Opening Comments – Bill Ziebart – Once again Bill took this opportunity to thank everyone for their presence today at the meeting and to introduce the opening speaker.

Presidents Message – Isaac Sneath – Currently SAAR is enjoying the benefit of some very excellent committees. These committees have spent considerable energy preparing for and meeting with SGI on behalf of the membership across the province. This year the committees are more prepared and we anticipate an excellent year but patience is necessary if we wish to achieve our goals.

Motion to Adopt Agenda – Motion by Greg Segal, seconded by Katherine Huber, carried.

Motion to Adopt Minutes of prior meeting – Motion by Greg Mario, seconded by Tom Bissonnette, carried.

Old Business Arising from Minutes – None

Reports –

Financial Report – Tom Bissonnette – motion to accept the report as presented Tom Bissonnette, seconded by Joe Schmidt, carried. Bill Ziebart took a moment to acknowledge and thank our corporate sponsors at this time and draw attention to the new signage and tent cards.

Technical Committee Report – Chris Mario – Chris brought to the memberships attention that we can now charge for rust proofing. He encouraged everyone to check out the minutes of the technical committee meetings online on SGI's website. It was during the Aug 28th meeting that this gain was made. Technical studies are being done at claims tech. When they called for frame study participants, within a day, 29 shops had responded. Currently aftermarket parts suppliers do not know if their parts are good or not because SGI hasn't been raising our concerns to the suppliers. It is essential that we let the aftermarket parts suppliers know when one of their parts is substandard. In the refinish area we have finally won the fight to get full refinish on the first panel. This means no spot painting without full refinish time on at least one panel. The concern over SGI's movement towards requiring shops to order aftermarket bumpers instead of OEM if reman was not available was raised. Some shops have been caught with this and are having issues with adjusters changing the rules of the playing field. In a unilateral shift of preference on the part of SGI. This is bad because often aftermarket bumpers do not come primed and this adds an extra step to the refinish process. When a Mitchell representative was questioned as to whether or not the Mitchell System was tossing out the bad parts if they were reported to SGI. He clearly stated that the system is not able to differentiate between a bad part and a good part. If it is available it is populated into the estimate. So every shop gets caught dealing with the same bad aftermarket parts. Repeatedly.

Negotiating Committee – So far the committee has attended the following meetings: Oct 1, 6th, and 20th, 31st. Nov 3, 10th, 25th. Dec 1, 3, 15th. Jan 23rd. Feb 2nd and 3rd. At this time we still have some time on our side. We have made some inroads through waiting. But the gains necessary may take longer than by the end of this month. We voted on a mandate in Davidson and we are going to stick to it for now.

One member asked why the negotiations were dragging on all movement has been towards to goal of the mandate is what he has heard. It has been reported that SGI employees have been going to various shops and discussing the negotiations as if they know the offer and why not agree to it. This is causing some shops to feel left out of the loop and become antsy. It is like SGI is trying to go around convincing some members that any offer less than what is the minimum acceptable increase is actually acceptable. It is felt that SGI’s tactics of going around to shops behind SAAR's back is not an example of bargaining in good faith.

Directors Message – In September Don Ewart and our Committee met with Mr. Cheveldayoff for a briefing. After listening Mr. Cheveldayoff admitted that it sounded like the relationship was broken between SGI & the Industry. Mr. Cheveldayoff asked the committee to meet with SGI’s management to review their concerns.

Warren Michelson, MLA Moose Jaw was the most receptive to the concerns of the industry overall. Warren is a part of a crown committee overseeing SGI. Warren Michelson met with Earl Cameron and SGI, asking pointed questions requiring direct answers. When SGI said that there are many well-run shops that can make a profit in this industry and who have absolutely no issues with SGI. He asked them to name two. And SGI named Regina Auto Body as one of them. Upon arriving at Regina Auto body Warren was filled in with the industry concerns once again. Warren has been a great advocate for us so far.

It was very disturbing for Bill prior to Xmas what with feeling as though the politicians were very slow to respond. Bill currently suggests writing letters to MLA's raising our concerns on an individual level. If enough people rise up they will begin to realize the seriousness of our situation.

C6 Safety Presentation – Andy Naggie – A long time ago Issac Sneath, Chris Mario, Tom Bissonnette, and Lloyd Giles essentially started the organization of C6. It is amazing how far the organization has come since that fledgling inception. The C6 safety association started as a one-man show. Eventually one admin person was added to the team. Now they have four safety representatives. Currently occupational health and safety rates are going down in 2009 from the prior year. Collectively claims experience is decreasing. The collective gross payroll for this industry in the province was 40,000,000 in 2007 and it is now 52,000,000 in 2008. Essentially respecting your staff through the promotion of shop safety assists us in decreasing claims experience and increasing overall employee job satisfaction. Remember to use the C6 safety association for support if you need them, they help with claims admin and other issues. Do check out what resources are available to you and your shop through your association.

SIAST – Kelly Mortinson – Currently SIAST has a list of 20 shops that have a safe shop list. In order to be on the safe shop list you need a safety program. There was a recent donation from GM of a 2006 Pontiac Solstice. Jobbers have supplied paint and materials to get it ready to show at career fairs. The main draw into the auto body industry remains the love of cars.

Skills Canada Competition – Friday April 3 at SIAST Regina Campus – this competition includes both auto body and refinish.

Pre employment Courses Offered –

Group A Mar 9-20th Only 12 Students are registered for Sept intake into Auto body Pre employment Courses.

Group B May 4-15th No students are registered for group B

3rd Year Apprentice May 11-26th

1st Year Apprentice Mar 23- May 1

2nd Year Apprentice May 4- Jun 12th

These numbers indicate a sharp decline in the interest in auto body overall as time progresses.

Apprenticeship update. SIAST is just finishing up a level 3 group. They have a level one group starting soon but they only had 6 students on the list. Bill has been sending out messages to the shops to try to get 10 students. So that the course can run. There is already a level 1 & 2 government incentive grant in place for 1000. But I guess it isn't enough motivation for more students to consider the trade of auto body. SIAST is still having difficulty getting total loss vehicles from SGI. The total loss vehicles are ideal for training.

CARS Council – Survey NATA – All Canadian associations support this survey. Please try to find the time to participate. Provide info to the best of your ability. There are some incentives to help people participate.

Motion to Establish 3 Main Committees - Joe Schmidt, seconded Dale Huber.

Technical Committee – should be expanded to 6 members so that cross training can occur.

Negotiating Committee – should be expanded to at least 4 members.

Membership Committee – Should be established to encourage new membership into the organization.

Announcement – It was decided that the board would stay on for this year. The method of elections in the past was to ask persons right before the meeting. This should be considered ahead of time. In addition it has been decided that the president should stay on for a minimum of a 2-year term. This will allow the Vice President some time for adjustment towards taking on the role of president. The membership gave an approval in principle to maintain the same executive for another year and skip elections for this year. Bill Ziebart requests that any members interesting in participating in any way on the executive please contact him.

Motion to Adjourn – Joe Schmidt, seconded by Don Lepp.

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