Present
Carl Gannon Jr. – National President
Jayne Auranen – National Executive Vice-President
Debi Buell – National Vice-President, Charlottetown H.O.
Michelle Bradley – National Vice-President, Atlantic Region
Lisa Ellsworth – Alternate National Vice-President, Atlantic Region
Daniel Gaulin – National Vice-President, Québec Region
Zarina Khan – National Vice-President, Ontario Region
Virginia Vaillancourt – National Vice-President, Western Region
Kristin Beauchamp – National Vice-President, Deer Lodge Centre
Toufic El-Daher – Alternate National Vice-President, Quebec and E.O. Coordinator, Observer
Anne Howard – Administrative Assistant
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Monday, November 16, 2015
Item 1 Call to Order
The National President called the meeting to order at 9:30 a.m.
Participants were reminded of the UVAE Harassment Policy.
Item 2 Hours of Session
M/S VAILLANCOURT, KHAN
That the hours of session be as proposed by the Chairperson.
Monday, November 16, 2015 9:30 – noon
1:00 – 5:00
Tuesday, November 17, 2015 9:30 – 5:00
Wednesday, November 18, 2015 9:30 – noon
1:00 – 2:30
Thursday, November 19, 2015 9:30 – noon
1:00 – 5:00
Friday, November 20, 2015 9:00 – noon or until
completion of business
MOTION CARRIED
Item 3 Adoption of Agenda –
Additions/Deletions
M/S BEAUCHAMP, GAULIN
That the agenda as presented be adopted making Item 17 the first priority.
MOTION CARRIED
Item 4 Adoption of Minutes –
NEO April 2015
M/S ELLSWORTH, BEAUCHAMP
That the minutes of April 2015 be adopted.
MOTION CARRIED
Item 5 – National President’s Report
The National President asked the NVPs to take some time to read his report and follow up with questions if needed.
M/S GANNON, VAILLANCOURT
That the National President’s report be adopted.
RECORDED VOTE #1
Item 6 NEO Reports
The NEVP and the NVPs discussed their respective reports.
M/S BUELL, GAULIN
That the NEVP/ NVP reports be adopted.
RECORDED VOTE #2
MOTION CARRIED
Item 7 E.O. Coordinator Report
The E.O. Coordinator elaborated on his report. It was also discussed that Employment Equity become a standing item at all future NUMCCs.
M/S EL DAHER, KHAN
That the E.O. Coordinator report be adopted.
RECORDED VOTE #3
MOTION CARRIED
Item 8 Health & Safety Report
The NVP Charlottetown H.O. sits on the National Health & Safety Policy Committee. Her report was discussed at length. As was done in the past, VAC agrees to pay for H&S training provided by PSAC for all committee members. H&S seems important to Michael Johnson, Director, Administrative Services, VAC. Training is key to keeping up with H&S. It was also mentioned that training will only be as good as the trainer, we need passionate people. Committee members have agreed that the training be provided by PSAC representatives in the regions. The National President and will speak with PSAC to try to get the right fit for trainers. The importance of H&S was stressed by the NVP Quebec. NVP Quebec spoke about reasonable accommodations. NVP Quebec said they finally won a grievance after 5 years (reasonable accommodation).
The NVP West added that our expectation is to have management participate in H&S training sessions.
M/S BUELL, VAILLANCOURT
That the H&S report be adopted.
RECORDED VOTE #4
MOTION CARRIED
Item 9 Representation
The NVP West spoke about creating a repository of files. We need grievance wording and jurisprudence for new officers, it would be helpful and appreciated.
The NEVP spoke about our files which are currently at PSAC. She sent a request for PSAC to send us an updated list of all files they have including Ste-Anne’s from UVAE and will follow up with PSAC. The NVP, Deer Lodge made a suggestion that possibly the NEVP could have the PSAC files Update as a standing item in her report.
NVP Charlottetown mentioned that VAC should have three competent people on a list to deal with Reg. 17 but they do not. She will demand that a list be created.
NVP Ontario said she was frustrated with internal communications.
NVP Atlantic stated that we should revisit the CSA job description. The NEVP said that we should rewrite the job description, but we should wait until we see where centralization is going. NEVP to get work description on Monday.
M/S AURANEN, VAILLANCOURT
That the Representation report be adopted.
RECORDED VOTE #5
MOTION CARRIED
Item 10 Financial Report
The National President explained UVAE’s financial situation. UVAE has $32,391.61 in net revenue this year. Spending on Political Action was up a bit from last year due to this year’s election campaign strategy. This will be offset in other areas. Discussion continued and the NVP, West asked that the line item for relocation be separated for the National President and the National Executive Vice-President. The National President explained that this could not be done but that he could create a new sheet. The National President, did, however agree that he would also like to see the two items broken down.
The subject of the possible loss of the Ste-Anne’s hospital members was brought up and the National President explained that a dues increase was passed at the 2014 Convention to cover the potential loss.
UVAE will be obtaining revenue from potential new members in 2016 and from a financial perspective, the amount is significant. If UVAE obtains 700 front line staff it will be great for the Component. We will have to wait and see. The situation is very optimistic for UVAE’s financial future.
The NVP Quebec detailed why Ste-Anne’s Hospital local needed support to keep up the work at the Ste-Anne’s local. The local needed a lawyer and extra bodies to continue the struggle.
Item 14 Monthly Allocations
The NVP Atlantic asked if the monthly allocations will be sent out on a regular basis. The National President will be asking our Financial Administration Officer.
Item 12 Ste-Anne’s Update
An update was given by the National President and the NVP, Quebec. The National President explained what would happen if we were to lose Ste-Anne’s members since the NVP, Quebec is the NEVP Alternate. Elections would need to be held for the position of Alternate, NEVP.
It was explained that the transfer is still moving forward on April 1, 2016. The NVP explained to everyone what the members’ options are with regard to the transfer.
Item 11 Convention Update
The National President explained that we have considered three hotel sites as our prospective hotels for the 2017 UVAE Convention, the Delta Hotel, Ottawa, the Delta Hotel, Charlottetown and the Hampton Inn and Homewood Suites, Halifax. It was mentioned that the Delta Hotel, Charlottetown is not unionized therefore would not be a good fit. It would also be very difficult given that the airport in P.E.I. is very small and the proposal that was submitted was quite expensive given that Charlottetown is the home of the 150th anniversary of Confederation in 2017.
From the proposals submitted to UVAE by the hotels, the best rate was the Hampton Inn and Homewood Suites in Halifax. Discussion followed and it was also felt that the past few conventions had already been held in Ottawa and that it was time for a change. A motion was put to the floor.
M/S VAILLANCOURT, AURANEN
That we move to accept the Hampton Inn and Homewood Suites, Halifax as the next hotel for the 2017 UVAE Convention
RECORDED VOTE #6
MOTION CARRIED
Item 13 Ad hoc Teleconferences
The National President opened up the discussion by saying that communication needs to be stepped up. The NVP, Atlantic feels that we should have monthly teleconferences in between National Executive meetings to discuss issues of concern to all as she feels that e-mail updates are not working. The NVP, West agreed and added that everyone would need to commit to being in attendance. It was agreed that a detailed agenda for these teleconferences would need to be sent out in advance and that an appropriate time would have to be agreed upon given the various time zones. The NVP, Atlantic mentioned that if there were some interim teleconferences that NVP reports could be shorter therefore freeing up more time in the actual meetings. Suggestions were made to have the teleconferences every two months. The NVP, Atlantic suggested the 3rd Tuesday of each month, stating that if these are scheduled in advance it would be likely that everyone would be in attendance. The first teleconference will be held in January 2016. A date will be chosen by the National President and communicated to the National Executive.
A suggestion was brought up by the NVP, Ontario to have the NEO meeting material sent electronically in advance for each meeting. The National President stated that he would have to look into this request.
The E.O. Coordinator asked to have an interim meeting with the National President with regard to facilitating the transition for the EOC to become the NVP, Quebec in April when the current NVP, Quebec is transferred to the province.
The National President advised all NVPs to add the EOC to their current list to receive all future e-mails.
The NVP, West asked that when submitting agenda items for the NEO and the NUMCC meetings to the National Office that items that do not make it to the agenda that the submitting body be notified as to why they did not make it to the agenda. In addition, she asked that if items are being combined the submitting body should be notified.
Item 17 New Forms – National Office
The NVP West presented two new forms for the National Office as the current forms are very outdated. One is a new Form 30, Credit Card Expenses and the other a new Form 34, Travel Expenses for the National Executive. The NVP, West worked tirelessly on these forms as she created printable forms and fillable forms which will be uploaded to the UVAE website. The National Executive thanked the NVP, West for her commitment and many hours of work in creating these new forms.
The NVP, Atlantic suggested that we should have some guidelines and tips on the back of Form 34 for when new NVPs are elected so that they will have an easier time filling out these forms. The National President tasked the Finance Committee to create these tips.
M/S VAILLANCOURT, AURANEN
That the two new forms be effective as of today, November 19th.
MOTION CARRIED
Item 15 Membership Outreach
It was brought up by the NVP, Atlantic that it could be brought up at an AGM that the NVP could job shadow various members. This could go a long way in understanding the challenges our members face in everyday situations. NVPs cannot possibly know everything about every members’ job. If NVPs had more knowledge they could better represent our members at conferences, etc. Although, the National President was in total agreement that we should know what front line staff do, he reminded everyone that the department has a policy on access to offices. The National President was once denied access to an office which he had already travelled to be there. The NVP, Atlantic questioned how the department could deny an existing VAC employee. The National President explained that if an NVP were to job shadow, it would be in a union role and not as a VAC employee, therefore the department could deny access. The NVP, Atlantic further explained that maybe if the department would like relations to improve, they may agree to it. It was agreed that the National President will take this item up with the Deputy Minister.
The reason the National President was denied access to a Toronto office was because of a situation that had arisen from a pending grievance that had arisen from the bargaining table and PSAC. This grievance is still at adjudication. This certainly created a bad situation for UVAE.
The NVP, Atlantic gave examples of how locals are struggling and that it is very difficult to engage members. She explained that if some local executives were to step down tomorrow, it would not be easy to replace them. The NEVP brought up the idea to have an amalgamation committee in case of these problems. The National President said he would report back on this idea.
Item 16 Amendment to Regulation 10, No. 8
The National President explained that since severance pay has ceased for our members, that it is only natural that the National President and the National Executive Vice-President should cease to have severance pay as well. The amendment to Regulation 10, is to simply delete No. 8 a) to f) which speaks to the National President and NEVP receiving severance pay.
M/S AURANEN, BRADLEY
That Regulation 10, No. 8 be deleted and that the remaining numbers be renumbered to reflect the change.
MOTION CARRIED
Item 18 Scholarship
The National President explained that there was only one applicant this year, therefore Felix-Hugo Savoie-White is the winner. The applicant’s father is from Local 60023, Campbellton, N.B.
Item 19 Date of Next Meeting
The next meeting is tentatively booked for February or March 2016. The National Office will advise the NEO as soon as the dates are firmed up.