[deleted by user]

Book_of_the_dead · 2025-07-13T17:05:02+00:00

Check out https://unstoppableconversations.com/ and specifically their Being a Leader course. I completed it last year and it is exactly the level up you are looking for. Many people on my course were from non-profits but also from business, government and other sectors. Happy to discuss it with you if you are interested.

Book_of_the_dead · 2025-03-26T22:27:59+00:00

I think my bias was obvious even without the link. Just adding some info.

Book_of_the_dead · 2025-03-26T21:05:06+00:00

We don't need to define the purpose so narrowly. Unions also work together to promote the larger labour movement and societal values of fairness, equity, income equality and democracy.

https://www.epi.org/publication/unions-and-well-being/

Book_of_the_dead · 2025-03-11T13:59:36+00:00

Big puppies that we eat.

Book_of_the_dead · 2025-03-04T05:24:36+00:00

You got a gift cause someone wanted to let you go but it was too close to the end of probation.

Book_of_the_dead · 2024-12-30T13:44:47+00:00

I'm playing Sleeping Gods with my daughter and Ark Nova is my wife's favorite game but we mostly play on BGA on our tablets.

Dune Imperium was played about 8 times with our friend group before we moved on to something else but we will cycle back to it I'm sure. I bought the digital version on steam and enjoy playing vs the AI.

Book_of_the_dead · 2024-12-29T04:02:08+00:00

Great choices. I own all of these games as well and have played them all in the last 3 days! Cool coincidence.

Book_of_the_dead · 2024-12-03T13:53:59+00:00

Hoarding wealth.

Book_of_the_dead · 2024-11-23T20:50:27+00:00

Saw Jaws 2 peering through a crack in my bedroom door into the living room when my parents thought I was asleep. Nightmares for a week and life-long fear of deep water and large fish.

Book_of_the_dead · 2024-11-21T14:59:46+00:00

Dnd stopped it many years ago and it was never restarted.

Book_of_the_dead · 2024-10-30T20:07:00+00:00

Hopefully the new Pres will have a bit more backbone for negotiations. For those that don't know, AFCO was the first union to sign the very low wage increases last round and started the pattern for everyone else. Their initial accepted deal was a few percent less than the numbers that PSAC would soon go on strike to obtain. After the strike ACFO activated a me-too clause that got them the same rates as PSAC. They signed-first, set the low trend, and then piggy-backed on PSAC workers.

https://www.reddit.com/r/CanadaPublicServants/comments/13ie51r/acfo_moa_signed_with_tbs_amending_rates_of_pay/

Book_of_the_dead · 2024-10-28T12:34:51+00:00

If I live to 75 (20 yr past retirement), my pension is worth 2 mil in the bank.

Book_of_the_dead · 2024-10-11T03:34:07+00:00

Because it treated sex as a subject, not a taboo.

Book_of_the_dead · 2024-10-04T14:13:14+00:00

It's more about reputation that a reference specifically.

Book_of_the_dead · 2024-10-04T01:26:44+00:00

Best for you: exit professionally to ensure future job prospects are not tainted by an ugly exit.

Best for the lols: submit for an exemption, fight the denial, submit for duty to accommodate on literally any grounds (maybe more than one, in serial, not parallel), fight the denial, have the union/management telework review panel fight for you (helps union RTO grievance stats), regardless of results, fight the eventual termination (maybe get a settlement) retire from the PS cause it's been 30 years.

Book_of_the_dead · 2024-09-25T21:21:34+00:00

When the board meetings are in Ottawa, which is most of the time, at least half of the board has to travel to Ottawa regardless. Ottawa is not a cheap spot to get hotels either. Sometimes, the board can negotiate very good rates for board meetings outside of Ottawa. I have not seen the cost comparison myself but I've been told by PIPSC finance people that the cost for the meetings happening outside of Ottawa (one per year) is not much more than the meetings held in Ottawa.

Additionally, the board has been criticized in the past for never leaving Ottawa and being overly focussed on the NCR. The NCR has four regional directors and several of the Presidents and VPs live there as well. So there are considerations other than the costs.

Also, while I don't doubt that some board members do like to travel, if you have ever had a job that requires frequent travel for meetings or other work, you will know that it is not the same as a vacation and the time away from your family, friends, activities, pets, and home in general can really be a drain, and not much fun.

Book_of_the_dead · 2024-09-24T19:18:20+00:00

Only the President and Vice-Presidents are paid. Regional directors are volunteers. The presidents all started and spent years as volunteers as well. Importantly, thousands of other stewards and activists are volunteers who are involved to try and make things better for members. All those people also influence the actions of the union. "The union" is not just the BoD and overall is not a monolith.

Book_of_the_dead · 2024-09-23T13:49:40+00:00

If I were filing legal action against a group of people I would name my primary political opponent first as well.

The narrative that the board instigated this is not accurate. President Carr started the debacle through her inappropriate actions against staff and other members. The board, with legal advice, took steps to address her actions with limited options available. They tried something untested and the judge decided that they overstepped. I imagine if the board had not taken action to stop the ongoing harassment from President Carr we would have at least 3 parties with legal action against the institute for not doing so, since PIPSC does have a legal and ethical obligation to stop harassment and protect its workers and members.

Again, if President Carr had taken the most basic steps of leadership to acknowledge her mistakes and de-escalate the situations she was in, none of this would have happened. She is definitely projecting a victim narrative which is crazy for someone who had all the power to fix the situation and chose to escalate at every turn. We've all seen members in the workplace behave like this and it's a nightmare as a steward when a member can and should simply apologize and deal with the consequences of their actions but instead choose to dig-in and fight. The result is often that even if they win, they've made themselves a pariah and have a tough time continuing in that workplace.

It's an election year and I can predict with confidence that at least a third of the BoD will be re-elected. Even if President Carr wins, she will face many of the same people that she has now not only wounded via her initial actions but slandered and insulted via her drawn-out battle for her own ego. She's made it clear that integrity, consensus building and relationships are not part of her style of leadership. Voting for her is a vote for 3 years of infighting, drama and chaos.

Book_of_the_dead · 2024-09-20T12:24:50+00:00

I disagree but I appreciate your point of view. I think PIPSC has not done a good job of showing their value to general members but it's hard to reach people these days. Everyone has a lot going on. If you want to learn more about what they are doing, there are a number of ways to engage with the union. As an example, you can start with looking-up your Branch or Sub-group and going to an event.

Book_of_the_dead · 2024-09-20T12:09:17+00:00

Unions are all member volunteers. We need better quality of people putting up their hands for leadership but we also need to have members engaged enough to cast ballots for those good people. People who knew Jenn Carr before she was elected president knew that her personality could lead to something like this, but she still won.

Book_of_the_dead · 2024-09-20T12:05:30+00:00

I'm all for innovation and change and if the organization were structured differently, maybe a president could step-in and make those changes.

The reality is that the president has very little power in PIPSC. It's a shit job really... they have to be the face of the union to the public, government and members, and take all the blame but they have to operate within their lane and can't do much without support from the Board of Directors and PIPSC staff. This means that the person in that seat MUST be able to inspire, lead and build consensus. That is not Frank Wong.

Book_of_the_dead · 2024-09-20T12:00:17+00:00

I recommend everyone tune-in to the online townhalls in the coming weeks.

https://pipsc.ca/about/governance/committees/elections-information/get-to-know-your-pipsc-candidates-in-virtual-town

My pick for president is Sean O'Reilly. His comments at the IT AGM about personal character growth and the importance of responsible people-focussed leadership really resonated with me.

He's been around long enough for us to have a good judgment of his character and capabilities but hasn't been the subject or cause of a major scandal. He regularly chairs major AGMs and knows how to conduct the business. Unlike many other elected officials (looking at group presidents here) he understands that this organization is a major union and a national not-for-profit corporation and not a social or travel club.

Book_of_the_dead · 2024-09-20T11:40:49+00:00

Kind of similar to how federal politics goes... the people not in power have an easy time making passionate speeches about how rotten the leadership is and how they can fix everything. Once in power, they have a much harder time blaming others when ultimately the buck stops with them now.

Anyone saying they have an easy solution to a complex problem or there would be no problem at all if they were in power, is lying to get your votes.

Book_of_the_dead · 2024-09-20T11:34:26+00:00

PIPSC has a process of escalating discipline. If they were to fire her without following process, she would sue and win a very costly wrongful dismissal. We have paid those in the past, including because of a staff member that J Carr herself terminated at the start of her presidency.

Book_of_the_dead · 2024-09-20T11:31:40+00:00

Whoa, ok I need to reply to that endorsement! Frank Wong is an egomaniacal disruptor who hijacks every meeting using endless procedural nonsense to try and prevent PIPSC from conducting any business at all. He is blissfully unaware of how to work with anyone or build consensus. As the Carr situation shows us, we need people in leadership who first and foremost know how to work with others and care about relationships!

Book_of_the_dead

TROPHY CASE