IT Group Executive Meeting
27 January 2023, 12h00 - 17h00 (Eastern time)
Via Zoom
CVent ID: ZCNHK93PT5N
&
17 February 2023, 09h00 – 17h00 (Eastern Time)
250 Tremblay Road, Ottawa, ON
CVent ID: LWN5KXFJD8M
MINUTES
Day 1: 27 January 2023
Present: Stan Buday, Pierre Touchette, Yvonne Snaddon, Tamara Critch, Deb Butler, Rob Scott, Tony Goddard, Stéphane Aubry, Lucille Shears, Karim Chaganni, JP Leduc (staff)
Regrets: Robert Tellier, Patricia Williams, Steven Fréchette
- Welcome: Pierre welcomed the members and opened the meeting at 12h10.
- Adoption of Agenda
Moved: Tony Goddard Seconded: Pierre Touchette
THAT the agenda be accepted as presented.
CARRIED
- Approval of Minutes of Last meeting
Moved: Tony Goddard Seconded: Pierre Touchette
THAT the Minutes of 19 December 2022 be accepted as presented.
CARRIED
- Business Arising from the minutes:
- Standing Items / Points permanents
- Bargaining Update (Rob & JP)
Moved: Rob Scott Seconded: Stan Buday
THAT we move to Closed Session.
CARRIED
CLOSED SESSION
Moved: Rob Scott Seconded: Stan Buday
THAT we leave the Closed Session.
CARRIED
ACTION ITEM (Rob S): Extend an invitation to Matt Vanner to provide an update on the Central Table at the next Executive meeting.
ACTION ITEM (Stan): Set up a meeting with David Yasbeck, Rob & JP to discuss our situation and how we will move forward.
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- Strategic Planning Update & Review – Tabled until the February 17th meeting.
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- Visibility (Pierre) We have been receiving promo items at the PIPSC office and have received items for the SGP meeting and IT AGM. On Feb 17th, we need to discuss which items are to be distributed at the SGP meeting.
- New Business
- Subgroup Presidents’ Meeting (Lucille & Stan)
Stan is working with Lucille to flush out the agenda for the 1-1/2-day meeting.
Lucille is open to all suggestions. Would like to give a report back to the EC on what/how we did at the meeting.
VP Sean O’Reilly will make a presentation on RTO and GC workplace.
Lucille would like to have time for input from the Subgroup Presidents for the strategic plan.
Yvonne - we need SGP input on what is needed in the plan that they don’t see and their opinions on what’s been done so far.
Stan - agrees, 10-15 minutes per Strategic Planning group then turn it over to the Subgroup Presidents.
Karim would like to spend some time with the locals (Thursday)
ACTION ITEM: Karim, Stéphane and Lucille will coordinate Eventbrite for the Meet & Greet on Thursday evening. Also investigate using Eventbrite to assist in organizing the Saturday afternoon event.
Clarification: the Thursday evening Meet & Greet is for the local subgroup members to meet the IT Executive. The Friday dinner and the Saturday event are for the subgroup presidents and executive ONLY.
Two options for the Saturday event are The Butchart Gardens and a whale watching excursion. Each SG President will need to choose only one event.
May have issues with SG Presidents who are bringing family members/guests. will meet to discuss Karim suggesting we schedule only ONE event to keep everyone together. Stan pointed out that we would still need 2 different boats for whale watching.
Deb suggests we canvas the SG Presidents in advance to see how many extra guests we may have and possibly pay for the guests (to be further discussed on Feb 17th).
Rob will facilitate the SGP meeting on the Friday.
ACTION ITEM: Lucille to canvas the SG Presidents to determine how many extra guests will be attending in Victoria.
Moved: Lucille Shears Seconded: Deb Butler
That we request Linda R to attend the meeting in Victoria, BC to assist with the administration.
CARRIED
ACTION ITEM: Lucille to make a request to David Yazbeck that Linda attend the SGP meeting.
ACTION ITEM: Stan & Lucille to finalize the SGP Meeting Agendas.
- Review Candidates for ITYPC (Yvonne & Karim)
Karim presented his list of recommended committee members:
- Jordan Loverock
- Ethan Mossman
- Egrey Doungous
- Alex Houle
- Mathieu Cormier
A summary of the applications can be found in this Google Sheet:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ObdFUjJJnhN8Ys5C_3mu9GFHl3y-uj8ratt35eeumBs/edit#gid=0
Pierre asked for a summary of how each candidate was vetted and whether each was contacted. Karim advised that most had not had any direct contact.
It was the general feeling of the executive that further review of the candidates was needed and that Karim should complete the process and re-present his recommendations at the next meeting.
ACTION ITEM: Karim to review his recommendations for the ITYPC and present them at the meeting on February 17th.
- Virtual Subgroups – see proposal from Matt Vanner
It was suggested that we invite Matt to zoom in to our Feb meeting. Lucille read her answer to Matt. Yvonne & Stephane support the creation of a working group. We need to identify how they would be supported, executives, what region they fall in, etc.
Pierre suggests one Fr & one Eng.
Lucille also suggests getting input from SG Committee: Lucille, Tony, Stephane, Matt & Patricia
We should also include PIPSC Membership, etc. since this has a bigger scope than just the IT Group.
We need a presentation for the SGP meeting (Stephane in French)
ACTION ITEM: Lucille to invite Matt to attend our next meeting (Feb 17th) via zoom to discuss his proposal on virtual subgroups.
Stan advised the executive that he met with Ross Ermel, ADM at TBS, to discuss the new recommendation for IT exemptions to the RTO directive. Stan spoke against the exemptions listed since it will be divisive and does not address all the IT member concerns.
Moved: Stan Buday Seconded: Deb Butler
THAT the meeting adjourns at 15h44 and resume at 09h00 on February 17, 2023.
CARRIED
Day 2: 17 February 2023
Present: Stan Buday, Pierre Touchette, Yvonne Snaddon, Tamara Critch, Rob Scott, Tony Goddard, Karim Chaganni, JP Leduc (staff)
Guest: PIPSC President Jenn Carr (in and out of the meeting)
Via Zoom: Deb Butler, Stéphane Aubry, Lucille Shears
Regrets: Robert Tellier, Patricia Williams, Steven Fréchette
Stan welcomed the executive back and stressed that we have a very full agenda, so we need to keep our comments and discussions brief and concise.
- New Business (cont’d)
- ITYPC (Karim)
Karim advised the meeting that all the potential candidates have now been contacted and four of the five have agreed to participate. The fifth candidate has informed us that he may be moving to a PSAC position at work and would therefore not be eligible. Once we have finalized the committee list, we will set the first meeting and advise the IT Executive.
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- YPC Symposium (Yvonne)
Yvonne informed the meeting that PIPSC VP Sean O’Reilly and NCR Director Dave Sutherland are organizing a symposium for Young Professionals to be held in Vancouver in April of 2023. Yvonne has requested a seat at the symposium for a member of our ITYPC but was informed that the Vancouver event is only open to Regional representatives. They did concede that they may allow us to have a seat IF the IT Group pays all the associated costs. Yvonne agreed to follow up with the BoD and challenge the “regional slant” of this event.
Moved: Yvonne Snaddon Seconded: Karim Chaganni
THAT the IT Group pays associated costs for one of our members to attend the YP Symposium IF we are permitted to send a representative.
CARRIED
Rob mentioned that he recently attended the Prairies Regional meeting and there was no mention of this YP Symposium.
Stan commented that a BoD who constantly approves monies for events and only direct funding to the Regions that they represent while totally ignoring the Groups is frustrating. Several Group Presidents have been asked to sit on a panel (virtually) for the symposium yet we are not invited to participate at the member level.
Lucille asked if the YPC at the regional levels and the national (PIPSC) level will be connected with the ITYPC – Yvonne answered “Yes” but our committee will concentrate on IT careers.
Deb asked for the dates of the YPC Symposium and suggested that the email would be better coming from the Group President. Stan & Yvonne will work on the email to the BoD together and will also work on a budget to send one IT member.
ACTION ITEM: Stan & Yvonne to draft a letter to the BoD expressing our disappointment with the direction of the YPC Symposium.
ACTION ITEM: Stan & Yvonne to draft a budget to send one IT member to the YPC Symposium.
Karim raised another ITYPC concern and agreed to reach out to the PRQC chair to determine if anything is being worked on for IT Professional designations.
ACTION ITEM: Karim to contact the PRQC for an update on IT Professional designations.
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- Subgroup Presidents’ Meeting (Lucille & Stan)
Lucille provided the meeting with a full update. All the logistics are now in place and we are anticipating a good participation rate. Most have registered for the Friday night dinner.
Q: Are we letting guests attend the dinner and how are we handling the Saturday afternoon event?
Lucille – Saturday afternoon is mandatory; all are expected to attend. We will have a virtual drive for all documents. The agenda has been finalized and will soon be set to Linda R for distribution. Stéphane, and others, will be presenting in French so we will have a balance of French and English presentations. All three (3) Strategic Planning groups will make a 10-minute presentation followed by breakout sessions so the SG Presidents can provide their input. Lucille stepped through the 2-day agenda.
Stan asked if the executive were willing to let Stan & Lucille set the dinner menu, there are many options. Stan commented that , at this time, general consensus appears to be that we welcome guests.
Yvonne has no problem inviting guests, but we must stress that this is an exception, and the members should not expect this as the norm moving forward.
Karim suggests limiting it to one guest per member.
Deb – Did we not request that an email be sent to each SG President to determine how many guests may be going?
ACTION ITEM: Stan and Lucille will draft an email for Linda to send to each registered SG President to determine potential numbers of guests.
Yvonne asked if the dinner will be held in a separate room. A: Yes.
Karim – we also need to stress that any no-shows will still need to be paid for.
Stan suggested that we inform the SG Presidents that Friday night’s dinner will be for SG Presidents ONLY and we let them come back to us if they object.
Moved: Lucille Shears Seconded: Tamara Critch
THAT the Friday night SG Presidents’ dinner will be for SG Presidents ONLY.
CARRIED
We may revisit this decision later, based on SG President input.
JP asked if the members can still change their choice to participate in the dinner. A: Better now than on the day of the event.
ACTION ITEM: Lucille will contact Butchart Gardens for group rates and ask them for a suggestion on a transportation service (bus) to move our group from the hotel to the gardens and return.
ACTION ITEM: Stan will investigate pricing and particulars for the whale watching event.
ACTION ITEM: Stan and Lucille will ensure that the email being sent to members includes asking them to pick their activity for Saturday afternoon.
Stan let the meeting know that the Thursday evening member meet & greet is being organized with the IT Vancouver Island SG Executive (Curtis & Efrain) and Stan is stressing the need for a venue with proper parking available.
Stan estimates the cost for the Thursday meet and greet will be around $2,500 and Saturday activities to cost around $5,000.
Moved: Deb Butler Seconded: Stan Buday
THAT we approve a budget of up to $10,000 for the Member Meet and Greet (Thursday evening) and Butchart Gardens / Whale Watching events on Saturday.
CARRIED
Stan led a discussion around the need for box lunches for the Saturday afternoon. It was also pointed out that we need to clarify whether breakfasts will be provided. The email to members states “per-diem” for breakfasts, but there are no restaurants nearby (other than the hotel).
Stéphane suggested that we should provide a simple breakfast for the attendees and make sure they know whether it is included or not – suggested adding the information on breakfasts to the top of the agenda.
Moved: Stan Buday Seconded: Pierre Touchette
THAT we request breakfast to be provided by the hotel.
CARRIED
ACTION ITEM: Lucille will contact Linda and arrange for breakfasts.
The rules of engagement were discussed for Brian Murray’s presentation on agenda item 6.d – Ottawa Metro Subgroup.
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- RTO & IT Group Exemptions (JP Leduc)
JP started the discussion by announcing that he will be returning full-time to the negotiations’ portfolio effective March 13, 2023
JP let the meeting know that he is getting calls from members asking if they are included in the announced exemptions for the Return To Office.
Stan explained that prior to the TB announcement, they reached out to the IT Group and Stan, Rob & Yvonne were asked for input. We made it very clear that any exemptions should be based on the work being performed and not the position title. PIPSC will not be defining who fits the exemptions – that is the responsibility of the TB and their departments.
President Carr informed that she will ask Communications (Kiavash) to create a communique on these exemptions and PIPSC’s stand on the issue. Word has it some Departments are hesitating an implementation in case the TB changes their policy yet again and they do not want to “lose face” with our members. We are not going to engage with our members to explain nor define the TB communication, that is up to the TB and their departments.
Pierre asked if this announcement prevents subgroups from sending emails to their members, since PIPSC is communicating with them directly? Pierre also mentioned that he has been approached to make presentations on the positive aspects of RTO and he has refused all requests. Pierre went on to describe a situation where a member at SSC who has been working from home for the past 12 years due to DTA, was asked to return to the office. Between Pierre and the member’s Director, the situation was corrected very quickly and permanently.
President Carr stressed that any telework agreements that were in place before March 2020 are still valid and, if asked to RTO, the members should comply then grieve.
ACTION ITEM: JP will liase with Kiavash (Communications) on Jenn’s behalf to develop a communication to members.
JP stressed the need for us to provide the membership with a bargaining update of what we are bargaining and what is being negotiated at other tables.
~ The meeting broke for lunch ~
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- Awards (Tamara Critch)
Tamara described the process her sub-committee used to develop the new IT Group Awards Policy. They used the NCR guidelines as a starting point and modified it to suit our specific needs. We kept the following awards:
- Martine Léveillé Outstanding Achievement Award
- IT Group Steward Recognition Award
- “Unsung Hero” Award
Consensus was achieved to move forward with the IT Group Awards.
ACTION ITEM: Tony will prepare a communication to members and arrange to post the awards information on the websites (Group & PIPSC).
It was also stressed that we should be more active in promoting our members & stewards for nation awards, such as Life Memberships and Steward of the Year.
Brian Murray joined the meeting and Pierre Touchette recused himself and left the meeting room.
Moved: Stan Buday Seconded: Tony Goddard
THAT we move into a closed session.
CARRIED
CLOSED SESSION
Moved: Stan Buday Seconded: Tony Goddard
THAT we move out of the closed session.
CARRIED
Pierre Touchette rejoined the meeting.
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- COAT Update (Yvonne)
Yvonne reported that mediation with the grievances sent to TBS is approaching. The FPSLRB has made It clear that they do not want to hear all the grievances. On March 20-22, the Board will hear the first eight (8) test case grievances with additional dates to be scheduled if needed. VP Eva Henshaw will be the lead; Simon Ferrand will act as legal council and President Jenn Carr will also be in attendance. No members of the IT Executive will be at the table due to the complexity of everyone’s schedules. Full details are outlined in Yvonne’s submitted report.
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- IT AGM (Yvonne)
Yvonne let the meeting know that Pierre has ordered forty (40) yoga mats for the IT AGM. Yvonne has volunteered to lead a yoga session and each participant will get a mat.
Tamara asked about the deadline for resolutions to the IT AGM and it was determined that the deadline this year will be April 22nd.
Yvonne and Stéphane raised the issues around the elections and possible changes to our bylaws may be submitted for consideration.
It was agreed that the March 30th Executive meeting could include the discussion of any resolutions to be presented by the IT Executive. If we have a meeting in May, we could then discuss any resolutions submitted by members by the deadline.
Stan informed us that the AGM is scheduled for June 3, 2023 at the Hilton Lac Leamy and that we have the Royal Suite (top floor of hotel) for our networking event.
Moved: Stan Buday Seconded: Karim Chaganni
THAT we pay for the NCR delegates to attend the networking event on the Friday before the IT AGM, and this will include the normal cost of hotel rooms, for a cost not to exceed $10,000.
CARRIED
Discussion around holding an additional IT Executive meeting during the month of May 2023 was held. The possibility to attach this meeting to another event was proposed. Holding the meeting adjacent to a subgroup AGM was discussed and discarded but we will investigate whether we can book the Delta Hotel in Montreal on 13 May 2023, adjacent to the CLC Triennial Convention.
ACTION ITEM: Stan to ask Linda R to investigate a possible Executive meeting in Montreal on May 13th.
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- Strategic Planning Update (Stan)
Rob commented that everyone should review the SP Priorities List and, if you are identified as the lead for any item, confirm or dispute the assignment. If you feel you should not be a lead for a particular item, please indicate who should be the lead and advise that person that you have made the change.
Stan said that each team should put together a 10-minute presentation for the Subgroup Presidents that should consist of 4 or 5 slides max.
ACTION ITEM: Tony to provide all with a link to the new IT Group PowerPoint template.
- Reports (see the Reports folder attached to this meeting directory)
- President (Stan) Report submitted to Drive – Stan summarized his report.
- Vice-President (Pierre) – Pierre initiated a discussion around the logistics of distributing toques to our members as they request them. Pierre would prefer to send multiple toques to subgroup presidents and avoid having to stuff and mail individual envelopes with one toque each to members. Stan is waiting to complete an email to all members to let them know how to request IT visibility items. Pierre offered to assist the NOC if needed.
ACTION ITEM: Pierre will contact the PIPSC Mailroom to see if we can coordinate mailing SWAG from PIPSC.
ACTION ITEM: Stan & JP will finalize the email to members and send it after being given the go ahead from Pierre.
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- Treasurer (Deb) Report submitted to Drive.
- Steering Committee & Secretary (Tony) The steering committee met on January 18 to set this agenda and will meet again before the March 30th meeting. We also approved an extra night for Stan to meet with the AFS President before the AFS bargaining session.
- Bargaining (Rob/JP) Report submitted to Drive. JP also reported that he met with Mitchel Sanders and they are coordinating the transfer of duties to Taya Van Dyke and Kaitlyn Gemza when Mitchel changes jobs. A second negotiator will also be joining us and will hopefully be with us at the Subgroup Presidents’ Meeting. Finally, there have been changes to the structure of the Negotiation Section.
- NOC/ROC- Mobilization (Robert) Absent
- Communications (Tony) Will be posting reports to our website, all approved executive minutes have been translated and posted and I am preparing for the SG Presidents’ meeting.
- Subgroup Officer (Lucille) See previous reports above. Also, both SG presidents in Kingston have agreed to the bylaw changes recommended.
- Steward Officer (Steven) Absent
- Membership Officer (Patricia) Absent
- Labour Relation & Consultation Officer & Contracting Out Officer (LRCOCOO) (Yvonne) Reports submitted to Drive.
- ITYPC (Karim) See previous report above.
- Other Business – None.
- Next Meeting: 30 March 2023, Victoria, B.C.
- Adjournment:
Moved: Karim Chaganni Seconded: Rob Scott
THAT the meeting adjourns at 17h19.
CARRIED
ACTION ITEMS