MINUTES / COMPTE RENDU
SP Executive Meeting / Rencontre de l’exécutif SP
June 9, 2018 / 9 juin 2018
Presence / Absence --- Présences / Absences
Bryan Van Wilgenburg (PRA/NWT – PRA/TNO) / P
Norma Domey (NCR – RCN) / P
Daniel Ingram (PRA/NWT – PRA/TNO) / P
Steven J. Colwell (BC/YUK – CB/YUK) / A
David (PIPSC – IPFPC) / A
Sushil S. Dixit (NCR – RCN) / P
Elizabeth Ptasznik (PRA/NWT – PRA/TNO) / P
Waheed Khan (NCR – RCN) / P
Enzo Barresi (ONT) / A
Thomas Landry (ATL) / P
Judith Leblanc (QUE) / P
Suzelle Brosseau (PIPSC – IPFPC) / P
Marcel C. Beaudoin (NCR – RCN) / P
Donald Lefebvre (NCR – RCN) / P
Michael A. Forbes (ONT) / P
Notes - Daniel Ingram left at noon
Shelley Melanson arrived at 1pm to present for 45 minutes
Opening of the meeting
Introductory address
Thomas welcomed new Executive members (Bryan and Waheed) to Executive and noted the importance of moving forward.
Agenda
Dan has to leave at noon, put important topics in the AM
Two items added immediately after Elections:
- Discussion of meeting dates
- Executive Committee members missing meetings without warning
Approval of Minutes
Minutes approved
Action Items
Judith - Will add Tarek’s presentation to the shared drive so that everyone can see it
Certificates for ByLaws by Judith/Daniel - Ongoing
Elections
Discussion was held on the order that elections will be held (Secretary’s Note - Consensus decision made to follow order as the portfolios are listed in the Workplan) and how winner will be decided.
Motion (Dan, seconded by Bryan) - Winner of an election must be done by a clear majority of votes cast (50%+1). If no clear majority, lowest person on ballot will be removed and then revote.
Motion passed
Motion - Limit one Executive portfolio per Executive member. (Thomas, seconded by Michael)
Marcel - In favour. Have had people ask why some members at large have no portfolios and some have two portfolios.
Bryan - Against, might result in someone ending up in a position they have no desire to be in or have no skill set for due to requirement for everyone to have a position.
Waheed - Against motion for same reasons as Bryan. As volunteers, should allow people to volunteer for positions they want, and not force them into the post they want.
Dan - Against motion. Two Executives not here, don’t want to force them into a position.
Norma - Against the motion. Don’t want to force people into working in a position they are not interested in. Would result in much less effective Executive members.
Motion defeated
Motion (Judith, seconded by Bryan)
Destroy ballots after votes tabulated
Carried
President
Elizabeth elected as President
Vice-President
Daniel nominated, accepted
Acclaimed
Treasurer
Donald Elected
Secretary
Marcel nominated, accepted
Acclaimed
Steward Coordinator
Waheed nominated, accepted
Membership
Michael nominated, rejected
Sushil nominated, rejected
Deferred
Communications
Judith nominated, accepted
Bargaining Coordinator
Bryan elected
Delegate coordinator
Michael nominated, accepted
Subgroup Coordinator
Enzo elected
Discussion held over procedure for proxy votes and how they are to be communicated to the rest of the executive.
ACTION - MARCEL
Put 30 minute discussion on proxies for voting on agenda for next meeting
Mobilization coordinator
Thomas nominated, rejected
Norma nominated, rejected
Sushil nominated, rejected
Elizabeth nominated, rejected
Discussion held on whether a BT member can also be mobilization coordinator.
Suzelle - Creates a conflict of interest
Sushil - Doesn’t see the conflict of interest.
ACTION - MARCEL
Put discussion on mobilization on Agenda for next meeting
Recognition
Sushil acclaimed
Membership
Sushil nominated, accepted
Parliamentarian
Norma nominated, accepted
Meeting Dates
PIPSC policy on meeting dates is Mon, Fri or Sat. SP Group tradition is one weekday meeting, remainder on the weekends. For those from regions, weekend meetings occupies the entire weekend. Would prefer to have meetings on fridays to allow for better work/life balance. Suggested alternating weekday/weekend dates
ACTION - DANIEL
Create Doodle for September date
Missing Executive members
Executives who will miss meetings should inform remainder of Executive (the President at the very least) in writing. Proxy votes, if required, should be sent to president, with a cc to the remainder of the Executive Committee.
MOTION - (Marcel, Thomas)
Once a member is aware they will be missing one or more meetings, they must communicate with the Executive by email at the first available opportunity, with the reasons provided in the email.
MOTION CARRIED
Standing Items
Treasurer
Donald - Will contact Lucie Seguin and Nicole D. to get the required information.
Attempt the e-transfers with Lucie
Bargaining Report
Plans for upcoming bargaining round, including the Strategic Bargaining Committee, discussed.
ACTION - ELIZABETH
WIll contact SBC Steering Committee to get permission to attend the SBC
Visibility Items
Current inventory noted. Plans made to bring items to PIPSC AGM as well as Stewards Councils.
Subgroups
Plans for 2018 subgroup Presidents Meeting discussed.
ACTION - ELIZABETH
Will contact Enzo to find out original plan.
Secretary’s Note:
Dan left at noon to return home.
Break for lunch
Mobilization plan
Shelley Melanson gave an presentation on mobilization and led a brainstorming session on how to continue with the momentum from the Bargaining Conference held June 1st and 2nd. Some topics that were brought up included:
- Ensure people feel the need to pull their weight
- Important to ensure francophone members do not feel left out
- Consider various ways of connecting, not just emails or conference calls
- Regional councils
- Regional Stewards
ACTION - MARCEL
Put flipchart in a google doc and share with the Exec for people to fill things in.
Standing items (cont’d)
Subgroups cont’d
Will reach out to subgroup presidents to find dates and topics. If bargaining is topic, ensure Suzelle can make it.
ACTION - THOMAS, ENZO, ELIZABETH
Build a business case for a national subgroup presidents meeting with a tentative date of the 24th of November in (tentatively) Vancouver. This will allow any changes to be cheaper in price and thus easier to be accepted. Attach a special Executive Mobilization meeting the day prior to the SG Presidents meeting. Location and date may be altered depending on the response from PIPSC. Invite the two non-SP Executive Bargaining Team members to the Presidents meeting on the 24th. No alternates (Exec members who are also SG Presidents) will be invited to reduce the cost.
Membership
Sushil - Chief Steward (or SG Coord or Membership Coord) to develop methods for contacting RAND members. Membership coordinator currently has a list of the various RAND members
Delegates
Bryan - Need to have a way to contact members from the Bargaining Conference.
ACTION - MICHAEL
Put together a list (with contact info) of the members who were at the Bargaining Conference who are not on the Bargaining Team or the Executives
IT
ACTION - ALL
Provide suggestions on how to organize shared drive
ACTION - MARCEL
Contact IT, get new executives their access
Motion (Thomas, Marcel) - Use a straight-line depreciation method (divide the original cost by the number of useful years) with the depreciation calculated over the expected lifetime of the item for value of electronic equipment for replacement value
Carried
Stewards
Elizabeth - 2 new steward applications.
ACTION - ELIZABETH
Will pass on Stewards applications to Waheed.
Communications
Proposed communications plan being reviewed by Communications coordinator
SP Group is now on Instagram
ACTION - JUDITH
See about getting FB and IG pages linked on the PIPSC SP Group webpage
Judith - Wants to get a SP Group Newsletter going again.
ACTION
Elizabeth - Put information in there for PCs and information about the PCs education leave.
Executive Travel
Thomas was invited as SP President to attend the Ontario Regional Council as SP group represents largest % of Ontario members. Ontario Regional Director planning on doing it again, found a lot of use in having Sp President present.
SAC
Norma - Nothing new since AGM.
Bylaws Committee
Norma - Nothing new since AGM
Summarized the process for the forming and functioning of the Bylaws committee.
Need to format the new Bylaws for presentation to the BoD. Estimate 1 month.
ACTION - Bylaws Committee, with assistance in formatting from Judith
Format the Bylaws in a manner to be presented to the BoD.
Workplan
Donald - Up to version 3.1.
Spoke to the updates/changes that were made as well as the planned future updates.
ACTION - ALL (DEADLINE Beginning of December)
Review the job descriptions (for their portfolio) and provide feedback to Donald.
Review Committee descriptions and jobs and provide feedback to Donald.
ACTION - DONALD
Email the Executive what he would like the Executive members to look at and review.
Visibility Items
Mock banners (for subgroups) reviewed. Discussion of making banners unique for each subgroup vs common SP Group/PIPSC branding.
ACTION - JUDITH
Will communicate with the Est du Quebec branch for cost and source for their banner and share that with Donald and the rest of the Exec.
ACTION - DONALD
Get a cost estimate of the simplest banner and the most complex banner and provide that to the Executive to aid in the decision making process.
SP AGM feedback
ACTION - MARCEL
Put 20 minutes on agenda for next Executive Meeting
Scientific Integrity
Judith
Judith is part of Committee with Maxime Gingras (PIPSC), Michael Urminsky (PIPSC) and Matthew MacLeod (RE Group President) discussing Scientific Integrity with Treasury Board. Currently going through iterations between committee and ministries/agencies in developing eventual model policy.
Goal of Chief Scientist is to expand Scientific Integrity past the SP group to include all of the other employees who do not already have Scientific Integrity in their CA. Model Policy has to be accepted by TBS, PIPSC *and* Chief Scientist Office (as we’re talking about organization and not people).
PIPSC 2018 Call for Delegates
Call went out May 16th
Delegates and observers chosen by Delegate Coordinator, using process explained by Michael, and are ready to send to Julie Gagnon.
ACTION - ELIZABETH
Check with Nicole to see her status as to if she is still a SP Member and PIPSC member.
ACTION - ELIZABETH
Contact Steven about whether he will be attending PIPSC AGM, provide response to Michael to allow him to choose an alternate ASAP.
ACTION - MICHAEL
Come up with process that encompasses criteria such as gender, classification, if they have attended AGMs, etc in choosing alternates for AGM attendance.
Motion (Bryan, Judith) - Accept delegate list as presented by Michael, with allowances for alternates.
Carried
Employee Wellness Support Plan
Waheed - Gave presentation on EWSP as it currently exists.
Meeting Procedure
Donald - Went over the video from the executive training on June 8th and how the items pointed out in video apply (or not, as the case may be) to current meeting.
ACTION - MARCEL
Put a reminder in the agenda to keep translation in mind (talk slower, add pauses when starting talking and discussing for ease of translation) when talking.
ACTION - MARCEL
Indicate some agenda topics to be discussed in french.
Regional Stewards Councils
Executive Committee was informed of upcoming regional stewards councils.
ACTION - ELIZABETH
Find out about Steven’s status, inform Waheed if he needs to go as Chief Steward.
Round Table
Marcel - Gave info about procedure for minutes after executive meetings.
Suzelle
Suzelle gave a summary on the solutions to the problems with various issues that had occured as identified in previous meetings (Translations, IT, etc). Said that it is important that as soon as a problem occurs, to let Suzelle know ASAP.
ACTION - MARCEL
Put on next agenda unsolicited emails for solicitation of funds
Meeting adjourned 4:55 pm saturday.