Atlantic Young Professional Committee Meeting Minutes - October 19, 2018

Atlantic Young Professional Committee Meeting Minutes

Delta Barrington, Halifax NS, October 19th 2018

CHAIRPERSON:
    
Nick Isenor
    
COMMITTEE:    

Josh Fox
Allyson Garrison
Leslie Nasmith (Secretary)
Christine Newhook
Colin O’Brien
Marcus Peck
    
REPRESENTATIVES OF THE REGIONAL EXECUTIVE:    

Kim Skanes
    
STAFF:    

Catherine Pinks
       

1. Welcome and Opening Comments

Nick Isenor (acting Chair) called the meeting to order.

2. Approval of Agenda

The agenda was reviewed.

3. Approval of Meeting Minutes from May 23-24^th 2018

The meeting minutes from meeting of May 23-24^th 2018 were tabled for approval.

Motion #2  Leslie Nasmith moved and Allyson Garrison seconded the meeting minutes be approved.   CARRIED  

ACTION: Leslie – send approved minutes to Catherine Pinks for posting; DONE

Outstanding Action Items from May were reviewed. Christine Newhook reported back on the follow-up with PIPSC about the changed questions in the survey. She was told the questions were changed because it was thought the responses were not clear. Christine confirmed with them that PIPSC does not currently offer Lunch & Learns on the topics of “skills and professional development.” There was no further clarification provided as to why the AYPC questions were changed to allow for a response that PIPSC cannot follow through on.  Further to the survey, it was sent to 1123 members and received 200 responses. This 17.8% response rate is only slightly below that generally seen for Bargaining (20-30%) and Issues surveys (20-25%).

Leslie reported on an action item to look into whether Stewards can get new member lists. There was discussion as to whether Branch Executives could request that information through the Regional office and distribute to stewards in the workplace.

ACTION: Catherine – check to if we can pull new member lists from PIPSC National Office and at what frequency this would be possible.

Other unfinished Action Items from the previous meeting were discussed and either carried over or were deemed no longer applicable.

4. Update on Youth Symposium

Marcus Peck is representing the AYPC on the steering committee for the next PIPSC Youth Symposium. There is a conference call on October 23^rd, after which Marcus will report back to the committee with an update. The committee briefly discussed recommendations they created during the March 2018 meeting for the next symposium. They also discussed the difficulty of committing to the next symposium without a known date.

ACTION: Marcus - report back to the committee with an update after Youth Symposium conference call

5. Update on Survey

The Committee discussed how to meaningfully apply the results of the survey.  They went through the three main areas of concern outlined in the Survey Report and discussed ways to address them.

1. Communication: PIPSC is currently in the process of changing the email platform and format of Institute emails. It was felt this might help to address the problem of members wanting to receive information by email, but then the emails don’t contain actual information.
2. New Members: Welcome packets were discussed as a good method of getting information to new members. The group discussed adding at 1-pager with information on the AYPC to the packets, as well as a small AYPC-branded visibility item.

ACTION: Leslie – draft 1-pager on AYPC for Welcome Packets

ACTION: Christine – price out small visibility items (cell phone pockets, key chains, etc)

3. Lunch and Learns: There was a strong desire from members who responded to the survey for Lunch and Learns. The committee discussed holding one in conjunction with one of their future meetings. The next meeting that encompasses a work day will be in conjunction with the ARC in St. John’s on May 24th. There will be new presentations available at that time on the Dental and Health plans, pension, and disability along with Regional members who have been trained to give them.  The committee thought pension information would be a good topic to communicate to young members.  It was acknowledged that the May 2019 meeting would be the first meeting of the next committee, and that all of the current AYPC members would not be present.

ACTION: Leslie – follow up with Catherine about getting demographic by workplace; DONE

ACTION: Catherine – find a room and facilitator and arrange for food for May Lunch & Learn once a location is chosen

ACTION: Kim Skanes – verify continued existence of Youth Committees into 2019

Further to the goal of using the survey to inform AYPC activities, the group discussed if there were any relevant resolutions that could be made at Regional Council in May 2019. This discussion was deferred until the next meeting in March 2019.

ACTION: All: prepare for discussion of resolutions to occur at March meeting

6. New PIPSC Young Professional Committee Outreach

The Committee discussed contacts made across Canada with new Youth Committees. It was suggested that in the future an annual conference call among the Committee Chairs would be a beneficial way to share information.

7. Fall Newsletter

Colin O’Brien has drafted the AYPC contribution to the Fall newsletter. The issue after that, in Spring/Summer 2019 was assigned to Marus with the topic of the Youth Symposium to be held in the winter of 2019.

ACTION: Colin – submit completed column to the Newsletter coordinator

ACTION: Marcus- write column for Spring/Summer 2019 issue

8. Possible Event for ARC in Newfoundland

This was discussed partly under item 5 above. Additionally, the Committee discussed hospitality for the ARC. They decided on a happy hour at a local bar from 5-7 on Friday May 24^th. There would be a 2 drink maximum and food provided.

ACTION: Christine – look into venues for May St. John’s hospitality

ACTION: Christine – Write notice for May St. John’s hospitality

9. New Business

1. Next Meeting

The next meeting will be in Halifax on Friday March 8^th in the afternoon and Saturday March 9^th in the morning. Colin will be Chair, with Christine as an alternate.  The committee will be hosting a family-friendly event on the Saturday afternoon from 2-4 pm. They discussed several options and opted for one indoors such as: bowling, swimming, or an indoor playground. It was decided the event would be open to the entire Halifax Branch.

ACTION: Catherine – look into venues for March Halifax event

ACTION: Josh – Write notice for March Halifax event

2. Networking Event Debrief

The event, although small, was good. The members who attended were attending a PIPSC event for the first time. The Committee was able to talk with them directly about their interests and concerns, and encourage them to come out to more events and meetings. However, the AYPC did not engage Friends of the Committee personally in advance of the event and felt that the AYPC needs to do better in including those members. The Friends are a resource the Committee has not taken full advantage of.  The Committee could use them to engage members in the workplace, distribute visibility items, and provide feedback to the Committee.

ACTION: Marcus – reach out directly to local Friends of the Committee prior to the March event

ACTION: Marcus – reach out directly to local Friends of the Committee prior to the May events

ACTION: Catherine – to send list of members who RSVP’d to the October 18^th event to the Committee.

3. Reapplying for the AYPC

Members were reminded they have the option of putting in a conditional application for another term on the AYPC. They can ask that their application only be considered if there are not enough new members applying to fill all the spots.

10. General Round Table

The Committee discussed making connections with other union youth groups.

ACTION: Allyson: reach out to connections at PSAC Youth and Federal Labour Youth Committees

Appendix 1.

Summary of Action Items from Atlantic Young Professionals Committee Meeting October 19th

#	Action	Item/Deadline	Completed/ Progress
1	Leslie	send May 2018 minutes to Catherine Pinks for posting	DONE
2	Catherine	check to if we can pull new member lists from PIPSC National Office and at what frequency this would be possible
3	Christine	Write up brief document describing the contacts used and steps to getting the survey out to members
4	Marcus	report back to the committee with an update after Youth Symposium conference call
5	Leslie	draft 1-pager on AYPC for Welcome Packets	DONE
6	Christine	Price out small visibility items (cell phone pockets, key chains, etc)	DONE
7	Leslie	follow up with Catherine about getting demographic by workplace	DONE
8	Catherine	find a room and facilitator and arrange for food for May Lunch & Learn (once a location is chosen)
9	Kim	verify continued existence of Youth Committees into 2019	DONE
10	All	prepare for discussion of resolutions to occur at March meeting
11	Colin	submit completed column to the Newsletter coordinator
12	Marcus	write column for Spring/Summer 2019 issue
13	Christine	look into venues for May St. John’s hospitality
14	Christine	Write notice for May St. John’s hospitality
15	Catherine	look into venues for March Halifax event
16	Josh	Write notice for March Halifax event	DONE
17	Marcus	reach out directly to local Friends of the Committee prior to the March event
18	Marcus	reach out directly to local Friends of the Committee prior to the May events
19	Catherine	send list of members who RSVPd to the October 18th event to the Committee.
20	Allyson	reach out to connections at PSAC Youth and Federal Labour Youth Committees

 

 

Summary of Action Items from Atlantic Young Professionals Committee Meeting May 24-25th

#	Action	Item/Deadline	Completed/ Progress
1	Leslie	send March 2018 minutes to Catherine Pinks for posting	DONE
2	Christine	Write up brief document describing the contacts used and steps to getting the survey out to members	Carried Over
3	Christine	Follow up with PIPSC about the changed questions, and what the PIPSC process is for survey approval	DONE
4	Leslie	Request demographic information	DONE
5	Leslie	Can Stewards get new member lists for their work sites	C.Pinks to follow up
6	Leslie	write report on survey results	DONE
7	Leslie	contact winners and get mailing addresses	DONE
8	Christine	mail out gift cards to winners	DONE
9	Allyson	price out pool hall and call Game Café for more price details	DONE
10	Allyson	write and submit ‘Save the Date’ to be sent to young members; send follow up closer to event	NA
11	Leslie	send meeting details to Catherine Pinks	DONE
12	Leslie	look at options for Training in Halifax region	NA