Atlantic Regional Executive Meeting Minutes - April 6, 2024

Atlantic Regional Executive Meeting Minutes - April 6, 2024

 

The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada

Atlantic Regional Executive Meeting Minutes

The Delta Fredericton, Fredericton, NB – April 6, 2024

 

CHAIRPERSON:

Manny Costain

 

EXECUTIVE:

Christine LeDrew, Secretary

Lori Rowe

Carolyn Hynes

Gerald Hill

Jennifer Cantwell

Tony Chubbs

Yvonne O’Keefe

Mike Pauley

 

REGRETS:

Kimberley Keats

Scott McConaghy 

 

1. Welcome and Directors’ Opening Remarks

Manny called the meeting to order at 9:06am. He welcomed everyone to the meeting and is glad everyone made it given the weather issues. Manny offered a land acknowledgement:

 

“We acknowledge that many First Nations, Metis, and Inuit peoples who have lived on and cared for these lands (turtle island) for many generations. We also acknowledge that the land on which we gather is the traditional unceded territory of the Wəlastəkwiyik (wool-las-two-wi-ig), Mi’kmaq (meegmah), and Passamaquoddy (pa-suh-maa-kwuh-dee) Peoples. This territory is covered by the “Treaties of Peace and Friendship” which Wəlastəkwiyik, Mi’kmaq, and Passamaquoddy Peoples first signed with the British Crown in 1726. As settlers, it is our responsibility to educate ourselves on the history of the First Peoples, to learn how to be respectful of their cultures, to acknowledge their pain and our part in it. This journey of understanding is uncomfortable, but that discomfort is part of discovering our past and taking responsibility for how we continue to benefit from it. It is our duty to learn, grow, and do better. We are hopeful that our journey guides us to a respectful and harmonious future.

 

Manny also provided the PIPSC Equity statement:

“Union solidarity is based on the principle that all union members are equal and deserve mutual respect. Any behaviour that creates conflict prevents us from working to strengthen our solidarity and the labour movement. As professional public servants and unionists, mutual respect, cooperation an-+d understanding are our goals. We neither condone nor tolerate behaviour that undermines the dignity or self-esteem of any individual or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive environment. Discriminatory speech or conduct which is racist, sexist, transphobic, or homophobic hurts and divides us. So too, does discrimination on the basis or disability, age, class, religion, language and ethnic origin. Sometimes discrimination takes the form of harassment. Harassment means using real or perceived power to abuse, devalue or humiliate. Harassment is not a joke. The uneasiness and resentment that harassment creates, are not feelings that help us grow in solidarity. Discrimination and harassment focus on characteristics that make us different, rather than those elements that make us the same. They reduce our capacity to work together for and with our members for better contracts, safe working conditions, and justice in both the workplace and society. The Institute’s enduring values, our policies and practices reflect on our commitment to equality. This event is a harassment free zone to ensure that the dignity and equality of our members is respected.”

 

2. Ice Breaker

Carolyn proceeded with a light fun Ice Breaker.  Yvonne volunteered to do the Ice Breaker for the May meeting.  

 

3.   Agenda

Manny asked if anyone had any additions to the agenda. There were no additions.

 

Motion # 1 Tony Chubbs moved, and Mike Pauley seconded that the agenda be approved as presented.  CARRIED.

 

4. Approval of Regional Executive Minutes

The minutes of January 27^th, 2024 were reviewed. Manny asked if anyone had any comments or additions to the minutes. There being no additions or corrections. Tony noted that they are great minutes and Mike stated they are very thorough. 

 

Motion # 2 Lori Rowe moved; Carolyn Hynes seconded that the minutes be approved as presented.  CARRIED.

 

Motion # 3 Carolyn Hynes moved to go into closed session; Yvonne O’Keefe seconded. CARRIED.

 

Motion # 4 Tony Chubbs moved to come out of closed session; Christine LeDrew seconded. CARRIED.

 

5. Action Items Review

Manny reviewed the Action Items.

 

Action Items

Atlantic Regional Executive

January 27, 2024 – The Lord Nelson, Halifax, NS

 

 

#1: Manny noted the next steward check in is scheduled for May 14th. 

#5: Mike noted that Scott was talking to Jenn Carr and they are working on this. 

#7: Christine noted that Natasha is doing the swag inventory as time permits and letting her know when she gets an update. 

#11: The hotel has been made aware. 

#12: Hotel noted that there are wheelchair accessible elevators to access the washrooms. 

#15: Discussion occurred on what was provided. Everyone will look at local options and send to Christine for the executive to discuss at the May meeting. The policy states a limit of $150. 

 

Action: Tony will price items from Labrador.

 

#18: Gerald noted that he has to reach out to Ledwell to verify some information.

#30: Carolyn noted that the selection criteria is currently part of the training policy. It was also stated that during some courses the education department requires the selection criteria to use equity and diversity inclusion criteria first. Discussion ensued regarding members questioning how the participants are selected. Carolyn advised we could add a link to the training policy to the expression of interest or invitation. She added, the training chair responds to members enquiries regarding selection criteria. Mike suggested posting the training policy selection criteria on our quick links page. Tony also suggested adding the current training policy on the invitation to members.  

 

Action: Christine to work with Donna to put a link to the training policy on our quick links and reference appendix B for selection criteria.

 

#35: Manny noted that the award process is going to be done nationally. 

Executive members noted that a lot of members liked the International Women’s Day pins that were distributed. 

 

6. Calendar of Events

Manny went over the calendar of events for 2024 and then 2025. Executive Meeting, strategic planning meeting, and Training Committee meeting will be held September 6-7^th in St. John’s, NL. The Training committee will meet Friday Morning with the strategic planning meeting Friday afternoon and an all day executive meeting Saturday. Gerald also reminded members of the budget item that allows executive members to stay one night in their local place for meetings, once a year. 

It was noted that there is a type in the calendar for the AYPC meeting numbers. 

 

Action: Donna to fix the numbering of the AYPC meetings for 2025. 

 

7.  Regional Director’s Report

Manny advised that his Director’s Report is on the Google Drive for review but provided a brief verbal report. Mike asked for an update on the Fredericton Office. Manny noted that he brought it up at the Board meeting in December 2022 and at that time the executive secretary was supposed to work with the Director of HR with a recommendation due at the Board meeting in February 2023. Unfortunately, that did not happen and the executive secretary changed in November. The Director of HR has called Manny recently for further details and nothing more since then. 

Carolyn questioned about the RAND resolution that was passed at the 2022 AGM and has not been implemented. Manny stated that the Board of Directors had a presentation on a welcome email that would be sent to new members. Communications was given direction to have the RANDS email started by January 2024. Communications department came back with a proposal to look for feedback from regions and groups on a new plan on how to engage RANDs with a plan to implement it within a year. So right now it is still on the Branches and Subgroups responsibility. 

With the Halifax lease recommendations at the Board of Directors was that the regional executive utilize the resources at the office. The board room within the PIPSC office is currently being used as a storage room and an office. This room also isn’t big enough for the executive to meet properly. The least has been renewed for a year. 

 

Motion # 5 Manny Costain moved; Carolyn Hynes seconded to go into closed session. CARRIED.

 

Motion # 6 Lori Rowe moved; Tony Chubbs seconded to come out of closed session. CARRIED.

 

Motion # 7 Manny Costain moved; Lori Rowe seconded that the Regional Director’s Report be approved as presented. CARRIED.

 

8. Financial Reports

Gerald noted that at the last meeting we went through the budget and the documents have been updated. This will be brough to the ARC for approval. 

 

Motion # 8 Jennifer Cantwell moved; Carolyn Hynes seconded to present the draft budget at the ARC. CARRIED.

 

Gerald noted that there was a note added to line 004 for reimbursement of notebooks from the branches that purchased them. It was also noted that we started the year with a healthy balance. Our financials are up to the end of March and there is not much new to share since our last meeting. Gerald noted that the estimation of members for allowance was 6300 but we have 6726 members. Up over 1100 members since December 2021. Gerald stated that the audit of our financials will occur before the ARC. 

 

Action: Gerald to correct the date in Note 3. 

 

Carolyn questioned about the regional executive reimbursing the May Day fees for NB and the District Labour Council fees for St. John’s. Discussion ensued on how to reimburse the fee to St. John’s Branch. Christine and Carolyn both stated that the regional executive had been reimbursing St. John’s for a number of years. Christine found budget 2018 documents with the regional executive allotment for May Works and Mobilization activity. Carolyn noted that the region would then require reimbursement from national. A discussion occurred on why this is not covered by the CLC fees and there was also a resolution that would only be nationally. Tony suggested the branch contact better together to fund the fees. 

 

Action: Gerald to look at previous budgets for fees. 

Action: Christine to obtain minutes of previous years to find the motion. 

 

Motion # 9 Gerald Hill moved; Jennifer Cantwell seconded that the year end financials be approved as presented. CARRIED.

 

Motion # 10 Gerald Hill moved; Yvonne O’Keefe seconded that the financial report be approved as presented. CARRIED.

 

9. Training Committee Chairperson’s Report

Carolyn Hynes, Chair of the Training Committee, went over her report which is also available on the google drive. Since our last executive meeting Carolyn and Manny attended the Basic Steward Training course. The group was a very engaged. It was the first time Carolyn experienced the new pop-ed approach which she reported had a good flow, with just the right amount of group and role play work. Participant feedback was good. It was noted that Manny, Carolyn and Gerald went through the 76 expressions of interest for the training school. The wait list has started to be used and will continue to replace participants until April 12^th. 

 

Carolyn mentioned she attended the Lake Melville Branch lunch and learn on March 7^th where they presented PIPSC and You. It was a great turn out. Carolyn stated that the lunch and learn expense tool has been completed and is posted on our regional quick links page. Members that have used it have stated it was very beneficial. 

 

Carolyn provided a verbal update from the Training Committee meeting that was held the day before. The committee finalized that the ARC training component was not necessary because Colby Briggs is attending. The focal point of the meeting was to prepare for Steward Council. Carolyn noted other regions have used Anti-Oppression Theme for both the Labour School and Steward Council with great success. Education has developed 1-1.5 hour sessions that could be used at Steward Councils. Manny suggested given the current climate of safety in the workplace, we could look at OHS theme for the Steward Council. The committee agreed that we would build the council theme around OHS and Bystander Intervention/Workplace safety. Carolyn stated that Max will be asked to have his case law and trends session focused around OHS and work safety. Carolyn noted that education has a 1.5 hour course for OHS and one for bystander intervention. Instead of a guest speaker for Saturday afternoon we will tie into truth and reconciliation with a Kairos Blanket Exercise. Mike questioned if any of the components will be applicable to the NB Groups. Carolyn noted that all courses will be applicable to NB Groups and that we always consider NB groups when discussing and developing training events. Tony suggested that Max uses a DND OHS example in case law and trends. 

 

Action: Carolyn to ensure OHS and Bystander Intervention 1-1.5 hour courses are available. Additionally, to discuss with EROs that they are amended to meet separate employer interests. 

Action: Carolyn to talk to Cheryl to have Max use a DND OHS case in his case law and trends session. 

 

Carolyn noted the discussion held on hospitality event Friday night. Noted that the feedback of a dance was not so great so the committee decided to host an awards dinner with a comedian afterwards. Yvonne questioned if people could come to the comedian if they didn’t attend the dinner. Carolyn stated that is a good question and they certainly can come after the dinner. 

 

Motion # 11 Carolyn Hynes moved; Christine LeDrew seconded that the executive approve the steward council plans. CARRIED.

 

Motion # 12 Carolyn Hynes moved; Tony Chubbs seconded that the Training Committee Chairperson’s Report be approved as presented. CARRIED.

 

10. Committees of the Board Reports

The regional executive reviewed the reports on the google drive. Tony questioned about access to the files on the google drive more than a day or two before the meeting. He stated that this does not give the executive much time to read all documents prior to the meeting. Manny has requested a meeting with the Halifax office on the workload balance stating that we do not want to fringe on any of the employee’s workload. Gerald suggested when members are sending the reports to Donna to send them to the whole executive as well. 

 

1. TEAM Committee Report

Carolyn noted that she provided the lunch and learn expense tool to other regions and they are using it as well and it is going over great. Atlantic has spearheaded another initiative. Carolyn questioned if we could create our own lunch and learn deck for the treasurers training. It was noted that the training had no scenarios or examples. TEAM’s biggest priority right now is to develop the mentorship program. 

Yvonne questioned about electronic versions of the training materials. Carolyn did state that most is already electronic and if it is not then it you would have to put a special request into education. 

 

2. PRQC Committee Report

Discussion ensued on Navigar and various training from employer. 

 

3. Science Advisory Committee Report

Christine noted that the report is very detailed and the topics seem to be progressing now. 

 

4. BLPC Committee Report

Manny provided some updates as the chair of BLPC, noting that they are working on various by-law amendments and new by-laws. 

 

5. HRDC Committee Report

It was noted their first meeting was held virtually. 

 

Motion # 13 Gerald Hill moved, and Jennifer Cantwell seconded that the Committees of the Board reports be moved as presented.  CARRIED.

 

11. New Business

1. Review of ARC Elections Procedures

Christine thanked Tony for updating the election procedures to cover this year’s requirements. 

Christine provided the document via email to the executive to review. 

 

b) Resolution (Scott)

Manny noted to add a line about bringing the resolution to the National AGM. Mike suggested that it would be better to bring to the board of directors first as he would like to try and resolve it at the lowest level. Manny stated he can bring it to the May board meeting for an update. The executive decided to have the resolution brought to the ARC and then to the AGM if approved at the ARC. Manny will still bring it forward at the next board of director’s meeting. Manny also noted that he wrote the new director to receive an update on the political liaison for NB and has not received any correspondence. 

 

Action: Scott to update the resolution for NB office. 

 

c) Final Review of ARC Agenda 

Manny reviewed the ARC Agenda that is posted on the google drive. It was noted that Guest Speaker Ledwell has been confirmed for Friday afternoon at 3:45pm. This years Atlantic Constituent Body Profile will be Northern NB. A discussion occurred about the AGM Delegate Allotment already being approved to 2026 so do we need to discuss at this ARC. Manny stated he provided the membership number and the AGM Delegate allotment formula to the branch presidents. The executive discussed if it should be at just the Branch Presidents meeting as opposed to the ARC. 

 

Action: Donna to change Colby’s session to Benefits and Pension Updates. 

Action: Donna to remove AGM Delegate allotment from the agenda. 

Action: Donna to remove PIPSC Budget from the agenda.

Action: Donna to fix layout of NB Group breakout session on the agenda to look nicer. 

 

Gerald stated that Patrick Ledwell’s agent reached out wanting to confirm that we chose a customized talk for our delegates. He had asked if there were any specific issues, theme, topic, type of work done to allow him to tailor his talk. Discussion ensued on what information to provide him. Carolyn noted there is no theme as it is a business meeting but could be called “Business as usual”. Issues noted were: union vs management, employer sucks, building effective relationships, working collaboratively, work life balance, successes of the union movement, from the people that brought you the weekend, look at our professions (front line workers, IT, medical, engineers, auditors, accountants, vets, CBSA, lawyers, scientists, etc.), Protected workers, when Canadians do anything the public servants impact them every day, some professions are unique as they require things for their license as well as for their employer requirements. Main discussion topic was professionalism of the public servants. 

 

Manny noted that the Director’s Dinner on Thursday night has not been planned. The executive discussed various locations. Two main locations were Pilot House and The Brick House. We will need to book for approximately 20 people, the executive, guest speakers and staff. 

 

Action: Jennifer to book one of the two locations for the dinner. 

 

d) Gagetown Incident

Laura Lee Mullin is the local steward that has been heavily involved in this situation since the beginning. Mike called Laura Lee during this part of the meeting to get information as rumors were spreading around fast. She stated that on March 12^th in the morning a member had entered the clinic unannounced and attacked a PIPSC nurse in her office. The member also had a weapon. The member was later apprehended by military police and charged with aggravated assault and forcible confinement. It was identified that this incident could have been prevented had there been proper security measures in place at the clinic. The employer chose to resume normal operation the following day which prompted PIPSC and UNDE members to file work refusals. It was noted that ESDC was brought in to investigate and gave the employer a list of items that were in contravention of the Canada Labour Code Part II and provided timelines for these contraventions to be removed. The Atlantic office had provided in-person support to attend one of the meetings with senior management from Ottawa but did not approve future in person visits. However, they have continued to provide virtual support and advice as requested. Tom Zarhapoulus and Jenn Carr have also been highly engaged and working at a national level to put pressure on the employer. 

 

Mike asked Laura Lee if there is a real concern against retaliation against our members? It was noted that other bases are afraid to bring issues forward and as soon as patients are told no for a medical release, they typically get violent and threaten the medical professional. It was noted that the local management have been very good during this incident and now they will have to do new risk assessments of all clinics across the country. It was also mentioned that the national consultation team, national policy safety committee, Jenn Carr, and staff member Stephanie have been involved in various levels of meetings. 

 

The executive thanked Laura Lee for taking the time to explain to us the incident and what has been happening as well as offered any assistance required.

 

The regional executive had a heavy discussion on why there was not a staff resource from the Halifax office to attend meetings with Laura Lee. Mike stated that a staff resource should have  been in attendance as leaving this to a local steward puts a bigger target on their back. Manny also noted that he was not officially made aware of the incident at the Board of Directors and he will bring to the May meeting.  Mike stated that a lessons learned document needs to be created and that PIPSC should have been out front and center of this incident since it is one of our members that was assaulted. 

 

e) Adapting Award Nomination Process

Jennifer noted that there is not a lot of applications for nominations and she thinks part of the issue may be due to the form not being so user-friendly. Carolyn noted that the form as of right now cannot be changed as all of the steward of the year nominations will be submitted nationally. It was also mentioned that there currently is no scoring grid for the different questions and they would like to see a process that provides a more specific scoring grid. Manny will bring the evaluation grid to the board. 

 

Manny stated that the NSO received an initial request from the advisory council to change the awards deadline to be a national deadline as right now each region does it differently. It was noted that the group and consultation presidents are not always plugged into each regions deadlines therefore they sometimes miss the deadline to submit a nomination on a person from a different region. The applications would be submitted nationally and then filtered to each region. Jennifer suggested that it should be one point of contact nationally and Carolyn suggested that it should be on the NSO. Carolyn also stated that if they develop a grid for scoring on the steward of the year applications the executive could then use that to evaluate the executive of the year applications. 

 

One issue Jennifer noted is that when we receive the applications sometimes, they do not have enough information and that we should be reaching out to the nominator to get more information or clarification. Carolyn did mention that this is currently allowed. Jennifer also provided the suggestion of making the application available to submit online instead of paper form. Discussion ensued that a lot of members state that the applications require too much information. Yvonne suggested having more questions on the template for straight concrete answers, not so much open-ended questions. It was also noted that they are using some of the Atlantic region’s criteria for the national application. 

 

Action: Donna to upload the application document for executive and steward of the year to our google drive. 

 

f) 2026 ARC and SC location

Christine noted that this was asked to be a standing item on the agenda to ensure the executive does not forget to select which property for ARC and Steward Council. Will evaluate at the next meeting if the quotes have been obtained. 

 

g) Steward Check-In Evaluations

Manny noted that the evaluations are located on the google drive for review. It was noted that the response still seems positive on the virtual steward check-ins. The executive will continue to host these sessions until stewards are not interested in them anymore. Manny noted that the full two hours does not seem to be used. Christine suggested possibly doing them quarterly instead. Discussion ensued on how long and how frequent. Executive decided to continue the way they are for now. 

 

12. Round Table

Tony stated this was a very productive meeting. 

Yvonne had questions regarding the bereavement policy. Discussion ensued on this policy and which constituent bodies should be responsible. It was noted that in the policy the constituent body can donate $100 or purchase flower in memorial. Yvonne suggested creating a guideline for our executive. Jennifer also noted that it does not always have to be a donation that it could be a card or a phone call. Jennifer mentioned that it should define how far out the family definition goes as well. 

 

Action: Yvonne and Christine to write a guideline for donation/flowers for in memorial. 

 

Jennifer stated she had a question regarding a constituent body funds paying for travel for constituent body executive members attending executive meetings. Manny referred to the policy of accessing PIPSC general funds – section 4. The constituent body should not be paying for their travel the executive members should be submitting it through concur. This cannot be claimed for branch or subgroup AGMs just the executive meetings. Jennifer also mentioned that we will be seeing an increase in SH group requesting lunch and learns to provide more safety in the workplace training. 

 

Gerald mentioned that after we purchased the swag stickers the company had sent him some samples of other items they have and showed the executive for ideas for the future. 

 

Carolyn noted that we have a good plan moving forward and thanked everyone for all the hard work from the training committee and executive. 

 

Mike stated that it was a great meeting. 

 

Christine thanked everyone for being patient while she navigated taking notes on the laptop. 

 

Manny thanked everyone for their participation today and it was a great meeting. He wished everyone safe travels home. 

 

Motion # 14 Mike Pauley moved, and Gerald Hill seconded that the meeting be adjourned. CARRIED.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 4:50pm.