The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada
The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada
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Welcome & AFS President's Report - Doug Mason

 

AFS AGM - Ottawa

June 9, 2018

Welcome

  • Welcome to our 2018 AFS AGM
  • And a special welcome to everyone who's here for their first AFS AGM
  • We meet annually to debate proposed changes to our group by-laws; motions for consideration at the PIPSC AGM; and other matters of national interest
  • At the head table, we have Chris Roach, AFS Vice-President and Atlantic Rep, and Jean-Paul Leduc, our AFS negotiator
  • I’m also very pleased that PIPSC President Debi Daviau was able to join us today
  • Debi has been a strong ally of the AFS Group and will speak to our assembly on Phoenix, a topic that I’m proud to say our AFS Group has taken a lead on
  • While you are here, you can access wifi in our meeting rooms by selecting: “Lord_Elgin_Meeting_Room”. If asked, enter the group name “PIPSC” all in caps and then the guest access code “pipsc18” all in lower case.
  • Make sure that you sign in today so that you don’t have any problems getting your expenses reimbursed from PIPSC.  Please mute your cell phones.
  • The cutoff for proposed AFS by-law amendments was 4PM Ottawa time on May 18th
  • Other resolutions for this AGM have to be submitted in writing by 10:30
  • We expect and appreciate vigorous debate and ask everyone to respect their colleagues when making arguments, attack the issues, not each other
  • Chris, is there anything you’d like to add on rules of procedure?

President’s Report

  • I’m thankful for having received your support to serve as AFS President these past 3 years and I’m very much looking forward to carrying on the fight for our members over the next 3 years
  • I’m proud of the work that our members do to generate and protect the revenues that fund virtually all federal government spending
  • As your AFS President, I will continue to:
  • Lead the fight against the forced relocation of AFS members.  The work is not done in Toronto and our Quebec colleagues are now threatened with a potential takeover by the provincial government that among other things pays their professional workers less. Wherever our members face forced relocation, we will fight for them.
  • We will continue to work to protect AFS workload and opportunities for promotion.  Chris will talk more about this more today. We need to push management to ensure that AFS workload is done by AFS members.
  • We will lobby for a pay system that pays our members on time and correctly. Debi Daviau will speak more on this topic today and we will continue the fight to get CRA the mandate to put in place a functional pay system.
  • We will advocate for AFS concerns on the PIPSC Advisory Council and with PIPSC leadership.  The AFS Group is an important part of PIPSC and we can and should leverage our position within PIPSC to the benefit of our AFS members.
  • We will work to negotiate a fair collective agreement for all AFS members and resolve outstanding concerns such as pay table inequities, flexible work arrangements and protection against all forms of harassment.
  • On the topic of bargaining, I’d like to give a brief update of where we are at now.  I have been asked whether we will have another long round of bargaining or if this round will be quicker. 
  • In short, the answer is that we will be prepared to bargain to get a fair contract for our AFS members without delay. However, we will not rush to a bad deal. To do otherwise would be irresponsible.  So here is our update.

Bargaining Status

  • Signed last collective agreement on March 29th with full implementation by August 22nd
  • Collected bargaining issues not achieved in the last round and concerns from members
  • Surveyed members for their bargaining priorities and analyzed results
  • Prioritized issues at AFS presidents meeting, that was yesterday
  • Reviewing demands of PIPSC and PSAC components to be published soon
  • Finalizing demands over next two months
  • Serve notice to bargain in late August
  • Schedule bargaining meetings with employer in October-November

Some Key Consultation Issues

  • Staffing system redesign - management wants to streamline process and what we’ve seen is management increasingly relying on external staffing processes to avoid recourse. We’re fortunate to have Shawn Gillis and Manny Costain on this committee to voice our concerns.
  • Discipline investigations - management must now consult with us when an investigation goes beyond 60 business days, this was just negotiated in our last contract and we have started meeting to encourage management to resolve these cases without the added punishment of being without wages and not allowed to resign for months or years
  • Harassment and Violence in the workplace - management’s harassment centre of expertise is a complete failure and after delaying for years, management has finally put in place procedures to respond to incidents of violence in the workplace
  • Classification consultations have begun with a review of a small occupational group, our actuaries, next week, we are continuing with our FIs and then we will move on to our larger groups, starting with our MGs.  We need to build a case to complete a full review of our antiquated and discriminatory classification system and unfortunately it has become clear that this will be a long project.

Grievances

  • We were finally compensated last year for our successful personal leave grievances that arose out of our 2012 contract settlement.
  • Following our Delios win allowing AFS members transferring from UTE to access personal leave; we won the Fehr case allowing AFS members transferring from UTE to access family related leave. CRA continues to appeal the Fehr decision.
  • The lesson from these cases is that our members need to file individual grievances to ensure that their rights are protected should we win challenges to management’s interpretation of our contractual rights.
  • Recently we advised our AFS members to consider filing individual grievances to protect their rights should we win our challenge to management’s interpretation of our right to earn vacation leave and sick leave credits while on leave with income averaging.
  • We provided this guidance on the advice of our PIPSC legal staff and it is our job to advise our members to file individual grievances to protect their rights.  These grievances will likely to transmitted to final level pending the result of similar cases that have gone to adjudication in other departments.

Chris Roach

  • I am pleased to present Chris Roach with a Citation certificate for his outstanding service to the AFS Group.  Chris has been AFS Atlantic Regional Rep since 2006, AFS Group Vice President since 2012, has represented members on grievances at the first, second and third levels.  He has also represented his members in consultation at the regional and national levels.
  • Chris serves as parliamentarian at all AFS Group meetings including this meeting today.  He serves as the Chair of the AFS Group’s bylaw committee as well as several other Group committees.
  • Chris’ work does not stop there.   He is the Advisory Council Chair and presides over Advisory Council meetings.
  • Passionate yet controlled. Respected yet strong. A mentor, valued colleague and true friend to the AFS Group and to the Institute, Chris Roach.
  • Thanks to Manny Costain for his work in drafting Chris’ nomination.

Summary

  • This AGM is the supreme governing body of the AFS Group. I encourage everyone to fully participate and I'm looking forward to an excellent AGM.
  • This completes my president’s report and I would be pleased to accept any questions at this time.