Public Service Alliance of Canada BC

Vancouver Regional Womens Committee Annual General Meeting

Wednesday April 8th, 5:45PM
200-5238 Joyce St. (1 1/2 block south of the SkyT rain)

Tonight’s discussion topic is “ Women and Politics”.

Also on the agenda:

• Election of officers
• Observer to PSAC National Convention
• Resolutions to National Convention
• Plan and budget for 2009
• Plus guest speaker: Deborah Payment on The Public Compensation Coalition (changes to WCB)

Please RSVP to Colette Savarie at (604) 430-5631 as light snacks will be served. F or more information about the
Vancouver RWC, contact Angela at ontheprowl@shaw.ca or Alethea at alethea1@shaw.ca

Vancouver Island Human Rights Committee meeting

• April 14, 2009, 5:30PM
• PSAC Regional Office,210-1497 Admirals Road

Proposed Agenda

1. Terms of Reference
2. Constitutional Letters-Update
3. Logo Contest

Please RSVP to Mandi Schubert no later than April 9th so the Potluck can be coordinated.

Please take a minute to send B.C.’s Health Minister a message today.

Tell government to ensure that its private contractors provide living wages and safe working conditions to the housekeepers and food services workers responsible for keeping our hospitals clean and safe.

Why now?   As you read this, hospital housekeepers and food services workers are in the process of taking this message to their MLAs and health authorities.  They are also bargaining with their multinational employers – Sodexo, Aramark and Compass – for family supporting wages and safe working conditions.   But workers can’t do it alone. Government needs to take steps to ensure their contractors create the wage and working conditions for clean and safe hospitals.  And they need to hear from you.

Living wage successes in the UK, and in hundreds of U.S. cities were achieved because of people like you who took a few minutes to speak out for healthier communities, stronger local economies and quality services.

Send your message today.   Thank you.

P.S. Be sure to check out the new TV ad.   And take a minute to hear the stories of four workers who describe what a living wage would mean to them.

Forestry Communities in crisis: town hall meetings on the future of our Province

Sponsored by

• B.C. Federation of Labour
• Canadian Labour Congress
• B.C. Government and Service Employees’ Union
• Canadian Union of Public Employees
• Communications, Energy and Paperworks Union
• United Steelworkers

• Tuesday, March 31 • 7:00 PM Room 2621 Old Main Building, Thompson Rivers University • Kamloops
• Wednesday, April 8 • 7:00 PM Campbell River Labour Centre, 830 14th Ave • Campbell River, BC
• Thursday, April 16 • 7:00 PM College of New Caledonia, 3330 – 22nd Avenue • Prince George, BC

Download the posters: Campbell River | Kamloops | Prince George

Please note that the TUB course scheduled for March 27,28 in Courtenay has been postponed until the Fall. The Victoria office will be contacting members who have applied for the course with more details.

via Canadian Arab Federation

The Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Jason Kenney has just announced the cutting of funding to the Settlement Service of the Canadian Arab Federation alleging CAF promotes terror. According to a release by CAF “This arbitrary decision made by the Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, Jason Kenney, under the Harper leadership is an attempt to silence any dissenting voice and is being used as disciplinary action for CAFs political stand which is contrary to their own. Furthermore, this is a warning to other non-profit, anti-racist organizations not to criticize members of the Canadian government or they may face a similar fate.”

In addition, the Minister is responsible for denying entry to Canada George Galloway, a well known MP from the UK. Galloway has been deemed “inadmissible on national security grounds” and been denied entry into Canada where he was scheduled to speak at a series of public forums.

The banning of George Galloway from Canada is unfounded and unjustified – it is wrong to block speakers from Canada for political convenience. Banning George Galloway from entering Canada demonstrates that the Conservative Canadian government does not respect our rights as citizens to dissent or have dissenting views, peacefully organize and advocate around a particular viewpoint or political position. George Galloway should be allowed into Canada, and allowed to freely express himself during his visit.

TAKE ACTION:

1) CAF urges you to call, fax and e-mail Minister Kenney in addition to e-mailing your local MP to express utrage of this unprecedented decision to cut funding to the Canadian Arab Federation.

2) Contact Minister Kenney and your local MP to condemn the decision to deny Galloway entry and for censuring free speech of those with a dissenting opinion and political ideology.

Contact Jason Kenney:

Constituency Office:
1168 137 Ave SE
Calgary, AB
T2J 6T6
P. 403-225-3480
F. 403-225-3504

Ottawa Office:
325 East Block
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6
P. 613-992-2235
F. 613-992-1920

Email: kennej@parl.gc.ca

Every year, the PSAC marks March 21, the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, as an important day. With an upsurge of labour migration, the growing racially visible population, the further marginalization of Aboriginal peoples and the continuing fear of “terrorism” in Canada, the PSAC again calls for national and international solidarity among the labour movement and social justice groups against racial discrimination.

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Appointments to the Arbitration Board for the TC Bargaining Unit have been announced.

The Public Service Alliance of Canada has been notified that David Starkman has been appointed chairperson for the TC Arbitration Board.

Jim Wolfgang will represent the Union’s interests on the Arbitration Board. Jock Climie will represent the Employer.

No dates have been established yet for hearings. More information will be published as it becomes available.

Writing a newspaper column is all about words, obviously. If you write regularly, you learn something about the power words can have to influence people. Politicians know this very well, as does anyone who uses the media to get out a message. When politicians communicate with the public, it is often disrespectfully called “spin”. This means taking a situation or event and twisting the message so it communicates what you want it to communicate. We used to call it propaganda, but we only seem to use that word now to refer to things done in other countries. Tin-pot dictators use propaganda. Leaders of upstanding democratic countries use spin.

Some politicians are better at this than others. Some are smooth, some are clumsy. Some mix their spin with half-truths and outright fabrications. Gerry Ritz would fall into this category. He doesn’t seem to let the facts get in the way of the issues.

His attempts to defend the changes he is proposing to the Canada Grain Act and hence the Canadian Grain Commission show once again that Gerry went to the Goebbels School of Communication.

Changes to the Canadian Grain Commission have been on the agenda of the Harper government for some time. Bill C-39 was introduced in December, 2007, but died on the order paper when Parliament ended with the election call. Bill C-13, introduced in late February, appears identical to C-39. It calls for an end to mandatory inward weighing and inspection at port, changes the CGC mandate away from its focus on protecting producers and eliminates the need for grain companies to post security with the CGC to cover potential defaults on payments.

• Fight Bill C-13 – Join the campaign to protect producer interests and the Canadian Grain Commission.

These proposals have come under scrutiny from many quarters. Removing the bonding requirement for grain companies has raised red flags with producers, especially in the current unstable economic environment. In defending his legislation, Ritz has played fast and easy with the truth. In an interview with a reporter from Golden West Radio in Altona, Manitoba, Ritz declared that the best that has ever been paid out through the Payment Security Program was 30 cents on the dollar. Because of this, he can easily declare the program is not working.

The only trouble is, he’s wrong. The Payment Security Program has actually been quite successful. Over the last ten years, the CGC has issued payments to producers in nine cases of default by grain companies. In six of these, the payment was 100 % of claims. In one, it was 99.8 %. In one, the bankruptcy of Naber Seeds in 2002, payout reached 51.4 % of claims and in the case of Venture Seeds Ltd in 2004, payment was just 28 % of claims. Total payments from the bonding required by the CGC were $4,503,000 to 343 producers, for an average of $13,127 per claimant. The total payouts were actually 77.15 % of claims, not 30 % as Ritz claimed.

In the interview with the Golden West reporter, Ritz also claimed that this protection would only be removed when something better was in place. Again, this is not true. Bill C-13 removes the bonding requirement. Full stop. It does not propose any alternatives and no viable alternatives are on the table.
Ritz went on to claim that the CGC has been under a moratorium for more than a decade (he was likely referring to a moratorium on fee increases) and as a result it is not offering the services it could be. When I consulted an official at the CGC he told me he was not aware of any new services that would be facilitated by C-13. In fact, the recent decision by the CGC to end optional inspection at inland terminals for grain bound for the U.S. came about because the Minister has ordered the CGC to focus on its mandate, and not to perform optional services. The mandate is found in the act and C-13 diminishes, not expands the mandate. The services the Minister is referring to appear to exist only in the Minister’s head.

I want to be charitable to Minister of Agriculture Gerry Ritz. He has a reputation for saying things to reporters that, to put it kindly, are creative. I don’t think he lies intentionally, as in his claim that payouts through the CGC Payment Security Program have never reached 30 %. But if the Minister doesn’t know the facts of the situation, if he hasn’t figured out that passing C-13 ends payment security, that there is no alternative waiting in the wings, where does he get his information? If the aides responsible for briefing him are that ignorant of the facts, he should find some new ones. If the Minister himself follows the industry so little that he doesn’t remember any of the bankruptcy cases but one, what is he doing in the position?

So, where does Gerry get his information? The Grain Growers of Canada might be one source. In a February 1, 2008 letter to Ritz, the group claimed that “The termination of bonding system, although controversial, will ultimately be a step in the right direction as the bonds to date have not provided proper coverage anyway.” Perhaps Ritz took this vague bit of misinformation and simply applied his creative juices. He should try to hang with a better informed class of people.

Paul Beingessner beingessner@sasktel.net

The Parks agreement has been signed. The provisions in the new collective agreement are now in effect, and the employer has 150 days to implement the new rates of pay and issue cheques for retroactive pay reflecting the wage increases going back to August 5, 2007.

The four-year collective agreement, which expires on August 4, 2011, (pdf) finally eliminates regional rates of pay and will begin a national pay grid on August 5, 2009, for the GL and GS groups. It provides for across-the-board annual wage increases of 2.3 per cent for the first year from 2007 to 2008 and 1.5 per cent for each of the remaining three years. (pdf) The agreement also strengthens the Workforce Adjustment provisions and requires the government to review the use of contractors and consultants in order to avoid layoffs.

As a separate employer, the CFIA is required by law to seek approval for ratification from the Governor in Council through Parliamentary process. The employer has indicated that it could take three to four weeks for this process to be completed.

Once the employer receives approval from the Governor in Council, the Bargaining team members will sign the collective agreement.

Once the parties have signed off on the new collective agreement, the employer has 90 days to implement the retroactive clauses on salaries and back pay. All other changes to the collective agreement will come into effect as soon as the agreement is signed by all parties – the employer and the union. Your bargaining team members will sign off immediately upon receiving notice of Governor in Council approval.

Meanwhile, your bargaining team will be proofreading the changes to the Collective Agreement. Copies of the updated contract will be issued to all members by the employer.

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Asian Canadian Labour Alliance Meeting & Potluck Dinner
Monday, April 6, 6 pm
BCGEU Headquarters Auditorium
4911 Canada Way, Burnaby
(half block west of Norland, entrance at Iris Crescent)

Join other Asian Canadian union members at a meeting of the Asian Canadian Labour Alliance to discuss plans for Asian Heritage Month. Bring your favourite dish to share for dinner, if you can. Also, hear about the Canadian Labour International Film Festival (CLiFF) and other upcoming activities.

The Asian Canadian Labour Alliance provides a forum for Asian Canadian union members to connect, encourages the increased participation of Asian Canadian union members in the labour movement, and works to strengthen the relationship between labour and our Asian Canadian communities.

For more information about the Asian Canadian Labour Alliance, or for more detailed directions to the meeting, please contact: Lorene Oikawa at 604-291-9611 or lorene.oikawa@bcgeu.ca

Download the poster: Asian Canadian Labour Alliance Meeting & Potluck Dinner (pdf)

Fraser Valley Area Council General Meeting

• Date: Tuesday April 7 2009, 6PM – 8PM
• Location: Clearbrook Library, 32320 George Ferguson Way, Abbotsford
• Agenda: Pre-National Convention discussion
• Guests: Kay Sinclair, REVP BC and Angela Marafon, West Fraser Valley Coordinator – BC Regional Council.

All PSAC members are welcome to attend this meeting. Download the poster (pdf) Fraser Valley Area Council meeting – April 7

Victoria Area Council Meeting

• Tuesday April 7, 2009 @ 5:30PM
• PSAC Regional Office, 210 – 1497 Admirals Road
• Agenda: PSAC Convention Finance Committee report – Peter Neelands
• Provincial Election – Janelle HoShing

Please RSVP to Rosemary at the RO no later than April 6th – 250-953-1050 or   mackenr@psac.com – as food will be served. Download the poster (pdf) – Victoria Area Council meeting

West Fraser Valley Area Council
Knight and Day Restaurant, March 10, 2009 at 5:30 PM

Present:, Jennifer Ho (Nat Local 20088), Jeremy Amor – Chair (UTE Local 20029), Donna Cowan (UVAE Local 20029), Dale Odberg (UVAE Local 20029), Josko Dujmovic (GSU 20008), Sigrid Hagglund (UTE Local 20029), Angela Marafon (UTE Local 20029), Johann Ackermann (UTE Local 20029), Garry Fraser (PSAC Area Rep)
Guest: Debra Payment, Public Compensation Coalition

Download as .pdf – West Fraser Valley – March 10 2009

• WCB Legislation Update – Debra Payment did a presentation about the Public Compensation Coalition. She mentioned that a lot of changes that are happening right now to WCB are more favourable to the employers. The automating of claims takes away the discretion part of the claims. What they did to disability pensions is not good. Although we work for the Federal Government, if a member is injured and they end up getting a disability pension it is actually governed by the provincial WCB rules. It was noted that the disability pensions end at the age of 65 years. She went over some examples and brought brochures on the campaign that is being done right now due to the Provincial Election. The website is www.publiccompensation.ca
• Approval of agenda – Angela/Sigrid – M/S to approve agenda. Carried
• Approval of previous minutes – Josko/Donna – M/S to approve – carried.
• Jeremy received a thank you card from Sharon Tieman, President of the UPCE local for the AC’s donation to their Strike Fund.
• Curry and Kilts Political Fundraiser – Jeremy mentioned that 4 members (Jennifer Ho, Sandy Smith, Dale Odberg, Pam Jabal) attended this event. Angela/Sigrid – M/S that the AC reimburse the PSAC Regional for two tickets ($100 each) to attend the event. Carried.
• April PSAC resolution meeting – Angela asked that the Area council have a meeting to help her decide how she should be voting on the resolutions at the convention. There will be a delegates meeting this Friday so Garry will try to get a copy of the unofficial resolutions for us to deal with. The date was set at April 22nd at 5:30 PM at the Knight & Day Restaurant. – Johann/Dale M/S that the Delegate’s Registration Fee of $225 be paid as soon as possible. (Delegate #517)
• Meeting Minutes – It was requested that the minutes are sent out at least a week ahead of the next meeting. It was also requested that the agenda be sent out ahead of time.
• Bill C-10 – Garry stated that John Gordon asked that we all email the senators about Bill C-10. Johann will email out the info Betty Bannon has sent out. The ramifications of asking the senate to separate the financial portion of Bill C-10 from the rest was discussed.
• Provincial Elections were discussed and Garry Fraser will check with the regional office and report via email as to what is being done by the union to prepare for this election.
• The next meeting will be on June 10th at 5:30 PM. Angela/Josko M/S to pay the food bill. Carried.
• Angela/Sigrid M/S to adjourn. Carried

West Fraser Valley Area Council meeting
Knight and Day Restaurant, December 9, 2008 at 5:30 PM

Present: Diane Peterson (Nat Local 20088), Jennifer Ho (Nat Local 20088), Jeremy Amor – Chair (UTE Local 20029), Donna Cowan (UVAE Local 20029), Dale Odberg (UVAE Local 20029), Josko Dujmovic (GSU 20008), Sigrid Hagglund (UTE Local 20029), Sharon Palis (UTE Local 20029), Johann Ackermann (UTE Local 20029), Garry Fraser (PSAC Area Rep)

View the minutes as .pdf – West Fraser Valley – December 9 2008

• Round table introductions
• Approval of agenda – Dale/Johann M/S to approve agenda. Carried
• Approval of previous minutes – Sharon/Donna M/S to approve – carried. BF prior minutes to next meeting
• Round table discussion on the political situation in Canada. It was mentioned that we will have to become more politically active as unionists.
• Finance – Sharon presented our financial status. We have $6750.00 in the bank. Sharon/Sigrid M/S to accept the financial report. Jennifer/Josko M/S that the Area Council donate $300 to the commissionaires Direct Charter Local 20150 and $300 to the postal union UPCE Local 20101 to support the striking brothers and sisters. Carried unanimously. It was suggested that we encourage our locals to contribute to the striking brothers and sisters. Sharon/Donna M/S to pay $171.54 for today’s dinner. Carried.
• Bargaining updates – Garry mentioned that the UPCE is fighting the employers taking away their sick benefits and making members go through an insurance company to get the benefits. The commissionaires are a new local and are fighting CBSA. Garry handed out the table one bargaining kit for information purposes. Table 3 is at binding arbitration. Garry said that the Table one voting is being done in January 2009.
• It was suggested that the next meeting will be at Virginia Guay’s. The suggestion was accepted for the next meeting. The next meeting will be on Tuesday, March 10th at 5:30 PM.
• Dale/Sharon M/S to adjourn. Carried

Our parliamentary democracy continues to be tarnished with the passage into law of another Conservative omnibus budget bill. Unable to accept their position as a minority government, the Conservatives have chosen, once again, to ram through legislation completely unrelated to the budget without time for proper scrutiny.

Bill C-10 is full of poison pills including wage roll-backs, a new pay equity law for federal public sector workers that is anything but, watered down environmental protection of our navigable waters and considerable loosening of foreign investment limits, among many other changes.

At the same time, the budget and its stimulus measures provide virtually no help for social infrastructure such as child care or for industries and jobs that are not “shovel ready”.

The Conservatives’ callous use of the unemployed to get its budget bill passed – the extra five week’s of benefits only become effective once the bill becomes law – is reprehensible, as is their refusal to fix the system to allow more workers, particularly women, to access the benefits they have been paying for and to provide a reasonable level of benefits. They even reinforced this position when they recently voted against an opposition motion to improve EI. The motion passed but the government will take no action.

The Harper government had a choice. They could have introduced a budget that was just a budget. There was absolutely no reason to include such a wide range of legislative changes in the budget bill, changes that would normally have been introduced as separate pieces of legislation with sufficient time for proper scrutiny by the House of Commons and the Senate. Instead the Conservatives chose to abuse our parliamentary democracy.

More than 550 pages of a bill have been given Royal Assent and have become law. I doubt very few of our MPs and Senators can tell you the extent of Bill C-10, much less what impact it will have on us, our economy, our environment and our country.

C-10 became law but not without a valiant effort by our members and staff who met with, phoned, e-mailed and petitioned both MPs and Senators; who demonstrated and made their opposition known; who joined with women’s groups, the unemployed and other concerned citizens to protest against the ugliest features of this bill. I thank you for everything that you have done.

PSAC will continue its fight against unjust legislation. Challenging bad law in the courts is one avenue. But legal action isn’t enough. We all need to talk to our family, friends and neighbours and to connect with others in our community who believe that what this government is doing is unjust and undemocratic. We need to continue the pressure on our MPs to bring them to account. We need to be prepared for the next election. And we need to start this now.

John Gordon, PSAC National President

The Senate has an opportunity to remove the Public Sector Equitable Compensation Act from the Budget Implementation Act, without delaying the passage of the budget and economic stimulus measures contained in C-10.

Please take a minute to send an email to the members of the Senate National Finance Committee and to the Senators in BC urging them to support the removal of the PSECA from Bill C-10!

For more information, see “Senators on the right track with budget bill” at the national website.

To: Vancouver Area Council members,

We would like to inform you that the Vancouver Area Council meeting originally scheduled for March 12 has been postponed to March 19 at 5:30 pm at the Vancouver RO – 200, 5238 Joyce Street.

The agenda for the Vancouver Area Council March 19 meeting remains the same:

Agenda:

• Discussion regarding VAC funding for observer to PSAC Triennial Convention
• PSAC Convention information – info from Committee members, resolutions of note, Activities for Day of Mourning (April 28)
• Round Table

Please RSVP to 604 430 5631 for the rescheduled meeting of March 19th as a light dinner will be served.

VANCOUVER, B.C. – B.C. fishermen are demanding the federal government take responsibility for the salmon farming industry, and start applying the same rules to the controversial operations as they apply to the commercial fishing sector.

A petition signed by hundreds of fishermen has been sent to Fisheries Minister Gail Shea and Paul Sprout, the Pacific director general of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

• Read the full text of the petition, and add your name to it here.

The petition notes last month’s B.C. Supreme Court ruling that salmon farms should be regulated by the federal department, not the province as they are now.

“Now that the regulatory agency is supposed to be the federal government, we’re saying that the regulations that apply to the commercial sector should also apply to the farm fish sector,” said Joy Thorkelson, with the United Fishermen and Allied Workers’ Union.

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OTTAWA – The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) is congratulating Senators who are making the case that many of the non-budgetary changes in Bill C-10 should be carved out and debated separately.

“From the beginning, PSAC and its members have been trying to make the point with Parliamentarians that the Public Sector Equitable Compensation Act is not a budgetary measure and should be withdrawn from Bill C-10,” says PSAC National President John Gordon.

“We also made the point that while the fast track process being used by the government to adopt Bill C-10 may be appropriate for the budgetary stimulus measures, it is completely inappropriate for other pieces of legislation affected by the bill.”

During second reading debate in the Senate last week, it was pointed out that only 27 of the 550-plus pages of the budget bill actually relate to the budget and economic stimulus measures. As one Senator noted, the Senate is being asked to make amendments to 42 acts of Parliament, many of which have no connection to the budget.

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