Prairie/NWT executive meeting minutes
Date: March 09, 2024 from 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Location: Edmonton - JW Marriott
In attendance:
Samah Henein, Regional Director
Nancy McCune, Vice President and Small Branch Representative (virtual)
Marvie Ong, Treasurer
Jay Krishnan, Secretary
Pramesh on behalf of Cory Graham, Winnipeg-Southern Manitoba Branch President
Courtney Walker, Calgary Branch President
William Stewart, Saskatoon Branch President
Katy Windl, Regina Branch President (virtual)
Ira Hill, Small Branch Representative
Sharon Losinski, Edmonton Branch President
Guest:
Kris Hawkins, Regional Manager
Regrets:
None
- Call to Order - Samah called the meeting to order at 8:58 AM
- Land recognition – Sharon read the land recognition.
- Equality statement – William read the equality statement.
- Approval of Agenda – one item added, Courtney moved motion to approve the agenda, Ira seconded, motion carried.
- Approval of previous meeting minutes.
Dec 08, 2023 meeting minutes – minor edits were made, Nancy moved motion to approve revised minutes, Katy seconded, motion carried.
Jan 27, 2024 meeting minutes – minor edits were made, William moved motion to approve revised minutes, Sharon seconded, motion carried.
i. Matters arising - January 27,2024
a. National Public Service Week events
Few ideas were discussed.
Samah shared ideas that were also discussed with PNYPC and the executive decided to conduct the following:
(1) Virtual Trivia contest by google form
(2) Photo contest (pet and nature) on regional Facebook page. For trivia 3 x $xx gift card prices will be offered and for photo contest 2 x $xx for each of the pets and 2 x $xx for nature contest most voted/liked photos. Photos must be taken by contestants; and
(3) NPSW Treat Days across the region by Branches by providing each branch $xx/member and reimbursement will be based on actual receipts and branch membership size.
Action item: executives to forward Trivia questions to Samah.
- Director Report – Samah
i. Board update
Director Finance hired, started on March 04, 2024, hiring process for HR Director underway, hoping to staff 11 vacancies by the end of April, 2024. 36 collective bargaining happening, PSHCP wait time issues getting better (there was an email from the PIPSC President). Steward framework survey sent out in Feb.
Board will attend AC as requested on May 28 meeting to discuss our plans regarding federal election strategy and lobby training
Board received Q2 F/S
Jenn will be part of Black Class Action Board for 2024 as PIPSC President.
Broadbent summit Apr 10-12 – 8 board members will attend plus 6 YPN chairs and 2 staff members
NSO notice went out
Org chart on the drive
ii. Regional update including PRC
- BST Spring - We had 3 last minute cancellations so the size is 13 some are young, good diversity.
- PRC web posting will happen soon with a deadline of April 5. Samah emphasized that it would be important to include young professional and diverse delegates. Deadline to send Samah and Prashila the delegate and alternate list by April11. Branch presidents report due April 26. William will be election chair, Ira to assist. Regional bylaw/amendment needed to be posted 4 weeks prior to the Council date. Speaker: Jean Francois Dupras will cost us less than 4,000 after Samah’s negotiation. He will attend day 1 of the council and speak on mental health/addiction. Chair of PRC: NWT branch president Bruce Laurich.
- Bruce asked if he can get an extra delegate seat at the PRC as he will chair, Courtney moved a motion to give an extra seat to the NWT branch from the regional 2 seats, Jay seconded, motion carried.
- Only the Treasurer is up for election 2 yrs. Term.
- PRC observers are to be decided by Branches. PRC parliamentarian, Nancy volunteered to be the parliamentarian and moved this motion, Sharon seconded, motion carried.
- Samah moved a motion to invite PIPSC President to PRC to discuss any issues raised by delegates, Jay seconded, motion carried.
Action item: executives to forward PRC event ideas to Samah by March 15. Samah will then send it to the executive to vote on options.
Action item: Samah to find out from Legal about the advance notice requirement regarding constituent body’s AGM.
Labour school event: Decision made to reduce amount given to each attendee from $xx to $xx per person as they will receive their per diem in addition to the gift cards.
iii. Young Professional Committee update - Samah
YP committee’s weblink at the bottom of the region’s webpage for your reference. March 8 event: 52 (32 members + guests and 2 Edmonton branch executives) attended the event and only 2 no-shows from Edmonton branch executives. PNWPC is planning an event in Regina (May), Saskatoon (June). Canmore event: planning a walk/event for young professionals attending the council. Member survey to be sent out. Dec 31st, end of term for the committee members except for Bruce. Applications will be sought from the young members. Future committee meeting is on May 31, 2024, tied to PRC then one with the steward council in Edmonton.
iv. Steward Council- Samah
Self-awareness on privilege exercise. Samah confirmed that the hotel has space and we will hold it earlier in the day to provide stewards support if needed. Executive agreed to this activity. Kris will be the safe person, needs an additional person possible from SH group or choose from who volunteers based on the member who will register. Event suggested by Samah: Ice house, sushi making at hotel, art gallery, check if the restaurant is operational. Nancy asked that the non-stewards attending regional executive meetings attached to the steward council attend the SC. Discussion about why we would allow non-stewards at the steward council took place and the perception, elated cost and value added. Nancy moved a motion to allow non stewards executives who are attending an executive meeting attached to steward council to attend the steward council, Sharon seconded, motion carried.
“Allow non-steward regional executive members who attend the PRE meeting adjacent to the steward council to attend so that they can help out with non-business activities such as sergeant at arms, volunteers, etc.”
Samah made an instruction to the motion that those non steward executives would attend only if needed and only be observers. The executives agreed to these instructions.
v. Steward of the year - Samah
Nomination of steward of the year would be out in June. A steward of the year selection committee needed to set up. Samah moved a motion “to set up a 3-member committee, that includes Jay Krishnan as the Chair, Kevin Jacobs, and Rick Cuzzetto. and Courtney seconded, motion carried. Jay to forward the name of the selected steward to the Director.
- Financial Report – Marvie
Marvie presented the statement and 2024 budget, and they are available on Google Drive. The executive pointed out a 2025 budget to be prepared for presentation at the PRC. Marvie moved to accept the financial statement, William seconded, motion carried.
Action item: Marvie to prepare the 2025 budget based on the revised 2024 budget and taking into account 3% increase of expenses for inflation.
- Training Report – Courtney briefed the executive on training committee activities and TEAMS meeting. Labour school attendees are on the Google drive.
- Board Committee update – SAC, Finance – Ira, Nancy
SAC – Ira: Introduced each other at the first meeting. What the SAC can do to affect the next government’s impact on public science was the main topic of discussion.
Finance – Nancy: completed reviewing 2/4 of the financial statement, we only get statements after 2 months, met with the new Director Finance at the March 4th meeting. Treasurer training was discussed and extended invites to branch presidents. Nancy mentioned she would be responsible for reviewing constituent bodies finance in our region as she is our finance committee rep.
10. Small Branch update – Nancy, Ira
Nancy: there is a membership apathy
11. AGM delegate selection policy – Nancy and all
The total number of delegates changes, this year we have 38 vs. 32 last year, so it is not easy to draft a policy with hard numbers. Nancy is going to amend the policy language to reflect what we will do when numbers change and send it secretarial to the executive. The policy should not be on the region’s website.
12. Staff Report – Kris:
We are having a staff leave in Wpg at the end of March due to maternity leave and a new ERO will be filling this vacancy joining (coming from the BC/Yukon region). The Prairie work environment is positive and collaborative.
There are concerns about admin being placed in between requests coming out of the region and other sections. It causes unnecessary stress, a reminder to follow processes and avoid extra work as it takes them away from tasks that I have assigned or are within the scope of their roles. I did provide feedback to the new Membership Services director that folks benefit from training. This would be something that is done via their group, not the regional staff. Our regional admins do not have authority over the processes for other sections.
An ERO in our region developed a steward worksheet that the National Policy Office was very keen to use as part of the coming steward framework. So we were happy to share this content for the national initiative and support of all stewards.
Workloads seem to be spiking a bit right now. 112 new inquiries since the start of the year. We have 6.5 EROs. Current steward count is 228 for Prairies, around 15% of the national stewards. We have 10% of the members. There are currently 415 cases in the Prairies. The average is therefore 64 cases per ERO.
We were also assigned 8 adjudications (1 provincial, 7 federal) between Jan-June. The workload during an adjudication hearing can be up to 40 hours prep before we even reach the hearing. Our folks are really good at finding resolutions, but we still have to do all of the prep, including legal disclosures. It’s an enormous amount of work when it’s a large file. We need two people assigned for the actual hearing and some degree of the prep work, so as not to risk someone being away/ill and the entire thing falling apart. Given this, there is always a primary and a secondary chair.
Complex PHAC scientist files in the media raised additional concerns last week, two EROs on it
Ask the ERO session is set up, we did receive an immediate complaint about the time of day but we are happy to try.
There will be delays in responses (timing) for the week of April 22 due to all staff conference event.
13. Branch AGM and BLPC notices – Sharon
discussion see number 12 as Sharon raised concern due to her AGM notice not being emailed and posted before bylaw deadlines.
Sharon was reminded to let Kris know if she has any concern with regional staff and to let Samah know rather than escalate concerns so that we can help her. Other executives did not express any delay concerns with their notices.
14. Branch Report – branch presidents
- WASM-Pramesh: Branch AGM May 9th, AGM selection committee selects delegates based on their activities based on 35 activity questionnaires. Executive members get points and also help them focus on activities from the questionnaire. Christine Freeman has retired
- Edmonton-Sharon: AGM was held on March 6th, didn’t go well. One of the bylaws met with issues, ppl complained. Lunch and Learn event in April, and Picnic in June.
- Saskatoon-William: planned 8 events
- Suffield-Ira: nothing to report, employer’s BBQ event during NPSW
- Calgary-Courtney: NPSW event being planned, May 9 AGM, yoga event to be held quarterly, point system for AGM, New branch logo being made
- Regina – Katy: AGM next week, Steward appreciation went well,
- Lethbridge – Nancy: April 16 AGM, bowling event next week, every quarter one event, NPSW events being planned.
15. Tracking report review
Courtney updated the sheet
16. Round table
17. Meeting adjourned at 4.58PM
Future events
-Labour school - Apr 18-20, 2024 - Winnipeg Inn at the Forks
-Ask an ERO - May 8, 2024 - virtual
-Regional Training Meeting - May 29, 2024(1-5 PM) - Canmore - Coast Canmore
-Executive Meeting - May 30, 2024 - Canmore - Coast Canmore
-Presidents Meeting - May 31, 2024 - (half day AM) - Canmore - Coast Canmore
-Youth Committee Meeting -May 31, 2024 - (half day AM) - Canmore - Coast Canmore
-PRC - May 31, 2024 (half day PM), June 1, 2024 (full day) - Canmore - Coast Canmore
- Executive Meeting Virtual TBD
-Regional Training Committee - Sept 25, 2024 (1-5 PM) - Edmonton JWM
-Executive Meeting - Sept 26, 2024 - Full Day - Edmonton JWM
-Steward council - Sept 27, 2024 (full day), Sept 28,2024 (half day AM) - Edmonton JWM
-BST fall - Oct 24-26, 2024 - Winnipeg Delta
-AGM- Nov 8-9, 2024 - Toronto
-Executive Meeting -TBD
- Health and Safety Training - TBD