I Hear You!
Your comments and concerns

"Dmitry, I am really afraid of another mandate. Union did not help us at all with  the first one. I doubt they will with the next one, which is likely coming this  winter (Region: NCR, Group: SP)

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"Good luck with this, Dmitry. It is always good to get some new blood in organizations like our union. One thing I found particularly unsettling on a few occasions, when people have tried to file grievance, is that our union contact were actively discouraging people, instead of (imho) supporting them" (CG, Group: RCO) 

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This will be a challenging position where you will have influence over ensuring the views of all PIPSC members are fully represented. You will be a great addition to their team. (AO, Group: SP, CBSA)

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I would like to bring to your attention the very important group of older employees who are very professional, on the other side may require special attention, respect and possibly support. .. The role of NRC is to keep Canadian Research and Engineering at the world level. Many older employees are asked to retire, kind of giving a way to younger generation.  It is probably not a bad overall idea, but should be exercised with care.  ... There is no simple solution, but some optimal ways may be found.  For example, if special funds could be allocated to pay retired personnel for part-time job.  (SS, Group: RCO)

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There is no double bar for research staff any more, free for all! At our time we had to delay applying for it to make sure we have enough publications and credit  to pass it, but now it is automatic, going thru even with no publication. It was not fair to previous people that had to fight for it. It (removal of the double bar) has affected the level of research in a bad way.  (AM, Group: RCO)

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Almost everyone here are term employees, tend to « shut » and not discuss problems or engage, because of fear of losing job. During some large townhalls, employees will rarely ask questions or challenge assumptions made by management. There is also very limited union representation there and when there is, it is not a comfortable discussion that occurs (Anonymous, HC)

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I read through your platform.  It looks good.  I’m very concerned about the vaccine mandates.  Not everyone survived the vaccines.  I had a sister who passed away 4 days after taking the vaccine.  ...  No drugs should be forced upon anyone and the union gave us absolutely no help on this at all...Not only that but now we know they were ineffective at preventing the spread of Covid 19.  People died.  People lost their jobs over this!!  These are dangerous and what the government did was plain irresponsible.  Then they told us we would continue working from home and suddenly they want us back to an office using shared desks, no privacy, no peace, and not even working along side our coworkers. ...  The union really needs to step up to the government and stop this insanity.  I really hope that you can make a difference Dmitry.  Best of luck.   (Anonymous, Group: AFC)

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I was hoping you can shed some light on where things stand with the PIPSC Policy grievance. I have gotten nowhere requesting updates from the President's office ... Still no information on when a decision will be made. As a new member of Executive, do you have any information on this?  I am no longer a PIPSC member as I was forced out of my position [because of mandate] but would like to see this grievance settled. ... this is totally unacceptable. How can we hold the union to account? I am beyond fed up and would like to wash my hands of the whole thing but without a doubt I feel compensation is due.  (NN, Region: NCR)

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Have you seen the Canada Post vs. PSAC judge decision? ( https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/canada-post-wrong-to-suspend-unvaccinated-remote-workers-during-covid-ruling). The judge ruled that mandates for people who worked remotely were unlawful and yet our Union is "recommending against" filing grievances that question the reasonableness of the vaccination mandate. See communications below  (Anonymous, Region: NCR)

"As you know, the Institute made the decision not to challenge the Mandatory Vaccination Policy from the onset, but filed a policy grievance in May 2022 for all members of the Core Public Administration who remained on LWOP beyond April 6, 2022. I ... did not recommend for the Institute to represent you in challenging the Mandatory Vaccination Policy as a whole as this was not in line with the Institute's position. The Institute's position can be found here: https://pipsc.ca/news-issues/information-members-regarding-covid-19-coronavirus/vaccine-mandate-policy-grievance"