Region 1 North Meeting Minutes

ISSUE/TOPIC

ACTION/DECISION

Member sign-in

***No Quorum***

Steve Bremer  150

Steve Boley     150

Dan Cullen      120

Joshua Chafe  173

Hailey Brown   150

Gavin Hendry   151

Brad Hallam     151

Dan Matthews  150

Exec:

Greg Heyes,  R1N PT-RVP

Mike Egli,       R1N Chief SS

Stu Myers,     R1N PR

Keith Moraes, R1N RS

Swearing in of new members

Joshua Chafe 173

OLD BUSINESS:

Union Communications:

-APBC E-mail still not being accessed by members

– poor turnnout to meeting though lots of advance notice.

– new members not getting information about union, Union

 blocked at (NEO) New Employee orientation boot camps

Ensure Shop Steward & Safety Officer contact info up to date. Send to keith.moraes@apbc.ca

–       Keith reminded that APBC e-mail now has forwarding options

–       meeting notices to be out prior to availability cutoff dates

–       possibility of meet & greet for new employees @ different location or table outside NEO location

Recent 1104/1105 themes:

-Employer utilizing ‘Fireside Chat’ process and ignoring

11.04/11.05 language, ignoring arbitrated awards

(Snyder, Galbraith note)

-Employer has outline of process for utilizing ‘Fireside Chats’

in dealing with respectful workplace issues which is not

recognized should the issue be taken to WSBC

-Employer sending more members directly to Licencing rather

than offering QA options or going through 11.04/11.05 process.

– Mike had phone conversation with Linda Lupini  (Exec. VP PHSA/BCEHS) & advised Employer would be getting back to 11.04/11.05 process

– Mike advised time to ‘pull the plug’ on fireside chats

– advise your Shop Steward immediately if this occurs to you

Provincial Executive Committee

 D-Dave Deines, John Strohmaier, Troy Clifford & John Horsfield visit

    to Nanaimo

 -issues discussed, to be brought forward at RJLMC & PJLMC

RJLMC (September 25, 2016)

Call for issues to present

On agenda:

– Nanaimo & Courtenay deployments

– 120/122 Foxtrot movements to cover shortfalls in area

-Deemed resigned grievances. Employer supposedly has new

 deemed resigned’ language and is automatically exiting

members after 3 months of no availability

– Subsistence Allowances.

-none from floor

-overdue for increased FT resources.

-argument that any move from one station to another attracts pay

–       Greg to get copy of new language

– see New Business

NEW BUSINESS

Pay/ Sub. Allowances

-Employer denying subsistence allowances with no notice to

 employee. Only recognized when pay cheque received. New pay sheet causing issues

–       Employer starting sub. Allowance once crew 10-8 from hospital and ending time at imaginary line or deducting time that may still have unit out of their area.

Steve Boley advised that Employees should be watching pay closely and that occasional audits on their past pays should occur.

-Greg to get copy of memo

-Sub. Allowance starts at page out time. Inconsistency when sub. allowance ends. (Arbitrated decision vs. imaginary cutoff)

Ladysmith (159) Hiring

– PT member(s) feel seasonal shortfalls not being taken into

 consideration, no notices to increase availability prior to hire(s)

 & Employer quick to hire when unit out of service. Large number

 of station members from out of post, available but not wanting

 to commute.

– Greg asking for information on down times and discussing

back-to-back scheduling.

– Greg currently in ongoing talks with Jason Twells

– no grievances on file

-no resolve to date

Campbell River (108) Scheduling Trial

Union had attended station meeting to hear complaints &

 reiterate grievance procedure to ensure ‘fair & equitable”

 scheduling. Some station members had been putting in for days

 only while other members with greater availability felt they were

 losing out on dayshifts as a result. WAG using term of

“desirable” pertaining to shifts. Discussion ensued regarding what

 is “desirable” to the members; earning potential, dayshifts,

nightshifts, Alpha, Fox or Kilo. Kilo is the only ‘designated’ unit,

designated as a transfer unit.

-Stu questioned why Union would be entering into any

 agreement when standard set for province scheduling. 108

 scheduled in-house, not provincially.

Glen Greenhill (Patient Services Manager) also in attendance and offered a temporary trial scheduling resolve

-trial to occur for 3 months (October to December)

– many stations have no agreement on what is “desirable” shifts are

-night & day shifts to be calculated seperately

20% off

Some UCs that do in-house scheduling had been told by

 Managers to deduct 20% off of a members allotment when they

submit for ‘desirable’ shifts only. Previous discussion on whether

 ‘desirable’ shifts exist in one unit stations)

-WAG makes no mention of penalizing a member 20% of their allotment and should not occur

Duty to Accommodate

There are very few options within the BCEHS

-Contact Robert Parkinson (Health & Welfare) if you need light duty options due to injury

Expression of Interests (EOI)

Management has failed to issue Expression of Interest postings

 for some positions. (Examples: appointment to Product

 Procurement Committee, MCI Scenario training and leadership

 opportunities)

–       to be discussed at upcoming RJLMC

–       grievances submitted

Convention 2016

-17 Resolutions submitted

-only 6.3% of the region voted for delegates to Convention

– know your delegates, speak to them and share your ideas and concerns.

Grievances & Arbitrations

-currently 110+ active grievances in Region 1 North.

– getting time to discuss grievances with the Employer is difficult. We are available 24/7 365.

-Employer pushing most grievances to Step 2 rather than dealing with it easily at local level

-Step 1 of grievance process being done incorrectly at station level. Discussion between Shop Steward and UC or Manager is to occur before submitting Online Fact sheet. Most fact sheets incomplete because no Step 1 done

-There were two members terminated in 2015. One has since received a payout and is enjoying his retirement. Another has

 been re-instated back to his former position and status.

One part-time member resigned after the Employer refused to negotiate in ‘good faith’ with the Union.

– to review with Shop Stewards in possible upcoming conference call

-Shop Stewards to be contacted to complete Step 1 and to also ensure they are in the “loop”

-*Any Shop Stewards requiring training or wish to sit in as an observer at a RJLMC , e-mail Keith (keith.moraes@apbc.ca) . Only one observer per meeting..

-to talk to Cam regarding a change to online fact sheet

Social Media

The Employer, in investigating complaints where the complainant can’t recall who the crewmembers were, is accessing social media and using members profile & online photos to create ‘mugshots’ for verification purposes

13^th Collective Agreement

Still waiting on the Employer to apply ‘finishing touches’

Online Mandatory Courses

Get them done. The Employer may not allow you to work until the courses are complete and could deem you resigned if enough time lapses where you aren’t working.

Region 1 North Public Relations

Stu advised us that he has been busy in the last couple months.

– recently attended ‘Orcafest’ in Port McNeill.

– APBC’s SWAG needs to be updated & relevant

-there is no buy-in from local level members. Not many functions, not many entries into parades, etc.

-confusion at events over what APBC wants us to do and say & what BCEHS wants us to do & say

-Region 1 to get a PR vehicle?

–       discussion regarding possible resolution to Convention regarding mandatory volunteer time per member

Planning an event? Let Stu know. Stu.myers@apbc.ca

Good of the Union

Meeting Draw

Congrats to Steve Boley. Winner of $30 in gift cards

Next Meeting

December 5, 2016 in Parksville

1800 hrs

– Location to be determined.

– Notices to be posted to stations prior to November 15, 2016