Public Service Alliance of Canada BC

PSAC Southern Vancouver Island District Area Council meeting minutes – April 9th, 2008, PSAC Victoria Regional Office

Present:

• Nick Humphreys – UEW 20169
• Virginia Vaillancourt – UVAE 20030
• John Rumsby – UTE 20028
• Cindy Little – UTE 20028
• Scott Parker – UTE 20028
• Jim Sidel – DCL 20500
• Ken Waldron – UNDE 21013
• Ian Wiggs – UNDE 21008
• Ches Bennett - DCL 20500
• Alexandra Ripco – UEW 20076
• Graeme Goodmanson – UEW 20169
• Brenda Esplen – UTE 20028
• Sylvaine Boudreault – AGR 20064
• Jack Gale – GSU 20001
• Mandi Schubert – CEIU 20975
• Deborah Gruben – National 20140
• Sharon Hazelwood – National 20140
• Fabian DeGuire– UNDE 21008
• Hettie Wheeler – USGE 20012
• Peter Neelands – NRU 20088
• David Ramalho – UNDE 21011
• James Little – H & S Rep
• Dave Jackson – Regional Rep
• Susan Jardine - JLP Field Coordinator
• Julie Balantes - JLP Field Coordinator

Continue reading below, or download the SVIDAC meeting minutes - April 9th (pdf)

Sister Cindy Little, President

Virginia Vaillancourt, Recording Secretary

Women Behaving Politically: Organizing for Change.

The Western Regional Summer Institute for Union Women offers an intensive week of learning within a supportive environment in which union women can develop their skills as workers, activists and leaders.

Sponsored by the British Columbia Federation of Labour, the Institute will be held at the University of Victoria (UVIC). The Western Regional SIUW brings together union women from BC, Washington State, Oregon and California.

Our theme, Women Behaving Politically: Organizing for Change, reflects labour’s commitment to providing women with both the skills and strategies to understand the key issues for labour and how that understanding can help us participate in the upcoming elections, and develop stronger leadership among women within our unions and political institutions. We need the world to hear more women’s voices speaking out on issues that matter to us like: pay equity, a higher minimum wage, universal childcare, health care, the economy, poverty and the right to join a union.

Read more, and download a brochure and registration form at bcfed.ca.

Your Bargaining Team met with the BC Corps of Commissionaires on April 24 and 25, 2008.

This was the first meeting of the parties following the exchange of bargaining proposals on February 27, 2008. These negotiations, for a first collective agreement, include two (2) bargaining units: approximately 40 Commissionaires performing work on behalf of the Canadian Border Services Agency at Library Square and the Vancouver International Airport and 8 Commissionaires performing work on behalf of Fisheries and Oceans Canada at the Seal Cove Coast Guard Base in Prince Rupert.

The following issues were discussed:

• Purpose and Scope of the Collective Agreement
• Management Rights
• Definitions and Interpretations
• Union Recognition
• Union Representatives
• Use of Client Facilities
• Union Dues and Membership
• Information
• Leave With or Without Pay for Union Business

Although some progress was made during those two (2) days of negotiations, no articles were signed off. The next meeting has been tentatively set for May 29 and 30, 2008.

October 3,4,5: Building Our Union, Building Our Movement! Ensuring Labour’s Relevance in a Changing World

The theme of this year’s union school is “Building Our Union, Building Our Movement! Ensuring Labour’s Relevance in a Changing World.” Our goal is to strengthen our union and ensure the relevancy of the labour movement in a changing world by building solidarity with other workers and communities, both locally and globally.

Can our union and the labour movement remain relevant in an increasingly changing world? How can we mobilize to protect the rights of our members and build solidarity with other workers struggling against exploitation? How can the labour movement organize a collective response to the increasing corporatization of our workplaces and our communities? How can we engage our political system, particularly at a municipal level, to make sure that as trade unionists, our voices are heard in the larger arena?

By working hand-in-hand with other members of our locals, our unions and communities around the world, we can create and build a labour movement that can respond to the many challenges that workers face today. By building solidarity with other workers - particularly those that are working in unorganized workplaces, in temporary jobs and often in precarious working conditions – and exploring creative strategies to protect our collective rights, we can forge a vibrant movement for social change that in will in turn, strengthen our own union.

This theme underscores how critical it is for our survival and growth as trade unionists to identify new strategies for resistance that are rooted in building alliances across unions, communities and borders, particularly with those workers and other members of our society who are the most marginalized.

Plenary sessions and guest speakers will demonstrate the links between strengthening our union, maintaining the relevance of labour movements at both a local and global level and protecting the rights of all workers.

Visit the Union School 2008 page for more information, course descriptions, and application forms.

There was a preliminary statement by the Union negotiating team addressing the issue of Pay Parity with other sectors of the Public Service. We have put the employer on notice that this will be a priority for the union when we table our full pay position.

We encourage the membership to read both the Union and The CFIA bargaining proposals and to provide feedback to the team member in BC - email Bob Jackson.

Sisters and Brothers:

April 28, 2008 will mark the 24^th anniversary of the National Day of Mourning for workers killed and injured on the job. The National Day of Mourning was started in 1984 as an initiative of the Canadian Labour movement and this day of reflection is now established around the world.

• More Day of Mourning information, including a list of events in BC
• Read more Heath & Safety related posts

In 1984, according to the official figures listed by the Association of Workers’ Compensation Boards of Canada (AWCBC), 744 workers were listed as having died from workplace injuries. But instead of seeing and improvement is this tragic situation, the past two decades has actually seen an increase in the number of workplace fatalities. In 2006, the last year that the AWCBC has released statistics for, 976 workers were killed on the job due to workplace injuries.

However, we know that these statistics are grossly underestimated and that the real number of deaths resulting from occupational illness and disease, and other workerplace factors are never included in these official statistics, as it is extremely difficult to prove that deaths that are caused by occupational disease, such as cancer, are caused by exposure to hazards in the workplace.

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From Libby Davies

Dear friends,

Recently the Conservative government in Ottawa tried to sneak controversial changes into the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) through the House of Commons via C-50 (the Budget Implementation Act). These sweeping changes give enormous powers to the Minister to decide which categories of immigration applications will be processed, and which would be ignored or discarded. It also restricts several kinds of applicants based on humanitarian and compassionate grounds that Canadian sponsors can use to bring their relatives into Canada, and gives the Minister extraordinary powers to deny visas to those who meet all the immigration criteria and have been waiting for years to have their cases conclude. NDP Immigration Critic Olivia Chow has done excellent work in opposition to these unfair and misguided changes. To learn more about the changes, visit her website.

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Negotiations for a first collective agreement between the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) and the BC Corps of Commissionaires (Corps) are scheduled to be held in Vancouver on April 24 and 25, 2008. The parties had met for the first time on February 27, 2008, to exchange bargaining proposals and to discuss housekeeping matters.

These negotiations will include two (2) bargaining units: approximately 40 Commissionaires performing work on behalf of the Canadian Border Services Agency at Library Square and the Vancouver International Airport and 8 Commissionaires performing work on behalf of Fisheries and Oceans Canada at the Seal Cove Coast Guard Base in Prince Rupert.

April 28, 2008 marks the 24th anniversary of the National Day of Mourning for workers killed or hurt by workplace injuries or disease.

The Canadian Labour Congress, who were the authors of this initiative in 1984, have marked this special day with the theme of “Mourn for the Dead, Fight for the Living – Now more than ever!” It is very encouraging to see that this special day is now celebrated around the world from Azerbaijan to Zambia with more involvement being seen each and every year.

The PSAC continues to struggle to create stronger laws and regulations in support of Health & Safety and Hazard Prevention. We hope that the annual observance of this day will strengthen the resolve to establish safer conditions in the workplace for all.

Please join with the PSAC and other labour organizations at Day of Mourning events scheduled in your community.

Resources (all .pdf)

• List of 2008 events in BC, provided by the BC Fed
• Day of Mourning Event poster - Victoria
• Resource Information for 2008 Day of Mourning
• Labour Council Notes for April 28th
• PSAC BC Day of Mourning poster (1.32 MB .pdf)

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PSAC National Aboriginal Peoples’ Conference - “Maawangiteeng”: Where The Journey Begins.

Conference Objectives

The objectives of our 2008 PSAC National Aboriginal Peoples’ Conference are to:

• Connect with our Aboriginal Brothers and Sisters
• Educate and build capacity within Aboriginal communities and the Union
• Politicize Aboriginal Rights around the eradication of poverty (clean water, housing, education), for quality public service and a clean environment
• Raise awareness of the Union’s role in advancing Aboriginal Peoples’ Rights in the workplace, community and society as a whole

Delegates

A PSAC member who is a member in good standing and who self-identifies as Aboriginal can apply to be a delegate to this Conference. The selection of delegates will take into account union and equality rights activism, as well as representation criteria (i.e., Region, Component, language and other equity group representation such as gender, disability, etc.).

Delegates will be selected by their respective Regions and Components. The delegates will be entitled to full voice and vote during the conference, including the resolutions and elections processes.

Funding for Delegates:

Delegate costs to the 2008 PSAC National Aboriginal Peoples’ Conference will be fully covered as per the 2003 PSAC Triennial Convention decision and PSAC Travel Directive. Costs covered are as follows:

• travel costs, including ground transportation;
• hotel accommodation costs at the Winnipeg Fairmont Hotel;
• loss of salary;
• per diem for meals;
• incidental costs;
• child care as per the Family Care Policy;
• costs related to accessibility requirements.

Observers

PSAC members who are members in good standing and who self-identify as Aboriginal may also attend the 2008 PSAC National Aboriginal Peoples’ Conference as observers; however, observers will be responsible for all costs associated with their participation, including:

• loss of salary and meals;
• hotel and travel arrangements and costs;
• the conference registration fee of $150.00;
• any additional accessibility needs and childcare arrangements (subject to meeting deadline requirements).

Please note that the number of Observers will be limited to the space available at the Conference. They will have voice only during the discussion period after panel presentations. They can attend the sharing circles, if space permits, but may not be able to select the topic. Observers do not have the right to voice or vote during the resolutions debate and elections processes.

For more information and online registration, visit the Conference & Convention section of the PSAC national website or download the attached package (pdf).

Transsomatechnics: Theories and Practices of Transgender Embodiment
A Transdisciplinary International Conference, May 1- 3, 2008, SFU Harbour Centre

Keynote Speakers and Plenary Speakers

Cabral, Mauro - Bio, “My Name is Truth”, Trans Issues within Human Rights Frameworks
Murray, Samantha - Bio, Banded Bodies: The TransSomatechnics of Obesity Surgery
Noble, Bobby - Bio, Transed-Nationalisms: On the Limits of Whiteness
Najmabadi, Afsaneh - Transing and Transpassing Across Sex-Gender Walls in Iran
Namaste, Viviane - BioKnowledge for whom?  Trans Women, HIV and the Field of “Trans Studies
Pugliese, Joseph - Transpositions of Transsomatechnics
Sullivan, Nikki - Bio, The Matter of Transsomatechnics

On April 22, it is estimated that over 500 million people in more than 180 countries will be celebrating International Earth Day. Around the world these observances will highlight both local and world wide environmental issues. Some 6 million Canadians will participate in Earth Day events which can include the planting of trees and native gardens, neighbourhood cleanups, workshops and seminars, concerts, eco-fairs, parades, cultural events, waste reduction projects, the implementation/expansion of environmental programs, wildlife conservation projects, and much more.

Earth Day is celebrated in schools, community and youth groups, unions, and environmental organizations.

At a time when Canadians are concerned with the continual rise of Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Canada, our Federal Government continues to stall on implementing any effective measures to deal with this threat to our environment.

• The Canadian Labour Congress’ theme for Earth Day 2008 is “Take Responsibility and Action to get some satisfaction” (pdf).

Each of us can attempt to make this statement a reality by reducing the amount of energy we use in our homes, buying food and products that are produced locally and trying to drive less.

Please take the time on April 22 to think about your personal impact on our earth. Make a commitment to reduce your footprint on this day and every day.

Here are a few ways you can make a difference.

• Turn off unnecessary lights, at home and at work – We’ve asked PSAC Holdings to help with this!
• Print only when necessary and use both sides of the paper
• use email or voice mail instead of paper
• Have a garbage free day
• Bring your lunch in reusable containers and don’t buy bottled water – use your own reusable bottle
• Walk, bicycle, take public transit or car pool to work
• donate the stuff you don’t use anymore instead of throwing it out
• give your newspaper to someone else to read
• recycle glass bottles, plastic bottles, paper, and cardboard

We encourage all our members to make Earth Day a day to celebrate our achievements with regard to the environment. It is also, more importantly, a day to raise the consciousness of every citizen around the world on environmental issues critical to the surviving of our planet.

Important Links

• http://www.earthday.org
• http://www.earthday.ca
• http://www.jourdelaterre.org

Minutes – Vancouver Area Council meeting, April 8, 2008

The meeting was called to order at 5:14 PM

In attendance (*delegate designation below means voting delegate for the Area Council):

• Sharon Tieman, UPCE 20101 (delegate)
• Jazz Nagra, UVAE 20045 (delegate)
• S. Marie Lygo, UVAE 20045 (delegate)
• Megan Adam, UEW 20147 (delegate)
• Rob Hellenius, DCL 20501 (guest)
• Rhonda Johns, UPCE 20095 (delegate)
• Sam Wiese, CEIU 20949 (delegate)
• Jamey Mills, UTE 20027 (guest)
• Teri Lee, AGR 20044 (delegate)

Download the Vancouver Area Council meeting minutes, April 8 2008 (pdf), or continue reading below

1. Introductions

• meeting began with a quick round of introductions. The group welcomed Rob to his first Area Council meeting.
• all shared that they have delegate status to Regional Convention, except for Rob who may come as an observer.

2. Resolutions to Convention

• The Area Council had lively discussion on the resolutions and noted in particular the resolutions they have authored.
• By-Laws resolutions: Sam, a member of this Committee, walked the Area Council through the by-laws resolutions and noted typos for correction. Sam will forward these corrections to the committee.
• General resolutions: it was explained that if no or only some general resolutions are addressed at convention, they can still be referred to the Regional Council, but those that need to go to national convention would have to be submitted by a constitutionally recognized body. Megan, the chair of this Committee, walked through the resolutions.
• Finance: Sam presented the resolutions for this Committee.

3. Regional Convention

• Motion: to have the Vancouver & District Area Council pay the Leave Without Pay of its Regional Convention delegate, Jazz Nagra, for Friday, April 18, 2008 and to also cover the convention delegate fee. (m/s Sam, Megan, CARRIED).

4. May Day Organizing Committee (MDOC)

• Monica updated the Area Council on upcoming events of the MDOC:
• “International Workers Day” Cultural Solidarity Evening on Saturday, April 26, 2008, at 7:00 pm. Rhizome Cafe, Vancouver, 317 East Broadway at Kingsway and Broadway
• Reclaim May 1st, International Worker’s Day! March for workers’ rights! May Day March & Rally on Thursday, May 1, 2008 - 5:30 pm || Gather at Clark Park at Commercial Drive and East 14th then 6:00 pm || May Day March
• Motion: to continue to endorse and participate in the May Day Organizing Committee; to provide $100 support; and to send out donation info to affiliated locals to encourage them to also support. (m/s Sam, Megan, CARRIED)

5. Round

• UVAE 20045 (Veterans Affairs) – lack of official languages training is really stunting the members professional development as no one can get a job above PM-03 without being bilingual. Jazz has been team leading (other side of the fence) but has been educating other team leaders who are PSAC members to know their rights, take their breaks. AGM went well, has a representative going to UVAE Convention.
• DCL 20501 (Commissionaires) – they have H&S issues, particularly a lack of a MRSA protocol. There were 8,000 MRSA deaths last year in Canada (the SARS crisis only had 42), yet, little is being done to address this issue. Some info can be found on the PSAC-BC BRUSH forum on-line.
• UPCE 20095 (Purolator) – two new facilities (one in Langley) so the local is gaining members. Have a planning meeting this weekend.
• UPCE 20101 (Canada Post) – holding bargaining demands ratification votes this weekend, Notice to Bargain will be served on May 1st, contract ends in March. Some of their work is going to other bargaining units outside of the UPCE/PSAC: such as APOC, CUPW
• UEW 20147 (Fisheries & Oceans) – no update in particular from Local, but Megan, as PA member negotiator shared the PA group will be tabling their wage package on April 21. SV group is getting apprenticeship language, which is a first in the Public Service.
• AGR 20044 (CFIA/Grain) – Grain campaign is going quite well nationally. Lobbying lots of Members of Parliament, to try and put a stop to Bill C-39 that could force 200 members to lose their jobs. On CFIA side, there’s a big demand for Inspectors, can’t hire them fast enough. This is the biggest they’ve ever been, about 9,000 members now.

Meeting adjourned at 7:24 PM

Café Rebelde Presents: Our Struggles, Our History: Celebrating May 1st International Worker’s Day

• Friday, April 25
• Rhizome (317 East Broadway)
• 7:30pm

Join us in a discussion to commemorate May Day, learn about our history, accomplishments, and current challenges facing the Canadian and international working class today. A panel discussion will be followed by a multimedia presentation and live music by local artists. Let’s keep the tradition alive and join millions around the world who celebrate this important holiday.

Speakers:

• Cynthia Oka, from No One Is Illegal will speak on the ongoing attacks by
  the Conservative government on immigrant communities and the new proposed
  bill C50.
• A representative from ILPS May Day Committee will speak on the importance
  of May Day and current struggles waged by the immigrant working class in
  Canada.
• A member of the VDLC Young Workers Committee will speak on the current
  fight for fair wages for working people in BC.

Mark Your Calendars and Grab a Sleeping Bag!!!!

The B.C. Federation of Labour will be hosting a Conference for Young Workers on May 30 - June 1, 2008.
This Conference is open to all young union members between the ages of 19 - 30. It will be held at Camp Jubilee which is only a short boat ride just outside of Vancouver. Join other Young Workers from across the province for workshops and seminars ranging from skills building to labour history.

Keep an eye out for the registration form that will be coming soon. If you would like further information, please contact Dayna Sykes at dsykes@bcfed.ca or 604-430-1421.

Download the poster (pdf).

Delegates to the B.C. regional convention have re-elected Kay Sinclair as their Regional Executive Vice-President. Kay is particularly active in human, women’s and LGBT rights, as well as on issues involving health and safety and the environment. She has held the REVP position since May 2006 when she replaced now National Executive Vice-President Patty Ducharme, following elections at the PSAC triennial convention.

Megan Adam, a member of the current PSAC bargaining team for the Program and Administrative Services unit, was elected alternate REVP. Megan, a member of the Union of Environment Workers, is a Communications Advisor at Fisheries and Oceans Canada and community and anti-poverty activist.

Guest speakers PSAC National President John Gordon and Jim Sinclair, President of the B.C. Federation of Labour, were given standing ovations as delegates pledged to renew their commitment to political action federally and provincially in support of quality public services and in opposition to service cuts.

Delegates also acknowledged and thanked Regional Coordinator Janet Routledge for her hard work and commitment to the PSAC. She leaves to join the Federation of Labour later this summer.

The convention was held in Vancouver from April 18 to 20. We will have a full convention report, updated list of regional council members, and photos available on the regional website shortly.

It is a privilege to submit the report of the Regional Executive Vice-President to the delegates, observers, and guests of the 2008 BC Regional Triennial Convention and to the membership of the Public Service Alliance of Canada in BC.

While the REVP-BC is required by the BC Region By-Laws to submit this report to Convention, I do so on behalf of, and thanks to, all members and staff who contribute to PSAC BC. Whether it is as a member of the PSAC BC Regional Council, a Local or Branch Executive member, an activist on a regional committee, a Component national or regional officer, a strike captain, a steward, a rank-and-file member, or a PSAC regional staff member, you make a difference in our Region, and you make our Union strong.

This report highlights some of our main accomplishments over the past three years, and perhaps more specifically since I took office as REVP for B.C. in May 2006.

Download this document as a .pdf: Report of the REVP to the 2008 BC Regional Convention or continue reading below

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Another in a continuing series of articles & handouts that will be of interest to PSAC stewards … read more of them in the Steward’s Network section of the site.

”Do I have to advise my employer of the nature of my illness?”

“Can the employer force me to provide a doctor’s certificate or demand that I undergo a medical examination?”

The following document provides you with some well established principles in these and other related areas. From a current examination of the case law on sick leave, medical certificates and medical examinations, the following principles will serve as a guide.

We should begin with the basic premise that the employer has the right to insist on a medical certificate as a condition of granting sick leave. In the case of most collective agreements, the employer’s right to impose such a requirement is explicit. Where a collective agreement is silent on this point, the employer could successfully argue that its residual management rights (i.e., all rights not modified by collective agreement language) permit it to require proof of sickness. If a collective agreement specifies (as some do), that the employer could only require a medical certificate after so many days of absence in a given year, then the employer’s right would be restricted.

Continue reading in the Sick Leave, Medical Certificates, Medical Exams and Related Issues - Some Principles handout (pdf), prepared by the PSAC Education Section.

PSAC members were among 1300 people in Victoria who rallied March 29th to encourage the government to ban the sale raw logs and save old growth forests.

Members in Victoria at the Government Street Service Canada office also wore black on payday in support of their bargaining teams.

Continuing with the Island theme, the Southern Vancouver Island Area Council met to discuss the resolutions and reports going forward to the Regional Convention.

And in Abbotsrford, The Fraser Valley Area Council held a pre-convention meeting on April 10. The meeting was attended by both convention delegates and non-delegates. The participants conducted a comprehensive review of the convention resolutions and discussed basic convention practices, strategies and procedures. The Fraser Valley Area Council also recognized the many years of service provided by the soon to be retired Chuck Leech of USGE Local 20054 - Matsqui Institution. Cheers Chuck!