Hamilton CRA-AFS Subgroup and Hamilton CRA Branch 4D
Minutes of Annual General Meeting - Tuesday November 22, 2022
Meeting was preceded by social hour at LIUNA Station in Hamilton.
Meeting was called to order at 6:03 by Ward Cluff, President of the Hamilton CRA Branch on behalf of both the Branch and the Hamilton AFS Subgroup.
Ward Cluff started off the meeting with a welcome to all and our special guests, Doug Mason, National President of AFS Group, and, Chris L’Estrange from the Ontario Regional Executive, and Shawn Gillis (was invited but ended up sick)
Approval of Agenda as per Notice of Meeting
Ward Cluff asked that a motion be made to accept the agenda.
|
Moved: |
Joanne Haslip
|
Seconded: |
Allan Laaksonen |
Carried X |
Adoption of Minutes of previous Annual General Meeting
Ward Cluff asked that a motion be made to accept the minutes of the last annual general meeting, copies of which are located on the tables.
|
Moved: |
Tony D’Amico |
Seconded: |
Heather Geddes
|
Carried X |
Business arising from the last meeting
None
We took a break and had dinner.
AFS Hamilton Subgroup Treasurer’s Report Steve Budz
Treasurer’s Report & Hamilton Branch Treasurer’s Report
(Steve Budz was missing due to family reasons. Members were asked to send emails with questions, but statements were provided at the tables for everyone to review.)
Ward Cluff asked someone to move to accept the Subgroup Treasurer’s report:
|
Moved: |
Lisa Clark
|
Seconded: |
Allan Laaksonen |
Carried |
Ward Cluff asked someone to move to accept the Branch’s Treasurer’s report:
|
Moved: |
Teresa Owen |
Seconded: |
Allan Laaksonen |
Carried |
Subgroup President’s Report – Ward Cluff
Ward welcomed Guests, Doug Mason & Chris L’Estrange. Shawn Gillis was invited but ended up sick so couldn’t attend. He also welcomed his colleague and friend, the St. Catherine’s AFS President, Tom McBrayne.
Ward introduced and thanked all executive & stewards. Ward spoke about the poor vaccination policy and how it was inconsistently delivered. He said that when members asked questions, they were not answered properly, and he withdrew his participation in the UMC at that time. (Union Management Consultation). We are not back in.
The OROR took place on April 1, 2022, and Ward is now required to participate in all UMCs where his members reside. The new REORG has made it this way and it could become difficult. People from Hamilton are still represented by Hamilton TSO. An important initiative to note is that we need to keep track of our members.
Since the last AGM, the Director that we worked closely with has left so Ward will work with the new directors.
Ward spoke about hours of work and 8.5 hours/day is not the maximum. The union is advocating for compressed schedules. They are also representing members with regards to harassment and workplace violence, accommodations, staffing issues, and performance reviews.
Ward asked someone to move to accept the Subgroup President’s Report.
|
Moved: |
Joanne Haslip |
Seconded: |
Dave Cinelli |
Carried X |
Branch President’s Report – Tony D’Amico
Tony Welcomed everyone. He says that the branch supports and assists members in training and in person events. The branch provides funding for these.
Tony thanked the Branch executive and special guests. Tony said that the past 2 ½ years have been stressful for all during the pandemic. They are hoping for a better 2023.
He said we’ll be planning an in-person event in January, 2023.
Tony asked for someone to move to accept his presidential report.
|
Moved: |
Dave Cinelli |
Seconded: |
Paul Gasparin
|
Carried |
Elections Committee Report – Hamilton CRA Branch 2022-2024
The election committee for this year consisted of: Paul Gasparin, Laura Armes and Jennifer Tufgar.
Paul Gasparin spoke. He said that the following people are acclaimed and there have not been enough nominations to elections.
Pesident: Tony D’Amico
Vice President: Heather Geddes
Treasurer: ___
Secretary: Lucy Bourak
Members-at-Large:
1 Ward Cluff
2 Joe Stanziani
3 Roxane McMillan
4 Joanne Haslip
Chris Bozak Nominated Peter Cloidt as Treasurer. Jason Sousa 2nd.
Peter accepted
Chris Bozak nominated Chris L’Estrange for Member at Large. Peter Gauthier 2nd. Chris accepted.
Joanne Haslip nominated Chris Bozak as Member at Large. Dave Cinelli 2nd. Chris accepted.
Crystal Koon nominated Jaspreet Gill as Member at Large. Heather Geddes 2nd. Jaspreet accepted.
Chris L’Estrange nominated Zaigham Butt as Member at Large, Tony D’Amico 2nd. Zaigham accepted.
Chris L’Estrange stepped down so that we have a full committee and would not have to have an election.
Allan Laaksonen moved to accept the results of the election.
|
Moved: |
Allan Laaksonen |
Seconded: |
Tony D’Amico
|
Carried X |
Congratulations to the new Executive of the Hamilton CRA Branch:
Pesident: Tony D’Amico
Vice President: Heather Geddes
Treasurer: Peter Cloidt
Secretary: Lucy Bourak
Members-at-Large:
1 Ward Cluff
2 Joe Stanziani
3 Roxane McMillan
4 Joanne Haslip
5 Chris Bozak
6 Zaigham Butt
7 Jaspreet Gill
New Business
No new business.
Special Guests
Doug Mason:
Doug said that they are discussing compressed work hours with management.
There is currently collective bargaining going on. They have exchanged proposals with Government and have 54 demands above rates of pay. They met Oct 19 & 20/22 and will meet next week, January, 2023 & February, 2023. The #1 issue is salary increase, #2 is Where you work #3 is When you work – flexible work hours. Other demands are increasing IT salaries to bring them up to the rest. Some other issues are harassment and protection – need to expand on these.
In Quebec they are doing a pilot. It makes life more flexible. For example, a person can take an hour off in the day to attend to something else and then work the extra hour at night.
The sick leave modernization is not going to change as they once though. No changes will be made and no one will lose sick leave benefits.
The Public Service Health Care plan details will be changing on July 1/23. The new plan is not better, but benefits are changed around so it actually doesn’t cost more for the government. Some things are increase and some decreased.
Hybrid Phase 2 is starting. They are wanting more employees in the office but no actual rules made yet. They want to do more in person on-boarding (new staff) and we may be able to do field work upcoming. This is starting Dec 14/22. Management says no mandatory in office work but we don’t know what that looks like.
Anne Budzinski gave a motion to adjourn the meeting.
|
Moved: |
Anne Budzinski |
Seconded: |
Allan Laaksonen |
Carried |
Meeting adjourned at 8pm.