2018 WINTER- SPRING NEWSLETTER
Please use these personal email addresses to communicate with Executive members on PIPSC issues rather than on the CFIA Group Wise System.
Ayman Soryal President & NOSH (Ontario Rep) aymansoryal@hotmail.com
Valérie Coupal Vice President (Quebec Rep) coupalv22@gmail.com
Doug Aitken, Secretary (NCR Rep) Job Action Lead & Essential Services Lead aitkend@telus.net
Lina Johannson Treasurer & NUMCC (Prairies & NWT Rep) lmj501@mail.usask.ca (on maternity leave)
David Brown (Member-At-Large) davelloydbrown@gmail.com
Witold Wince (BC & Yukon Rep & Western Area Consultation Lead) wincew@shaw.ca
Krista Ann Puddester NOSH (Atlantic Rep) krista_pudd@hotmail.com (on maternity leave)
Dave Cartledge Communications cartledgeda@hotmail.com (alias Charlie Ligament from classmates, and now as there are two Daves at our meetings)
Val is our Grievance & Negotiations Chair; Ayman is our NOSH representative; Lina continues as our Consultation Chair, with support from Ayman and leads from each area.
Larry Spitzke (appointed Atlantic Rep) at lspitzke@gmail.com
Should YOU have an interest in learning more, please contact any of the group Executives to discuss becoming a union steward. Many hands make for light work.
FOUR GROUP EXECUTIVE POSITIONS FILLED BY ACCLAMATION
Nominations for the open CFIA VM Group Executive positions were received by these candidates only and thus, the following members are acclaimed to the positions indicated:
Dr. Lina Johannson Prairies
Dr. Witold Wince BC/Yukon
Dr. David Brown Member-at-Large
Dr. Douglas Aitken NCR
As per Article 7.3.6 of the CFIA VM By-Laws - The newly elected Executive shall take office immediately following the announcement of the results of the election.
Congratulations to you all!
Sincerely,
Dr. Ayman Soryal
Elections Committee Chair
IF YOU WISH TO BECOME A STEWARD?
Please go to our www.pipsc.ca website, and fill out the application to become a steward. A PIPSC employee will then contact you as to when the next Steward’s Training is taking place in your part of the countryJ. All expenses and salary are paid when you take the training. Being a steward allows you to help your fellow PIPSC member, and attend many PIPSC events. The events require preregistration, but expenses are paid, and often salary as well, depending a few factors. Our PIPSC union is a very good union to be involved with, with many positive rewards. Besides, you often get to meet PIPSC members from other groups.
CFIA-VM Bargaining Update
Your Bargaining Team met with the CFIA on December 19-21, 2017 and January 16-19, 2018, with some sessions lasting past midnight in order to push for a fair deal. We are pleased to announce that with the assistance of a mediator from the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations Board, we’ve reached a mutual agreement to conclude this round of bargaining.
At the beginning of this round of bargaining the CFIA made demands to significantly change your hours of work, scheduling and the way call-back and standby worked. We proudly announce that we resisted every single concession that the employer requested on these issues.
Your new deal includes expansion to family related and bereavement leave, and the conversion of the volunteer day to a second personal leave day.
We negotiated into the collective agreement the full payment of your registration fees, the memorandum of agreement on Scientific Integrity, and the improvements to sick leave through the EWSP.
You will have a 6% wage increase over the life of the contract and the meat hygiene allowance will be rolled into base pay for every VM-01 and VM-02.
Finally, we have secured improvements to the Employment Transition Appendix.
We will be posting complete details on the deal, as well as instructions for voting and ratification shortly.
Published on 22 January 2018
From Nicholas Pernal, our PIPSC Negotiator:
Vote will be happening as soon as humanly possible. There is a fair bit of work on the back end for our staff at PIPSC to set things up as documents need to get to translation, communication has to send out some messaging, and we need the IT resources to set up and run the electronic votingJ
Some phone in Town Halls will be set up in both languages to answer questions. Stay tuned to our PIPSC/CFIA-VM website for date and times.
CFIA-VM Job Content Grievance Update
Next Steps
For grievances that will be rejected by CFIA at the final level and where PIPSC concludes that there is merit to proceed, the next step in the process will be referral to adjudication before the Public Service Labour Relations and Employment Board (PSLREB). Please note that PIPSC will undertake a thorough review and evaluation of all documentation and information for each grievance file following the final level hearing to determine whether a recommendation can be made to proceed with the grievance to adjudication. In cases where PIPSC recommends not proceeding with the grievance, the members tied to the work description in question will be provided with the reasons for the recommendation and an opportunity to appeal the recommendation not to proceed before the PSLREB. We are currently gathering all of the information on reference to adjudication.
The Institute will continue to put pressure on the Agency with the goal of ensuring that all VMs have a current and complete work description.
If you require additional information or have any questions, please contact Émilie Gagné, Classification Officer, at egagne@pipsc.ca, or Valerie Coupal at coupalv22@gmail.com or valerie.coupal@inspection.gc.ca.
At our meeting on February 24th, 2018 a PIPSC member joined our National Executive Team about expediting these negotiations. Stay tuned to our PIPSC/CFIA-VM website for more actions in this areaJ
ANY MEMBER WITH PHOENIX ISSUES SHOULD FILE A GRIEVANCE!
Your local PIPSC Employee Relations Officer (ERO) should be contacted first. The will probably refer you to Lionel at phoenix-help@pipsc.ca. If you have a chance, pop into the PIPSC portal so as to see our forms and template grievance wording for yourself.
CFIA management says to file a Pay Action Request (PAR) and Phone the Pay Center. CFIA is willing to pay you your salary while you do all this. Good LuckJ
Hopefully this will help reduce your mental health stress on these issues – including nonpayment of your Professional Dues!
Next meeting in Ottawa is Saturday, April 14th , 2018J
In Solidarity,
Dave Cartledge (alias Charlie Ligament)
Communications Person