UVic PEA Chapter Executive Meeting
Wednesday, February 10, 2009
11:30 – 1:30 CLE B415

MINUTES

Present: Vincent Connor, Jonathan Foweraker, John Foxgord, Catherine Franz, Tom Gore, Leslie Kenny, Lynn McCaughey, Rebecca Michaels, Scott McClelland (LRO)

1. Appointment of the minute-taker: L. Kenny.

2. C. Franz added three items to the agenda: 5.4 – discussion of listserv; 5.5 – PEA office phone; 5.6 – retreat.  Motion (Connor/Kenny): To approve the agenda as amended. Carried.

3. Motion (Gore/Kenny) to approve the minutes of January 13, 2010. Carried.

4. Urgent business – None.

5. Chair’s correspondence and remarks (Franz)

5.1  BC Staff Association reps met at UBC Feb 5. Franz, Michaels and Gore attended from UVic with S. McCannell . UBC and SFU associations will be bargaining soon although they have no strike position. Also, they bargain compensation but not language. Issues on those tables include Bill 66 legislation to cap severance at 18 months; childcare, eldercare, ProD (UBC gets $450/year and tuition waiver). Dues at UBC about .5% compared to 1% at UVic. UVic will host the next meeting of this group.

5.2. Sessional Lecturers – C. Franz and T. Gore attended a meeting with sessionals to discuss options for rectifying the salary differential for PEA members who hold teaching positions. Sessional work is part of the CUPE collective agreement and so outside of PEA jurisdiction, but the CUPE agreement does not allow dual membership for sessionals who also belong to the PEA. The good news is that there seems to be more interest now than in the past, from all sides, in finding a resolution.  The members have been advised to keep the pressure on their chairs and deans while discussions continue.

5.3 Solidarity Lunch with CUPE locals and Faculty Association – C. Franz attended the lunch on Jan. 20. L. McCaughey  will attend the next one.

5.4 Listserv – The issue of whether to change the PEA listerv to a moderated list was discussed. Some members have objected to receiving unwanted threads of conversation that occasionally occur on the list. The list is our main tool for communicating with members so we don’t want to it to be misused. On the other hand, other members appreciate having a place for discussion of union -related issues.  After some discussion we arrived at the following motion (Gore/ Connor): That a separate, parallel list be created, populated with the names of all members, that can only accept posts from an approved moderator. The new list will be for official union communications and will have a “Do not reply” signature. The existing list can be left open as an optional discussion list for those who wish to subscribe. Carried.

Discussion: Scott will look into the legality of migrating names into a new list without first getting members’ consent.

5.5 Phone: The decision is that we will continue to maintain the phone in the BEC office, but we will put a message on to let callers know messages are not regularly checked and they should call the LRO directly with inquiries. 

5.6 Annual Chapter Retreat – Friday, March 12, Queenswood . S. McCannell  will get the forms for salary replacement. L. Kenny will investigate procedure for ensuring departments get credited for employees on union leave.

6. Reports

6.1 Treasurer’s report (Connor) – There is $837.77 in the Coast Capital account and $269.88 in the FAST account.  Awaiting grant from Association.

6.2 LRO report (McCannell) – Some current and ongoing LR issues include: issues with term appointments; JEP; negotiation of a telecommuting arrangement; issues around an employee returning to work after LTD; issues involving critical skills adjustment, extended hours of work.

6.3 Chapter Committees

6.3.1 Local reps (Gore). Next meeting will be scheduled after the retreat in March.

6.3.2 Seminars (Franz) Good attendance the January 20 seminar “Fun, Fitness and Fatness.” Next one will be a tax seminar in February.

6.3.3 Appointments (Connor/Foxgord) –  NTR

6.4 Joint Committees

6.4.1 Association / University Committee (Gore/Franz) - The topic of bargaining was discussed. April 19 is the tentative start date for bargaining. The other unions are starting sooner.  Also discussed was central ProD.  Agreement was reached on a tuition rate increase. Other proposals for revising the ProD guidelines have been passed on to Bonnie Hallet in HR.  There is currently $150,000 in the central fund and $590,000 in unused personal ProD accounts. PEA should aim to do some better promotion of ProD opportunities. Next AU meeting is March 15.

6.4.2 Bargaining Committee (McCannell) – NTR

6.4.3 Benefits Committee (Connor/Gore) – NTR

6.4.4 Job Evaluation Appeals Committee (Connor/Gore) - NTR

6.4.5 Employment Equity Advisory Group (Kenny) - NTR

6.4.6 Educational Equity Advisory Group (Haman) - NTR

6.4.7 Mental Health Committee (Fagan) – John Fagan is the new rep on this committee.

6.4.8 Campus Planning Committee (Michaels) – NTR

6.4.9 Central Pro D (Klatt) – NTR

6.5 External Committees

6.5.1  Association Exec (McCaughey, Foweraker) – Purchase of new office space in progress.

The meeting adjourned at 1:25 pm.