74th ORC - Director’s Report

Ontario Youth Committee

I am pleased to say that the Ontario Region now has a Youth Committee.

This is something that has been discussed for quite some time and it has finally come to be.

It is important to engage youth in PIPSC for many reasons, perhaps the most important being that they will be the ones taking over the stewardship of the organization as our current leadership retires.

I did attend a meeting of the Youth Committee at the 2017 PIPSC AGM and I would say it was a very positive experience.

There was lots of energy and enthusiasm in the room, and my feeling was that all they needed was an opportunity to get involved, and now they have it.

The issue in the past was not a lack of desire to have a Committee, but a lack of funding. In 2017 the Board of Directors approved funding for each Region to constitute a Youth Committee.

Phoenix

The issues with Phoenix are not temporary and as such will not be going away anytime soon.

It would appear that there are basic design flaws.

The government now seems to recognize this and money was allocated in the last budget to find a replacement.

My guess is, that to find a new system, program the 80,000 pay rules into it and get it up and running may take several years

CLC – meet the MP’s day

In February, the CLC organized a “meet the MP’s day”. It was a very large and well organized event.

I met my MP, Sven Spengleman, a Liberal from Mississauga South

My sense was that the Liberals are very aware that there is an election coming up and recognize that the civil service can mobilize their members.

I also felt that the Liberal’s valued the civil service and recognized that the civil service implements the Government’s agenda.

It was certainly a refreshing change from the attitude of the previous government.

Bill C27

Bill C-27, introduced in October 2016, is an Act to amend the long-standing Pension Benefits Standards Act.

Bill C-27 would permit federally-regulated employers (like airlines, telecoms, banks, and Crown Corporations) to establish a “Target Benefit” pension plan.

With a Target Benefit Plan, there is no legally-binding benefit promise made to workers. Instead the plan sets a “target” of what it hopes to deliver with a pre-determined level of contributions.

The issue is, if there is pressure on the plan during a market downturn, workers’ and retirees’ benefits (either for future or past service) will be cut, rather than the employer having to put more funds into the plan.

In short, workers and retirees bear all of the risks in a “Target Benefit” plan.

Most importantly, however, C-27 would permit a federally-regulated employer to convert their “Defined Benefit” promises into non-binding “Target Benefit” aspirations even on a retroactive basis.

In 2014 Stephen Harper’s Conservatives launched public consultations on a similar framework, but after overwhelmingly negative feedback from unions, retirees and other stakeholders, they scuttled the idea.

Unifor and the Canadian Labour Congress - CLC

Unifor left the CLC in January 2018.

The stated reason was a disagreement over “raiding” of other unions.

Unifor wanted to take over (raid) the Canadian union members of International unions which they felt were poorly served.

The CLC has a policy against the “raiding” of other unions within the CLC.

While it doesn’t affect us directly, it does affect us indirectly. The CLC is the national voice of labour and to the extent that the house of labour is divided, it impacts the ability of the CLC to do have influence in the public debate on issues.

Unifor has 310,000 members and the CLC has around 3,300,000 members. Unifor was one of the largest unions within the CLC and its leaving will have an impact on the organization.

Whether or not this is long term situation is a source of debate. I sincerely hope that they do rejoin.

Donald Trump

These are interesting times indeed.

Since Donald Trump has been elected, there has never been a dull moment in America.

I did expect that there would be an attack on Unions. I am happy to say that at this point in time, I am wrong.

My concern was that what happens in the United States has a tendency to creep across the border.

Peter Gilkinson,

Ontario Region Director