National Local 20140

PSAC Local 20140 SSO Field Interviewers Annual General Meeting (DRAFT)

March 7, 2006 PSAC Regional Office Vancouver, BC

The NAT 20140 AGM minutes, March 7 2006 are available as a .pdf or read more below

1. CALL TO ORDER Meeting called to order at 9:35 am (Vancouver Time) By Local Pres. Diane McArthur

2. ROLL CALL taken by Secretary Frances Adams:

In attendance @ Vancouver & Victoria Regional offices of PSAC, as well as by teleconference:

• Frances Adams
• Shari Armstrong
• Betty Ann Martin
• Diane McArthur
• Margo Owens
• Sharon Hazelwood
• Glenda Eardley
• Griselda Shmidtke
• Daryl Murphy
• Gwen Williams
• Hazel Hodgkins
• Sanda Turner
• Mark Green
• Lauren Carter
• Davy Leung
• Glenna Gellatly
• Mary Kobliuk
• Linda Woods
• Deborah Grubin
• Adriana O’Brien
• Kapal Badhan (joining later)
• Guests: Jack Rudd, PSAC Service Officer
• Steve Houston Nat Comp RVP BC/Ykt (Steve will be joining the meeting later)

Glenna Gellatly Local 20140 Membership Officer confirmed that we had reached a quorum.

Introduction of Guests: Diane welcomed all members and Jack Rudd, the PSAC area representative. Diane noted that minutes of the previous meeting, an agenda and financial Statement were sent out to all those attending by teleconference. She stated that if anyone was missed, they should notify her & she would send them out to them.

3. PROPOSED AGENDA

1. Call to Order
2. Roll call/Introduction of guests
3. Adoption of the Agenda
4. Minutes of the previous AGM held Feb 28th, 2005
5. Report of Officers
• President
• Membership Officer
• Treasurer’s Report
• Bargaining/Ratification Report
• Grievances
6. Election of Officers
7. New Business
8. Adjournment

Adoption of Agenda:

The proposed agenda was moved by Daryl and seconded by Mark and adopted by the members.

4. MINUTES of the PREVIOUS AGM held February 28th 2005

Frances read aloud verbatim the previous minutes. (As attached) There was an amendment, to add the word “approximately” to Proposal # 3. So that it reads “Sanda replied it equals approximately 50 cents a month” Respectfully submitted Frances Adams

Moved by Daryl and seconded by Mark for the adoption of the minutes as amended, and carried. .

5. REPORTS OF OFFICERS

President’s Report

Last year was a challenging one both for me personally, and for the membership at large.

I attended negotiations as your elected representative, and really gained an appreciation for those who travel extensively! The first few times were exciting – nice hotels, fancy restaurants, room service etc. It soon became an ordeal to be lived through as I realized that the various meetings and conventions seemed to be never-ending. I spent more time on the telephone with my family and friends than I did in person–to-person contact! I spent about 5+ weeks in Ottawa for negotiations, spread throughout the year.

In February I attended the National Women’s Convention in Vancouver as your representative.

I was also elected to represent you at the Triennial BC Regional Convention again in Vancouver in April.

In August I was a delegate to the PSAC National Convention in Quebec City. This convention was where resolutions suggested by the members were debated and passed, or defeated, to give direction to PSAC on what direction the Union should be moving in the future.

In November I attended a Strategy Committee Meeting in Ottawa again, to develop a plan for ratification of the tentative contract agreement, and also set up a strike strategy plan should the contract be defeated.

I then traveled this province, and to Saskatchewan, in November and early December to various ratification meetings to allow members to ask questions, and vote to accept or defeat the negotiation teams’ tentative agreement.

Also in November I attended Union School, along with several of the members of this Local, where we signed up for various course such as “Respectful Workplaces, Facing Management, PSMA Regulations, Grievance Handling and Health & Safety. This was immediately followed by Executive Training and Shop Steward training as identified in our Local Development Plan.

In early December I attended 6 days of training for the Union Development Plan. This was week 1 of a 3 week course which will continue on into this year.

Also during 2005, we negotiated and voted on our second collective agreement, accepting it by a large majority. The new contract has made some important advances. The Employer, though not providing us with individual telephone lines or home offices, did at least admit that there is a legitimate safety issue involved in having interviewers leaving their residence telephone numbers for strangers to contact them. A promise was made by the Employer to implement a voice message system where interviewers could leave a private return telephone number for respondents to reach them. This number would have no connection with their residence address or telephone number. Though we have yet to see when, or exactly how, this system will become reality, we will hold the Employer to their promise.

In this 2^nd contract, we also achieved a shift differential of $2.00 per hour for evening and weekend work for those interviewers working on “non-social” surveys such as CPI & TOD.

We had the Employer recognize that there was a loss of income when technical issues forced interviewers to stop working. To this end they agreed to compensate those interviewers affected according to the TPU of the cases involved. This TPU recognition is the 1^st in any PSAC contract. All of these are very important advances. Now the challenge will be to make the Employer follow the terms that they agreed to!

We continue to fight a number of important grievances. Thank you to those members involved for their patience and tenacity! Together we will prevail. We also settled a number of important principles by winning a few grievances and holding the Employer to their word.

I, along with your elected Local Executive, continue to meet with Jerry Page and others to “discuss items of mutual concern” at the Union Management Consultation Committee Meetings (UMC). I also meet monthly in Abbotsford as a member of the PSAC Fraser Valley Area Council.

Your Local Executive continues to meet as a team to discuss Local issues and fan information out to the members. These meetings generally are via teleconference and occur about every month, usually 9 – 10 times per year.

All in all, it has been a busy year. I wish to thank everyone for their generous support of me, and of the Union during this difficult time. We will need this strength and solidarity in the days and weeks ahead as the Employer continues with their staff cut backs and other attacks against our membership. Together we are a force to be reckoned with.

Respectfully Submitted, Diane McArthur

Question: Sharon asked if everyone was aware that there was to be a voice mail system put in place so that interviewer would not have to leave a personal phone number with a respondent.

No members responded to the query, but Diane stated this was a bargaining commitment by Ottawa. It would be available nation-wide, not just the Western Region, but so far no date has been announced for implementation.

Membership Officer’s Report:

Our membership, to date, is 52. Last year at this time there were 71 members. There will be some changes in membership due to new members, loss of AWW hours, retirees, and the recent layoff of interviewers and senior interviewers. A great loss to us all. A reminder of the membership requirement is: -Minimum of 12.5 Assigned Work Week hours PLUS Minimum of 3 months employment. Our dues to Local now $6.00, as voted on @ our last AGM - up from $4.00. Membership packages were made up & given to seniors to give to new employees. Each package consists of a list of the Local executive, telephone numbers, and email addresses, Union application card, information on how to sign, return envelope and additional information about the Union. Again this year I will ask that you please inform your area captain and the membership officer of: a) new hires b) people on leave c) retirements, or people leaving Statistics Canada employment d) changes in residential address, telephone numbers or email addresses. Changes in address should be done on PSAC website http://www.psac.com/address . Be sure to also inform your Local’s Membership Officer. **Please note Glenna’s email address is changed to sc20140@gmail.com .

Respectful submitted by Glenna Gellatly.

Question: Sharon asked, “How do we know who our members are?” Glenna replied that PSAC provides us a list of dues paying members, which we check and update. StatsCan is supposed to supply us a list, but haven’t in a year. Diane noted that a request has been sent to Jerry Page, Regional Director, to supply the Local with this list ASAP.

It was moved by Lauren and seconded by Mark and adopted by the members to accept the membership report

At this point Steve Houston and Kapal Badhan joined the meeting.

Treasurer’s report read aloud verbatim by the Treasurer Kapal Badhan is as follows:

The report is available in the .pdf version of the minutes.
Respectfully submitted Kapal Badhan

Note: Kapal reported that we report on the simple accounting system.

Diane stated that the financial records for 2003 & 2004 were previously submitted for audit by Marie Keasey Financial Advisor PSAC National Component, Ottawa. In both cases the audit was passed successfully with no recommendations for change. Diane read aloud the letter from Marie Keasey dated April 20, 2005 confirming that the previous year’s financial records had been audited and were in order. Our final figures and Marie’s agree, however Marie did the audit using a different methodology than the Local does.

Question: from Sharon: “Why is the size of dues so much larger this year instead of previous years?” Diane answered: Two reasons - The past years’ dues were for less than 1 full year as procedures had to be implemented for collecting the dues by both StatsCan & PSAC. And this was done very slowly being as it was the first time for this collection. For 2005 the dues were for a complete year and were remitted regularly, thus the total was greater.

Question: from Glenna: “What does it mean by Honorarium (in the financial statement)? Kapal answered: The Local provides Honorariums to members who attend union training.

Linda Woods and Lauren Carter exited at this time.

Moved by Frances and seconded by Sanda to accept the Treasurer’s report, adopted by members

Bargaining and Ratification Report

Bargaining went fairly quickly, we didn’t get everything, but our gains were significant. Remember this is only our 2nd contract. We had a plus 90% acceptance vote of the contract. Diane attended ratification meetings in Surrey, Vancouver, Victoria and Saskatoon. All members need to keep grievances going forward. The contract agreed on states the words the employer must abide by. We also need to talk to our seniors, and we must start thinking about what we want in our next contract. This contract ends in November of 2007. Respectfully submitted by Diane McArthur

It was moved by Mark and seconded by Kapal to accept the report, carried.

Grievances Update

Diane reported on the brown Bag lunch grievance (BBL) has been denied at third level, and is currently scheduled to be heard @ the 4th (and final) level. Though we haven’t as yet won this one, for retro pay for lunches, we still have universal application of the Treasury Board rates for meals, so it’s still a “victory”. We also grieved the right to be introduced to new hires and won.

Sharon reported that she has handled 5 grievances and some were settled without having to go all the way through the grievance procedure. Sharon encourages us to grieve wrongs as we have the procedure now in place to deal with disputes.

Hazel Hodgkin has left the meeting

It was moved by Kapal and seconded by Daryl to accept the report, carried by all members

Equity Officer’s report was added to Officer’s reports

Sanda reported that self identification is important. It’s completely confidential & is not shared with the employer. People are sent as delegates to the Triennial conference on Human Rights that meets prior to the regular Triennial Conference of PSAC. Each region may send 8 delegates, and these representatives can be gay, bisexual, lesbian, handicapped, a visible minority, or transgendered. BC/Yukon is traditionally more diverse, and in the last year the number of people who have self-identified has doubled. Last time our 8 members caucused with 11 different caucus groups. Sanda also urged us to locate, and connect with, area council of PSAC because we are such a small local and we need to educate others to our roles, and also we might need solidarity during strikes, which the PSAC Local Council members would provide.

The report was moved by Kapal and seconded by Glenna for acceptance, carried

Health and Membership Officer’s report was added to the agenda

Gwen reported that on March 10, 11 and 12, 2006 she will attend a health and safety meeting. In May of 2005 she took Health and Safety training, with, among others, Carol Dunstone, Bonnie Holte, Shelly Senehuk, Jerry Page and Petra Bowes. In October of 2005 Gwen organized, and with Shelly, put on a Health and Safety Training program for seniors in Richmond.

Margo Owens left the meeting.

Sanda moved and Mark seconded that the report be accepted, carried

6. ELECTION OF OFFICERS

Nomination officer Linda Woods gave her report to Diane earlier as Linda had a prior engagement. Diane surrendered the chair and the report to Jack Rudd. An explanation was given as how votes would be collected for members in Vancouver, Victoria and on teleconference if a vote is necessary. 17 members will vote, Quorum is still maintained. The nominating committee put forward the following names:

• Diane McArthur for President, Jack called three (3) times for further nominations, hearing none, declared Diane President
• Linda Woods for Vice President, Jack called 3 times for further nominations, hearing none declared Linda Vice President
• Sanda Turner for Equity Officer Jack called 3 times for further nominations, hearing none, declared Sanda Equity Officer
• Shari Armstrong for Treasurer, Jack called 3 times for new nominations, hearing none, declared Shari Treasurer
• Glenna Gellatly for Membership Officer, Jack called 3 times for new nominations, hearing none declared Glenna Membership Officer
• Frances Adams for Secretary, Jack called for new nominations 3 times, hearing none declared Frances Secretary
• Sharon Hazelwood for Chief Shop Steward, Jack called 3 times for new nominations, hearing none, declared Sharon Chief Shop Steward
• Gwen Williams for Health and Safety Officer, Jack called 3 times for further nominations, hearing none declared Gwen Health and Safety Officer

Jack declared elections complete. There was a round of applause.

Jack returned the chair to Diane

Steve Houston Regional Vice President administered the Oath of Office to the executive

7. NEW BUSINESS

Item 1* Diane noted that this is International Women’s Week and read a short excerpt from an article in the on-line news journal “Straight Goods”. This gave the history of International Women’s Day which was first observed by the Socialist Party of America on February 28, 1909. These women demanded shorter work hours, higher wages, and voting rights in the garment worker’s strike in New York City. One year later there was a conference in Copenhagen where a proposal for International Women’s Day was passed and finally implemented in 1911. Their theme was Bread & Roses, recognition that all people need both sustenance as well as beauty in our lives. Also in 1911 - 141 men and women died in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire where they had been locked inside the building so they couldn’t interrupt their work. International Women’s Day was eventually established by the United Nations in 1977. In Canada International Women’s Week is celebrated from March 5 – March 11, with International Women’s Day on March 8. Diane noted the important contributions of all Union members, both male and female, as what concerns women, concerns all peoples.

Item 2* A letter came to us from the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers & Iron Ship Builders Local 484 asking for our help in their struggle with management, during their current lock-out. Diane gave some background information and referred members to the Local’s website at www.boilermakers484.org The letter gave some background for the situation, and asked for financial & moral support.

Moved by Diane and seconded by Sharon to table this letter to the next meeting, carried

Item 3* Sanda thanked the Local for the condolence card and the flowers from the executive on her mother’s recent passing.

Steve Houston reported on the following 5 items:

Item 4* National Component. Its website is http://www.nationalcomponent.com and he urges us to use it, as it has lots of useful information and its very user friendly. It lists the executive as well as much other helpful & interesting information. Steve’s e-mail address is houstos@national-component.org

Item 5* Steve also reported the regions budget in prior years has been $30,000 but a new budget is being put forward in the neighbourhood of $40,000. The regional team will divert money to smaller locals, as large locals have a bigger portion of membership fees available to them. Steve will be picking up the Teleconference charges for this meeting, and hopes to pick up future charges.

Item 6* BC/Yukon will be having a regional conference in the future and 1 or 2 members per local can attend. The conference will separate into groups such as employer or locals.

Item 7* National component has stream lined how the honorarium pay system works and will now accept e-mail from the workshops’ facilitators for proof of attendance, rather than requiring copies of documents.

Item 8* Please note that the Assistant Area Vice Presidents for BC/Yukon are Nicola Walch (Yukon), Lise Edwards (Victoria), & Dan Sutherland, Human Rights (Vancouver). Steve handles the Vancouver area as well, though we may talk to any area representative, not just the representative from our area. Dan as Human Rights Officer is required to meet with all locals at least once in every 3 years. Please remember to turn to them for financial help they are trying to be creative on money issues.

Diane thanked Steve for attending our meeting and for the support.

Item 9* Glenna explained the delay in the date of the AGM, as our bylaws call for the meeting to be held before the end of February. Diane asked PSAC for a delay this year as Jan/Feb is so busy for all members and for her as well this year. If we were to change it in our bylaws we have to give 30 days notice, but in reality it would take about 45 days to get the notice out to all members.

We will discuss the issue in the next executive meeting. Kapal reported that the budget has to be submitted by February so that will have an impact on future decisions.

Question: Deborah asked, Can CPI people be assigned SSO work rather than have SSO people be recalled? Diane answered that she will investigate and report back at the next membership meeting.

Item 10* Next General Membership Meeting. After much discussion the next Membership meeting was scheduled for Tuesday April 25, 2006 at 9:00 am at the Vancouver PSAC Regional Office. The usual arrangements for conference call ins will apply. It was noted that Union membership extends 8 months from layoff dates or end of employment so we can include all members in our next Meetings.

Item 11* The next Executive meeting will be March 28th, Tuesday at 7:45 am via teleconference.

Item 12* Diane will send a hardcopy of bylaws to members, if requested, as well as notice of the next meetings, and the proposal to change 1 bylaw to adjust the AGM meeting dates requirement.

Item 13* Layoffs: if you feel that your layoff is unfair, or not to the terms of the contract, please phone an executive member ASAP!

Mary Kobliuk left the meeting

Deborah and Davy moved the adjournment for the meeting at 11:45 AM Vancouver time, carried.