CSSEA NEWS - Community Social Services Employers' … · 2012-09-13 · janitorial services, landscaping services, medical supplies, cell phones, computers, internet services, and

CSSEA NEWSC O M M U N I T Y S O C I A L S E R V I C E S E M P L OY E R S ’ A S S O C I AT I O N

Community Social Services Employers’ Association 800 Two Bentall Centre 555 Burrard Street, Box 232 Vancouver, BC V7X 1M8

TEL 604.687.7220 1.800.377.3340EMAIL [email protected] WEB cssea.bc.ca

Readers receive CSSEA NEWS via email and through our website. If your email address has changed, please notify us at [email protected].

Executive EditorKathie Best

EditorGillian Roberts

Contributing WritersGillian Roberts Lorne RiederOliver Demuth

To contribute suggestions, articles or photos, contact:

Kathie Best604.601.3107 [email protected]

A member newsletter published six times a year

February 2009 Volume 16, Issue 01

DATA: More than a four-letter word?by Gillian Roberts, Communications Consultant

You can be honest. There may be another four-letter word (or two) that comes to mind when you think about the task of 2010 data collection for your agency. I mean, hey, don’t we all have enough to do already? And all that paper and the headache of crunching numbers, asking questions, extracting information from your information systems (or lack thereof). The new year’s about moving forward, right - not rummaging through the past?

Here’s something key to consider when you set out to complete your 2010 Wages & Benefits Survey: you’re genuinely crafting your agency’s future with the information you provide. It’s true. While 100% participation is expected (do beat the long shadow of the dreaded “registered letter” from Lorne), perhaps your motivation will more readily spark when you realize the core value of committing to this opportunity: i.e. the benefits to you come bargaining time cannot be underestimated. With complete, accurate, and unified results, the credibility (read: power) of the bargaining teams is amplified. But the issue is bigger than that: In practical terms, the start of a new PSEC fiscal mandate period in 2010 presents an opportunity to address the challenges faced by agencies with respect to all employee groups in the sector. This means your agency, your people - you.

Call it a little enlightened self-interest.

The reality is this: In recent PSEC fiscal mandate periods, CSSEA has established a reputation for fiscal credibility, and this has delivered positive results. Should that status change, however, due to any shortcomings in this upcoming data collection process, our potential to progress will be genuinely impaired. As Lorne says, “Good preparation doesn’t ensure success, but poor preparation invites failure.” The ones who would suffer most in this failure are real people who need and use the services you are there to provide: the single mothers, children, the elderly, and those with disabilities. The community. Your

employees. We all know how difficult everyone’s job really gets when there is insufficient capacity to accomplish what needs to be done. While data collection may seem like paper-pushing bureaucracy, consider that by changing your mind about it and contributing to its success, you are actually supporting the people in your agency and community directly - by ensuring they don’t get left out in the cold due to insufficient information gathering. Wouldn’t that be the real waste of time?

What’s true: Yes, the data collection survey is complicated and will take time to

continued on page 4

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CSSEA NEWS February 2009

From the CEO

In Centaine Support Services BCLRB No. B118/2008, the HEU applied to certify a bargaining unit at one of Centaine’s residential care facilities. Centaine’s five other facilities were already certified as one bargaining unit by the BCGEU. Centaine objected to the HEU’s application on the basis that it would create a proliferation of bargaining units and cause undue administrative and financial hardship, as well as industrial instability - all in contravention of the LRB’s longstanding presumption against multiple bargaining units.

However, the LRB accepted the HEU’s argument that, because the Community Services Labour Relations Act mandates that employers and unions in the community social services sector be represented by CSSEA and CSSBA

(both solely responsible for col-lective agreement negotiation and administration on their members’ behalf) none of the anticipated problems would arise. This decision was upheld on reconsideration (BCLRB B196/2008).

This decision is controversial insofar as it fails to recognize that, while CSSEA and CSSBA are the sole bargaining agents in the community

social services sector, in reality, most day-to-day collective agreement negotiation and administration is conducted by individual unions. Therefore, a proliferation of bargaining units within an agency does create all the problems to which Centaine objects.

CSSEA is considering further appeal.

Issues in Labour RelationsLRB AppROVES

MuLTIpLE BARGAInInG unITS?

by Oliver Demuth, Human Resources Consultant

WELCOME TO OuR nEWEST MEMBER!

CSSEA welcomes AXIS Family

Resources Ltd of Williams Lake

to the Community Living Services Division

I am pleased to advise that CSSEA has joined the growing number of our members in the Community Living Sector who are part of the Purposeful Purchasing Initiative. The PPI is about disability-missioned organizations in British Columbia recognizing that every dollar spent - if spent with purpose - will advance the economic inclusion of people with disabilities.

Social Service organizations are a vital part of our economy. In fact, Statistics Canada estimates that the non-profit sector’s share of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was higher than both the agriculture and motor vehicle manufacturing industries, and equal to the Canadian hospitality and food services industries. In 2001, the non-profit sector’s GDP amounted to $25.4 billion - 2.5 percent of the overall Canadian economy!

Social Service organizations are consumers: they buy houses, retail space, office space, vehicles,

gasoline, furniture, office supplies, groceries, health care benefits, janitorial services, landscaping services, medical supplies, cell phones, computers, internet services, and much more.

Here in BC, these disability-missioned organizations under-stand both the scarcity and the power of the dollar. As we move forward, we will keep members informed of CSSEA actions arising from our support of this timely concept.

Purposeful Purchasing is an Initiative of accessWORKS, supported by 2010 Legacies Now and The Vancity Community Foundation.

To learn more, please visit: www.accessWORKS.ca.

Buying Into A Good Ideaby Lorne Rieder, CEO

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February 2009 CSSEA NEWS

In profile: ATIRA Women’s Resource Society by Gillian Roberts, Communications Consultant

Bridge Housing & Emergency Shelter for Women, Downtown Eastside

Janice Abbott has a presence. She looks you straight in the eye, she speaks clearly and unapologetically, and she says what she means - and means what she says. It is this clarity, focus, and commitment that

she brings to her work as Executive Director of ATIRA Women’s Resource Society, and she powerfully projects the philosophy of the organization itself: All women are entitled to live free and equal.

And ATIRA walks the talk.

What is ATIRA? This multi-faceted organization has, since March 1983, brought public focus to their anti-violence stance by providing safe housing and services to women (and children) affected by the traumas of violence. They also serve women experiencing other barriers such as substance use, mental illness, and/or the effects of any form of trauma. A Feminist-identified organization, ATIRA takes a very clear, anti-oppression perspective that recognizes, advocates for, and models that all women be entitled to the opportunity of functioning in the “mainstream”. Oppression of a woman in any way - whether it is

sexism, racism, homophobia, abuse, or homelessness - is unacceptable, and ATIRA is actively providing alternatives.

Ms. Abbott is clear about the women who come to ATIRA: “ They are in crisis.” Full stop. Whether a woman accesses ATIRA’s services via a crisis line, a referral by police or another agency, or if she simply walks up and rings the bell at the offices, the all-female organization meets each woman where she is and provides the necessary care and support. Each person at ATIRA is prepared to do whatever it takes, whether it’s providing direct assistance or appropriate referral.

In alignment with their over-arching philosophy, there are no volunteers. ATIRA’s refreshing insight is that women have been expected to volunteer themselves for (far) too long. While they do support practicum students and benefit from the generous help offered by a few elderly angels, ATIRA believes that if work needs to be done, it is their responsibility to raise the funds to pay for those services - and at a living wage for all their employees. How do they do it?

ATIRA represents a model of

enterprise completely dedicated to serving women. In addition to - or more accurately, in service of - the Women’s Resource Society, ATIRA is further comprised of two for-profit businesses. Firstly, ATIRA Property Management (APM): Established in October 2002, its primary mandate is to make “tons of cash” exclusively for the Society. Its secondary goal is to employ people with barriers to employment, in positions such as those at downtown hotels (owned by APM). Net profits for ATIRA Property Management were approximately $250,000 in 2008. A second company, “The Painter

Sisters”, was established in May 2008 to provide regular house painting services to c u s t o m e r s in the Lower M a i n l a n d while offering apprenticeship programs for women to

become skilled and employable in the trade. These enterprises and services offer both a bridge and a possible way home.

ATIRA has offices located at several sites in the Lower Mainland.

Visit: www.atira.bc.ca.

“We open the doors to women and get out of the way. Each woman’s story is her own. We’ll never take credit nor responsibility for anyone’s ‘success’ or ‘failure’ - that is hers to define for herself.”

. Just a few of the programs & services of ATIRA Women’s Resource Society:

* Legal Advocate (Downtown Eastside) * Stopping the Violence Counselor (DT/ES)

* Enterprising Women Making Art (DT/ES) * Maxxine Wright Clinic (Central Surrey)* Koomseh Second-Stage Housing (Newton) with Aboriginal Women’s Outreach* Transition houses for women impacted by violence (see website for locations)

Questions? Contact Janice or Amy (for info on Self-Care Program) at 604.331.1307.

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CSSEA NEWS February 2009

complete. What is also true: CSSEA has worked very hard to create the most streamlined document possible while maintaining the integrity of the information essential to constructing an effective bargaining package. Despite all these realities, the information you provide WILL make a difference. And here’s how:

1. It genuinely supports bargaining: actual costs of proposed changes to the agreement(s) become clear - real costing optimizes results we can all live with.

2. Data collection and the PSEC fiscal mandate are inseparable: once again, we will strive for a mandate that covers all groups

(union, non-union, management and excluded). Sectoral profiles are needed to determine true costs which filter down to the funders to whom your agency applies for service contracts. Remember the tech saying, “garbage in, garbage out”?

You may be thinking “I’m just a small agency, what difference will my information make?” or “I’m a big agency, surely our needs are guaranteed to be covered?” There may have been a time when such thinking did not have consequences, but times have changed. It began during the lead up to the 2006 PSEC fiscal mandate period, and we have been warned that incomplete or

inaccurate data leading to a fiscal mandate shortfall for the 2010 period may result in all CSSEA agencies having to self-fund the difference. Don’t be taken by surprise!

The future is legitimately in your hands, and your opportunity to contribute to the best outcome for your agency (and the whole) is certain with your committed participation in the upcoming data collection process. Doing your part ensures everyone shares the benefits.

The 2010 Wages & Benefits Survey will be sent to all member agencies in mid-February, 2009.

continued from page 1

THIRD pARTY DECISIOnS upDATE

Benefits equivalency – the issue has been concluded, subject to the receipt of final member information from three employers.

Expedited arbitration – a case management meeting was held January 28, 2009.

pacific Coast Community Resources Inc – a case management meeting is set for February 6, 2009.

use of sick leave by part-time employees – an arbitrator is being selected.

Article 24.3 policy grievance – written submissions are to be presented by March 20, 2009.

Job Evaluation (Issue: CSSEA’s position is that it must review and approve new/amended job descriptions) - hearing dates to be set.

2009 AnnuAL GEnERAL MEETInG & FALL COnFEREnCE

AGM - October 20, 2009Fall Conference - October 20-23, 2009

Renaissance Vancouver Hotel Harbourside

This year’s event will have a sustainability

consideration - therefore, to be tree-friendly, all presentation materials will be exclusively

available online before the event. Avoid printing and remember to read ahead!

Important news!

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