Atlantic Regional Executive Meeting Minutes
Delta Dartmouth, Dartmouth, NS – January 26, 2019
CHAIRPERSON: Kim Skanes
EXECUTIVE: Michael Basque
Carolyn Hynes
Marilyn Best
Marcel Journeay
Scott McConaghy
Christine Newhook
Mike Pauley
Jason Rioux
Phil Wilson
REGRETS: Manny Costain
STAFF: Catherine Pinks, Recording Secretary
1. Welcome and Introductions
Kim called the meeting to order and welcomed observers Ellen Hughes, CSD and Erica Isenor, CRA. Round table introductions followed.
Kim facilitated a lively icebreaker involving toilet paper.
ACTION: Manny will prepare the icebreaker for the March meeting.
2. Approval of the Agenda
The following items were added to the agenda:
8. Popups/backdrop
13. d. Swag
7. Hot Topics – AC meeting to discuss Professionals Canada
Motion #1 Michael moved and Jason seconded the agenda be approved as amended. CARRIED
3. Approval of Minutes of November 30, 2018
ACTION: Catherine remove the * from the attendance listing in the November 30, 2018, minutes.
Motion #2 Michael moved and Phil seconded the minutes be approved as amended. CARRIED
4. Action Items
Kim reviewed the action items.
Action Items
Atlantic Regional Executive
November 30, 2018
Delta Halifax, Halifax, NS
# Action
Item/Completion Deadline
Completed/Progress
BF
1 Executive
Collect pictures and stories from their respective constituent bodies and submit to Carolyn for PIPSC’s 100th Anniversary.
ONGOING
2 Executive
Think of members who are deserving of a Service Award and send their name to Kim.
ONGOING
3 Catherine
Send the Executive a list of the contact information for the stewards in the Branch we are hosting the meeting and greet for. Executive members who reside in the city of the meeting where possible contact the Stewards by phone to promote the event.
ONGOING
BF for January Meeting
BF January
4 Branch Liaison Sub Committee
Solicit a representative from NS for the 100th PIPSC Anniversary.
ONGOING
5 Catherine
Send the region’s photos for the 100th Anniversary to Laureen Allen.
ONGOING
6 Jason
Bring of the 100th Anniversary countdown clock at the next ITSP Committee meeting.
DONE
7 Catherine
Prepare an email invite for an observer at January Executive meeting. Request informatics mail to members under 40 with RSVP to Catherine and Branch Liaison Lead.
DONE
8 Executive
Check Executive meeting schedule for 2019 and see if you have an office in the vicinity of the meeting where an engagement/visibility event could be arranged.
ONGOING
9 Kim
Bring to the Board that PIPSC should look at developing a strategy as to when interested parties are asking or being recruited that PIPSC determine how they would fit into PIPSC structure.
ONGOING
10 Branch Liaison
Contact Halifax and DND Branch Presidents and see if anyone is interested in a Lunch and Learn in January. Note this will have to be organized four weeks out or earlier.
DONE
11 Catherine & Resolutions Sub Committee
BF for January to discuss a resolution for the ARC on the allocation of the National Communications budget to the Atlantic Region.
DONE
BF January
12 Kim
Facilitate the icebreaker for the January meeting.
DONE
13 Kim
Contact Jean Trahan regarding an event (Hospitality or Lunch and Learn) for March meeting in Moncton.
ONGOING
14 Catherine
Get contract from The Lord Nelson for 2020 and 2021 Steward Council.
DONE
15 Catherine
Get contract from The Lord Nelson for 2021 Atlantic Regional Council.
DONE
16 Catherine
Get the following contracts:
01 24 2020 Atlantic Regional Training Committee Meeting #1, 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm, Lord Nelson
DONE
01 25 2020 Atlantic Regional Executive Meeting #1, 8:30 am – 5:00 pm, Lord Nelson.
DONE
03 21 2020 Atlantic Regional Training Committee Meeting #2, 8:30 am – 5:00 pm, Delta Prince Edward.
DONE
03 22 2020 Atlantic Regional Executive Committee meeting 32, 8:30 am – 5:00 pm, Delta Prince Edward.
DONE
09 11 2020 Atlantic Regional Training (#3) 8:30 am – 12:00 noon and Executive (#4) Meeting – 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm. 09 12 2019 Atlantic Regional Executive, 8:30 am – 5:00 pm, Bathurst or Sydney.
Holiday Inn Sydney
11 28 2020 Atlantic Regional Executive Meeting #6, 8:30 am – 5:00 pm, Halifax.
Lord Nelson
17 Catherine
Change dates for 2019 and 2020 Extra Steward Training Session from the first weekend in November as this will conflict with the AGM.
DONE
18 Kim
Advise the Steward Coordinator that the region endorses the steward renewals as proposed.
DONE
19 Catherine
BF for the Branch and Provincial Group President’s meeting the Atlantic’s Swag plan for Labour Day.
DONE
20 Catherine
Contact Communications and find out what they have planned for International Women’s Day.
DONE
21 Catherine
BF for the Branch and Provincial Group President’s meeting a discussion on Swag for events throughout the year.
NOTED
22 Catherine
Facilitate a meet and greet on Friday, January 25, 2019 from 4:30 – 6:30 pm with notices, invite email to under 40’s and reach out to Stewards to promote.
DONE
23 Catherine
Include the acknowledgement of unseeded land, provincial specific, at each event - Steward and Regional Council and the School.
NOTED
24 Kim
Send the Regional Executive recommendations for members of the Committees of the Board to Eddie Gillis.
DONE
25 Catherine
Send out the ARC Delegate Allotment formula to the Branch and Provincial Group Presidents, the AYAC and Retired Member’s Guild. Also include Executive of the Year Award notification and deadline for Resolutions.
ONGOING
26 Catherine
Include the proposed AGM formula in the ARC Agenda and meeting packages.
ONGOING
27 Catherine
Contact the Atlantic Presidents to see if they would like to order any notebooks.
DONE
28 Mike
Send a picture of his vest and the label to Catherine.
DONE
29 Catherine
Order 250 Notebooks with the Atlantic Logo.
DONE
30 Carolyn
Purchase Regional School and ARC Raffle prizes - $400.00 each.
DONE
31 Catherine
Purchase 100 Volt Chargers – blue with Atlantic logo.
DONE
32 Catherine
Purchase screen cleaning cloths or cell wallets up to $1000.00
DONE
Item #6: Jason brought the idea of the countdown clock to the ITSP meeting for consideration. He will provide updates going forward in his ITSP committee reports.
ACTION: Catherine issue the invite to the youth again for the March Executive meeting and amend the notice to clarify it is to express interest in attending.
ACTION: Catherine send the Executive a list of the contact information for the stewards in the Branch we are hosting the meet and greet for. Executive members who reside in or close to the city of the meeting where possible contact the stewards by phone to promote the event.
The callout AYPC committee documents were reviewed and some corrections on the form were noted. Discussion ensued on whether there should be an equity or diversity criteria added to the form. The Executive decided not to include diversity or equity criteria and they decided to remove gender from the screening criteria.
ACTION: Catherine update the call for AYPC committee members and send it out.
5. Calendar of Events
Kim reviewed the calendar of events.
ACTION: Catherine for the March Executive meeting change the Saturday meeting time from 9:00 am – 6:00 pm.
ACTION: Kim touch base with Jean Trahan as to the plan for hospitality or Lunch and Learn for March Executive meeting in Moncton and advise Catherine.
6. Hot Topics
Kim reported that February 16 there is a special AC meeting to discuss Professionals Canada. The Executive discussed their position are on this topic. Mike asked what the position of the Executive is on this initiative. Marcel commented as a union we are getting better, but not doing our best job and we should focus our resources on improving services to our current members. Mike asked should we stop wasting time and resources on an initiative that no one wants, stating at the AC everyone has a say and there would be the ability to kill this initiative.
Following discussion it is the collective opinion of the Executive this initiative should not go forward.
7. New Business
a. Strike Elections Sub Committee: Jason Rioux, Christine Newhook and Mike Pauley will form the Elections Sub Committee. Kim will check with Manny to see if he wants to be a participant.
ACTION: Kim ask Manny if he wants to be on the Elections Committee and advise Catherine.
b. Pop Ups: The purchase of Pop Ups for the region was discussed. The Executive agreed that we should move forward with procuring Pop Ups for the Regional office and the Atlantic Branches. For the artwork, it was agreed we would remove addresses and go with same layout as the screen clothes.
ACTION: Catherine obtain a quote on the Pop Ups and provide it to Kim.
ACTION: Kim request funding from the Better Together campaign for 16 Pop Ups.
If no, then go to the Branches and ask them if they want to purchase them from their funds.
ACTION: Catherine cc the Regional Executive when going to Branches regarding the purchase of Pop Ups.
The Atlantic Executive would be interested in two Pop Ups.
8. Atlantic Regional Director’s Report
Kim provided the Executive with the opportunity to review her report contained in the meeting package.
Kim reported member selection for Board Committees has been completed. All of our recommendations with the exception of one were approved. There is someone from Atlantic on each committee.
Motion #3 Carolyn moved and Jason seconded the Regional Director’s Report be approved as presented. CARRIED
9. Training Committee Chairperson’s Report
Carolyn presented her report for review and provided an overview of decisions from the previous day’s Training Committee meeting.
Swag for Steward Council: It was agreed we would not go with vests instead the committee discussed a sweat shirt with the Thank a Union its Friday slogan. A hood will cover the back so it was agreed to go with sweat shirt without a hood. Red Sweatshirt – gold lettering – same artwork as previous Steward Council’s T-shirt.
Carolyn reported the Training Committee finalized the Steward Council agenda. The theme is cannabis. She reviewed the agenda. Opposite the new Stewards we are looking at a two more advanced topics: Option 1: “Facing Management Effectively” and Option 2: “Consent Culture”. Kim provided an overview of the Consent Culture course content which she herself had attended.
Option 1 – New Stewards and Facing Management Effectively was decided on and agreed by a vote.
Carolyn reported that the 76th ARC training module will be Engagement and we will be contracting a speaker with the recently enhanced budget.
Motion #4 Christine moved and Phil seconded the Atlantic Regional Training Committee Report be approved as presented. CARRIED
10. Regional Executive Finances
Phil presented and walked the Executive through the Income Statement. He referred to the variance report showing the differences between the budget and actuals, reporting our account balance is healthy.
Motion #5 Carolyn moved and Christine seconded the Atlantic Regional Financial Report be approved as presented. CARRIED
Phil notes for 2018 we need to have someone review the financials he recommended the same individual as last year with a $200 Honorarium and the Executive was in agreement.
ACTION: Phil have the Regional Executive 2018 Financials reviewed for inclusion in the ARC Meeting package.
11. Regional Manager’s Report
Kim provided the Executive with the opportunity to review the Regional Manager’s report contained in the meeting packages.
Mike reported the New Brunswick members are pleased with the representation provided by Paul Hartigan.
Motion #6 Kim moved and Phil seconded the Regional Manager’s Report be approved as presented. CARRIED
12. Atlantic Regional Council
Following a discussion on the availability of flights the Executive agreed the meeting start time will be 1:30 pm on the Friday and due to flights, most delegates will be travelling on the Thursday. The Presidents, Regional Executive and AYPC will all be in early anyway.
ACTION: Catherine follow up on the ARC room block and increase the room nights for Thursday evening based on the availability of flights.
Hospitality Event: Carolyn presented the proposal from McCarthy’s Party for Rally in the Alley. The event will take place on a Saturday night.
Motion #7 Phil moved and Carolyn seconded that Catherine remove the bus and the extra drink ticket and book the event. CARRIED
The Executive agreed that $85 before taxes and gratuity would be the cap on the per person expenditure.
ARC Agenda Review: The agenda was amended moving Branch and Provincial Group Highlights up to #5 and # 5 Regional Executive Finances down to #14.
ACTION: Catherine source function room, music, munchies, two drink tickets for Friday evening ARC hospitality from 8:00 pm -11:00 pm.
ACTION: Carolyn and Kim to take care of music for the Friday evening ARC hospitality event.
ARC Swag: The Executive was in agreement we should have a takeaway item for the ARC delegates. A box of chocolates from the NL Chocolate Company or a Purity gift pack were the two items suggested as possible options. It was agreed that the budget for these items would be $1400.00
ACTION: Catherine obtain a quote from the NL Chocolate Company for 100 individual boxes of chocolates.
ACTION: Kim obtain a quote from Purity for 100 gift packs.
Motion #8 Jason moved and Carolyn seconded that Catherine check with NL Chocolate Company and Kim check with Purity for 100 units and then make the decision.
CARRIED
13. AGM Delegate Allotment Resolution
Scott reported the Resolutions Sub Committee was asked to come up with a resolution to bring to the ARC for approval and then to go to the AGM to get a portion of the Communications swag budget assigned to the region. Scott presented the following draft.
Whereas there are a number of events throughout the year when visibility items are required by a Region and its Branches;
Whereas PIPSC has a difficulty in distributing appropriate visibility items to constituent bodes in a timely fashion;
Be it resolved that Regions be allocated $5000 per year from the PIPSC National budget to order visibility items for their constituent bodies in a timely manner.
ACTION: Catherine ensure the Swag resolution is included in the ARC meeting package.
ACTION: Kim ask Chris Roach to present the PIPSC Budget at the 76th ARC.
ACTION: Phil request copies of PIPSC Budgets from Dennis Britt for the 76th ARC package.
14. AGM Delegate Allotment Review
Kim confirmed Atlantic will receive 24 delegate seats for the National AGM.
ACTION: Scott to update the population numbers on the Resolution for the AGM delegate formula when they are out prior to it being placed in the ARC delegate package.
15. National Committee Reports
The Finance Committee report was presented. Kim added the building has leased space and is in preliminary discussions for leasing of the 6th floor.
Training and Education Committee report was presented.
Motion #9 Christine moved and Michael seconded the acceptance of the National Committee Reports as presented. CARRIED
ITSP Committee: Jason Rioux provided a verbal report of the last ITSP meeting. A written report will be submitted for the March meeting.
16. Round Table/Adjournment
Marilyn reported the St. John’s Branch was considering having Andrew Gize come to the Branch to do a presentation. Andrew was planning to travel to the councils to promote Service Plus Insurances. She suggested it may be something we should consider for the 76th ARC. The cost is associated with Service Plus.
Marilyn advised she got an email from Gerrard Kenny indicating he was researching dead bank accounts and there is a number of non-active accounts for PIPSC. Marilyn was going to look into this. A dead bank account is one that hasn’t had activity and has unclaimed balances. One is the PG Sub Group in NL and it tells you the bank and the balance.
Motion #10 Marilyn moved and Scott seconded we invite Andrew Gize to the Regional Council to promote Service Plus. CARRIED
ACTION: Kim invite Andrew Gize to the 76th ARC.
The meeting adjourned at 4:00 pm.
NOTE: Should you wish to view copies of reports presented at this meeting, please direct your request to cpinks@pipsc.ca.