National Executive Meeting

June 12 – 14, 2007

Ottawa, ON

Opening Remarks

The National President welcomed members to the spring meeting of the National Executive-- the first held in UNDE’s new boardroom. Deputy Vice-Presidents Gloria Kelly and Mark Miller are replacing their respective vice-presidents who are absent for family reasons.

The harassment statement was read and EE Advisor Moore and VP Graham were named interveners.

The hours of sessions were set as follows:

Tuesday, June 12 – Wednesday, June 13 – 8:30 to 11:30 and 12:30 to 5:00
Thursday, June 14 – 9 – 11:30 – 12:30 to termination of business

An emergency session may be added to develop an action plan to deal with the recent announcement of a DND parking policy.

The National President asked members to attend a noon-hour demonstration organized by the PSAC at 90 Sparks Street in Ottawa. The union is protesting the government’s plans to sell-off prime real estate holdings across the country without a full and proper review.

VP Pike distributed information on the DND Corporate Awards ceremony he attended last evening.

The agenda was adopted.

Previous Business

Work Description Library – EVP Chamberlain had no new information to share with the National Executive. The National Office has not received any further documents from the field, therefore the project is stalled. She will send another notice to the field requesting information for the work description database.
Action - Chamberlain

Standing Items

FR – VP Pike submitted a written report (Annex 1) which is attached to these minutes. Only potential new recruits are required to successfully complete a physical fitness test. A recent incident involving a civilian requiring emergency care highlighted the need to have the rules changed to allow triage immediately on base. The current system on base allows for first aid assistance only to injured civilians. This is something the committee may be tasked to look into.

RV 1 - CARRIED

EAP – VP Pike submitted a written report (Annex 2) which is attached to these minutes. The statistics were particularly interesting to members. There is a definite rise in the number of members assisted by the program which was, in large part, attributed to the war in Afghanistan. EAP is supposed to be a standing item on all local LMRCs.

VP Pike was asked to inform locals that referral agents and members of EAP committees can sign on for UNDE training courses providing they are members in good standing. In fact, some of our modules may be very beneficial to them.

RV 2 - CARRIED

Regional Reports

Ontario – VP Nadeau submitted a written report (Annex 3) which is attached to these minutes. Highlights include the Kingston Local referendum where members overwhelmingly decided to remain in one local rather than splitting into two; a potential strike at SunLite Cleaners; and the likelihood that Local 635 will be placed in trusteeship following the resignation of the President.

RV 3 - CARRIED

MB/SK – VP Molsberry submitted a written report (Annex 4) which is attached to these minutes. Highlights include a straw vote of 96% for strike activity at the ATCO-Frontec local; the change of service contracts at Local 807 from Aramark to Sodexho.

RV 4 - CARRIED

NL/NB – VP Graham submitted a written report (Annex 5) which is attached to these minutes.

RV 5 – CARRIED

VP Graham, on behalf of Local 102, requested additional funding for the ‘Save Our Squadron’ campaign.

RV 6 – CARRIED

AB/North – VP Kennedy submitted a written report (Annex 6) which is attached to these minutes. Highlights include the hiring of collection agencies by locals and concerns with PSST complaints, both of which will be discussed again separately at this meeting.

RV 7 – CARRIED

National Office

EVP – EVP Chamberlain submitted a written report (Annex 7) of her activities as well as activity reports and grievance statistics from the union services officers. She mentioned that the grievance reports are still undergoing changes to ensure they are as up to date as possible.

RV 8 - CARRIED

VP Nadeau asked that the staff officer for her region, Ontario, also be directed to submit a report to this body.

The National Executive discussed the staff’s hours of work.

Standing Items

ASR/GLT/MAM – VP Molsberry submitted a written report (Annex 8) on his national responsibilities. The National Executive viewed the Apprenticeship Video. It will be uploaded to the union website.

RV 9 - CARRIED

VP Miller mentioned that there is a government grant available to qualified members following the completion of their training. The information is available at: http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/en/goc/apprenticeship.shtml

VP Molsberry was disappointed with the May 14 GLT campaign kick-off. This will be discussed separately later this week.

Defence Construction Canada is insinuating itself into the HR world at bases and stations across the country. Locals are asked to get as much information as possible on projects, etc., DCC is involved in. Questions should be raised at all Local LMRCs and the information forwarded on to the respective VP.

Air Command – VP Molsberry submitted a written report (Annex 9) which is attached to these minutes. He highlighted the need to keep ‘health and safety’ as an agenda item on LMRCs; the staffing processes; and the EE HR plan.

RV 10 – CARRIED

JLP – There was discussion on whether locals should be requesting the DND/UNDE LMRC Enhancement Training Course or the training offered through the Joint Learning Program (JLP). The DND/UNDE course was considered the better of the two options, since the training has been developed to meet the specific needs of this Department and involves all stakeholders (UNDE, PIPS, IBEW) at the local LMRC level. On the other hand, the JLP courses are available at no cost to local management.

It was the consensus of the meeting that locals, in conjunction with local management, may choose either, but that locals are to keep the VP of the region informed.

LFWA – VP Molsberry submitted a written report (Annex 10) which is attached to these minutes. He suggested that the local review of essential service agreements should be postponed until after summer. However, it was mentioned that some locals had already carried out the review and were just waiting to sign off.

RV 11 - CARRIED

Employment Equity – EE Advisor Moore submitted a written report (Annex 11) which is attached to these minutes. She raised the concern that the UNDE structure is not working. The membership is not being well-served because the information is not reaching them. A conference will be organized for the fall for regional coordinators. In regions where there is no coordinator, the VP of the region will attend.

RV 12 – CARRIED

New Business

ADM-HR(Civ) – VP Molsberry raised concerns with the quality of advice the HR sections are giving local managers which, in turn, is prompting ongoing challenges by local union representatives. He suggested it might be time to bring all issues to the UMCC level.

VP Miller described a union/HR forum that Esquimalt established, whereby local union officers and local HR personnel meet regularly to discuss mutual problems.

The National President asked Executive Officers to provide him with fact-based information in their respective regions, and if needed, similar forums would be established, and if those fail, the concerns would be taken up to the National UMCC level.

Health and Safety Conference – VP Smeaton reported on the very successful inaugural UNDE health and safety conference held in April. Participants came away from the conference with good information and useful tools to assess the state of their respective health and safety programs at the local level. There will be follow-up with the participants in the fall.

There was some discussion regarding the Policy Committees that the union attends with DSafeG. The committee must have both union and employer representatives, however the representation allegedly doesn’t have to be equal. Clarification is required in regards to representation.

The training module was distributed to health and safety conference participants for information. Only trained facilitators are to deliver the union’s education courses.

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Standing Items

Bylaws - VP Graham submitted a written report (Annex 12) which is attached to these minutes. The discipline templates have been completed and will be emailed to the National Executive for review.

The bylaws report was accepted.

RV 13 - CARRIED

The Committee also made several recommendations. These were separated from the report for a decision on each.

Recommendation #1 - National Investigations - ruled out of order by the chair

Recommendation #2 - Review of Bylaws and Harassment Policy - RV 14 - CARRIED

Recommendation #3 - Finalization of Training Modules - RV 15 - CARRIED

Recommendation #4 - National Officer and Local Discipline Training - RV 16 - CARRIED

Recommendation #5 - Letter to Members and Designates in the event of a strike. The letter, signed by the National President, is intended to provide advice and guidance only. The letter will be forwarded to the National Executive and the PSAC National President for comments before being officially issued to the membership at the appropriate time in the fall.

RV 17 - CARRIED

New Business

Collection Agency - VP Kennedy brought forward a request from Local 30902 for funds to cover expenses incurred by the local in the hiring of a collection agency to collect fines from members disciplined for strikebreaking.

VPs Molsberry and Pike moved that the union cover 50% of the local's debt. They felt that the local president had been given confusing and incomplete information from the PSAC when they sought direction as to whether locals could legally use a collection agency to collect fines.

Other officers felt that the local president had acted irresponsibly and that the National Office could not set a precedent by covering this debt.

The motion was voted on.

RV 18 - DEFEATED

VPs Kennedy and Molsberry moved that the Local 902 Cold Lake be reimbursed 35% of the funds they expended in regards to the collection agency ($650).

The motion was tabled.

Standing Items

Honours and Awards - VP Smeaton reported that three submissions for life membership had been received by the committee. The committee determined that two did not have complete information as outlined in the UNDE bylaws.

Magella Bouffard, a technical inspector and 22-year member and elected officer of Local 525 in Montreal, was recommended for lifetime membership.

SECRET BALLOT - CARRIED

A list of members who have been disciplined under our national bylaws will be compiled and maintained at National Office.

New Business

NPF Privatization - VP Verreault discussed how Aramark is making inroads into the food concession business now provided by non-public funds members at bases and stations across the country. Members are losing jobs and the bases are losing profits to this publicly-traded company.

Earlier this spring, the National President addressed the issue directly with the Vice-Chief of the Defence Staff and recently had questions raised in the House of Commons. Serious improprieties are perceived since many of the new establishments are owned or franchised by retired military officers. Once answers are received in the House, further action will be discussed.

Support Services to Private Sector Locals - VP Molsberry made the National Executive aware that the private sector locals in his region use the services of the PSAC regional office for virtually all representation and collective bargaining. This may have to be looked at again in the future.

Standing Items

UMCC - The National President reviewed the topics discussed at the June 8 National Union-Management Consultation Committee. On the agenda: DND Parking Policy; Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act; SWE; Budget restraints due to Afghanistan Deployments; Apprenticeship Program. The minutes of the UMCC meeting will be posted on the UNDE website in the coming months.

New Business

Sharon Brine Appeal - By conference call, the National Executive heard the appeal filed by Sharon Brine. She requested that DVP Miller be excluded from participating in this appeal hearing since he is also Local 1016 President. The chair declined her request on the grounds that he was not directly involved in the original investigation.

Her representative, Chris Bauer, speaking on her behalf, raised a number of issues for consideration by the National Executive, such as: evidence missing in the initial report that was either not considered valid, or was overlooked; a lack of training available to Local Executives in PIPEDA requirements; quick or unreasonable judgments made by the investigating committee; not following through on an investigation of the original security breach; irregularities in the voting process, etc.

A decision on the appeal will be made tomorrow and forwarded by Registered Mail to the appellant.

Letter from Local 1008 - A letter for funding to cover potential expenses incurred by disciplinary investigations was distributed to the National Executive for its consideration. The letter was considered premature and will be discussed if, and when, required.

Canadian Forces Health Services - Col R.F. Pucci, recently appointed Deputy Chief of Staff, Health Services Delivery, CFHSG HQ, Ottawa; and HRBM Danielle Dupont briefed the National Executive on the health services world in DND. National Officers with health services facilities in their regions described inherent labour issues at those worksites, such as staffing, harassment, classification and a serious lack of training. Col. Pucci agreed to set up workable forums where union concerns could be addressed. It was suggested that a good start would be the LMRC Enhancement Training course for local managers and union members where both sides could get an understanding of each other's roles. Col. Pucci will also get back to the union on how to address the problems with getting proper health services to civilian union members, such as former military personnel with PTSD, in isolated locales with few or no resources.

Collective Bargaining – National President MacLennan, VP Graham and TC table member Glen Whalley, Local 602 President, briefed the National Executive on negotiations between Treasury Board and PSAC. The collective bargaining process began before the expiration of collective agreements, and isn’t expected to be completed for another year. All bargaining demands, including Treasury Board’s, can now be viewed on online.

Thursday, June 15, 2007

New Business

Sharon Brine Appeal – Members of the National Executive discussed the merits of Sharon Brine’s appeal. It was decided that the arguments put forward were not valid.

RV 19 - DENIED

Letter from Local 1008 – VP Kennedy and VP Smeaton moved that the costs of the investigations at Local 1008 and Local 1016 be borne 75% by Local 1008 and 25% by National Office.

RV 20 – CARRIED

GLT No Zones Campaign – VP Molsberry reported that the GLT Committee was very disappointed with the level of membership involvement in the May 14 activities. National Officers will have to take a stronger role in this campaign to engage their locals. The summer is an excellent time to visit MPs in their constituencies. In the fall, GLT committee members will be invited to address general membership meetings with a view to generating more active participation.

DVP Kelly informed members that special mobilization resources are available at Regional Offices and we should tap into these for our GLT campaign.

Previous Business

IT Threat Risk Assessment - VP Smeaton distributed the proposal from Bell Canada on the second phase of the National Office’s privacy assessment. Funding had already been approved at a previous meeting.

PSST Representation – National Officers in all regions were concerned that members are reluctant to represent on complaints when they have to go up against a lawyer. It is hoped that the process can return to a more informal process which would be less intimidating to members. In any case, according to the statistics, most cases are settled through mediation.

Purchase of a National Office Building – EVP Chamberlain was directed to compile a comprehensive report for the next National Executive meeting on investment opportunities in the Ottawa downtown area. The report is to include all costs related to the purchase and maintenance of a building, as well as the costs now incurred through leasing of our National Office.

New Business

Promotional Items – VP Molsberry asked that the boutique be restocked and with more varied items such as sweaters, henleys, golf shirts, etc. It was also suggested that a rubber wristband could be used to promote the GLT campaign.

Membership Survey – It was agreed that it might be an opportune time for this union to survey its membership what with the lack of involvement and participation, in some regions, at the local level. The COMTRA committee will be tasked with preparing a draft survey for National Executive review.

Finance Committee Report – VP Pike submitted a written report (Annex 13) which is attached to these minutes. The report includes the financial statements for the period ending January 31, 2007. There was some discussion about new technology and the tools the union provides to locals. It was decided that the National Office will not be responsible for replacing local fax machines, since virtually all communication is now online and locals are provided with funding to purchase computers.

It was pointed out that even though the budget is overspent for federation of labour conventions, there are funds available in the general fund for full participation by locals this fall.

VP Pike was pleased to report that, for the first time ever, all local financial statements were sent in to National Office.

RV 21 – CARRIED

Parking Policy – The National Executive prepared an action plan to deal with the Department’s proposed new parking policy. The plan will include a strategy for engaging other stakeholders, such as other unions (IBEW, PIPS, etc.). The National Executive will be communicating with their locals in the next few days.

Adjournment.

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