2017 National Convention - Toronto. Full Report

Report on the

2017 CUPE Convention in Toronto

Monday

Another well attended convention. We have initially 1275 voting members and 100 alternates. Alberta was able to send just over 90 members.Seven percent of this body is Albertan. A deflating statistic when I first came to the convention years ago. Many eye opening realizations have occurred for me.

• Much of what occurs on convention floor is guided democracy.
• Educational speeches bring us updates, and help recharge locals from all around.
• Momentum on issues are accelerated by means of logic and emotional connection to issues.
• Motions approve method.

This convention feels slightly different. Microphones on the floor have been used differently. During the President's report, discussion on the report circled around local 301 who was under administration, and announcements on new members into CUPE. Critical discussion on his report like always did not occur by microphone. What was curious is that amendments to the constitution proposed today could be seen in the President's report.

One of the highlights of the Treasurer report is that we now have a 95 million dollar strike fund. A fund that I remember many years ago when people voiced their concern over the strike fund and its use. Charles Fleury told us about a legal fund dedicated to fighting for legal challenges. Last convention I remember the NEB talking about saving more to build funds. This report feels like a confirmation of what that savings have accomplished.

Another note of interest from the Treasurer is that because of a 6 million payment that will not be needed to the government over solvency of their rep benefit plan they will be hiring 11 permanent representatives, and hiring more reps.

I was asked to staff the child care working group booth at the CUPE VIllage. Not many walked by but I had some great conversations with some long term child care workers.

Afternoon flew past. We managed to handle and pass the following general resolutions:

• 204
• 21
• 146
• 249
• 134

The election forum was run after the convention business. As of now only positions up for election not acclaimed will be the Trustee for which two candidates have run.

During our Alberta caucus, the debate was decisive once again. All encompassing the NEB and how C8 may redesign the makeup. Emotions, logic, as well as the regular political arguments abounded. After years of failed attempts, the resolution has seemingly been through a makeover by National. The “It’s Time” campaign was the most agreeable yet for allowing the addition of 4 more NEB Diversity VP’s. A free vote was proposed which failed, on the basis that a G36, a general resolutions which proposes a high level look at the NEB makeup. No free vote was passed. Yet no decision on where to vote had been decided. My guess is now we fall to our Local President for direction when the vote commences.

Even though the day progressed fast it did not end until 7pm.

Tuesday

I started off late for convention. Not too late, but I missed the opening remarks for the day. Like in the past we are off and running doing 4 committee reports and moving directly to General resolutions.

Morning General Resolutions Passed

• 158 - Universal Pharmacare
• 112 - Racial Profiling
• 299 - Fight Privatization
• 219 - Literacy
• 154 - Legal Support for BC Court Challenge
• 253 - Domestic Violence Leave
• 300 - Fight Privatization
• 220 - Literacy Funding
• 278 - Repeal C-51 Anti-Terrorism Act)
• 287 - Free Post Secondary Education
• 103 - Safe & Inclusion Policy
• 308 - Indigenous Support against Privatization

This afternoon after the speaker:

Constitutional resolutions covered:

• C1 - Passed
• C2 - Passed
• C3 - Passes
• C7 - Passed
• C5 - Referred
• C9 - Passed
• C4 - Passed

General Resolutions covered:

• 143 - Sexual violence toolkit.
• 208 - LGBTTI education for seniors
• 149 - Public Blood Services
• 252 - Fuel Cost Stabilization
• 166 - National Long term care strategy.

Convention ended at 6pm. CUPE event at the Fairmont later at 9pm. I lasted until 11:30. It was a quick long filled day.

Wednesday

Convention is starting slow today. Which is too bad since today we are discussing the contentious C8. A constitutional resolution many conventions old.

General Resolutions Covered:

• 59 - Transportation Committee Creation
• 89 - Review Trial Procedure - REFERRED

The afternoon was made up of awards, committee reports and the following general resolutions:

• 156 - Implement health care response to opiate crisis
• 216 - Library worker safety
• 265 - Advance electoral reform.
• 58 - Union Development for young workers.

Elections for GVP. Seven candidates ran for five positions, which triggers and election. While we wait we covered.

• 233 - Pensions
• 217 - Wage protection for Library workers
• 272 - Support NDP both Federally Provincially
• 293 - Precarious workers education

Elections did not finish by 6pm.

Thursday

The most charged day of the convention. Yesterday the convention was adjourned before we could find out the results. First orders of business was to announce all of the caucus choice selections were duly elected and we moved to Constitutional resolutions.

I was able to speak against the resolution C8 and I have included a link of my speech at the end of this report.

Alberta did not lock members into a caucus, so many of our choices were driven differently. For me it was about structure, for others it was about doing the “right thing”, for some it was about coming to terms with the reality of the NEB, for others it was about supporting CUPE at a fundamental level. During the many PRO, CON arguments the convention floor was respectful. As we went to the vote, the tone started to change.

The problem with this resolution is the near ⅔ divide, and for those who may be on the losing end poses a stressful problem. The vote which was a standing vote was met with point after point to the mic. After calling for the vote it became clear small items were raising doubt that a proper count could be made. Protests were at the microphones shut off for the vote. After the counts were made even more points were put forward. When it was time to know the results of the vote, more points were raised. Many challenges to the chair resulted and through the stress of this vote some errors started to peek through the fringe.

Mark eventually called for a new vote, with suggestions given at the microphones on ensuring a standing vote created even more frustration from the crowd. The point last convention that any issues needed to be brought up at the time of the vote not afterwards. We paid for that remark this time as some points were time delays, some were relevant, and some were pure emotion.

As the lunch hour approached the frustration pushed out of the centre. The resolution failed, and we went to eat lunch.

The afternoon was still contentious, many points were announced from the podiums. Elections took place and only the trustee position resulted in an election. Which we waited on by continuing business of the National. An Ontario member was successful, I don’t have the name currently.

Resolutions Discussed on Thursday:

• C8 - Add four Diversity members on the National Executive Board - Defeated

• 183 - Truth and Reconciliation Act
• 318 Strike Pay on the first Day
• 1509 voted - against 712, for 797.
• 63 - Respite Room
• 2 - Child Care
• 100 - Growing food at work
• 229 - equity seeking groups
• 126 - Near miss reporting

I am extremely proud of this union body as a whole. All though 318 seemed manipulated in some or several ways. The floor decided that strike pay for the first day would be better than the newly changed strike pay after five days was recommended by the special task force. I am going to recap on the order in which 318 was passed.

1. Ontario President Fred Hahn was acting chair of the resolutions for the afternoon. He was fair, and present for matters of the day.
2. Quebec who had been unable to fully attend the convention had mysteriously left the floor after the morning C8 discussion.
3. A speaker came to the floor to discus the fact that they would like to see resolution 318 on the floor, yet the order paper put it last on the list, making it unlikely to appear before anyone.
4. Shortly after a municipal worker approached the microphone claiming to have a point, which interrupted the chairs order.
5. Fred asked twice to the member at the microphone by name if it was a point.
6. The member instead when speaking put a motion to the floor to suspend the resolutions except for 318 for 20 minutes.
7. The chair then dealing with the motion before us put it before the membership, for which twice he asked for the vote to take place. Siding with the For.
8. Fred then proceeded to allow discussion for 20 minutes.
9. Then when a generous 20 minutes were up, The chair proceeded to tile the doors. Saying out loud to not let anyone in multiple times. While it was in order, it was uncharacteristically forceful. I wrote it off as a act, as Fred is usually a bit passionate at the microphone.
10. The vote was first by hands, for which the chair could not distinguish, and asked for a standing count.
11. The vote carried by a narrow majority.
12. The next day Fred Hahn apologized for his chairing and forceful use of the chair to tile the doors.

Upon reflection the motion should have been out of order as they were recognized having a point, also the order paper was decided and spoken on, where any changes should have happened at the morning when the agenda was accepted. Although I don’t recall the agenda being accepted. Also many little things felt off. It shows the importance of being on the floor the entire convention, and realizing the low Quebec numbers and the unlikely nature of dealing with the resolution by the end of the day. In some ways we deserve the result as our alberta contingency held 7% of the total vote. It was not enough to sway the vote. Even our own local membership voted differently because discussion on the resolution was not considered important.

Further this discussion was supposedly decided by a special task force that brought the wait times to 5 days which was supposed to be a weighed response to the nearly 6 year issue on the convention floor. Time will show how this will affect the bank account of the National and if a per capita increase is now in order.

I now need to reflect on our war chest as its desired need is no more, or is it?

Friday

Resolution spoken on:

• C36 - Passed
• 89 - After referral passed.

Also passed was the strategic directions document. A document that was not well debated on the floor, and I fear will be used as a template for the next two years. I am not saying there was anything wrong with the document, just that it was not well debated.

Like the past, this convention was set to end by noon. Planned for a 2pm run, I have never seen it go that long. Infact many of the Quebec and Ontario delegates were not in the room. Which is frustrating, but being from the west I understand flights and the long weekend that we all returned to. Our flights mandated we leave convention by 11:30. We lost the quorum at 11:30. Before we lost quorum, we managed to pass two very important resolutions.

I feel as if my speech contributed to the conversation, which was nice and highlighted the always misconstrued end users understanding of my point. I heard the word “gentleman's” (agreement) from more than one speaker. It was hard for me to say that out loud, as for years it was one of those things you just either knew or were told about, whether you agreed with it or not. The makeup of the NEB and CUPE in general is built with some instabilities. I heard people frustrated to learn the executive did not run the way they thought. I heard people unhappy about the makeup of the NEB. I wonder what is the proper way about reconstituting the NEB? Over the next year I hope the committee looks at the makeup and attempts to be as fair as possible.

No matter how many times I am at convention there is always a feeling that somehow, someway, a certain amount of manipulation is occurring. Many resolutions not discussed on the floor will now be decided by the NEB. There was this moment yesterday to which I will never know the full story. I spoke the events leading through resolution 318. I have more info, for which I can not corroborate.

What is more frustrating is that my suspicion something was wrong was not near the truth, for it wasn’t that something felt wrong, but like minds felt it too and had a different side to the story. I spoke to a social service sector member and raised my suspicions. Their response was careless but it was honest. There was mention that many things did go right for that resolution. Fred Hahn, was sympathetic to the cause. The background to the strike pay for the first day has layers of data that most going to convention would only fully understand a few.

Here is the problem with the Strike fund:

• All Locals pay into the strike fund but not all locals can use it.
• Small locals don’t have reserves or know about sister locals that will support them in a strike to tide them over until the National assumes payment of strikers.
• Some contracts are designed to place the most pressure on the employer by use of timing, some are designed out of precarious schedules, some members actually gain from going on strike instead of being laid off, some actually use strike action for its purpose, and all are expensive to locals and national depending on the amount of members affected.
• The strike fund is currently at 95 million dollars. Which sounds like a lot but in the case of large strikes it can withdraw large amounts from the fund.
• The per capita of CUPE has not been raised for many years, and for the past few years has been at 0.8%, 0.05% bump to fill the strike fund are allowed. For many years prior we were at 0.85%.
• $300 a week is not near enough for many who are overextended to make their own bills.
• Some provinces have extended coverages and some locals have war chests designed for a worst case strike.
• With so many differences, and factors we can’t quantify how a strike will affect all CUPE members, only Locals as they deal with the issue.

My worst case scenario, which is not likely to happen, would be this. If a small local (or big one) were to go on strike and not be administratively sound, the national rep would be forced to immediately place the Local in question under administration, where accounting practices which ensure strike pay for the first day are complied with. However the resulting action of administration will cripple talks and force a local already facing a tough decision to face internal ones not helpful to a new contract.

Best case scenario, which again is not likely, would be a clear look at the status and real use of the Strike fund. Where separate funds are not required, allowing locals to put funds back into their local. Where going on strike will not be as difficult for members where financial reasons are present.

As I took the UP train to the airport I was decompressing over the convention. My overall impression was that it was done very well and ran smoothly. The days were long starting at 9am to 6pm with added meetings that could run to 9pm and functions that could go to beyond midnight. My hotel room was central to things happening, and even with event conflicts occurring it was somewhat manageable. For example our Alberta caucus meeting was at the same time as other meetings, and I could not be at both. In another example I sit on a national child working group but the municipal sectoral meeting was at the same time. I was able to go to the child care meeting because we had members who could fill me in on what occurred at the other meeting. The national convention has many moving parts and it was extremely nice to be able to attend and be a part of the future directions of CUPE.

For future I would suggest that all National Committee members be given second priority or parity to Executive members pecking order as their committee work may require them to be on the floor to debate resolutions. Also sending a full contingency to an event like this may be expensive, but it is important to help cover the many items on the docket as well as help train and educate members as to the work the National does. Of course all of this falls apart when members are not on the floor. However in this convention I can say that all of us made sure to be on the floor. There were times when a member was late in the morning or missed a resolution as it was discussed during the day. I have been to many conventions and everyone was able to contribute in their own way for the convention business.

I would also suggest that we as a local submit National Resolutions that could be debated on the floor. It isn’t necessary to submit to just have something on file. I think our Local could bring some innovative changes to the National because we have some good ideas, that would compliment the organization.

If I were to say the negatives it would be this:

• Our local split the delegation between two hotels, one of which being a 35 minute walk.
• Our members were split on many issues, some contentious. While free votes are great, they defeat the purpose in sending numbers to the event.
• We didn’t share a meal all together.
• I know this sounds small but it would be nice to have a meal together on the first day as a way of getting to know everyone and aligning ourselves for the rest of the week.
• An internal issue with Local 37 required the delegation to take a moment to speak about the issue by breaking for 15 minutes from convention. The issue as far as I know is still not resolved.
• Going a day early would actually make sense as the first day was literally the longest since we were at the airport at 4am. Gained two hours in Toronto and then went to past midnight the first day.
• Leaving a day later could be beneficial and responsible to the convention as we helped contribute to the quorum failure by have to leave. Historically thought the convention always loses quorum by lunch, but we should not be willfully contributing to this trend.

Thank you for sending me, I hope this report is sufficient, but if there was anything else you would like to know I would be happy to report on it.

Sincerely,

Scott Cush

Assistant Sergeant-At-Arms

Speech to speak against resolution C8

<Current speech time:2 min. 30 sec>

My name is Scott Cush, I'm a Local 37 municipal worker in Calgary, Alberta.

Delegates,

I’m fascinated and frustrated by the makeup of the National Executive Board. The hierarchy, the politics are interesting complications to work out. Just think of the possibilities of this resolution. Given the structure of the NEB I believe this resolution is a ahead of resolution thirty six also proposed by the NEB.

We are discussing a resolution on the floor today that is contentious for reason. It changes the structure of the NEB. For many years now that board has been elected by rallying support provincially before convention starts. There are fragile gentlemen's agreements not found in writing that attempt to preserve the equality of regional representation. It’s not perfect, however these controls allow our provinces to feel heard. I can tell you this resolution does not change that model, even if it does elect a specific equity seeking group off this floor, that person must make it to convention, through regionally elected positions, hindered by cost, delegate allowances, and a locals ability or desire to be on this floor.

Every time I hear this resolution, I am at odds with my own biases. Where is the greater good? Does the code of conduct mean anything?  Is Regional representation appropriate?

The NEB are proposing a solution before an special task force who would make the recommendation is passed. Perhaps overlooked, this may have been the best way of better achieving a more fair and equitable NEB.

Our NEB makeup is entirely elected off this floor. We accomplished this by respecting regionally decided caucus choice announcements. We must accept collateral voting dynamics new positions will influence. Sound oversight over this valiant, and noble idea is key.

This Resolution is written in a way that allows for a region, or coalition of regions to additionally stack votes on the NEB. Tilting a regional balance built on principles enshrined in our Code of Conduct. Regional inequality can result and I can not in good conscious agree with the resolution as it is presented before us.

I urge you to defeat this constitutional resolution because it is out of order to resolution thirty six. The NEB are interested in looking at governance through a special task force. Why not let resolution thirty six play out? It's democratic, responsible, and should result in a grounded, understandable hybrid model that will deal with governance more effectively than the proposal before us.

Thank you.