Minutes Regional Executive Council Meeting

Minutes Regional Executive Council Meeting

Richmond, BC

November 27/28/10

Call to Order 10 AM Saturday, November 27, 2010

Attending: Pat Wakefield; Dianne Mitchell; Patricia Willey; Allan Schofield; Colleen Malinosky; Francine Baxter; Rod Cunningham; Penny Dickson; Karen Smith; Darlene Stevens; Roberta Gourlie joined at noon.

Paul Croes joined meeting Saturday afternoon as observer and Christine Walker attended Sunday morning as an observer after attending the PSAC Regional meeting.

1. Hours of sitting; Saturday 10 AM – 5 PM

Sunday 9 AM – 2 PM (if needed)

Moved: Patricia Willey/Francine Baxter Carried

2. Review of Minutes:

Amend list of Committees to include Karen Smith on Training Committee

Motion to Adopt agenda as amended: Francine Baxter/Darlene Stevens Carried

3. Scent Free Policy & Harassment Free Policy - Pat reminded members of these policies and that they will be in affect for the meeting

4. Business Arising:

· Issue of membership lists – concerns that lists are not up to date. Pat suggested that locals appoint one member to be in charge of these lists, and that they take the initiative to talk to new employees and sign up or transfer in as appropriate

· Claim forms – new changed forms will be printed and available for next meeting. These will reflect the need to deduct taxes.

5. PSAC Regional Convention – to be held May 13 – 15, 2011

Call put out yesterday. Pat doesn’t have the number of delegates yet. CEIU National will give CEIU BC/YT Region $300 per local to assist towards expenses for delegated. The region pays the registration fee and will pay wage loss or replacement for the Friday as PSAC does not cover these. Pat will communicate with the District Directors as soon as she knows the number of delegates. Kay Sinclair has asked that the delegates be “selected” or “elected”. This is a new process and the details are not yet worked out. National officers and Regional PSAC members are automatically delegates.

6. CEIU President’s Conference – to try for late April or early May 2011 in Richmond as the least expensive location. This year we will have a one and a half day in region and a one day President’s Conference at convention which was adopted at last Conference.

7. NVP Business; Pat Wakefield had a number of issues brought to her from the District Directors and members that needed follow-up and she reported as follows:

· Terms: Pat discussed with Ann Milne and all affected members have known that they would be laid off for at least 6 months. Because of imaging coming in there is little or no work for CR 3’s and CR 4’s.

Layoffs will start in Surrey which will be the hardest hit. 7 will

be laid off Dec 31, 2010 in Surrey, 1 in 10^th Ave; 1 in IPOC, 1 in

Nanaimo and 1 in Kamloops.

Some terms will be extended to January 31, 2011 when the

anticipated layoffs will be: Burnaby 6; Kamloops 4; Kelowna 1;

6 months ago, there was 53 terms scheduled to be laid off. 31

have since been placed in other positions or with other

departments or secured employment outside of the government.

Most moves were facilitated by the employer who tried very

hard to place as many terms as possible. Even though layoff

letters went out this past week; the employer is still trying to

place these terms

Other stats: In the Western Region, between October and December, 27 indeterminate staff left or will leave by December 31, 2010. This exceeds expectations. Some of this is due to improved economy in some areas such as oil fields. The employer was able to move 18 employees from the B based budget to the A based budget under a risk management program which may result in more jobs saved.

Pat believes that within the Western Region the business lines are working together in terms of deployments across business lines and bringing all budgets in line.

Lack of Training Integrity Units: There has been a real concern that members of Integrity have not been given the training that they need and many are not performing the full duties of their jobs as a result. Some new staff are getting frustrated because they are not doing the job they were hired for. Pat discussed this on Vancouver Island with Alfredo Moon, Team Leader and Dave Forsyth, manager with no concrete resolution. Pat canvassed the REC members to see what was happening in all the districts. She thanked the district directors and the Integrity members who provided feedback. The feed back told Pat that there were global problems in the Integrity Unit. Pat was hearing that many staff felt that they were the “Poor Cousins” and got “leftovers” for equipment. Morale is bad and many do not feel valued. This unit brings in the money but do not feel respected.

There is a lack of consistency in treatment of members from office to office. Some members have been forced to move to main offices while others appear to be grandfathered and allowed to remain where they currently work.

Many members feel the employer is putting out blocks, wanting everyone to work in one location. This hinders the ability of older experienced staff who has been allowed to remain in outlying offices to mentor or train new staff.

Big offices with Integrity Units are not getting new equipment in some cases where others are getting all new equipment. In some offices new equipment is being set up on desks that have no employee. Pat asked the District Directors to go back to their districts and find out what offices are affected by this and let her know by December 10, 2010. She will then go to Pat Chaba and discuss issue.

Some members have laptops chained to their desks and these are old and slow. They cannot take the place of “real” computers. Employees need desk based computers as well as good laptops for work in the field.

Members falling under the new NCPI have received some training although even this is slow and not equitable while those members hired prior to the implementation of NCPI appear to be falling through the cracks in regards to both training and equipment.

Training Certification – should be done by correspondence during work hours but members are not given time to do this.

The ISO’s are now being told to do dismissals but have not been given any training.

The CSO’s have been told not to send messages to Integrity from the front end on client system and this is difficult if they have information they feel should be documented for follow-up.

Employees may be putting more pressure on themselves than management is.

Pat advised she has spoken with Pat Chaba, Senior Executive Director for Integrity and provided the information he had given her.

“During a lengthy conversation with Pat Chaba on 27 October 2010 he agreed with everything I said regarding the frustration of the membership due to lack of training and the length of time it requires to be fully trained. As I was already well aware, the problem is not one that can be corrected over night or even in a few months. This all started a number of years ago as the senior members in Integrity started retiring and all new members were hired, we have very few members who have 10 years experience. So although the numbers of members is adequate to do the work, they are not all trained therefore not all fully functional in the job, leaving too much to those who are. The best way of training an officer is first session of training, come back do the work with a mentor and have it monitored than once successful on to the next stage of training and so on. Two things are missing here, first we don’t have enough knowledgeable members to be mentors, and second, the second stage of the training is currently being rewritten to include changes that have taken place. Although we are told we have sufficient numbers of BEA’s to do the work, national has given them so many other duties they don’t have the time required to do the job we need done”.

The concern of the members that they are the “poor cousins, only getting left over equipment and training dollars” was answered like this. “IITB has said they will replace equipment based on age that is what they are doing. It is expected Integrity will receive new equipment in 2011/12. In regards to the training dollars, Pat advises they not only get their national allotment but Andy is increasing that regionally as he is aware of the problem.”

So, the solution we can control is this:

Pat Chaba will work with Sandy Storre (IITB) to get the message out to members about the replacement policy and the expectations of new equipment for 2011/12.

Pat Chaba will send out communications to the members regarding the upcoming training. He will also communicate to them what he is doing to try to correct the problems that are causing the frustration. He will push back to National the extra duties they are giving to the BESs and advise the BEAs the priority is not just monitoring the new members it is also mentoring them. He in fact ahs already talked to them about the mentoring aspect and how he sees this process working more successfully than the present process of strictly monitoring.

Note: The District Directors of which 3 members work in Integrity advised none of the information Pat Chaba had provided has materialized to date. Pat Wakefield then advised she would be speaking with Andy Netzel and would provide the notes from that discussion.

Update on PM 4 Development Officer

Pat was asked to find out what was happening with the assignment for the Senior Development Officer position with LMSDP in Prince George. She spoke with Hal Howie, Executive Director for LMSDP in BC/YT who advised;

· The assignment was 4 months less 1 day

· Hal believes the appropriate process was used and that Lisa Smith and Linda Martin would have chosen the best candidate at the time.

· Pat asked if this position would be posted in future and what offices would have the position. Primary sites Prince George, Kelowna, 10^th, and Victoria will have these PM 4 positions

· Process likely January or February

Rumor all PO’s relocating to 10^th Ave office

Concern brought to NVP. Pat went to Andy Netzel for clarification. The footprint for LMSDP and Integrity is expected in 10 days. Pat asked that employees be left in their current work locations. This has not been consistent from office to office. Some made room for PO’s some did not. Dianne was told that all employees must relocate and report to 10^th and that management wants all PO’s in the same office. The question arose as to why management can virtual manage but not employees?

Terms in Headquarters

Retired staff has been hired for 4 months less 1 day to do high paid positions as consultants. Two names given were Andrew Lane and Charles Perron, Concerns raised that current staff not getting these types of positions as development positions while the old boy’s network keeps on. There appears to be different rules for returning retirees as to work load, hours of work, places of work etc.

Pat asked if there was a process for the vacant positions in the lower mainland and the response was yes. However, these vacancies can not be filled using the qualified candidates as management is apparently waiting on something regarding the priority referrals is what they were told by Hal.

Problems in Prince George

It appeared moral is very low. All PSO’s were offered opportunity to take PM 2 PO position and only 1 accepted. The rest said it is not worth it to take on problems in that business line in the office. It appears that some management is bullying and intimidating members however, even informal complaints to senior management is not resulting in resolution leaving the members feeling they have no where to turn short of a lengthy formal harassment complaint.

PM 2 Classification Grievance Issue

An update was requested from Barb Hall who is the one in the West who is dealing with this. Below is her response.

“I now have all the ISIs names for Western Canada and the Atlantic and I will be sending an e-mail to all the ISIs work e-mail address this weekend for their feedback on our job description. Included in the e-mail will be a blurb about what is happening, a copy of the 2008 ISI job description and a copy of the bench marks.

There are four ISIs working on this and they are Shini Emery (ISP Ontario), Paul Soreiro (EI Ontario) and Richard Robitaille (EI Quebec).

I hoped that Shini would have contacted all the ISP ISIs but I know that she did not contact the three in Manitoba.

I know that Richard contacted the ISIs in and around Montreal.

As for Paul I am not sure who he is contacting.

I am a little behind the rest due to the large number of ISIs names I was obtaining (thinks Darlene), computer glitches and family responsibilities but I am still pushing at this.

If you have any other questions please feel free to contact me at work (see below) or at home at barb.hall@shaw.ca. “

Financial Report

The financial report was presented by Colleen (attached) all line items close to budget or under. Reminder to get claims in for communications and district work. Region is in very good financial state.

Training for Locals

Julie and Kathy have been very accommodating and gave a variety of training as requested by the locals. Pat praised the District Directors for their planning and good work. The promise of training has-encouraged new members to get involved

Pat praised Rod Cunningham in particular for all his hard work and organization in getting the Metro district nearly caught up to date with financial records and having full executives. One year ago there were very few locals who were fully functional now there are only two locals that still need help and this will be done soon, hopefully by year end.

Women’s Committee Report

Patricia Willey reported on Dec 6 activities. Most offices will hold an activity of some kind. Patricia had hoped to have the whole region doing one special event on December 6 however, this did not materialize but it is nice to see many of the locals have taken up her suggestion.

Health & Safety

The issue of members working alone discussed in great detail. Some members believe they should be allowed to work alone before and after hours and that it is their responsibility to ensure their own safety. Others think no one should work alone anytime. Issue of having a trained first aid person in the office at all times. In some cases an employee with first aid training had to be brought in from another office when a local person with FA training was not available.

Individual panic buttons should be worn by front end staff. Panic button procedures appear to be different in every office. Some go to RCMP, some go to security company etc. Health and Safety Committee still working on this.

Convention 2011: Halifax, Nova Scotia September 16 – 20, 2011.

The region will buy a windbreaker jacket or flannel jacket as well as binders if we have sufficient money to do so. Suggested color was turquoise similar to the Olympic jackets. Every effort will be made to ensure that the products we buy are Canadian made. Samples of clothing will be brought to the President’s conference in April/May for sizing before orders are placed.

Convention travel will be September 14. President’s Conference will be September 15 and Convention September 16 – 20. Registration forms will be sent to locals and travel will be done regionally. We will try to accommodate family members and those wanting to add on extra time.

Delegate training for new members will be held September 15 for ½ day. This unfortunately overlaps the President Conference however; we cannot financially prevent this from occurring

Observers will have single rooms but those wishing to share may do so.

Locals will be reminded not to manipulate the election process to get extra observers

The President’s Conference to be held at convention is in all aspects a regular president’s conference, to be treated the same as if it were held in Vancouver. Therefore, all locals will be entitled to send a delegate. The President is the delegate unless he/she cannot attend. If this is the case, the VP will then attend and if he/she cannot attend another executive member or member of the local is to be selected by the local and cleared by the District Director to represent the local. If the president cannot attend a written rationale must be provided to the NVP through the DD prior to the selection of an alternate

All communication concerning the convention will be done from the NVP to the District Directors.

CEIU Pre-convention committee meetings – March/April 2011

Resolution re structure

The resolution was moved by Pat Wakefield and second by Allen Schofield to read as follows;

Whereas the By-laws currently provide for a National Executive Vice President to be elected at convention who will act in the office of the president in the event of the incapacity or the unavailability of the National President and will be responsible for the administration of the affairs of the Union including but not restricted to leasing of premises, management and control of the purchasing, staffing and allocation of work at the National Union Headquarters and in the Regional Union Offices, and this in conjunction with the national President and the respective National Vice President(s) and

Whereas the staff of the union deserve an expectation of continuance which is not possible with having an elected position hold these responsibilities, and

Whereas the elected position does not require qualifications in Human Resources which is required to successfully fulfill the duties of this position

Therefore be it resolved the National Executive Vice President position be replaced by a salaried excluded position in the National Union Headquarters and

Be it further resolved that an alternate to the President be elected in the same manner as the President and

Be it further resolved that the alternate be given a budget as well as a mandate to be developed by the National Executive and

Be it further resolved that this by-law take effective immediately.

Discussion followed which resulted in Darlene Stevens moving and Francine Baxter seconding an amendment to the resolution to have the resolution read as follows

Whereas the staff of the union deserve an expectation of continuance which is not possible with having an elected position hold these responsibilities, and

Whereas the elected position does not require qualifications in Human Resources which is required to successfully fulfill the duties of this position

Therefore, be it resolved that the National Executive Vice President position be eliminated and

Be it further resolved that a salaried excluded position as Manager be established using the salary of the NEVP position and

Be it further resolved that an alternate to the President be elected in the same manner as the President and that this alternate be a member of the National Executive Committee and

Be it further resolved that the alternate be given a budget to be found within the current budget as well as a mandate to be developed by the National Executive and

Be it further resolved that this By-law be effective immediately

The motion was adopted with 9 in favor, 1 abstain and 1 against.

Round Table:

· Anticipated H&S meeting in January 2011

· North District offices have had 3 refits in past 3 months

· New director in Grande Prairie Gerald Krocher

· CIC Office @ Hornby is undergoing renovations; director on leave; A/D Barb Lennex

· Some problems with CIC computers because of Vista Program

· HRRR Conference – Rod and Paul reported; peaceful, loving conference

· Paul Croes running for NVP HRRR

· Recommending all equity members self ID; form on web site

· PSAC Regional Committee completed 2008 and 2009 audits

· PSAC Convention Mother’s Day week-end; encourage members to apply

· 5/7 of locals in Metro have active executives

· Island- they report the had good district meeting with 100% less 1 attendees

· Preparing for competitive process training on Island; currently web based but if enough interest management is willing to put all trainees in room and provide a management rep to field questions

· Resolution writing training took place on Island (written report attached)

· Fraser Valley- lots of physical changes in Fraser Valley District; offices moving; staff given a choice of where they wanted to go in Surrey; Langley office moving; integrity staying in Langley but not Chilliwack

· Coquitlam Integrity staff may be going to Burnaby

· New Acting Director in Valley Mary Jane McLellen until Dec 3

· Fraser Valley holding training and district meeting this upcoming week-end

· Okanagan Kooteney District – written report submitted by Roberta Gourlie; piggy backed on PSAC tour to visit offices in her district

· Piggy backed UMC meeting in Kamloops to hold district meeting

· Kamloops had LO Training & Shop Steward Training

· Employment Equity JLP in Kamloops last week with 2 Vernon employees scheduled to attend. However, issues with travel government car authorized in one case, not another; due to issues only 1 attended; concern about how different employees are treated differently

· Christine chosen as delegate to PSAC bargaining so if agreement not ratified she will be involved