Toronto CS Subgroup AGM, June 12, 2019
Present:
Judy Chow (President) Joanna Welby (Vice President) Nuşin Brown (Secretary)
Kevin MacEwen (Treasurer) Bill Sukloff Ralph Leigh
Stan Buday Roy Philip Yvonne Snaddon
Faron Moses Keshav Samaroo George Georgopoulos
Doug Powless Aakash Mistry Thiru Ponnambalam
Jason Bullers Joanne Sangiuliano Andrew Hendra
Paul Archibald Ace Quan Angela Chan
Anthoney Yip Asoka Pinnaduwage Benjamin Li
Chesley Burris Desmond Chiang Dhammika Wijayawardhana
Gurbinder Dhillon Harry Mark Henry Yip
Ivan Pinto Joyce (Yu) Gu
Kaja Thalayasingam Karina Bogdanova Liping Chung-Hun
Lu Borgiani Houston Michael Kuenen Michael Szuty
Michael Zheng Mohamed Kassam Philip Nivet
Robert DeSantis Serguei Zinine Stephen Leung
Stuart Ziegler Thao Kouxommone Vicram Uppal
Voica Balutiu Welley Chung
Opening: Welcome by Judy Chow at 6:20 pm. Judy introduced the CS Group Executive and the Toronto CS Sub Group Executive.
Motion to accept the Agenda
Moved by Judy Chow
Seconded by Bill Sukloff
Carried
Motion to accept the 2018 AGM Minutes
Moved by Doug Powless
Seconded by Ralph Leigh
Carried
President’s Report - Judy Chow: Our current contract expired December 22, 2018. The bargaining proposals committee met in January to begin preparations for the next round of negotiations.
Engagement events for the bargaining team were held beginning with bananas for bargaining. A postcard campaign was held during the second phase and a wear your colors event was held during the third phase. Photos were posted on social media to show our support.
Financial Report - Ralph Leigh: The current balance as of June 12, 2019 is $XXX. Our 2018 allocation from PIPSC was $XXX based on the number of CS members and account balance at year end.
The 2018 AGM cost us $XXX. We supported the GTA Branch family picnic. $XXX was contributed to support a Mental Health Seminar at DND. Meeting expenses for the year totaled $XXX and were reimbursed by PIPSC.
Motion to accept the financial report. Moved by Ralph Leigh. Seconded by Yvonne Snaddon. Carried.
Elections facilitated by George Georgopoulos:
There were 4 - two year member at large positions available and the Vice-President position was up for election.
Nuşin Brown, Bill Sukloff, Ralph Leigh, Joanna Welby and Keshav Samaroo had positions up for election. Nuşin Brown and Bill Sukloff were interested in member-at-large positions.
Dhammika Wijayawardhana and Mike Kuenen were nominated for member-at-large positions.
The only candidate for Vice-President was Joanna. All executive members accepted the positions and were elected by acclamation.
Judy Chow started her second year of service as President. Kevin MacEwen, Doug Powless, Roy Philip, Yvonne Snaddon and Karla Yelland are in the second year of their 2 year term.
Elections 2020 will require a ballot for President and a ballot for 4 members at large if nothing changes in the body.
George made a motion to close the elections, Robert De Santis seconded.
Bargaining Update - Stan Buday and Yvonne Snaddon: Bargaining started in 2019. Stan was acclaimed as the national president of the CS group. The bargaining team sits with DGs who represent TB. Members need to stand up for what we believe is a fair deal as Treasury Board is watching. It’s vital that members provide support. There is a CS Group Facebook page and You Tube channel. The bargaining team made a series of videos. Subscribe to the channel to get notified about new content.
We had strong language in article 30 about contracting out which was removed in 2008 by the previous government. There is tech change language which specifies we should be trained in new technologies. There is language about career development. The first round of negotiations took place on January 10th. Bargaining was different this round than the past. Central table bargaining about sick leave took place. The new government was willing to negotiate. It was agreed that sick leave would be internal, pensionable and included in the collective agreement. Family leave, Family Day, harassment, general economic increase was negotiated on behalf of all groups. Members need to be compensated fairly. One of the key demands is stronger language on performance review. Managers are told to avoid using the exceeded rating to cut down on talent management work. Action plans require follow-up. We want parameters around action plans and talent management. We want to make sure items in learning plans are followed on. We want performance management reviews to be fair, accurate and grievable. Departments want to save money on workspaces. We put forth language to ensure consistency about telework. All IT government contracts RFPs are on a buy and sell site. Contracting out officer Eva Henshaw reviews these. If any look like IT contracts, they are reported to PIPSC to file grievances.
Departments are asked if they have considered training existing staff or hiring terms rather than contractors. DND, SSC, ESDC and Global Affairs are the biggest offenders. The Federal government has a retention issue. We are not paid enough to attract talent.
There are 3 different pockets of money. The AFS group got 1.5% more increase than us. We need parity with coworkers at CRA. We need economic increase and market adjustment for IT work. We are asking for 6% over 3 to 4 years for market adjustment as an equitable increase. A total of 1.5% for parity + 6% is being asked.
We are going to mediation in July as the latest proposal given in May was turned down. We may have to do job action. Treasury Board claimed there was no retention issue.
Since it is expected to take longer than 150 days to get retro pay due to Phoenix, we are offered $XXX to extend the waiting period to 180 days.
Adjournment:
As President, Judy thanked everyone for attending the AGM and made a draw for prizes. Stan Buday made a motion to adjourn. Meeting was adjourned at 8:10 pm