Virtual Meeting Guide

We continue to use Zoom so that members from all over the South Island, Salt Spring Island, and the Southern Gulf Islands can participate.

If you are new to Zoom or need a refresher on how to use it, check out these videos on joining a meeting and in-meeting navigation options.

Zoom has an entire playlist of useful video tutorials should you want to learn more.

Meeting invitations are email to members seven days in advance. If you are not receiving union emails, get in touch to update your contact information.

A registration link is in the email invite, and you must register to receive your personal meeting link. Register with a personal email address that you check regularly.

Do not use a work email. This creates a privacy concern and is a violation of employer policies. We cannot use work emails to conduct union business.

To fully participate in a meeting, open the meeting link on a personal computer or smart device. This is required if you wish to have voice AND vote where a show of hand is required.

If you phone or dial into the meeting, you have voice but no vote.

We keep a record of meeting attendees to facilitate distribution of electronic ballots for certain voting activities.

When you log in to a meeting with your personal meeting link, you are automatically logged on the meeting attendance record. If you share your meeting link with others, YOU appear multiple times on the attendance record. Please don’t share your personal meeting link. Instead, share the meeting invite with the coworker who did not get the meeting invite. Encourage them to connect with us to update their contact information.

We use the meeting attendance records to issue electronic voter ballots, one ballot per attendee. If someone uses YOUR personal meeting link, they will not be able to receive a ballot and participate in voting.

All CUPE Union Locals use ‘Bourinot's Rules of Order’ to conduct meetings and the meeting format and requirements are laid out in CUPE National Constitution. The Chair, usually the President, presides over the meeting. Other moderators or co-hosts may also help the Chair in keeping track of questions and other activities that may need attention during the meeting.

You are a member of CUPE Local 1978 and are encouraged to participate in meeting discussions. Bring your ideas and help us make sense of your workplace and concerns. Any item not already on the meeting agenda can be presented in the membership meetings as a ‘motion’. The Chair guides the attendees to discuss the motion if needed and then “calls the question” by asking for show of hands in favour or against the motion. This type of voting doesn’t require secret or anonymous voting.

There are three scenarios that required secret and anonymous voting: election of executive officers, strike vote, and ratification vote.

Read below on how these are conducted.

Reminder: If we have to issue and distribute voting ballots, work emails are automatically removed from the distribution list.

Elections must be conducted with secret and anonymous ballot.

We conduct these votes using Simply Voting platform and issue electronic ballots to those who attend the meeting where the nominees were announced. An election is needed only if there are more nominees than open positions.

We use the meeting attendance record to issue ballots. Be sure to register for the meeting, log in with your personal link and do not share your personal link. Those who use your link will not be able to receive their ballots.

For a candidate to be declared elected, they need to get a majority vote of unspoiled ballots. If majority vote is not reached, then a runoff vote is triggered. The Chair will guide the membership through this process.

You may choose to abstain from voting. In this case, your ballot is deemed spoiled and is not counted.

Strike vote and ratification of a new collective agreement also require secret and anonymous voting.

We conduct these votes using Simply Voting platform.

Make sure to attend information sessions before ballots are issued and keep your contact information up to date with the union.

You may choose to abstain from voting. In this case, your ballot is deemed spoiled and is not counted.

Work emails are automatically removed from the ballot distribution list. Provide us with a personal email address that you check regularly

If you wish to have a watch party with coworkers, you may share a monitor and speaker. But remember that everyone must also log into the meeting with their personal meeting link so we can have an accurate meeting attendance record and accurately issue ballots if a secret-anonymous vote is required.