Motion concerning amendments to the AGSEM Constitution
Moved by the EC
The motion that follows contains a number of amendments with are being proposed by the Executive
Committee. Some of the amendments that follow are very minor; others are more substantial. The
amendments have been compiled into one motion so that uncontroversial amendments can be made
without extensive (and time-consuming) debate.
While the amendments are being proposed as one motion, the General Assembly will be given the
opportunity to separate any of these amendments into one or more separate motions; in turn, any of
these motions may be tabled if the General Assembly does not believe enough time is available for
debate.
The amendments in the motion below appear in the order that they appear in the Constitution.
Amendments in italics do not affect the interpretation of the Constitution and are only made for
readability.
BIRT the AGSEM Constitution be amended as follows, with the language indicated in
Appendix XXX:
1. Add a definition of "The Units" in article 1.01
2. Add new “Documents” section in Chapter 1 to require translation of the Constitution, to formalize
a Policy Manual to manage internal Union policies, and to set rules on which documents may and
which documents may not be confidential
3. Fix capitalization in article 2.11
4. Add “constitutional amendments” to secret ballot votes in article 2.23
5. Add new "Consultative Assemblies" article as 2.31
6. Move “verification of dues” earlier in article 4.09
7. Replace "Caisse Populaire or Credit Union" with "appropriate financial institution" in article 4.09
8. Add line in article 4.12 to make EC responsible for respecting Policies Manual
9. Strike “Unit” from article 4.16
10. Change EC nomination period from two weeks to one week in article 4.16
11. Strike “or 1.11” from article 4.32
12. Strike “Executives must be physically present to cast a vote and count for quorum” from article
4.36
13. Amend "Decision-making protocol" to move three of the articles (4.40-4.44) to the Policy Manual (we
decided to move these articles to the Policy Manual at EC 2013-10-23)
14. Change EC nomination period from two weeks to one week in article 5.08
15. Change Invigilator BC compensation to put it in line with the TA rate in article 5.22
16. Strike requirement to use a “Caisse populaire or Credit Union” from article 6.03
17. Move articles 6.11-6.16 to new Chapter 9 – Committees; change “attributes of the auditors” to
“duties of the Auditing Committee”
18. Strike requirement to submit motions 5 days in advance from article 7.03
19. Added new Chapter 9 – Committees
i. ‘9.01 establishes 5 “Permanent Committees” (Executive Committee, Audit Committee, Equity
Committee, External Affairs Committee, Mobilization Committees)
ii. ‘9.02-9.04 distinguish the different types of committee
iii. ‘9.05-9.07 set rules for committee compensation
iv. ‘9.08 and 9.09 – basic procedural rules
v. ‘9.10 and 9.11 – membership and election rules
vi. ‘9.12-9.16 – Auditing Committee rules, added additional responsibilities
***
Text of amendments (where applicable):
1. “Unit or The Units: any or all of the bargaining units, and their respective representative bodies
within the University.”
2. Five new articles under the heading of "Documents" in Chapter 1:
a. 1.22 – A French translation of this Constitution shall be maintained at all times by the
Union and shall be made available to members along with the English version. The
President shall be responsible for ensuring that translation of the Constitution, and any
amendments, takes place in a timely manner. Should any dispute arise between the
English version and the French version of this Constitution, the English version shall be
considered official.
b. 1.23 – The Union shall maintain a Policy Manual. The purpose of the Policy Manual shall
be to:
i. Outline any official operational policies of the Union not indicated in this
Constitution
ii. Provide information to Executive Committee members, Union employees and
volunteers
iii. Promote institutional memory and assist with the transition between Executive
Committee members
iv. Include an appendix indicating all of the political decisions and mandates
established by the Delegate Council and the General Assembly.
c. 1.24 – The Policy Manual may be amended at any time by the Delegate Council or the
General Assembly as long as the amendment does not contradict this Constitution; it
may also be amended at any time by the Executive Committee as long as the
amendment does not contradict this Constitution or a decision by the Delegate Council
or the General Assembly.
d. 1.25 – Non-confidential documents are public documents accessible to members on
request from the Secretary General. The following categories of documents may be
established by the committee or individual producing it to be confidential, subject to
applicable laws:
i. Documents containing personal information, such as lists of members
ii. Documents pertaining to a grievance or otherwise pertaining to a legally
sensitive matter
iii. Documents pertaining to a unionization campaign
e. 1.26 – Documents shall not be made confidential unless necessary. No final decision
resulting in the use of Union resources shall be confidential.
3. n/a
4. “amendments to this constitution”
5. “At the discretion of the Chair of any duly convened General Assembly or Unit Assembly, before
quorum is reached or after it has been lost, the members present may enter into a Consultative
Assembly to discuss the business announced in the proposed agenda. Such an Assembly shall
make no binding decisions, but the opinions expressed therein shall be considered in
subsequent decisions by the Executive Committee and by Delegate Council. Any such
Consultative Assembly shall be immediately adjourned if quorum is met, and the General or Unit
Assembly shall be called to order.”
6. n/a
7. Replace "Caisse Populaire or Credit Union" with "appropriate financial institution"
8. “to ensure that all policies established in the Policy Manual are respected”
9. n/a
10. n/a
11. n/a
12. n/a
13. n/a
14. n/a
15. Replace “Invigilator rate” with “TA rate”.
16. n/a
17. Replace “attributes of the auditors” with “duties of the Auditing Committee”
18. The chapter text is as follows:
Chapter Nine: Committees
Types of Committees
9.01 – The Union includes the following Permanent Committees:
·
The Executive Committee
·
The Auditing Committee
·
The Equity Committee
·
The External Affairs Committee
·
The Mobilization Committee
9.02 – The General Assembly and Delegate Council may establish Union Committees. The Unit
Assemblies may establish Unit Committees. The Executive Committee may establish Ad Hoc
Committees.
9.03 – The Bargaining Committee is a periodic committee and is elected by a Unit Assembly as defined in
Chapter 5.
Powers
9.04 – The Executive and Bargaining Committee have the power granted to them in this Constitution.
Other Permanent Committees, Union Committees and Unit Committees have the powers granted to
them by this Constitution and by the decisions establishing them. Ad Hoc Committees are working subcommittees of the Executive Committee. No committee decisions may contradict this Constitution, or a
decision by the General Assembly or Delegate Council.
Compensation
9.05 – The compensation for the Executive Committee and Bargaining Committee are established in
Chapters 4 and 5 respectively.
9.06 – The chair of a Permanent Committee (other than the Executive Committee), and the members of
the Auditing Committee, are entitled to an (additional) honorarium as determined in the annual budget.
The General Assembly or Delegate Council may extend this honorarium to any additional committees, or
any additional committee members.
9.07 – Compensation for committee members is subject to the annual budget.
Procedure, Structure, and Membership
9.08 – Meetings of a committee shall be convened by a committee chair, with due notice given to all
members of the committee.
9.09 – Notes or minutes shall be taken at all committee meetings and shall at minimum record any
decision made by the committee.
Election of Permanent Committee Members
9.10 – Any member in good standing as per article 1.10 is eligible to become a member of a committee.
The body establishing a Union Committee, Unit Committee or Ad Hoc Committee also appoints
members to that committee.
9.11 – Members of the Union shall be elected to each of the Permanent Committees, with the exception
of the Executive Committee, in the same manner as the Executive Committee is elected (4.14-26). Three
(3) members shall be elected to the Auditing Committee; the General Assembly shall set the number of
members elected to the other committees. No one who has a seat on any other Permanent or Union
committee may be a member of the Auditing Committee. The Delegate Council may also appoint
members to any Permanent Committee or Union Committee on an interim basis.
Auditing Committee - Recognition of the Union’s Auditors
9.12 – At any time, a person authorized to represent the Affiliates may proceed with an audit of the
books of the Union. The Secretary-Treasurer shall submit to this authorized representative all requested
books and exhibits so that she may conduct the audit.
Auditing Committee - Meetings and Quorum
9.13 – The Auditing Committee shall meet at least once every six (6) months. The Secretary-Treasurer
must be present at the meetings of the Auditing Committee, unless the members of the Committee
decide otherwise. Quorum is two (2) members.
Auditing Committee - Rights and Duties
9.14 – The duties of the Auditing Committee are:
·
to receive a monthly report of all revenues and expenses, with references to the decision
approving an expense where appropriate;
·
to examine and to authenticate the reconciliation of the Caisse Populaire or bank account, the
Treasurer’s report, as well as all other financial accounts of the Union (leisure, insurance, strike funds,
etc.);
·
to verify the adherence to the resolutions of the Executive Committee and the General Assembly;
·
to alert the Delegate Council of any discrepancies or concerns;
·
if necessary, to call a Special General Assembly, upon a unanimous decision.
Auditing Committee - Annual Report
9.15 – Once a year, the Auditing Committee shall submit a written report of their work, as well as any
recommendations that they deem appropriate, to the General Assembly. The report and
recommendations shall be submitted beforehand to the Executive Committee and Delegate Council. The
report shall present a comparison of the previous year’s financial statements and budget, and note any
discrepancies.
9.16 – If the report is not ready fourteen (14) days before the Annual General Assembly, the SecretaryTreasurer will request that a representative from the Affiliates proceed with an audit of the books of the
union and present a report to the Annual General Assembly.
External Affairs Committee
9.17 – The responsibilities of the External Affairs Committee shall be as follows:
·
to promote inter-union solidarity at McGill, with members of the Affiliates, and with others that
share the Union’s objectives
·
to assist in recruiting Union delegates for meetings of the Affiliates
·
to review the relationship of the Union and the Affiliates, including the services and benefits
received from this relationship as well as any challenges, and to present a report to this effect to the
Annual General Assembly
***
Explanation of amendments:
1. Even though it's clear enough already, this will help with adding new units, as well as making
other unit-specific amendments in the future
2. Firstly, it is useful to have a version of the Constitution in French and it is good to specify how
this should be done. The Policy Manual has been a practice of AGSEM in the past, and AGSEM
would like to continue using it; it helps retain information through executive turnover and avoid
past mistakes. Finally, we want the rules about confidentiality to be clear and fair, while
respecting applicable laws (ie. financial transparency vs. protecting personal privacy).
3. Semesters are defined in McGill policy and in Collective Agreements.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
This is required in Chapter 7 (rules of order); this simply helps avoid any confusion.
To some extent this is the existing practice already; the rules about it should be clear.
Simply helps with readability.
The current and previous Executive Committees determined that there were no practical
benefits to doing banking through Desjardins, and no obvious political benefits; using a bank
instead would be significantly cheaper.
This ensures the Policy Manual is actually respected, as well as making clear whose
responsibility it is.
This is simply a typo.
A two-week nomination period means that any General Assembly where elections are held
needs to be announced more than three weeks in advance; in our opinion this is an
unreasonable amount of notice.
This was a mistake made previously in amending the Constitution.
This is to allow teleconferencing when necessary; while physical presence is ideal,
teleconferencing isn’t functionally different and is sometimes necessary.
This text makes more sense in the Policy Manual because it is very specific.
This is the same change as amendment 10.
This was a mistake made in preparing the current Constitution; the Joint Unit Assembly of
March 27 2013 approved an amendment to increase Invigilator EC pay, but this amendment was
mistakenly left out of the working document used to prepare the new Constitution. The EC
regrets the error; fortunately, this error had no effect on Invigilator BC pay.
See amendment 7.
More logical location, especially if the Auditing Committee’s role is expanded; more logical
wording.
This requirement contradicts article 2.17 and is therefore arguably moot anyway.
The chapter helps clarify a number of rules concerning committees, in most cases reflecting
existing practice. It distinguishes between committees established by GA’s or by Delegate
Council and those established by the EC. It clearly lays out the powers of each. It also establishes
compensation for committee chairs to encourage active committees and member involvement;
the cost of this is not expected to be high. The role of the Auditing Committee is expanded to
provide better oversight over EC spending. Finally, an External Affairs Committee is established
to work with the Affiliates and other inter-union bodies.