Annual General Meeting 
April 27 & 28, 2002

Unfortunately, it proved impossible for me to physically attend the Annual General Meeting of the NCR Regional Council, so I jumped at the opportunity when John Baglow, your REVP invited me to tape a short greeting.

It's an opportunity to let you know first hand about some of the things that are going on in our Union. But first, I would like to update you on some of the things that have taken place since the last PSAC Convention.

I said at the time, that the 2000 PSAC Convention was a critical point for the PSAC.

Our financial situation was questionable at best.

We lacked a focus on a range of issues, including collective bargaining.

We were internally focused.

Many parts of our union, including the AEC and the Board, spent more time on administration than on the issues that affect the working lives of our members.

I said that we would quickly move to change the way we operate. And we have in a number of areas.

We took the action that was necessary to get our finances under control, and it's working very well. I am pleased to say that the financial crisis that the PSAC faced at the beginning of this Convention cycle is over. For the first time in a long time, we ended the year with a surplus, and have been able to rebuild membership equity. That's really good news.

While we will continue to keep a close watch on our finances over the next year, we are in a position to spend some money to address identified gaps in our services to members-and we are doing so.

I am sure that many of you are aware that expenditure restraint within our union over the last few years has virtually eliminated the in-depth leadership training that we used to provide in the past. Well, a little over a month ago, the Alliance Executive Committee agreed to fund a three-week Union Development Course in each of our seven regions and two in the NCR over the next three years. This will cost $1.1 million that is not accounted for in the 2001-2003 budget - however we can afford it, and our union needs it.

As a result, up to 140 PSAC/Component leaders and potential leaders will undergo the most extensive union training that we are able to provide.

This is one very important and very tangible benefit that our leaders and members will receive as a result of our improved financial situation.

There are others, like our decision to staff a Regional Health and Safety Officer position in the NCR, and to dedicate a new Research Officer position to regional negotiations. And I promise that there will be more to come.

I also want to talk a bit about the steps we are taking to build a strong united union that represents its members in the workplace, in our communities and in our society.

Building a strong united union starts with collective bargaining, and I have to say that the level of mobilization, the level of membership involvement, and the determination of our members is as good as it has been at any time in our history. In this region, we had very strong support during the recent CCRA mobilization, and the Treasury Board and Canada Post mobilization and strikes. You also showed others in the PSAC, and indeed the entire labour movement that strikes can be innovative and fun. Your strike at the National Gallery of Canada and the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography led the way.

As our members at the National Gallery and elsewhere will tell you, bargaining is critically important. Members want their union to take the job seriously, to understand their aspirations and to deliver collective agreements that provide decent wages, working conditions and benefits. They also want their collective agreements to protect them in terms of job security and their individual interaction with their employer. They also want their union to be focused on bargaining at every level. They want our Regions, our Components, our Negotiating Teams, our National Board of Directors and our Alliance Executive Committee to work together to achieve the best possible settlements, and to ensure that members are mobilized around that goal.

We have moved a long way over the past eighteen months towards achieving that goal, but more needs to be done. Let me say today, that the entire leadership is committed to doing just that. And doing it now.

But unions are about more than bargaining, and ours is no different. At its strategy planning session this past January, the National Board of Directors adopted a simple vision statement for the PSAC, which reads as follows: "Through collective action, further the interests of all PSAC members and working people in general." What this vision means is that we all need to work together, as one united union, to improve the working conditions of all our members. And it goes further, and recognizes that as a union, we have a collective responsibility to fight to improve the society in which our members live and work.

I am proud to say that our members are front and centre in many of our broader social and political struggles - from pay equity, to globalization, to human rights, to privatization; the PSAC and PSAC members are making a difference.

In the last two weeks alone, we have mobilized members to tell their pay equity story to the Federal Pay Equity Task Force in communities from coast to coast to coast. We have conducted town-hall meetings with members of the joint PSAC/Treasury Board Committee on term employment. We joined and pledged active support to the Coalition in Support of Marc Hall, and we have made plans to have a PSAC contingent at the G-8 Summit in Kananaskis in June. PSAC members will be at the counter conference as we were in Quebec City a year ago, and we will be at the Kananaskis Solidarity Village and our voice will be heard.

And we are making things happen in the Province where a great many of us live and work as well. I understand that you will be asked to debate an emergency resolution on the Ontario Government's decision to Privatize Hydro One. Just over a week ago, an Ontario Court Decision that said that the Government does not have the authority to Privatize Hydro. It's a great decision that is a credit to CUPE and CEP that is more than symbolic. The decision clearly delays the privatization process, but more importantly it provides a window for us to mount an effective political campaign to stop privatization. So I hope that a motion will be introduced and debated at your AGM, and urge all members who live in Ontario to get involved.

As you are aware, the PSAC Convention is just over a year away, and for the first time PSAC Regional Councils have an opportunity to directly influence the debate at Convention. And I can tell you that it's going to be a different Convention in many ways. 2003 will mark the first time that Regions have an opportunity to send resolutions directly to Convention. That's a good thing, so is the fact that we are planning to debate a collective bargaining vision for the PSAC.

And for the first time in many years, the PSAC is going to debate some of the broader issues that confront our members, our union, and our communities. In order to focus debate in advance of the Convention, we have prepared a series of discussion papers on privatization, globalization, security in government, human rights, collective bargaining and local development. They are being discussed in forums across the country, and they will have a place on the Agenda of our Supreme Governing Body.

I said at the outset that we were too internally focused, but I do want to take a minute or two to talk about our union structure.

It's been said many times before that one of the greatest barriers that the PSAC faces is that members don't understand our structure. We have been having the debate over structure for years. But Sisters and Brothers, what's different is that now, it's happening in the open.

At its strategy planning session this past January, the National Board of Directors put structure at the top of the agenda. We came out of this planning session with a common vision for our union and a common perspective on structure. That's a good start to building one strong union.

It's important because structure is about how we get organized to fight for our rights. To be most effective in our struggles for our members in their workplace, their regions, their families and their communities, we need a structure that provides opportunities for involvement at the national, regional, and local levels. We need a structure that can address membership issues that are employer and workplace specific, as well as those that cross employer lines-whether those employers are government departments and agencies or not. That's why our union has a Component structure.

As I said earlier, the PSAC leadership has a common perspective on structure. Within the PSAC, there is a place for all: for Components, for Regions, for Locals and Branches, and for a strong national union. We have a diverse membership, and we believe that our structure is our strength. Even if it seems complicated, it provides many opportunities for many members to participate in their union.

Our immediate challenge is to decide which part of our union is best placed to deliver what services to the PSAC membership. That's a question that the Board will be debating between now and the next PSAC Convention, and a question that you, the membership, will ultimately decide.

What we already know, and what PSAC members have been firm on, is that regionalization is here to stay. It's a solid political choice that our members have made. Members want to be able to interact with their union, regardless of where they live and work. And as you've shown over the past years and throughout your AGM this weekend, regionalization makes good sense.

Our challenge, at the PSAC national level, is finding the right way to make regionalization happen. Regionalization isn't just the responsibility of the PSAC Regional Councils, Regional Office staff or the Regional Executive Vice-Presidents. Nor does it happen in the regions alone.

Let me close with a few words on local development. It's important and it's an area where the NCR is leading the way. Your REVP has been working hard to implement the NBoD's commitment to local development - both on the National Committee and in the NCR, and it's beginning to pay off. But as I said to the delegates to the British Columbia Regional Convention three weeks ago, local development is a lot like breathing - it's not something that you discuss, you just do it. You do it by participating in your local, by participating in your community and by participating in the issues that are important to our members. Locals are developed when people are captivated and engaged in the union's mission and vision.

That's one of the reasons why we are so committed to getting involved and taking a stand on the important issues of the day: from collective bargaining to collective rights; from human security to human rights; from community development to globalization issues that are not only important, but issues that can be used to develop Locals and make the PSAC a truly great union. A union that is united by a common vision and a common cause!

Thank you, and have a great Annual General Meeting.