Marc Brière - Item 5
- CHANGE FILE (DUES)
At the last Executive Council meeting, I told you that a special meeting of the PSAC National Board of Directors (NBD) had been held on Thursday, September 13 for the purpose of providing us with an update about this.
On October 5, the PSAC finally informed employers that the change file would be activated on November 14. Since then, members' pay has included adjustments to their union dues (reimbursement or collection of arrears).
The PSAC also sent three documents to all Components to assist the Locals with answering questions from members regarding the change file and the impact of Phoenix on union dues. The PSAC sent a letter to all members affected by these changes. In addition, I sent several communications about this to the Locals and the Executive Council.
- UNASSIGNED UTE MEMBERS
We followed up on the request made to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) Headquarters for obtaining an up-to-date, complete list of our members, indicating their work sites. We received a response stating that management will continue to provide information pertaining to section 10 of the Collective Agreement between UTE-PSAC and the CRA.In accordance with that section, the Employer will continue to provide the Alliance, on a quarterly basis, with the name, geographic location and classification of each new employee.
Further to that response, we spoke directly with the Director of Labour Relations at CRA Headquarters to properly define geographic location. He now understands our needs. However, he has to check how the Agency will be able to provide us with that information. We will continue to follow up and will keep you informed.
We are also continuing to monitor the situation with the PSAC Membership Section.
- BASIC TRAINING COURSE IN ACCOUNTING
The development of the basic training course in accounting by Liam Merrigan, our Finance Administration Officer, will soon be finished. Brother Shane O’Brien, Senior Labour Relations Officer, will do a final review of the facilitator and participant modules. The goal of having the final product completed by the end of the 2018 fiscal year will be met.
- JOB DESCRIPTIONS FOR NATIONAL OFFICE STAFF
The review of the job descriptions for our National Office staff is continuing. We are now at the one for our Senior Labour Relations Officer. Brother Shane O’Brien is currently working on preparing a document describing his duties. The review will then conclude with a review of the job descriptions, classification and compensation of the paid positions of the elected national officers (National President and First National Vice-President).
- SPONSORING A STUDENT FOR ICA
As stipulated in Regulation 24.11.1, the Union of Taxation Employees (UTE) sponsors a student and subsidizes a member in good standing to travel to Africa with International Children’s Awareness (ICA).
In October 2017, the UTE had decided on the student Yasmeen Zekry. Unfortunately, the trip to Cameroon planned for February 2018 was cancelled for security reasons. At the Executive Council meeting in September, I was asked to consider the possibility of sending one (1) student in 2019, since it was not Ms. Zekry’s fault that the trip had been cancelled. I have made the exceptional decision to authorize sending one (1) student fully funded by the UTE to accompany Major Smith to Cameroon in February 2019, namely Yasmeen Zekry selected in 2017.
Respectfully submitted,
Marc Brière
National President