It is with great pleasure that I am submitting my report that covers the period of April 2019 to September 2019.
Over the past several months I have been busy presenting several grievances at the first and second levels. In addition, I have been actively supporting our Local Presidents by responding to their inquiries and assisting them with situations that come up in their Locals. I would like to formally say thank you to our Local Presidents and their Executive Members and Shop Stewards for continually supporting and aiding their members.
Over the past six months, I have unfortunately had numerous questions about harassment in the workplace. Everyone should be able to work in a safe and healthy workplace. Our National Office and all the RVP’s are working with each Directorate Deputy Head to ensure that preventive activities are in place to foster a harassment-free workplace. If workplace bullying and harassment is not addressed, it can lead to lost productivity, anxiety, depression and time away from the workplace.
The National Local Presidents ‘Conference was held on Friday May 31, 2019 to Sunday June 2, 2019 at the Delta Hotel in Ottawa. What an amazing event, our agenda was packed with information, training sessions and amazing speakers. It was also a great opportunity to meet all the Local Presidents from across the country and get to know them and the issues/concerns each Local/Region has and what they are doing to actively engage their members.
The Executive met with the Employer at our NLMCC in May 2019, where we continued to work with the Employer to ensure the Department is a workplace of choice. We engaged in many topics such as Mental Wellness, PSES Results, Recruitment, DJM Modernization Project, Service Delivery, Case Management and Case Loads, Regulation 20 and Health and Safety. Together we can accomplish many things to support our members by continuing to have open communications and discussions with the Employer to ensure our members’ concerns are being heard and being addressed. Our next NLMCC will take place in early 2020.
In September 2019, we welcomed a new Executive in Local 20035. Our newly elected Local Executives are very committed to protecting their members’ rights and upholding the articles within our Collective Agreement and our members’ Human Rights. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the previous Local Executive for their years of representation and hard work representing the Members of this Local.
The UVAE Finance Committee met during the week of September 23-27, 2019. Together we worked on the upcoming Budget for the Triennial UVAE Convention in October of 2020. In addition, we also worked on events for the Convention and looked at swag for the Local Presidents. It was a busy week for the Finance Team. I apologize for the shortness of my report; however, I can provide further details and updates at our NEO meeting in November.
In Solidarity
Lisa Nelson
Regional Vice-President, Western Region