The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada
The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada
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74th ORC - Training and Education Committee Report

I’m happy to provide the ORC with my second report as Chair of the Ontario Region Training and Education Committee.  The dust is slowly settling after the introduction of the new direction in training and it appears that, although there will be some positive change, it will not be a massive upheaval. As we fine- tune the approach at the National Training and Education Committee (TEC) I will have more to report.  I will outline the basics that you will mostly be already aware of below.  Aside from that there are a few more exciting changes coming nationally including member driven/provided lunch and learns on pensions and benefits with other topics to follow.  I’ll also link to the current catalog of lunch and learn presentations that Stewards can give themselves or request someone else – Steward, ERO or Exec to present.  As always contact me personally petej@pipsc.ca or use the TEC committee mailbox contact-tec-caf@pipsc.ca  with your questions, suggestions etc.

  1. Steward Training
  • In 2017, at all Regional Steward Councils, the new direction was introduced – Stewards were asked to identify training reqs and self-identify their knowledge/experience level.
  • Idea of National Level training for Steward Specialization with areas of specialization was introduced.
  • In addition, a National Mentoring program is to be part of the program
  1.  Lunch and Learns

There are three new lunch and learns (L&Ls) on Pensions/Benefits that will be launched in 2018/19. These include thirty (30) minute presentations on the following:

  • The Public Service Superannuation Pension Plan and Preparing for Retirement
  • Health and Dental Coverage: Active and Retired Members of the Federal Public Service
  • Disability Insurance: Plan and Process

Here is a link to follow to the current inventory of lunch and learns:

https://pipsc.ca/member-tools/education/llguide

  1. 2017 Steward Council
  • 2017 OSC evaluations indicate that that the training was well received.  Issues with the hotel, training rooms and food were beyond our control, but we will still try to improve on this as best we can. -- Heather, the exec and I do take these to heart and are constantly discussing fixes.
  • The Passport training received high-marks once again so we intend to bring it back a third year.
  • Balancing the Agenda is a constant challenge and I will continue to try and do so based on the comments and feedback we receive.
  • Suggested we bring back a group dinner and family friendly facilities – we did for OSC 2018!
  1. Ontario Region Budget Allotment
  •  In my first meeting as Ontario Region Training Chair, I noticed a budget discrepancy whereby other Regions were receiving their normal allotments for Basic Steward X 2 and 1 Labour School and 1 item marked “other” and all regions had funding in this item except Ontario. 
  • The rest of the regions were typically using this money for Executive and OSH Training.
  • It took a year of me fighting on the committee and with finance to get this fixed – as training budgets were only being apportioned based on previous years.
  • For 2017-28 training fiscal year, a smaller amount was given to us – which we will use for executive training before the end of the next training fiscal year (June 31st). 
  • July 1st – start of training fiscal year 2018-19, we expect to have our full budget including the full amount in the “other” line-item and are investigating OSH training as our first use of this training money – I should have an announcement on this by Steward Council!

Pete Jozsa, Chair

Pete Jozsa, Chair - Ontario Region Training Committee

 

Upcoming Ontario Region Training Dates

  1. 2018 Ontario Regional Branch President’s Meeting 

April 20   9:00 am – 12:00pm Elizabeth room, Crowne Plaza Niagara Falls

  1. 2018 Ontario Regional Council

  April 21   01:00pm April 22 05:00pm Plaza Foyer, Crowne Plaza Niagara Falls

  1. 2018 Ontario Region Labour School

  May 2 01:00pm – May 5 12:00 pm The Grand Hotel, Toronto

  1. 2018 Ontario Region Steward Council

  Sept 15 1:00 pm – September 16 5:00 pm Nottawasaga Inn, Alliston

  1. 2018 Basic Steward Training

  Oct 18 01:00pm – Oct 20 5:00 pm The Grand Hotel, Toronto

  1. 2019 Basic Steward Training

  Feb 07 01:00 – Feb 09 5:00 pm The Grand Hotel, Toronto

7.    TBA – Ontario Region OSH Training