In conjunction with the Secretary-Treasurer report, this report is to create an awareness of the Component’s finances, so that all members can know and understand how their dues are spent and if any improvements could be made.
The last report we completed was for the fiscal year of 2017. We were requested by Component to complete a 2022 trustee audit, in order for ACCEX to receive funds from CUPE National for a cost-sharing campaign. For the next audit, we will resume auditing chronologically, starting with the fiscal year of 2018.
Every year, two audits must be conducted on the Component’s financial books. One audit is done by professional auditors, who ensure accounting procedures are properly followed. For this period, chartered accountants Resnick Partnership LLP were the auditors (Please see attached Independent Auditors Report).
The other audit, done by Component Trustees, is to make sure the Secretary-Treasurer complies with the rules and responsibilities set out by the CUPE Constitution, the Airline Division Bylaws and the Component Bylaws. To be more specific, the most important duty of any Secretary-Treasurer is to ensure all income owed to the Local(s) or Component is collected and properly spent.
This means ensuring that:
∙ Funds are spent the way the members and the bylaws intended.
∙ Financial mismanagement can be detected and reported.
Everyone who is an Air Canada Mainline and Air Canada Rouge CUPE member pays union dues without exceptions.
Air Canada deducts our union dues (1.5% of gross income) every month from our pay, and hands over the funds to the Component. In 2022, the year we are auditing, $4,671,063 million was collected in union dues. The Component Finance Administrator, divides these funds into three parts. Each Local with more than 2,000 members receives $8.00 for every member plus $600.00 base amount every month. The smaller Locals, those with less than 2,000 members, receive $8.00 for every member plus $3,250.00 base amount every month. The Component shall also remit an additional $3,000 a month for Locals with less than 500 members, as per the Component Bylaws: Section (8.4.1).
CUPE National receives $18.09 from every member and the remainder stays at the Component. To illustrate this: if $60.00 is deducted in union dues from a member, $8.00 would go to their Local, $18.09625 would go to CUPE National, and the remainder, approximately $33.91, stays at Component.
The Component also sends $0.10 cents for every member to the Airline Division of CUPE.
Our role as Trustees is to make sure that each Local and CUPE National gets their portion of funds, and the dues used by the Component are spent by the guiding rules of the CUPE Constitution, the Component Bylaws, Component Expense Policy and by you, the membership.
We met January 9th to the 11th, 2024, to complete this audit.
To avoid confusion and provide greater clarity, we will state names when needed. For the year we are auditing, Alex Habib was the Component Secretary-Treasurer.
As in every report, we have made recommendations which we hope ACCEX (Air Canada Component Executive) will consider and adopt. We would like to mention that QuickBooks was the accounting software used by the Component Secretary-Treasurer.
Both Air Canada Mainline and Air Canada Rouge members will receive this report and we hope that all members will take some time to read it. We are available to answer any questions regarding this report at any ACCEX or local meeting, if invited as Component Trustees.
Regards,
Ana Selke Benjamin Paneghel Marc Roumy
ana@accomponent.ca benjamin@acccomponent.ca marc@accomponent.ca
Click HERE to view the Trustees’ Report.
Click HERE to view the Secretary-Treasurer’s Response.