The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada
The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada
Log in

SP 4900 Yonge Street Executive Meeting Minutes - Monday June 5, 2023

Location: Kenzo Ramen Restaurant (4860 Yonge Street)

ATTENDEES:

  • Lynn Kumita – President
  • Jeremy Craigs – Vice-President (attended virtually via MS Teams)
  • Aman Gill – Treasurer
  1. The Executive held its first meeting in-person at Kenzo Ramen restaurant located at 4860 Yonge Street, North York, ON.
  1. Updates from Monthly Presidents/Vice-Presidents Meetings

Lynn and Jeremy provided an update on the most recent SP Sub-Group Presidents/Vice-Presidents Monthly meeting held May 11th via Zoom

  • Katherine Kenny was introduced as the new Negotiator who would be taking over for David
  • David/Katherine indicated that there were no bargaining updates but anticipated updates would come following the pending June bargaining meeting
  • Bryan van Wilgenburg provided some updates on upcoming meetings including:
    • SP Bargaining meeting the following week
    • Central Table meeting following that (late-May)
    • Meeting with Treasury Board in June
    • SP Sub-Group Regional Presidents meetings being planned:
      • Western Region held theirs already
      • Central Region being held second week of June in Niagara Falls, ON
  • Remainder of the meeting was roundtable discussion for Questions from those in attendance
  • Jeremy asked if PIPSC had any details/clarifications on the PSAC teleworking clauses?
    • David: PIPSC is actively looking into it as PIPSC read the wording and found that it was open to interpretation/confusion.  They are interested to see the wording of the CRA agreement.  They do think that it is shifting away from a “set” 2d/wk model
  • President from Victoria Sub-group asked about the length of the Collective Agreement (CA)
    • Bryan: Collective agreement length can vary, and all options are on the table. If it’s a good deal it may be worth a longer duration. If not, it might go to a shorter duration.
    • David also mentioned that it may also be good to align the timing of the PIPSC Collective Agreement expiry with that of PSAC
  • Bryan in response to a question about increasing leave within the CA polled those in attendance on if preference would be to receive a $2,500 one-time cash payout OR receive it as additional leave credits?
    • Response was mixed, but those on the call generally favoured leave
    • David noted that PSAC negotiated to reduce the number of years a member must work before receiving the additional week of leave – reduced from 8yrs to 7yrs
  1. Sub-Group Executive Recruitment
  • Based on the most recent membership list, the sub-group could elect a fourth member to the Executive
  • The Executive discussed recruitment options and thoughts including that it would be good to get a younger/newer voice represented on the Executive
  • Lynn noted that she has reached out to a few of the new hires at PSPC to gauge interest
  • ACTION: Executive will continue to look within the membership for opportunities to reach out to members who may be interested in serving on the Executive.
  1. Upcoming Regional Sub-Group Presidents Meeting – June 17, 2023
  • Lynn confirmed attendance for the SP 4900 Yonge Street Sub-group
  • Lynn shared with Aman & Jeremy that the objective of the upcoming meeting is for Strategic Planning for future years
  • Executive discussed if there were any concerns being raised from the membership that should be brought up during the meeting
    • Jeremy raised that if the PSAC negotiated clause for $2,500 one-time payout is something PIPSC is looking at including in our negotiations, PIPSC may wish to consider surveying the membership on what their preference would be (cash or leave).  Given the economic times, some may have a different perspective on the benefits of a cash payout versus leave credits.
    • Lynn shared that she reached out to a local Steward to get feedback on what is being felt/experienced by local members
      • Steward indicated that there is lots of feedback they can provide
      • ACTION: Lynn will follow-up to get feedback ahead of the June 17th meeting
  1. OTHER ITEMS
  • Return to the office continues to be a concern for what it will look like moving forward but departments our members work for have been relatively accommodating
  • Executive anticipates hosting future lunch & learns in-person as bargaining proceeds and more members are back in the office on a regular basis
Published on 13 July 2023