PIPSC AGM

The PIPSC AGM was held in Ottawa on November 16-17, 2012.  4 CRPEG members were in attendance at the AGM.

CRPEG Members in Attendance At PIPSC Rally On Parliament Hill November 16, 2012 – Left to Right: David Wang, Raghu Rao, Henrik Andersen, and Vince Frisina.

As part of the AGM, a rally was also held at Parliament Hill on November 16.  Speakers were Gary Corbett (PIPSC President), Debi Daviau (PIPSC Vice President), PSAC, CLC, and CAW Union Presidents, a NDP MP and a Liberal MP.  The rally made the press so there was lots of free media attention.

Picture taken at PIPSC Rally on Parliament Hill on November 16, 2012.

Further information on the AGM may be found at the PIPSC website at this link.

PIPSC Elections

The PIPSC elections are now in progress and you might have received mail from PIPSC on how to vote electronically using the ballots. Online voting instructions have been e-mailed to you by PIPSC for your convenience.  Please keep in mind that the deadline for online voting is 5:00 p.m., Wednesday, December 5, 2012.

Should you require any assistance, please contact Tammy Roussel at 1-800-267-0446, ext. 2240 or troussel@pipsc.ca.

It important that CRPEG members actively participate in elections and we maintain a good relationship with PIPSC senior officials. This assists the CRPEG Executive sustaining the exceptional professional support we receive from PIPSC specialists for grievances and negotiations.

Note: Ballot counting process:

Voting is by “Ranked Choice Voting”.  The votes will be counted and if a candidate receives a majority he/she wins. If not, the votes received by the candidate who received the least amount of votes will be eliminated and his/her votes will be re-distributed using the second, third and forth choices going to other candidates still in the race until someone wins a majority.

CRPEG Executive
Working Together For The Public Good
Note:  Link to list of Executive embedded in CRPEG Executive.

Recognition of prior service in Canadian Forces

PIPSC/CRPEG has entered into a memorandum of understanding to recognize prior service in Canadian Forces for vacation purposes.  Refer to myAECL 2012 November 8th Information for Employees on for details on Canadian Forces Recognition of prior service.

CRPEG members with prior service in the Canadian Forces should follow the guidelines in the myAECL announcement and self identify themselves to their HR Administrator.  The vacation entitlement is retroactive to 2012 April 01.

CRPEG Executive
Working Together For The Public Good
Note:  Link to list of Executive embedded in CRPEG Executive.

Career and Professional Development (C&PD)

CRPEG Stewards have been receiving many queries in regards to CRPEG Career & Professional Development (C&PD).

Please refer to the CRPEG bulletin of 2012 April 30th and links to CRPEG Career Professional Development Guidelines, and CRPEG Career Professional Development Presentation on myAECL.

Please note that:

  • CRPEG C&PD subtask .8111 is only for CRPEG members.Non-CRPEG staff should not be charging to this subtask. 
  • CRPEG C&PD subtask .8111 is only for mutually-agreed C&PD.
    Unless there is prior agreement between the CRPEG member and their manager that the training opportunity is C&PD (such as an approved travel authorization form), then travel expenses, conference fees, or time should not be charged to the .8111 subtask.  If there is disagreement between the manager and member on whether or not the training opportunity is C&PD, a CRPEG Steward should be contacted for consultation.  Ultimately the member has the right to refuse a C&PD training opportunity if it is not in their agreed 3-yr plan.
  • C&PD is intended to give CRPEG members the opportunity to attend professional development activities such as conferences, conventions, workshops and courses.
    Attending a working group or steering committee meeting may be considered C&PD for junior member becoming familiar with the technical area.  A senior member attending the same meeting would not be considered C&PD.

Other Examples of training which would not be considered C&PD:

  • Basic MS Office Word, Power Point etc.
  • Group 3 Radiation Protection
  • Emergency Steward/Officer in Charge
  • General and Safety Orientation

Please direct any questions regarding Career and Professional Development to the CRPEG Executive or CRPEG stewards.

CRPEG Executive
Working Together For The Public Good
Note:  Link to list of Executive embedded in CRPEG Executive.

 

Retroactive Pay

Retroactive pay from 2011 July 1st to 2012 Sept 7th will appear on your November 15th pay.  This pay includes retroactivity on base salary, overtime and premiums.  Note that your current salary was paid beginning on 2012 September 8th and was reflected on your September 20th pay. The retroactive pay is shown in two components:

  • “RETRO 2011” for retroactivity from 2011 July 1st to 2011 December 31st; and
  • “RETRO CURYR PEN” for retroactivity from 2012 January 1st to 2012 September 7th.

Please check your pay to verify the retroactivity has been calculated correctly.  Contact a CRPEG Steward if you have concerns about the retroactivity.

CRPEG Executive
Working Together For The Public Good
Note:  Link to list of Executive embedded in CRPEG Executive.

Voluntary Termination Compensation

The official signing of the CRPEG collective agreement occurred on 2012 October 25.

Members should expect to see their statement of entitlement from Human Resources within the next 3 months (by 2013 January 25).  Members have 6 months from the date of official signing (2013 April 25) to decide on which option to exercise.  As a reminder, the three options are as follows:

  1. Take it all now at salary rate as of 2012 June 30.
  2. Take it all at retirement or departure from AECL at the salary rate at time of departure.
  3. Take some now and some later.

If you do nothing, then you are deemed to have chosen option 2.

CRPEG does not provide financial advice to members, nor will CRPEG be sponsoring any financial seminars.

The following information is from Canada Revenue Agency (www.cra.gc.ca):

Retiring Allowances:

There are situations when a person can transfer all or part of a retiring allowance to a registered pension plan (RPP) or a registered retirement savings plan (RRSP). For more information, go to Transfer of a retiring allowance.

Transfer of a retiring allowance Employees with years of service before 1996 may be able to directly transfer all or part of a retiring allowance to a registered pension plan (RPP) or a registered retirement savings plan (RRSP). This part is commonly referred to as the eligible portion or the amount eligible for transfer. A retiring allowance may include an eligible portion and a non-eligible portion.

A retiring allowance may be paid over one or more years. The amounts paid in any particular year may be transferred to an RRSP or an RPP. The amounts transferred cannot exceed the employee’s eligible portion of the retiring allowance minus the eligible portion transferred by you in a prior year.

The amount that is eligible for transfer under section 60(j.1) of the Income Tax Act is limited to:

  • $2,000 for each year or part of a year before 1996 that the employee or former employee worked for you (or a person related to you); plus
  • $1,500 for each year or part of a year before 1989 of that employment in which none of your contributions to the RPP or deferred profit sharing plan (DPSP) were vested in the employee’s name when you paid the retiring allowance. To determine the equivalent number of years of vesting, refer to the terms of the particular plan. The number can be a fraction.

You can only transfer the eligible portion of the retiring allowance under paragraph 60(j.1) of the Act to the employee’s own RRSP or to an RPP under which your employee is the annuitant. The eligible portion cannot be directly transferred to a spousal or common-law partner’s RRSP under paragraph 60(j.1) of the Act. If you transfer the amount to an RPP, you may have to report a pension adjustment (PA). For information, contact your plan administrator.

Your employee may choose not to use all or any portion of the amount eligible for transfer under paragraph 60(j.1) of the Act. If your employee has available RRSP deduction limit, your employee may transfer some or all of the retiring allowance to a spousal or common-law partner RRSP up to his or her RRSP deduction limit.

Your employee may also ask you to transfer some or all of the non-eligible portion of the retiring allowance to his or her RRSP, or to a spousal or common-law partner’s RRSP. The non-eligible portion of a retiring allowance is the amount that exceeds the amount eligible for direct transfer. The part that you transfer cannot be more than the employee’s available RRSP deduction limit for the year.

You do not have to deduct income tax on the amount of eligible retiring allowance that is transferred directly to an employee’s RRSP or to an RPP on behalf of the employee. You also do not have to deduct income tax on any part of the retiring allowance that your employee transfers to a spousal or common-law partner’s RRSP if you have reasonable grounds to believe your employee can deduct the RRSP contribution when filing his or her personal income tax and benefit return. For more information, see the section called “RRSP contributions you withhold from remuneration” in Chapter 5 of Guide T4001, Employers’ Guide – Payroll Deductions and Remittances.

The portion of the retiring allowance paid in each year that is eligible for transfer should be reported in the “Other information” area, using code 66 (code 68 in the case of an Indian). Amounts not eligible for transfer are reported in the “Other information” area using code 67 (code 69 in the case of an Indian). For example, if an employee receives $60,000 payable in instalments of $10,000 over 6 years and has an eligible amount of $40,000, the employee can choose how they want the eligible and non-eligible portions applied to the instalment payments in each year.

CRPEG Executive
Working Together For The Public Good

President Vince Frisina (DN-44946)
Vice President Jonathan Fitzpatrick (DN-44067)
Chief Steward Wade Mayo (DN-43755)
Treasurer Kristine Drew (DN-45252)
Secretary Raghu Rao (DN-44500)
PIPSC Relations Henrik Andersen (DN-44227)
Negotiations Noel Harrison (DN-46529)
Communications Joe Magill (DN-46886)
Special Assignments John Montin (DN-46339)
Member at Large Matt Crowe (DN-43659)
Member at Large William Visneski (DN-46327)
Member at Large David Wang (DN-46590)

CRPEG Stewards:

Trevor Dykman (DN-43110)
Phyllis Heeney (DN-46899)
Pankaj Panchal (DN-46655)
Bill Richmond (DN-43860)
Curtis Russell (DN-46759)
Jonathan Williams (DN-43051)
 Note:  All members of the Executive and Members at Large are also CRPEG Stewards.

CRPEG Members At Large

The CRPEG Executive would like to welcome three new Members at Large.   The Executive appoints Members at Large to participate in Executive meetings and discussions in a non-voting capacity.  This provides members the opportunity to be more engaged in Executive and Steward activities to support the membership.

New Members at Large:

  • Matt Crowe
  • Bill Visneski
  • David Wang

CRPEG Executive
Working Together For The Public Good

President Vince Frisina (DN-44946)
Vice President Jonathan Fitzpatrick (DN-44067)
Chief Steward Wade Mayo (DN-43755)
Treasurer Kristine Drew (DN-45252)
Secretary Raghu Rao (DN-44500)
PIPSC Relations Henrik Andersen (DN-44227)
Negotiations Noel Harrison (DN-46529)
Communications Joe Magill (DN-46886)
Special Assignments John Montin (DN-46339)
Member at Large Matt Crowe (DN-43659)
Member at Large William Visneski (DN-46327)
Member at Large David Wang (DN-46590)

CRPEG Stewards:

Trevor Dykman (DN-43110)
Phyllis Heeney (DN-46899)
Pankaj Panchal (DN-46655)
Bill Richmond (DN-43860)
Curtis Russell (DN-46759)
Jonathan Williams (DN-43051)
 Note:  All members of the Executive and Members at Large are also CRPEG Stewards.