Current News

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USGE travels to Local NB 100 in Iqualuit

Register now for the USGE Regional Conferences and Collective Bargaining Conferences

Time to prepare Audited Local Financial Statements

USGE President speaks at Queens University on the prison farms

Olympic Update: PS representation while working the Games

Communique on CLC, Regulation 20

Dates set for Regional Conferences and Collective Bargaining Conferences

USGE working to improve PO members' workplace situation

January update on National Detachment review

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USGE travels to Local NB100 in Iqualuit

RVP Karen Dion and LRO Robin Kers travelled to Iqaluit on January 25-27 to meet with the leadership and membership of Local NB100 which is composed of members working for the RCMP - V Division and members working for the Public Prosecution Service of Canada.

The Iqaluit Local is a fairly new, small and very isolated Local with members spread through different locations in Nunuvat.

Sister Dion and Brother Kers met with Local President Hertha McLean and Secretary Treasurer Kate Emmons and discussed a wide range of topics including Local By-Laws, Local Financial Statements, strategies to improve member participation in the affairs of the Local and strategies for dealing with the employers in a formalized labour management forum.

Dion and Kers also attended with and assisted Sisters McLean and Emmons in a  productive meeting with RCMP management to establish a formal LMCC process. Unfortunately a meeting with PPSC local management could not be arranged.

Register now for the USGE Regional Conferences

USGE is pleased to advise you that the registration packages for the 2010 Regional Conferences are now available for download.

Click on the desired links below to download registration packages in pdf format.

Time to prepare Audited Local Financial Statements

It's a new year and that means Locals are reminded that they must submit an audited financial statement for the year 2009 to the National Office no later than March 1, 2010.

There are three levels of financial accounting, based on Local income. The National Office has determined that these amounts are:

• Level I – Locals receiving in excess of $25,000 per year.
• Level II – Locals receiving between $5,000 and $25,000 per year.
• Level III – Locals receiving less than $5,000 per year.

The USGE National Office has mailed correspondence indicating what Level our Locals are at, as well as copies of examples of the way the financial report is to be formatted.

Please note that these documents can also be downloaded from the USGE Web.

USGE President speaks at Queens University on the prison farms

John Edmunds participated in a panel discussion at Queens University where the topic was the current threat of closure of the prison farms. The discussion was hosted by the Queens University NDP Youth and the Kingston Regional NDP Office. Sharing the panel with Brother Edmunds were Malcolm Allen, local NDP MP and Dianne Dowlings of the National Farmers' Union.

The main focus of the discussion was to provide information as to the government's intentions regarding the upcoming closures. Brother Edmunds was emphatic as to the importance of the prison farms program and the intangible benefits reaped by the participants: work ethic, commitment, etc.

USGE continues to promote the importance of the prison farms and will be participating in more panel discussions across the country.

Olympic Update: PS representation while working the Games

There have been questions brought to the National Office asking who members contact if they have representation needs while working the Olympic Games in Vancouver.

The primary contact person is Phil Carriere, USGE Regional Vice-President Vancouver. Brother Carriere is available to help with all union-related issues, and in particular any Health and Safety concerns. Brother Carriere can be reached by cell at (604) 230-5675, telephone at (604) 264-2629, or email carriep@psac-afpc.com.

As well, members have access to the Member Employee Assistance Plan. The M/EAP is well established within the framework of the Games. They are available for anything from morale support, family problems, legal issues, etc. The toll-free number for members to contact them if they cannot find an M/EAP referral agent is 1-800-268-7708 and 1-800-567-5803 (TTD).

Communiqué on CLC, Regulation 20

On May 2008 an important Regulation came into effect which deals with the "Prevention of Violence in the Workplace", which applies to all workers under federal jurisdiction covered by the Canada Labour Code, Part II.

Section 2 of the Regulation defines what workplace violence is

constitutes any action, conduct, threat or gesture of a person towards and employee in their place that can reasonably be expected to cause harm, injury or illness to that employee.

The USGE National Health and Safety Advisory Committee would like to draw members' attention to this important Regulation, and request that all local OSH committees discuss this at their levels if they have not already done so. As you can see this regulation aims to address a serious issue in the workplace giving it enforceable legislation as backing.

Please consult the link for further information and full regulation. http://laws.justice.gc.ca/eng/SOR-86-304/page-10.html#anchorbo-ga:l_XX

Dates set for Regional Conferences and Collective Bargaining Conferences

The dates for the upcoming Regional Conferences and Collective Bargaining Conferences have now been set.

Conference	Region	City	Date
Regional	Ontario	Kingston	April 20-21
Collective Bargaining	Ontario	Kingston	April 22-23
Regional	Quebec	Montreal	May 4-5
Collective Bargaining	Quebec	Montreal	May 6-7
Regional	Prairies	Saskatoon	May 17-18
Collective Bargaining	Prairies	Saskatoon	May 19-20
Regional	Atlantic	Moncton	June 8-9
Collective Bargaining	Atlantic	Moncton	June 10-11
Regional	Pacific	Vancouver	June 22-23
Collective Bargaining	Pacific	Vancouver	June 24-25

Agendas are being finalized and we will be posting information on the website as it becomes available.

We look forward to meeting you at the conferences.

USGE working to improve PO members' workplace situation

Over the years, USGE has been working on improving workplace situations for our members. Of particular note for this article, we wanted to show our members the work that USGE has performed, work, that at first glance, may not be obvious but has moved our members' interests forward.

For our members working as Parole Officers, the USGE has been quite busy. We have been instrumental in putting in place a joint CSC-USGE permanent national committee to deal with community health and safety issues (ACOCSS). We also have a presence on Regional Health and Safety Committees (RHOHS) to bring our members' concerns to the table and to have them addressed in a more expeditious manner.

USGE has been monitoring the Board of Inquiry report from the Louise Pargeter murder and the subsequent implementation of recommendations. Some of these were the Electronic Monitoring Pilot Project (EMPP), the Community Staff Safety Project (CSSP), safety training for our members (e.g. disengagement, etc.), use of cell and sat phones, to name but a few.

USGE has participated in the Community Parole Officer Resources Formula Working Group. Another committee with a USGE presence is the Working Group for Parole Officer National Generic Job Description, where we, along with management, have been working to update the Parole Officer job description. This document is now in the hands of classification and we expect to hear from them relatively soon.

January update on National Detachment Review

In an effort to correct certain problems that arose as a result of the implementation of the DA Review reclassifcation initiative, the RCMP has created two new job descriptions. The most recent communiqué from Deputy Commissioner Madill has been reproduced here in its entirety so that you are fully aware of management's intentions.

USGE is appreciative of the creation of these two generic work descriptions and while we realize they may not address each and every issue, they will certainly address most. We will work through the remaining issues as they come to our attention.