National Board of Trustees - Third Verification February 17 to March 3, 2022 (2019-2023 Term)

SPECIAL STATEMENT REGARDING THE COVID 19 PANDEMIC 

During the 3^rd verification of our 2019-2023 mandate, the National Board of Trustees were once again required to do a virtual verification. While attempts were made by the National Union to provide the Board with all of the necessary documentation needed to complete a thorough verification, there were shortcomings. 

Given the fact that there has been a rather large turnover in the administrative staff, particularly in the Finance Department, consistency in how information was provided/reported did differ from previous years. 

As our verification was done virtually, we were forced to utilize the National IT network and to work with documents on a virtual desktop. This network was problematic from day one and caused intermittent connection issues throughout out verification and at times the internet connection failed entirely. This severely limited the amount of work we were able to accomplish. 

It will suffice to say that a virtual verification will never be as thorough and concise as an in-person review of the documents that the National Board of Trustees has access to at the National Office. It is only by being present at the National Office that we can be totally assured of having access to all supporting documents needed. While National Office did provide us with most of the documentation that was requested, the National Board of Trustees did not request all of the documentation that we would have had access to in Ottawa, simply because it wasn’t feasible to have the vast amount of supporting documents scanned and posted to the remote desktop. Having said that, the National Board of Trustees has prepared its report to the best of its ability, and because of the inability to review all of the supporting documentation that is usually present in the expense files at National Office, it has done so with the expectation and assumption that all expense reports were verified by the National Office administrative staff, and that all supporting documentation was placed in the appropriate file at the National Office. 

Lastly, it has been widely stated that, due to the ongoing pandemic and by conducting many of our meetings virtually, that the Union’s costs have dropped considerably. While that is true on some fronts, it has also created some new and substantial costs. When the Union was required to begin to hold meetings online, the technology and knowledge required was somewhat new and many of those who were required to hold meetings at all levels of the Union were ill-equipped and untrained for the new reality. 

A technology firm was hired to assist CUPW at many levels and those costs were substantial. The National Board of Trustees cannot help but feel that the technology companies took advantage of the Covid pandemic by charging astronomical sums to assist us in meeting our requirement by way of holding meetings. 

For instance, the costs associated with the National Board of Trustees increased some 64% over the previous year due to the online hosting needed, while costs attached to the National Human Rights Committee increased 48%. The use of this online hosting mechanism cost CUPW a total of $775,870.00 across all meetings and committees during the 2020-2021 fiscal year.