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REPORT OF THE REGIONAL EXECUTIVE VICE-PRESIDENT
PRAIRIES
TO THE PRAIRIE REGION COUNCIL
JUNE 22 - 25, 2002
Since our last meeting I have been very busy responding to the needs of the members in the Prairie Region. I have attached a list of the meetings and / or activities however will highlight some of them for you.
UPCE had a successful strike. Our members in Winnipeg were the lead and irrespective of the freezing cold the spirits were high and the solidarity strong. I unfortunately was not in Winnipeg when our members were out on the line. I did however walk the line with the members of the Ottawa Local which was much appreciated. We reached a tentative agreement that the members felt was worthy of them.
The fight against the Supply Chain is ongoing. I have been involved not only on a National level (as the Alliance Executive Officer responsible for re-certification) but in the Region as well. I participated in a demonstration while at the UNDE Council of Locals. I want to thank the Saskatoon Area Council for all of their help and support with respect to arranging for the press conference and the lunch. Brother Molsberry, Sister Buck and I had a meeting with John Harvard where we outlined the problems with respect to privatization. As no other Winnipeg MP's could see us I mailed a complete package to all of the MP's in Manitoba and to date have only heard from a few. It appears that when they are back in their ridings this summer we will have to impress upon them that this is not good for the security of our country and our troops and that they should be lobbying the new Minister of National Defence to take the “off ramp”.
I attended the Pay Equity Legislative Task Force hearings in Edmonton along with Sister Balwinder Dhaliwal, Brother Randford Anderson, Sister Terry Miller and Sister Ruth Taylor. The members gave very clear messages to the Task Force. They were forceful in that 14 years was too long to wait for the pay equity and that their families suffered because of the Governments stall tactics. It was very emotional to hear how they and their families had to do without, work two jobs, etc. I was able to explain the tax implications to the task force with respect to the interest and the loss of any subsidies for our present members and past members because it had to be reported on our income tax returns. I want to thank the presenters as it is not always easy appearing before a task force. This is not something that we do everyday but they were wonderful and I appreciated the work they went they did to ensure the Task Force took notice.
I have been able to attend the following Area Council meetings: Edmonton, Winnipeg, Regina, Saskatoon and Calgary. I hope to be visiting Prince Albert this fall. We have worked collectively in our Region to ensure we have viable Area Councils. It's not to say that we haven't encountered our share of problems with member involvement however the Area councils are indeed going in the right direction.
The Edmonton Area Council is trying to encourage more participation and as such have developed the following purpose – “The Edmonton Area Council is a group of PSAC members who share the goal of making our lives better – at work, in the Union and in the community. EAC members come together to plan, take action and change the world.” “In recognizing the value of providing leadership development opportunities the EAC will be lead by a committee of three volunteers and will make decisions by consensus.”
The Calgary Area Council has taken the lead for the PSAC on the G6B counter conference and the G8. We will have the PSAC booth and brochures for distribution at the G6B.
The Saskatoon Area Council sponsored a “PSAC Locals Conference” on June 5th. They had speakers from the United Way, the Saskatoon & District Labour Council, the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour, and the Council of Canadians. Brother Molsberry presented on the Supply Chain Project. I gave an overview of the roles/responsibilities of Area Council and updated everyone on the Joint Learning Project, the Joint Term Study, the Table 2 Compensation Comparability Study and the other committees within our Region. The feedback from the members was extremely positive. I would like to thank the Saskatoon Area Council for arranging this conference for our members.
The Regina Area Council had a “goals and objectives planning session” in April and have developed a plan of action for the rest of the year. They will be actively encouraging participation not only from the Locals in Regina but the surrounding district as well.
The Prince Albert Area Council continues to meet monthly and is working on issues such as “HealthCare in Canada.”
The Winnipeg Area Council has determined that they will meet quarterly and that the meeting locations will change so as to afford accessibility for our members. They have had several discussions with respect to the G8 and continue to be briefed on the Supply Chain Project and the MFL Workplace & Health Campaign.
I was very pleased to attend Regional Women's committee meetings in Winnipeg, Edmonton and Saskatoon. All of our Regional Women's Committee continue to do excellent work, more specifically around the Pay Equity Legislative Review Task Force, March 8th International Women's Day and encouraging Sisters to become involved.
The Prairie Regional Women's Conference was held May 3-5 inclusive in Regina. We had approximately 100 women attend from all three provinces. It is the first time that we had a “Regional” conference and I believe that the sisters who attended benefited greatly by this. The conference was extremely well organized and I want to personally thank all of the organizing committee as well as the facilitators who made this conference such a success. We were very pleased to have Sister Patty Ducharme REVP of the BC Region open our conference. We then moved into a plenary session on Globalization. Although I had to miss the opening of the conference because of the Pay Equity Task Force my understanding is that the Sisters thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon. I was able to spend time in each and every workshop. The workshops ranged from “Leadership Women Style” to “Political Action”. All of the workshops were designed to enhance the role of women not only within our Union but in the community as a whole.
I was invited to co-facilitate with Sister Ducharme the “Women in Leadership” workshop at the BC Regional Women's Conference. As well we presented an over view of “Herstory.” I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I was able to renew old friendships and make new friends. It certainly reinforced for me the value of networking.
The Access Conference held June 10-12 inclusive was a great success. We had six members from our Region attend and we developed an action plan for our Region at the caucus I chaired on Sunday. The action plan includes: improved communication within the Disabilities community, opposing Privatization/Globalization, increase training opportunities related to issues of Accommodation/Disabilities and to encourage Locals to establish Equity Committees to their Local By-Laws. The full report will soon be posted on the web site.
The Local Development course that was designed for our Convention has now been presented in Northern Alberta and Manitoba. I spoke to the participants in both workshops about the “Local Development Fund,” the importance of mobilizing /organizing our membership and that we were the first Region to be giving this course.
We were unsuccessful in our endeavors to be the Union for the employees of Bombardier however I believe that we will be successful the next time. It should be noted that Brother Ron Kleim and his interim Executive worked very hard to try and ensure a unionized work place and I admire their courage and conviction. It was disappointing after all of the court challenges but I believe we will prevail in the future.
Of interest the Union Update vol. 14 # 8 will have an article on the Prairie Region Convention – “Prairie Region members turning discussion into action.”
Nationally as you know I am responsible for the Finances of the PSAC. I am very pleased to report that we are in a surplus position for the year ending 2001 of approximately 11 million dollars. We continue to be in a surplus position this year (2002) and this is in part due to an increase in membership and continued fiscal responsibility.
I was the AEC Officer responsible for the “Mint” negotiations. The Locals have just finished voting on the tentative agreement and I am pleased to report the agreement has been ratified. I want to thank the negotiating team for all of their hard work, dedication and commitment to the members.
The Dental Board Negotiations have been tedious to say the least. We have met 3 times however have still not concluded our negotiations. I hope to be in a position to report in September that we have achieved a fair settlement.
I was a delegate and member of the “Workplace Committee” at the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) Convention held June 10 – 14, 2002. This was the first time in a long time that we actually had more than one candidate running for Secretary -Treasurer and more than two candidates running for the two Vice-Presidents positions. I am pleased to announce that Brother Hassan Yussuff was elected Secretary/Treasurer and Sister Marie Clark-Walker of Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) and Sister Barb Byers, President of Saskatchewan Federation of Labour (SFL) were elected as our Vice-Presidents. I'm sure we in the Prairies will miss Sister Byers however I believe the Union Movement as a whole will benefit by her being at the CLC.
In Solidarity
Robyn Benson
REVP - Prairies