Young Workers Caucus - Terms of Reference

Purpose

To outline the terms of reference for AMAPCEO’s Young Workers Caucus.

Policy

Caucus Purpose

The Young Workers Caucus will work to promote the inclusion and participation of young workers in AMAPCEO through advocacy, awareness raising and leadership development within the union. The Caucus is subject to oversight by the Board of Directors to help build more engaged, knowledgeable, skilled and capable young members, activists, and governors.

Caucus Membership

• The Caucus will consist of a minimum of five (5) signed members in good standing from AMAPCEO’s membership.
• Members will self-identify as a young worker, provided they are thirty-five (35) years or younger at the time of joining the Caucus.
• Membership will be reviewed on an ongoing basis, and those who do not meet the age requirement shall be removed from the Caucus, and will be informed of their removal.
• The Board will appoint from among the Caucus general membership, a Young Workers' Caucus Chair. The Chair must be thirty-five (35) years or younger at the time of their appointment, and must be a member of the Caucus prior to their official appointment.
• The Chair and Vice-Chair of the Caucus shall serve a 2-year term, at the end of which a nominations process will be put into place to fill the roles for a new 2-year term cycle. Should the Chair or the Vice-Chair resign before their term is up, a nominations process will be undergone to fill the role(s) for the remainder of the current term.
• The Board will appoint, from among its members, up to two liaisons who will be required to attend all Caucus meetings.
• The Chief Operating Officer will assign staff to provide support to the caucus.
• Board liaisons and staff are not restricted by requirement to be thirty-five (35) years or younger.

Specific Role of the Caucus

The Caucus will:

• Act as a forum for young workers in AMAPCEO to provide non-binding advice to the Board of Directors on opportunities and activities to increase representation of young workers and to foster equity among members
• Identify issues, barriers and perspectives affecting young workers and that can be addressed by the union through policies, practices, actions, and campaigns.
• Recommend and advise AMAPCEO on the development of educational materials and inclusion of young worker perspectives into educational materials where relevant and applicable.
• Network and partner with other unions, organizations and like-minded groups and AMAPCEO committees on young worker related issues.
• Be based on a collective internal decision-making process as decided by Caucus members.
• Appoint their Chair or Vice-Chair as representative to the Activists & Leaders (ALF) Forum.
• Be represented at the Delegates Conference by either their Chair or Vice-Chair. Should neither the Chair nor Vice-Chair be an elected Delegate, one shall be appointed as a Delegate-at-Large.
• Ensure representation at the union’s Equity Forum.

Caucus Operation

In addition to adhering to the Board Committee Operation and Board Committee Principles Policies, the Young Workers Caucus shall:

• report regularly to the Board of Directors on their goals and objectives, work plan and budget expenditures.
• prepare an annual work plan and a proposed budget of expenditures for Board approval.
• commence its activities only after its annual goals and objectives, and work plan have been approved by the Board of Directors, and its budget expenditures have been incorporated into the AMAPCEO’s approved annual budget.
• be permitted one (1) in-person meeting per year and may meet up to four (4) times per year by teleconference or virtually. Teleconferences or virtual meetings should be normally less than one-half day.

Caucus Leadership Leaves - Policy

• AMAPCEO-paid leave is provided to the Caucus Chair and Vice-Chair to attend the annual Equity committee Equity Forum; to the Caucus Chair or Vice-Chair to attend ALF meetings; and to the Caucus Chair or Vice-Chair to attend Delegates’ Conferences.
• Members granted this leave continue to receive their normal salary from the Employer with the only difference being that the member’s time is required to be re-paid to the Employer by AMAPCEO.
• Leaves of any kind, are typically apportioned in half or full day segments.
• The Caucus Chair and Vice-Chair can also access additional discretionary union-leave to conduct Caucus business. Union-paid leave is available to the Caucus Chair and Vice-Chair as described below.
  • A total of a half-day for either the Chair and Vice-Chair of union-paid leave per calendar month is available, for a total of six (6) leave days a calendar year to facilitate work within the Caucus, such as planning and member engagement.
  • An additional half-day of leave is available for both the Chair and Vice-Chair to meet with the Caucus designated AMAPCEO-staff, for the purpose of undertaking planning for the year.
  • Unused leave in a given month can be accumulated to be used at another time within a calendar year, however, this is not encouraged and approval to access leave accumulated may require additional rationale.
• Paid leave is typically not provided for members to attend meetings of the Young Workers Caucus or meetings of the Executive of the Caucus, should the Caucus have an Executive.

Caucus Leadership Leaves – Process

• Leave is automatically processed for the Equity Forum and major Conferences (Annual Delegates, Activists & Leaders, etc.).
• In this instance, leave is approved internally by the Director of Finance & Administration and externally by the President/CEO/Designee.
• Leave is not automatically processed for Caucus related duties. Such leave is meant for the strict purposes of Caucus planning and member engagement. As such, it necessarily needs to be flexible and on an as required basis – monthly.
• The Caucus Chair and Vice-Chair may utilize this leave, subject to the following approvals.
  • Leave requests must be initiated by the Caucus Chair, on behalf of themselves or their Caucus Vice-Chair.
  • Leaves must be forwarded to the attention of the President/CEO (or their designee), Director of Finance & Administration and the Team Lead for Member Engagement (or their designee). Leaves should be forwarded with 10 days’ notice give the collective agreement(s) mandatory 5-day notice period to the Employer.
  • Union-paid leave is approved by the President/CEO/Designee with internal recordkeeping carried out by the Director of Finance & Administration/Designee.
  • The President/CEO/Designee will provide a written approval to the Caucus Chair with a carbon copy to the Director of Finance & Administration and the Team Lead for Member Engagement or their Designees.
  • The Caucus Chair is responsible for conveying approvals to their Vice-Chair.
  • The President/CEO will provide Caucus Chairs with a template Approval Letter for their use and/or distribution to their Vice-Chair – both of whom will subsequently file this letter with their reporting Manager.
  • Dependent on local relationships the filing of a letter may or may not be necessary after the initial leave circumstance.
• Reconciliation occurs between the Director of Finance & Administration and the Chair/Vice-Chair of the Caucus on an as required basis.