AB/NWT/NUNAVUT
PRESIDENTS CONFERENCE
BANFF CONFERENCE CENTRE
March 7, 8, 9, 2014
Friday, March 7
Housekeeping was reviewed. A reminder from Sandy MacDonald to contact Steve McCuaig in relation
to the status of all grievances at Level 2 and above. Robert Strang has taken an assignment with the
PSAC for one year.
Presidents Reports
CPC Vegreville – 30876
Vice President is Michelle Henderson. They currently have 22 casuals, 149 members and 1 Rand. They
have a new Director as of June 2013. Their first challenge is the new productivity expectations. They
are facing performance plans and being off AWA arrangements. Productivity levels and AWA are
permanently on LMCC agenda.
Their workloads have increased and they are at 85% of staffing levels. As of July 2013, there will be
overtime until the end of the fiscal year. Overtime is worked 2 hours, 3 times a week and full time on
Saturday and Sunday.
There is currently a process for CR-03, CR-04 and PM-01s advertised. This is the second cross country
process. On the second board there were 6,000 applicants with 2,500 applicants screened out.
Discussions were held with the Director in relation to the 3 members who were screened out. The
Director has met with the 3 members and one member was placed back in the pool.
Communication is an issue.
NWT/Nunavut Local – Yellowknife
Francine Clouston advised that Yellowknife was shrinking in numbers. They are leaving looking for jobs
with the GNWT. These members are 10 – 15 years away from retirement. GNWT salaries include
northern allowance as pensionable. Muepu is the new Director.
Medical travel for employees is now an issue as they are no longer entitled to a per diem. As a result
they can no longer buy groceries for meals when they are down south. There are also no advances on
travel for medical appointments.
They currently have staff shortages. There is a new team leader in Cambridge Bay and a replacement
team leader in Rankin Inlet. They have lost 2 full time employees. One employee resigned in June 2013
and 1 CSO left in Rankin Inlet.
Medicine Hat/Brooks – 30859
Sharon Findlay advised that they have 1 new full time CSO and one part time CSO. Medicine Hat is
currently reporting to Red Deer manager Susan Thompson.
Lethbridge
Catherine McFadden reported that she was elected at the AGM on April 24, 2013. They also now have a
Human Rights rep.
Site management, Jamie Leclerc moved to Calgary from Lethbridge. She is still acting as Lethbridge
manager. Gaetaine Croxford should be the new manager. Bob Coe is their new Director.
They have been reduced from 45 to 22 indeterminate staff with 2 casual staff. There has been no LMCC
since February 27, 2013. There was no meeting in June due to the flooding.
Calgary CIC
Donna Bellefeuille advised that the RDG and three Directors are now located in their office.
Citizenship has been hiring. There is a lot of money available to handle the backlog. There are 6 new
PM-01s and 4 CR-04’s who are all acting or on secondment. Citizenship reports to Chris Gelinas (?) in
Saskatoon. The settlement unit replaced 3 PM-03’s.
The office is being reconfigured to Office 2.0.
They are currently in an interview process for the CR-04 board.
Calgary HRCC/IRB 30859
Rosanne Gherasim advised that the last AGM was held in February 2014 with 21 members in
attendance. Discussion was on sick leave provisions, pensions and election of delegates to the Prairies
PSAC convention.
The Specialized Processing unit is still working on closing out Common Experience Payments estate files.
They currently have Canada Summer Jobs and Apprenticeship Incentive Grants as foundation programs.
They have a total of 150 members. LMCCs are few and far between. Management has hired 13 – 14
casuals and the rationale was that they did not wish to hire a term and did not want to extend any
terms.
One term employee has been released during their probationary period. The Harry Hayes Service
Canada Centre will be co-located with the Passport Office in June 2014.
Edmonton 30851
Claudette McGee - Interest in the Local has increased over the past year. More and more members
have been attending Local general meetings. The general meeting in November 2013 had a total of 62
members in attendance which was increase from the May general meeting.
There were 90 people who took part in the NVP elections at Canada Place. There was also increased
interest at our 44 CAP location which houses the Edmonton Call Centre and EI Processing. By all reports,
there was increased interest in the election for delegates and the NVP elections.
We have had continuous discussions at every meeting and with members about the next round of
bargaining. The members have been very vocal in their wish to not lose any sick leave provisions. Some
members have even expressed they would be willing to vote for a strike.
Our website is up and running again as we have signed a maintenance contract with a private
contractor. Our experience has been that members do not have the time and sometimes capability to
keep the website up to date.
Murray Pruden is our Balloting Chairperson and has done an excellent job with the CEIU delegate and
NVP elections.
We will be holding a Vice President election at our April general meeting as Linda Russell had to resign
for health reasons. There are currently two nominations for the position.
There has been an increase in grievances and member representations. Two of the grievances have
been in relation to a non-renewal of a term position which is now at Level 2.
There has been an investigation into missing money at the Service Canada Centre in Canada Place.
Member representation was provided at an investigation hearing on February 26th. The letter advising
of the investigation hearing indicated that their security clearance could be reviewed. There is a
concern that the member may be terminated due to loss of enhanced security clearance. This has been
a recent practice and has occurred in two previous cases involving members in different situations.
Performance management has raised concern with members as the new directive takes effect. Some
cases have come to light where the member’s performance had never been addressed previously and
now are under performance plans. This will have to be monitored closely.
Bargaining conference report was presented by delegate to conference, Claudette McGee.
PSAC BARGAINING CONFERENCE
OTTAWA – FEBRUARY 13 – 16, 2014
Robyn Benson, National President, opened the conference with the message that in this round of
bargaining there would be no concession bargaining.
A presentation was done on the Bill C-4 amendments to the collective bargaining process. NOTE: The
new law has not yet been interpreted by the courts. The highlights of the changes are:

The employer must provide notice to the Union of essential service designations prior to
December 12, 2014. Consultation periods follow.

As a collective agreement was in force and no notice to bargain had been filed on or before
December 12, 2013 the former Act applies. Notice to bargain must be given within 4 months
before June 20, 2014. Bargaining must commence within 20 days unless otherwise agreed.
Handout listing the collective bargaining process can be found at the end of this document.
Next, a presentation was done on the Canadian Labour Code changes. This affects 1.2 million
employees in federally regulated sites. There is a reduced definition of danger and what constitutes
dangerous work. There is a new definition of imminent or serious threat to the worker’s health. The
changes remove all references to Health and Safety Officers. It is now the responsibility of the Minister
or someone the Minister deems qualified. The work refusal process has also changed. If the employer
disagrees, the Minister can step in. If it is the Minister’s opinion that the work refusal is trivial, vexatious
or bad faith, the Minister can refuse to investigate. There are no appeal rights.
Next followed a presentation on sick leave. The federal budget contained two references to sick leave.
On page 251 there is mention of managing compensation costs. On page 252 there is a mention that
the government will implement a disability and sick leave management system. This system is to be in
place by July 2016. The contractor process will commence in 2014 for short and long term sick leave.
For Treasury Board employees there will now be workplace wellness and productivity management.
This raises a question of generational fairness with an aging workforce. Banked sick leave is seen as a
deficit. This is contrary to the Parliamentary Budget Officer report on sick leave which can be found at
the following link: http://www.pbo-dpb.gc.ca/files/files/Sick%20Leave%20EN.pdf.
The Union of Postal Communication Employees (UPCE) now has both short term and long term sick
leave. The sick leave is managed by Great West Life/Morneau Chapelle. They receive 70% of their pay if
they are totally disabled/following doctor’s orders. Medical information is sent to Great West Life. If
their claim is rejected, then they can appeal at the first level. If rejected again, they can appeal at the
second level. There is also a third level of appeal. Representation is available at all levels.
Jeannie Baldwin, REVP Atlantic gave a presentation on Work Force Adjustment. In April 2012 there wree
207 official WFA notices. There were a total of 22,769 affected PSAC members. The PSAC won an
alternation policy grievance. WFA remains a strong issue in collective bargaining.
The top 10 bargaining priorities were identified by the PA delegates. They are not to be released to the
membership until after bargaining commences. Therefore, I will not identify the priorities in this report.
I can report on the CEIU bargaining demands for the PA table.





43% were in relation to leave
1% on employment security (this includes the WFA provisions)
1% on pensions and benefits
3% on Health and Safety
7% on hours of work



7% on no discrimination
0% on classification and job descriptions
9% on working conditions
The number one priority in bargaining will be to retain all our sick leave provisions and this was a
sentiment echoed by Sister Robyn Benson.
A noon time rally was held in Tunneys Pasture at the Statistics Canada office where the SSO members
are currently in the bargaining process. Five buses of delegates gathered at the location and showed
tremendous support for our fellow PSAC members.
On the third day of the conference there were mobilization workshops. First there were member
mobilization workshops which identified challenges and barriers to member mobilization. The issues
identified in the workshops were recorded for PSAC mobilization exercises.
In the afternoon, a regional mobilization workshop was chaired by Sister Marianne Hladun of the Prairie
Region Council. Prairies delegates were asked what the Region council could do to support those
activities. Some key mobilization strategies were:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Membership meetings
How do we inform and engage our members?
Education initiatives
Working with our allies
Building public support
How do we know if a membership meeting has been successful?
The last day of the conference opened with a panel entitled: Our Bargaining Power. Paul Moist, CUPE
National President mentioned that he represented 629,00 members who had passed a motion in
complete support of the PSAC.
Hassan Yussuf, Secretary/Treasurer of the Canadian Labour Congress confirmed the CLC’s support of the
PSAC as well.
Debi Daviau, National President PIPS advised that PIPS had signed a solidarity statement with PSAC.
Sam Hammond, National President of the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario spoke about their
struggle and their strike involving the Dalton McGinty government. As a result of their actions, the
government lost power and some of their repressive labour laws were repealed.
Sister Robyn Benson advised that 17 unions have signed a solidarity pact with the PSAC. She also
indicated that all 1,000 bargaining demands would be delivered to Treasury Board once bargaining
commenced.
Dominic Lavoie next presented information on electronic voting. As a result of a 2012 PSAC resolution
on electronic voting, there will be an electronic voting pilot with CFIA members. A tentative agreement
was reached February 6, 2014. There will be electronic votes and electronic town hall meetings rather
than the traditional town hall meetings. The Collective Bargaining Committee of the National Board of
Directors will conduct an analysis of the pilot initiative and trigger a review of Regulation 15 and its
administrative guidelines.
Elections were held for the 9 bargaining committee members and 3 alternate members. The Alliance
Executive Committee has the right to up to 2 delegates should equity and geographic representation not
be present at the bargaining table.
Bargaining team members are:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Geoff Ryan
Nathalie Paulin (CEIU)
Kelly Bush
Stephane Allard
Louise Blouin
Tracy Cochrane
Toufic El Daher
Kate Hart
Alternates:
1. Sargy Chima (CEIU)
2. Tony Nicholas (CEIU)
3. Yvon Barriere
Note: Elections were lengthy and I had to leave after the 8th member was elected due to flight schedule.
Resolution for CEIU Convention
Electronic voting
Whereas the voting process currently in place is cumbersome, expensive, proven ineffective and noninclusive,
Be it Resolved that electronic voting be made available to all members.
Claudette McGee will research costing and attach information to the resolution before submission by
Sandy MacDonald.
Saturday, March 8
Convention preparation, Rules of Order / Local Meetings training was delivered by Dolly Ablitt, PSAC
Rep, Calgary.
Sunday, March 9
A resolution on restructure of the CEIU national executive was prepared and will be finalized by Sandy
MacDonald.
The new structure would have the following national representation:
BC/YT – 1 NVP
AB/NWT/Nunavut – 1 NVP
SASK/MAN – 1 NVP
Ontario – 2 NVP
Quebec – 2 NVP
NB – 1 NVP
PEI/NS/NFLD – 1 NVP
IRB, CIC and HRCC would still each have 1 NVP.
The 4 NVP Women’s Issues positions would be reduced to 1 NVP – Women’s Issues.
An additional resolution was prepared in relation to expenditures:
Whereas the membership in CEIU has dropped siginificantly since the last convention,
Whereas CEIU is now operating in a deficit,
Be it Resolved that CEIU reduce its expenditures in proportion to the declining dues revenue.
Audited Financial Statement
The audited financial statement for the Alberta/NWT/Nunavut Regional Council for the period of
January through December 2013 was presented for adoption.
Motion to adopt the financial statement by Donna Bellefeuille and seconded by Cathy Peyer. Motion
was passed unanimously.
Conference was adjourned at 12 noon.
Minutes were prepared from notes taken by Claudette McGee, President at the conference.