PSAC BC Regional Convention Update
RESCHEDULED PSAC B.C. REGIONAL CONVENTION
On March 15 the PSAC made the difficult decision to suspend all activities that required a large gathering of members. This included the PSAC B.C. Regional Triennial Convention, originally scheduled for May 1-3, 2020.
Subsequently, the PSAC’s National Board of Directors (NBoD) met this past spring to discuss the postponed 2020 regional and Component conventions. Through that discussion, the NBoD decided that all regional and Component conventions would be postponed until 2021 and that the PSAC National Triennial Convention, originally scheduled for 2021, would be postponed until 2022.
For the B.C. Region, the Regional Convention has been rescheduled for May 7-9, 2021. Consequently, all Regional Council terms have been extended by one year with the REVP and B.C. Regional Council members continuing in their respective roles until the rescheduled date of the PSAC B.C. Regional Convention. The REVP and Regional Council members elected at the 2021 PSAC B.C. Regional Convention will then hold office for two years until the next PSAC B.C. Regional Convention, which will take place in 2023.
RESOLUTIONS PERIOD FOR NEW RESOLUTIONS
With the rescheduled PSAC B.C. Regional Convention, there will be a new resolutions submission period, which will allow submitting bodies the opportunity to submit new resolutions for their respective regional convention. However, the resolutions must be entirely new. For greater clarity, a new resolution:
a. Cannot call for the same action or outcome as resolutions submitted previously.
b. Cannot resubmit a resolution that had previously been determined to be out of order, in whole or in part, by the PSAC National President.
c. Cannot resubmit a late resolution from the 2020 Regional Conventions.
d. Cannot resubmit a resolution that had previously been rejected because the original union body did not have the authority to submit resolutions to a Regional Convention.
It’s expected that the acceptable new resolutions for the PSAC B.C. Regional Convention will address new and/or emerging issues that have occurred or come to light since the original December 31, 2019 resolutions deadline.
Additional detail for the new resolutions submission period will be communicated in the coming weeks. In the interim, we encourage Locals/Branches, DCLs, Area Councils, Regional Committees and other submitting bodies to consider preparing new resolutions that meet the above criteria. Please note – the original resolution format and content requirements for all PSAC conventions remain in effect.
DELEGATE ENTITLEMENT
The delegate entitlement calculation provided to Component National Officers in October 2019 in conformance with Section 16 of the PSAC Constitution remains valid for the rescheduled PSAC B.C. Regional Convention in 2021.
Locals/Branches who have experienced increases or decreases in membership since September 2019 will not see a change to their delegate entitlement; it remains as previously calculated, based on their best month for the period October 2018 to September 2019.
PSAC Regional Committees and PSAC Area Councils who met their Constitutional requirements to qualify for delegate entitlement for the original 2020 PSAC B.C. Regional Convention must maintain their Constitutional requirements for the 2020 calendar year and into 2021 in order to preserve their delegate entitlement for the rescheduled PSAC B.C. Regional Convention in 2021. If a Regional Committee or Area Council did not qualify for delegate entitlement for the original PSAC B.C. Regional Convention and have since met their Constitutional requirements, they remain ineligible to be delegated to the 2021 PSAC B.C. Regional Convention.
Any union body that was not in compliance with the relevant By-Laws and/or the PSAC Constitution when the original calculation of delegate entitlement was done, and has since become in compliance, is not now entitled to be delegated to the 2021 PSAC B.C. Regional Convention.
As the original calculation of delegate entitlement remains in effect, any new Local or DCL that has joined PSAC since September 2019 may attend their respective Regional Convention as an observer.
DELEGATE REGISTRATION
The delegate registration previously completed for the original 2020 PSAC B.C. Regional Convention will be confirmed with the submitting bodies in the coming weeks. Changes in delegate registrations and/or delegate names shall be allowed and such changes shall not be considered as late delegates.
The registration fee paid by, and for, delegates to the original 2020 PSAC B.C. Regional Convention remain valid for the rescheduled 2021 PSAC B.C. Regional Convention. Those delegates who have not yet submitted their $150 registration fee for the PSAC B.C. Regional Convention will be advised of the new submission deadline in the coming weeks.
All delegates to the PSAC B.C. Regional Convention must be members in good standing, elected by the appropriate union body or delegated by virtue of their position (such as members of B.C. Regional Council or as national officers in the B.C. Region). If a delegate is being replaced by a duly elected alternate, minutes of the meeting where this election took place must be provided to the REVP Office by the submitting body.
The elected delegate representing a PSAC Area Council or PSAC Regional Committee shall be confirmed as per this process. A new election is not required if the previously elected delegate or their elected alternate will be attending the 2021 PSAC B.C. Regional Convention. Should neither the elected delegate nor alternate be able to attend the 2021 PSAC B.C. Regional Convention, the Area Council or Regional Committee shall be required to conduct a new election for their delegate and advise the REVP Office in accordance with Regulation 1 of the PSAC B.C. Regional By-Laws and Regulations.
For those union bodies that did not register their full complement of delegates (or any delegate) by the original February 14, 2020 delegate registration deadline, they will be able to utilize their full complement and register their delegate(s) to the 2021 PSAC B.C. Regional Convention, within the reopened delegate registration period (exact dates to be communicated in the coming weeks).
NEW PSAC B.C. CALL OUT TO FOLLOW IN THE COMING WEEKS
Detailed information regarding the rescheduled 2021 PSAC B.C. Regional Convention, including the above-noted items as well as additional items, will be released in the coming weeks through a new official callout notice for the 2021 PSAC B.C. Regional Convention that will be sent to all Locals/Branches, DCLs, Component National Officers, Regional Council, PSAC Area Councils and PSAC Regional Committees in the B.C. Region