Edmonton Area
Council Meeting
March 2, 2004
EXECUTIVE IN ATTENDANCE:
President - Mary
Veilleux
Vice-President - Tamara
Kozlowska
Treasurer - Elaine
Haase
Secretary - Patty
Ganczar
PSAC
STAFF
Oneil Carlier
Joanna Miazga
Judy Shannon
5.1 Call
to Order
Mary
Veilleux called the meeting to order at 5:30 pm .
5.2
Adoption of Agenda and Changes/Addition to Agenda
Mary
proposed the following changes/additions to the agenda
prior
to asking for a motion from the floor to accept the agenda.
Add -
Treasurers Proposed Budget for 2004
Add -
Federal Election - Oneil Carlier
- Restructuring - Oneil Carlier
- TB Strike - Joanna Miazga
- Solidarity Week - 22-26 March
04
- Labour Appreciation Night (United
Way)
April 17/04
Tamara made the motion to adopt the agenda how it was
presented completed with the changes.
2nd by Jo Chelick. All were in favour. Motion Carried
5.3 Approval
of Previous Minutes
Tamara Kozlowska made a motion to approve the minutes.
2nd by Jo Chelick. All
were in favour. Motion Carried
5.4 May
Day Week
Natasha Goudar formerly of Saskatchewan Federation of Labour
made a presentation regarding May Day Week. Natasha advised
the following May Week Festivals:
a. 28 April
- Unions Day of Mourning - The Kick-off
ceremony will take place
in front of Edmonton City Hall
officiated
by AFL.
b.
29 April - Art Exhibit Titled "All We Work For" at Stanley
Milner Library.
Brochures with in-depth detail will be
published
end of March.
c. Workers
Art Show will be at the Works Gallery in city
Centre. (Natasha's
hand-out attached as Annex A)
Local artists
are invited to submit work related art.
The theme is 100 years of Solidarity
in Building our City.
(Hand-out attached as Annex B)
d. 01
May - May Day Parade - This day is the International
Day of Working Class people.
Mike McCarthy is the EAC
Representative. EAC will be working
on a float for the
Parade. Parade route Whyte Ave
to MacIntyre. Oneil
Carlier and Mary Veilleux going to
work with
volunteers to
construct float. Oneil Carlier to do costing
for the
float. The float will have a Theme of Public Service
and Solidarity
Campaign. Oneil to organize a sub-
committee
in conjunction with PSAC Public Awareness
Committee. Mary Veilleux volunteered to sew for
the
float and offered material from her
garage for this project.
e. 01
May - at the completion of the parade there will be a
celebration
of young workers in puppet show, music.
This
will be approximately 1-2 hours in length. More to
follow.
f. 01
May - the Labour choir will be performing this evening.
g. 02
May - will see a poet competition on Social Justice.
1st prize
$100.00
h. 06
May - There may be some Union activists from
Columbia
in our city. Organizers will try to have a coffee
house
session to discuss the trials and tribulations of
organizing
labour unions in Columbia .
i. 07
May - will see the Hip Hop and Rap an Aboriginal
Group from the Hobbema
Reserve perform at the Power
Plant Lounge/Bar located
at the University of Alberta .
j. 08
May - closing event to take place at Westmount
Shopping
Mall.
k. For
additional information on all the May Week Festivities
check out
the website by doing a search for May Day.
The organizers of May Week
Festival are looking for
donations
to sponsor events. Oneil contact Dan Goy,
PSAC
Regional Organizer for the Prairies to see if he has
money
in his budget. These celebrations will probably
take place
in conjunction with the Provincial Celebration
of 100 years.
Natasha Goudar was given a PSAC t-shirt
as a thank you
for her presentation.
5.5 Business
arising from previous Minutes
Tamara made the motion to continue with the meeting, as there
was no business to discuss from the previous minutes.
2nd by Jo Chelick.
All were in favour. Motion Carried
5.6
Reports
PSAC PRC: Niru Channan - submitted a report
attached as
Annex D.
She also gave the EAC tentative date for the Prairie
Regional Convention 24-26 June 05 in Calgary . Reminder this
is the Convention
were the PSAC Prairie Regional Executive
Vice- President,
Robyn Benson will be up for re-election.
AFL Environment: Jo Chelick
- will be providing a website link for NAFTA. She reported the
Federal Government will be getting together with other countries involved
in NAFTA to decide on resigning. The main topic on the agenda
will be water rights. She also spoke briefly on a Human Rights
Law Alert pertaining to job rotation versus duty to accommodate.
AFL RWC: Tamara Kozlowska
reported on several items as follows:
a. PSAC
and AFL working together on getting members mobile for election readiness
and numerous other issues.
b. Tentative
plans for PSAC Regional Women's Conference in the Fallof 2004 as well
as the National Women's Convention in February 2005.
c. 15
Oct 04 - AFL Women's Conference Calgary theme is Women Against Violence.
EAC Treasurers Report:
Elaine Haase - reported she had received the example sent from REVP's
office to follow for Financial Statement 2003. The information
has been transferred to this format and the books are ready for audit.
Volunteers to audit the books are Elaine Alt, Irene Berube and Mike
McCarthy. Balance in EAC account as of 01 January 2004 is $348.59.
Elaine Haase has received $1,000.00 for
2004 from REVP's
office.
Elaine Haase
made the motion to accept the report as presented.
2nd by Jo Chelick.
All were in favour. Motion carried.
Proposed Budget 2004:
Elaine Haase - presented a budget for 2004 (attached as Annex E) and
made the motion to have this budget accepted as presented. 2nd by
Niru Channan.
All were in
favour. Motion Carried.
5.7 PSAC Regional Education Forecast
- as follows:
a.
Judy Shannon advised that the Regional office would be developing
a template to use for minutes. This template would provide consistency
in minute format from various committees as they are all posted to
the website.
b.
The Regional Education Plan has been approved and can be found
on PSAC website.
c.
One of the items in the Education Plan is to have Locals encourage
their members to take education training. It is recommended
that each Local have a member designated as the Education Officer.
This person does not necessarily need to be an Executive member but
the will be the contact person for Educational information from the
Regional Office.
d.
PSAC Education Schedule for 2004 Spring/Summer is on the website.
Some of the courses listed are Talking Union Basics, Harassment Advisors,
Grievance Handling and Local Officers Training.
e.
Judy Shannon and Oneil Carlier are preparing a one (1) hour
training session for Locals to teach The Union's Role in our Changing
World during lunch hour sessions.
f.
Judy Shannon and Oneil Carlier are looking for volunteers to
assist in organizing the next Prairie Union School.
g.
It was also reported that 37% of the members that participated in
the Public Service Survey had marked off that there was Harassment
in the Workplace. It was also reported that ONLY 20% of the
Public Service Employees participated in this survey.
Joanna Miazga
made the suggestion of offering training during working hours do to
the number of members not interested in giving up their weekends.
The locals pay for loss of wages and PSAC will cover the costs for
the training room, materials and trainers.
5.8
New Business:
Parkland Institute - Joanna Miazga gave a briefing on Parkland Institute's
organized briefing 09 March 04 on Fighting Privatization and deep
integration, dealing with Canada and the United States regarding our
water supply. PSAC received a letter requesting continuing support
of $250. an annual fee. Cindy Krause made a motion to donate
$50.00 to Parkland Institute 2nd by Jo Chelick.
All were in
favour. Motion Carried
TB
Strike
Joanna Miazga reported that PSAC Regional offices will endeavor to
centralize negotiating team member briefings and have several combined
locals throughout the area. These briefings will
deal with issues from Table 1, 2 and 3. Negotiating Team members
will be open to question and answers.
We are now advertising
and preparing our members for Strike Vote. We have distributed:
t-shirts, balloons, pins, and banners. Strike Vote does not
mean we are going to strike. With the strike vote high though,
could mean, we will not strike.
Solidarity
Week - 22-26 March 04
Federal
Election
Oneil Carlier spoke on the changes made with Bill 25 having passed
as how the Union can or more accurately cannot support a Federal candidate
during an election.
Oneil Carlier
advised Human Rights Committee's next meeting, April 6, 2004, PSAC
office at 5:15 p.m.
Oneil Carlier
to contact Dan Goy for a donation of $1000.00 for May Day Week Celebrations.
United
Way/Labour Appreciation Night - 17 April 04 Cocktails
5:30 pm Shaw Conference Centre. Elaine Haase made a motion to
purchase 4 tickets for Labour Appreciation Night at $45. per ticket
for a total of $180. and she would go through the sign-in sheets for
2003 and prepare cards/names for Oneil Carlier to draw 4 names for
the tickets. This motion was 2nd by Joe Chelick.
All were in
favour. Motion Carried
Oneil Carlier volunteered
to put together a basket for Labour Appreciation Night. Elaine
Haase made a motion to pay $50.00 for this basket to be used as a
door prize. 2nd by Niru Channon.
All were in
favour. Motion Carried
Adjournment
- There being no further business Niru Channon made
motion to adjourn the meeting. 2nd by Tamara Kozlowska.
All were in
favour. Motion carried.
Next
meeting second Wednesday 14 April 2004.
EAC
Home Page
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Annex A
TO: EAC Meeting
Minutes
Held: on 02 March
2004
May Week Workers
Art Show Call For Artists
Edmonton's May
Week Labour Arts Festival brings together the labour movement, workers
and artists to celebrate and support working class culture and the
contributions of artists and workers to our society. May Week's goal
is to promote the interests of cultural workers and trade unionists,
and to bring working-class culture from the margins of cultural activity
onto centre stage.
As part of this
year's May Week events, we will be sponsoring our 2nd exhibition of
worker's art at The Works Gallery, City Centre, curated by Tom Gale,
from April 3D-May 8, 2004.
Since this year
will mark Edmonton's 100th year anniversary, May Week's theme will
be "100 Years of Solidarity, We Built This City". We encourage
artists to work with this theme and submit work-related art. This
could include worker's experiences, struggles or gains in the forms
of movements, groups of workers or individual experiences.
To submit please
call Tom Gale at 433-0757. Deadline for submission is
April 14, 2004. Show Opening will be April 30th and will
run until May 8,2004.
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Annex B
TO: EAC Meeting
Minutes
Held: on 02 March
2004
May Week Festival,
May 1-8, 2004
Artists In the
Work Place
During the May
Week Festival, we can arrange to have an artist come to your workplace
to perform for your coworkers/members. Last year, artists such
as Maria Dunn and Terri Morrison performed.
Please fill
out the following information if you are interested in being contacted
to have an artist go to your workplace.
We will be contacting
you in April to discuss a date and time for the performance. It will
be up to you and the workplace to then promote to performance.
(Please note:
the number of performances we will be able to provide is dependent
on the amount of money we are able to fundraise).
Name:
Union:
Work place:
# of Workers:
Ph:
Email:
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Annex C
TO: EAC Meeting Minutes
HELD: on 02 March 04
MAY WEEK FESTIVAL
April I 28 - May 8, 2004
Edmonton, AB
MAY DAY, International
Workers' Day, commemorates the historical and ongoing struggle of
workers for their rights. It arose through the early struggles for
the 8-hour day and the savage repression of labour by the state and
employers in the 19th century. The Chicago Haymarket Square
massacre of May, 1886 was instrumental in the choice of May 1st as
International Workers' Day.
WHAT'S MAY WEEK?
Edmonton's May Week Labour Arts Festival is a multi-disciplinary festival,
which brings together the labour movement, workers and artists to
celebrate and support working class culture and the contributions
of artists and workers to our society. May Week's goal is to promote
the interests of cultural workers and trade unionists, and to bring
working-class culture from the margins of cultural activity onto centre
stage.
Since this year
will mark Edmonton's 100th year anniversary, May Week's theme this
year is "100 Years of Solidarity; Workers Built This City".
WHAT'S HAPPENING
AT THIS YEAR'S FESTIVAL?
The May Week
committee is busy planning a full calendar of events that will include:
. The May Day March & Street Party for Young People
. Artists in the Workplace Initiatives
. Cabarets & Musical Events
. Visual Art and Historical Exhibits
. International Day of Mourning celebration for workers killed and
injured in the work place
How CAN YOU
SUPPORT THE FESTIVAL AND GET INVOLVED?
Financial Support:
May Week is funded largely through the support of trade unions and
progressive organizations that share a common worker-empowered vision
of social justice.
To continue the success of this festival, we need your organization's
financial support. Make cheques payable to:
May Week Festival,
#206, 10132 - 105 Street, Edmonton, AB T5J lC9.
Take it to the
Streets:
Please show your support by coming out in numbers to march on May
Day, join us at the labour cabaret, attend art exhibits and spread
the word about our worker power festival.
For more info contact Natasha Goudar, May Week Coordinator at ngoudar@shaw.ca
or call her at 780-420-1400.
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Annex D
TO: EAC Meeting
Minutes
Held: on 02 March
2004
SUBMITTED BY:
Niru Channan,
At the beginning
of October, I commenced my participation on the Prairie Region 2003
Education Planning Meetings via conference call. And participate on
this committee for the planning of education schedule for next three
years. Planning continued right up until December when, the committee
extended the invitation to the Regional Vice-president's, local presidents
to participate for a more varied input. Over 200 members responded
to the education survey. The survey results were discussed, and as
well, the union's regional and national goals, and objectives were
reviewed by the committee.
Edmonton's Regional
Woman's Committee met on October 28 for an all day workshop called
"The Wall" to discuss how globalization affected changes
to our jobs, our social programs in Canada, and for women around the
world, then our RWC developed an action plan for 2004.
I attended the
TAB Area Coordinator meeting as Prairie Region Council representative
where we discussed membership mobilization and developed a work plan
for area coordinators. After the first meeting, we all had to come
up with a working plan for how we would help our members for next
two months. The first week of December, we made a list of workplace
actions such as desk drop flyers, wearing a button, sending a note
to the teams, which was a good start to activities.
December 10th
as the PRC representative, I attended International Human Rights Day
celebrations at Canada Place in Edmonton. Among the guest speakers
were Robyn Benson, PSAC Prairie Region Council Vice-President and
Sonia Bitar from Changing Together-A Centre for Immigrant Women, who
both talked about social justice. And Robyn spoke about the PSAC Social
Justice Fund.
Took time to meet
Minister Joe Volpe when he was in Edmonton on Jan 16/2004 at the Sultan
Banquet Hall for the Punjabi Directory celebration. At the question
period asked him about Bill C-25 and my concern about aboriginal,
visible minority group being affected etc.
Meet again in
January for review the final version of the 2004 to 2006 regional
education plan. And as part of education committee approval request
was forward to Robyn Benson.
Niru Channan
PRC Representative for Northern Alberta
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Annex E
TO: EAC Meeting
Minutes
Held: on 02 March
2004
PROPOSED
EDMONTON AREA
COUNCIL BUDGET
01 JANUARY 2004 - 31 DECEMBER 2004
Balance in Bank
$348.69
Anticipated Revenue $1,000.00
TOTAL
$1,348.69
Proposed Expenses
Affiliation
Fees $400.00
Political Action
and Loss of Salary $500.00
Executive Expenses $200.00
Miscellaneous
Expenses $248.69
TOTAL $1,348.69
EAC
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