British Columbia/Alberta/Yukon/Northwest Territories/Nunavut - Union/Management Consultation Committee (UMCC)

 

Date:                            April 29, 2008

 

In Attendance:             

 

Union

Pat Wakefield                NVP, CEIU (Canada Employment & Immigration Union), BC/YT

Dianne Mitchell              Alternate NVP, CEIU (Canada Employment & Immigration Union), BC/YT

Lamont Nielson             NVP, CEIU (Canada Employment & Immigration Union), AB/NT/NU

Roberta Gale                 Representative, ACFO (Association of Canadian Financial Officers)

Rod Smelser                 Representative, CAPE (Canadian Association of Professional Employees)

 

Management

Andy Netzel                  Regional Executive Head (Chair)

Lynn Jackson                Director General, Citizen Services, BC/YK

Anne Milne                    Senior Director, Payments & Processing

Con Leonidas                Director, HRS, BC/YK

Dave Forseth                Director, Integrity Services, BAT

Rob Allen                      Director, Community Services

Sylvia Lecerf                 Regional Manager, Citizen Services, Northern Alberta Directorate

Stacey Davies               Manager, Human Resource Services, AB/NT/NU

Jackson McKiee            Director, Strategic Services

 

Support to the Committee

Betsy Oster                   Manager, REH Office

Joanne Springler           Human Resources Advisor, Edmonton  

                  

 

Record of Discussions

ACTION

 

Review of Agenda

Added to item 6:  2nd Level Grievances heard by Directors. 

 

Team Building Exercise

The group participated in a team building exercise led by Betsy Oster.

 

Previous Minutes

Approved.

 

Review Draft Terms of Reference and Membership

Approved with the following additions:

  • Attach follow-up reports to RoD’s where applicable and available.
  • Alternates for co-chairs approved.

 

Local UMC and Health & Safety Committees - Issues Identification

 

Regional OSH Policy Committees: one vs. two for BAT.

There are currently two Regional OSH Policy Committees for BAT.  Regional OSH Policy Committees address global issues and Local Committees address issues specific to a site.

 

This Committee voted in favour of a single Regional OSH Policy Committee for BAT as it would provide consistent messages for the Region, reduced administration costs for Union and Management and reduced redundancy dealing with issues that impact the entire Region.

 

Membership on the BAT Regional OSH Policy Committee would be different than the UMCC committee and will include Nationally reporting business lines that reside within the Region.

 

Terms of Reference are needed and a small working committee will be formed to develop them.

 

Technical issues arise regarding a one committee structure.  Example: a single repository for minutes. Andy is in discussions with IT on this matter as it impacts all of Region.

 

Local UMC Committees:

Local UMC Committees require the attendance of persons with decision making authority so that issues can be addressed effectively.  Structure of Local UMCC’s needs to be reviewed given the new regional structure.  Issues may be the same across locations, provinces and business lines.

 

UMCC’s in BC/YT are divided by Union districts.  Management would then need to determine which SDM’s are to attend for a given district meeting.

 

Alberta has not been divided into districts in the same way that BC has.  This poses challenges for Union and Management about the structure of Local UMC Committees.  Once the Districts are known, managers can be assigned to attend the meetings.

 

Citizen Services in BC will be used as a test case for defining Local UMC Committees in BAT. For this exercise, for RHQ sites, treat Edmonton as a zone and Vancouver as a zone.

 

 

Communications of new BAT UMCC to staff - website, bulletin

 

A joint bulletin will be prepared to announce BAT UMCC to the staff.  Message will be sent via email to a distribution list.

 

Work is underway to provide a website that can be viewed by all of BAT for messaging purposes, posting minutes etc. Minimum, pending integration of BAT from a systems perspective, will be one web page with links to the existing Regional web pages.

 

Minutes of this meeting will be posted separately to each of the Regional UMCC websites.

 

Retroactive Pay for CPP/OAS members

Some employees have received cheques and more will be out by end of May.  Management reports that employees have been understanding regarding why this has been a lengthy process.

 

2nd Level Grievances

In the interest of expediting 2nd level grievances, the REH or his direct reports will now hear the grievance.  The REH will retain signing authority until further sub-delegation is official.

 

 

 

REH Update

 

1. SMSM:  Minor changes made following our Leadership Conference.  REH and Implementation Lead going to NHQ for a challenge session required before model is approved.

 

Union will be informed about work descriptions being released to employees.

 

A formal communication will go out to staff about Zones, SDMs, where the hubs are for business lines.

 

Classification is nearly completed, but a few work descriptions remain outstanding.

 

National communication is anticipated later this year.

 

2. Mapping is completed for BAT for EC conversion.  EC work includes Community Services and Strategic Services work descriptions.

 

3. The Medical Adjudicators work descriptions are pending under the SMSM.  SMSM will not finalize Medical Adjudicator issues.  The Adjudicator outcome will be applied to the relevant positions.

 

4. CFOB mapping exercise is underway. CFOB is not covered by SMSM. The Branch is developing their own structural model in support of the SMSM.

 

5. 08/09 Budget

Final budget has not been released. Target for NHQ budget release is end of May.  The budget for the region has been completed and the breakdown by regional business line is in progress. Not anticipating HR growth or downsizing issues related to the budget.  Salary budget will be slightly lower than 07/08.

 

Canada-BC and Canada-Yukon Labour Market Development Agreement

 

Yukon Territories have begun LMDA negotiations with the Federal Government. A meeting is scheduled in late May.  Status updates will be provided as information becomes available.

 

BC LMDA Status update:

Transition Committee is co-chaired by Lynn Jackson.  Committee meets weekly with updates from subcommittees every 2 weeks.  Subcommittees are:

o    Program management

o    Service Delivery

o    Systems and Information

o    Facilities and Assets

o    Finance

o    Federal/Provincial Employee Transfer Implementation

 

Website is the repository of all LMDA info and is available to all staff.

 

A Workforce Adjustment Committee as required by the Workforce Adjustment Directive has been meeting to provide input on the draft ETA.  

 

Canada and BC are working to finalize the Employee Transfer Agreement.

 

Discussion ensued regarding concerns raised by union members.

 

Substitutions have been given consideration.

 

The Province is planning a June meeting with Program delivery staff.  

 

Informal Conflict management System (ICMS)

Stacey presented an ICMS deck from the National Advisory Committee.

ICMS is a battery of tools and processes aimed at reducing conflict in the workplace. ICMS is more than mediation. The deck outlined Committee efforts to date:

1. Issues and needs identified to improve the program. Examples: additional resources, training / coaching / mentoring, communication strategy to promote the program.

2. Two day training package drafted for managers, union representatives and HR professionals.  Goal is joint delivery of training by union and OICM.

3. Plans for communication strategy to give ICMS a higher profile: updated website, word of mouth, pamphlets in pay stubs, for example.

 

Round table:

Andy would like Daniel Richer to present at next UMCC meeting. There is interest in pursuing with Service Canada College to have ICMS as part of the required training bundle.

 

CEIU’s position regarding ICMS to be determined. If not supported by union then joint training to be revisited. 

 

Interactive training would be beneficial. Experience is important for conflict management.

 

There is a challenge identifying what goes to ICMS or to Grievance process.  Training, coaching, mentoring and experience can help.

 

Other business:

Confirmed: No CFOB employees and no ACFO members will be transferred to the province under the LMDA.

 

HR structural model is being finalized.  More information will be provided as it becomes available.

 

Anne Milne is the National Public Service Week Champion with the assistance of Kathy Leishman and Ralph Bellstedt.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HR to lead working committee.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lynn Jackson to share Citizen Services zones for BAT with the Union.

 

Lamont and Pat to map out zones for possible Local UMC Committees.

 

Lynn, Lamont and Pat to identify anomalies for next meeting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pat will check with National to advocate support.

 

 

 

Next Meeting Date:

Last 2 weeks of July or 1st week in August.

Pat Wakefield will be the Chair.

 

 

 

 

 


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