CS 2019 AGM - President’s Report

Report to the 2019 CS Group AGM

President

To: CS Group AGM
From: Stan Buday
Date: June 8, 2019

Another year is past and to say it has been eventful would be an understatement. Much has happened and a review of the past year and a summary of those events, accomplishments and progress is always in order. We have faced challenges and obstacles as well as we strive to meet our goals and advance our cause.

Our post 2018 AGM year began with an effort to tackle the recent announcement of the new IT Classification Standard. Members of both the AFS and CS Groups initiated discussions with Institute Classification staff on next steps.

We of course continued to prepare for the coming rounds of negotiations. We have agreed to remain on the conciliation/right to strike route in bargaining. At the time of writing, we were still sitting at the bargaining table

We have implemented a successful strategy in moving toward compliance with Article 30 on Contracting Out. Our next steps will be to develop and implement a new plan to enforce our language on Technological Change that states that our members shall be trained with the introduction of new technologies. We have continued our efforts to meet with and educate our members on the articles of our collective agreement and their rights and the employer’s obligation to honour those rights.

The CS Group continues to maintain a presence and voice in our union. We work closely with other Groups both in bargaining and in an effort to understand their issues, needs and goals. Our ties to AFS, AV, NR, SH and SP are strong and based upon the firm ground of collaboration. Our strength is in our commonality and not our differences. We are heard and seen at all Institute events including the PIPSC AGM, at councils, at Sub-group AGMs, the Advisory Council and the Strategic Bargaining Committee.

We continue to have influence on the Institute and support the core values of what it truly means to be a union. We will never waver from our mission to protect the power of the collective to do good for all our members. `

The CS Group works closely with Institute Consultation teams. Our Labour Relations Officer meets regularly at the Working Group on Consultation, communicates our Group concerns and brings back their issues to your national executive in return. Their support is critical to our work combatting the rampant outsourcing of CS work.

We also continue to be well represented on the EWSP Advisory and Technical Committees. We support the Institute’s end goal of improving our member’s sick leave benefits.

The clear priority of the Group remains our fight against contracting out and of course negotiating the best possible deal for our members.

A Year in Review

Members of your CS National Executive have attended all major Institute events including Steward and Regional Councils.

Executive members from your region have addressed our members at almost all our Sub-group AGMs. As your president, I met with stewards and members in and around Steward and Regional Councils in the Atlantic, Ontario and the NCR. I attended Sub-group AGMs in Vancouver, Comox, Kingston, Mauricie, Estrie, Ottawa West, Hull, Moncton, Fredericton, Regina, Burlington, Edmonton, Halifax, Annapolis Valley, St John’s, and Bathurst. I had the pleasure to participate in these meetings with many of our executive members and presented on bargaining, classification and mobilization. I was also a part of the contingent of Institute leaders that met with MPs to lobby them on our fight against outsourcing.

I continue to represent our Group at the Advisory Council and on the Strategic Bargaining Committee.

I sit on CS Group and Institute committees including the Bargaining Team, the Contracting Out Action Team, the Contracting Out MOA Team, National Organizing Steering Committee, Classification, Budget and the CS Executive Steering Committee.

Bargaining, Organizing and Mobilization

We began meeting with the employer early this year and continue to press our main objective of pay parity and the recognition that there is a clear, indisputable retention and recruitment crisis in the CS Group and IT sector. Our employer has shown they have no compunction in spending billions on contracting out our work rather than compensate our members adequately and appropriately.

As previously stated, a survey of our members has supported our direction in continuing on the Conciliation/Right to Strike Bargaining Route. We may be calling on our members to support their Group in job action in the coming days.

We have also fully participated in the Institute’s Central Table negotiations.

Our National Organizing Committee works closely with our Sub-groups to mobilize our members in support of bargaining. I would like to thank our activists in there endeavour to engage our members.

Contracting out and Privatization

The Contracting Out Action Plan continues to be effective and to date the team has reviewed over 700 tenders and filed more than 400 grievances against the misuse of contracting out. Employers are waking to the reality that our new language has weight and cannot be ignored.

The work to develop guidelines on the use of contractors at SSC, ESDC and DND is unfortunately at a standstill. The employer has no intention of devising any comprehensive process that details clear limits on the use of contractors.

The Days Ahead

Bargaining goes on and we fight for our members. The employer will not bully nor pressure us into a deal that does not meet the needs of our members or does not recognize that retention and recruitment is a major problem in all federal government departments. The best deal is the only deal we will bring forward to be considered by our members.

Your national executive is there for you and will continue the struggle forward for our Group and our Union.

With deep respect and in solidarity,

Stan Buday

CS Group President

Proudly CS since 1998