Public Service Alliance of Canada BC

Fraser Valley Area Council -Annual General Meeting, 2006-11-01

In Attendance:

• Jayne Johns, CEIU Local 20903
• Anne Marie McCully, CEIU Local 20903
• Edi Martin, USGE Local 20141
• James Little, PSAC
• Chuck Leech, USGE Local 20054
• Mel Dureen, USGE Local 20054
• Anthony Friesen, Agriculture 20038

Meeting called to order at 1810 hours.

Introductions were made.

Guest Speaker - Amber Hockings

Amber Hockings - CLC representative, provided information on the Canadian Labour Congress and how their system works. All major national unions are affiliated to the CLC. The CLC is represented regionally by Labour Councils. There are currently 135 labour councils across the country. The Fraser Valley Labour Council will be affiliated in January 2007. It is important that we get involved in political action as union members have a larger number of voters. The CLC looks at major issues and helps to find out how the politicians are directing their votes and how we can influence them. They also provide information to the councils on issues for municipal and provincial elections. Non-union people may contact the CLC as well if they have labour issues. This sometimes results in new locals being developed. The CLC is working to change their education programs to suit the people they are there to help. They will be providing some courses on evenings and weekends. Locals are responsible to pay their own costs for any training.

Labour councils will be asked to give support to the promotion to have the government increase the minimum wage. Support is also needed for the “Not Working Alone” campaign.

We have a quorum with 3 of the 4 officers present and 4 locals represented.

Continue reading below, or download the Fraser Valley AGM minutes, November 1 2006 (.pdf)

1. Adoption of Agenda

The agenda was adopted with additions by C. Leech and seconded by A.M. McCulley. - Carried

2. Previous Minutes

The previous minutes were adopted by M. Dureen and seconded by C. Leech.

3. By-Law Amendments

Changes were made to the By-Laws adopted in June 2001.

Proposed change: Last year we reviewed the budget and were forced to charge dues of $2.00 per member per year in order to increase our meagre budget. We have since been provided with a grant from PSAC and therefore are able to reduce our dues back to $1.00 per member. It is therefore proposed under Section III, Subsection 2(1), to decrease our dues to $1.00 per member per year.

The proposal was moved by E. Martin and seconded by A. Friesen.

Carried unanimously.

4. Fraser Valley Coordinator Report provided by J. Johns.

J. Johns provided a report on her activities throughout the past year.

The report was moved for acceptance by A.M. McCulley and seconded by E. Martin.

Carried - unanimously.

A proposal was made by the PSAC BC Regional Council to have a training conference to get area councils together to increase their power. J. Johns will provide more information as available.

5. Report by J. Little - PSAC

Danica Martens from Ferndale will be doing training for high school students on Health and Safety.

The BC Liberal Government has changed their funding for municipal work to a P3 situation. This is union busting and we need to work to stop this.

6. Financial Report

The Treasurer was absent for the meeting and a general financial report was presented by J. Johns, President. It was decided that we must have a treasurer’s report at the next meeting as this has not been presented all year even at the request of the president. Due to the Treasurer’s absence we currently do not have a list of our affiliated members. All locals present verified verbally that they had paid their dues.

7. Election of Officers

The call for nominations went out.

• President - Jayne Johns - nominated by E. Martin, seconded by A. M. McCully. - Acclamation
• First Vice President - Chuck Leech - nominated by J. Johns, seconded by A. Friesen - Acclamation
• Second Vice President - Mel Dureen - nominated by C. Leech, seconded by E. Martin - Acclamation
• Treasurer - Anne Marie McCully - nominated by J. Johns, seconded by M. Dureen - Will stand - Acclamation: Anthony Friesen - nominated by E. Martin, seconded by C. Leech (incumbent refused)
• Secretary - Edi Martin - nominated by A. M. McCully, seconded by M. Dureen - Will stand - Acclamation: Anthony Friesen - nominated by E. Martin, seconded by J. Johns (incumbent refused)

The executive was sworn in by J. Little, PSAC.

8. Bargaining

Each local should have presented their bargaining demands to their Components by now. This information has been sent to Ottawa already and we await the next step.

9. District Labour Council Report

The Fraser Valley Area Council will be affiliated to the new Fraser Valley Labour Council. Delegates and alternates were chosen. The delegates are responsible to attend all meetings. Alternates are allowed to attend the meetings, but they cannot vote on an issue unless they are taking the place of a delegate.

Union school will be held in Burnaby from November 17-19. Dinner is being arranged to have all members of the Fraser Valley get together in order to network as not everyone knows each other.10. Round Table

A.M. McCully advised that both Gateway and Cascade Casino’s were in labour disputes.

A. Friesen from Agriculture announced that J. Little had been to their office in Agassiz to assist with overtime problems and member to member issues. Health and Safety is an ongoing issue. They are at the point in their bargaining talks that they will need to vote on conciliation or go to arbitration. Their AGM is November 21.

C. Leech was recently presented with an Exemplary Service Award presented to him by Stockwell Day.

E. Martin advised that 3 people at Ferndale Institution also received the Exemplary Service Award. Their AGM will be held on November 21.

M. Dureen will be going to training in December for bargaining. He will also be attending Union School and a Grievance Handling course.

J. Johns advised everyone that CSC did get their Penilogical Factor back. Payment is expected to be in the new year.
Before our next meeting the new treasurer will look into a new credit union that will not charge us for banking and will advise those required of a date to get together to change the signing authorities.

Door prizes were won by A.M. McCully, C. Leech and E. Martin.

The meeting was motioned for closure by C. Leech and seconded by A. M. McCully.

The meeting was adjourned at 2000 hours.