To: Roman Ruegg PSRC Chair
Date: January 4, 2003
Re: TRIUMF P& S AGM and Election Minutes
Minutes of the P&S AGM held on December 12, 2002
Jim Hanlon was asked to speak at the AGM on various topics of interest to the P&S staff.
- Employee Profile
- Salary Budget
- PPR’s
- 5 yr. Plan
- Guideline for promotion
Jim presented overviews of the distribution by age and divisions of the entire TRIUMF staff.
The major point Jim brought up was that TRIUMF needs to plan for the replacement of staff due to retirement. Within the next five-year plan (2010), 27/61 BAE’s will retire along with 13/98 P&S and 24/169 technicians. TRIUMF stands to lose valuable expertise.
The replacement of staff will require a plan to manage the retirement level with training and hiring. A committee could be set up to help analyse the situation. Any plan must also consider the salary budget. The salary budget remains fixed for the duration of the 5 yr. Plan. A number of years ago, Alan Asbury reduced the salary portion (by $5 million) to $20 million of the $40 million annual budget. Currently, TRIUMF is back to $25 million. The next 5 yr. Plan will address the resources necessary to operate ISAC II. However, the problem remains that there is no money in the budget to hire new people for building ISAC II. This problem was presented to ACOT as TRIUMF needs to have salary room early replacement, cost of living increases as well as career progress and merit. TRIUMF needs a good model to base its salary on such as the NRC.
Jim continued with the Performance, Planning and Review. The Director prefers to not tie a bonus to the PPR’s as they should track the career performance and not reward a single year. Therefore, the PPR’s should be reflected in salary increases. Jim will conduct supervisor information sessions to assist supervisors with PPR’s. One area that needs looking at is the “needs improvement” category, which effectively doesn’t exist. Salary increases for 2002 averaged 3% including a 2% across the board scale increase.
The P&S Promotion and Hiring Guidelines were revised and approved by the Board of Management on September 20, 2002. Ten P&S staff were added to replace the Union staff and new categories were added to the “Guidelines” to maintain consistency.
Job “families” are still a long-term goal for HR, but the new 5 yr. Plan has a higher priority
Jim was available for questions.
It was asked what the procedure was for people approaching reclassification. The concern was that the system wasn’t transparent enough and the Division Heads screened the applicants based upon the “case” that could be made in their favour. Jim replied that Josie prepares a list of eligible candidates to the Division Heads. The employees are not notified. It was brought up that the employee needs to know the expectations for reclassification; whether he/she is on track for reclassification, and if not, what can they do about it. The employee should also be made aware if the job horizon does not warrant reclassification.
It was asked who spoke for the Administration Group and Safety Group at Division Head meetings. Shirley and Jim represented the Administration and Lutz represents the Safety Group.
Jim was asked to comment on the “Long Term Sick Leave” policy at TRIUMF. Jim said that TRIUMF has adopted a plan that pays (accrued) sick leave and this allows TRIUMF’s EI premiums to be lower. He said that most long time employees had accrued enough sick-time to cover the 6-month interim when long-term disability kicks in. However, some newer employees haven’t earned enough sick leave to cover the 6 months and have to apply for EI. TRIUMF asked the Board of Management to extend the short–term sick leave policy so all employees would be covered until the long-term policy starts. TRIUMF BoM agreed and is waiting for UBC to authorize this plan with EI.
TRIUMF looked at having its own benefit plan and spent $6000 on a study to analyse the costs. The study revealed that, indeed, TRIUMF could support a group plan and save about 2%. However, TRIUMF would have to manage their own pension plan and in the long run it would benefit TRIUMF to remain linked to UBC. TRIUMF is a joint venture with other universities and there are advantages in being connected to universities rather than being an independent lab under the NRC.
Jim said that management is open to ideas from staff in regards to work sharing or part time employees.
After Jim’s presentation the meeting was called to order.
John Drozdoff motioned to accept the minutes of last year’s AGM, seconded by Glenn Jones.
The motion was carried.
There was no business arising from the minutes of the 2001 AGM.
The PSRC Executive had raised issues during the year.
- Clarification of how funds are distributed for bonus vs. salary increases.
- Staffing shortages
- Long Term Sick Leave
- Job Families
- Reclassification Guidelines
- Christmas closure – no gratis days
- Divisional reorganization
Items 1 to 5 were covered by Jim’s presentation.
Item 6: Alan Shotter has decided that he would not give staff three days gratis during the Christmas closure at this time.
Item 7: There will be some reorganization during the next year to compensate for retirements, but the bulk of changes will likely not occur until approval has been received for the next five-year plan (sometime in 2004?)
For next year, Andy Hurst will organize a sub-committee to look at the staffing problem. We also need to pursue the reclassification procedure and have more general meetings.
The final call was made for nominations for 3 positions on the Executive. Stu Austin was nominated along with Lynn De Caire, Anne Trudel and Joseph Orzechowski. Voting will take place next week. Ballot box will be located in the badge room.