First NCR Executive Meeting of the Year: All My Motions, Including on Electoral Reform, Defeated.
Time to think about the New Strategies for bringing more Transparency and better Member Representation to the Union
Over the past weekends, I’ve been working hard to prepare several motions for our first NCR Executive Board meeting in this new year. The meeting took place on Monday, January 13, 2025, from 6:00 to 8:30 PM.
At this meeting, I was expecting to see a refreshed board, with some of the old Directors gone (their terms ended in December) and three newly elected Directors—chosen during the national elections in November 2024—taking their places. However, that wasn’t the case. The outgoing Directors “were asked” to remain active until the NCR Regional Council in April. Additionally, only one of the three newly elected Directors could attend.
I came to the meeting hopeful that, with the help of the newly elected Directors, I could move forward several motions aimed at increasing transparency and democracy within our NCR Executive Board, the most important of which was the motion to recommend the NCR Electoral Reform at the upcoming NCR Council this April.
They are listed below. Most (4) of them, including on NCR Electoral Reform, were defeated. Three of them were not even seconded. Only was was carried.
Motions Moved by Dmitry at the NCR Executive Meeting on January 13, 2025
Motion: NCR Electoral Reform
Whereas:
The National Capital Region (NCR) represents over 50% of the national PIPSC membership (over 40,000 members).
National elections, as well as elections for several Groups (e.g., NRC-RO-RCO, AFS), are conducted electronically. The technological infrastructure for electronic nominations, ballots, and vote counting is already in place and accessible.
Currently, NCR executives are voted by less than 1% of eligible NCR members (delegates attending the NCR Council). Delegates are selected by the current NCR Executive Board. The vast majority of select delegates are from the existing NCR Executive network. The voting happens over 24 hours during the Council.
This participation rate is significantly lower than the voting rate in national elections, where approximately 12% of eligible NCR members participated in the 2024 elections.
The current electoral process creates the risk of conflict of interest or the perception thereof, as well as disengagement among the broader membership
PIPSC aims to enhance transparency and member engagement.
Be It Resolved That:
The election process for the NCR Region Executive be updated to allow all NCR members to Vote for candidates using an electronic voting system.
Adequate advance notice will be provided to NCR members for nominating candidates and participating in the voting process online.
Full details of the related by-law changes are outlined in the accompanying document, “NCR Electoral Reform” (attached - gdoc).
Moved by: Dmitry. Seconded by: Jennie & Tim.
Motion: DEFEATED (3 to 5)
Motion 1: Intro & orientation for new NCR Members
Starting from this meeting, be it resolved that
For every exec meeting where we have new NCR Exec members, the meeting will start with the roundtable of introductions and recap of NCR Executive meeting logistics, including the key rules from parliamentary procedure that we have to follow.
Discussion: Dmitry referred to his own experience at his first NCR Exec meeting on May 25, 2024, when no introductions or orientations were provided for newly elected NCR Executives (him and two other executives).
Moved by: Dmitry. Seconded by: Jennie. MOTION CARRIED
Motion 2: Minutes to provide votings on motions
Staring from this meeting, be it resolved to make executive minutes more detailed, specifically to include:
For each motion, in addition to the names of who moved it and seconded it, which are currently noted in the minutes, to also include who voted FOR (A,B,C ...) , AGAINST (D,E,F,...) , ABSTAINED (G,H,...)
I understand that at times we may have as many as 15 motions presented during a single meeting (as seen in the attached minutes from the 2024-OCT-21 NCR meeting). This would result in an additional 15 × 3 = 45 lines of text in our minutes. However, I firmly believe that including this level of detail is an important step toward enhancing transparency and accountability in our operations. This is especially crucial given the recent increase in membership dues, which has understandably led to heightened scrutiny of the Union's activities.
Moved by: Dmitry. Seconded by: No-one. Died on the floor without discussion.
Motion 3: Minutes to provide discussions key points and answers and question
Staring from this meeting, be it resolved to make executive minutes more detailed, specifically to include:
For each presentation (Committee Reports & Other Agenda Items), include the summary of key points as well as questions and answers, if there were any.
We know that BoD always provide such details, whereas we (NCR) do not. - Compare attached: 2024-OCT-21 NCR meeting minutes (mentioned above) vs. 2021-12-10 BoD meeting minutes (mentioned below)
Again, I understand, this would create some extra work for secretary, but I would be happy to assist with note-taking if needed.
Or we can even use AI summarization tools, which I could also assist with (I've been testing already some of them for my work at CBSA
Moved by: Dmitry. Seconded by: No-one. Died on the floor without discussion
Motion 4: Recommend new BoD to address past BoD lack of action to help members impacted by Vaccination Mandate
According to the published minutes, during the December 10, 2021 BoD meeting, it was announced that the Union would not file a policy grievance on behalf of members working from home. This decision was reportedly based on some "specific reasons," which were not specified in the meeting minutes. This decision has had severe consequences, including causing traumatic experiences—some as extreme as suicidal thoughts—among the impacted members.
If left unchallenged, such decision raises the possibility of preferential treatment or discriminatory conduct by the Institute against members who hold differing health or religious practices - contrary to the Union's values and Equity statement.
To address this situation, NCR exec board requests that its NCR Directors to ask the newly elected BoD to prioritize for consideration the following two actions, stemming from the resolutions P-18 and P-20 submitted by an NCR member for the 2024 AGM (now referred to the BoD - see attached):
Conduct a national survey on the impact of the vaccination mandate on members.
Establish this issue as a topic on the PIPSC News & Issues website.
Moved by: Dmitry. Seconded by: No-one. Died on the floor without discussion.
What’s next?
Was I disappointed? Yes. Was I surprised? No.
Clearly, the stategies which I was relying on to bring more transparency and member representation, did not work well. So, I realize now that these strategies need to change.
Hence, my focus now will be on documenting the evidence of resistance that I’ve encountered as part of the NCR Executive Board, and continuing gathering information and concerns shared to me by concerned members.
For this purpose, I’ve have now created a new page in the “Action Tracker” on my “Your Voice at PIPSC” portal, which will serve as a repository for evidence and insights from my work as your elected NCR Executive and Candidate for the Union’s Vice-President position.
More details about the content of this page will be shared in future articles. For now, I leave you with the evidence of what happened to my motions at the latest executive meeting: https://en.gorodnichy.ca/action-tracker/motions-for-ncr-board. Go there to learn more:
Related articles:
