TBU ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
AGM SUMMARY
The 2021 TBU AGM took place on Monday, May 3, 2021, via Zoom, with 36 members and 4 guests in attendance. Thank you to all members who participated. The TBU would like to thank Kevin Smith, of the District 7 Office Professionals & Technicians, for chairing our meeting; Karen Wilson, our office manager, for taking the minutes; and Dave Warda and Tracey Marshall for representing provincial office.
Elections: all on-time nominees were acclaimed:
There were 2 from-the-floor nominees for the second District Councillor position:
Constitutional amendments: all resolutions were passed. Once the Constitution has been updated, it will be posted here.
It may interest members to know that a portion of the funds that were budgeted for the AGM will be spent on donations to local food banks. The TBU executive approved a motion on April 26 to donate $200 to each of the food banks in Grey-Bruce, in lieu of purchasing dinner at the AGM.
Elections: all on-time nominees were acclaimed:
- President: Betty-Jo Raddin
- Chief Negotiator: Brian Windross
- Vice-President: Bonnie Cameron
- Secretary-Treasurer: Catherine McLeod
- District Councillors (2 to be elected): Kerrie Lynn Boys
There were 2 from-the-floor nominees for the second District Councillor position:
- Owen Ferguson
- Kathryn Vogan
Constitutional amendments: all resolutions were passed. Once the Constitution has been updated, it will be posted here.
It may interest members to know that a portion of the funds that were budgeted for the AGM will be spent on donations to local food banks. The TBU executive approved a motion on April 26 to donate $200 to each of the food banks in Grey-Bruce, in lieu of purchasing dinner at the AGM.
AGM Door Prize Winners
The following members were the lucky winners in the AGM door prize draw, and have been contacted by email regarding their gift card preference and home mailing address.
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AGM Door Prize Rules
- There are 20 x $25 gift cards to be won.
- Members must be registered in advance to be eligible for the draw, and must be present in the meeting when the draw occurs.
- The spreadsheet of registered members will be numbered sequentially, in the order in which they registered.
- Each member who registers will be entered into the draw only once, i.e. members who register more than once will have the second and subsequent registrations removed from the registration spreadsheet.
- A random number generator will be used to select 20 winning numbers, and the corresponding name on the spreadsheet will be read out.
- Winners will be contacted and given a choice of several gift cards, which will be purchased after the AGM.
- Gift cards will be mailed to the winners’ home addresses.
Tentative Agenda:
- Call to Order
- Welcome
- Indigenous Land Acknowledgement
- Anti-Harassment Statement & Anti-Harassment Officers
- The OSSTF Pledge
- Introduction of Executive and Guests
- Introduction of the Chair
- Adoption of the Agenda
- Reports to be Received at the Call of the Chair
- Adoption of the Previous Minutes
- President’s Remarks
- Greetings from Provincial Office
- Officers' Reports
- Election of Officers
- Motions for Consideration
- Door Prize Draws
- EFG Bursary Draw
- Other Business
- Adjournment
Elections & Nominations
- The following positions will be elected at the AGM:
- President
- Chief Negotiator
- Vice-President
- Secretary-Treasurer*
- District Councillors (2 to be elected)
- *Secretary-Treasurer will be a new position on the TBU Executive for 2021-22, if the motions creating the position are carried at the AGM. The duties of the Secretary-Treasurer will be:
- to keep a record of all meetings in the form of Minutes
- to submit minutes for approval at the next official meeting of the same body
- to submit the minutes, once approved, to the Vice-President for posting on the district website
- to act as the official Treasurer of the Bargaining Unit
- to chair the Finance Committee
- to prepare a draft budget, in consultation with the Finance Committee
- to review the levy for the bargaining unit
- to sit on the Constitution Review Committee
- to sit on the Grievance Appeals Committee
- to work in consultation with the President, Vice-President, Chief Negotiator, and District Councillors, to create, collaborate, and release any advertisements or press releases from the TBU.
- Nominations for all positions, signed** by two members, not including the nominee, must be submitted in writing to our District Office Manager, Karen Wilson, by Monday, April 19, 2021 (via email to osstfdistrict7@gmail.com). All nominations so received will be distributed to all workplaces by Friday, April 23, 2021.
- The nomination form was sent to all members on March 31.
- **To achieve physical distancing, the (personal, non-BWDSB) email addresses of the nominators may be submitted on the nomination form instead of their signatures. In this case, the nominators will be contacted by email to verify the nomination.
- The Chair of the Annual General Meeting will announce the nominees for any given position, along with the two nominators, at the time of the election for that position. If there is but one nominee for a given position, the Chair will declare that nominee acclaimed. If there is more than one nominee, each nominee will be allowed to give a speech of up to three minutes in length, followed by a secret ballot (through the OSSTF online voting portal).
Submitting a Resolution
- Any member of the Teachers’ Bargaining Unit can move or second a motion (but not both).
- Members who have resolutions (i.e. amendments to the TBU Constitution) that they wish debated at the meeting are requested to submit them in writing to Bonnie Cameron, TBU Vice-President (via email to bonnielynncameron@hotmail.com).
- The vote count required to pass resolutions concerning amendments to the Constitution, including its articles, bylaws, procedures, or policies, depends on when they are submitted.
- A motion that amends an Article in the Constitution requires a two-thirds vote of the members qualified to vote, present, and voting, provided that notice of the proposed amendment is given to the Vice-President at least thirty days prior to the general meeting (April 3, 2021). With at least ten days’ notice to the Vice-President (April 23, 2021), but less than thirty days, a three-quarters vote is required. With less than ten days’ notice, a nine-tenths vote is required.
- A motion that amends a Bylaw, Procedure, or Policy in the Constitution requires a majority vote provided that notice of the proposed amendment is given to the Vice-President at least thirty days prior to the general meeting (April 3, 2021). With at least ten days’ notice to the Vice-President (April 23, 2021), but less than thirty days, a two-thirds vote is required. With less than ten days’ notice, a three-quarters vote is required.
- Any other miscellaneous action motion requires a simple majority to pass, regardless of previous notice.
- Members should consult the TBU Constitution for further details.
Platform: Zoom
- It is possible to participate in this meeting using Zoom or via telephone. We prefer that you use Zoom, if at all possible, unless calling in by phone is your only option.
- If you do not have a Zoom account, you must sign up for a FREE account at https://zoom.us in advance. You will have to log into Zoom for security reasons.
- Please make sure that your Zoom username is your full first and last name, not an initial or an alias. When the meeting begins, if we don't recognize your name, we may not let you into the meeting.
- To change your Zoom username, log into Zoom > click your username in the top right corner > click "edit my profile" > make the changes > click OK.
- Please note that for security reasons, you MUST be using the most recent version of the Zoom app.
- If you connect by phone, you will have to vote verbally on every motion; members who participate via Zoom will complete an on-screen poll to vote.
- If you must connect by phone, it is a toll-free call, and you will be calling a Canadian number.
- For security reasons, only those members who have provided their phone number through the registration form will be allowed into the meeting. If we don't recognize your phone number, we may not let you into the meeting.
- Members must register in advance in late April. A link will be sent to all members by email.
- The Zoom invitation, toll-free phone number, and meeting documents will only be emailed to the members who register in advance.
- When you register, you will be required to provide both your email address and your phone number. Please make sure that the phone number you provide in the registration form is the phone number you intend to use to call in to the meeting if necessary.
- Please log in at or before 4:45 pm; the meeting will start at 5:00 pm.
- To log in to the Zoom meeting:
- Log into your Zoom account.
- Go to your email and click the meeting link.
- The Zoom client (app) will open.
- Enter the meeting password (from the emailed Zoom invitation).
- Wait to be admitted to the meeting.
- To join the Zoom meeting by phone:
- Dial the phone number provided via email.
- When prompted, enter the meeting number, and the # key.
- When prompted, enter the password number, and the # key.
- It may take us a while to verify all names with the membership list and admit everyone. Please be patient.
- Please keep your microphone muted unless you are called on by the Chair to speak.
- Please keep your camera off unless you are called on by the Chair to speak, to cut down on video traffic. We could have 300+ members in the meeting. Members with limited connectivity will have difficulty participating if there is too much video traffic.
- Please do not use the chat feature for chatting with friends – we need to use the chat as a way of indicating that you have a question, or wish to participate in debate (see below).
- When the Chair calls on you to speak, you must state your name and school before you begin (ex. “Cameron, OSD, speaking in favour of the motion . . .”).
Reports
- Reports will be emailed in advance to members who register for the AGM.
- The Chair will call on each TBU Officer and ask if s/he would like to speak to his/her written report.
- To ask a question of a report, please type your own name in the chat, and the Chair of the meeting will call on you to speak, in order. (Please don’t type your question into the chat, just your name.)
- The Chair will then call on the officer who submitted the report to answer the question.
Motions
- The Chair will identify the motion (ex. “PROC-01” or “CON-01”).
- The reader will read the question and put the motion on the screen for members to see.
- The Chair will ask for the mover and seconder.
- The mover will identify himself/herself, name the seconder, and speak to the motion.
- Debate will begin. If you wish to contribute to debate, type your name in the chat, as well as one of the following:
- “speaking in favour”
- “speaking against”
- “question to the mover”
- “amendment”
- “call the question”
- “point of order”
- The Chair will call on members to speak in the order in which their names appear (except “point of order,” which can interrupt debate).
- When debate has finished, the Chair will call the question, and members will be asked to vote using the polling feature of Zoom.
- Members who have called in via phone will be asked to vote verbally (i.e. you will have to say “in favour,” “against,” or “abstain”).
- Once everyone has voted, the reader will indicate how many votes were in favour or against, and the Chair will declare the result.
If you have questions about the AGM, please contact Bonnie Cameron, TBU VP, at bonnielynncameron@hotmail.com.