EDMONTON AREA COUNCIL
MEETING
JULY 22, 2020 @ 5:30 PM
In Attendance:
Darlene Lewis A/Chair
Sabino Spagnudo Treasurer
Angela
Heather Rawlins
Corie McGaughey
Dragana Ristivojevic PRC Edmonton Area Council Rep
Oneil Carlier PSAC Rep
Regrets:
Freada Vamvounis-Clarke Chair
Shawn Follett
Minute Taker: Dragana Ristivojevich
1. Call to Order: Meeting was called to order by Darlene at 5:30 pm through skype and/conference call. A warm welcome was extended to all in attendance.
2. Approval of Agenda: Agenda was approved by consensus.
3. Adoption of Previous Meeting Minutes: The March 04, 2020 minutes approved by consensus with spelling corrections noted: RISTIVOJEVICH; a comma separating the names of McGaughey and Shawn as well as adding an “r” to Carlier.
4. Reports: Currently, there is nothing to report. The bank authority signing has not been done. The bank has requested that changes need to be made to the minutes with the newly elected executive. This cannot be done as these minutes were passed. The bank will accept an addendum to the minutes where all previous executive who held signing authority acknowledging authorization to the new executive. Darlene will arrange to set up an appointment on Thursday July 23, 2020 at 3:00 pm for both her and Sabino to obtain signing authority. This committee will have no access to the bank account until the bank has three signatures on file. Freada will need to make arrangements on her own.
5. Old Business: Darlene questioned whether the package was prepared and sent to Marianne’s office. Dragana did not receive the package to review. A letter was sent to Marianne stating that they had no access to the bank. Darlene is concerned that this committee will be considered “inactive” or “not in good standing”.
6. New Business:
a) Defend Our Rights Political Action on This: Sabino felt that the committee should consider Bill 32 in Alberta to be very important. This Bill proposes changes to employment standards, affects labor unions, affects picketing, and strikes. It is basically an attack on worker’s rights where it erodes the foundation that was built for us and future generations.
Sabino volunteered to draft a letter, for this committee to review and will be forwarded to Marianne for approval. Also, to include a petition.
Dragana suggested that we draft a summary list of how this Bill will negatively affect us all.This list will be forwarded to our membership.We could share this summary list with the Calgary office as well.
Oneil wants us to be aware that there are more Bills that are anti-worker related for example:Bill 1- Infrastructure.
b) Labor Day Weekend: Darlene reached out to Perry Garvin from United Way. Currently, the Edmonton District Labour Council is still working on a list. Once it is completed, Perry will share this information with us.
c) Food Bank Drive: Currently the food bank has a shortage. We could possibly partner up with 6:30 CHED who would assist us in advertising this event by holding this event in their parking lot for donations of non-perishable foods. We have a truck available to deliver the donated food to the Food Bank between Monday through Friday. The Food Bank is closed on weekends. A poster could be drafted and circulated among our membership.
O’Neil is cautious about the COVID-19 virus.Dragana suggested the food donations to be removed from the trunk of the vehicle by one of us and we would place the food donation on a pallet.We would all be wearing masks, face shields and gloves.
Angela suggested that we could piggy-back on other organizations.Angela volunteered to contact the Bissell Centre to see what they are planning and will also google events that are planned in the community.
7. Roundtable:
- Sabino: Will draft a letter re: Bill 32 and would like to see a subcommittee formed
- Corie: Nothing to add
- Angela: Nothing to add
- Heather: She is a new REVP
- Dragana: Nothing to add.
- Oneil: Thanked Darlene for setting up the meeting. Also thanked the new members for attending the meeting. The members will need to vote electronically.
- Darlene: Thanked everyone for attending and looks forward to everyone’s participation in this committee.
8. Next Meeting Date: To be announced at a later date.
9. Meeting Adjourned: Meeting adjourned at 6:30 pm