2021 MEC Elections

[dacri]

Hi Jeff,

Numbers don’t lie...

Like I said in my previous post.

Fiscal restraint ,accountability and transparency.

Barret’s ego gave me a little insensitive to run for a position..as well with a few of his wisecracks.

“This is a ridiculous conversation. We were elected to run the ship. If the members wanted something different they would have said so. Darren if you feel
Something needs to be different then you should have run for a position and been elected . This is non sense. The mec runs the ship. “

Another one that got under my skin is Pat Hankie being on the books..all the while the members are on food stamps. What’s that costing $$$

Looking forward to a fair democratic election.

Happy New Year,

Darren

[AOke]

Enough about them Darren....what about you?

What exactly do you have to offer the membership aside from anger?

Crickets....

[sshields]

Darren has been very vocal about his lack of answers from the MEC about finances and other matters.

He is asking for my vote, but completely ignores my request for his platform or any semblance of a plan to be “fiscally responsible.” This lack of transparency is exactly what he’s been railing against for months.

I’m asking again for Darren to be given a chance to post his platform, or answer why he is not providing one. The members deserve to know what they’re voting for.

[dacri]

Lack of transparency..

That’s funny

Here’s the plan/platform.

Nothing will be hidden. Nothing covered up.

Accountability to the membership..not the MEC.

Maybe you should also be asking Mark Taylor about his new found interest in our Union finances???


Darren

[XOtte]

A few questions that I have for the future Financial Secretary. I hope they will take the time to answer these.

1. With the funds available to the MEC, how do you plan to use them? Is your plan to invest none, some or majority of the funds and if so how would you go about it, in as much as the involvement of the Local and what types of investments would you consider?

2. What qualifications/experience do you have for this position and should you have none what mitigating strategies do you have planned for to overcome this so that we may be assured our funds are in safe hands and properly accounted for.

3. What will your strategy be for cost incurred while FCM’s are performing Local related work. For clarification I am referring to travel, meals, lodging. What if the per diem isn’t enough? How about travel cost, will there be a limit, ie tickets.

4. Are planning to deploy? And if you do what are your strategies to continue performing your duties while away from Canada?

5. Will you use PMTG days while performing your duties? If so how would you allocate them during the month? Would you preassign them for the next month? How much work during a single day warrants a PMTG day for you?

I look forward to your replies.

Regards,

X

[dacri]

Financial Secretary Candidates-

-With the funds available to the MEC, how do you plan to use them? Is your plan to invest none, some or majority of the funds and if so how would you go about it, in as much as the involvement of the Local and what types of investments would you consider?


Answer:
That’s probably a better question for our members. Our President, VP control our day to day expenses. It’ll be interesting to see how these funds have been used so far. As for investing it’s probably best to stick conservatively so as to guarantee the availability of funds. A list of possible investments could be tabled going forward. Ie A survey to the membership?


What qualifications/experience do you have for this position and should you have none what mitigating strategies do you have planned for to overcome this so that we may be assured our funds are in safe hands and properly accounted for.

Answer:
I’ve incorporated my fist business at the age of 20. I understand it’s all about the little details..like the amount of money coming in has to be greater than the money going out! Having said that it’s probably best to use a Chartered Accountant. I see this elected position as one oversight and accountability to members. The day to day accounting should be left to a Chartered Accountant or someone with a business degree.

-Are planning to deploy? And if you do what are your strategies to continue performing your duties while away from Canada?

Answer:
I haven’t really thought about it. I don’t think it’s much of an issue considering our situation. I don’t see this as a V shaped recovery. Sadly..I believe it’s going to take years to get back to where we were.


Will you use PMTG days while performing your duties? If so how would you allocate them during the month? Would you preassign them for the next month? How much work during a single day warrants a PMTG day for you?

Answer:
Depending on the workload. 8 hrs work 4 hrs credit??
Great question going forward for the membership!
If a member is needed to be compensated with a PMTG day it should be put into the following month’s bid package. I don’t believe they should be preassigned/placed so as to circumvent our seniority system for payment of work already completed.

-The funds have always been a sensitive issue here at Sunwing with all of the past finance officers under much scrutiny that the funds are administered properly. So, I ask why do you want to place yourselves under that scrutiny? And if elected, what resources would you use to maintain a high level of accountability?

Answer:
Our current President and VP gave me the incentive to run for this position. I intend to provide complete transparency and accountability to the membership.

***A good start will be de-identifying all our Union submitted expenses and forms, posting them up on the 7378 Union website for all our members to see in real time.

Darren

[MBusuttil]

I'm on the way out here Darren and since there's an election at stake I'll offer my PERSONAL thoughts on what you've said:

1) The President and VP don't control the expenses. The MEC does and the buck stops at the Treasurer and the Trustees. You have a vote on the MEC and your opinion on what finances should be spent on matters. The better backed up your opinion, the more persuasive you are and the more effect you have. Your vote is equal in terms of finances and politics of our union.

2) With respect to experience, we do use a chartered accountant for our audits. It may be that the executive one day decides to pass all the actual work over to an accountant. But I could teach anyone how to do the actual "treasuring" job of treasurer very easily (and I will do that for whoever wins the election if they want). Also, UNIFOR offers very good services with constant feedback to bring people up on the learning curve. At the end of the day, it's not actually that hard to track everything... and input the data, you just need to take the diligent time. Get some Bananas... it's monkey work. But it saves our union a fortune because we're not paying someone else to do it.

3) This job can much more easily be done deployed than many other Union jobs especially if the next Treasurer continues with electronic payments and electronic tracking. It's a pain in the ass bringing a North American printer and power converter to Europe (I've done it). If you stay in Canada, you'll be available to help more with grievances, representation and discipline if you have any experience with that sort of thing.

4) Your opinion of PMTG can be widely argued and I don't think I could beat you in a debate on the matter because it's about philosophy. I think all of our members have to eventually ask the question: Is Union work different than flying and is it worth anything to me? If it is different and worth something to the group, then the group definitely wants the Union workers to have the most flexibility. I believe we have to attract and hold the best talent in our committees and Union and that's one of the jobs of an executive member. Balancing the retention of our volunteers is critical and important; about the only thing you can offer is a decent choice of days off and a good meal. If you take that away then you'll be a very busy MEC member with no H&S, Jumpseat, Compliance, Bidding, Benefits, Scheduling, Interline, Training Oversight, Accommodations, FRMS members etc.

5) If you want to de-identify and post all the union expenses go for it. That will keep you very busy. To me, you're not seeing the forest for the trees in my opinion. Your focus is internal. I get that. If we had massive problems you need to fix your own house. You clearly think there are massive problems. I do not. My failure is in not convincing you otherwise.


Ok,

Good luck.
Mike

[DMchugh]

Hello all,

The vote is open today.

The Elections committee has forwarded some questions to the candidates and we are replying now.

Please hold off on voting immediately to give a chance for ALL candidates. You as a membership has the most important job in this local and that’s selecting a MEC. Please take time to hear out the candidates and ask questions.

Dave McHugh
(705)737-7126

[jjagoe]

My apologies for those running for positions. I have a question that I submitted to late to the elections committee.

Has anyone running applied for employment at any other airline(s)?

Cheers

J

[DMchugh]

Nope,

[dacri]

No

[dacri]

Treasury Trustee Committee - Expense Code of Conduct, January 12, 2021


Stop trying to alter the voting process.

This is complete BS Barret..transparency, accountability.

Stop the political nonsense.

All done while the membership is voting in a new MEC!

Dear Candidates,
We apologize for the miscommunication earlier. As stated in our first E-mail detailing the rules of this election, we will not be sending anymore communication between the candidates and the members.
Any further communication can be done via the forum.
We apologize for any inconvenience as we are committed to running a fare and just election.
Regards,
The Election Committee.

Please send this to our current MEC.

Barret didn’t get the memo!

[jbinks]

Darren,

As a treasury trustee I can confirm there was no political intention behind the email. In fact it was written to be as apolitical as possible. The election is one reason it was important for the document to be published. Several members have had questions for the candidates as to their approach to managing union finances. Now, for the first time in our group's history, expense policy is laid out in black and white. Members can ask candidates specific policy questions based on the Expense Code of Conduct and get answers to their questions before voting closes. In my view that is extremely healthy for the democratic process.

There is also the issue that following the election we will have a new MEC and the election of a new Treasury Trustee Committee will follow shortly after. Making sure this guiding document was available to the members prior to that occurring was also important. It ensures the membership now has a document template and policy benchmark they can point to on a go-forward basis. The next MEC and Treasury Trustee Committee can continue to independently build upon the concept of the Expense Code of Conduct even if there are no returning members following the elections who were involved in crafting its development.

I don't see how publishing this document for the members to see prior to casting their vote does anything other than increase financial accountability and transparency. The fact you feel it somehow boosts Barret's chances of being elected tells me you obviously feel the policy benchmarks the current MEC have been using and published in the document will be accepted and supported by the membership and run contrary to your narrative of expenditures gone wild. Interesting own-goal for a candidate to make during an election campaign but you do you.

- Edited to add that no members of the Treasury Trustee Committee are candidates in this election so the communication from the election committee you quoted still stands as valid and true.

[BPritchard]

Good Evening All Members,

This statement:
Dear Candidates,
We apologize for the miscommunication earlier. As stated in our first E-mail detailing the rules of this election, we will not be sending anymore communication between the candidates and the members.
Any further communication can be done via the forum.
We apologize for any inconvenience as we are committed to running a fare and just election.
Regards,
The Election Committee.
==============================================================================

Was sent out by the Elections Committee with NO input, influence, or communication from Barrett as implied.(And for those who wish to make further assumptions, there was no influence by any of the candidates in this matter)

The original email they(the Candidates) received earlier today from the Elections Committee was informing them that they were going to have another opportunity to submit further information to the pilot group, via the Elections Committee link. At the time, it was felt to be an acceptable opportunity for further communication.
However, one of the candidates submitted a formal objection to this action, citing the procedures that we, the Elections Committee had put forth at the commencement of this process.
As a result, the Elections Committee decided to retract the offer and strictly adhere to the the guidelines originally put forth to the Candidates.

The Elections Committee

[jjagoe]

What if people don’t visit the forum?

J