Minutes of Meeting Engineering Working Group (EngWG) November 5, 2010 Suite 1511, Delta Hotel, Ottawa

Transcription

1 Minutes of Meeting Engineering Working Group (EngWG) November 5, 2010 Suite 1511, Delta Hotel, Ottawa Present: Mihaela Andronescu (NR), John Arthur (MAGE), Andrzej Banas (NUREG), Kofi (NUREG), Jonathan Fitzpatrick (CRPEG), Kazi Haque (NR), Tim Kirkby (NR), Martin MacKinnon (NR), Randall Ridgway (WPEG) Ahmed Shalabi (NUREG), Sheila MacLean (NB-EN), Daryl Wong (NRC-RO/RCO), called the meeting to order at 9:05 Adoption of modified agenda (with the addition of Professional Engineers Ontario (PEO) Policy Statement): M/S: Kirkby/Haque. Carried The participants introduced themselves and expressed their expectations for the Engineering Working Group (EngWG). They also raised the issues of concern to Public Service Engineers eg, Educational requirements; Bilingual tenders; Ethics and values; Branding (Public Service Engineers); Participation in professional associations; Accreditation of engineers across Canada for Engineers with overseas degrees; Accreditation of technologists across Canada; Limited licence to practice. John discussed his participation in meetings of the Canadian Council of Professionals (CCP). The CCP has 14 associations representing over 50,000 professionals. Approval of October 1, 2009 minutes M/S: Shalabi/MacKinnon. Carried Minutes have been sent to the Institute for posting on the EngWG webpage. Business Arising Participants discussed the follow-up of action items from the October 1, 2009 meeting minutes: New Business Tim explained the origins of the EngWG. Following the 2007 Engineering Sector Council in 2007, the Board accepted the Advisory Council s recommendation to create the EngWG with a 3-year mandate (2009 to 2011)) with Vice President Don Burns as the Engineering Champion. The EngWG was supposed to provide quarterly reports via the Advisory Council to the PIPSC Board of Directors. The EngWG met twice in 2009 (May and October). The EngWG was subsequently inactive with no meeting until the November 5, 2010 meeting. VP Burns met with Tim and Kofi (ex-officio members of EngWG) to discuss revitalization of the EngWG. Since

2 Bill Spruin was no longer a member of the AC, Kofi was tasked to arrange a meeting and issue a call for interest for a new EngWG Chair. John Arthur was selected as the new EngWG Chair. Kazi and Kofi presented the work done so far on the EngWG webpage and asked for suggestions to improve the webpage. ACTION: Populate the EngWG webpage (Haque/). Tim and Andrzej gave updates on the judicial reviews of their respective arbitral awards on membership fees. Treasury Board has abandoned its appeals to the Federal Court of Appeal. The reimbursement of membership fees is a great win for federal public service engineers and a tangible outcome of the activities of the EngWG. Professional designation helps assure the public about the competence and accountability of public service engineers. An unresolved issue for the NR Group is the taxability of the fees reimbursement. There is no consistency in the application: some departments treat reimbursement as taxable; some treat is as non-taxable. PIPSC staff is working with the NR Group to resolve the issue. ACTION: Work with PIPSC staff to resolve issue of taxability (Kirkby). ACTION: Produce an article for Communications on EngWG and reimbursement of membership fees (Arthur/). Kofi gave a preview of the Institute report on Contracting Out. The report deals mostly with IT contracting out. The EngWG will investigate whether an engineering-focused report is viable. The federal governments spent $3.37 billion on Architectural and Engineering Services (and this does not include the engineering-related contracts under Other Professional Services ) since FY John stated that the Manitoba Government is contracting out work that in-house engineers could undertake. Participants reviewed the EngWG mandate. They then discussed the original work plan and the work done so far and the work to be in the last year of the mandate. ACTION: Prepare outline of EngWG report to the AC & Board (Ridgway/Arthur). Ahmed mentioned that the PEO has a public policy initiative. PEO has established the Ontario Centre of Engineering and Public Policy ( The OCEPP s mandate is to enhance the engagement of the engineering profession in the development of public policy to better serve and protect the public interest. It also publishes The Journal of Policy Engagement. The consensus was to leverage the outreach programs of other professional associations in enhancing the visibility of Public Service Engineers. ACTION: To investigate the role of OCEPP and possibility of joint action (Shalabi). Participants also discussed the definition of engineer based on public safety; role of unions in the profession; and the role of advocacy groups such as Engineers Canada. ACTION: Research the definition of engineer in different provinces (Andronescu). ACTION: Investigate the use of engineer in Institute collective agreements ().

3 Tim, who is the President of the NR Group, described his involvement with the Professional Engineers Ontario (PEO). He is chair of a chapter and has met with the CEO of the PEO. He has also attended a dinner meeting with Ontario Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs). Tim is scheduled to meet the CEOs of the PEO and Engineers Canada in the near future. Participants discussed possible topics of discussion eg, Mandate of EngWG; EngWG work plan; How EngWG can work with PEO and Engineers Canada to promote Public Service Engineers. ACTION: Request Engineers Canada to send letter to the Treasury Board similar to the ones sent by the PEO, APEGM and APEGNB (Kirkby). ACTION: Report back to EngWG on meeting with PEO and Engineers Canada (Kirkby/Arthur). The use of or equivalent in job descriptions was discussed briefly. Jonathan indicated that CRPEG has made some progress on the wording of CRPEG job postings as regards minimum educational requirements. ACTION: Coordinate common bargaining issues with other groups (Banas/Fitzpatrick). Kazi also wondered about the different role of the PEO and Ontario Society of Professional Engineers (OSPE). Participants also discussed how we could leverage the government relations program of Engineers Canada: ACTION: Investigate the different roles of PEO and OSPE (Haque). Sheila emphasized the need for public service engineers working for provincial and federal governments to cooperate in order to promote the profession. Manitoba has a structured mentoring program for engineers-in-training. ACTION: Provide more information on mentoring programs (Arthur). Ahmed discussed the critical role of ethics and values in the engineering profession. In particular, the EngWG should reference or link into how a practitioner shall regard the practitioner's duty to public welfare as paramount, as stated by PEO. The EngWG needs to develop a harmonized approach of basic principles, similar to the ethics and values for all levels of government. There was limited discussion on how engineering ethics and values should identify a specific precedence with respect to the engineer's consideration for the public, clients, employers, and the profession. ACTION: To provide feedback on the ethics and values principles to be circulated by Ahmed (All EngWG members). Mihaela noted that federal public service engineers in the Regional Departmental Offices have more limited career opportunities compared to their colleagues in the NCR area. For example at Environment Canada there are no more ENG-05 or ENG-06 new positions in Regions. Also in the Regions the majority of positions are one level below the equivalent positions in NCR and engineering positions is often reclassified into a non-engineering classification (most common in PC positions). Because it is a serious problem, Mihaela

4 suggest that the EngWG take a closer look and do a more detailed analysis to see what the PIPSC can do. Martin mentioned the use of the term eligibility in staffing competitions. It was noted that by strengthening & unifying the definition of what engineering work is throughout the departments may help with this issue. ACTION: Provide more information on the staffing of engineering positions (Andronescu/MacKinnon/Haque). Daryl suggested that the EngWG could leverage the success of the Public Science Campaign (publiscience.ca). Participants discussed the overlap between the roles of the EngWG, Science Advisory Committee (SAC) and the Professional Recognition and Qualifications Committee (PRQC). The PRQC has been tasked with developing linkages with professional associations as part of PIPSC s strategic objectives for ACTION: Investigate potential EngWG linkages with the SAC and the PRQC (Wong) Meeting Dates February 4; May 6; August 12; and October 14. Meeting adjourned at 15:45

5 New Action Items Populate the EngWG webpage Prepare minutes of meeting Work with PIPSC staff to resolve issue of taxability Coordinate common bargaining issues with other groups Produce an article for Communications on EngWG and reimbursement of membership fees Prepare outline of EngWG report to the AC & Board To investigate the role of OCEPP and possibility of joint action Contact engineers in other PIPSC groups (SP, AV, RE and AFS) in order to survey them on the following topics Research the definition of engineer in different province Investigate the use of engineer in Institute collective agreements. Request Engineers Canada to send letter to the Treasury Board similar to the ones sent by the PEO, APEGM and APEGNB Report back to EngWG on meeting with PEO and Engineers Canada Investigate the different roles of PEO and OSPE Provide more information on mentoring programs Provide more information on the staffing of engineering positions Investigate potential EngWG linkages with the SAC and the PRQC To provide feedback on the ethics and values principles to be circulated by Ahmed Organize next EngWG meeting on February 4, 2011 Responsibility Haque/ Kirkby Banas/Fitzpatrick Arthur/ Ridgway/Arthur Shalabi Andronescu Kirkby Kirkby Haque Arthur Andronescu/MacKinnon/Haque Wong All EngWG members Arthur/

6 Old Action Items Status Responsibility Inform Engineers Canada of the EngWG mandate Kirkby/Arthur and arrange a meeting with their officials. Contact engineers in other PIPSC groups (SP, AV RE and AFS) in order to survey them on the following topics Check Canadian Labour Code (CLC) for references Completed Shalabi to public safety and definition of engineer Prepare PowerPoint slide(s) on conceptual roadmap Completed Prepare minutes of meeting Completed Investigate feasibility of EngWG webpage on pipsc.ca Completed Haque Investigate feasibility of EngWG presentation at Institute Annual General Meeting Deferred to 2011 Arthur Contact MPs who are engineers Kirkby Contact PIPSC Legal Services to obtain interpretation of TB Policy on Legal assistance and Indemnification for Public Servants Parked N/A Prepare background document on qualification standard using TB Occupational Qualifications for Engineers as reference Contact TB departments and separate agencies about activities of EngWG Investigate if licensure is required at the municipal government level Contact employer about using Public Service Engineer branding program for recruitment and retention program. Explore the use of events such as the National Engineering Week for visibility purposes Explore the posting of letters from provincial engineering associations on a EngWG webpage on pipsc.ca Post minutes of meeting and EngWG mandate & membership on pipsc.ca Explore a private members bill recognizing role of federal engineers in public health Partly completed Completed Completed Shalabi Arthur/Kirkby Shalabi All All All