Executive Meeting on May 24, 2021 (4th of the year)
Videoconference meeting via Zoom
Start of the meeting: 6:30 p.m.
In attendance: Yvon Brodeur, Stéphanie Fréchette, Hugo Landry, Réjean Michaud, Benoît Pelletier, Gerlando Renna and Robert Tellier.
Absences: Martine Lacroix and Nancy Lavoie.
- Opening Remarks:
Yvon welcomed everyone and will chair the meeting.
- Approval of the Agenda:
The agenda was approved unanimously; Other Business items can still be added.
- Approval of the Minutes from April 12, 2021
Benoît moved and Gerlando seconded that the minutes of April 12, 2021, be approved with one minor change. Carried unanimously.
- Business Arising from the Minutes of April 12, 2021:
a) Follow-up on the various committees (Board of Directors, Regional and FTQ):
Yvon prepared a draft letter to send to all the chairs of the various committees, asking them to let the committee members know their schedule of activities for the year 2021. Yvon hasn’t had time yet; he’ll send them out in the next few weeks. (Action: Yvon)
b) Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) June 16–18, 2021:
Yvon inquired about replacing those who were originally invited to the conference. He asked the Institute and was told that there was no replacement available.
c) Service Plus: Yvon had to contact Andrew to let him know, among other things, that Union Savings offers discounts with suppliers that are quite different from those of Service Plus, and that being a Union Savings member is not a disavowal of the Service Plus program. Yvon did this and the situation is settled, according to him.
d)Replacement for Nancy L. on the Elections Committee: Given Nancy’s absence due to health reasons, Hugo told us that he was interested in taking over the position on an interim basis for the National Elections. We had asked Yvon to contact Nancy to see if she could still complete her term; she cannot, so Hugo will take over.
- 79th Regional Council (RC):
We had to establish the composition of members who will form the RC for this year before going ahead with the election process. Hugo contacted Anne to extend the invitation to members of the Québec Region. A committee for reviewing nominations was formed as more than the allowed number of candidates applied to be on the RC.
Robert explained that the committee formed the RC based on the following criteria: Executive Members, Branch Presidents, Stewards, and they filled the positions on the RC based on the date of registration (first registered, first admitted). The Board of Directors is complete and there are 11 alternate members.
The selected members have all received the invitation. If one (or more) of them withdraws, we will replace them with one of the alternates.
We are debating whether we should invite excluded members to act as observers. (Robert left the meeting)
After some discussion, it was moved that, given the epidemic context (virtual meeting), Executive Elections shall go ahead and that observers can only join the meeting by phone (not by Zoom), meaning that there will be no invited observers this year.
Carried unanimously.
QRC (continued):
In Robert’s absence, Hugo explained the election process for this year. Elections for the positions of the four Branch Presidents will take place during the week of June 6, among the Branch Presidents only.
At the June 11 RC, elections will be held in the following order: Secretary, Treasurer and other members (4 positions). Voting for the remaining four members will be done successively (one at a time).
Yvon will chair the RC, with Stéphanie and Hugo helping with the technical side.
- Director’s Report:
a) Task Force on Official Languages (TFOL):
Yvon informed us that he and Yvon Barrière (from PSAC) will be conducting a survey on this subject with the help of the polling firm Léger.
In addition, he plans to meet with the President of the Treasury Board and Mélanie Joly to discuss the official languages.
Finally, the working group will meet with Eddie Gillis to discuss the resolutions adopted at their last meeting. One hour will be devoted to this topic.
b) Regional Directors Meeting: Yvon told us that he has suggested to his regional counterparts that they change the title of Regional Director to Regional Vice President. His suggestion was very well received and the other directors mandated Yvon to prepare a resolution that would first be presented to the Québec Region Executive and ultimately, at the next National AGM.
Another meeting is scheduled for June and one of the topics of discussion will be the decentralization of budgets.
c) RC of April 13 and 14, 2021: Yvon sent us the resolutions adopted during the last BOD meeting. He asked that we review these decisions and ask him questions about them, if necessary.
d) Training and Education Committee (TEC): Yvon attended a TEC meeting, as replacement for Benoît. He didn’t really like his experience, including the fact that training was given exclusively by Employment Relations Officers.
e) Montreal Branch AGM: An AGM was held at the Montreal Branch. A new Executive was elected during this AGM.
- Other Business:
No topics were added or discussed in Other Business.
8) Roundtable:
a) Benoît advised us that he will not run for the Executive in the next RC Elections.
b) Réjean informed us that he attended a meeting of the National Pension Advisory Committee in early May. He reiterated his availability to inform members about our pension fund and insurance plan.
9) Date of Next Meeting:
The next Executive meeting will probably happen following the election of the new Executive that will take place after the next RC.
10) Adjournment:
Yvon thanked everyone for their participation and the meeting was adjourned.