Thank you to those who were able to attend the CUPE 4879 General meeting last night, May 11, 2022. Most members attended virtually but some of the Executive and members attended in person. As per regular order of business Melissa gave the highlights from the previous meeting minutes and Lyn gave the Treasurer’s report.
Highlights from the meeting included a report from CUPE BC Convention and the delegates who attended. A big thank you to the CUPE 4879 membership for approving to send our delegates to the first in person convention since 2019. Delegates from 4879 were Lois Rugg, Lyn Ferec, Cindy Ozouf, Kamel Johal, Jacquie Enders, Sarah Aloisio and Navin Jain (who was selected as the Okanagan Mainline District Council Young Worker Delegate).
- Close to 500 delegates in attendance from across the Province.
- Very inviting, inclusive convention – theme of the conference, focus on truth and reconciliation
- Included an Elder in the convention this year, did a daily smudging and acted as an ombudsman
- Secretary-Treasurer’s report – CUPE BC in a strong financial position
- Great to see new delegates from our local attend and be first time speakers. Our local was well represented.
Discussion and updates:
- GM format survey results: Melissa gave an update on the survey results. 126 members completed the survey and there is overwhelming support for hybrid meetings (almost 65%). From the comments, members thought the hybrid option at the last GM went well and liked the flexibility it gave to keep attending while managing other personal commitments (ie. family, travel time). We are still working out some bugs but flowed relatively well again last night. Also hope that once people have a greater comfort level of “in person” meetings that more members will consider attending in person too.
- Lois gave a brief grievance update: Have a meeting in June with employer to discuss outstanding grievances scheduled to go to arbitration
- Executive met with Raj Dhasi and TRU exec to talk about their Values-based Culture project. The project is still in-design phase but Unions and other constituent groups will be consulted prior to the roll out of the initiative.
- No updates on negotiations, strategically waiting along with the other universities and in contact with the Local Presidents re what they are doing going forward, considering waiting to go to the table in the fall. In the meantime the local is keeping an eye on current public sector bargaining.
Good of the Union:
Members in attendance at the meeting were entered into a draw for our regular $20 door prizes and a bonus draw of $20. Navin spun the wheel and the winners were:
Linda Fleck
Dolores (Didi) Ledohowski
Rhea Clements