EXECUTIVE MEETING – UTE LOCAL 20026
TUESDAY NOVEMBER 2, 2004
MOUNT BOUCHERIE REC CENTRE 5:30pm – WESTBANK, B.C.
PRESENT
Joy Harrison Rob Beaton Susan Yaciw Sarah Redd Tracy Todd
Corina Scherer Alex Cook
OLD BUSINESS
Reading of Minutes – Sarah Redd: Minutes from meeting held September 2, 2004 were approved as read. Minutes from meeting held September 13, 2004 were approved as read.
Thanks – Joy Harrison: There was special thanks to all members of the Executive for their time, effort and the countless hours spent preparing for and participating in the strike. Special Thanks went out to those MG’s who displayed exceptional leadership skills on the picket line.
NEW BUSINESS
Membership Lists – Joy Harrison: Great Job to Brenda on the membership lists. Our local only has 1 rand.
Employment Opportunities Conference – Joy Harrison: The E.O. Conference in Ottawa was re-scheduled due to the strike. The new dates have been set for January 14-16th with travelling on the 13th and 17th. We have one paid seat and have the option to send observers. Susan Yaciw has applied and will be taking the paid seat. The question was put forth to the Executive as to whether we wanted to send an observer. The Executive discussed our financial situation and reviewed the financial statements from July to September 04. Discussion on the impact of sending additional members to the E.O. Conference on our ability to send people to the Triennial Convention in July 2005. It was decided that we would get more “bang for our buck” to send an additional person to the E.O. conference now, and look at what we can afford for the Triennial. Sarah Redd will go as our observer to the E.O. conference in Ottawa. The local will pay per diem, airfare, hotel and salary loss. There is no cost to participate in the conference. It is noted that there are 5 positions vacant on the National UTE E.O. Committee, and posters have been posted and made available for members wishing to put their name forward. The term would be for two years.
Convention Resolutions – Joy Harrison: Each local has to come up with 5 resolutions to take to Convention. These Resolutions have to be written and complete by January 28, 2005. It was decided that the Executive would schedule a minimum of two meetings solely for this purpose.
Disciplinary Action for Scabs – Joy Harrison: UTE has stated that all locals with SCABS have to act. Members who are disciplined will have their membership revoked. The members in question will be sent a letter outlining the charges and will be signed by the President of our local. The Disciplinary Committee of Rob Beaton, Alex Cook and Tracy Todd will allow the charged individuals time to respond. Should they fail to respond to the charges or are unable to provide documentation to prove that they did indeed Strike, a Special General Meeting will be called and 60% of the membership will vote on the disciplinary action. The results of the vote if a “yes” then go to Regional and then National UTE for review. The Disciplinary process has to begin immediately. The committee will be working on the wording of the letter along with the timing regarding the issue. More information to come.
Communications – Joy Harrison: There were two letters issued by the UTE National President. One letter was to Alan Nymark regarding the strike, and the other was to the members on the history of the strike and the negotiation process. It was decided that the letter to the members would also be made available in print when the dates and time of the Ratification Vote have been firmed up. The letter will be attached to the package to the members.
Ratification Vote – Susan Yaciw: Susan stated that we need to have a CEUDA rep at the ratification vote to oversee the CEUDA member’s votes. Dave Miller will be approached to attend both votes.
AGM 2005 – Joy Harrison: Nycole Turmel will be in BC for the National Women’s Conference the week of February 14th. Given the fact that she will be in the area, it is likely that she will be able to attend. A tentative date of February 16, 2005 was sent for the AGM. Sarah will send invitations to Nycole Turmel and Betty Bannon. There were discussions about the direction of the AGM, and how we can make changes to make it better. It was agreed that last year the food & facilities were horrible and that a change of venue is REQUIRED. Due to the lack of options in Penticton, the consensus was that we would try to book the Ramada Courtyard Inn. We talked about how we could get more members out to the AGM. We talked about making it more of an event rather than a meeting & trying to get some kind of entertainment. We also discussed getting a bus for the Kelowna members to assist in making the AGM more accessible. WE talked about our budget and finances for this AGM. We determined that last year our frugality did not pay off & was not worth the problems that we had. Rob will look into the Bus & Tracy will look into entertainment.
Sarah has been tasked with contacting the AGM committee (Terry White & Brenda Sanders) who will be asked to look into booking the Ramada Courtyard Inn in Penticton for the night of the 16th of February and get the food pricing.
From President’s Conference – Joy Harrison: The “term” issue was a difficult one. At CRA there are over 1100 term employees. Many of the terms have been term employees for over 10 years. There is an MOU between the PSAC & CRA that 25% will get the “change in tenure” (changed to indeterminate status). They will be spread across the country & the employer will be making them compete & evaluate them to decide who will be made indeterminate. This will not affect the members at our TSO, as we do not have any members that have been terms for over 3 years.
Designates – Joy Harrison: We will need to approach all of the designates & request that they submit 25% of their net pay to the PSAC hardship fund. They will need to send the money directly to the PSAC & the PSAC will issue them a dues receipt. Further clarification is required on this issue. Joy will look into it.
Phone Trees – Joy Harrison: We will leave the phone trees in place & use them to communicate with the members. One on one contact is still the preferred method.
Strike Actions – Susan Yaciw: Susan reported that on the Conference Calls during & post strike; she has been told that there are stats that show the strike activities significantly impacted CRA’s operations. The numbers however are not available.
ROUND TABLE
Tracy Todd: A member approached Tracy & advised her that on Sept 16th (the day of the walk out) a member was told that they couldn’t stay in their seat to finish a diary entry. The member wanted to stay long enough to finish the diary entry because that member was not sure how long they would be out on strike for at that point. The member was told that if he/she stayed, that member would be considered a SCAB. There clearly was a lack of common sense/the wrong approach was used. Be mindful of these kinds of situations in the future. Tracy also spoke of an instance where a member approached her regarding inappropriate remarks made by a member of the Executive towards anther member of the Executive. We are all reminded that we need to approach each other with dignity & respect. Should be have a problem or an issue with another member of the Executive or a member; we are to address it with them directly. There is concern that the perception by the general membership is that we are not functioning or communicating well. This appears to be discouraging people from getting involved.
Joy Harrison: We need to put this strike stuff to bed. We need to learn from our mistakes and get past the event.
Rob Beaton: People need to be informed. We are all reminded that if we are unsure or unaware, a simple phone call usually will be all that is required to get the information needed. We should not simply be saying, “I don’t know”. We need to be going the extra step and getting the information.
Susan Yaciw: Strike cheques should arrive this week. When they arrive, we will arrange for distribution.
Sarah Redd: Sarah was responsible for taking the strike sign in sheets & preparing a spreadsheet to make it easier and more efficient for the PSAC to process and expedite payments. There have been some errors. The Strategic Strike pay seems to have had the most problems due to insufficient or incorrect information being input on the sign in sheets. Sarah admits that she made some errors that are currently being reviewed & corrected. Thank you cards have been sent to businesses & individuals who supplied services & goodies during the strike. A Congrats Card was sent to Peter & Kim Dyck on their new Baby Boy.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 8:30pm.