Report of the National President - Executive Council

Marc Brière – Item 6

COLLECTIVE BARGAINING:

Unfortunately, the negotiations are not progressing as quickly and smoothly as we would like. That is why, at its last meeting held on Friday, October 26, the UTE-PSAC National Strategy Coordinating Committee (NSCC) approved a National Day of Mobilization to be held on Tuesday, November 27, 2018.

On this day of mobilization, the Committee authorized the distribution of a rigid poster bearing the slogan "My contract, my voice". The poster was to be distributed by the PSAC Regional Offices (ROs) to all UTE Locals before the event. We asked Locals to conduct highly visible mobilization activities at work and distribute this poster to our members that day.

On November 22^nd, we published a video and a document promoting this day with the objective of raising awareness among members on the importance of getting involved. It was essential to send a message of solidarity through this visibility exercise before our negotiating team resumes the negotiations from December 3^rd to 6^th 2018. The employer needs to know that our members are really serious and that we insist that there be movement at the table as soon as possible to get a better contract. We all need to exert more pressure and express our dissatisfaction.

I am pleased to report that the day went very well. Across the country, Locals have organized a variety of activities in which our members have participated in large numbers. UTE members have demonstrated that they support their bargaining team 100% and have sent a clear message to CRA management and Treasury Board: come to the bargaining table ready to negotiate seriously and respect us!

That day, I had the pleasure of participating in an event organized by the Bathurst Local, in which many of their members were present. I also took the opportunity to give several interviews to different media.

COLLECTIVE BARGAINING WITH UTE EMPLOYEES:

Following the tentative agreement reached on September 7^th with the Alliance Employees Union (AEU), Unit V, the UTE employees ratified their new employment contract on September 25^th. The collective agreement is for a period of three (3) years, from March 19^th, 2018 to March 18^th, 2021.

CHANGE FILE (DUES):

The PSAC has finally obtained authorization to implement the necessary corrective measures to correct the amounts paid by the members in union dues. Since the November 14^th pay, several members have had their union dues adjusted.

We have been proactive on this issue. First, I wrote an article in the December edition of our Union News in which I gave explanations and information concerning this whole situation. I also gave an example of how the employer will adjust the deductions related to the dues. I also sent emails to Locals on this topic. Finally, we published a video and a document giving all relevant information to our members. Among other things, we provided the link to the form on the PSAC website, which allows members to request information such as a breakdown of the amount of the dues to be paid or to point out that the collection of union dues is causing a situation of financial hardship.

We have received several positive feedback from our members regarding the extensive information made available to them. 

THE "CAS CAN DO IT" CAMPAIGN:

This campaign is undoubtedly the most successful we have ever conducted in terms of members’ participation. Our union officers were able to collect more than 14,000 signatures. These cards were delivered to the office of The Honorable Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday, September 28^th, at a rally in Ottawa. On the same day, we also met with the Parliamentary Secretaries of the Canada Revenue Agency, Public Services and Procurement and Treasury Board. We argued why the government should provide the human and financial resources to allow the CRA to develop the CAS system to replace Phoenix.

To date, the government has refused to comply with our request.

We continue to exert pressure to achieve our goal.

It should be noted that we made a video to inform members about the latest developments in this file. I also took the opportunity to thank our members and our union representatives for their unwavering support.

PSAC’S NATIONAL BOARD OF DIRECTORS RETREAT:

From October 14 to 16, the PSAC's National Board of Directors (NBoD) met to hold its Triennial Retreat, as is normally the case following the last National Convention of the Alliance. During this retreat, NBoD members took the opportunity to discuss the organization's priorities for the next three (3) years and to get to know each other better and to network.

An Ad-Hoc committee on PSAC Strategic Planning 2019-2021 was created and I sit on this committee, which will refine the Strategic Plan and report back to the NBoD for final approval.

AGMs:

As detailed in my Activity Report, the Annual General Meeting (AGM) period began last October. We have created Talking Points so that the message delivered to members is the same regardless of which National Officer is attending an AGM.

I attended several AGMs and took the opportunity to visit several CRA offices to meet as many members as possible. I had the opportunity to talk to many of them. Unsurprisingly, the two (2) main topics of discussion are: bargaining and adjustments to union dues.

MEETINGS WITH THE CRA:

I have had meetings and telephone conversations with the Agency’s senior management regarding various current issues and topics, such as:

• Temporary lateral moves (TLM) to a lower level;
• Processing delays for duty to accommodate requests;
• Labour-Management Consultation Process;
• Delays in processing taxpayers’ files.

POLITICAL ACTION:

I have had several exchanges by e-mail and/or telephone with one of the producers of CBC’s Television program "Power & Politics" on the possibility of going to debate on their show the UTE proposal to replace the Phoenix pay system at CRA with the CAS system.

We provided them with a document summarizing our proposal and the steps taken to date. We continue to follow up on this file.

WEB/COMMUNICATIONS:

Our website is working well and updates are occurring in a timely fashion.  We created a few videos including the CAS demonstration, CAS update, PSAC Change File and the recent update on bargaining. Following the National Day of Mobilization, we were busy putting up all the photos received from the Locals.  Thank you for your participation.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY:

All IT systems have been running well. Regular software maintenance of internal computers, servers and network was performed. We renewed our Symantec AV, TeamViewer remote support software and backup software licenses. Our Microsoft Office365 licenses were also renewed for another year. We had a Dell server that the warranty was expiring in December so we extended the warranty on it for 1 year instead of purchasing a new server.

DONATIONS / SPONSORSHIPS:

Donations/Sponsorships
Dons/Commandites
As of November 30, 2018 / Au 30 novembre 2018

NON-UTE UNION EVENTS:

Non-UTE Union Events
Événements syndicaux autres que ceux du SEI
As of September 10, 2018 / Au 10 septembre 2018

GRIEVANCES:

GRIEVANCE REPORT

September 13^{th   to} November 30^th, 2018

Since our last Executive Council meeting, the National Office received forty-four (44) grievances, other than classification.

During the same period, thirty-eight (38) grievances were presented. During this quarter, one (1) grievance was withdrawn. In addition to grievance withdrawn, there were also eighteen (18) replies received from CRA, with three (3) being allowed and the remaining fifteen (15) denied.

There are presently seventy-five (75) grievances in the National Office inventory which have not yet been presented at the Final Level dealing with a variety of issues.

POLICY GRIEVANCE

There were no new policy grievances filed during this period.

CLASSIFICATION GRIEVANCES

There were no new classification grievances filed during this period.

INDEPENDENT THIRD PARTY REVIEWS (ITPRs)

During this quarter, the National Office did not present any ITPRs. Fourteen (14) new ITPR’s were received in the National Office this quarter. One ITPR was subsequently withdrawn by the grievor and closed and one (1) was transferred to PIPSC. The other ITPR’s has yet to be scheduled for hearing.

CRA POLICY GRIEVANCES

Currently there are no new CRA Policy Grievances in our inventory.  There is one (1) grievance that has been referred to the joint committee but to date has not been scheduled for hearing.  

PRESIDENT’S ITINERARY

DATE             ACTIVITY                                                                                         PLACE

SEPTEMBER

11                           Distribution – Ottawa Centre Local 70004                           Ottawa
12                           AGM – Rouyn-Noranda Local 10009                                  Rouyn-Noranda
13                           PSAC NBoD Meeting – Phoenix (update)                           Ottawa
14                           NSCC** Meeting                                                                  Ottawa
17                           Meeting with UTE and REVP                                              Ottawa
19                           Launch of the Charity Campaign                                         Ottawa
25 – 26                  Executive Council Meeting                                                   Ottawa
27 – 29                  Presidents’ Conference                                                        Ottawa

OCTOBER

1                             Visit of Local 70021, Connaught Building                           Ottawa
3                             AGM – Local 70021, Connaught Building                          Ottawa
12 – 14                  UTE Health and Safety Conference                                    Ottawa
14 – 16                  NBoD* Retreat – Château Montebello                                 Montebello
17 – 19                  NBoD* Meeting                                                                    Ottawa
23                           Meeting of the Board of Directors                                       Ottawa
24                           AGM - Local 00051, Toronto West                                     Mississauga
25                           AGM - Local 00052, Barrie                                                 Barrie
26                           NSCC** Meeting – Conference Call                                   Barrie
26                           Meeting With “Union Marketing”                                         Toronto

NOVEMBER

1-4                          Regional Equal Opportunities Conference                          Montreal
6                             AGM - Local 90000, St. John’s TC                                      St. John’s
7 – 8                       AGM - Local 90001, St John’s                                             St. John’s
9                             Meeting with Assistant Commissioner of HRB***                Ottawa
22 – 23                  AGM - Local 00015, Kitchener                                             Kitchener

Acronym

*= National Board of Director
**= PSAC National Strategy Co-ordinating Committee
***= Human Resources Branch

MEMBERSHIP:

Respectfully submitted,

Marc Brière
National President