Public Service Alliance of Canada BC

Minutes - BRUSH Committee Meeting - January 23, 2008 (amended)

Chair

• Joy Hennen CEIU

In Attendance

• Floyd Knelsen CRA
• Chuck Leech ALTERNATE - USGE
• Gail Jewsbury - UEW
• Tom Gallager GSU
• Gordon Law WESTERN ECONOMICS
• Melvin Dureen - USGE
• Stephen Chessor CUDA
• James Little BC PSAC, Regional Representative
• Robert Hellenius Commissionaire
• Raheman nur Mohamed CIUE
• Ray King
• Neil MacKay
• Kelly Legacy - Vernon - CEIU
• Carolyn McGillivray - White Rock CBSA
• Gwen Williams - SSO, NAT
• Sam Weise - CEIU
• Monique Bakker

Regrets

• Wayne Little UTE

Agenda Items:

1. BC PSAC Health and Safety webpage and forum.
2. New COSH Regulation XX Violence update.
3. New COSH Hazard Prevention Regulation XIX amendments (Ergonomics).
4. Report from the PSAC National H&S Rep’s Meeting.
5. Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Infections.
6. Work Reorganization and Call Centres.
7. Succession Planning.
8. H&S Logo Contest
9. PIPS participation in the PSAC BRUSH Committee.
10. Lancaster House Audio Conference - Benefits for Disabled Workers Navigating the Maze

Roundtable of introductions

Agenda Item #1 was moved to the end of agenda

Acceptance of previous minutes - m/s/c chuck/ floyd

1. COSH Regulation XX, Violence - The COSH has created a new Regulation to address Violence in the workplace. Violence Prevention in the Work Place forms Part XX of the Canada Occupational Health and Safety (COHS) Regulations, which are made pursuant to Part II of the Canada Labour Code (Code), the purpose of which is: to prevent accidents and injury to health arising out of, linked with, or occurring in the course of employment in the federal jurisdiction. The regulations appear in the December 15, 2007, edition of the Canada Gazette Part I (see volume 141, no 50, pages 3455 to 3459).

2. New Ergonomic Regulation Update - The COSH Regulation XIX Hazard Prevention has been amended to include Ergonomics. The brand new regulation is now law, the PSAC provided input into the regulation however much of our input was not included in the final document. The new regulation is available on the BC PSAC Website and Forum page.

3. Report from the PSAC National H & S rep’s meeting - The PSAC Regional H&S Rep’s have been meeting twice a year to discuss issues related to H&S. We have two national officers who, among other things review regulatory amendments negotiate the NJC agreements on H&S.

NJC covers broad based issues of concern to all employees in the government - all unions, not just PSAC. NJC is conducting a cyclical review of the H&S directives. We have the opportunity to provide input into the process. They have just completed directive A and are now working on B, C and D. These directives are very specific in nature and deal with things like Elevated Work Structures, Motor Vehicle Operations, Materials Handleing, PPE’s and Electrical Safety. The PSAC National H&S Officers would like us to look at the directives and see if we have any concerns about them or the language in them. The information will be provided on the BC PSAC H&S Website and Forum Page. We have until the end of summer 2008 to complete the task at which time Denis St. Jean, the national officer responsible for this, will do the final write up.

4. Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Infections - The Commissionairs in Vancouver had a serious problem with MRSA’s and some immigrant detainees. The Commissionairs currently run the detention cells for CBSA dealing with immigrant detainees. Rob Hellenius is familiar with MRSA via other sources. Gloves and hand washing do not enough protection against the spread of infection as suggested by the health nurse at the jail. There appears to be lots of misinformation about MRSA. Management thought that they had a spider infestation. There are two types of MRSA, facility acquired and community acquired. This can cause loss of limb, skin facetious, lung facetious. In Canada we do not have any protocols. Rob has asked PSAC for help. Initially we were close to a Section 128 “right to refuse” situation - but there were some protocols introduced and there probably was not imminent danger.. We needed to bring this to the attention of the employer, the commissionaires, and CBSA and ensure the safe transfer individuals. We have decided to follow the Section 127 “internal complaint resolution process” at this time.

Rob advises that a1/3 of the Canadian population carries MRSA and surfaces can remain infectious for up to two weeks.

CL has gone through this a couple of times at Matsqui. Senior management was notified by the hospital, health team called, and the person was isolated.

MD - currently CSC is coming up with a draft of a pandemic response paper. Generally it is after the fact, rather than preventative. They are dealing with infectious diseases such as Hep C, Hep B,

The H&S Rep for BC PSAC contacted Health Canada, and spoke with occupational health nurse (Ruth Nicholson). She does a lot of training for customs people at the airports around this issue. She would be willing to do some training around this issue for other concerned employees

There was a general discussion around the need for protocols and the proper use of PPE’s in relation to MRSA’s

5. Work Reorganization and Call centres - CEIU - Neil and Rahmen work as EI call centre agents in harbour centre. They raise the issue of work conditions in call centres and the impact that it has on call centre workers. Characterized by stress, burn out, and absenteeism. The PSAC has raised the issue of poor work conditions with management but with no success. Most issues are best addressed via H&S. The CEIU (Service Canada) members want to draw attention to the following issues (work environment, tethered to a desk, monitoring and surveillance of the work force, high call volumes, non stop, on phones 6.5 hours out of 7 hours. 2 sec break, etc). The employers emphasis is on quantity not quality. The results are burn out, frustration, hi turn over rate, hi absenteeism, managements insistence on doctor’s notes, low morale and intense work environment.

CBSA has a large call centre in Winnipeg and CRA have several call centres across the country. In the most recent minutes of the National Board of Directors (NBoD) meeting the PSAC President reported on Work Reorganization and Call Centres was one of his top issues. He indicated that the PSAC has one of the two seats representing the House of Labour on the Board of Govenors for Contact Centre Canada the sector council for organizations the are involved in the contact centre industries. The BC PSAC H&S Rep talked to Howie West the National Rep responsible for Work Reorganization, who informed us that there is a National PSAC working group on call centres. They have conducted a survey and the results are near completion. The PSAC Components are well represented in the working groups however; they have not met in quite some time.

The BC PSAC H&S Rep will contact Howie again to determine the names of the representatives on the call centre working group. Joy indicated that CEIU is looking for a new building to house 500 - 700 people as a call centre with processing. Employee Assistance Program (EAP) is available for members.

ACTION:

Joy - will get in touch with the CEIU group involved with call centres.
James - will contact Howie for names of members on the working groups.
Rahmen - will again raise the issue at his local H&S committee and raise the issue to the regional and national level.

6. Succession Planning - Joy is not running for a second term and any candidate for the BC Regional Council seat for H&S must be a member of the BRUSH.

7. BC PSAC H&S LOGO Contest - The canary in the cage is a good H&S symbol and it must be incorporated into all Logo Contest entries. The contest should conclude prior to the BC Regional Convention in April so that the wining entry can be revealed at the Convention.

8. PIPSC Participation - We have received a request from PIPS members in BC who wish to participate in our BRUSH meetings. Some thoughts were our need to be cautious and that we should contact PIPSC to determine if they have any objections. The REVP BC PSAC was informed and she wants the committee to decide. Some members would like to be inclusive and others are opposed.

Action: James - will contact Denis St. Jean to see if they have any concerns.

9. Lancaster House Audio Conference - Benefits for Disabled Workers Navigating the Maze - We purchased the audio tape of some of this conferences. This subject matter deals with WCB, DI and other benefits (EAP, fit to work) and is about 1 hr to 1.25 hours. We would like to schedule a time and place for airing the audio conference and we would like to hold the meeting in conjunction with the Human Rights Committee. Try something new for people who cannot get to the office. It will be broadcast on the DVD player and then will go over the conference call via the speakers.

10. BC PSAC Health and Safety Website and Forum - www.psacbc.com - We introduced the new BC PSAC Website and Forum page and explained how to access and register for the Forum. We feel that a lot of our current issues can be addressed in this new format and we will be inviting the rest of the PSAC members to also join in the discussions.

Meeting Adjourned