CANSA September 2025 LUEB Minutes

CANSA LUEB Minutes

Zoom Meeting, September 23, 2025

In Attendance:

·      President -   Jim Walker

·      EVP - Eric Titus

·      Financial Secretary - Greg Phelan

·      Caitlin Conrad

·      Jordan Klassen (arrived late/left early)

·      Christopher Rademaker

·      Andrea Wickramasinghe

·      Scott English

·      Mahalia Hillier

Regrets:

·      Joanne Horlick

1.     Agenda

·      LOU 7 – Supervisor Interpretation

·      Election Vacancies

·      Financial Update

·      Next Face to Face LUEB

2.     Agenda Item 1 – • LOU 7 – Supervisor Interpretation

·      There has been some discussions on the intent of LOU 7 with regards to OTS Supervisors.

o   Does LOU 7 apply to OTS Supervisors?

o   Can they be scheduled evenings

·      CANSA’s position is that LOU 7 does not apply to OTS Supervisors.

o   Clauses that apply to both OTS and OTS Supervisors have both listed in them.

o   LOU 7 specifically states OTS.

·      Nav has not stated their position to date.

o   If they disagree, we will have to go through dispute process.

·      Discussion on original intent.

o   Did not apply to supervisors originally.

3.     Agenda Item 2 – Election Vacancies

Montreal RVP:

·      UL had no nomination for RVP .

·      Bylaws state: ‘In the event that any vacancy arises prior to the next election, the Local Union Executive Board shall, by vote, determine how that vacancy is to be filled.’

·      Jim and Eric are in Montreal on Oct 20 for meetings.

o   Would be best to rerun the nomination period during that time so we can talk to the members.

·      Discussion:

o   Q – What happens if nobody wants to be RVP again?

§  A – We would have to decide as a Board.

·      Eric motions we hold elections for the Montreal Region Vice Presidents as follow:

o   Nominations – October 20, 2025, to October 29, 2025

o   Elections – October 30, 2025, to November 7, 2025

§  Jim Seconds

§  All in favour

Trustees:

·      No nominations received for the Trustee positions.

·      Former Trustees sent an email to Jim/Eric/Greg.

o   Feel current process of using an auditor hinders their ability to “maintain vigilance over the financial affairs of the Local Union,” as outlined in the responsibilities.

o   Feel accountant’s audit is broad in nature and lacks the detailed scrutiny required for us to perform their role responsibly.

o   Feel the Trustee role has been reduced to a symbolic position.

o   Want to restore Trustees to previous access.

·      What is the cost difference between using Trustees and using auditor?

o   Last auditor bill was approximately $6,100.

o   Estimates for Trustee meeting is approximately $15,500 per meeting. Two meetings required per year.

o   Auditor saves approximately $25,000 per year over using Trustees.

·      Trustees are not supposed to have unfettered access to our finances, only when they are doing a review with the Financial Secretary.

·      The purpose of an auditing firm is to provide assurance to our Local Union Executive Board, and members, that our financial information is reliable and trustworthy. An auditor is an independent professional who reviews the accuracy and transparency of financial records and processes. Auditors provide assurance that financial statements produced by an organization reflect its operational and financial results and comply with accountancy standards, tax laws and regulatory requirements. They provide assurance that financial statements are free from misleading statements and fraud.

·      Jim talked to our Unifor Staff Rep Zoltan.

o   Explained situation.

o   Explained we use third party auditor.

o   Asked if, since nobody ran for the position, we need to fill Trustee position if we use an external auditing firm.

o   Zoltan said no.

·      Greg to follow up with Unifor Assistant Director of Finance to get official response from the Unifor Finance Department next week.

·      Will wait to hear back from Unifor and proceed as they suggest.

UPDATE on October 2, 2025:

·      Greg met with The Unifor Assistant Director of Finance via phone.

·      She confirmed that we do not need to have Trustees given that we are doing the annual audits per National.

·      If trustees do review the auditor’s report that it should solely be a review of that report, not an opportunity to conduct their own audit.

·      We should have been doing quarterly reports when using Trustees to do audits instead of semi-annual.

o   Semi-annual was the old CAW formula.

o   There was no grandfathering of terms from CAW except for the dues formula.

o   She indicated that while they haven’t been cracking down on locals not submitting the proper reports they will be starting to.

o   This would increase the cost of using Trustees for the audit from approximately $31,000 per year to $62,000 per year.

§  Approximately $56,000 more than using a professional auditing firm.

4.     Agenda Item 3 – Financial Update

·      Contacted in the spring by the bank about a suspicious change to a cheque.

o   Cheque was for dues sent to Unifor National.

·      Someone intercepted cheque and added “and ‘their name’” to the cheque and then deposited it into their own bank account.

·      After confirmation from Unifor that they did not receive the cheque, the bank refunded the money back in our account.

·      This has happened to Unifor a few times.

o   They have an investigation in with Canada Post.

·      Unifor requested we switch to Electronic Fund Transfers (EFTs) as they are secure.

·      EFT will still be dual sign the same as our cheques.

·      Cost of adding EFT capabilities to the account:

o   $245 one-time setup fee.

o   $25/mth fee

o   This gives tokens to Greg, Jim and Eric to send EFTs.

o   We would be able to send EFT to 4 different organizations with up to 25 transfers/payments in each EFT.

·      Alternative secure method to send cheques securely is ExpressPost.

o   Cost for ExpressPost is approximately $28 per envelope.

·      Greg motions we add the ability to send Electronic Fund Transfers to the bank account so that we are able to send secure payments.

§  Eric Seconds

§  All in favour

·      Bank accounts will be updated when we fill the Montreal RVP position so that we don’t all have to resign the same paperwork in 1 month.

5.     Agenda Item 4 – Face to Face LUEB

·      We are due for our next biyearly Face to Face LUEB

·      Looking to have it in December:

o   Travel days Dec 8/11.

o   Meeting days Dec 9-10.

o   Location will be Ottawa as Jim has meetings in Ottawa that week.

6.     Round Table

·      VR

o   Vancouver Tower Complex Simulator setup moving along

§  Difficult to supervise as they are located at the VR TWR.

o   Issues with interpretation on Travel Status have been resolved.

§  Jim/Eric will do a bulletin in the future to cover this.

·      WG

o   2 Trainees in ATOS.

o   New term approved for OTS.

o   Interviews for 1 new perm OTS starting.

o   Lead in the ACC water just announced.

·      YZ

o   Questions on how medical accomodations get placed from another union into ours.

§  All accommodations have to be coordinated with Jim.

·      OW

o   Jobs posted for NOTAM (last posted did not find qualified candidates), Data Collections and Assembly.

o   New job in CRC announced but not yet posted.

o   Return to office is estimated for January now.

o   Managers are using KPI’s against the members now.

§  Will require further discussion.

·      QX

o   Quiet in Gander

o   Expecting OTS retirees to come back on term again.

Meeting Adjourned