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TEAM-IFPTE Local 161 2015 General Meetings
November 4 – Brandon (Victoria Inn) November 5 – Winnipeg (Masonic Temple) November 6 – Winnipeg (Fairmont Hotel)
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Agenda Welcome Reports: Upcoming Events: Q&A President Finance
Executive Director Upcoming Events: Negotiations - Proposals Voluntary Departures Q&A 2015 TEAM General Meeting. Presenters: Misty Hughes Newman, President Bob Linsdell, Executive Director Wesley Emerson, Labour Relations Officer
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President’s Report A Recap of Who We Are:
TEAM was formed at MTS in 1972 Elected volunteer Board 1,100 members in MTS today Affiliated with the IFPTE in 2006 Established 1918 9,500 members in Canada Including the managers & professionals at the City Full-time staff of four Legal services provided by D'Arcy & Deacon LLP Elected volunteer Board: Misty Hughes-Newman, President Mike Taylor, Vice President Darlene Buan, Secretary Tobias Theobald, Treasurer Roland Pokorny Kristine Knelson Kevin McClure, from Brandon, representing the regions Nicki Hughes Steven Holt In 2006, through a vote of the membership, we affiliated with International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers. A little about the IFPTE: They were established in 1918 in the US, and now have 9,500 members between here and Ontario. Like TEAM, the groups are, professionals, managers, and supervisors. One of the groups being the Managers and Professionals at the City of Winnipeg and the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority. Our office is just a few blocks south of MTS on Main Street, and we have four full-time staff: Bob Linsdell, Wesley Emerson, Erin Spenser, and Alma Cruz. Also based at the TEAM office is Dee Gillies, our IFPTE Representative. Kris Saxberg, a partner at the law firm D’Arcy & Deacon is our primary advisor on matters of the law. He was one of the lead lawyers responsible for the win on the pension lawsuit. As a benefit to TEAM, D'Arcy & Deacon provides discounted legal services to our members.
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President’s Report Effective with Member Participation:
Raising workplace concerns Surveys, focus groups, meetings, and voting on the contract Health and Safety Committees Communication Action Representatives Bargaining Committee - proposal development Negotiating Committee - meet with the Company Take-a-Break United Way Fundraising BBQs Member participation is critical to TEAM’s effectiveness in the workplace and at the negotiating table. If you have concerns about what you’re seeing or experiencing in the workplace, don’t hesitate to call the TEAM office. Providing us with feedback is important in shaping where we focus our efforts, through the surveys, focus groups, meetings, and ultimately voting Yes or No for a tentative Collective Agreement. We have members on the Health and Safety Committees who ensure our work areas are safe, so that we all go home at the end of the day. The Communication Action Representatives (CARs) will play an important role in the upcoming negotiations. Also for negotiations, we have a Bargaining Committee and Negotiating Committee. The Bargaining Committee help develop the proposals, the Negotiating Committee meet with the Company to push for a deal that is fair to our members and makes MTS a better place to work. This year we held the Take-a-Break barbeques in support of the United Way. The BBQs were held in at Erin, McGillivray, Corydon, Osborne, the Ball park, and in Brandon. Thank you for your generosity. 4
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President’s Report Education and Development Opportunities:
Leadership Training Scholarship Awards - Children and Members Health and Safety Conference Labour Law Conference Pension Rep Training Conventions Board Development TEAM and the IFPTE believe that professionals are looking for more from their unions, in particular as employers cut costs and invest less in training, and look to lower-cost alternatives to in-person training, or even stopping training altogether. This year we ran the highly recommended Linton Sellen five-day and two two-day leadership courses. Both courses have required our members to give up a day or two of their weekends, which is not a small ask, but it does demonstrate their desire and commitment to learn something new. We presented scholarship awards to four members, and to the children of four of our members to help with the cost of further education. A number of members on the Health and Safety Committees will be attending the Manitoba Federation of Labour Health and Safety Conference this month. We sent members to the labour law conference in Winnipeg. Training is available to our Pension Committee Representatives. We have two Reps, Bob Linsdell for the DB plan, and Will Kempan for the DC plan. There were two conventions this year. The IFPTE Convention and the Manitoba Federation of Labour. Both provided an opportunity to learn about trends in employment law and the impact politics and trade agreements can have on jobs here at home. We provide training specific to members who sit on the TEAM Board. We count on them to be good stewards of our money, and act in the best interests of the membership, as they always do. 5
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Finance Report Finance Committee develops the budget and makes recommendations to the Board Board reviews income & expenditure at least six times a year Investment strategy primarily focused on protecting capital Accounts audited by ONBusiness Chartered Accountants Inc., Winnipeg Each year the Finance Committee, which is a subset of the Board including the Treasurer and the Executive Director, look at the previous year’s expenses, consider what we plan to do in the coming year, and develop a budget. The budget is presented to the Board. Questions are asked, refinements may be required, and then the Board gives their approval. The Board are required by our constitution to meet at least six times a year. The year-to-date Financial Statement is reviewed at each meeting. For the bulk of TEAM’s funds we have pursued a low risk investment strategy, one that enables relatively easy access to the funds in the event we need to respond to a major event that affects our members, such as a strike or lockout. Our accounts are audited by ON Business Chartered Accountants, Winnipeg.
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Finance Report TEAM currently has $3.5M in cash and investments
Audited Financial Statement available to members 2014 Audited Financial Statement Summary: Income $1,358,612 Expenses (inc. pension lawsuit) $1,765,031 Recovered legal fees $1,479,898 General Fund balance $1,641,639 Defence Fund balance $1,307,953 TEAM currently has $3.5M in cash and investments Key points of the audited Financial Statements for 2014: Income is mostly made up of Member Dues, dues from the Company for contractors, and interest and dividends. Expenses include such things as the office lease, staff salaries, legal, arbitration and experts fees, telecommunications services (MTS of course), membership meetings and events. The expense figure shown includes $355,000 for implementation of the DB pension award. The almost $1.5M in recovered legal fees was full reimbursement for our legal and expert fees relating to the pension lawsuit, as awarded by the Supreme Court of Canada. The General Fund includes cash, short and long term investments, marketable securities and accounts receivable. The Defence Fund is for fighting major issues including providing members with strike or lockout pay should it ever become necessary. Each payday at least 13% of the dues received is transferred into the defence fund. 7
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Executive Director’s Report
Direction set by the Board with input from the ED. The ED, office and IFPTE Rep then make it happen Board Meeting reports on the TEAM website Member issues since October 2014: Pension award funds distributed 50 new complaints; 21 resolved 11 new grievances; 3 resolved Human Rights complaint regarding discrimination around a layoff resolved The Executive Director is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the TEAM office. Board Meeting minutes and reports are on the TEAM website under News / Board Meetings. These documents provide further insight into the work done by TEAM, the services provided to members, and the array of issues dealt with. For the most part, the Pension Award monies, which was $140 million dollars, has now been distributed. At the last update there was around $8 million still to be distributed. 70% of which is earmarked for estates of deceased plan members. The remaining undistributed money is for people who have yet to be located. An agency has been engaged to try and find them. TEAM continues to assist members with complaints. Fifty since this time last year, on matters around Pay and benefits, sales bonuses and overtime, Acting Appointments, Position ratings and re-evaluations, hours of work, working from home, and micro-management. We work on many of these issues directly with the member, offering advice on how to approach the matter with their manager or submit a respectful workplace complaint. Any problem that cannot be resolved at the complaint stage may progress to a formal Grievance, and then to Arbitration. We also assist members with complaints on a protected ground under the Canadian Human Rights Act. The bottom bullet relates to a complaint stemming form a layoff in We were successful at the Tribunal and the member wrote and thanked TEAM for staying the course through to the end, and that she hoped MTS wouldn’t do the same to anyone else.
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Executive Director’s Report
Member Issues - current status: 28 active complaints 13 active grievances: - 3 grievances scheduled for arbitration - Overtime arbitration submitted for Judicial Review 1 Human Rights complaint regarding discrimination and failure to accommodate Excess workload Unpaid overtime Disproportionate discipline Work assignments Assisting members with complaints is ongoing. Of the 13 active grievances, three are scheduled to be heard in front of an Arbitration panel. TEAM was unhappy with the decision from one arbitration relating to an overtime claim. Importantly it we asked the panel to clarify what is authorised overtime. The panel avoided answering the question and similar questions. One member of the panel wrote a strong dissenting opinion. TEAM has submitted the matter for Judicial Review. Another Human Rights complaint is in progress. The discrimination aspect will be heard by a Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, the failure to accommodate is being considered by the Commission. The issues of excess workload, unpaid overtime, disproportionate discipline and work assignments continue.
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Negotiation Preparation
Eight members volunteered for the Bargaining Committee: Investigated member concerns Developed survey and analysed responses Assisted in development of high-level proposals 688 members responded to the survey: Almost 200 pages of comments Provides a real sense of how members are feeling and what is important Will be referenced throughout negotiations The following slides list the high-level proposals. They are ordered with the more obvious items first, and then in no particular order.
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High-level Proposals Compensation
General wage increase Wage structure adjustments Significant changes to the Variable Pay Plans More involvement in Sales Bonus/Commission Plans Overtime rate to 1.5X for first two hours in a week
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High-level Proposals Compensation
Address pressures to work additional hours without compensation Clarify meaning of “Duty Manager” Eight hours pay for eight hours work for managers of Craft Increase the Northern Retention premium
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High-level Proposals Benefits
Discuss MTS contribution to Blue Cross plan Improve Employee Share Ownership Plan Commitment from MTS to improve the DC pension plan Assurance that DB pension plan members will not be forced into another MTS pension plan
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High-level Proposals Job Opportunities
Time limits for filling permanent vacancies HR representative to attend all job interviews Opportunity for members to express interest in short duration Acting Appointments Preference for TEAM members for Acting Appointments that are not posted Employees targeted for layoff or on recall to be assigned to vacant positions for which they are qualified
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High-level Proposals Other Problems and Issues
Five PLDs for all employees in TEAM’s jurisdiction Committee to develop work from home program Commitment from MTS to have current and accurate job descriptions accessible to members Members advised if subject of an investigative interview and can bring TEAM Rep Expedited arbitration procedure for unpaid dismissals and suspensions Discuss longer contract term
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Voluntary Departures Nearing end of VRTIP application period - Nov 12th VRTIP notifications received from members is encouraging Even if Company’s posted target number not achieved, does not mean layoffs are a certainty Article 27 covers the layoff process, recall and severance amounts If you apply for a VRTIP package please notify the TEAM office The Company has not provided TEAM with the number of applicants, and has not identified which job groups have met the reduction target. Based on the number of notifications received by TEAM directly from members, and the areas in which they work, on November 10th we asked members who are in job groups where we are concerned about a possible layoff to provide information that may assist in our discussions with the Company to avert layoffs. The number of VRTIP application notifications received continues to increase.
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Q&A 204-984-9470 1-877-984-9470 team@teamunion.mb.ca
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