MEETING WITH JIM JUDD
November 28, 2002
Merdon Hosking and Greg Gauthier met with Jim Judd, Comptroller General of Canada on November 1, 2002. We were waiting to report on the meeting with the hope that we could also include news on actions that were underway. Unfortunately, there has been no response to our concerns as yet. On November 14th, we wrote again asking to meet to discuss how we can build and advance a new relationship. In particular, we want to discuss a classification review for our group. A research paper is being prepared to layout our concerns. It should be completed by the end of November. This paper will be presented to the Employer with a request for immediate action. We definitely do not want to wait three or four years for Classification Reform. Persuading Treasury Board to fast track our group so that we can provide them with a success story that will help them rollout Classification Reform will be the challenge.
In the November 1st meeting, we discussed the aftermath of collective bargaining and the arbitral award. We gave them a summary of member’s reaction to the award. We discussed the lack of recognition for increased professionalism and complexity of work. We also talked about the misclassification of financial positions. The lack of resources for community development was raised and that there is no capacity to conduct succession planning, demographics profiles or track the professional qualifications of the executives who are the leaders of the community. The need for a strong, vocal champion for the financial management community was pointed out.
We are hoping that our first meeting with the new Comptroller General left him with the impression that our association is trying to be a forward thinking, knowledgeable, flexible, cutting-edge, professional, member-based organization focussed on everyone’s success.
We will strive to get a commitment from the Comptroller General to collaborate on finding solutions to the problems reported. We have put our best foot forward. Will they?