PRA/NWT – PRA/TNO) |
P |
Steven J. Colwell (BC/YUK – CB/YUK) |
A |
|
Enzo Barresi (ONT) |
P |
Sushil S. Dixit (NCR – RCN) |
P |
|
Judith Leblanc (QUE) |
P |
Thomas Landry (ATL) |
P |
|
Marcel C. Beaudoin (NCR – RCN) |
P |
Suzelle Brosseau (PIPSC – IPFPC) |
A |
|
Michael A. Forbes (ONT) |
P |
Donald Lefebvre (NCR – RCN) |
P |
|
Bryan Van Wilgenburg (PRA/NWT – PRA/TNO) |
P |
David Griffin (PIPSC – IPFPC) |
P |
1. OPENING OF THE MEETING
Elizabeth opened the meeting
Agenda accepted (Donald, Judith)
Minutes from March 11th, Executive Committee meeting accepted (Marcel, Judith)
2. ACTION ITEMS
SUBGROUP STARTING UP ADVICE
A placeholder has been inserted into the workplan.
IT
The request for IT to come explain Google Drive has been sent and accepted.
ACTION - DAVID/SUZELLE - Send meeting invite to person who will be giving the meeting
SIMPLIFICATION OF TAN REQUEST
The developed by Donald and Daniel for requesting a TAN has been placed on the shared drive. It should be noted the form is for use within the SP Group only.
TRAINING (EXECUTIVE AND FINANCIAL)
The new PIPSC Training Officer starts Monday April 8th. An appointment to look at the training needs for the SP Group has already been placed on her calendar. Possible dates for training of the new SP Group Executive Committee around the date of the first meeting are being looked at.
ACTION - DAVID Check with PIPSC to see if Exec training can be done on the 7 or 8 of June.
- STANDING ITEMS
FINANCIAL REPORT
The hard work of Donald (Treasurer) was singled out.
Donald presented the financial report and mentioned the difficulty of getting answers to questions from PIPSC as to whether the Vancouver SP Subgroup Presidents Meeting will be invoiced or not.
MOTION (Thomas, Enzo) - The group exec will pay the $850 to Nicole Deschenes for the outstanding travel expenses she is owed.
CARRIED
The payment of approximately $850 to Nicole Deschenes was also approved, pending her returning of the old, uncashed check.
The need for an audit committee, including the recommendation by PIPSC (PIPSC uses a 3rd party for the National Budget, no recommendation for Groups).Discussed need for an audit committee and possibilities for who could make it up.
Judith - What are the processes used by the other groups for auditing their budget?
BARGAINING REPORT
Bryan summarized the most recent bargaining meeting with the employer.
Bryan feels it is possible to get a deal by the summer, but it will depend a lot on the Central Table bargaining being completed. They (TB) are not negotiating in bad faith by any stretch of the imagination.
Concerns from the PC members at ECCC in Ottawa concerning Professional Development days were noted, as was their request to remove them from the CA for monetary compensation. It was noted that only a very small percentage of PC members have applied for the Professional Development leave, and of those, an even smaller percentage have had their request denied. It was noted that until there is a significant amount of data on how people are using them and a careful examination of denials there is no use in trying to change the current language.
If there are problems with how management is approving or denying the requests, the first steps should be through the Consultation team and the filing of grievances, in addition to education of the members on how the leave is to be used.
Lunch and Learns and visible signs of support (like posters, etc) are real helpful in showing support for the Bargaining Team. At the same time, we need to be careful to not burn out the subgroup presidents and members.
A link to the site to download the sign “I SUPPORT MY BARGAINING TEAM”, created by Judith, will be included in the next Bargaining Update email sent out.
Discussion around addition directions from which pressure can be placed on Treasury Board, including lobbying MPs.
ACTION - BRYAN Look at getting the branches to organize lobbying of MPs in the regions.
The progress of the essential services committee was summarized.
SBC
Nothing to report
EWSP
Nothing to report
ACTION - MARCEL - Remove EWSP from Standing Items
Will be brought up in other ways (SBC, etc)
SUBGROUPS
Progress in the development of both the business plan and the agenda for the subgroup president zonal meetings was presented. Discussion of the PC Professional Development leave will be included.
It was noted the Yukon subgroup is dissolving as all the subgroup executives have moved on and there is no-one left to run it. Discussion on how to keep it alive was held, including reaching out to the members currently in the subgroup as well as the regional rep from the Board of Directors. Start getting the new SP Executive Regional Rep for the region (Blaine) ready to hit the ground running and ready to start work on this, perhaps by getting the subgroup to hold an AGM.
ACTION - ELIZABETH - Will reach out to Yukon subgroup members to see if the subgroup can be kept alive so as to not have to restart the subgroup in the future.
ACTION - ELIZABETH - Will reach out to Rob McDonald as well to let him know.
ACTION - DANIEL - Will talk to Blaine and Bradley to help start the conversation for keeping the subgroup.
The work of the Montreal subgroup in helping organize the hospitality events was recognized.
MEMBERSHIP
The membership report which will be presented at the SP AGM was summarized.
Approximately 8% increase in membership due to RCMP civilians and new hires.
It was asked where retired members fit into the group breakdown.
ACTION - SUSHIL - Find out about the retired members and how they fit into the membership.
DELEGATE SELECTION
Michael summarized the delegate selection situation for the AGM tomorrow.
2 Delegates and one Exec member will not be able to attend. There are a number of observers who will be converted to delegates.
IT
Daniel summarized the state of IT and Microsoft Licences.
Due to Daniel leaving the Exec, it was noted that someone else would have to take responsibility for the renewal of the Microsoft Office licenses.
The situation with the missing/stolen laptop, mouse and external hard drive was summarized. It was noted that PIPSC uses a 3-year depreciation practice for IT assets, not the 5-year practice approved by the SP Group Executive Committee previously.
It was noted the member in question was informed immediately upon the claim the laptop was stolen that both a police report and an insurance claim would be required.
MOTION (Daniel, Bryan) - Have the SP Group use a 3-year depreciation schedule to match what is used by PIPSC.
CARRIED
MOTION - (ENZO, MARCEL) At end of 3-year depreciation cycle, the member wishing to purchase an item may do so at a cost of 10% of the original cost of the item. If the time at purchase is before the end of the cycle, the purchase cost will be pro-rated to a minimum of 10% of the cost. The cost is based on the retail, pre-tax cost.
Daniel - Against the motion, if it is bought by the SP Group, it remains the property of the SP group and should not be the availability to buy it.
Elizabeth - Should be a sliding scale. A 1 year old laptop is worth more than a 3-year old, and should not be a linear depreciation rate, but more variable.
Bryan - 10% might not be enough of a value after 3 years given the original range for depreciation. Suggestion to do it 20%, 10% at 4 years, free at 5 years.
ACTION - DONALD - Contact Finance to figure out how buybacks of items can be done.
Daniel - Also possible to do a deposit through the bank or have it transferred through PIPSC.
Motion on the amendment (Sushil, Michael) - At time of request for buyback, the buyback cost will be the pro-rated depreciation cost based on a 3-year depreciation cycle.
Amendment to Motion defeated
Original motion carried.
STEWARDS
Sushil summarized the steward report that will be presented at the AGM.
Increase of 7 stewards from 2018.
Whereas membership is mostly women, stewards are still about 60+% men.
COMMUNICATIONS
Judith summarized the communications report.
It was indicated that Judith will still be handling the communications for the Bargaining Team. She requested continued access to the communications tools (FB, Twitter, IG) so they may continue to be used properly for bargaining.
Indicated her desire to continue to have the communications go out bilingually so as to continue to engage both english and french members.
EXECUTIVE TRAVEL
Bryan will be attending a L&L on May 21st at the Midland Queen subgroup.
Thomas - Been invited to Halifax and St Johns for L&Ls.
Elizabeth is heading Tunneys Pasture + on April 9th for a L&L.
Elizabeth heading to 50 Victoria Street in the afternoon of April 8th for a coffee lunch.
Elizabeth is heading to Victoria to give a L&L.
Judith and Bryan visited subgroups in Place Bonaventure (March 4th) and the Canadian Meterological Center (March 5th)
Judith and Ann visited St Hyacinth (NRCan) subgroup on March 25th
Importance of having a mobilization coordinator was discussed.
BYLAWS COMMITTEE
Nothing to add.
ACTION - MARCEL Put 30 minutes on next Executive meeting to discuss the status of Bylaws committee
ACTION - MARCEL Change Bylaws Committee to Parliamentarian’s Report
ADVISORY COUNCIL
Nothing to report
WORKPLAN
Donald summarized the changes to the Workplan (to bring it to version 3.2) and addressed some of the comments/suggestions that were made towards the Workplan. It was noted that as the changes were not editorial, and mostly formatting, there was no new version sent out to the Executive Committee.
Discussion was held around how it would be communicated to the members. It was also noted that members of the Executive Committee must be more active in providing feedback. It was recommended the Executive Committee create ad-hoc committees to deal with priorities in the workplan as required. Identify one or two priorities each year, assign a committee to improve.
VISIBILITY ITEMS
Subgroup banners are ready.
ACTION - MARCEL - Put 30 minutes on next Agenda to decide science items.
ACTION - ALL - Look at items from Donald, be prepared to discuss.
Judith discussed the state of discussions with other science groups (RE, RO/RCO).
4. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE TRANSITION
The need for a smooth transition plan for the Exec to cover things like laptops, subscriptions costs, etc. was discussed. It was decided that, due to different portfolios needing different levels of contact (email, phone, face to face), once the Election has been completed, the new portfolio holders would reach out to the old portfolio holders
ACTION - NEW PORTFOLIO HOLDERS - Reach out to the old portfolio holder to communicate with the old portfolio holder.
5. PROFESSIONALS CANADA
Elizabeth summarized the direction that PIPSC is taken with respect to Professionals Canada. PIPSC would like to see if there is consultation needed. PIPSC will pay for up to 5 SP Executive member to attend. More can attend, but the excess will be at the cost to the Exec. PIPSC wants this to pass at the AGM. Want to hear the negative arguments so the negative points can be countered and argued against.
ACTION - ELIZABETH - Submit following names for Professionals Canada Committee: Michael, Thomas, Bryan, Donald, Marcel and Elizabeth.
6. DELEGATE SELECTION
The need to send out call for delegates ASAP for PIPSC AGM was discussed, as was the current practice. Currently the subgroup presidents are allowed to choose who goes which has led to the expectation the subgroups have the final decision. This removes the ability of the Exec to choose delegates based upon priorities decided upon by the exec, such as Stewards, POC, women.
MOTION (Bryan, Thomas) Move the President and VP review the delegate ist and make changes as required and the rest of the exec will respect that decision.
CARRIED
7. SP AGM PREPARATION
Details on the items remaining to be dealt with (setup of subgroup Banners, greeting of members at hospitality events) were discussed.
Bryan got volunteered to act as parliamentarian.
Elizabeth summarized the people who will be recognized.
Daniel was chosen to chair the meeting.
8. FINANCIAL REPORT
The financial report that would be presented at the AGM was discussed.
9. ELECTIONS
Donald presented the updates on the process of the Executive Committee elections.
Translation and posting went well.
Voting kit went out earlier than expected due to speedy translation.
10. PRESENTATIONS
The presentations on Do Better and Bargaining are on the Google drive. There are 3 versions - 1 english, one french, and one that is split english/french. Not per slide, but in overall content. The presentations are based around the Do Better Campaign. Executive Committee members who are giving presentations are encouraged to read up on the presentation and be aware of the slide and make changes as required.
11. STEWARD RECRUITMENT
Elizabeth mentioned the need for steward recruitment.
ACTION - MARCEL - Put 30 minutes on next Agenda for Steward recruitment
ACTION - ALL - Be prepared to discuss steward recruitment.
12. ROUND TABLE
The RCMP civilian members are now in the SP group. Their bargaining (David with Sushil) is ongoing.
13. CLOSE OF MEETING
The meeting was closed at 4:45 PM.