UTE Local 20002 – Executive Meeting

Tuesday May 9, 2006

 

PRESENT:     Martine Fillion, Floyd Knelsen, Joanne Berkhoven, Joanne Robertson, Lisa Tanasichuk

The meeting was held at HEU Union Hall on 3rd Avenue and commenced at 5:43pm.

1.  Welcome to Guests:

no guests in attendance  

2.       Approval of Agenda:

Change to the agenda for # 6, Treasurer’s Report, deferred due to the absence of the Treasurer. 

Motion made by Joanne Berkhoven to defer the Treasurer’s report to our next meeting.  Seconded

by Joanne Robertson.  All agreed – motion carried.

3.       Action Items:

Planning Day – discussion was to agree to defer the planning day until after the Union Training in Toronto.  To be discussed further at next executive meeting.

Email Addresses – reminder to provide Martine with your home email address.  Martine is also to speak to Johann to make sure we are all set up with UTE mail boxes.

Union Mail Box – Martine to get a second key to give to the Secretary.

4.  Approval of Last Minutes:

      Motion made by Joanne Robertson to approve the minutes of the April 18, 2006 Executive

      Meeting.  Motion seconded by Joanne Berkhoven.  Vote taken, all in favour.  Motion carried and

      minutes adopted.

5.  Written Reports:

     EAP – no report received but confirmed with Sandy that reports are to be sent to Martine in the

     future.  This has been a tough year with several member’s having losses in their family.  There is a

     conference in November that is funded by UTE National Office and it is hoped that this will help

     provide better guidance on what UTE EAP is to do for our members. 

     EO – Floyd advised there is a conference May 26 to 28 in Victoria and Floyd and Joanne

     Robertson will have a report ready for the June 13 meeting.  The new Employment Equity Plan will 

     be out shortly.

     Stewards – Nothing to report.

     Grievances – A reminder to everyone to be aware of their timeframes in filing grievances.  While

     we initially have 25 business days to file the grievance, we only have 10 calendar days to transmit

      to the next level.

      OHS – No formal report.  There is Committee training in Vancouver and invitations will be going

      out soon.  The training is June 11 to 15 and Floyd will be facilitating the training.  ACTION ITEM: 

      Martine would like a report on OHS from the UTE perspective not just Employer.  Also, brief

      discussion on how the Union is looking at ways of implementing a scent free environment in the

      workplace.

 

      Staffing – No formal report. Some comments were that regular staffing updates are being sent

      out by VECR only.  There have been processes for PM2 NFNR, PM2 Expression of Interest in

      VECR and a process in Whitehorse.  There has been discussion that there will be a PM2 for

      Revenue Collections and Client Services later this year and that it will be a PQP Process.

 

      Area Council – No formal report.  There was discussion among the Executive that we would like

      to have more information shared with the Executive on Area Council, who they are, what they do,

      etc.  ACTION ITEM:  Martine to look into this further.

 

      General Discussion was held on committee’s and the idea of setting up terms of reference for

      the various committee’s that will include their accountability and expectations to the Executive and

      the Members at large.  These should also include things such as the committee’s role, the role of

      the committee chair and the executive.   Tabled for further discussion at a later date, possibly our

      planning day.

6.      Treasurer’s Report – deferred

7.  Credit Card for Local:

      Martine raised the issue of obtaining a credit card for the local.  Motion made by Joanne

      Berkhoven to look into getting a credit card for the local.  Seconded by Lisa Tanasichuk. 

      Discussion held:  Lisa in favour as it would be better for things like purchasing airfare to

      conferences, etc, rather than having people use their own credit cards which can cause a

      hardship.  Would also be good for purchases, etc rather than paying first and being reimbursed at

      a later date.  Joanne Robertson also in favour noting that other Union Local’s have their own

      credit cards, again can be used for purchases, etc rather than paying now and being reimbursed. 

      Joanne Berkhoven also in favour and Martine discussed the need for a credit card to get a cell

      phone for the Local.  Vote taken – all in favour.  Motion carried.  ACTION ITEM:  Martine to ask

      Dominic to research options.  Martine to also follow up with Dominic on the status of the purchase

      of the laptop.

8.  Grievance Committee:

     Martine discussed the need for us to set up a Grievance Committee with terms of reference. 

     There is also a need to educate the stewards on grievances and the process.  Stewards should be

     willing to be more involved with the process and be willing to deal with grievances after being

     provided with the Grievance Handling Training.  Meeting will be held with the Stewards to discuss

     this topic and consideration to be given to recruiting additional Stewards if needed.  It is critical for

     the Executive to support the Stewards in this process.  ACTION ITEM:  Joanne Robertson to set

     up a meeting with the Stewards and the Executive to discuss. 

 

Proposed Executive on the Grievance Committee:  Martine as President, Joanne Robertson as Interim Executive Steward and Joanne Berkhoven as First VP.  Alternates will be Floyd and Lisa.  If Joanne Robertson is unable to attend, Floyd will take over as interim Executive Steward.  

9.  Roundtable/Next Meeting:

     Lisa – Nothing

     Floyd – Nothing

    Joanne Berkhoven – wanted to confirm the booking of flights for the training in Toronto in June.  If

    there are no late flights available to get home on the Sunday, Martine will look into the coverage of

    costs for having to stay over an extra night.

    Joanne Robertson – Brought to our attention that she has all sorts of Union things, posters, strike

    co-ordinator stuff, flags, etc at her home.  Needs to make arrangements to get it shifted.  She also

    advised there is still stuff left over from the yard sale and has indicated that it can be included in her

    own yard sale at a separate table with any proceeds being returned to the Executive.  ACTION

    ITEMS:  Martine to look into Storage for the Union training materials, etc.  She will approach SMT

    to see if they would approve UTE using the old ATIP room for storage.  Joanne R will deal with the

    stuff remaining from the yard sale. 

    Martine – Nothing

  Next Meeting:  Tuesday June 13, 2006 at 5:30pm at the HEU Union Hall on 3rd.

10.  Meeting adjourned:  7:55pm