Report on YUFA Executive Meeting of Dec. 8 2008
The following notes were prepared for the YUFA Ad Hoc CUPE Support & Communications Committee.
Notes on YUFA’s Executive Meeting – posted by Ricardo Grinspun, 9 Dec 2008
I attended the YUFA Executive meeting yesterday and here are some quick notes. These are not official minutes nor do they pretend to be unbiased or complete. I tried to be accurate but if you need to use any information please double check. They are simply my personal impressions on those aspects that interest me most.
Let me start with the good news. The Exec approved Richard Wellen and Walter Whiteley’s SRC [Special Renewable Contract] proposal as a YUFA framework for engaging discussions with CUPE and employer, and as a way to implement the motion passed in last week’s SGM [Special General Meeting] on SRCs. It was noted that this proposal shows the positive role that YUFA can play and also shows that YUFA is not simply adopting the positions of one side or the other but pushing both to find a quick and effected negotiated solution.
The rest of these notes focus on issues of common interest to Ad Hoc [Ad Hoc CUPE Support and Communications Committee] and Exec.
The first page of the Bernie Lightman letter [a letter opposing the work of the Ad Hoc committee] was copied and distributed to the committee; Arthur [Hilliker, YUFA President] said there were 160 signatures in total. [He failed to mention that the motion in the last SGM based on this letter had been defeated]. He also said that although the final sentence of the preamble paragraph of the letter says, “We call on YUFA to return to its stance of dignified neutrality…”, Arthur said “we never had such a stance.” Suzie [Young, Chief Steward] asked why the other letter, the one sent to the Executive from Radhika Mongia [a letter supporting the Ad Hoc], was not similarly copied and distributed, but Arthur seemed unaware of the letter’s existence.
Ildiko [Kovacs, Stewards Council Representative] amended the minutes of the last Exec meeting because two discussions of two Ad Hoc Committee motions were omitted from the minutes: (1) the motion that a YUFA electronic bulletin board be set up on the YUFA website, and (2) the motion that a call be sent to invite YUFA members to express and communicate concerns and suggestions re: back-to-class protocol (I hope I got this one right; not sure). [indeed, this second item is wrong; it should have referred to a motion at Exec on Nov. 5 affirming Exec support for CUPE getting a fair and equitable settlement and also for SRCs which was omitted from the minutes].
Role of Ad Hoc Committee: Many of the issues put forward by the Ad Hoc committee were discussed, most raised by Livy [Visano, Vice President External and Chair of the Ad Hoc Committee]. Unfortunately, a few Exec members who are not in Ad Hoc including Arthur appeared to be visibly troubled with the work of the committee and wanting to distance Exec and themselves from it. In particular, Arthur informed that he is stepping down from Ad Hoc because of “conflict of interest”. Ildiko had said that the role of the Ad Hoc Committee as mandated by the membership is to communicate with YUFA members. Arthur said that it is in the YUFA Constitution that he is the spokesperson of YUFA, and also that he could be mandated by the Executive but not by the Ad Hoc Committee; he also reminded he had said this in his opening remarks to the last SGM. He also indicated he has a legal opinion, which he did not offer to share despite a request to do so, that says he is right to proceed in this fashion. When I pressed him to indicate which of the Ad Hoc bulletins had presented a conflict of interest for him, he said none but there could be some in the future.
Mary Kandiuk [Vice President Internal] appeared to be particularly hostile to the committee and unwilling to cooperate in any way. She said it’s now time to rethink the Ad Hoc Committee’s mandate. She indicated that Deborah Brock [Equity Officer] had also resigned from the committee but I was not aware Debi had communicated this to the committee. Monica said that Debi wrote and asked to be taken off of the Ad Hoc listserv. When I said there are six Exec members on the Ad Hoc Committee, Mary asked who they are. It turned out that she had thought that four Exec members had resigned from the Ad Hoc: Walter [Whiteley, Stewards Council Representative], Debi, Arthur, Livy, but at this point Livy told her that he ended up not resigning.
Electronic forums/lists: [the topic here is a proposal from the Ad Hoc that YUFA create electronic forums for broad discussion of issues within YUFA]. A person raised a long list of questions and concerns [about the proposal], including a history of complaints on YUFA-L [a list that was created in an earlier period] and impacts on the staff as a result of all that. Arthur did not invite me to explain our proposal, nor did he open a space to discuss the concerns and see how they can be addressed. From my perspective, the concerns, including those that relate to impacts on staff, are valid and important but none are insurmountable and they can all be addressed without much difficulty. My impression: the political will to open a YUFA-hosted space for free exchange of ideas among members is simply not there among a majority of the Executive, starting with Arthur.
Submission to Senate: [Ad Hoc had requested that YUFA submit a communication to Senate]. Arthur ruled out of order the Ad Hoc’s request to send a communication to Senate that would append the Ad Hoc’s bulletins. He said the bulletins [which deal with SRCs, conversions, affirmative action, CUPE benefits, binding arbitration, and so on] do not speak for YUFA and he can send to Senate and elsewhere only official YUFA positions. The only way to proceed would be for Exec to address and approve each individual bulletin. Responding to a question, Arthur did clarify that there would be no problem if another senator submits the bulletins in the name of the Ad Hoc committee, not YUFA. Richard, who is a senator, offered to do so.
Remediation [regarding back-to-class procedures]: Mary said that the YUFA Caucus of JCOAA [the Joint Committee on the Administration of the Collective Agreement, a YUFA-employer committee] met last week and reviewed past documentation of how return-to-work was handled. She said that YUFA does not have much of an ability to negotiate, and she is not sure of how much leverage we have; we can ask members for their concerns but we are not sure what the remedy would be to the members’ concerns. It is a very complex and tricky process and she doesn’t want to put information out there to members to raise their anxiety. We welcome concerns from members but we proceed carefully and thoughtfully. Livy reported that the Ad Hoc Committee calls on the Executive, independent of JCOAA, to do a Q&A within the next two days to cover remediation and other items by gisting some of the letters and figuring out members’ concerns and addressing them in the Q&A which would include but would not be limited to return-to-class protocol. Arthur said the Executive will meet with Senate Executive, and that matters to do with communication are c/o Louise, communications officer, and matters to do with back-to-work are c/o Mary, who is handling remediation via JCOAA.
Further on Ad Hoc request for a Q&A [in YUFA-M] regarding members’ concerns: Mary said she is responding individually to members on an ongoing basis, and the Ad Hoc does not need to tell her how to conduct her business. I was left with the impression she is not proceeding with an open generic Q&A response distributed in YUFA-M (perhaps she did say explicitly that she would not do it, but I may have missed that). In response to a comment I made, that YUFA Exec had not communicated with members directly on substantive issues and concerns during the strike through YUFA-M, she clarified that there had been a FAQ sent out by Arthur and her. I had no recollection of that and indeed I now found in my inbox that 18 November communication (see below).
A motion was carried regarding proper process for members to address staff issues. It mentions a communication from Dec. 2 (this is a message from me, Linda Briskin, and Richard Wellen that mentioned impacts of the electronic forum issue on staff). Here is the two-part motion, passed without the support of Suzie and Ildiko:
“We, the YUFA Executive, reaffirm CUPE 1281’s right and professional responsibility to participate in all YUFA meetings, subject to Article 7.08 of the YUFA/CUPE 1291 Collective Agreement, including the right and professional responsibility to express opinions on, and identify potential concerns to be addressed by labour management with respect to YUFA initiatives; and further that any concern YUFA officers/members may have with respect to staff carrying out these responsibilities should be directed to the attention of the Personnel Committee to be taken up under the terms and conditions of the YUFA/CUPE 1281 Collective Agreement.
In addition, as requested by CUPE 1291, the Personnel Committee will reaffirm the contents of this motion with all members listed on the memo from Linda Briskin [RG: I am not sure if it explicitly mentions Linda’s name here] dated December 2, 2008.”
Filling up open steward positions: Heidi [Bishop, staff person] explained the normal process of call for nominations and balloting. Richard said it could be left up to the unit to find nominees and elect someone; Heidi said, no, the procedures are in the constitution, and she went over them again. Suzie said that nowhere in the constitution does it specify the whole process must be conducted on paper and email will not do; Heidi said there is no method for YUFA to contact everyone in the unit electronically because YUFA has not made a listserv for each unit or each department. Suzie said that if a steward vacates a seat, he or she must have had a way to e-contact all his or her constituents when he or she was steward; Heidi said not necessarily. My impression: there was resistance in Exec to any more informal or email selection of stewards, and a bureaucratic insistence that, even if it constitutes a hurdle to recruitment, we need to have a paper ballot even when there is acclamation.
Communications: Louise [Ripley, Communications Officer] reported that new procedures are in place now that she is back. Specifically: (1) anything to go to YUFA-M must be approved by her; (2) all communiqués from the Ad Hoc Committee must be identified as such and not to be mistaken as coming from YUFA. She expressed concerns about the paragraph we had proposed explaining the role of Ad Hoc committee but was not willing to elaborate on what those concerns are. Arthur did not open time for a discussion of the new procedures. Louise distributed copies of a half-page report from her as Communications Officer to go to YUFA-M that is a “Report on Special General Membership Meeting 4 December 2008.” It will go out on YUFA-M probably today.
Reporting on Exec meetings: I was particularly intrigued by Mary interrupting herself when she was speaking and saying she was uncomfortable with people taking notes while she was speaking. According to her, the only report back to members should be in the form of the official minutes. My commentary was that I thought YUFA was a democratic organization. At that point, Arthur cut the discussion. Later on the topic was revisited, and Arthur indicated that it is ok to take notes but it is preferable if reports from the meeting would not mention names. I said that if people run for elected position, they want to speak openly and for the record in an open meeting, and I will follow that rule. Suzie indicated that she does not intend to report back to Ad Hoc on relevant Exec discussions since she was reprimanded for doing so after the last meeting. Suzie added that in her earlier notes to the Ad Hoc she had not cited anyone by name except when an Ad Hoc Committee’s original motion which was brought to the Exec already cited that person's role.
Attachment:
December 15, 2008 Memo to Executive Committee members:
Exec meeting for this Wednesday (December 17) has just been cancelled for the following reasons by (YUFA President) Arthur Hilliker:
1. CUPE 3903 has not replied to alternative Unit 2 proposal, so there is nothing to discuss
2. Second, the Ad Hoc Support Committee did not meet today so we have nothing to respond to them on.
3. Third, there are no pressing agenda items.
4. Fourth, many Executive members cannot attend.
The next regularly scheduled meeting is January 12, 2009.
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