OBJECTIVES:
To identify and explore a local’s roles and responsibilities in dealing with the membership, local management, the Component (UTE) and the PSAC.
While the PSAC offers a Local Officers Advanced Training Course, based on feedback from those local activists who participated in this training program, the Executive Council of the Union of Taxation Employees passed a resolution calling for UTE to establish its own course relating to the role of a Local Officer within UTE. We strongly encourage Local Officers to continue to participate in the PSAC Local Officer course and to augment your training by taking other courses offered by the PSAC and UTE.
Quite often, members who are elected to local executive positions, come into the position not knowing clearly what the position entails or what is expected of them in fulfilling the duties of the position. When we apply for a job with the Canada Revenue Agency, we expect the employer to provide a job description, a statement of staffing requirements or statement of qualifications and we expect the employer to make known at the outset what competencies, qualifications and skills are needed to do the job. Yet, when we create or attempt to fill a local union position, we do not impose those same standards upon ourselves. Therefore, in order to run a local efficiently, we should at a very minimum decide what positions are necessary, which ones are desirable and what are the duties and responsibilities for each of these positions.
While each Local has been granted certain autonomies under the UTE By-Laws and Regulations, and is empowered to establish its own Local structure, long-standing history has taught us that at a very minimum, a Local should have:
- one President;
- one or more Vice-Presidents;
- one Secretary;
- one Treasurer;
- one Chief Steward; and
- Stewards
Again, while other positions may be desired within a Local, it can reasonably be argued that the aforementioned positions are essential. Thus, the Executive Council has agreed that this course would be centered around these first five (5) positions. We will discuss the Stewards, however, throughout the course.
As you can see, the roles and responsibilities of a Local are vast and demanding. In order for a Local to meet its responsibilities, it must examine them separately and strategize around how it will deliver upon each and every one of its responsibilities. I am sure that we will all agree that no Executive Officer will be able to attend to all of these matters and thus, it becomes paramount that we cohesively operate as a team and that the work of the team be fairly shared amongst all team members. To do so, the duties and responsibilities of each team member must be clearly and succinctly determined and articulated so as to maximize our efforts. In the next Module, we will attempt to define the roles and responsibilities of each Executive Officer.