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BILL C-377: Third reading of this bill took place on December 12, 2012 and unfortunately, this anti-Union legislation was passed by the House of Commons. The First reading in the Senate was held on December 13, 2012. The second Senate reading was on February 14 2013, but was adjourned until the next sitting of the Senate, scheduled for March 14 2013. There has been some feisty opposition from a few Senators. We may have a faint hope from the Senators on this extremely adverse legislation. We will have to wait to see the final impact on us and how we will have to report the required information.
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LRO staffing: Sister Linda Cassidy has accepted a permanent position with the PSAC, effective February 4th 2013. We congratulate the sister on this appointment and wish her well. In addition, we would like to take this opportunity to thank her for all the hard work she has done on behalf of the members of UTE for many years on many different levels. At this time, we have decided not to staff this position in the National Office. We will continue to monitor this situation and will reassess based on needs.
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Delivery of UTE Courses: The train the trainer session for LROs was completed January 8, 9 and 10, 2013. Training for UTE members has recommenced on a rotating bases amongst the available LRO’s. A review of the staffing course is being undertaken and we will have a follow up ASAP.
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Job Descriptions for National Office Staff: The National Office is in the process of writing Job Descriptions for all of our staff. When completed, they will be sent to the PSAC Human Resources Branch for proper classification. I will continue to give you updates as this progresses.
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Breakdown of the 3008 FTE reduction at CRA: An explanation of the reported reduction of FTE’s at the CRA was finally provided to us in January 2013. This explanation and speaking points was shared with Council.
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Records Storage Management: Our request to the Privacy Commissioner for a review of the new CRA Records Storage Model has been accepted. The Office of the Privacy Commissioner has initiated an enquiry and we will be apprised of its progress.
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Shared Services Canada: As you all ready know, UTE has filed a Policy Grievance on this initiative. Our position is that the CRA should have declared this a WFA situation. The process is ongoing; both parties have agreed to make written submissions to the PSLRB. There is no further information available at this time.
Respectfully submitted,
Bob Campbell
National President