Thank you to all who attended the Christmas Social this year. It was a great night of laughs, catching up, food, trivia and card making (we have some really creative members).

Congratulations to all our winners. We had 4 turkey draws, 2 $20.00 draws, and grand price draw for a staycation to Delta Hotel (Marianna Abutalipova – winner of the grand prize). Congratulations everyone!

Here are some of our members enjoying some nibbles and socializing.

We welcomed some new members and here they are taking their oath:

For those that could not make it, we missed you and hope to see you next year.

Wishing you and your family as great holiday season and all the best in the New Year!

From your executive members Lois, Melissa, Cindy, Laszlo, Navin and Lyn.

Hello All:

Here are the results from the Nomination Meeting held November 9^th.  Thank you to all who let their name stand. There will be an election for the Grievance Committee in January and there are a few vacancies open for further nomination as well. Otherwise most committees and Exec positions have been acclaimed.

President – Lois Rugg – acclaimed

2^nd VP – Navin Jain – acclaimed

Secretary – Melissa Schuurman – acclaimed

Trustee – 3 year term  – Kathleen Johnston

Negotiations Committee – agreed to keep current committee as we are in Negotiations currently.

Grievance Chair – Melissa Schuurman – acclaimed

*Nominations for Grievance Committee – include President and 4 members – Sarah Aloisio, Cindy Ozouf, Jackie Enders, Jasmine Haskell and Kam Johal – election will held on January 4, 2023.

Labour Management Committee – President and Linda Fleck, Kris Webb, Cindy Ozouf and Sarah Aloisio

Joint Job Evaluation Committee – 3 year term – Jaspreet Kaur

Joint Job Evaluation Committee Alternate – Rachael MacLeod

Education Committee – 3 year term – Tony Kuczma

*Joint Occupational Health and Safety Committee – Randy Hoffman, 1 vacancy

Social committee – Tony Kuczma, Kam Johal, Dan Stultz, Cindy Ozouf, Laszlo Nemes, Shilpee Sharma, Shannon James, Lois Rugg (vacancies available)

Communication Committee –  Lois Rugg, Cindy Ozouf and Cristian Sonea (vacancies available)

Shop steward – Kam Johal, Kathleen Johnston (vacancies available)

Okanagan Mainline District Council Delegates – Lois Rugg, Cindy Ozouf, Navin Jain, Melissa Schuurman Kam Johal, Sarah Aloisio

Kamloops District and Labour Council Delegates – Lois Rugg, Cindy Ozouf, Navin Jain, Melissa Schuurman, Jaspreet Kaur, Sarah Aloisio (vacancies available)

See you at the Holiday Social on December 14, 2023 from 4:30-6:30 pm. 

Thank you to everyone who attended our General Meeting. It was nice to see some of you in person.

We welcomed New members Ryan Smith and Yi Fan Yin-Cheng

As part of the regular order of business and Cindy Ozouf gave a presentation on the CUPE National Sectoral Conference held in Ottawa October 3 to 6^th.
Over 700 delegates attended from across Canada representing sectors including the Post Secondary Education (PSE) Sector which includes Universities, Colleges and Cegeps (Quebec) representing CUPE academic workers, researchers, techs and support staff.

Major issues in PSE are most provinces are still seeing further cuts to PSE and tuition continues to increase.  Most institutions have an increased reliance on precarious forms of employment.   Outsourcing and privatization is another favorite tactic which means contracting sessional instructors and temporary assignments for support workers or contracting out.  In partnership with organizations such as Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT), Canadian Federation of Students and other major players, CUPE launched the “Education for All campaign” in 2021 to call on federal, provincial and territorial governments to work together on a national plan for education that is publicly funded, accessible, and high quality.  https://www.caut.ca/latest/2021/01/caut-and-partners-launch-education-all-campaign.

Discussion on Sexual Harassment and Violence in our work place and our Union was a major topic of the conference and a workshop was offered to participants on being an ally and not just a bystander.  The conference also showcased some inspirational organizing successes across the sectors.

One of the highlights of the event was a blanket ceremony and presentation by Diversity Vice President Debra Merrier.  She presented a quilt that will be displayed at the CUPE National Head office and which individual pieces were cut out for the quilt by the National Executive Board together with Debra creating a lovely symbolic blanket.  Participants at the conference were invited to write on a ribbon positive words and actions that they would take towards truth and reconciliation and those ribbons will also be attached to the blanket.

Lois Rugg, Melissa Schuurman, Jackie Enders and Cindy Ozouf would like to thank the membership for sending them to participate in the conference as CUPE 4879 delegates.

Blanket Ceremony

Strategic Plan 2022 – Presented by Lois Rugg

We did make some amendments  to the plan to include up and coming lunch n learns on work safe info and a few more.  See attached plan for more details. 

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Discussion and updates:

• Upcoming nominations at the November 9^th General Meeting, positions were announced. Please see attached list for more info on what is entailed in each position.  If persons are interested in a position but will be unable to attend the nomination meeting please send an email to cupe4879@shaw.ca or presidentcupe4879@shaw.ca stating that you will let your name stand for the position(s) you are interested in.  If there is no contest for positions those will be acclaimed.  If there is a need for an election that will happen at the January general meeting.  All acclaimed and newly elected positions will take effect in January.
• Committee Updates
  • Bargaining: no new updates but discussing dates to go to the table.
  • Grievance: waiting on arbitration dates
  • WIT: Lunch ‘n’ Learns coming up in November – Credential Enhancement Fund (Nov.8 – virtually or Hybrid) and Intro to Worksafe (Nov.10 – in-person or Hybrid).  More information to follow.

Good of the Union: 
Members in attendance at the meeting were entered into a draw for our regular two $20 door prizes and two Turkey Draws.  Congratulations to our winners:

$20 – Marianna Abutalipova

$20 – Tony Kuczma

Turkey draw – Michael Dillon

Turkey draw – Danelle Johnston

Next Meeting will be Novemer 9^th.  It will be Hybrid (in-person and via Teams) and Connie will send the agenda and information on how to rsvp the first week in November.

Thank you to all who were able to attend the CUPE 4879 BBQ this afternoon. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed seeing all of you. We will announce the prize winners tomorrow (Thursday).  Special thank you to our admin assistant, Connie who organized the event and to all the Executive who worked hard to set up/ tear down and meet and greet the membership.  Finally, thank you to the Paddlewheelers for their excellent BBQ skills.

Here is a summary of the General Meeting held September 14^th.  Apologies for the delay in getting this to you.

Our 2022/23 Budget was presented by Treasurer Lyn Ferec, reviewed and voted on.

The proposed budget for the current fiscal year was approved.

National Sector Conference – October 3-6, 2022  Part of the budget discussion including agreeing to send delegates to the Sector Conference in Ottawa.  Delegates selected include Lois Rugg, Cindy Ozouf, Jackie Enders and Melissa Schuurman.  Sarah Aloisio was acclaimed as the alternate.

 Also approved is to send 4 delegates to the BC Federation of Labour Convention – November 21-25, 2022 in Vancouver. Melissa Schuurman, Cindy Ozouf and Sarah Aloisio will be attending on behalf of the local.  Lois Rugg is the 4^th delegate representing the Local and will have credentials as part of the BC Fed Executive Council Southern Interior Labour Council Rep.  Her term will end this convention.

 Discussion and updates:  Presented by Executive Members.

• Committee Updates
  • Bargaining: Waiting on a mandate and dates, will update as we are able to
  • Grievance: Waiting on dates for arbitrations, Shop Steward training Oct.12-13 (deadline to register Sept.27).  We have filed 12 Grievances since January and majority have been settled, withdrawn or resolved.
  • WIT: Check out fitness schedule and off-site programming, Credential Enhancement Fund applications announced in October, looking at setting up a Service Improvement Fund – keep an eye out for news on that

 Good of the Union:  Members in attendance at the meeting were entered into a draw for our regular two $20 door prizes.   Winners were Jackie Enders and Geraldine Bob

Here is a short summary from  the June 15^th 2022 General Meeting.  We hosted from both the Williams Lake campus (Cindy, Melissa and Lois were visiting on behalf of the Executive) and from Old Main in Kamloops (Laszlo and Navin were there on behalf of the Executive)  as well as several in attendance remotely.  Treasurer Lyn sent her regrets.  Thank you to all who were able to attend.

We welcomed Bansari Nagori, Elyssa Clements, Kasahr Atkins  who took the Oath as new members

We had an update from Sam Nielson, Campus Wellness Advisor

• Sam reintroduced herself and her role
• Gave a refresh of what is available to members: TelusHealth, MSK360 and Phyzio via Manulife, Fitness classes, Chair massage, EAP, FN health and wellness, Workplace strategies for mental health (website), Working mind training, Coping with grief and loss resource, Multifaith chaplaincy, LinkedIn Learning
• Sam noted wellness information resource site on OneTRU under TRU Hubs section
• See attached for more details and links you can . 

We followed the regular order of business.

There was a motion carried to use reimbursement from an advertising cost-share savings from CUPE National to put towards purchasing a new desktop computer for our Administrative Assistant ($925); a printer for president office ($620); a large screen monitor ($2300, wall mounts and cables $180 plus installation cost $300) for CUPE meeting room.

Discussion and updates:

• Reminder that the CUPE Kamloops Campus Meet N Greet is this Thursday June 23^rd at Common Grounds.  We will have some mugs first come first served and other giveaways.  Hope you can come on by for free beverage of your choice.
• Negotiations: The Employer is waiting on provincial mandate, we are ready to go and will keep membership when it starts.  Reminder that committee members cannot talk about bargaining, talk to Lois if you have questions
• Grievances: had a pre-arbitration meeting with employer, moving forward on those.
• Credential Enhancement Fund – calls for applications will come out in the fall
• CUPE BC Spring School: our local sent three delegates.  One to first level stewarding, one to advanced stewarding and one to Human Rights courses.
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Good of the Union: 
Members in attendance at the meeting were entered into a draw for our regular two $20 door prizes and one $100 grand prize.  Winners were:

$100 – Meg Durvin

$20 – David Johnson

$20 – Kasahr Atkins

Congratulations.  Connie will be in touch.

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

Below is summary of our meeting.

We welcomed new members (new to the meeting) Rachel Macleod and Damara Anderson.

TRUSU campaign coordinator, Leif Douglass made a presentation on proposed changes to Senate
Highlights of the presentation included:

• TRU doesn’t have senate seats to represent students in each school/faculty, TRUSU is petitioning to get senate structure changed to add more seats
• Challenge exists at other special purpose institutions in BC, looking to format similar to research-based institutions
• Proposal to have student seats from each school/faculty, no one loses seats, but would increase the number of senate seats.
• Would need to amend Thompson Rivers University Act and the University Act
• Next steps: Looking for a letter of support from CUPE and waiting for new Provost to start in July to set meeting to discuss
• Attached is a template for letters individual members can send in support

JHSC First Aid Incident Reporting Presentation – Michael Dillon
Highlights of Michaels report included:

• Incident and first aid reporting guidelines (March 2022) presentation from last JHSC meeting
• First aid – contact security (excluding emergencies), they are trained and designated as first aid attendants on campus
• Incident reports should be filled out by employee and supervisor asap (online)
• If 911 is called, also reach out to security – can get there faster
• Faculty, staff and contractors should not provide transportation to medical options, insurance and liability – get a taxi or ambulance, security working to obtain vouchers
• Question was asked about employees who received stipends to be first aid attendants – issue was if staff member were on vacation, not sure who to call – security always has 5 people on campus at any given time so makes sense they should be responders.
• Note that Security office should also have ‘First Aid’ included in signage at office in Old Main, along with ‘Lost & Found’, Mike will bring that up at next committee meeting

Presentation will also be added to our website resources.

General Discussion and Updates:

• Survey: In-person vs. Virtual vs. Hybrid GMs – We will be sending a survey out to members for feedback on the format of GMs moving forward.  The April 13^th GM was held as a Hybrid meeting with approximately 13 people in attendance and remainder were virtual.  Look forward to getting the membership’s feedback in the survey.
• TRU wants to extend the Working From Home (WFH) pilot LOU to March 31, 2023.  We meet with employer to find out if there were changes, want to keep parameters the same.  TRU wants to do more research now that pandemic is “over” – everyone is back to work on campus.  They have received a lot of positive feedback from those doing the pilot.
• Bargaining – proposals were ratified and survey sent out to rate them.  The committee will be setting up a  meeting with TRU’s chief negotiator Geoff Tierney. 
• 4 grievances are moving to arbitration/mediation – waiting on dates
• Only 1 grievance filed so far this year which is a selection grievance
• Day of Mourning Ceremony – April 28, 2022 at 6pm on St Andrews on the Square.  We encourage members to attend this important event.  Safety should always be at top of mind when we are at work.  A motion was made and carried from the floor to donate $200 to the KDLC to help promote the event.  It passed unanimously.

Our lucky door prize winners were Jason Staruiala and Tony Kuczma

 Mark your calendars for the next General meeting scheduled for May 11, 2022.

Thank you to all who attended the meeting. It was nice to see you there.

• Negotiation committee updates – three calls for proposals and ideas were sent for a deadline January.  The Negotiation Committee has met and looked over the 100 plus submissions and will make recommendations to the membership with a rationale why they recommend or do not recommend ratifying.  Motions that are not recommended will be presented with a rationale as to why ie they may not be in the scope of bargaining or should be discussed at LMC or another alternative.   Members will have an opportunity to amend the proposals and or delete/add proposals at the meeting.  Special meeting will be held March 15^th.
• The Executive and membership discussed a return to in-person/hybrid GMs – Looking to do a hybrid GM in April if we can find an available room and will send out a survey to see how many might want to either return in person or prefer to join virtually.
• CNOY update – KDLC was the 2^nd place team with over $4000 raised.  Thank you to all members who participated and donated.  Kudos to Melissa Schuurman who made it into the top 10 fundraisers and to our other CUPE 4879 participants, Cindy Ozouf, Shannon James, Karl Fultz, Lois Rugg, Tony Kuzcma and Shilpee Sharma.
• WIT Committee Update– Career Enhancement Fund had 15 successful applicants.  Members were reminded to plan ahead and look for next year’s application.  CUPE plugged the Personal Effectiveness Training series happening through March.  It looks very popular and lots of people are signing up.
• Faculty Rally for Ukraine on Friday – Lois sent email out prior to the meeting
• Lois advised members impacted by Ukraine should contact the union, Campus Wellness Advisor and/or EAP if they need support.  CUPE National has made a statement of support for Ukraine and donated $50,000 to help Ukraine with humanitarian needs.
• T4’s for 2021 – there may seem less income than previous year on your T4’s.  Payroll confirmed 2020 had 27 pay periods so explains why our 2021 Box 14 showed less then previous year.

See you at the next meeting on April 6, 2022.

Thanks to all who joined us at the CUPE 4879 General Meeting January 12^th via Microsoft Teams. Here is a summary of the meeting.

New member oath of obligation:  no new members

Minutes from last GM – Melissa Schuurman

Discussion: Melissa presented the minutes from January GM.

Motion 09-FEB-2022-G##: to accept minutes as presented

M/S/C:  Melissa Schuurman/Laszlo Nemes/All in favour

Treasurer’s Report –Lyn Ferec

Discussion: Presented the December 2021 financials and update on staff numbers between 2020 and 2021

Motion 09-FEB-2022-G##: to accept the report as presented

M/S/C:  Lyn Ferec/Laszlo Nemes/All in favour

Executive Report – Cindy Ozouf

Discussion: Met once since last GM, discussed agenda for this GM, Convention, Childcare campaign, CNOY

Motion 09-FEB-2022-G##: to accept the report as presented

M/S/C:  Cindy Ozouf/Laszlo Nemes/All in favour

Motions from Executive Report:

Motion 09-FEB-2022-G##: To send 6 delegates for the CUPE BC Convention to include the President, 5 delegates and one alternate, with preference given to Executive

M/S/C:  Lois Rugg/Cindy Ozouf/All in favour

Election of 6 delegates for the CUPE BC Convention to include the President, 5 delegates and one alternate:

Delegates:

• Cindy Ozouf – accepted/acclaimed
• Lyn Ferec – accepted/acclaimed
• Navin Jain – accepted/acclaimed
• Jackie Enders – accepted/acclaimed
• Melissa Schuurman – declined
• David Johnson – declined
• Kamel Johal – accepted
• Linda Fleck – declined

Alternates:

• Stacy Peña – accepted
• Sarah Aloisio – accepted/elected
• Discussion and updates:
  • BC Childcare campaign – Melissa reminded everyone to really push the campaign, share Andrea’s campaign video on Facebook and get the word out to friends
  • CNOY 2022 – Reminder to sign up as part of fundraiser and if you cannot participate, you can also donate to a fellow member who is.

  Friendly amendment to Motion 12-JAN-2022-G##: To sponsor up to 6 candidates to participate in CNOY, $50 each (up to $300) with money to come out of the Donations budget line from January 2022 GM to increase donation amount from $300 to $500 so more people can participate.

  M/S/C: Lyn Ferec/Cindy Ozouf/All-in-favour 

  • Joint letter from TRUFA/CUPE was sent to Minister Kang regarding TRU investigation, received a response that they are aware, keeping an eye on it
  • TRUFA has had a vote of non-confidence against TRU President and BOG Chair, will see what happens as a result
  • Negotiations – received final round of proposals, the next step is for the committee to review the proposals and compile them so they can be presented for the membership to vote on. Lois and Melissa thanked everyone for sending their input
  • WIT Committee – expanding the Career Enhancement Fund application to include auxiliary employees, and will be topping up some of those who applied

  Good of the Union: 
  Members in attendance at the meeting were entered into a draw for our regular $20 door prizes.  Winners were:

  Shannon James – $20

  Michael Dillon – $20

  Heather Mackay – box of chocolates

  Congratulations.  Connie will be in touch.

  Meeting was adjourned at 5:51 PM

  Motion 09-FEB-2022-G##: that this meeting be adjourned.

  M/S/C:  Lyn Ferec/Melissa Schuurman/All in favour