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Atlantic Regional Executive Meeting Minutes

The Lord Nelson Hotel, Halifax, NS – December 2, 2022

CHAIRPERSON: Manny Costain

EXECUTIVE: Jennifer Cantwell

Cathy Hebert

Carolyn Hynes

Gerald Hill

Kimberley Keats

Christine LeDrew 

Kelly MacKinnon

Scott McConaghy 

Yvonne O’Keefe

Mike Pauley

STAFF: Donna Davis, Recording Secretary
 

  1. Welcome and Directors’ Opening Remarks

Manny welcomed everyone and asked everyone for a moment of silence in respect of the Halifax Explosion and Violence Against Women, after the moment of silence the meeting was called to order. The Land acknowledgment was read by Manny. 

  1. Ice Breaker

Manny asked if the executive would like to continue to do the icebreakers at each meeting, and the consensus was to continue, limiting each icebreaker to a short timeframe.  

Cathy Hebert proceeded with the icebreaker, Carolyn Hynes will do the icebreaker for the January 28, 2023, meeting.  

3.   Agenda

Add Seasonal Social – Allocation of Funds, and Fredericton Office under New Business. 

Motion #1 Cathy Hebert moved, and Jennifer Cantwell seconded that the agenda be approved as amended.  CARRIED.

  1. Approval of Regional Executive Minutes

The minutes of October 20, 2022, were reviewed.  

Motion #2 Jennifer Cantwell moved; Gerald Hill seconded that the minutes be approved as presented.  CARRIED

  1. Action Items Review

Manny reviewed the Action Items.

Action Items

Atlantic Regional Executive

       October 20, 2022– The Lord Nelson Hotel, Halifax, NS

 

#

  

Action

  

Item/Completion Deadline

  

Completed/Progress

  

BF

1

Donna

Send Christine Feedback Draw Winners.

REMOVE

  

2

Christine

Post the Feedback Draw winners to Facebook.

REMOVE

  

3

Donna

Add the Feedback Draw winner of the previous event to the facilitator’s speaking notes.

REMOVE

  

4

Donna

To rebook the virtual Atlantic Regional Steward Check-In for every two months.  

ONGOING

  

5

Donna

Scope out new properties for meetings, one suggestion was the Hilton Garden Inn, St. John’s, NL.  

  

ONGOING

  

  6

Resolutions Committee

Put together an amendment to the Travel and Balancing Union Activity and Family Life Policy to include the Training School.  

  

BF

  

  7

Jennifer

To find a restaurant for the Executive/Staff Luncheon at the December Executive Meeting

  

DONE

  

8

Executive

To send Christine the Newsletter articles she requested.  

DONE

  

9

Donna

Contact Hotels for March and September Executive and Training Committee Meeting to adjust meeting space and accommodations.

  

ONGOING

  

10

Manny

To purchase Steward Check-In Gift Cards.

DONE

  

 

  1. Calendar of Events

Manny reviewed the Calendar of Events.  

Action: Bring forward to hold a zoom meeting, of the newly elected executive, prior to the September Executive and Training Committee Meeting to vote in positions for the Executive and Training Committee.  

Action: Manny to invite Phil to the Friday night Director’s Dinner for our January meeting.  

Action: Donna to follow up on adjusting the March and September Executive and Training Committee Meetings.  

7.  Regional Director’s Report

Manny advised that his Director’s Report is on the Google Drive for review, along with his Board of Director’s Report.  In addition to his report, Manny attended the Greenwood, Lake Melville, Halifax Branch, Halifax DND, and Fredericton Branch Meetings and gave some highlights about each meeting.  Better Together has been suspended and Lunch and Learn is still active.  

There was a letter that went out regarding the Legislation for the New Brunswick Bargaining Rights and a Rally by the NB Federation of Labour. New Brunswick Legislation is a reason why we need some support from PIPSC to represent the New Brunswick Group’s interests as it was promised regarding a PIPSC Fredericton Office.  

Communications are down four people; therefore, a letter was sent out from communications as to what will go out for December.  

The Case Management System position job poster is intended to go out soon.   The Administrative Assistant position for the Halifax office will be posted externally if Jason applies for the Case Management System position.  

Action: Scott to clarify 11.2.3 regarding numbers on the Lake Melville Branch so Manny can pass this along to them. 

Motion# 3 Manny Costain moved, and Christine LeDrew seconded approval of the Atlantic Regional Director’s Report.  CARRIED
 

8. Financial Report

Gerald advised there was not a lot to report.  Alice House check, as of November 15th has not cleared.  Our finances are in a good position.  

Jennifer asked when finance estimates our allotment for the year.  Gerald advised this is done when the final count of members comes out in February as our allotment is based on the number of members we have in our region.  

Motion# 4 Gerald Hill moved, and Yvonne O’Keefe seconded the Financial Report be approved as presented.  CARRIED

9. Training Committee Chairperson’s Report

Motion #5 Carolyn Hynes moved, and Christine Hynes seconded to go into a closed session.

CARRIED Motion #6 Carolyn Hynes moved, and Kelly MacKinnon seconded to come out of a closed session.

CARRIED

Carolyn Hynes, Chair of the Training Committee, went over her report submitted on the google drive.  In addition to her report, Carolyn mentioned that the Steward Check-In discussions were mostly about the PIPSC Annual General Meeting.  Some stewards were not happy about this so it was suggested that following the next Annual General Meeting we set up a debrief via Zoom for all those in attendance.  

The Lunch and Learn Process is on the agenda for later.  Expenses are now to be submitted in Concur. No more Excel spreadsheets.  

Action:  Donna to add a small blurb on the next Cvent Steward Check-In invite about what the Steward Check-In entails.     

Action:  Manny to send an email to get clarification on whether expenses can be claimed through concur for lunch and learn or if a spreadsheet has to be issued to have funds reimbursed.  

Motion# 7 Carolyn Hynes moved, and Christine LeDrew seconded the Training Committee Chairperson’s Report. CARRIED

  1. Committees of the Board Reports
  2. IT Services and Projects Committee – October 14, 2022
  3. Science Advisory Committee – October 24, 2022
  4. Professionals Recognition Qualifications Committee 
  5. By-Laws and Policies Committee
  6. Human Rights Diversity Committee 

Manny reviewed the IT Services and Project Committee and Science Advisory Committee reports on the Google drive.  Scott McConaghy gave a verbal update for the By-Laws and Policies Committee stating that Constituent Bodies that don’t have constitutions will have a link to the model constitution which would be adopted as their own.   Scott stated he has a spreadsheet for the By-Laws Committee with the Constituent Bodies and a link to their respective constitutions.  

Manny gave a verbal update for the Human Rights and Diversity Committee, which was an ancillary meeting of the AGM, where over 40 extra people signed up and were later told they could not attend.   The committee will be writing up the terms of reference and placing them in a binder, along with additional tasks to be completed, which a committee member has possession of.  
 

Motion# 8 Cathy Hebert moved, and Kelly MacKinnon seconded that the Committees of the Board reports be moved as presented.  CARRIED

11. New Business

  1. Committees of the Board Selection Recommendation – a list was presented and members to represent our region were selected.  
  2. Indigenous Opening – In consultation with a member who had stated our opening was not up to date Manny did some research and uploaded the updated openings for Nova Scotia and Newfoundland off the website.  
  3. Steward Council Debrief – The Training Committee Chair began with her disappointment, as Craig and Chris had to pivot as their presentation was similar to Chery and Simon’s presentation which put a lot of stress on Craig and Chris.  Not one of our Best Steward Councils.  A copy of Max’s cases prior to his presentation would have been great or a link to the cases we could have sent participants afterward.    The Council was highly praised by some.  Kelly MacKinnon heard some comments regarding having no drink tickets the half hour before the dinner on Friday night, there was no water at lunch, some were not pleased with Chris and Craig’s presentation, 2020 and 2021 stewards were not recognized, and the band was awful.  
  4. ARC Swag – we will talk about this in h. below.  
  5. UFLB Policy and Cheat Sheet Update – BF to January meeting.

Action:  Scott and Donna to create a new cheat sheet based on the new policy.  

  1. Lunch and Learn Process– We need a process put in place for Lunch and Learn. Will all the claims be going through Concur?  When doing claims in concur we need a meeting ID, where will this come from?  Can you skip the meeting ID by putting NA in that section?  We need a formal process for the treasurers.  

Motion# 9  Manny Costain moved and Christine LeDrew seconded to go into a closed session.

CARRIED

Motion# 10 Mike Pauley moved, and Scott McConaghy seconded to end the closed session. 

CARRIED 

  1. Atlantic Young Professionals Committee – The new committee met to decide on a date for their stand-alone meeting and the timings of the meeting.  It was decided to have the meeting on February 17th, 2023, from 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm and on February 18th,  2023, from 9:00 am to noon.  The social event would be held on the evening of the 17th.

The Atlantic Young Professionals Committee (AYPC) would like to order some swag once approved by the Executive.  

Motion# 11 Carolyn Hynes moved and Christine LeDrew seconded approval for Atlantic Young Professionals Committee to purchase swag.  

Action: Donna is to book the Atlantic Young Professionals Committee stand-alone meeting for February 17, and 18, 2023, at the Lord Nelson in Halifax, NS.  

  1. Spending of Funds
  1. Donation to Food Bank – as per PIPSC guidelines.
  2. AGM Hoodies – no more AGM hoodies will be purchased.
  3. Door Prizes for Events – suggestions were made for door prizes for the Training School and Atlantic Regional Council.
  4. Swag for Events – we will be needing swag for our Atlantic Regional Council and our Steward Council, there were some suggestions for T-shirts or drink mugs.  The cap per person was decided.  
  5. Vests for Executive – there was a suggestion to look into some sort of identity item for the executive.  

Action:  Christine and Gerald to look into and suggest swag items for the Atlantic Regional Council and the Steward Council.  

Action:  Cathy to look into and suggest some identity items for the executive.  

  1. 2024 Budget Discussion
  1. Atlantic Regional Executive
  2. Meeting and Events

Defer this item to the January meeting. 

  1. Steward Renewal – the steward renewal list was presented, and all were ok’d by the executive.

Action:  Manny email the Branches with their non-renewal list to ask them to encourage renewal. 

  1. ARC/AGM Guide Principles – defer this item until the January meeting.  

12.   Round Table

Scott reiterated that we go through the ARC/AGM guiding principles process at the January meeting with the actual numbers if they are available.  Mike felt we covered a lot of ground at this meeting.  Yvonne stated she is glad to be back.  Kim relayed Bryan Van Wilgenburg’s feedback on the Steward Council, he felt it was fun and the discussions were good.  Gerald will be a guest speaker at an AFS Sub-Group and he will be doing an overview of the Structure of PIPSC.  He has a deck put together if anyone has any contributions, they can send him.  


Motion# 12 Cathy Hebert moved to adjourn the meeting at 5:30 pm. 

Published on 10 February 2023