June 14, 2024, Montreal (NRC Sussex, Ottawa)
Present: Cathy Cheung, Simon Drouin (remote), Stephan Grosse, Alex Ko, Laurel O’Connor, Jewelle Smith-Johnson, Dongfang Yang, Mary Zborowski
Regrets: Benjamin Colbourne, Rokib Hassan, Martin Loignon, Franco Amato (PIPSC)
1. Welcome: The meeting was called to order at 9:10 a.m. and was chaired by Alex Ko.
2. Approval of agenda: Approved
3. Minutes of April 2024 meeting: Approved. ACTION: Mary, to produce a reduced Minutes for the April meeting, and to continue the same going forward, and to submit these shortened versions for translation.
4. Actions from April meeting
a) Exec Manual: ACTION: Cathy and Jewelle, to continue work.
b) RAND Discussions: Stephan has been advised that new hire alerts will begin to be sent again by NRC. ACTION: Stephan and Dongfang, to monitor; Laurel, to monitor discussions at PIPSC AC.
c) ByLaw changes: No response yet from PIPSC. ACTION: Cathy, to follow up; Mary to follow up about translated AGM minutes.
d) COSH: Done, reported by Dongfang.
e) September meeting: PIPSC has denied the request to hold the group AGM in Vancouver/Victoria.
f) RCO conversion: Discussed below.
g) Telework: No report. ACTION: Franco, to pass on to executive for review when available.
h) Ombuds issues: ACTION: Stephan or Laurel, to bring up Team Lead issues at next JCC after Ombud’s report released.
i) Election report: ACTION: Laurel, to advise Martin re absences; Mary, to prepare a message to the PIPSC ByLaw committee, regarding interpretation of the ByLaw and appointments to fill vacancies by resigning members.
j) JCC: Incomplete. ACTION: Laurel, to document and track which agenda items are refused by NRC.
k) PIPSC AC: Done. Discussed below.
l) AGM Stewards: Done, 10 Stewards indicated interest in attending the AGM if it were to be held in Vancouver. Now subject to change as AGM will not be in Vancouver.
m) AGM planning: Ongoing. ACTION: Laurel, to plan agenda
n) AGM speaker: Simon has spoken to Doug Johnstone, who is interested but it will depend on the date selected.
o) AGM Elections: Rokib was not present to report. ACTION: Rokib (with Dongfang), to continue managing process
p) Executive Roles: Ongoing. Dongfang answers or forwards emails appropriately, cc’ing the executive president. ACTION: Stephan, to ensure guidance documents are sent annually to stewards; Cathy, to include details on procedure in Executive manual.
q) June chair: Done. (Alex is chairing this meeting.)
r) Lunch & Learns: Ongoing
s) Consultation team: Meeting with Mitch Davies has been rescheduled to July 2. ACTION: Laurel, to speak with Mitch Davies (NRC President); Cathy and Simon, to speak with the NRC Ombuds and various PIPSC contacts.
5. Consultation President update: Ben has officially resigned as consultation team president. PIPSC has not identified any ByLaw which prohibits discussions in this situation. Discussions have been held with both PIPSC and NRC to determine how to proceed in a manner that can distribute the work among more executive members. We are also seeking additional admin support from PIPSC.
6. Telework MOU and panel: The panel is not yet determined, and there is no more information from PIPSC.
7. Group AGM planning:
a) Date and location: Our request to hold the AGM in Vancouver has not been approved, although discussions will continue. ACTION: Cathy, to inquire to a PIPSC VP. Otherwise, a new location/date needs to be determined. The group is considering Nov. 21-23 or Nov. 28-30 if the AGM is in Ottawa. ACTION: Simon, to inquire whether Doug Johnstone might be available as guest speaker on these alternate dates.
8. Collective agreement: The team has taken note of requests that have not been included in the CA, which may be brought forward to the next round of negotiations.
9. RCO conversion: Ongoing. Currently, of 204 positions, 58 have been approved for conversion, and 146 submissions have been sent to R&D directors for review.
10. Other MOUs: Simon explained that there are some which need to be set up but progress is delayed until the issue of Consultation is finalized.
11. Financial report: Alex presented the current financials. The current balance is approximately $21k (to be reconciled with today’s meeting expenses). Alex reported that PIPSC requests that group executives prepare budgets before each meeting, for which a template has been provided.
12. NRC updates:
a) IRAP: No major updates.
b) JCC: Discussions included telework: NRC intends to support 60% presence beginning in September. Telework agreements will be reviewed.
c) NCOSH: There will be a meeting at the end of June. The use of personal vehicles and gym facilities will be discussed. ACTION: Dongfang, to request a list of NRC gym facilities.
13. PIPSC updates: Laurel reported from May meetings.
a) AC: Discussions covered lobbying, return to the office, Phoenix, fee increases, and financial management accountability. A high-level strategic plan was presented.
b) President meeting: Budget issues were presented.
14. PIPSC AGM delegates: Laurel took note of Executive members who are interested in attending the AGM in Toronto. ACTION: Stephan, to enquire of stewards re interest; Laurel, to submit names.
15. Group Executive Roles and Responsibilities: Not discussed.
16. New Business:
a) Roundtable of issues: The issue of managing work and union activities was discussed. ACTION: Laurel, to keep in consideration when meeting with NRC President.
b) Welcoming new RO/RCO employees: The group continued discussions on how to welcome new RO/RCO hires. A plan was outlined for when NRC revives the practice of sending us notice of these new hires. ACTION: Dongfang, to send the welcome letter to Jewelle and Mary, for revisions; Mary, to review names received to determine if they are completely new to RORCO and if so, to send welcome gift.
17. Meeting schedule:
- August 28 – Virtual meeting (chaired by Jewelle)
- September or November – Exec meeting + RORCO AGM
18. Adjournment: The meetings adjourned at approximately 4:00 p.m. ET.