Public Service Alliance of Canada BC

(VANCOUVER) The federal government needs to address the fish habitat protection crisis, demonstrate the will to protect the environment and allow public service professionals to do their jobs.

The funding and management crisis currently paralyzing the Department of Fisheries and Oceans was detailed at a joint press conference held today by the David Suzuki Foundation and the federal Union of Environment Workers.

“We have dedicated members who are being prevented from doing their job of protecting and enhancing Canada’s fish stocks and environment,” said Nick Humphreys, Regional Vice-President, BC/Yukon, Union of Environment Workers.

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Women’s History Month represents an opportunity to highlight women’s contributions and to recognize the achievements of diverse women as a vital part of our Canadian history. This year’s theme is “Aboriginal Women”. A series of fact sheets highlighting the realities of Aboriginal women as well as their contributions to their communities and families and the unique challenges they face is being produced by the Women’s program.
Visit the national website for:

• Factsheet 1: Violence Against Aboriginal Women: the fight-back
• Factsheet 2: Aboriginal Women: a reality check - Part 1
• Factsheet 3: Aboriginal Women: a reality check - Part 2

“Medicare Works”, a national campaign tour designed to defend and strengthen the public health care system, was officially launched on October 18 by the Canadian Health Coalition (CHC) and the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions. The campaign features 32 town hall meetings taking place across the country between late October and early December.

At the meetings, health analysts will expose the commercial interests behind the latest attacks on Medicare and Canadians will have an opportunity to discuss better ways to strengthen the system.A week of action is being held from November 13 to 18 when Canadians will be encouraged to pressure their politicians. “The public system is under renewed attack, with the federal government not enforcing the Canada Health Act and some provinces aggressively pushing for-profit, two-tier health services,” says CHC chair Kathleen Connors.

PSAC member are encouraged to attend the town hall meeting being held in their area and to participate in the week-long lobby of politicians. Call or meet with your MP and show your support for public health care.

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Northwest BC Area Council October 21, 2006 meeting in Prince Rupert

Attendance:

• Penny Dickson (CEIU Local 20926)
• Benilde Gomes (USGE Local 20071)
• Phyllis Bortignon (USGE Local 20071)
• Michael Ballard (UEW)
• Gabe McLean (UCTE Local 20215)
• Sean McGovern (CEUDA Local 20042)

Call to Order: Benilde called meeting to order at 7:38 p.m.

Continue reading below, or download the NorthWest Area Council meeting minutes, October 21 2006 (pdf)

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“Stop the Political Killings in the Philippines!”

Wednesday, November 1, 2006

• Gather at 6:00 PM
• meet at Main Street and E18th Avenue (Vancouver)
• march/procession along Main St.
• ending with a cultural evening at Soma Cafe (2528 Main Street) at 7:30 PM

On November 1, All Soul’s Day, people all over the Philippines congregate at the burial sites of their ancestors to pay respect to their departed family and friends.

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Via PSAC BC Human Rights Committee

This is the office building I work in. It would be good if the Union (PSAC) or union’s EO committee could issue a statement in support of the demand for name change. If not, then UEW. - Anne Marie Sleeman, UEW 20729

Japanese-Canadians want MP’s named removed from building: Accuse Howard Green of racist remarks in ’30s, ’40s

Japanese-Canadians are demanding Ottawa change the name of a building it named after a former Conservative MP known for his racist remarks in the 1930s and ’40s.

They say that honouring Howard Green is wrong and that Ottawa should change the building’s name.
“I was pretty shocked myself,” said Prof. Roy Miki at Simon Fraser University and author of Redress: Inside the Japanese Canadian Call for Justice.

“From a Japanese-Canadian point of view, he was one of the most feared politicians in Canada because he was pretty relentless in his hatred of Japanese-Canadians.”

Public Works Minister Michael Fortier announced in September that an eco-friendly federal building at 401 Burrard St. would be named after Green. A dedication ceremony was held at the 19-storey building, whose tenants include Environment Canada and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

“Howard Green exemplifies the notion of service to one’s country,” Fortier said at the time.

But yesterday, after criticism from Japanese-Canadians, Fortier said he will ask a volunteer committee that recommended the name to review its recommendation.

Fortier, who made the final decision, was not aware of Green’s past of making racist remarks, ministry spokesman Jean-Luc Benoit said.

The volunteer committee of community representatives evaluated more than 350 names and gave Fortier a short list including Green and Rosemary Brown, a former MLA and human-rights advocate, Terry Fox, artist Toni Onley, Pierre Trudeau and W.A.C. Bennett.

Mary Kitagawa, a member of the Greater Vancouver Japanese Canadian Citizens Association for Human Rights, said she wrote to Fortier in September asking for Green’s name to be erased from the building.

“What we want to do is have that name removed from that building because to us, he is not a hero by any measure,” said Kitagawa.

The National Association of Japanese Canadians has also written to Fortier and Prime Minister Stephen Harper asking for Green’s name to be removed from the building.

Newspaper stories from the ’30s and ’40s document Green’s campaign to oust Japanese-Canadians from B.C.
“Our stand is, and always has been, that we won’t have Japs in the province,” Green said in a Province article dated May 27, 1945. “The Liberal policy is to scatter them; the CCF want to scatter them and give them the vote. If they ever get the vote, nothing more will be done about them.”

In a Province article dated April 22, 1946, Green “warned of the danger that all Japanese might again be back on the coast.”

A Vancouver Sun article on May 17, 1945, quotes Green as saying “the Japs must never be allowed to return to British Columbia.”

The Public Works Ministry said earlier Green was chosen because he was a strong advocate of nuclear disarmament. He was also a First World War soldier and the second-longest serving MP from Vancouver, elected 11 times in Vancouver South and later Vancouver Quadra.

He died in 1989 at age 93.

source: Vancouver Province, Oct 25, pg A14.

via PSAC BC Human Rights Committee

Cracking the visible minority ceiling: Corporations face talent shortage, major study to target barriers

They helped women crack the glass ceiling in corporate Canada. Now, they want to do the same for visible minorities.

Catalyst Canada, a group that exposed the barriers to advancement for women at the highest corporate levels, announced yesterday the launch of a groundbreaking study into the problems facing talented minority employees who want to get ahead.

While not the first organization to examine this problem, the non-profit research group said it would take a deeper, broader look at an issue of emerging significance to employers, executive director Deborah Gillis said yesterday.

“What we know is Canada is facing a significant talent shortage. Many of our best-educated employees are getting ready to retire. We also know the face of Canada is changing,” Gillis said.

“If you combine the retirement of boomers with the fact that in less than 10 years visible minorities are going to represent one in five members of our workforce, we know this is a fundamental issue for Canadian business.”

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OTTAWA - The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) applauds the adoption today, in second reading, of Bill C-257, the anti-scab legislation introduced by the Bloc Québécois.

“After several attempts to have this piece of legislation adopted,” says Patty Ducharme PSAC National Executive Vice-President, “Members of Parliament have finally accepted to give workers a more level playing field in their relations with their employers. It’s a great day for working women and men in Canada.”

• CLC: Georgetti urges MP’s not to delay approval on third reading.

Bill C-257 is a Private Member’s Bill introduced by the Bloc MP for Gatineau, Richard Nadeau. It’s inspired by the anti-scab legislation currently in force in Québec, which prohibits employers from using strike-breakers during a strike or a lockout.  Today’s vote will send the Bill to a House of Commons Committee before coming back for a final vote.

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BC Human Rights Committee - Minutes of Oct 17th, 2006 meeting

In attendance:

• Vancouver RO: Tracy Shudo (chair), Deanna Wilson (food), Agnes Lui, Sanda Turner, Craig Langston, Monica Urrutia (PSAC staff – minutes), Regina Brennan (staff, guest), Barbara Jackson (guest)
• Via teleconference: Floyd Knelsen, Todd Harding

Regrets:

• Sargy Chima, Carol Pegura, Carolyn McGillivray, Val Hargreaves, Kim Forster, Sid Wong, Terri Lee

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Janelle Ho-Shing will be acting in the position of Regional Representative until the staffing action to replace Joanna Schultz has been completed. She will be assuming responsibility for the locals previously assigned to Joanna. She can be reached at 604-430-5631 extension 234 or by emailing hoshinj@psac.com.

Union members are meeting with Members of Parliament October 23-25, 2006, to secure their support for the second reading of Bill C-257, which will amend the Canadian Labour Code to prohibit the use of replacement workers during a labour dispute. PSAC members across the country have been busy over the summer and fall contacting and meeting with their MPs to build support for the vote which is scheduled for Wednesday, October 25, 2006, at 5:00pm.

• Email your MP - ask them to support Bill C-257

Four PSAC – Union of Northern Workers members participating in the lobby, Andy Anderson, Richard J. Charlo, Ian Kelly and Troy Oslanki, have recent first-hand knowledge of the reasons why Canada needs anti-scab legislation. They walked the picket line this past spring during the strike against the multinational corporation BHP Billiton at the Ekati Mine in the Northwest Territories. They experienced the negative effects replacement workers can have on a community during a labour conflict.

“Scabs make a labour conflict last longer because some employers choose to hire them instead of negotiating with the unions,” said Troy Oslanki, vice-president PSAC Local 3050 in Yellowknife. “Also scabs create deep and long lasting divisions in the small communities where the workers live.”

Continue reading about the anti-scab legislation lobby at the national website.

via PSAC BC Human Rights Committee
Vancouver BC - The Head Tax Families Society of Canada (HTF), successor group to the BC Coalition of Head Tax Payers, Spouses and Descendants (BC Coalition), will observe the turnaround of the Chinese head tax/exclusion redress struggle with a public forum. Invitees include Greater Vancouver Members of Parliament from the three parties represented in the House of Commons, the BC Attorney General and Minister of Multiculturalism, the three Chinese Canadians sitting on Vancouver City Council and other elected officials.

• When: 11:00am Saturday, November 25, 2006
• Where: Chinese Cultural Center - Dr. David Lam Hall, 50 East Pender Street, Vancouver

“Outside Inside” refers to last November 26 when several hundred people set up an information line in Chinatown. It attended outside a closed redress conference funded by the government at the Chinese Cultural Center and a photo opportunity for Prime Minister Paul Martin at United Chinese Community Enrichment Social Services (SUCCESS). This “on the streets” action is now considered by many in the redress movement as a seminal moment in the redress struggle.

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The PSAC will be holding a Pride Conference in Vancouver from March 29 - April 1, 2007 for members who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or who otherwise self identify as a member of the Pride community.

To start planning for the Conference, we are seeking names of PSAC members who are prepared to serve on either the:

• Steering Committee
• Resolutions Committee

Interested PSAC members should complete the attached one page form and return to it me by e-mail (preferable) or fax by no later than midnight Tuesday, October 24th. The B.C. Region is entitled to one committee member who will sit on either the Steering or Resolutions Committee.

• Conference Committee form (doc)
• Conference Committee form (pdf)

I apologize for the tight deadlines, in Solidarity, Kay Sinclair.

Victoria:

• Housing For All Rally & BBQ
• Monday October 23, 12 noon
• Victoria Conference Centre, 740 Douglas Street
• Banners & noisemakers welcome

Vancouver:

• Condemned: A work in progress - Downdown EastSide Opera
• October 27, 28, 8PM October 29 3PM
• Carnegie Theatre, Main @ Hastings
• Tickets available @ Carnegie Centre 604.655.2220

Fraser Valley Area Council Annual General Meeting

• Wednesday Nov 1, 2006 dinner 5-6, meeting 6-8 pm
• Cross Roads Restaurant 1821 Sumas Way Abbotsford
• Agenda:

• Election of Officers
• Financial Report
• By-Law amendment (see attached pdf)
• Bargaining
• District Labour Council

October 16th to 22, 2006 is the first annual Homelessness Awareness Week in Greater Vancouver. The theme for this year is Homelessness and Health.

Through Homelessness Awareness Week people living in the Greater Vancouver area are invited to learn more about what is causing homelessness; how homelessness affects the health of individuals and society at large; and why working together is the only way we will solve the crisis of homelessness in our community.

Visit stophomelessness.ca to find out more.

The PSAC held a National Bargaining Conference in Ottawa September 12 to 15, 2006, to prepare the next round of negotiations with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. The PSAC negotiates on behalf of nearly 4,000 members at the CFIA.

The process of renewing the collective agreement at the CFIA began on June 23, 2006, when the PSAC issued the Input Call for Bargaining Demands for the 2007 Round of Negotiations.

Download the first CFIA Negotiations Bulletin (pdf) to continue reading a report on the National Bargaining Conference, as well as a backgrounder on how bargaining works at the CFIA & how we choose our bargaining demands.

As victories go, this was a big one. A memorandum of agreement signed October 5th with Correctional Service Canada will see the Penological Factor Allowance restored to the roughly 2,000 USGE members who have been denied the longstanding allowance since the summer of 2005.

The official signing capped a 14-month struggle to see the restoration of PFA. Last July, a joint union-employer fact-finding tour of several British Columbia institutions provided all parties a thorough understanding of the workplace realities faced by the affected members.

“The loss of the PFA was a significant hardship for our members who work in federal correctional institutions” said John Gordon, PSAC National President. “I am proud that PSAC and USGE were successful in restoring the PFA, as it recognizes the dangerous work environment faced by the membership”.

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The PSAC has just produced a booklet which offers information on staffing in the Federal Public Service. The booklet includes suggested questions to help Locals intervene effectively in their workplace staffing regime.

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Women’s History Month represents an opportunity to highlight women’s contributions and to recognize the achievements of diverse women as a vital part of our Canadian history. It also represents an opportunity to show how we all benefit from the efforts of our foremothers in our on-going quest for equality and represents an ideal opportunity to instill a sense of pride in our collective accomplishments.

This year’s theme is “Aboriginal Women”.  The PSAC will be posting a series of fact sheets (one every week) highlighting the realities of Aboriginal women as well as their contributions to their communities and families and the unique challenges they face.

Visit the national website for fact sheet #1: Violence Against Aboriginal Women: the fight-back