Public Service Alliance of Canada BC

BRUSH MEETING MINUTES, JUNE 25, 2008

Chair: Sam Wiese

In Attendance: James Little, Kirk Oppermann, Jack Seto and Rob Hellenius

By Teleconference: Mandi Schubert, Melvin Dureen, Monique Bakker, Bob Jackson, Grace MacIver, Wayne Little, Carolyn McGillivary

Regrets: Angela Marafon, Diane Beaulieu, Wanda Pocok, Deborah Wong, Diane McArthur, Bill Plemming, Sarah Burns, Thomas Gallagher, Rob Terris, Rob Hynes and Kelly Megyesi

Continue reading below, or download the June 25th BRUSH Committe meeting minutes (pdf)

Reviewed: Agenda

No additions or revisions

Reviewed Minutes From Last Meeting:

January 23, 2008

Explanation was provided on the National Joint Council (NJC) Cyclical Review being conducted and the work that was recently done at the PSAC National H&S Reps meeting.

We have received one regional submission from CFIA regarding Fumigation Hoods.

UTE has started a campaign on Call Centres – Sam wants members to have a look at the UTE website and access the bulletin on Call Centres (Feb 6, 2008). Sam will also contact reps from UTE to discuss how we might assist or hook into their campaign. Also, a forum has been started on our regional H&S webpage.

Issue was also raised about the participation of PIPSC members at our BRUSH meetings. The REVP has been informed of the request and feels the committee should decide. Agreed we should be cautious, and maybe the committee should have a vote or we should discuss at our upcoming Regional H&S Conference. We should contact the PIPSC H&S Rep to discuss.

New terms of reference will be developed for the BRUSH and maybe they should include this in their discussions.

Tabled for now.

Agenda Items:

1. Terms of Reference for the BRUSH

We reviewed the terms of reference from the Atlantic, Ontario and our own. We are no longer tasked with the Environment responsibilities only H&S. We agreed to create a sub committee to review the terms of reference and they will report at the next committee meeting.

Committee Members: Mandi Schubert, Grace MacIver, Wayne Little, Bob Jackson

2. Health and Safety Training

The introduction of H&S Training as a JLP course is still being examined in the respective Head Offices and the prospects look good. Currently we have no H&S training planned for this year with the exception of three one-day courses at this years union school. The courses are Regulations, WCB and DI.

3. WCB Proposal

The idea is to encourage more membership involvement in WCB Advocacy in the BC Region. To do this there will be a requirement for members to play a more active role in WCB Case Management. Similar to the Grievance Process and representation. Their will be an educational component to the proposal and we would be looking at training ~ 50 members over 5 days. Stay tuned.

4. Report from the June 2008 National PSAC H&S Reps Meeting

James attended the regional reps meeting in Ottawa. The national H&S team would like to encourage members to participate in the following campaigns.

• Pregnant and Nursing Women and their rights petition
• Bill 484 Violence Against Fetus – War Against Abortion Rights
• Bill C51 Amendment to Food and Drug Act – however we (PSAC) might come out against this.

5. Right to Refuse Cards

The PSAC has developed wallet sized “Right to Refuse” cards. Let James know if your office or members need some. Some will be available to those in attendance at the next meeting.

6. BC Regional H&S Conference

We need to hold our triennial regional H&S conference before the National PSAC Convention in April 2009. We have been looking at some dates and it looks like February, March or April. We need to establish an organizing committee and finalize the dates. We will have more information for the September meeting.

7. H&S Logo Contest

Our original goal was to create a brand for the BRUSH so we decided to hold a contest to create a new BRUSH Logo. We will promote the contest through the website and hopefully announce the winner at the regional conference.

We should establish an incentive – need to discuss cost.

8. Meeting Start Times

We would like to start the meetings at 5:30. This time seems to work for the majority – some members have difficulty-making meeting this early. It is important that the minutes get out to participants prior to the meeting. James apologized for not attaching the minutes to the e-mail announcing the meeting. We are trying to achieve a regular meeting schedule in conjunction with the BC Fed OH&S meetings (3rd Wednesday of every second month).

9. Silent/Visual Fire Alarms – Item Added by CEIU 20975 Victoria

This is becoming a big issue in the CEIU office in downtown Victoria as well as the DFO office in Nanaimo. Offices with deaf members should have silent/visual alarms installed. They should not rely on evacuation buddy’s or pagers. We would like to put employers on notice that we will be adding this issue to the workplace H&S committee agendas and some suggested solutions are:

• contacting the fire departments
• contacting other social activist groups to put pressure on government
• give ultimatums
• PWGSC’s policy is to provide members with pagers and they are paged immediately once the fire alarm is activated. The experience in Victoria is there is a considerable delay (sometimes 10 minutes) and what if someone is in the bathroom.
• In all new facilities silent/visual alarms are being installed and it is now part of the Canada Building Code.
• The other related issue is the lack of clear guidelines for Floor Wardens
• According to accessibility standards the issue should be raised at the workplace H&S committee meeting and management has 3 months to deal with the issue
• Contact PWGSC for more information

Next meeting Sept 24, 2008 – 5:30 p.m.