President
Hilde Sellmeyer
1st Vice-President
Terry Ruyter
2nd Vice-President
Ed Painter
Treasurer
Jean Sterling
Secretary
Foto Sukanen
Director
Wendy Webber

Annual General Meeting Minutes
February 9, 2007

Guests: Betty Bannon, National President, UTE; Pamela Abbott, Pacific Region
Regional Vice President; Regina Brennan, BC PSAC Regional Representative; Amal
Rana, Education Officer, BC PSAC Regional Office; Johann Ackermann, President
UTE Local 20029, Surrey Tax Centre; Sigrid Hagglund, Treasurer, UTE Local
20029, Surrey Tax Centre; Janet Graham, President, UTE Local 20027, Vancouver
Tax Office; Robert Hume, 1st Vice President, UTE Local 20027, Vancouver Tax
Office; Carol Pegura, BC PSAC Regional Area Council Coordinator; David Upham,
retired member of the local.

Meeting started at 5:45 pm.

Hilde explained that somewhere in the past few years the elections of the
executive committee had not been followed and as a result the local was in
violation of the bylaws. In order to correct this, corrective measures will
take place.  Betty will explain when it is time for the elections.

Hilde welcomed everyone for attending as we had a great turnout for a Friday
night.  Actual attendance: 96 including the guests and members and executive
committee.

Adoption of minutes from AGM, February 22, 2006.
Moved by: Charles Paquette; Seconded: Foto Sukanen; carried.

Guest speaker: Betty Bannon
Betty discussed the closures of cash counters and the political action the Union
took which involved such activities as writing MPs, visiting MPs. Members also
wrote and met with their MPs.  This action did help and the counters were not
closed as first planned.  But the CRA states they no longer accept currency.
There was the client service counter campaign.  The CRA did close some counters.
 The members who worked at those jobs enjoyed what they did and were committed
to providing good service to the public.  The CRA was not successful in their
position. But the taxpayer must now make an appointment to receive this
service.  Not all Canadians have computers. There is a flaw in using CRA's
website to change the taxpayer's address. The taxpayer must have a PIN. The CRA
advises the taxpayer that if they do not have the number, the CRA will mail it
to them. The taxpayer must be concerned as the CRA is now mailing information
to an address that is no longer valid. How will that help the taxpayer?  The
Union has drawn this to CRA's attention.
The CRA introduced T2 bar coding.  This is resulting in a reduction of keyers
and a reduction in jobs.
The Conservatives came in and cancelled the visitor's rebate which was a
workload in the Summerside Tax Centre. This has resulted in loss of jobs for an
area which needs the employment.  The members campaigned and received support
from their local, municipal and provincial political leaders. The local
president was invited to Ottawa to speak to the Finance Committee.  CRA is now
looking for "more" and "new" work to try and save jobs.  This happened because
the members spoke out and lobbied their political leaders.

Betty asked the members if they were aware of Appendix "C", Work Force
Adjustment Appendix to PSAC Collective Agreement.  She encouraged every member
to know it, they could be next.  One way the CRA deals with WFA members is to
offer them a permanent lateral move. This is not a reasonable job offer in
accordance with the Appendix and the collective agreement.  As an affected
employee who has been declared surplus, you are entitled up to two years of
training and you have a right to a reasonable job offer.  Permanent lateral
move is not part of the collective agreement. The Union is working with CRA to
reduce the number of affected employees.

There are national and regional conferences.  These are posted on the website.
You should pay attention and if you are interested in participating you should
speak to your local executive.

Betty then spoke about scholarships.  There is information on the website and
she encouraged the members to familiarize themselves.  The scholarships are for
members, spouses of members, children of members.  PSAC also has scholarships.

Betty advised that the website contains current information and there is a
"vehicle" on the website to subscribe.  You will receive the information at the
same time it is updated on the website. She said each member would then have
current information.

E-mail address for subscribing:
http://www.ute-sei.org/English/subscribe/index.cfm
Please use a non-CRA e-mail address.

Bargaining is coming up.  Be informed.  The website will contain current
information.

Betty asked for a show of hands from the membership if they were receiving the
newsletter by mail. If not, was their address current?  They should be
contacting the local executive. Betty told the membership that the National
Office is always looking for articles for the newsletter as well as
suggestions.  She suggested that the member print the newsletter and take it to
the office and discuss with fellow members during breaks.



The next topic was ACS - Agency Classification System
ACS started and stopped. Michel Dorais resurrected ACS and though he is leaving
the position ACS will continue.  Throughout this process the CRA has kept the
Union in the loop.  The salary bands are negotiated by law.  So they will form
part of the bargaining process.  The CRA says that this process is cost
neutral.  Don't expect to be getting a raise any time soon.  The salary will be
based on the job description and the ratings.  By now everyone should have
received their new job descriptions.  If you haven't then you have no seen the
video. The members should be asking their supervisors if they have not yet
received theirs.  If a member has a concern about the content, they should send
their concerns to David Grant, the local's representative. David will be
collecting all the local members' concerns and forward them to the National
Office. The rating numbers should be the same.  If they are not, the member
should contact the National Office.  The only thing that changed was the format
in which the new job description was written, Short Format Work Description -
SFWD.

There is a legal case on the pension theft.  The Union has not and will not be
making any deals. So if you hear about a 'deal', ask the person where they read
or heard it.  The 'deals' are all rumours.  The case goes to court February
26th or 27th. And there hearings scheduled through to June.

Hilde thanked Betty and gave her a copy of the Surrey Campus cookbook produced
for the United Way this past year.

Adoption of all reports except the Financial Report.
Moved: Faissel Desai; Seconded: Caroline Parker; carried

Hilde made a short tribute to one of the long serving members of the local,
Rusty Cale who is retiring at the end of February.  On behalf of the
membership, Hilde wished Rusty well in his retirement.

Guest Speaker: Pamela Abbott
Pamela spoke about the UTE Triennial Convention in 2008.  She talked about how
Sigrid Hagglund and others lobbied and the convention will be held in
Vancouver.  Because it is in BC it will help with the locals in this region to
send more observers as the cost will be reduced. The host committee chair is
Sigrid Hagglund. Sigrid will be asking for volunteers.  You cannot be a
delegate and be a member of the host committee.  It will take participation
from all the locals in the region.
Pamela is co-chair of the Bargaining, the Staffing, and now the Technological
Change committees.  There have been recent changes with the RVPs.
Pamela is extremely proud of this region.  We are successful in having 3
representatives on National Committees; Sarah Redd, President, Kelowna local,
as the Presidents Rep for the Honours and Awards Committee; Cindy Little,
Victoria local, as the Presidents Rep for the Equal Opportunities Committee;
Dave Miller, President, Penticton local, as Presidents Rep for the Collective
Bargaining Committee.

Pamela advised the membership that March 31st at 5 pm would be the deadline for
accepting demands.  There are no exceptions.  The committee will outline the
demands.  Some of them may be what we did not get last time and some will be
new ones.

The committee will meet in May to review all the demands.
It is after this time that the Union will serve the CRA with the right to
bargain. The agreement expires October 31st, 2007.  The salary bands will be
the most difficult issue to bargain.  Read the newsletter and the website as
they will contain current information.


UMI - Union Management Initiative.
We have participated with the employer throughout the process.

At the moment PIPSC has stepped away from formal meetings with the CRA.  Pamela
has spoken to the PIPSC representative are recognized as part of the
brotherhood. But we have started the training presentations in this region and
UTE is committed to UMI.  Pamela discussed this issue during a conference call
with the presidents in this region.  This initiative is for the union executive
and the CRA management which includes the team leaders.  We are working
together with CRA to resolve issues at the lowest possible level.

Hilde presented Pamela with a copy of the same cookbook presented to Betty.

Guest Speaker: Amal Rana
Amal spoke about the training that is available for union members.  The courses
are on the BC PSAC website.  Amal also helps develop courses.  They are always
looking for members' input for what their educational needs are.  As well they
want input for the type of new training needed in order to meet the needs of
the member and how these courses should be presented like on-line training.

Adoption of Financial Report:
Moved by : Stewart Campbell; Seconded by Charles Paquette; carried.  Jean
Sterling wished to be recorded as against.
Discussion and Questions:
What about the loss of revenue due to small claims court.  Hilde explained that
there was a settlement reached in the Court and the matter was now closed.
What about the proposed budget for 2006? It was not attached to the package. How
do members know if the spending exceeded the budget?  Hilde apologized for the
oversight.  She presented the documents given to her by the treasurer. Hilde
stated that there was more spent on conferences and conventions than was
budgeted for.

Meeting interrupted for dinner.



Election of Officers:  Betty Bannon

Betty explained that somehow during the past several years the positions became
'askew'.  In order to resolve this issue there are two options.
Option 1) Betty will ask the membership to suspend Bylaw 12 Section 3 of the
local's bylaws.  In order to do this, there must be unanimous agreement of the
membership.  If this is the case, elections will be run for all the positions
and for the proper length of terms so to be in accordance with the Bylaws.
Option 2) There is not a unanimous agreement with the membership and the section
of the bylaw is not suspended.  The elections will be held for the positions
that should be elected in the odd years. These positions are President, 2nd
Vice President, Secretary, and One Local Officer.  These positions will be for
a two year term expiring in 2009.  There will be an election for the position
of treasurer for a 1 year term to fill the vacancy and this will expire in
2008. The terms of office for the 1st Vice President and the other Local
Officer will expire in 2008.

Betty asked if the membership had any questions and what they were voting on.
No questions and the vote was called to suspend Bylaw 12, section 3.  The vote
was not unanimous.

Elections:
President: Nominee - Hilde Sellmeyer
Nominator - Ron Lascelle, Seconder - Robert Sauve
Nominee - Terry Ruyter
Nominator - Nancy O'Brien, Seconder - Coral Forest
A secret ballot was taken and Hilde was declared the President.

2nd Vice President: Nominee - Ed Painter
Nominator - David Grant; Seconder - Amin Mohammed
Ed was declared 2nd Vice President by acclamation.

Local Director: Nominee - Tim Christie
Nominator - AlnoorVerani, Seconder - Parm Jhutti
Tim declined the nomination and the position was not filled.

Secretary: Nominee - Foto Sukanen
Nominator - Hilde Sellmeyer, Seconder, Sylvia Dahlman
Foto was declared Secretary by acclamation.

Betty reminded the membership that these terms would be two year terms and they
would expire in 2009.

Treasurer: Nominee: Jean Sterling
Nominator - Terry Ruyter, Seconder - Lana Bohn
Nominee: Charles Paquette
Nominator - Carolyn Parker, Seconder - Wendy Webber
A secret ballot was taken and Jean was declared the Treasurer.

Betty again reminded the membership that the 1st Vice President position has one
year remaining in the term.  This position is currently held by Terry Ruyter.
The same applies to one Local Director position currently held by Wendy Webber.
Jean Sterling is completing the term of Treasurer.  All of these terms will
expire in 2008.

Betty asked for a motion to destroy the ballots.
Moved by Charles Paquette; Seconded by Ed Helman; carried.

Betty administered the oath to the newly elected executive and congratulated
them.

It should be mentioned that throughout the evening door prizes were drawn for
various union promotional items.  Each member received an item before the
evening was over.

Meeting adjourned 8:25 pm.Designed by volunteer labour  © 2006 R Craig