tuesday may 13, wednesday may 14 and thursday may 15, 2014...

GSU National Council Meeting, PSAC

Tuesday May 13, Wednesday May 14 and Thursday May 15, 2014 St. John’s, Newfoundland

Minutes

I

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Tuesday May 13, 2014

1) Call to Order ............................................................................................... 1

Announcement ........................................................................................... 1

2) Approval of Agenda .................................................................................... 2

3) Hours of Session ........................................................................................ 2

4) Approval of Previous Minutes ..................................................................... 2

4a) National Council Meeting, September 12 -13, 2013 ................................... 2

5) Business Arising from Previous Minutes .................................................... 3

6) Officers’ Reports ........................................................................................ 3

6a) National President’s Report ........................................................................ 3

6b) National Vice-Presidents’ Reports .............................................................. 4

6c) Regional Vice-Presidents’ Reports ............................................................. 4

Wednesday May 14, 2014

7) GSU Committee Reports............................................................................ 4

7a) Financial Review Committee ...................................................................... 4

7b) By-laws and Policy Committee ................................................................... 5

7c) Communications Committee ..................................................................... 5

7d) Union Recognition Committee .................................................................... 6

7e) Local Development Committee .................................................................. 7

7f) Collective Bargaining Committee ............................................................... 7

7g) Equity Committee ....................................................................................... 8

7h) Standing Discipline Investigation Committee ............................................. 8

8) New Business ............................................................................................ 8

8a) Convention 2014 Update / Host Committee ............................................... 8

8b) Proposed Budget 2015-2017 ..................................................................... 9

Thursday May 15, 2014

9a) Guest Speakers ........................................................................................ 9

9b) Missing Aboriginal Women ..................................................................... 10

10) Round Table ........................................................................................... 10

Adjournment .................................................................................................... 11

Recorded votes ............................................................................................... 12

II

Appendices

Appendix “A” NC Agenda ........................................................................................................... 14

Appendix “B”- Report of the National President Donna Lackie ............................................. 16

Appendix “C” Report of the National Vice-President, Equity, Daniel Charron ..................... 21

Appendix “C” Report of the National Vice-President, Robert Cameron ............................... 23

Appendix “C” Report of the National-Vice-President, Jack Gale ........................................... 27

Appendix “D” Report of the Regional Vice-President, Michelle Little .................................. 29

Appendix “D” Report of the Regional Vice-President, Lori Walton ....................................... 30

Appendix “D” Report of the Regional Vice-President, Louis Cotte ....................................... 34

Appendix “D” Report of the Regional Vice-President, Mélanie Hamel ................................. 37

Appendix “D” Report of the Regional Vice-President, Shirley Taylor .................................. 40

Appendix “D” Report of the Regional Vice-President, David Cunning................................. 42

Appendix “D” Report of the Regional Vice-President, Dave Thomson ................................ 43

Appendix “D” Report of the Regional Vice-President, Don Wilkie ......................................... 45

Appendix “D” Report of the Regional Vice-President, Reni Stein ......................................... 47

Appendix “E” Report of the Financial Review Committee ...................................................... 49

Appendix “F” Report of the By-Laws Committee .................................................................... 52

Appendix “G” Report of the GSU Communication Committee (Amended)........................... 53

Appendix “H” Report of the Union Recognition Committee ................................................... 54

Appendix “I” Report of the Local Development Committee ................................................... 55

Appendix “J” Report of the Collective Bargaining Committee ............................................. 57

Appendix “K” Report of the GSU Equity Committee ............................................................... 59

Appendix “L” Report of the GSU Standing Discipline Investigation Committee ................. 61

Appendix “M” Proposed Convention Budget 2014-2017 ........................................................ 62

GSU National Council Meeting, May 2014, NL page 1

Tuesday May 13, 2014

A.M. Session

1) Call to Order

The meeting of the GSU National Council was called to order at 10:00 a.m. with Sister Donna Lackie in the Chair and the following Members in attendance:

Present:

Donna Lackie National President Robert Cameron National Vice-President Jack Gale National Vice-President Daniel Charron National Vice-President, Equity Martine Babcook RVP Western Region Louis Cotte RVP Quebec Region David Cunning RVP Ontario Region Mélanie Hamel RVP Quebec Region Michelle Little RVP Atlantic Region Nicole Rousseau RVP National Capital Region Shirley Taylor RVP National Capital Region Michelle Simard RVP Pacific Region Reni Stein RVP Pacific Region Dave Thomson RVP Ontario Region Lori Walton RVP Atlantic Region Bill Walsh RVP Atlantic Region Don Wilkie RVP Western Region

Observers:

Kelly Bush Local President 80052 Gary Byrne Local President 90011 Russel Carter Local President 60009 Randy Howard Local President 60018 Peter Millman Local President 60011 Monique Pellerin Local President 60007 Georgina Bassett Vice-President, Local 90031

Regrets:

Alex Sauvé RVP National Capital Region

Staff:

Bob Haywood Special Advisor to the National President Gail Peck Finance and Administration Officer Maria Thomas Assistant to the National President

Announcement

Sister Lackie welcomed everyone to St. John’s, Newfoundland and thanked the National Council and Staff for all of their hard work and dedication. Sister Lackie welcomed Brother Haywood, who replaced Sister Griffin as Special Advisor to the


National President when she retired in December of 2013. Sister Lackie also welcomed the Local Presidents from the Atlantic Region and she indicated how important it was for the Local Presidents to observe the National Council meeting. She explained that Local Presidents would have the opportunity to address National Council during the Round Table discussion.

Sister Lackie reminded National Council about the PSAC Harassment and Scent Policies. Copies were provided in the kits.

Sister Lackie advised the National Council that Brother Jack Gale would be the Harassment Coordinator for this meeting.

Sister Lackie introduced the National Council Members, the GSU Staff Members, and Local Presidents.

2) Approval of Agenda

The following items were added to the agenda:

Item 5) Business arising from the previous minutes: To add 5 VI – Motion from the Finance Committee (B. Cameron)

Item 9) Under Other Business – To add Missing of the Aboriginal Women (L. Walton)

m/s David Cunning / Lori Walton

That the agenda as amended be adopted.

Recorded vote #1. Motion carried. (Appendix ‘A’)

3) Hours of Session

m/s/c Bob Cameron / Don Wilkie

That the hours of sessions as proposed by the Chair, be approved:

Tuesday May 13, 2014 10:00 – 12:00 and 1:00 – 3:00

Wednesday May 14, 2014 9:00 – 12:00 and 1:00 – 3:00

Thursday May 15, 2014 9:00 to completion of Business day

4) Approval of Previous Minutes

4a) National Council Meeting, September 12 -13, 2013

m/s Michelle Simard / Lori Walton

That the minutes of September 12-13, 2013 be approved.

Recorded vote #2. Motion carried.


5) Business Arising from Previous Minutes

Action Items:

1. Finance Committee – Regulations changes to Regulation #2 and #8.

Sister Lackie indicated that these regulations have been amended and are part of the By-laws.

2. By-laws Committee – Regulation changes to regulation #2, #7, and 13.

Sister Lackie indicated that these regulations have been amended and are part of the By-laws.

3. Communication Committee Survey

Sister Lackie indicated that the Committee combined the results from both languages and an email was sent to the National Council.

4. Creation of GSU Grievance Committee

Sister Lackie indicated that the GSU Grievance Committee is an abeyance.

5. PSST Procedures

PSST Guidelines have been created and will be posted on the GSU website.

Remarks

Brother Cameron requested that a summary list be provided at the next National Council Meeting regarding Business Arising from Previous Minutes.

6) Officers’ Reports

6a) National President’s Report

Brother Daniel Charron, National Vice-President, Equity assumed the Chair.

(10:50 am to 11:20 am)

m/s Donna Lackie / Jack Gale

That the report of the National President be adopted.

Sister Lackie responded to questions regarding her report.

Recorded vote #3. Motion carried. (Appendix ‘B’)

Sister Lackie assumed the Chair at 11:20 a.m.


6b) National Vice-Presidents’ Reports

m/s Michelle Little / Louis Cotte

That the reports of the National Vice-Presidents be adopted.

Recorded vote #4. Motion carried. (Appendix ‘C’)

P.M. Session

6c) Regional Vice-Presidents’ Reports

m/s Lori Walton / Michelle Simard

That the reports of the Regional Vice-Presidents be approved.

Recorded vote #5. Motion carried. (Appendix ‘D’)

Remarks

No reports were submitted from Sisters Babcook, Rousseau, Simard and Brothers Walsh and Sauvé.

The meeting adjourned at 4:00 p.m. and reconvened at 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday May 14, 2014.

Wednesday May 14, 2014

A.M. Session – 9:00 a.m.

7) GSU Committee Reports

7a) Financial Review Committee

Brother Robert Cameron, Chairperson of the Financial Review Committee, tabled a report on behalf of the Committee.

m/s Don Wilkie / Shirley Taylor

To adopt the Financial Review Committee Report as presented.

Recorded vote #6. Motion carried. (Appendix ‘E’)

The Finance Review Committee has the following recommendations.

m/s Martine Babcook / Louis Cotte

1. 2013 Audited Financial Statements

The Committee recommends adoption of the 2013 Audited Financial Statements as presented.



Remarks

In reference to the 2013 Audited Financial Statements, item 10 (Operating Lease Commitments) Brother Cotte indicated that a short explanation would be appreciated. Sister Peck indicated that she would ask the Auditors if a short explanation can be included in the next Audited Financial Statements.

m/s Bill Walsh / Lori Walton

2. Auditors

The Committee recommended using the firm of Bouris, Wilson for the 2014 audit.


3. Item 5. VI – Motion Finance Committee (Minutes of Sept. 12 & 13, 2013)

a/s Bob Cameron / Martine Babcook

That this resolution be amended to read as follows:

The cost of the initial Local audits in 2013/2014 shall be born out of the current operating GSU budget. Subsequent years will be at the cost of the Locals. conducted by the GSU National Office.


7b) By-laws and Policy Committee

Brother Daniel Charron, Chairperson of the By-laws and Policy Committee, tabled a report on behalf of the Committee.

m/s Louis Cotte / Michelle Simard

To adopt the By-laws and Policy Committee Report as presented.

Recorded vote #10. Motion carried. (Appendix ‘F’)

7c) Communications Committee

Brother Robert Cameron, Chairperson of the Communication Committee, tabled a report on behalf of the Committee.

m/s Shirley Taylor / Reni Stein

To adopt the Communications Committee Report as presented. (Appendix ‘G’)

P.M. Session

a/s/c Bill Walsh / Dave Thomson

That the Communication Committee Report be referred back with the following instructions:

To delete paragraph number 4 and to re-submit the Communication Report to National Council.


Remarks

Sister Lackie indicated that the Communication Plan will not be dealt with at this meeting. It will be re-submitted at the next National Council meeting.

7d) Union Recognition Committee

Brother David Cunning Chairperson of the Union Recognition Committee tabled a report on behalf of the Committee.

m/s Michelle Simard / David Cunning

To adopt the Union Recognition Committee Report as presented.

a/s/c Michelle Little / Dave Thomson

That the Union Recognition Committee Report be amended to delete resolution #3 Policy #9 – GSU Annual Bursaries and replace with Life Members Biographies.

Recorded vote #11. Motion carried. (Appendix ‘H’)

m/s Michelle Little / Nicole Rousseau

Union Recognition Committee Resolution # 1

WHEREAS the GSU offers three annual bursaries to honour the memory of two past members - two in the name of A.F. Wood and one in the name of Jim Williams and,

WHEREAS the task of applying was onerous, the grading was very time consuming and two bursaries in the same name is confusing

Be it Resolved that the GSU maintain three bursaries and

The entire application process be re-designed to make it easier The application deadline be changed to August 25 And one of the A.F. Wood bursaries be renamed the Bonnie Robichaud bursary.


m/s Don Wilkie / Lori Walton


Whereas Policy # 9 in the GSU By-Laws explains the procedure and rationale for the A. F. Wood Memorial Bursaries and

Whereas Policy # 17 in the GSU By-Laws explains the procedure and rationale for the Jim Williams Memorial Bursary and

Whereas Resolution # 1 from the Union Recognition Committee recommends the creation of the Bonnie Robichaud Bursary


Be It Resolved that Policy # 9 and Policy # 17 be merged to become Policy #9 and that the rationale for all three bursaries be included in the Policy #9.

And Be It Further Resolved that the title for Policy #9 be changed to read GSU Annual Bursaries.


m/s Michelle Little / Lori Walton


WHEREAS the National Council passed a motion at the September 1, 2011 meeting to include a biography with each life member and

WHEREAS the task of including the biography with each life member will total over 30 biographies and will be onerous of the Committee

Be It Resolved That the original motion be modified to read as follows:

We recommend that a description-biographical note be added for each person on the GSU list of life members. We also suggest that an asterisk be added next to the name of a deceased life member.


7e) Local Development Committee

Sister Lori Walton Chairperson of the Local Development Committee tabled a report on behalf of the Committee.

m/s Michelle Simard / Louis Cotte

To adopt the Local Development Committee Report as presented.

Recorded vote #15. Motion carried. (Appendix ‘I’)

Remarks

Sister Walton indicated that the Local Development Committee was working hard to create a tool kit for the GSU Webpage and other activities. An email has been sent to the National Council and Local Presidents requesting their input.

7f) Collective Bargaining Committee

Brother Jack Gale Chairperson of the Collective Bargaining Committee tabled a report on behalf of the Committee.

m/s Bill Walsh / Lori Walton

To adopt the Collective Bargaining Committee Report as presented.

Recorded vote #16. Motion carried. (Appendix ‘J’)


7g) Equity Committee

Brother Daniel Charron, Chairperson of the Equity Committee, tabled a report on behalf of the Committee.

m/s Lori Walton / Louis Cotte

To adopt the Report of the Equity Committee as presented.

Recorded vote #17. Motion carried. (Appendix ‘K’)

7h) Standing Discipline Investigation Committee

Brother Bob Cameron, Chairperson of the Standing Discipline Investigation Committee, tabled a report on behalf of the Committee.

m/s Bill Walsh / David Cunning

To adopt the Standing Discipline Investigation Committee Report as presented.

Recorded vote #18. Motion carried. (Appendix ‘L’)

8) New Business

8a) Convention 2014 Update / Host Committee

Sister Lackie updated the National Council on the following:

Convention Bulletins #1 and #2 were sent to the NC/LP

GSU Committees will be composed of RVP and Local Presidents.

General Committee: Brother Gale, chair and Sister Rousseau, co-chair

By-laws Committee: Brother Charron, chair and Sister Hamel, co-chair

Finance Committee: Brother Cameron, chair and Sister Babcook, co-chair

Sister Lackie indicated that all RVP will sit on a Committee. Sister Lackie requested that if an RVP did not want to sit on a committee to let her know as soon as possible.

September 19, 2014 = ½ day National Council meeting

September 20, 21, 22, 2014 = GSU Committees meeting

September 23, 24, 25, 2014 = GSU Convention

September 26, 2014 – ½ day National Council meeting (Newly elected National Council)

Convention will take place at the Delta Ottawa City Centre in Ottawa, ON

Resolutions deadline to be submitted to the GSU Office is May 23rd, 2014

Host committee: Sister Lackie was looking for volunteers.


Sister Rousseau stated that she would volunteer to be part of the GSU Convention Host Committee.

8b) Proposed Budget 2015-2017

m/s Bob Cameron / Martine Babcook

To adopt the Proposed GSU Budget 2015-2017 and forward it the 2014 GSU Triennial Convention.

Recorded vote #19. Motion carried. (Appendix ‘M’)

The meeting adjourned at 3:00 p.m. and reconvened at 9:00 a.m. on Thursday May 15, 2014.

Thursday May 15, 2014

A.M. Session – 9:00 a.m.

Sister Lackie introduced Sisters Jeannie Baldwin, PSAC REVP Atlantic Region, Gaby Levesque, Regional Coordinator Atlantic Region and from the PSAC Regional Office in NL, Brothers Brian Collins, Sean Glavine, and Sister Corina Harding who were observing the GSU National Council morning session.

Sister Lackie indicated that we would continue dealing with item # 7c) Communication Committee Report.

m/s Michelle Simard / Louis Cotte

To adopt the Communication Committee Report as amended.


m/s Bob Cameron / Don Wilkie

The Committee proposed the addition of an Education Committee to the GSU list of internal Committees.


9a) Guest Speakers

Jeannie Baldwin, PSAC REVP Atlantic Region

Mary Shortall, Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour

Guest Speaker, Jeannie Baldwin

Sister Lackie introduced Sister Jeannie Baldwin, PSAC REVP Atlantic Region. Sister Baldwin was elected in 2004 to her first term as REVP Atlantic and she continues to serve in that position.

Sister Baldwin addressed the National Council and welcomed them to Newfoundland. She reminded National Council that, as union activists we must stay united and strong in order to fight the Harper government.


Remarks

Sister Lackie challenged the Communication Committee to design a booklet similar to the one that was created by Unifor.

Guest Speaker, Mary Shortall

Sister Lackie introduced Sister Mary Shortfall who was elected as President of the Newfoundland Federation of Labour in October 2013. She has been the NL Representative for the CLC since 2001. Her address to the National Council recognized the many challenges ahead of us and she asserted that by remaining united and strong we can fight the Harper government. Sister Shortfall mentioned that delegates to the Canadian Labour Congress Convention in Montreal elected Hassan Yussuff as their President.

Sister Lackie thanked Sister Shortfall and presented her with a commemorative coin set made by GSU members at the Royal Canadian Mint.

9b) Missing Aboriginal Women

Sister Walton informed National Council that the Mi’kmaq Native Friendship Centre in Halifax would be hosting an event with support from the Public Service Alliance of Canada. Members will gather to weave a 10-foot dream catcher to honour missing and murdered Aboriginal women. They are making 824 small dream catchers to hang off the large one, each of those representing one of the aboriginal women currently missing in Canada. The purple ribbon on these dream catchers represents the missing woman, and the black bead represents the mourning for that woman.

Sister Walton also requested that the National Council take a group photo that would be posted on Twitter to be part of the campaign “Bring Back Our Girls.” –In Nigeria 276 girls remain missing after being abducted from their school by the terror group Boko Haram. The girls were taken because they were pursuing their education – a reminder to us all of the many obstacles that girls in many parts of the world must overcome in order to improve their lives.

10) Round Table

The National Council meeting ended with a round table discussion. Sister Lackie invited the Local Presidents to address National Council.

Summary

National Council members stated that overall it was a very successful week and they all thanked the staff and the Host Committee for a job well done.

Brother Charron stated that he would not be seeking election as National Vice-President, Equity.

Sister Walton stated that she will be running for the position of National Vice-President, Equity.


Comments from the Local Presidents

Randy Howard: Thanked everyone, especially the Host Committee, for all of their work. He indicated that it was a good meeting and a valuable experience.

Peter Millman: He stated that it was an excellent meeting and a very good learning experience. He commented that it was great to be able to meet everyone.

Russel Carter: Thanked National Council members for a job well done.

Monique Pellerin: This is her first year as Local President and she thanked everyone for a great experience.

Georgina Bassett: She is replacing the Local President Matthew Gallant who could not attend. She stated that it was a very good experience and felt that it was an – “eye opener”. Further, she stated that the work done by National Council is amazing.

Kelly Bush: She thanked everyone and indicated that it was great to be able to observe National Council and see how everyone works. Sister Bush is a member of the Collective Bargaining Team and she represents members in the PA Group. Sister Bush provided an update on Collective Bargaining to the National Council.

Gary Byrne: Is a newly elected Local President and he stated how this was a valuable experience. He stated that is was a very good meeting and that he enjoyed meeting everyone.

Sister Lackie once again thanked the National Council and ‘everyone behind the scenes’ for a job well done!

Adjournment

m/s Bill Walsh / David Cunning

That this meeting be adjourned.

MOTION CARRIED.

The meeting adjourned at 1:05 p.m

NC Recorded votes page 12

Recorded votes

Legend

1. Yes 2. No 3 Abstain 4. Absent

Agenda -

am

ended

Min

ute

s –

Sept. 2

013

NP

Report

NV

P R

eport

s

RV

P R

eport

Fin

ance C

ttee

Report

A

udite

d F

inancia

l

Sta

t.

Audito

rs

Local A

udit

By-law

Cttee R

eport

UR

C C

ttee R

eport

UR

C –

Res. #1

UR

C –

Res. #2

UR

C R

- R

es. #3

LD

C C

ttee R

eport

CB

C

ttee R

eport

Equity

Cte

e R

eport

Vote Number

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

Babcook, M. 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

Cameron, B. 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

Charron, D. 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

Cotte, Louis 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

Cunning, D. 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

Gale, J. 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

Hamel, M. 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

Little, M. 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

Rousseau, N. 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

Sauvé A. 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

Simard, M. 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

Stein, R. 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 3

Taylor, S. 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

Thomson, D. 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 4 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

Walsh, B. 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

Walton, L. 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

Wilkie, D. 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

Lackie, D. 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

NC Recorded votes page 13

Legend

1. Yes 2. No 3. Abstain 4. Absent

SD

IC C

ttee R

eport

Pro

p. C

onv. B

udget

Com

munic

atio

n

Report

E

ducatio

n C

ttee

Vote Number

18 19 20 21

Babcook, M. 1 1 1 1

Cameron, B. 1 1 1 1

Charron, D. 1 1 1 1

Cotte, Louis 1 1 1 1

Cunning, D. 1 1 1 1

Gale, J. 1 1 1 1

Hamel, M. 1 1 1 1

Little, M. 1 1 1 1

Rousseau, N. 1 1 1 1

Sauvé A. 4 4 4 4

Simard, M. 1 1 1 1

Stein, R. 1 1 1 1

Taylor, S. 1 1 1 1

Thomson, D. 1 1 1 1

Walsh, B. 1 1 1 1

Walton, L. 1 1 1 1

Wilkie, D. 1 1 1 1

Lackie, D. 1 1 1 1

Appendix ‘A’ NC Agenda page 14

Appendices

Appendix “A” Agenda National Council Meeting

May 13,14, and 15, 2014 – Sheraton Hotel Newfoundland

St. John’s, NL

Agenda

1. Call to Order - 9:00 am

2. Approval of Agenda

3. Hours of Session

4. Approval of Previous Minutes

a) Minutes of meeting September 12-13, 2013

5. Business arising from the previous minutes

Action items:

I. Finance committee- Regulation changes to #2 and #8

II. By-Laws committee-Regulation changes to # 2,7,and 13

III. Communication Committee Survey reflects the results from both languages

IV. Creation of GSU Grievance Committee

V. PSST procedures

VI. Motion – Finance Committee

6. Officers’ Reports

a) National President’s Report

b) National Vice-presidents’ and National Equity Officer’s Reports

c) Regional Vice-presidents’ Reports

7. GSU Committee Reports

a) Financial Review Committee

Motion audited financial statements

b) By-laws and Policy Committee

c) Communications Committee

Motion to create Education Committee

Motion to change communication plan

Appendix ‘A’ NC Agenda page 15

d) Union Recognition Committee

Motion bursaries

Motion Life members

e) Local Development Committee

f) Collective Bargaining Committee

g) Equity Committee

h) Standing Discipline Investigation Committee

8. New Business

I. Convention 2014 / Convention Update / Host Committee II. Proposed Budget 2015 – 2017

9. Other Business

a) Guest Speaker Mary Shortall from the Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour

b) “Missing Aboriginal Women”

10.Round Table / Adjournment

Appendix ‘B’ Report of the National President, Donna Lackie page 16

Appendix “B” Report of the National President, Donna Lackie

May 2014

This year is poised to be a challenge with our Treasury Board employer as we now prepare to move into collective bargaining. By the time you read my report, the PA table and the TC table will be well underway in their rounds of bargaining. If any of the saber rattling that Treasury Board has been doing for the last year is an indication, our bargaining teams are destined for a long round of negotiations. As we have all been saying for the last year, the PSAC/GSU will not enter into concession bargaining and all of the hard earned entitlements and benefits that our members currently have in their collective agreements is not for sale. I encourage all of you to stay current on both the PSAC and GSU website for bargaining updates.

As well, our Brothers and Sisters at the Royal Canadian Mint are in negotiations with an aim to improve their current language and benefits within their agreements, to strengthen what gains they have already made for our members at the RCM.

I am happy to say that GSU has strong, dedicated officers who have been elected to the PSAC National Collective Bargaining teams – Kelly Bush is a member of the PA team, Frank Nitschmann is a member of the SV team, as well as Daniel Charron, Alain Courcelles, Kelly Votto and Mathew Robillard all represent our members on the Royal Canadian Mint’s Collective Bargaining team.

Public Works and Government Services Canada

There have been many new initiatives that we have experienced over this last year with PWGSC, Performance Management, the attempts to introduce Pay in Arrears with a financial recovery, RP-1, Novus, Changes in legislation ie: Bill C-4, etcetera. And while some of these changes were not introduced by the employer, they still fall within the mandate of PWGSC to implement.

Many GSU officers are involved both locally and regionally in all forums of consultation with PWGSC and this has resulted in supporting a strong labour/management relationship. We have made ourselves available to meet with the department, to sit at the table and to enter into discussions on new initiatives. Our members know that we are consulted, and that we have applied the appropriate over-sight in an effort to protect their rights in the workplace.

I continue to meet with the ADM Real Property on issues relating to the governance of Engineered Assets which as you know include such locations as the Burlington Lift Bridge and the Esquimalt Graving Dock. We will be meeting with Real Property Branch later this month to participate in National Consultation and look forward to hearing about their directions in RP-1, Novus, governance.

The Miramichi Pay Center has required almost daily support with both the Local and Management on matters relating to Miramichi and the new pay center. This new center has been a busy area for GSU with the introduction of hundreds of new members all attempting to learn very complicated payroll systems. And while we are pleased to have the expansion of our membership, it does not come without its


challenges. We continue to support the Local President in Miramichi in the representation of his members as well as ensuring engaged, active consultation with the pay center management.

ITSB is a supported and actively consultative branch, with a strong National Print Production consultation committee. This committee has ensured the necessary dive into print products, imaging services and scheduling all in an effort to keep our members employed and delivering quality products.

And while the Acquisitions Branch is not the home of many GSU members, it still is a progressive branch that sees value in seeking out other business lines in support of sustaining employment. Recently we were advised of changes in the federal travel initiative and we look forward to seeing the positive impact this may have on GSU members.

Royal Canadian Mint

We have worked hard to move towards a labour/management consultative relationship with the Royal Canadian Mint over this last year. Change has not come easy but I continue to persevere with the support of the Local and the Local executive to ensure that this employer is participating in early engaged consultation with GSU.

I have received confirmation that this employer is now ready to proceed to consult nationally, and I am confident that by the time National Council meets in St. John’s, Newfoundland in May I will be able to provide a verbal report on successes.

Shared Services Canada

As Shared Services Canada continues to move towards that of a fully operational department, GSU continues to support our members in all aspects of representation.

Shared Services Canada has established all levels of consultations with all bargaining agents across its department. We have attended and supported Shared Services Canada at the National Labour Management Consultation Committee; I chair the Shared Services National Health and Safety Policy as well as chairing the Shared Services Human Resources Consultation Committee.

And while our members have their largest concentration in the National Capital Region in Local 70017, we are now seeing the active engagement of Shared Services Canada members at different AGM is across the country.

We continue to support our new members from Shared Services Canada in their transfer from non-Treasury Board employees to Treasury Board employees and the many challenges this has presented. We have worked with the PSAC to ensure that these new Shared Services Canada members are able to sustain their salary levels and careers.

PSAC Campaigns/Collective Bargaining

Budget 2014 says the government’s goal in upcoming negotiations will be to “ensure, that the public service is affordable, modern and high-performing” and promises


“minor legislative amendments to clarify recent changes to the labour relations regime.” This is troubling given recent budget legislation that aims to stack the deck in the government’s favour.

The PSAC’s “We Are All Affected” campaign was built on the premise that it was going to take all of us to demonstrate to Canadians the immense value in the services provided by federal workers, talking to our members, talking to our communities to ensure that everyone understood the thousands of services provided each and every day by public service workers that the Conservative Government was taking aim at. I encourage each and every local to support and participate in this very important campaign, please ensure that our members sign their “We Are All Affected” campaign cards.

We have seen the impact in the reduction of services targeting Canadian veterans and how the closure of Veterans Affairs offices across the country shows little support or respect to these former Canadian military personnel.

At PWGSC we have been able to manage our Work Force Adjusted members with minimal impact and have been able to support them into other jobs within the department or provided them with guidance on the Alternation process.

With Collective Bargaining teams now preparing to commence their negotiations with Treasury Board, GSU and the Public Service Alliance of Canada are going to need our support more now than ever.

Government Services Union – National Office

These last 6 months have seen many changes in the GSU National Office and I am very proud to say that we now find ourselves in a very solid position with new staff that have out-performed our expectations.

As you all know, Sister Laura Griffin retired from GSU last December which necessitated a staffing process. We were very fortunate to secure Brother Bob Haywood who comes to GSU with years of experience with the PSAC in the Northern Region. Brother Haywood has transitioned into his new role seamlessly and has been active with both locals and National Council providing advice and guidance on matters.

Sister Stephanie Ehler has taken on the role of administrative support to the Representation Section, and given her past experience as a Local President in GSU, has been able to bring her perspective and passion to her new role with GSU.

Sister Jennifer York is in the position of Technology Assistant and has shown to us the amount of technological support we were missing, re-designed databases and has now completed the draft of the new GSU web page. Both Sister York and Sister Ehler come to GSU with strong commitments to unionism and we are proud to have them on the GSU team.

Sister Danielle Laprade is currently on an assignment with the PSAC until October 2014, and in her absence we have secured the services of Claudine Martel as GSU Receptionist who we welcome to GSU and who has been a great addition to our team.


Sister Gail Peck provides all financial oversight to GSU, and provides me with all aspects of financial accounting and reporting to ensure that GSU continues to remain within budget and fiscally sound. Sister Peck has the experience of the corporate history of GSU and her dedication to supporting GSU officers, at all levels of the organization, is highly respected and appreciated.

The GSU Representation Section continues to support all of our members and locals, at all levels of the grievance process. This section lead by Brother Craig Spencer, along with Sister Paulette Michon-Hamelin is an extremely busy section as not only do they represent our members but they also provide the much needed advice and guidance to GSU Local officers.

In order for me to stay organized, on schedule and moving in the right direction, Sister Maria Thomas is my support in an effort to get it all done. As many of you have spoken to Sister Thomas over the years, you too have learned how helpful she is with your travel/hotel plans and just how much organizing that task actually takes. Sister Thomas does it all with a great spirit and pride in her commitment to you and our members.

National Council

2014 is going to be a very busy year for GSU elected officers. With all PSAC Regions holding their Triennial Conventions over the summer months, and GSU’s Triennial Convention in September in Ottawa, now more than ever we all need to be engaged and supportive of each other. And when we also throw Collective Bargaining into this mix it will be a very important year for all of us.

And when I look back over this last year to the support provided to National Council, access to training, consultation, conferences...it was critically important to me that each and everyone of you were able to participate in support of your Locals and PSAC Regions in the electoral processes happening across the country. I made a commitment to get all of you to your regional PSAC conventions, as well as a further commitment to ensure that Local Presidents who were unable to get there, for financial or delegate restrictions, were able to do so.

As well I wanted to support National Council in their task of ensuring the required annual meetings between the RVP and their Locals was occurring, so I arranged to tie them into the PSAC Regional conferences.

To all of the RVPs who support their locals each and everyday, to being the voice and experienced leaders that our Local Presidents voted for and our members deserve…Thank You!

To Brothers Gale, Cameron and Charron who have formed a bond to not only support GSU but me as well. These Brothers are “always” available to help not only National Council, but each and every local, any day – any time. The commitment demonstrated over these two and half years has been critical for GSU and I am eternally grateful for their support and friendship.

It has always been about communicating with each other, answering each others questions, supporting each other, representing our members, and ensuring we have a strong and engaged consultation established with our employers across GSU.


I am committed to continuing with this work, to enhancing the work we have done over the last three years, to growing GSU into the strongest component possible so that it can withstand the years and governments to come.

Respectfully submitted, Donna Lackie National President Government Services Union, PSAC

Appendix ‘C’ Report of the National Vice-President, Equity, Daniel Charron page 21

Appendix “C” Report of the National Vice-President, Equity

Daniel Charron

2013-2014

Accounting, Banking and Compensation Branch (ABCB)

There was one consultation meeting held with this Branch on October 10, 2013. Diligent follow-ups on pay modernization projects and modernization of services and pension systems are well appreciated. Another meeting is scheduled for the end of May 2014.

Regional consultation in Shediac, Miramichi, Matane and Ottawa is continuing on a regular basis.

The Miramichi Pay Centre continues its expansion by welcoming more workers. The second phase is underway. Pressure on new employees to perform has been widely condemned. This issue will be on the agenda of the next meeting.

GSU Strategic Planning with the National President, National Vice-Presidents and National Vice-President, Equity.

Planning continues to take place on a regular basis. Consultation is taking place on our various portfolios. This allows us to make progress along with the national consultation with PWGSC directorates, Royal Canadian Mint and Shared Services Canada. This planning also allows us to work more closely on our GSU internal governance matters. Our foursome has met twice since the beginning of the year. With the commitment of my colleagues, Donna, Jack and Bob and myself, I sincerely believe that the GSU is asking good questions and succeeding in planning the 2014 agenda well. The Triennial Convention is coming up and I want to thank these same people for their support and above all for the respect that distinguishes us in our respective challenges.

Welcome and thank you to our new colleague Bob Haywood in the President’s Office.

Internal Conflict Management System (ICMS), PWGSC

The multi-union and management committee met on October 24, 2013. As I mentioned in my last report, I work with this committee as part of a national campaign against intimidation in the workplace. The third Thursday of the month will from now on be Purple Day, and you are encouraged to wear this colour on that day. I am being prudent, since purple days are more geared to well-being in the workplace than intimidation in the workplace. I think that we need to restrict ourselves to our mandates and allow the employer to ensure wellbeing in the workplace; that is their role.

Appendix ‘C’ Report of the National Vice-President, Equity, Daniel Charron page 22

GSU Internal Committees

Equity Committee

You will find my report in your participant binder.

However, I would like to draw your attention to the commitment of the members of the committee. I continue to sit on various joint committees. This is mentioned in my equity report. However, everything remains to be done with Shared Services Canada. Donna and Jack are on it.

By-Laws Committee

The mandate of the committee is to review the Local by-laws. Meetings took place in person and through conference calls. The committee is very committed in light of the enormous task which needs to be accomplished to support the National President regarding her obligation to verify the compliance of the by-laws of each Local.

As part of its tasks pursuant to Regulation 2 - Framework Local By-Laws, the committee noted several sections which do not meet the criteria and several innovative sections. The National Council adopted amendments to this regulation at the annual meeting of the National Council in September 2013 in Winnipeg. Consequently, in December, the Local presidents were advised on the necessary amendments in order to comply.

PSAC-NCR

My term as PSAC Alternate Regional Executive Vice-President ends in May. I will then devote my time and energy to another mandate. As I have been elected to the Collective Bargaining Committee at the Royal Canadian Mint, I am returning to my roots. The same thing that spurred me to union activism in 1987 continues to spur me on today: our working conditions and my collective agreement.

This dynamic Area Council will continue to lead several fights against the Conservative government.

I really appreciate and recognize the work of Local leaders, National Council Members and GSU staff. The collaboration which I receive goes beyond my expectations, which reduces my workload and makes it very pleasant. I offer you my support in turn.

Respectfully submitted by,

National Vice-President, Equity,

Daniel Charron

PS: Rendez-vous in October 2015, Canada will be in a better place after the federal elections.

Appendix ‘C’ Report of the National Vice-President, Robert Cameron page 23

Appendix “C” Report of the National Vice-President,

Robert Cameron

to National Council

St. Johns, NL - May, 2014

Since my last report provided in Winnipeg, I have been invited by the Regional Director General, Robert Wright, to participate in Regional Business Development Planning and working groups in order to bring a union perspective to the department’s business approach and their people management plans. I agreed to this arrangement as long as it would not interfere with arrangements already in place with regional and local representatives and current consultation. This arrangement has served as an advantage to influencing internal program development that will benefit our GSU members in assignments and acting opportunities. I’ve also been involved in establishing tools utilized in this region related to Performance Management Agreements. These tools will ensure assessments are principle based and performance assessment is applied correctly. These projects will be shared nationally by PWGSC in a matter of weeks.

Having dedicated significant time to regional projects, has allowed me the opportunity to see firsthand, the RDG’s commitment to ensure the business approach for 3-5 year planning is “employee driven”. This has been demonstrated by the cross section of people of the working groups, are comprised of front line employees, managers and bargaining agents. As the first working groups have completed proposals and working tools on time for fiscal year end, new groups will be developed to take the next phase of program development and delivery of newly completed ones.

Shortly after returning from Winnipeg National Council, I was also requested to represent on additional committees in the Atlantic Region by Sister Lackie. This was due to a temporary absence of RVPs over a period of 3-4 months. During this time, I also had opportunity of representing on grievances and advising Local Officers on several grievances and varied levels of the process. The biggest rewards on a personal level are captured in opportunities to collaborate with colleagues, and building strategies for good consultation and representation on grievances.

The last 7 months in particular have been a balancing act to manage regional and national responsibilities and has been exciting, demanding, but also reassuring in how much Government Services Union plays a pivotal role with influencing the business of the employer. We do this by holding them accountable to employees’ rights in the workplace, and ensuring our members remain the first priority with any shift in business strategy or transformation.


I would like to close by recognizing the continued support I receive to do this work from Sister Lackie, Brother Gale and Brother Charron. The vision and intent to represent the GSU organization has not wavered one little bit since we began together in these roles 2 1/2 years ago. When the only complaint after returning from our meetings together is that” there is never enough time to get it all done”, it speaks volumes for dedication to this work we continue to enjoy.

The staff as always, continues to deliver first rate support surrounding all of my activities and I am so very grateful for that.

I respectfully submit,

Robert L. Cameron

GSU / Acquisitions Branch Consultation

GSU has established one additional meeting with Acquisitions Branch since my last report. The minutes and record of decisions are available on the GSU website and intranet for PWGSC. Our next opportunity for consultation will be in June 2014. Some of the discussions continue to surround work description renewal and priority given to a top down approach in the PG category. This is the approach they chose to follow despite pressure from GSU to start with AS and CR groups. We continue to receive updates on the career development program for the PE group but only allow it to continue as an agenda to learn how committed to a program they are. At the appropriate time we intend to propose career development strategies for our members in the AS and CR groups. In preparation for June meeting I have been invited along with the other Bargaining Agents to review the “Acquisition Program Transformation” and the additional working groups established to transform the workplace with a focus on Human Resources.

The Branch continues to expand their service to clients beyond federal government and is now establishing business with provincial, municipal and territorial governments. Also, the Branch provides the capacity to buy in bulk such as fuel and medicines for governments proving they can be the one stop service provider. It is surprising to know that although their purchasing greatly exceeds any other federal department and is far more diverse than any other, Acquisitions Branch only provides 10% of the purchasing for all other federal government. The remainder is for PWGSC.

Since my last report, Shared Travel Service was being transferred from private sector (who created the programs and management of the portfolio) in to PWGSC. Acquisitions Branch remains committed to further discussions with GSU regarding the possibility of regionalizing some of 23 positions to be filled. The contractors who once filled those positions all received job offers from the new company partner with PWGSC in other locations of their business.


One final note in closing is to say that Sister Lackie and I have had many conversations concerning whether we are representing concerns of the membership and how we can improve on this through simple and effective means for in this group and other Branches. I have gotten underway with 2 initiatives to ensure we can reach the membership and represent regional interest as well.

1. I have established a strategy to ensure when meetings are called for Branch consultation, the notice of the meeting will be placed in GSU main event calendar with an invitation to contact me with comments or agenda items.

2. I have established consultation with a Regional Manager of the Acquisitions Branch for the purpose of establishing an inclusive approach to agenda for the national meetings.

In closing I would like to thank Sister Lackie for the support and guidance of managing these consultations, always taking the time to review agendas and strategizing before every meeting.

GSU / ITSB Consultation

GSU consultation with Information Technology Service Branch (ITSB) has occurred once since my last report. The Branch took 8 months to develop a new partial business strategy willing to share with employees and GSU. The minutes of meetings and record of decisions can be found on the GSU website and the Employer’s intranet.

The consultation parties have had to regroup and refocus with a new CIO, Pierre Boucher, formerly with Treasury Board and the architect of Pay Transformation, before joining PWGSC. While our consultation was postponed for several months, while Mr. Boucher developed a strategic business plan ,many directorates changed hands leaving it virtually impossible to build an effective consultation and get the employer to the table. By the time we were able to meet in January 2014, it was more about introductions to new Directors and their roles. We did still cover all the agenda items prepared and future agenda planned.

I will be applying the same strategy as noted above the GSU Events calendar to notify GSU Officers and membership of future meetings.

National Print Production Center / GSU Consultation

Operations of the print production centres in both Winnipeg and Quebec City continue with little reduction in volume of printed pieces and in fact since 1998 to late 2013, the production went from approximately 78 million down to 71 million pieces despite the government’s efforts behind the Direct Deposit Campaign. Over the past 24 months pilot projects were introduced such as Archiving in Quebec City and Imaging in Winnipeg. These projects should be ramping up to show their true potential as additional business opportunity and showcase the operation locations and staff. When tabled at consultation the response from the Employer remains


evasive. The new National Director, Robert Templeton is still adjusting to the additional portfolio that is completely new to him. However, in frank discussions surrounding these issues and the sustainability of the print centres, he shares our logic in that the reduction in volume has not been significant enough to warrant concern of the plants closing in the timeframe of 2015 /16, without a much stronger campaign to change the minds of Canadians about how they should choose to receive their money from the Government of Canada.

The consultation has improved in delivering the right agenda and representation from GSU Locals and RVPs, along with a supportive strategy to these meetings. It demonstrates our knowledge and experience concerning the business NPPC.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank GSU committee members Sister Melanie Hamel, Brother Don Wilkie, Sister Lisa Belanger and Brother Calyn Goodchild, for their continued support in providing the elements and strategy of effective consultation to the National Print Production Centre portfolio.

Appendix ‘C’ Report of the National Vice-President, Jack Gale page 27

Government Services Union

Appendix “C” Report of the National-Vice-President, Jack Gale

to the National Council

May 2014

It is my pleasure to submit this report, as National Vice-President, to the GSU National Council.

Since we last met just eight short months ago, the TC group finally have signed their Collective Agreement, bargaining has resumed for our Members at the Royal Canadian Mint and I attended a Bargaining Conference for our Treasury Board members. On top of this we have a new Local in Winnipeg and are actively working toward getting LMCC meetings started with Shared Services Canada.

Fortunately, I have nothing new to report on the WFA front since we met in Winnipeg. There has been but one new WFA submission, for one of our members in Alberta.

As for Consultation with PWGSC, I will speak specifically to Real Property (RP) Consultation. As of this writing, we are planning to meet with RP in May in order to try to get these Consultation meetings at the National level back on track. And while I am disappointed that Senior Management within RP may have changed considerably and aren’t on the same page as we are with regards to meaningful consultation, I am pleased to report that RP consultation appears to be live and well, at least in some of our Regions, including the NCR. When we think back of previous iterations of Real Property Consultation Committees, it always perplexed me as to why Regional Reps would trek to Ottawa to discuss issues that were happening in their respective Regions. I truly grasp and support having National Branch Committees, but where the dialogue needs to take place is in the Regions, between RVP and their counterparts in the Branch. Atlantic Region has shown great strides in this with regards to consultation around RP 1.

I will gladly share with you or answer any questions that you might have with regards to the portfolios that I have been tasked to work on:

Shared Services Canada – NLMCC and Working Groups on Local Regional Consultation Committees and NLMCC Communication; National Health & Safety Policy Committee and Working Group on H&S training

PWGSC – Real Property Consultation (including Engineering Assets); National Health & Safety Policy Committee (and Working Groups); NLMCC and Working Group on Performance Management;

Collective Bargaining;

GSU By-laws Committee.

Appendix ‘C’ Report of the National Vice-President, Jack Gale page 28

These past two and a half years, as National Vice-President of GSU has given me a much better appreciation of the work that is done by members of this National Council. I want to thank all of the RVP’s for their support and honesty in dealing with the many issues that we are confronted with on a daily basis.

As our President has said many times in the past, “we all need to share in the heavy lifting” and I look forward to continuing to work with you.

I want to acknowledge and sincerely thank the GSU National Office staff for their continued dedication and professionalism that they demonstrate each and every day. In the past 4 or 5 months there has been a significant turnover of staff in our National Office and the transition has appeared virtually seamless. I am delighted with the employees that have been brought in - we are fortunate to have such quality employees. I would be remiss to not single out Gail; Maria; Craig and Paulette for their patience throughout the staffing process.

I am confident to say that our entire National Office staff does not take a back seat to any group within the PSAC. I am so proud of the work that they do.

Thank you to my colleague NVP’s Bob and Dan – when I think of each of you, the word commitment comes to mind. Both of you brothers are committed to the principles of unionism; committed to GSU and committed to each and every member of GSU. Thank you.

I believe that our Council has taken great strides over the past two and a half years and the thanks and appreciation for this, in my opinion, should be given to Donna Lackie. Under Donna’s direction, GSU continues to build bridges with our Locals, move the agenda forward re: Consultation with the Royal Canadian Mint; Shared Services Canada and PWGSC; and reach out and support our Locals in an unprecedented manner. I am truly honoured and humbled to serve under Donna.

I would like to thank my Local President Dale Blandford – Dale and I work in the same location and through Dale I am often reminded and kept grounded on the issues that are important to all members. Thank you Dale.

In closing - as always, I am so fortunate to have the support (sometimes read tolerance) from my family. I am delighted that Noreen has joined me this week in St. John's, because without her continued support this would not be possible.

Respectfully submitted,

Jack Gale

Appendix ‘D’ Report of the Regional Vice-President, Michelle Little page 29

Appendix “D” Report of the Regional Vice-President,

Michelle Little

Atlantic Region for New Brunswick (NB) and

Prince Edward Island (PEI)

In accordance with Government Services Union By-laws, I hereby submit my report.

This report covers from September 2013 to March 2014. I want to thank the local presidents in NB, Russel Carter, Randy Howard, Monique Pellerin and Peter Millman and in PEI Matthew Gallant, for their hard work and continued commitment to the membership and with their executive and shop stewards, management and labor relations to find ways to accommodate the needs of our membership. We have a very diverse membership. I want to thank Russel Carter for taking on the challenge of the RVP position during my 4 months absence.

In our Region, we have participated in the RLMCC and ROHS meetings and the National LMCC meeting. Our locals continue to participate in the LMCC and WOHS meetings.

Our challenge continues to be in organizing and implementation. With all that’s coming our way, there needs to be more time and resources available for the locals, so we can meet the challenges in the time lines set out. We need to step back on a regular basis, review the situation and find a way to find the "win, win” solution. We need to apply the training and tools we receive. We need more meetings and teleconferences. A book suggested at one of our recent training sessions was “The Art of War ", meaning that we need to be well prepared before our meetings and grievance presentations.

I want to thank our National President, Donna Lackie for her continued support, I like her, " take the band aid off approach ", National Council, a special thank you to Bob Cameron, NVP for sharing his talents on time and work load management, for being able to have the difficult conversation, which results in better working relationships, Local Officers, members and staff of Government Services Union for their support.


Michelle Little

Appendix ‘D’ Report of the Regional Vice-President, Lori Walton page 30

Appendix “D” Report of the Regional Vice-President, Lori Walton

Atlantic, NS

to National Council

Please accept my report to National Council from September 2013 – April 2014 as follows:

The following responsibilities lie within my portfolio:

• GSU Local 80052 – Halifax

• Chair, GSU Local Development Committee

• Co-Chair, GSU/PWGSC Atlantic Joint Work Force Adjustment Committee

• Member, GSU Equity Committee

Amalgamation of GSU Local 80019 into GSU Local 80052 – GSU Local 80019 held a vote prior to last National Council meeting wishing to dissolve and become absorbed into GSU Local 80052. The Local Members were physically re-locating into the same building as GSU Local 80052 and therefore felt this would be a good move. GSU National Council approved the motion for the merger in September 2013.

Dartmouth Print Centre - Work Force Adjustment Activities – The remaining surplus members from the Dartmouth Print Centre ended their surplus period in October 2013 (save for one who`s surplus period was over in November 2013). There were 4 remaining WFA members without indeterminate placement. Now Layoff Priorities, one has accepted a term position within CRA, one has accepted a term position with CBSA, one has quietly been extended for another fiscal year with PWGSC and another is working until the end of this calendar year in the mailroom. What was disturbing to see was the department begin to move on various acting appointments and opportunities for other employees after our members went from Surplus to Layoff. This will be an agenda topic at our next PWGSC GSU Joint WFA Committee meeting.

In October I represented a few 3rd level grievances. We also got to see the RFP for RP1 for the first time and were able to meet with the employer to discuss the RFP content, what it would mean for our members in our Region. We also had discussions regarding the Hydrographic Surveys report that was drafted in Atlantic Region. We have ongoing consultation meetings with the employer on both RP1 and Hydrographic Surveys.


In November I accompanied a member through a Mediation Process and also had to opportunity to attend PSAC`s National Equity Conference as a delegate. The conference was organized very well, the speakers were relevant and amazing, and the workshops were excellent. The only room for improvement if any would be to allow for more cross stream learning opportunities. We would have liked to hear from or participate in the other equity group workshops to learn how to be better allies for each other.

In December I was very sad to say we lost a dear friend, personal mentor, former executive member of GSU Local 80052, Anti Racism and Equity and Diversity Activist Sister Olive Jackson. She continued after her medical retirement to support and attend PSAC events wherever possible right up until the end. She was a founder of the Maritime Black Ice Hockey League and as she suffered from her own illness she continued to volunteer her time with the hospitals and Ostomy Association.

From her obituary: Olive was an active advocate for change in her workplace and community environment, spending many hours on employment equity issues. She was a dedicated Public Service Alliance for Canada (PSAC) member where she was a member of the Anti-Racism Committee, the Regional Women's Committee, the national Equal Opportunities Committee. She was PWGSC's Atlantic representative on their national Employment Equity

Committee and also a member of the National Council for Visible Minorities. Olive was very active in her workplace charity committee, where she spent countless hours collecting money and Christmas shopping for needy families.

She will be dearly missed and always remembered. She was the reason I got involved in the PSAC union movement, she introduced me to the notion of Solidarity.

In January I was able to attend full time intensive French language training for 5 weeks and was away from my normal RVP duties. I also participated in PSAC Atlantic 1st Telephone Town hall discussion the various anti-union bills that are being tabled in the House of Commons. Over 3200 members participated from across Atlantic Canada. This was a very good way to reach our members and feedback was great.

In February, we had a Atlantic RVP Conference Call to discuss initiatives in the region and to begin planning for the next few months, we were able to delegate roles and bring each other up to speed on our portfolios. Like most regions we will be getting ready for our PSAC Regional Triennial Conventions this spring. February was also Black History Month. I attended the PSAC event in the Calbert Best Boardroom at the PSAC Regional Office. For those who do not know Calbert Best was a Black Nova Scotian (Son of Carrie Best) who co-founded the PSAC as we know it. You can find more information on his story at the workers history museum. http://workershistorymuseum.ca/exhibits-2/cal-best/simply_the_best/


All Directors, Managers and supervisors in our region we advised to participate in a 360° evaluation process. PWGSC hired CSPS as consultants for this process; each manger supervisor was required to request all of their direct reports to participate, their co-workers and their own supervisor to fill out the same evaluation. It was in interesting process, there were approximately 130 questions that dealt with work related competencies then an additional set of questions that had to do with personal suitability. Questions like `do you find X, resorts to bullying under pressure` . I was quite excited to see this as we had been asking for 360° evaluations to be part of the Performance Management process for Managers for quite some time. I was extremely disappointed to learn the only one who would be aware of the results was the individual manager supervisor. Their superior would never know the true results which is a moot point. If the manager is a bad manager, who bullies etc, they are not likely to rise that to their boss’ awareness, so unless the manager truly wanted to grow and change, it would not help our members out at all.

March was busy and stressful for many of our members with year end pressures. Some of our members who have been appropriated are moving now to become billable as of April 1st, which is causing some strife and concern for members. Also in March our Region rolled out mandatory TBS Performance Management Training for both employees (½ day) and supervisors and managers (1 day). It was decided at a consultation meeting that we would open up the manager supervisor training to all union representatives (NVPs in the region, RVPs, LPs, Local Executives, Shop Stewards, etc.). It was very eye opening to see and hear how the managers receive this information and I believe it will be helpful to our members for their GSU representatives to know what is being delivered to management. At our next RLMCC in April, we will be requesting that union representatives are invited to take all Mgmt only HR Related training. It will only assist our membership.

International Women’s Day was also in March, I was invited to facilitate a workshop entitled Women are All Affected, where I invited the participants to explore the actions Stephen Harper and the Conservatives government taken against Women’s Rights in Canada.

PSAC Atlantic held its second Telephone Town Hall meeting with over 3000 members in Atlantic Region participating in the discussion on Sick Leave. Telephone town halls have been a welcome way to reach our membership in the comfort of their own homes on various topics. During this Sick Leave town hall, I heard from a member who is hearing impaired how she wished she could participate. I immediately raised it to the appropriate people and they are working on a solution so this town hall will be available with captions for the member to access and in the future they will plan to have a live interpreter to translate for the member with any upcoming calls.

On March 31st the employer called a Union Consultation meeting to advise us that we would be acquiring ECBC (Enterprise Cape Breton Corporation business) activities. It is still early days to know what this announcement will mean for our region however we know there will be some increased responsibilities and work for


our members and the potential of receiving new members. PWGSC Atlantic will be acquiring 752 properties form ECBC as well as 10 – 15 employees, we will see how many of that number will become GSU members and I will work closely with GSU Local 80052 Local President Kelly Bush to ensure those potential new members are supported in their transition.

I am looking forward to the upcoming months, I know they will remain to be challenging for us as union representatives/activists and for our members however I know that together we will overcome all obstacles that come our way. Major upcoming events I will be participating in, GSU National Council, GSU Atlantic Local President’s Meetings, PSAC Atlantics 6th Triennial Convention, World Pride. And as always I continue to work with the Local Presidents, RVPS and National Vice President in our Region, mentoring, learning, supporting and making change together!

Respectfully Submitted,

Lori Walton, RVP Atlantic (NS)

Appendix ‘D’ Report of the Regional Vice-President, Louis Cotte page 34

PSAC-GSU

Appendix “D” Report of the Regional Vice-President, Louis Cotte

West Québec

April 1, 2014

This was a particularly active year and an opportunity to increase the participation of members in union business. After having seen a significant reduction in experienced union representatives, we managed to recruit several new representatives, which made for renewed vigour in the local and a better distribution of the workload between representatives. Here are the main activities that took up my time during 2013/14 and will continue to do so until September 2014, when my term comes to an end:

GSU Meeting

Participation in the meeting of Local presidents and the GSU National Council in Winnipeg from September 9-13, 2014.

Regional Labour-Management Seminar

A regional labour-management seminar was supposed to take place in February 2014. However, when the employer asked the unions (PSAC and PIPSC) to significantly reduce the duration of the seminar, we decided to withdraw, since this kind of change made it virtually impossible to achieve the objectives that, it should be remembered, had been determined jointly.

Specific files

Joint meetings at the regional level are held when necessary to allow us to conduct a better follow-up on certain important files, including:

• the implementation of GCDocs. This change is already creating stress for employees, and it is important to intervene to alleviate the impact on staff and get the employer to better measure the real effort that will have to be put into it by employees.

• the new directive on performance management. We have asked for training to be compulsory for all employees in the region. This type of change requires that each of the employees is able to play an active part in the evaluation process and that persons in authority who are conducting the evaluations do so in an enlightened and responsible fashion.


Mobilization movement

We responded to the call of the 19th, launched on March 19, 2014 and continuing up to October 19, 2015. However, we must ensure that we create a movement of solidarity and maintain the energy of members for the bargaining period. The participation of PSAC members, and other union authorities has been solicited, and the response has been very positive.

Shared Services Canada

The situation with SSC has improved in terms of interventions for grievance settlement. However, we continue to note the absence of a labour-management table in the region, which prevents the development of a dialogue with management and taking preventive action. This contributes to keeping us in the dark with regard to changes that are occurring or will be coming in this department. With respect to OSH, we have seen the creation of local committees, but the absence of obligatory training leads to a poor understanding of the roles and responsibilities of members.

Work force adjustment (WFA)

The impacts of budget cuts on employees have been weaker this year. However, we still have to contend with a gradual reduction of activities in pay services until the complete transfer of services to Miramichi. Added to this are the changes announced at the pay office. We expect the implementation of a new software planned for January 1, 2016, will cause a reduction in staffing needs. Employees in this sector are starting to be concerned. As well, the next contract for managing crown properties (AFD) will include a transfer of management of leases to the company that wins the contract. Employees have been advised and management assures us that there will be no job losses. However, such choices will deprive us of expertise in the future and it could become more difficult to ensure healthy contract management.

Federal councils in the regions are going to review their structure adjusted on April 1, 2014. Consequently, three employees from PWGSC found themselves in a WFA situation. Two decided to leave the Public Service while the third is still awaiting news of their status: opting or surplus. Regional management recommended opting status. A decision is pending. Work force adjustment in the CFQ was only announced in February (2014).

JLP Training

Training offered this year includes:

1. Creation of a respectful workplace (harassment awareness)

2. Duty to accommodate, building an inclusive workplace

Training on a harassment-free workplace, taking place in May 2014, will exceptionally take place over 2 days and the only participants will be members of


management and union representatives from PSAC as well as some from PIPSC. The second day will focus on the development of an action plan. This explains the presence of members of management in the training. This will be the first time that a version over two days will be given in the Quebec region, at least within PWGSC.

Period of end of term

During the coming months before our Triennial Convention, I will continue to provide my support to the Executive Committee of the Local and to representatives. I also intend to maintain recruitment and mobilization efforts. As well, I will continue with my engagements on files dealing with WFA, on duty to accommodate and on mental health in the workplace. In association with the RVP of the Eastern region, we will take advantage of the PSAC- Québec Convention taking place from June 5-8, 2014, to hold the regional meeting of Local presidents.

Louis Cotte RVP West Quebec Region

Montreal, 1 April 2014

Appendix ‘D’ Report of the Regional Vice-President, Mélanie Hamel page 37


Mélanie Hamel

Quebec East Region

Year 2013-2014

Time flies…… I am at the end of my three year mandate. A lot has happened over the last few years. This new union involvement as an RVP for the Quebec East region allowed me to consolidate some of my experience and knowledge of the labour movement as well as learning more. I really appreciated the meetings and training that I attended. It gave me an opportunity to get to know better other members of the GSU National Council and to see that we indeed have the same issues and a common vision of our union work.

Composition of Quebec East Region

The composition of the Quebec region Locals is fairly stable. The members are located in various workplaces: Quebec, Rimouski, Mont-Joli and Matane. These members are PWGSC employees who fall under the Real Estate Directorate, Accounting, Banking and Compensation, Finance Branch and Cheque Printing Directorate. In the Quebec East region, we also have some members from Shared Services Canada.

Committees

National Role

During my three year mandate, I sat on the Equity Committee and I was the liaison officer for the WFA Committee of the Quebec region. I also attended as an observer at one of the By-Laws and Policy Committee meetings.

Regional Role

I am a member on various regional committees. I am the Co-chairperson of the Regional Union-Management Consultation Committee; I am also a member of the Regional Health and Safety Committee and the Regional Workforce Adjustment Committee. These committees meet four (4) times a year. In addition, we have informal monthly meetings with the RDG and Director of Human Resources. In 2014, informal monthly meetings with Staff Relations Senior Counsel are scheduled to discuss various issues that preoccupy us.

In the fall of 2013, the Quebec Region wanted to hold a union-management seminar. However, following some new directrives on the holding of events, we could not obtain the approval of the deputy minister. The whole matter will probably be postponed to 2014. The committee that I sit on will meet at the end of February to determine the best course of action.


Finally, I would like to specify that, following a joint agreement and to alleviate our attendance at different meetings, we have union-management meetings wherein all unions are grouped. We also have regular discussions with our counterparts at PIPSC and CAPE.

Local Role

At the local level, I wish to keep some connection with management and members within my office. This is why I continue to be involved at the Local Health and Safety Committee level. In addition, some specific files lead me to be more directly active in my Local. Last September, the President of Local 10011 resigned from her position for personal reasons, and the Vice-President brilliantly took up the challenge on an interim basis. The latter also accepted her nomination to this position at the last Annual General Meeting held in January.

Activities

The month of September began with the GSU Annual Local Presidents’ Conference in Winnipeg, followed by the National Council meeting. Those conferences are always interesting. Presidents are more actively participating and are not afraid of raising questions and standing up for themselves. We have also seen a greater involvement by youth members within union executives.

In October, I attended the annual meeting of the ABC Directorate in Ottawa. Afterwards, I travelled to Matane to attend the Local’s Annual General Meeting with the National President.

General Comments

Many issues and files continued this year. Some complex files moved at a slow pace and we are still waiting for a hearing.

At the employer level, we had all sorts of new developments and discussions regarding different issues. The application of the guidelines on union business and the use of workplaces were discussed in great detail. The President assured us that these guidelines should not change the way we do business in the region; however, management does not see it that way. It is very important for them when it comes to the accountability versus the national level. Louis Cotte and myself decided not to register our union activities in the manner requested. We found it discriminatory to report our actions when all other stakeholders do not have to do this. In the near future, we will have to manage various technological changes, such as GCDocs, new universal email for all departments, pay system change towards People Soft, continuation of the distribution of laptop computers.

We are also entering into a bargaining period which will be difficult. We are making suppositions regarding the tendency which will be taken by the government but we cannot foresee the future. I wish good luck to our bargaining teams!


Finally, I will conclude my report with the following thanks: Marc Robidoux and his team, Local Presidents: Isabelle Otis and Lisa Bélanger, who took over the position and Louis for their involvement. Thanks to Paulette for listening, for your advice and availability. Thanks to Maria, Danielle, Chantal and Stéphanie for responding to my endless questions and for allowing me to do my follow-ups.

Appendix ‘D’ Report of the Regional Vice-President, Shirley Taylor page 40


Shirley Taylor

June 2013

Regional Health and Safety Conference

July 2013

School for Women - CTC

Port Elgin

NCR Rally

Support for TC Bargaining Group

August 2013

Meeting of NCR Local Presidents and RVPs

September 2013

Local Presidents’ Council

SSC Annual General meeting

October 2013

PSAC training – Ottawa

Women and Politics

November 2013

National Equity Conference

Toronto

Local 70017

AGM

PSAC General Meeting

Bill C-4

Meeting with National Vice-President, D. Charron and REVP, L. Rousseau

Appendix ‘D’ Report of the Regional Vice-President, Shirley Taylor page 41

Preparation for Stewards’ Seminar

NCA Health & Safety Committee meeting

January 2014

Meeting with Michael Harrington, Director of Operations, Chicago Teachers Union to view a film showing solidarity and its results. This film should be shown to all members meetings.

NCR Retirement Day

Meeting with senior management and networking, which allows us to meet our new members and have them sign their membership cards.

February 2014

AGM Local 70707

Re-election of Brother F. Laroche and two (2) new executive members.

Bargaining Conference wherein we elected Kelly Bush to represent our Component.

March 2014

Pilot Project for JLP – Mental Health

Appendix ‘D’ Report of the Regional Vice-President, David Cunning page 42


David Cunning

Ontario Region

Yearly Report April 1, 2014

It has been another busy and challenging year and the upcoming year looks like it will be even more so. Increased operational requirements and an increase in Union activity has made it more difficult to provide appropriate service to our members. While I always thank my fellow RVP, Dave Thomson, in these reports, this year I have an even greater appreciation for his assistance this past year. Thanks Dave!

It is frustrating to find enough time to provide appropriate service to our members and I fear this will become more challenging especially with the new Service Canada members and the anticipated backlash against public servants. While the issues such as the attack on sick leave and other bills does provide us with an opportunity to engage more members, it too is challenging when we can’t provide them with concrete answers to their questions. It is made even more difficult when trying to explain and justify certain PSAC policies and stances that seem to mimic Treasury Board’s behaviour, (political reasons) or are even inferior with a lack of clarity and transparency such as in staffing.

Once again our Region is searching for a new RDG. During my 2 terms as RVP the vast majority of the people in the RDG position have been there in an acting capacity which makes it difficult to establish good relations. Furthermore it seems that headquarters is getting involved with more regional issues than the past and this further inhibits our ability to maintain good relations with our Labour Relations group.

Some of the committees I sit on include; Workforce Adjustment, Communications, Union Recognition, Regional Health and Safety, and Regional Union Management Consultation.

I look forward to seeing everyone at the Council meetings in May and during our Convention in September

In solidarity,

David Cunning

Appendix ‘D’ Report of the Regional Vice-President, Dave Thomson page 43


Dave Thomson

Ontario Region

Yearly Report for 2014

Greetings to all my Fellow Union Brothers and Sisters.

Well I must say that it has been a stressful year with a lot of fear and uncertainty within the membership, with sick leave, pension reform, the media onslaught against unions along with negative public perceptions, this has pushed morale to an all time low. It has been hard to calm and reassure our brothers and sisters but with a concerted effort by my fellow activists in our region, I feel that we are providing the support that are members are seeking.

The statuses of the locals in Ontario are strong and the local exec’s are doing good work with the membership to prepare them for the upcoming elections and keeping them informed.

Mental Health is still a major concern for me and it is a fact that 60% of my serious cases are mental health related and not enough is being done to change this. I just recently received Mental Health First Aid Training and I will push for all managers and activist’s to also take the training as it is so prevalent to what’s happening in our work and home environments these days and this training is very well put together, providing valuable tools that we desperately need in performing our duties to our membership.

Ontario Region is still a “revolving door” when it comes to the RDG’s office. We are once again hoping that we get a committed and open minded RDG that believes in teamwork and communication. At times this seems futile with many different managers “acting” in the position it can be extra hard to establish lines of communication that are productive and fruitful this is especially a issue for locals that see new managers come and go every couple of years and then have to start all over again with the same issues along with a new manager.

Work descriptions are still an issue for a few groups and our members are still waiting for decisions to come down from the NCR.

Committee’s and training I have attended as RVP:

Regional Union Management Consultations

Regional Health and Safety Co-Chair

ICMS Sessions and Mediations between members and managers

Organizational Wellness Committee Member

Regional Managers Conference Sessions

Appendix ‘D’ Report of the Regional Vice-President, Dave Thomson page 44

Local Area Council Meetings

Local UMC’s

National Council Meetings and Training specific to National Council

Mental Health First Aid Training

National Bargaining Conference

Member of Discipline Committee

Member of Engineering Assets sub-committee

I would like to thank everyone for their support, patience and respect that they have provided me throughout this troubled year with special thanks to Donna, David Cunning, Sue Soubra, Luigi Reda, John Teckoe and Debbie Bannon who always keep me grounded and supported.

Thank You

David J Thomson

RVP Ontario

Appendix ‘D’ Report of the Regional Vice-President, Don Wilkie page 45

Appendix “D” Report of the Regional Vice-President, Don Wilkie

Western Region — Manitoba and Saskatchewan

Local 50057 — RCM Winnipeg: Along with a strong Executive team, Brother Alain Courcelles continues to lead the local as President.

The Collective Bargaining process is underway and many challenges are expected in this process.

The local continues to deal with a high volume of grievances, and as such appreciates all of the continuous support from Brother Spencer and the staff in the National Office.

Local 40007 — Saskatchewan: Brother Sheldon Jacobs continues his term as local President. As witnessed at the local's AGM in November, it is a real challenge to fill a complete Executive team. Both Brother Sheldon and I agree that there are perhaps a couple of reasons for this challenge. Those being the relatively small number of members, coupled with the fact that these members are also split geographically between Saskatoon and Regina.

Local 50002 Winnipeg: Brother Calyn Goodchild, as local President, has been faced with many challenges heading into his 2nd year in this position. However, I believe with the help of a couple of key changes made to his Executive team at the local's AGM last November, as well as an improved communication plan, this local is heading in the right direction to attain a cohesive leadership team.

Local 50058 — RCM — Protective Services — Winnipeg: With PSAC laying the groundwork, we held an informational meeting with this group in early November explaining the benefits of unionizing, and more specifically, doing so with GSU.

On December 3, 2013 a meeting was held to vote on the acceptance of GSU as their chosen component. Immediately following the unanimous acceptance, the local's inaugural AGM and elections were held. Brother Ken Staub was elected President.

Not unexpectedly, this local is going through some "growing pains" as we work toward its 1st CBA.

GSU By-Laws Committee – This committee, on which I sit, has met several times over the past year, both electronically and face-to-face. The meeting which was held in Ottawa in June, to my mind, being the most productive. We also had the opportunity to meet once again in Winnipeg prior to Local Presidents' Council. I am very proud of this committee and the work we have done in the alignment of Local By-Laws throughout the component.

Appendix ‘D’ Report of the Regional Vice-President, Don Wilkie page 46

I would like to thank Sister Lackie for taking the time to attend each and every Local AGM within my jurisdiction. Her presence at these meetings was always appreciated by all involved.

Also, I would be remiss if I didn't truly thank ALL of our National Office staff members for all of their support, guidance and oh yes....patience in helping me perform my responsibilities.

In Solidarity,

Don Wilkie

Appendix ‘D’ Report of the Regional Vice-President, Reni Stein page 47

Appendix “D” Report of the Regional Vice-President, Reni Stein

to National Council

RVP – Pacific Region, April 2014

As I reach the end of my three year term as RVP I am amazed at how quickly the time has passed. It was another year of changes and challenges. However it was also a great year for new initiatives and dedication.

I found time to assist with grievance files, recruitment and provide ongoing support and guidance to my local. And even found some fun time to spend with my beautiful daughter Rebeka.

I’ve had the pleasure to attend general meetings held by the local executive. We worked on various initiatives such as the revision of our Locals By-laws and reaching out and becoming more visible to our members. Brother Dale has obtained home email addresses for 95% of our membership allowing for much better communication. I would like to thank the local executive members that have taken “your time” to enhance your skills and be a stronger voice for our membership by attending a number of PSAC courses.

I continue to co-chair the Regional Occupational Safety and Health committee. Former RDG Alain Trepanier and myself revised our Terms of Reference, where we decreased the number of Employer representatives and increased the number of Union Representatives with the inclusion of both Local Presidents from the Pacific Region. Alain has been a valued colleague, trusted leader to a great many people throughout our department for nearly 40 years, I wish him well on his retirement.

The department continues to deliver Health & Safety training and raise awareness on construction safety and ergonomics. The region is offering an on-line ergonomics course called Ergonomics for Office Workers.

With Performance Management on the horizon, our region was successful in securing on-line training for all union executive members. This allowed us to see what Management saw and the expectations that were set upon them. Along with the training, HR led a number of information sessions to employees on both Performance Management and Pay in Arrears.

Local 20001 held its AGM in December 2013 where GSU National President, Donna Lackie and GSU National Vice President Jack Gale were in attendance for. This year we tackled the by-laws to bring them in line with GSU National By-laws. Brother Dale Blandford was re-elected as President and Sister Kuldeep Deol was newly elected as our Vice President. It’s great to have representation from two of our larger sites, EGD and 1230 Government St. We were also able to connect with an SSC member in Comox, BC for our AGM.

Appendix ‘D’ Report of the Regional Vice-President, Reni Stein page 48

PSAC is holding their Regional Convention this April in Vancouver, BC. Both myself and Brother Jack Gale will be attending as delegates and Brother Dale Blandford will be observing. I’m looking forward to meeting with Sister Michelle and the local presidents for the day to discuss regional issues before hand.

In November our RDG, Senior Management Team, Avant Garde and Union Representatives joined in at this year’s Leadership Forum. It was an opportune time to discuss what the big picture of all the current and upcoming transformation initiatives look like, take stock on how the region is positioned for change and what else we would do to adapt. I believe the idea was great, however a good part of the day was lost when direction by the facilitator was a little blurry. I was impressed with the dedication of the attendees.

I am looking forward to the year ahead. I get a good feeling from our new RDG, Sylvie Bérubé. In our brief discussions, she understands and knows the importance for management and unions to meet. She takes her role in Union Management and Health and Safety seriously, it’s not just “an add on”.

On another note, our region is having difficulty getting face-to-face RLMCC and ROSH meetings arranged. Management feels that Telepresence is a cost effective means of holding these meetings, whereas the union has raised their concerns on a number of occasions. At our last RLMCC meeting, management indicated that our expanded ROSH/RLMCC seminar is going to be held in the fall and that will be our annual face-to-face meeting. I look forward to having a conversation with some of you regarding this and see how our region can move towards having at least two face-to-face meetings annually.

Dale and I usually speak on a weekly basis and I am thrilled to be working with him for another year. Dale brings spirit, commitment and passion to the membership.

I would like to thank Sister Michelle and Brother Jack for their support and friendship. It’s wonderful to be working so closely with two awesome people.

As always, I couldn’t do what I do without the support from my family, friends and hard work from GSU staff. I look forward to seeing everyone in Newfoundland and working with Council for years to come.


Reni Stein, RVP, Pacific Region

Appendix ‘E’ Report of the GSU Financial Review Committee page 49

Appendix “E” Report of the Financial Review Committee

To National Council

St.John’s, NL - May 2014

The Finance Review Committee met on 3 occasions since my last report prepared for the Winnipeg National Council. On every opportunity to meet we assessed the management of expenses and budget forecast for the remainder of the 3 year cycle, monitored the reporting of Locals to the GSU office and any other outstanding issues related to the expenses of the union.

When the committee met on March 25th and 26th, 2014, we completed our review of GSU expenses and forecasted balances for the current cycle and are pleased to say we are once again in good shape to enter into the 2015/17 cycle.

The Auditors have presented GSU with our 2013 Audited Financial Statements for National Council’s approval and as you can see, we have ended the year with a surplus. This surplus enabled GSU to assist our locals to attend the PSAC Regional Conventions this year.

The committee has prepared the 2015-2017 Proposed Budget for your approval; you will notice that we are proposing a” no percentage dues increase”.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank my committee members Sister Babcook and Brother Howard along with GSU staff, and in particular Gail Peck for their support and guidance in managing the responsibility of finance review of the organization.

I respectfully submit

Robert L. Cameron

Appendix ‘E’ Report of the GSU Financial Review Committee page 50

The Finance Review Committee has the following recommendations:

1) 2013 Audited Financial Statements

The committee recommends adoption of the 2013 GSU Audited Financial Statements as presented.

2) Auditors

The committee recommends using the firm of Bouris, Wilson for our 2014 audit.

3) 2015-2017 Proposed GSU Budget

The committee will recommend the Proposed Budget under Convention Business.

To adopt the Proposed GSU Budget 2015-2017 and forward it the 2014 GSU Triennial Convention.

Finance Review Committee Members

Bob Cameron Chair, Finance Review Committee Martine Babcook Randy Howard Gail Peck, GSU Staff Robert L. Cameron Chair, Financial Review Committee

Appendix ‘E’ Report of the GSU Financial Review Committee (Budget) page 51

Government Services Union

Comparison Budget For the Period January 1 to December 31, 2013

Members Remittances(net) and interest earned

Actual Yr

2013

Budget

Yr 2013

Remaining Yr

2013

2,384,0

60 1,982,667 401,393

1 National Council Meetings 94,268 119,000 24,732

2 National Representational Expense 163,040 119,800 -43,240

3 Regional Representational Expense 116,615 108,000 -8,615

4 Collective Bargaining 18,480 10,000 -8,480

5 GSU Triennial Convention 2014 163,836 163,833 -3

6 CLC, PSAC,FED Conventions 11,111 10,800 -311

7 Education, Conferences and Seminars 5,557 10,667 5,110

8 Local Presidents Conference 170,965 98,200 -72,765

9 Local AGM Subsidy 700 1,700 1,000

10 Area Council Financing 100 3,200 3,100

11 Bursaries 3,000 3,000 0

12 President's salary 137,480 113,967 -23,513

13 President's Benefits 44,650 44,800 150

14 Employee Salaries 696,916 695,500 -1,416

15 Employee Benefits 285,846 280,500 -5,346

16 Severance Pay 19,117 11,500 -7,617

17 Rent 104,485 94,233 -10,252

18 Professional Fees 10,427 7,500 -2,927

19 Insurance 4,578 4,300 -278

20 Office Equipment, Leasing & Furniture 27,854 16,700 -11,154

21 Postage & Express 4,058 5,000 942

22 Publications 9,260 7,500 -1,760

23 Supplies, Printing & Stationary 9,883 12,000 2,117

24 Telephone & Fax 4,303 6,900 2,597

25 Translation 19,834 15,000 -4,834

26 Unionware 1,108 26,400 25,292

27 Accommodation Fund 1,668 1,666 -2

28 Miscellaneous Expenses

Donations 2,040

Bank Charges 1,238

Miscellaneous Total

3,278

4,000

722

Total

2,132,418

1,995,666

Revenue less expenses

251,642

Appendix ‘F’ Report of the GSU By-laws Committee page 52

Appendix “F” Report of the By-Laws Committee

September 2013

May 2014

Members of the committee:

Jack Gale, NVP

Don Wilkie, RVP Prairies

Frank Nitschmann, President Local 70023

Daniel Charron, NVP-Equity, Chair

Donna Lackie, NP Ex-Officio

Review of Local By-Laws

As a follow-up from our last Committee report, a report with recommendations for each Locals was sent in December 2013 to Local Presidents and their respective Regional Vice-Presidents. According to the new Policy # 13 Review of Local By-laws, the committee is asking to have at least one set of Local By-Laws per region ready for National Council’s adoption at the May 2014 NC in St-John’s Newfoundland.

At this time only two sets of Local By-Laws remains to be reviewed by the Committee.

As a reminder as well, remaining Locals are asked to have their own review completed and ready for adoption by the GSU 5th National Triennial Convention in September 2014.

The Committee would like to recognize the work of all Local Presidents, National Council and GSU Staff. This is now an ongoing and continuous process involving Local Presidents and Regional Vice-Presidents and the attention of everyone involved is greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

In Solidarity,

Daniel Charron

Chair of the By-Laws Committee

Appendix ‘G’ Report of the GSU Communication Committee (Amended) page 53

Appendix “G” Report of the GSU Communication Committee

(Amended)

National Council – St. John’s, NL – May 2014

The Communication Committee met in Winnipeg to establish forward planning by utilizing resources such as RVP telephone Survey, GSU Communication Committee Survey, GSU Communication Plan, GSU Communication Committee Terms of Reference.

When the committee met on March 21, 2014, we combined the surveys, identifying the common concerns by all GSU Officers. We established the priorities of achievable goals that can be met within the remaining time left for this committee and additional planning options for the new committee formed following the Triennial Convention. We included the National President and GSU staff in the decision making related to the final selection of priorities which is provided to you as an additional document. The GSU website transformation is well underway and the committee had an opportunity to have early discussion regarding the priority list and incorporating ideas brought forward by officers and this committee to Jennifer York and Bob Haywood.

The Communication Committee also had a lengthy discussion on one particular subject that was most common throughout the survey and drafted a proposed motion for National Council to establish an Education Committee. The GSU By-laws and Regulations remain silent on responsibility to ensure education in this organization remains a priority and managed to ensure all officers are prepared sufficiently to represent members. The proposed motion for National Council is also included in my report.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the committee members Brother Cunning, Sister Mercier and Sister Soubra and also staff, Brother Haywood and Sister York with their support and contributions to the work of this committee.

The Communication Committee has the following recommendation:

1. Education Committee

The Committee proposes the addition of an Education Committee to the GSU list of internal Committees.

I respectfully submit,

Robert L. Cameron

Communication Committee GSU Staff

Bob Cameron Chair, Communication Committee Bob Haywood

David Cunning Jennifer York Sue Soubra Monica Mercier

Appendix ‘H’ Report of the Union Recognition page 54

Appendix “H” Report of the Union Recognition Committee

St. John’s NL- May 2014

The Union Recognition Committee is working on providing biographies for GSU Life members. The Committee will be presenting a resolution to Council to amend our mandate of providing biographies for all Life Members (GSU,SSU,UPWE) to only providing biographies for GSU Life Members.

The Committee will forward resolutions to Council to amend Policy #9 in the GSU By-laws and to rename the three bursaries as the Bonnie Robichaud bursary, the A.F. Wood bursary and the Jim Williams bursary.

The Committee has been working with staff, especially Maria Thomas, to amend and update the application process for the bursaries.

Submitted by,

David Cunning Chair of the Union Recognition Committee

For committee members Reni Stein, and Terry Flynn

Appendix ‘I’ Report of the Local Development Committee page 55

Appendix “I” Report of the Local Development Committee

St. John’s NL – May 2014

Committee Members:

Lori Walton, Chair, RVP Atlantic (NS)

Louis Cotte, RVP Quebec (East)

Sue Soubra, Local President (Toronto)

Linda Harding, Local President (Vancouver)

Report Period: September 2013 – April 2014

Prior to the Local Presidents Meetings in Winnipeg, MB last year the Local Development Committee met for a day. We prioritized our goals and refocused on what was achievable. We created a Deliverables document to help keep us on track as a committee.

The committee continued to work via emails during the winter month on tasks they had offered to take the lead on.

Since our last meeting we have had a change in Staff Advisor and there has also been a change to the IT person within GSU. One of our main goals was to get a tool kit up on the GSU website. We have now been working with Jennifer York from the GSU office on making that happen.

Bob Haywood, Special Advisor to the President is assigned as Staff Advisor for this committee. As committee chair I had a teleconference with Bob and Jennifer to review what has been done and what is outstanding.

By the time you read this report you should have received a request to National Council members and Local Presidents for Best Practices. One of the things we discussed as a committee is that it might not be necessary to create and re-write what works, as a lot of locals have very successful best practices that could benefit other GSU locals if we just had a forum to share them. The intent of this request is to put the Best Practices on our website for all GSU Locals to access.

Another initiatives is to have a quote if you will by each National Council Member and as many Local Presidents as possible. The quote will answer the question “Why is it important to sign your union card?” This will hopefully make it easier for our local executive members to have the conversation with RAND members on why it is important for them to sign a card.

As a committee we currently have 7 action items on our radar, all geared to help achieve our committee goals of compiling resources and creating a web-based tool

Appendix ‘I’ Report of the Local Development Committee page 56

kit to encourage increased activity in every GSU Local; identifying best practises to assist GSU Locals with increasing mobilization, activism, education and participation of the general membership; and ensuring all GSU Locals are aware of the Local Development Committee and their mandate, and how they can access Local Development.

We have a scheduled committee meeting on April 15th via teleconference.

Respectfully Submitted,

Lori Walton, Chair

On behalf of the Local Development Committee

Appendix ‘J’ GSU Collective Bargaining Committee Report page 57

Appendix “J” Report of the Collective Bargaining Committee

to GSU National Council - June 2014

Sisters and Brothers:

On behalf of Brother Frank Nitschmann; Sisters Nicole Rousseau and Kelly Bush, I submit this report of the GSU Collective Bargaining Committee.

Since my last report in Winnipeg, Bill Walsh has returned from his assignment with the PSAC and I would like to welcome Bill back as a member of the GSU Collective Bargaining Committee.

As for our GSU Collective Bargaining Committee, we had a busy fall, when we met twice, the first time was to work on the Bargaining Proposals for our Royal Canadian Mint (RCM) members, in both Ottawa and Winnipeg. Just three short weeks after this meeting our team reconvened in Ottawa to repeat the exercise for our Treasury Board Locals. I would like to thank Sisters Nicole Rousseau and Kelly Bush, along with Brother Frank Nitschmann for their superb work, as members of our GSU Collective Bargaining Committee. Additionally we would like to thank our GSU National Office staff for their tireless work on behalf of our Committee.

During the month of February all members of the GSU Collective Bargaining Committee were in attendance at the PSAC National Bargaining Conference from Treasury Board units. Our Component was well represented at this Conference, with 17 delegates in attendance. They spent 4 days discussing issues in plenary and more importantly reviewing and prioritizing specific bargaining proposals.

With Collective Bargaining in full swing, I would like to acknowledge the commitment and dedication of our members who will be sitting on their respective Negotiating Teams.

RCM Bargaining: Brothers Alain Courcelles; Kelly Votto; Mathew Robillard and Daniel Charron

TB Bargaining PA Table – Sister Kelly Bush;

SV Table – Brother Frank Nitschmann

Now more than ever we need to be showing our support for our Negotiating team members. Whether it is members from the Mint or TB members, I am asking each of you on Council to speak with your Locals and encourage members to send emails in support of the team, sign pledge cards; attend rallies, whatever it takes to show the Employer that we are behind our team members. This next round of bargaining has been described by Sister Benson as the toughest round of Bargaining in our History of the PSAC and with what we have read and heard from the Government, she has every reason to make such a bold statement.

Appendix ‘J’ GSU Collective Bargaining Committee Report page 58

We have heard loud and clear from our members that they do not want to lose their Sick Leave, and if we are to believe what we have heard from the TB President, this round of bargaining will take direct aim on Sick Leave and other provisions of our Collective Agreements that have been achieved over many years. This appears to be a blatant plan to dismantle the Collective Bargaining process and an outright attack on the employees that this Government needs to carry out its mandate to provide quality Public Services for Canadians. This round of Collective Bargaining is about more than simply retaining what we have, it is about the survival of our Union as we know it.

You, as leaders of GSU, will be counted on to take this message to our membership; to AGM’s; to have the courage to discuss this at Labour Management Consultation Meetings, and to stand in support of the Negotiating teams. Please take on this challenge on behalf of our members.

In closing, I would like to acknowledge the great work of the staff in our GSU office, and also the unwavering support of Sister Lackie.

Respectively submitted,

Jack Gale

Chair - GSU Collective Bargaining Committee

Appendix ‘K’ GSU Equity Report page 59

Appendix “K” Report of the GSU Equity Committee

2013 – 2014 Report

Sisters and Brothers,

National Council Winnipeg September 2013

Adoption of the mandate of the Equity Committee. Thank you to the National Council for its unanimous support.

Equity Committee Conference, Winnipeg September 2013.

Themes covered included parental leave, justice for Aboriginal peoples, Russia’s anti-gay laws and the International Day Against Homophobia, the structure of employment equity committees, discussion on the 20/20 blueprint and PSAC equity conferences.

In the workplace, we will pay particular attention to the implementation of regional equity and diversity committees and to those that already exist. Our focus will be on their functioning.

In cooperation with the National Council, committee members will work with the RVPs to increase the visibility of equity and diversity.

At GSU, during the last year, we highlighted international events through communiqués that were posted on our website. I would like to thank National President Donna Lackie for her leadership and her involvement in celebrating International Women’s Day.

Awareness of our members is more important than ever. Federal government cuts affect our equity group members. PSAC is currently conducting a study to measure the impact on these groups in the context of workforce adjustment.

National Equity Conference and National Human Rights Committee, NHRC and PSAC

The various conferences took place simultaneously in Toronto in November 2013. Each equity group had its own plenary to debate resolutions and elect delegates to the PSAC Triennial Convention. We invited the 30 GSU delegates to a caucus dinner. There were several new individuals who were participating for the first time.

The annual NHRC was postponed to the fall 2014 after the cycle of regional conventions of PSAC and component conventions. NHRC directors Donna Lackie and Jeannie Baldwin held conference calls with each NHRC equity group and with component representatives. These calls allowed for a review of the equity conferences and carrying out the necessary follow-ups.

Appendix ‘K’ GSU Equity Report page 60

PWGSC

I continue to sit on the Joint Equity and Diversity Committee. Despite its intent of having a larger scope, the committee seems to be trapped at Place du Portage in Gatineau. Notwithstanding, there are many current projects. The committee is in consultation mode to better define its future and its objectives. The suggestion of the GSU Equity Committee for the establishment of distinct regional committees on equity and diversity does not seem to have been well received.

The Informal Conflict Management Committee continues to meet periodically. The initiative of purple days on the third Thursday of the month was launched to support actions against intimidation in the workplace. The GSU remains prudent in its cooperation. We want to concentrate our efforts against intimidation. However, several activities proposed concern health and well-being in the workplace.

Royal Canadian Mint

I sit on the Diversity and Multiculturalism Committee with the equity officer from the Ottawa Local, Paula Brazeau, and the equity officer from the Winnipeg Local, Hycinth Jayasuriya. More and more, the crown corporation is committed to acknowledging several equity group events such as Black History Month, International Women’s Day, and in May 2014, for the first time, International Day Against Homophobia. I am very proud of their work.

The employer will be proceeding with a questionnaire on the voluntary identification of persons targeted by employment equity.

The committee encourages the RVPs to include equity and diversity items on the agenda of their annual conference with Local Presidents.

My sincere thanks to members of the GSU Equity Committee for their commitment and involvement as elected members:

Michelle Simard, RVP Vancouver

Hycinth Jayasuriya, Equity Officer, Local 50057 Winnipeg

Souad Soubra, President, Local 00027 Toronto

John Jedrasik, President, Local 70013 Ottawa

Paula Brazeau, Equity Officer, Local 70024 Ottawa

Mélanie Hamel, RVP Québec

Laurie Walton, RVP Halifax

Thanking you in advance for your cooperation,

In solidarity, on behalf of the committee

National Vice-President, Equity

Daniel Charron

Appendix ‘L’ Standing Discipline Investigation Committee page 61

Appendix “L” Report of the GSU Standing Discipline Investigation

Committee

to the National Council

ST. John’s, NL - May 2014

Since my last report, the committee has had 1 investigation completed however recommendations were not brought forward due to the complainant rescinding their complaint before it was brought to National Council.

At the time of writing this report another complaint has been filed and an investigation is underway.

One additional matter I would like to include in this report as the Chair of this committee is the difficulty in time and logistics to establish an investigation team and complete an investigation in an appropriate amount of time with limited access to officers trained to assist. I have discussed this matter with the National President and agree to proceed with a call out for additional officers to take investigative training techniques for the purpose of supporting the Standing Discipline Investigation Committee. There will continue to be occasions when assistance is needed to ensure efficient use of time and resources are available to complete an investigation.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank my committee members for their support and GSU office staff for their assistance over this period of time.

Committee Members

Bob Cameron, Chair, Standing Discipline Investigation Committee

Monica Mercier

Dave Thompson

Louis Cotte

Appendix ‘M’ Proposed GSU Convention Budget page 62

Appendix “M” GSU Proposed Budget 2015-2017

TOTAL YEAR YEAR YEAR 3 YEAR 2015 2016 2017 BUDGET

1 National Council Meetings 150,000 150,000 150,000 450,000

2 National Representational Expenses 141,800 141,800 141,800 425,400

3 Regional Representational Expenses 128,000 128,000 128,000 384,000

4 Collective Bargaining 12,000 12,000 12,000 36,000

5 Convention 2017 188,733 188,733 188,733 566,200

6 CLC, PSAC, Fed Conventions 12,633 12,633 12,633 37,900

7 Education, Conferences, Seminars 10,667 10,667 10,667 32,000

8 Local Presidents’ Council 115,267 115,267 115,267 345,800

9 Local AGM Subsidies 1,400 1,400 1,400 4,200

10 Area Council Donations 3,400 3,400 3,400 10,200

11 Bursaries 3,000 3,000 3,000 9,000

12 President's Salary 127,233 127,233 127,233 381,700

13 President's Benefits 47,933 47,933 47,933 143,800

14 Employee Salaries 821,433 821,433 821,433 2,464,300

15 Employee Benefits 332,500 332,500 332,500 997,500

16 Severance Pay 23,233 23,233 23,233 69,700

17 Rent 127,733 127,733 127,733 383,200

18 Professional Fees 12,500 12,500 12,500 37,500

19 Insurance 5,300 5,300 5,300 15,900

20 Office Equip. Leases & Furniture 24,800 24,800 24,800 74,400

21 Postage & Express 5,000 5,000 5,000 15,000

22 Publications 10,000 10,000 10,000 30,000

23 Supplies, Printing & Stationary 12,500 12,500 12,500 37,500

24 Telephone & Fax 9,300 9,300 9,300 27,900

25 Translation 20,000 20,000 20,000 60,000

26 Miscellaneous Expenses 42,000 42,000 42,000 126,000

Total 2,388,367 2,388,367 2,388,367 7,165,100 Proposed Interest Earned 17,000 17,000 17,000 51,000 TOTAL FUNDING REQUIRED 2,371,367 2,371,367 2,371,367 7,114,100 PROPOSED DUES REVENUE 2,371,367 2,371,367 2,371,367 7,114,100 (Based on 7,600 members) Percentage Dues 0.561% 0.561% 0.561% 0.561%

tuesday may 13, wednesday may 14 and thursday may 15, 2014...

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