Toronto CS Sub-group AGM Minutes - June 7, 2018

Toronto CS Subgroup AGM, June 7, 2018

Opening: Welcome by Yvonne Snaddon at 5:45 pm. Yvonne introduced the CS Group Executive and the Toronto CS Sub Group Executive.

Motion to accept the Agenda

Moved by Yvonne Snaddon

Seconded by Faron Moses

Carried

Motion to accept the 2017 AGM Minutes

Moved by Yvonne Snaddon

Seconded by Roy Philip

Carried

President’s Report - Yvonne Snaddon: Our current contract expires December 22, 2018. The bargaining proposals committee met in March to begin preparations for the next round of negotiations. The Sub Group Presidents meeting was held the following day.

Financial Report - Ralph Leigh: The current balance as of June 7, 2018 is XXX. Our 2018 allocation from PIPSC was XXX based on number of 310 CS members and account balance at year end. At the time of last year’s AGM our bank balance was $XXX

The 2017 AGM cost us XXX. We supported the GTA Branch family picnic, funded lunch & learns and Better Together events.

We contributed XXX towards the GTA Branch family picnic in 2017. Meeting expenses for the year totaled XXX and XXX was reimbursed.

Motion to accept the financial report. Moved by Ralph Leigh. Seconded by Faron Moses. Carried

Eva Henshaw, CS Group Contracting Out Officer: provided a presentation on the Employee Wellness Support Program, (EWSP). EWSP will be the replacement for our current sick leave plan if accepted by the members. During the last round of bargaining an MOA between PIPSC and Treasury Board to negotiate a new sick leave plan. The previous government introduced Bill C-59 which would have drastically change our current sick leave plan, which did not meet the needs of our members. We waited until the liberal government came into power to negotiate sick leave. Members who are new do not start with a sick leave bank, they would be on leave without pay. We wanted everyone to be on the same level. We were able to negotiate 9 days of sick leave with a 3 day carry-over and a salary continuance plan. The whole cost if this program will be covered by the employer, therefore, no deductions from pay cheques. Bill C-59 would have put us on short term disability after 8 weeks. With this plan, there will be 100% pay up to 26 weeks of pay per illness. Leave with pay will be pensionable time where we accumulate vacation days. Any leave more than 26 weeks in existing sick banks will be kept as reserve should anyone require sick leave beyond the available 26 weeks. The current plan requires members to go on long term disability (LTD), when they run out of accumulated sick leave. LTD is not available until a member has been off sick for a minimum of 13 weeks. There are lot of details in the collective agreement MOA. Members are encouraged to read about it as we will be voting on this. Recommendations that are worked on are passed on to the steering committee monthly. Debi Daviau sits on that committee. The tentative deadline for completion of the MOA is September and will be voted on by the membership and then worked into each collective agreement. The mindset behind this plan is to get employees well so they are able to return to work. The MOA states that we will meet the employer and work out details. There will be travel time allowed for appointments as well. All groups involved in EWSP bargain at different times as their contracts expire at different times. Any group still in bargaining will get EWSP inserted into their contract to be voted on later. A lot of details are still to be worked out by the technical committee, for example, obtaining a doctor’s note. We are looking at a 95% approval rate for this program. If this gets voted down, there is a risk that another government could resurrect bill C-59. PIPSC believes this is a better plan moving forward. We want all members across every department administered exactly the same way under one umbrella by federal employees (not contracted out).

Elections facilitated by Stan Buday:

President (2 year term)

Judy Chow was nominated by Yvonne Snaddon. Acclaimed.

Up for election: Karla Yelland and Roy Philip.

Member at Large (4 positions for a 2 year term, 1 position for a 1 year term due to Judy’s vacated position)

Karla Yelland was nominated by Nuşin Brown;

Yvonne Snaddon nominated Roy Philip;

Yvonne Snaddon nominated herself;

Judy Chow nominated Kevin MacEwen;

Andrea Agh nominated Doug Powless

All were acclaimed

Nuşin Brown, Bill Sukloff, Ralph Leigh, Joanna Welby, and Keshav Samaroo are in the 2^nd year of a 2 year term.

The Vice-President position has 1 year left and will be decided upon at the Strategic Planning Meeting.

Elections 2019 will require a ballot for Vice-President and 4 members at large.

Motion to close the Election

Moved by Judy Chow

Seconded by Yvonne Snaddon

Carried

Stan Buday, CS Group President: Why does bargaining take so long? It’s not us. We go to the bargaining table with a mandate, ready to make a proposal. The employer typically takes 6 weeks to return with a counter proposal. The last round of bargaining started in 2014. We had a tentative agreement early in 2017. Bargaining typically takes 16 to 20 months. TB was not in a rush as a new government was expected to come into power. Tentative agreement was signed July 4, 2017. The CS group exec created a contracting out officer position to be prepared for the next round of bargaining. We are looking at bargaining in the fall. Strategic bargaining: We suggested centralized tables for some issues. Lead tables to negotiate issues such as performance management so other tables can follow, rather than negotiating same issue separately and to speed up bargaining. Coordinated tables: 2 or more groups working together to expedite bargaining. We’d like the employer to bargain at the table the same way we do, rather than behind closed doors.

The new classification standard will change CS to IT. It is tentatively scheduled to begin in 2019 to 2020.

Adjournment:

As President, Yvonne thanked everyone for attending the AGM and made a motion to adjourn. Meeting was adjourned at 7:10 pm.