LOCAL 5 COUNCIL MEETING

March 15, 2002

• Chair: Doug's secondment to AUPE ended March 8, 2002. Rob Irwin will work Peace River office in Brian Randall's abscence (annual leave). Chapter meeting in Whitecourt had excellent turnout (almost 50%). AUPE now has an electronic newsletter available on their website. Motion of accept report: M/S/C
• Vice chair: Bob discussed fallout from negotiations (individuals complaining about this and that); Bob feels we need to get some discussion going on a Pension Review, specifically on a bridging formula (old age pension kicks in at 65, not 55), as the 70% figure touted in the Alberta plan is inaccurate. Bob will follow up on this. M/S/C
• Secretary: nothing to report M/S/C
• P.E.: last meeting was Feb 8 in Calgary. Policy 1.9 requires PE to have regional meetings in May-June in individual areas in order to pass out information. The cost is prorated by Local... We are still suspended from NUPGE, and will be for a while yet... A new bargaining structure within the health care area will be in place by June. The current structure is too ponderous. We will end up with an additional 3 new PE reps that will represent the interests of the various health care locals. We are strong financially, money is being put away for things like the school in Jasper...member benefits committee has had money put back into it from the current union surpasses, bursary amounts will be increased accordingly. Report is moved: M/S/C
• Treasurer: financial statement was submitted by W Bowles.

Motion to approve the $500 interim financing for chapter 13. M/S/C

Motion to approve $700 interim financing for chapter 15. M/S/C

Thanks to Mike Lutz for arranging Christmas gifts to the Peace River office.

8. Committee Reports

a) EMAC: committee will meet in late April, early May. Committee is looking for issues and one more member. Kim accepts the position on the committee, by majority vote.
Agenda item: what happens when management tells you to do something that is contrary to the AFTA code of ethics?
Agenda item: what protection/financial support do employees have against civil suits initiated against them for occurrences that may happen while they are carrying out their duties (e.g.; on fires). The PAO website is www.pao.gov.ab.ca SEARCH for indemnification policy. .

Report is moved. M/S/C

b)Recognition Dinner Committee: Doug; idea of bringing in older individuals and spouses and have a social on a Friday night and present plaques for membership recognition, in conjunction with the AGM. Discussion on the logistics of this follows. Bob Glover: timelines are short, can we do this in November? We also need a membership list, sorted by years of service. Doug will follow up with this...we will put the committee together at the next meeting.

10. New Business

• Convention Report: submitted by K Bradford and so moved. M/S/C

• Labour Education School: occurred in Jasper in early March. This is the old school previously sponsored by the AFL. As AUPE is no longer a member of the AFL, AUPE, through a decision made at the last convention, took the initiative to sponsor the school (paid for with dues that used to be paid for membership in the AFL). Mike Dempsey, Rick Stewart, and Wanda Nadasde-Hogg and Kimpton Bradford attended on behalf of Local 5.
• Extendicare: after consulting with Ed Mardell, we have been advised that a donation of $500 from Local 5 to Local 2424 (Extendicare) would be appropriate at this time.
• Motion: to donate $500 to Local 2424 (Norm Hawkes). 2nded. M/S/C
• Lawsuits: A grievance hearing was held March 14 regarding the Conservation Officer who is being sued. More details will follow in the future, as events proceed.
• Regional Meetings: see PE report. There WILL be regional meetings. A schedule will be forthcoming.
• Youth Committee: the Local may elect a youth delegate (under age 30) at the chapter AGM to attend the AUPE AGM. Action item:We need to find out more about this as we can't afford to double the number of delegates. (Doug thinks it means including them as observers, not delegates).
• Edmonton Symphony: Motion to donate $500 to the Edmonton symphony (Mike Dempsey). Seconded by W Bowles. M/S/C
  

11. General Discussion: AUPE is selling promotional items, which are available on the AUPE website. These include denim shirts, t-shirts, bomber jackets, fleece, ball caps, golf shirts, etc. All items are being sold at or slightly over cost. In order to get our own clothing with our logo (Local 5) the cost would be the cost of digitizing (about a onetime cost of $300) plus the cost of the item.

Lynne Gingras made an appearance: discussed AUPE support for the ATA. AUPE has written the premier expressing our displeasure with how the government has dealt with the teachers and the collective bargaining process.

Michelle: privatization is rearing it's ugly head subtly through changes in provincial legislation in landuse and timber harvesting, putting the onus of approvals and inspections on companies and not the government. Doug: should Local 5 have it's own anti-priv committee? How about an action plan for increasing information on environmental matters to the public? Idea: take these questions to the Chapter AGM. This will be developed further at the next meeting.

12. Date of Next Meeting: April 26th will be the date of the AGM.

13. Adjournment: Motion to adjourn (Bob Glover) M/S/C