P&S Annual General Meeting
November 26, 2007, 11:00: Main Auditorium
Guest: Nigel Lockyer, Director Stu Austen thanked outgoing PSRC members for their contributions, noting that the year had been a particularly challenging one with various projects competing for the same resources. He briefly touched upon some of the issues routinely dealt with by the PSRC such as compensation and PPR dispute resolutions. He then introduced the Director, Nigel Lockyer, who had earlier agreed to informally address some PSRC concerns.
Nigel began by stating the importance of the new TRIUMF Five Year Plan that is in the final stages of development. He felt it was a mistake to specifically identify salaries as a plan item: any additional money for salaries would have to come from either a simple increase in the amount of money that was available or an increase on the fraction of the money that was normally dedicated to salaries. He felt that the bonus system he favoured was justified and had merits despite the doubts expressed by the membership, many of whom clearly felt that it did not recognize routine advancement by a typical hard-worker.
Nigel noted that there was a great deal he had to learn about the lab and how it operates since 90% of his time is spent dealing with outside organizations. He identified provincial government agencies as being especially critical to TRIUMF’s future at this time. He closed his address by acknowledging that TRIUMF may not prioritize its many different projects clearly enough and that it was frequently difficult to match expenditures in infrastructure with the resources required to properly operate them.
Stu moved on to the regularly scheduled agenda of the meeting calling for a motion to approve the minutes of last year’s AGM. The minutes were adopted by an overwhelming majority of the membership.
Mike Mouat then spoke of the impending abolishment of mandatory retirement. Although legislation had not been tabled yet and nothing had been made official there had been communication with Human Resources about how the change would affect TRIUMF. The way some benefit programs work, such as life insurance, will have to be substantially changed. There will be so many options for potential retirees that there will no longer be any standard process to follow. Phased-in retirements would benefit both TRIUMF and retirees although the PPR process may have to be modified or applied differently to take the inevitable effects of aging into account.
Remy Dawson was nominated for and accepted a PSRC Member-at-Large position, replacing Klaus Reiniger who would not accept a nomination for another term. Stu volunteered to remain in his current position of Chair while the other five Members-at-Large had already agreed to stay on the Committee if required.
The meeting adjourned at 12:30.