INTEGRITY BASED TRANSPARENCY & ACCOUNTABILITY

My leadership was always been value-based, based in service and integrity, not personal gain. 

Financial Transparency and Accountability

• I will lead a fight on your behalf to bring back transparency and accountability and hold those committing misconduct to account. 

• There must be and immediate and thorough financial audit to restore financial accountability and transparency. Audits are not just about finding misconduct. Professional external audits can also lead to recommendations leading to improved accounting and transparency procedures.  

Rules to prevent further financial and harassing Misconduct

• I will work collaboratively with other Local leaders and with CUPE National to ensure training  for financial transparency, anti-bullying, anti-harassment and anti-racism, backed by establishing and enforcing stronger rules such as conflict-of-interest policies and codes of conduct to ensure this misconduct does not happen again. 

• In 2017, I had asked CUPE National for a model Conflict of Interest policy, which I then presented to the Executive of Local 79 in order to prevent Executive and others working in members behalf do not use their role for personal gain for themselves, family or friends. I don't believe this was adopted, it should now be adopted and thoroughly enforced.

There are some other areas where I will lead Local 79 working with other leaders to be more transparent and accountable: 

Members in Good Standing

There need to be a campaign to ensure all members of Local 79 are Members in Good Standing, and Local 79 needs to provide more transparency on this issue so members understand the importance of being in good standing in order to access all the rights of membership. Many other CUPE Locals have communicated a clear history of this issue, and posted clear instructions on their websites. Local 79 can do the same. 

Posting Local 79 Bylaws and Financial By-laws on Members' Portal

Local 79 bylaws, and the CUPE National Constitution contain the values and rules by which Local 79 is  administered, and contain financial matters such as compensation and entitlements to cover out of pocket expenses for leaders and others performing work to provide services on behalf of members. 

Bylaws are also documents to hold leadership accountable.  Local 79 Bylaws and Financial Bylaws should be made available to members by being posted on the Members' Portal as another measure of being transparent and accountable.

Providing Members with Updated Collective Agreements

City of Toronto members have not been provided with updated collective agreements, since the 2012-2015 Collective Agreements, therefore 7 years out of date.  I know from experience that this process can take time, as every word must be proof-read, but we should not be two collective agreements behind.  I commit to working with other others to ensure that we deliver up to date Collective Agreements.