Jamie vanSydenborgh
The Committee met in Ottawa on February 16-17, 2012. Present were the Chair of the Committee, Jamie vanSydenborgh, Co-Chair, Pamela Abbott, Presidents’ Representative, Christine McLennan and Technical Advisor, Lyson Paquette.
The Committee reviewed several UTE documents related to harassment. Some documents had been changed to reflect the proper reference i.e., CCRA for CRA. Sister Paquette is working on the review of the UTE bulletins on harassment.
In reviewing other documents, i.e. Union of Taxation Employee’s Anti-Harassment Policy, the Guidelines on Union Intervention in Harassment Cases – Member against Member in the Workplace, the committee felt that the documents needed to be reviewed to reflect changes in the understanding of Harassment.
As per resolution 2 adopted in June 2011 by the Executive Council, we met with the employer on February 17, 2012. The employer’s representatives were: Bonnie Lehman, Human Resources Corporate Project Consultant; Paula Warnholtz, Assistant Director of Labour Relations Policy; and Claudine Gélineau, A/Senior Labour Relations Advisor.
Following is a summary of the items discussed:
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We presented our position on the filing of harassment grievance, and the employer explained their concerns.
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CRA has adopted changes to the CRA Preventing and Resolving Harassment Policy. The amended Policy is on the Info-Zone. The changes are related to the delegation of authority.
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We requested information on the Training of facilitators for the Harassment Awareness and on the Awareness sessions. The employer informed us that 10,000 employees have filed the evaluation form after the Awareness sessions. We reiterated our position that the Awareness Session of Preventing Harassment should be mandatory.
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We looked at the CRA Statistics - Annual Report on Harassment Complaints and made several comments, we also requested to have a break down for UTE membership.
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We had a general discussion on investigation and the selection of investigators.
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We have invited the employer to come to a Presidents’ Conference for a presentation on the new policy
Following discussions with the employer and review of new information not available at the time, the recommendation (below) was prepared and presented to the Executive Council.
The UTE Harassment Committee is asking for direction in regards to the following recommendation adopted at the Executive Council of June 2011.
“Recommendation #1
The Harassment Committee recommends that when a member alleges harassment and seeks union representation, that as a member’s advocate, we advise the member to file a grievance only. The union will request to the employer that the grievance be transmitted to the 3rd level of the grievance process and held in abeyance pending the outcome of the Employer’s Harassment Complaint process.”
Respectfully submitted,
Jamie vanSydenborgh
Chair of the Committee