Component Trustees' Audit Report – July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2010

– Intro –
Air Canada Component Trustees’ Audit Report
Audit period: July 1^st 2009 – June 30^th 2010
Dear Members,
Ever 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 & Company did the audit and their report will follow this introduction letter.
The other audit is done by Component Trustees.  The role of Component Trustees is to make sure the Component Secretary-Treasurer is complying to the rules and responsibilities set out by the CUPE Constitution, the Airline Division by-laws and the Component by-laws.  To be more specific, the most important duty of any Secretary-Treasurer is to ensure all income owed to the local or component is collected and that the local or component’s funds are properly spent.
This means ensuring that:
∙ No one steals any of the local or component’s money.
∙ Funds are spent the way the members intended.
Everyone who is an Air Canada CUPE member pays union dues.  There are no 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 the year we are auditing, $3.9 million was collected in union dues.  The component accountant divides these funds into three parts.  Each local with more than 2,000 members receives $6 from every member plus $600 every month.  For the smaller locals (Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver) the monthly lump sum is $3,250.  CUPE National receives $18.09 from every member and the remainder stays at the Component.  To illustrate this: if $60 is deducted in union dues from a member, $6 would go to their local, $18,09 would go to CUPE National, and the remainder, approximately $35, would remain at the Component.
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 by-laws and by the will of the membership.
This report is made so all members can know and understand if their dues are properly spent and if any improvements are needed.
We met from June 11^th to the 14^th, and on the 27^th and 28^th of 2012. We noticed some committees were over budget and we investigated on the reasons why.  Some committees went over budget due to unforeseen circumstances, such as Health and Safety, legal fees and arbitration of grievances.  It is difficult to predict how many grievances will be submitted or how many injuries would occur in any given year.  Other committees such as Hotel and Tabulating saw their budgets reduced to $10,000 each (Hotel committee was reduced by $5,000 and the Tabulating committee was reduced by $40,000), but both went over budget by $4,995 and $9,123 respectively.
We believe our union dues have been spent in compliance to constitutional and bylaw rules.
We have made some recommendations which we hope the component officers and the local presidents will consider and adopt.  We hope all Air Canada CUPE members will receive this report.  And, we encourage all local Presidents to invite us to their next local meeting, so we can present our report directly to the members and answer any of their questions.  Thank you.
Yours truly,
 
Evelyn Bell-Bedard
Sal Occhiuzzi
Marc Roumy
Component Trustees
 
Dated: June 28^th, 2012
 
– Report –
 
Air Canada Component Trustees’ Report & Recommendations
Audit Period:  July 1^st 2009 – June 30^th 2010
1)  RESOURCES FOR YUL AND YYC LOCAL:
As part of the 09/10 budget, ACCEX agreed to pay an ‘Interim Local Augmentation’ for YUL and YYC. These locals received $42,000 and $32,000 respectively.
It was unclear to the Trustees when reviewing the minutes of the ACCEX meeting of September ‘09, whether these were a one-time expenditure or a yearly payment.
The Trustees would recommend that any such additions to the budget should clearly state if these are a one-time or recurring items.
 
2)  ATTEMPTED FRAUD:
During this period there was an attempted fraudulent act on the component bank account by outside individuals. Fortunately, we can report that this attempt was stopped at no loss to the component and subsequently, the account numbers were changed.
 
3)  COMPONENT BUILDING MORTGAGE:
At the September ‘09 ACCEX meeting, the secretary-treasurer announced to ACCEX that the component was in the process of paying off the mortgage on the component office building at Belfield Rd. The local presidents did not have prior knowledge of this and thus, ACCEX as a whole, did not approve executing the mortgage discharge.
The Trustees would recommend that the bylaws should reflect that any expenses other than ordinary operating and budgeted expenses, be approved by ACCEX.  Also, Component bylaw 4.9 should include the words ‘purchase’ and ‘disencumber’ (in other words, paying off a mortgage) in regards to any real estate.
Component bylaw 4.9 currently states:
“Title to any real estate of the Component shall be held in trust by all three of the Component President, Component Vice-President and Component Secretary-Treasurer. The right to sell, convey, or encumber any real estate held by the Component shall be ratified by a two-thirds (2/3) majority of all of the members of the ACCEX representing at least half (1/2) of the total membership and shall also be ratified by a Membership Referendum Vote in accordance with Appendix “B” of these Bylaws.”
It is important for the membership to note that all assets belong to CUPE National.
 
4)  SEPARATE FINANCIAL MOTION BOOK:
Currently, all motions which deal with finances are included in the ACCEX meeting minutes.  We recommend that a separate book is to be used so as to list all motions which pertain to the budget and expenses.
 
FINAL COMMENTS:
In concluding this report, we would like to thank ACCEX, CUPE National representatives and all of the staff at Belfield in assisting us with this audit.
We hope every member will take the time to read this report.  We are all available to answer any of your questions or concerns.
We can be contacted by email at contact@accomponent.ca
Yours truly,
 
Evelyn Bell-Bedard
Sal Occhiuzzi
Marc Roumy
 
Component Trustees
 
Dated: June 28^th, 2012