April 15, 2024 - Toronto Environment Branch Executive Meeting


(Subgroup Executive and union activists invited as guests)

Virtual meeting on April 15, 2024.

Attendance:

Executive:

Andrea Darlington, President

Bill Sukloff, Vice-President

Qian Li, Secretary

Marie-Claude Archambault, Member-at-large

Harry Keess, Member-at-large

Alexandre Fischer, Member-at-large

Diane Pendlebury, Member-at-large

 

Absent:

Jian Feng, Member-at-large

Balbir Pabla, Treasurer

Anna Deptuch-Stapf, Member-at-large

Michael Wheeler, Member-at-large

 

Guests

Helen Yang

Dae Il Jeong

Dennis Wintjes

 

Agenda:

  1. Acceptance of the Agenda
  1. Review of previous Minutes - Meeting minutes OneNote file in the executive shared area
  2. Business of the day
    1. Ontario Regional Council
    2. Ontario Combined Local/Regional LMCC
    3. Lunch and Learn Sessions
  3. Next meeting
  4. Roundtable
  5. Adjournment

Discussion:

  1. Ontario Regional Council – April 12-13 2024
    1. Attended by Bill Sukloff, Andrea Darlington, Michael Wheeler, Helen Yang, Qian Li and Connor Anderson (Impact Assessment Agency).
    2. Group updates occurred, e.g., SP and IT
    3. Jennifer Carr is on leave as President, Eva Henshaw is acting President.
    4. Guest speaker presented on data privacy. What is done with information collected by our employer? For example, the MS Teams status button. 
    5. The SP Bargaining Team is comprised of 7 members, four of whom must be from the SP Executive. The PIPSC AGM is returning to the two day format. It will occur in November in Toronto. The Branch could sponsor multiple members to be observers because of the relatively low costs.
    6. There are 9 classifications in the SP Group.
    7. It was suggested that union activists have a PIPSC e-mail address. It's essentially a gmail account, but the address is pipsc.ca
  2. Ontario Region Combined LMCC
    1. Bill Sukloff, Michael Wheeler and Andrea Darlington attended.
    2. Notes are in the shared notebook.
    3. This is the first LMCC in the new regional organization for East/Central.
    4. Charging stations for EV's in Downsview. Only fleet vehicles would have this. For employees, they are waiting for a policy from Treasury Board. 
    5. Burlington just installed EV charging stations for employees.
  1. LUNCH AND Learn
    1. Collective Agreement items, e.g., overtime, leave
    2. Any ideas please let Andrea know or add them to the document in the shared location.
  2. The next meeting in person.
  3. Round Table
    1. No items

 

May 8, 2024

Toronto Environment Branch Executive Meeting
(subgroup Executive and union activists invited as guests)

In person and virtual meeting on May 8, 2024.

Attendance:

Executive:

Andrea Darlington, President

Bill Sukloff, Vice-President

Balbir Pabla, Treasurer

Marie-Claude Archambault, Member-at-large

Harry Keess, Member-at-large

Alexandre Fischer, Member-at-large

Diane Pendlebury, Member-at-large

Jian Feng, Member-at-large

Anna Deptuch-Stapf, Member-at-large

Michael Wheeler, Member-at-large

Absent:

Qian Li, Secretary

Guests:

Helen Yang

Kulbir Banwait

April White

Megan Hartwell

Dae Il Jeong

Dennis Wintjes

Agenda:

  1. Acceptance of the Agenda
  1. Review of previous Minutes - Meeting minutes OneNote file in the executive shared area
  2. Business of the day
    1. Update on changes to required days in the office
    2. Member engagement activities
    3. Info bulletin
  3. Next meeting
  4. Roundtable
  5. Adjournment

Discussion:

  1. Updates on changes to required number of days in the office
    1. Discussed guidance for members on what PIPSC is doing to fight the mandate to return to the office 3 days per week and guidance on what members can do.
    2. If member's telework agreement is being changed, they have ability to grieve this and if it gets to a high enough level without resolution, this would be forwarded to the joint union management telework table who would provide guidance to the deputy minister on a recommended decision.
  2. Member engagement activities
    1. BBQs in the past have not been well attended and it is difficult to get bookings for the park so we will look into joining GTA branch if they are planning this sometime in the summer - Update GTA branch not having a picnic this summer so we will not go ahead with this this year, maybe in future
    2. Events are easier and better attended if they are near the worksite and within the workday
    3. Discussed having ice cream event in the summer for staff
  3. Info Bulletin
    1. Posted on the shared drive for comment
    2. Ideas can be added to the brainstorming doc at any time
  4. Respect Day
    1. Not looking good for funding from management though RDG is still looking into adding this to the event plan. They will share their decision with us by the end of the month.
    2. If management does not fund, do we want to participate?
    3. Determined that if local managers bring food/coffee and we supplement it may look like senior management is supporting the event, which they are not.
    4. Union activity could be done on a different day with some small snacks and coffee instead.
  5. Round Table
    1. Changes to requirements to get a temporary pass in the building - need to give security your ID - will put on the agenda to discuss at the next LMCC to get clarification on whether a new directive has come down on this
    2. Monitoring situation on mask availability.  Try and reach out to security if masks are not easily available on the desk.  If masks are no longer available (security and warehouse run out) and they are not restocked we will reach out to the Director of Facilities.

 

June 10, 2024

Toronto Environment Branch Executive Meeting
(subgroup Executive and union activists invited as guests)

Virtual meeting on June 10, 2024.

Attendance:

Executive:

Andrea Darlington, President

Bill Sukloff, Vice-President

Balbir Pabla, Treasurer

Qian Li, Secretary

Harry Keess, Member-at-large

Alexandre Fischer, Member-at-large

Diane Pendlebury, Member-at-large

Jian Feng, Member-at-large

Michael Wheeler, Member-at-large

Kim Laird

Dae Il Jeong

Dennis Wintjes

April White

Helen Yang

Megan Hartwell

 

Absent:

Marie-Claude Archambault, Member-at-large

Anna Deptuch-Stapf, Member-at-large

Agenda:

  1. Acceptance of the Agenda
  1. Review of previous Minutes - Meeting minutes OneNote file in the executive shared area
  2. Business of the day
    1. Ice cream social next week June 19, 20 – Availability
    2. PIPSC Executive Training
    3. Lunch and Learn on Accommodation
    4. Pension Portal Update
    5. PIPSC Boycott of NPSW
    6. National Public Service Week
  3. Roundtable
  4. Next meeting
  5. Adjournment

Discussion:

  • Ice cream event is next week.
  • Volunteers: Andrea, Michael, Bill, Helen on Wed., Diane on Wed. After 1:30pm, Balbir
  • Open to all building occupants, not just PIPSC members
  • Andrea and Bill attended a PIPSC training event for Executive Members
    • How executives work
    • How to run AGM's
  • Lunch and Learn on accommodation could be provided by the ERO.
    • There's no need to disclose details about an employee's medical condition, only what they can or can't do. No diagnosis.
  • The pension portal has been updated, nicer details.
  • National Public Service Week:  some Exec members declined invitation to share why they joined the Public Service, citing the boycott.
  • E-waste bin now moved to the inside of the warehouse.
  • Exercise room. Wesley found volunteers to maintain the room. Waivers were created. The room is still unavailable. Does not show respect for employees.