There are several reasons why even the most dedicated, hard working member cannot substitute for a functioning committee. A committee brings more “People” power to the job. Through the collective efforts of many, a greater range of opinions, ideas, solutions and experiences are made available. When a committee consists of informed and concerned union members, it becomes a channel through which ambitious projects can be directed.
There are also advantages for the individual committee members. Serving on committees is good leadership training. It enables you, as a member, to learn about community and union problems and services while improving your problem solving and communication skills.
One of the Local’ s major tasks is to provide its membership with the services offered by the Alliance and to solve the many problems that arise at the worksite due to the working conditions and/or problems arising in the relationship between the employee and the employer. To best service the membership and to solve problems, Locals have organized committees: Stewards’ Committee, Collective Bargaining Committee, Labour-Management Consultation Committee, Health and Safety Committee, Women’s Committee, Equity Committee etc. It is important for you, as a Local Officer, to use Local Committees. They are set up and organized to help the Local solve problems and be more efficient.
Locals are required to set up a number of Standing Committees to help in their responsibility to represent members such as the Local Bargaining Committee or the Health and Safety Committee.
The use of a committee system is also an excellent way to distribute the workload within a Local and at the same time provide increased opporunities for members to get involved in Local activities.
For example, a Membership Committee can maintain an up-to-date record of all employees within the Local’s jurisdiction and contact new employees to sign their membership cards. Another example would be the Education Committee whose task is to promote PSAC education courses and other labour courses as well as provide educational sessions within the Local.
An Effective Committee Will Have:
- An objective which is important and well defined;
- A goal that can be achieved better by a comittee than by any one member or existing organization;
- An experienced member to chair the committee;
- A small group of members who are interested in the job the committee has to do;
- Procedures which are informal, democratic, inclusive and effective;
- Discussions involving all members of the committee and resulting in decisions and/or recommendations acceptable to or at least accepted by every member;
- Regular meetings which are organized in advance as to time and place convenient and accessible to all members;
- A secretary with prepared agendas and who will keep appropriate records of the results of the committee’s work;
- An evaluation from time to time to see how the committee is getting on with its job, to give recognition for jobs well done, to redefine jurisdiction and priorities, to recruit new members to help and to redistribute workload.
Reports of Committees
- The committee’s report should always be made in the form of the third person;
- When the committee makes its report it should be in the form of a recommendation;
- If it is an important report it should be signed by all committee members; otherwise it should be signed by the presiding officer;
- The reader of the report will usually conclude with the remarks “on behalf of the committee, 1 move adoption of the report”;
- Minority reports may be submitted after the committee’s report has been read and a motion to adopt has been made;
- Minority reports may commence: “The undersigned, a minority of the committee, desire to express their views on the matter”;
- A minority report is presented for information only and it cannot be acted upon unless a motion is made to substitute it for the report of the majority.