Public Service Alliance of Canada BC

James Painter was elected at the PSAC-B.C. Triennial Regional Convention in April 2008 as the Regional Council Youth Representative. He has been working at CRA for 12 months as a term employee at the Central City call centre. He snowboards and climbs a lot and through that has been involved in outdoors organizations that campaigned for environmental causes and outdoor recreation access issues. Young workers can contact him at james.painter@cra-arc.gc.ca.

Nicole Jacobson is the newly elected Alternate Youth Coordinator and Alternate Womens' Coordinator on the PSAC-BC Regional Council. Nicole hails from Nelson, London UK, and most recently a housing co-op near Main and Broadway. She is a part-time Citizen Service Agent on contract with the EI Call Centre in downtown Vancouver. She is also a part-time student at UBC studying psychology & social work. At the grand old age of 28 she is a bicycle commuting-granny-youth. In past and most recent years she has volunteered with: The Vancouver Folk Fest, Vancouver International Film Fest, Vancouver Crisis Centre and spent several years coaching soccer and figure skating. Her meagre yet life-long friends would likely describe her as a whimsical, though intellectual, man-loving feminist. Most days she shares that she is really all three. Please feel welcome to e-mail her with your youth related queries or input at jacobson7070@hotmail.com.

PSAC-BC Young Workers support the BCFED $10 NOW minimum wage campaign. View the latest video and find out why more than 50,000 people have joined this campaign.

Visit bcfed.com for more information on the $10 NOW! campaign, and to send an email to your MLA.

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).

Vancouver, BC, February 16, 2008, the Vancouver and District Labour Council Young Workers’ Committee (VDLC Young Workers’ Committee) is organizing a rally in front of Premier Gordon Campbell’s office (3615 W. 4th Ave) in support of the campaign to increase the minimum wage to $10 per hour and eliminate the $6 per hour “training wage”.

Endorsed by many organizations, including the Vancouver and District Labour Council, the BC Federation of Labour, and the Canadian Federation of Students, the rally sends a unified message to Premier Gordon Campbell. The $8 per hour minimum wage is below the poverty line and not sufficient for minimum wage workers to live on.

“$10 per hour is a reasonable demand and one that can easily be met in our booming economy,” said Stephen Von Sychowski, the chair of the VDLC Young Workers’ Committee. “Young workers are being taken advantage of and paid insufficient wages to live a life that they deserve because of this government’s inaction.”

The minimum wage in BC has not been increased since 2001. According to 2005 Statistics Canada numbers, in order for a minimum wage to earn above the poverty line, they would have to earn at least $10 an hour in 2005 dollars. Inflation has made the situation even worse today.

“We need to change the minimum wage in BC so the term young worker is not synonymous with poor worker,” says Emily Ottewell, who will be speaking at the rally on behalf of the VDLC Young Workers’ Committee. “Gordon Campbell has told the people of BC who counts – his own MLAs just got huge raises. Thousands of people who earn minimum wage are still waiting for theirs.”

The guest speakers for this event include Jim Sinclair, President of the BC Federation of Labour; Emily Ottewell from the VDLC Young Workers’ Committee; and Shamus Reid will be speaking on behalf of the Canadian Federation of Students. There will also be two minimum wage workers who will be telling their tale of living and surviving as minimum wage workers.

More than 50,000 British Columbians have signed the “$10 NOW” petition. Many provinces in Canada have already increased their minimum wages. It is time for British Columbia’s government to legislate a living wage for BC’s young workers.

For more information:
VDLC Young Workers’ Committee Chair, Stephen Von Sychowski, 778-231-4635
Strategic Communication Advisor, Siavash Rokni, 604-782-1950

The Vancouver District Labour Council Young Workers Committee (VDLC) is having a rally in front of Gordon Campbell’s office on Saturday February 16th at 1:00pm to promote the increase of minimum wage. Currently the minimum wage is $8.00 an hour (below the poverty level.) and there is a bogus training wage for new workers where employers are paying as little as $6.00 an hour for the 1 st 500 hours to young and immigrant workers.

Many of the other provinces have already legislated an increase to Minimum wage, BC is falling behind and we have some of the highest costs of living in all of Canada. The labour movement is calling for the abolishment of the $6 training wage and an increase to the minimum wage to $10.00 an hour.

Come out and support some of our provinces most vulnerable workers and the VDLC Young workers. Let’s make this rally a success!

• February 16th /08
• 3615 W. 4th Ave. (In Front Of Gordon Campbell’s Office.)
• 1:00pm
• 8 Bucks Sucks!

You can also show your support by signing the petition on the BC Federation of Labour website.

PSAC Regional Council Youth Representative and co-chair of the BC Fed Young Workers’ Committee, Jamey Mills, will be speaking at this event. The PSAC Vancouver & District Area Council is a member of the May Day Organizing Committee.

MAY DAY 2008: May Day Organizing Committee presents ‘Young Workers Unite!’ a community Forum & Discussion on the present issues and struggles of young workers in Vancouver and how they are organizing themselves

• Thursday, 7 February 2008, 6:30 PM
• Organizing Centre for Economic & Social Justice
• 672 E. Broadway, Vancouver BC (Take the #8 or #9 and get off at Broadway and Fraser)
• Speakers: IWW-Vancouver, Filipino-Canadian Youth Alliance-Vancouver, Bus Riders’ Union, B.C. Federation Young Workers’ Committee
• With feature film: “Eyes on the Fries”

more info: ilps_canada@shawcable.com

source: The Ottawa Citizen, Jan 11, pg A1

Fat City is back. And according to a study of federal public service employment trends released yesterday, it’s putting on weight at a rapid rate.

The Statistics Canada study also found that, on average, public servants in this region are younger and more highly trained than those elsewhere in Canada.

The study reported that the number of people who work for the “core public administration” in the national capital region, which includes Ottawa, Gatineau and surrounding areas, grew by a stunning 20 per cent between 1995 and 2006, an additional 12,800 jobs.

By contrast, federal employment in the category fell 5.6 per cent nationally during the same period, shrinking by more than 10,000 to just under 178,000.

The core public administration represents nearly half of all federal employment and includes almost the entire public service other than the Canada Revenue Agency and the Canada Border Services Agency.

(more…)

They have been dubbed “the Millennials,” the most socially conscious generation since the sixties, the most tech savvy, and a force to be reckoned with in the work place.

Generation Y are the youths of today born anytime between 1978 and 1998 and provide a significant chunk of the global workforce.

However, a common disconnect is felt between Generation Y and the three other generations which make up the workforce — the veterans, the boomers and Generation X — which is resulting in the inability for employers to both understand and retain their young employees.

In a reaction to a report released on these issues in 2005 called The Skilled Force Initiative, groups across the province have been encouraged to create workshops for employers and Generation Y potential employees, to help bridge the gap between them and create an understanding that will benefit both groups.

Community Futures in Nelson will be hosting a two-day workshop that will run on November 16 and 26 between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m., specifically for employers who feel they are having similar problems and would like to learn more about this upcoming generation and how to understand and work with it.

The workshops are being sponsored by the federal government and so will be free to those that register.
“The workshops are not meant to reflect negatively on the youths of today — that’s not what it is about. We are simply trying to explain some of the misconceptions and the misperceptions that employers have of Generation Y and how to work with them,” said Pamela Clausen, a self-employment counsellor at Community Futures.

The 2005 report highlighted the issues faced by today’s employers by Generation Y. For example employers felt that the workers attitude towards work is not appropriate for the workplace, they don’t dress appropriately or have respect, they lack pride in their work, and they lack people skills.

“They are raised in an era where they were given lots of things to do on timely schedules. They are offered a lot of choices and are allowed to negotiate; they are encouraged to talk about their feelings and voice their opinions; and so now they are going into the workplace and some managers and owners are having difficulty dealing with these kind of things,” Clausen said.

At a time when the unemployment rate is at a 30 year low, employers are turning to Generation Y for numbers, but with the lack of understanding between past and present generations, employers are finding it increasingly difficult to retain young employees.

“It is such a high cost to deal with employee turnover. When an employer loses an employee, they have to go through the process of hiring again which cost money — it is much better and cheaper to retain staff,” said Clausen.

“The workshops will explain where the youths are coming from, and why they are the way they are. We will also be working to help employers in attracting youths, hiring them, retaining them, working with them, and managing them.”

Clausen commented that Generation Y would have witnessed their parents in recession and resultantly are less likely to be loyal to a company or business and more likely to be loyal to a person like a manager who gets on well with them and understands them.

“In previous generations we did what we were told to, it was hierarchical, it was commander control, and you did your job. Kids today see work as something to do between weekends off, whereas in previous generations you lived to work,” she said.

The workshops will contain a number of presentations by Clausen, who is the sole facilitator of the event, and there will also be a number of problem solving activities and opportunities to get in groups and come up with ideas to help each other out.

“Any manager or business owner who is working with Generation Y staff can benefit from the two upcoming workshops - they’ll be interactive, fun and they’ll take away a lot of tools and resources to help their business,” she said.

A further work shop will be organized before the end of the year that will be aimed at generation Y and helping them understand some of the issues that older generations have and how to deal with them.

Source: Nelson Daily News, Nov 16 2007

I want to share with you our latest effort in the Campaign to increase BC’s minimum wage and win a long overdue pay raise for 250,000 low paid workers.

$10 NOW: BC Workers Need a Raise is a short video piece where working people talk about why our minimum wage needs to be increased. It’s just been posted on You Tube, and you can watch it now …

Please let your friends and family know about the video and share it with them.

Thanks to the thousands of people who’ve taken part in our 10 for $10 challenge in October. We generated more than 10,000 new signatures on our petition in the lead up to the November 1st anniversary of the last time B.C.’s minimum was boosted in 2001. Now 50,000 British Columbians have signed on to show their support for a $10 minimum wage.

I also want to give you my commitment that the B.C. Federation of Labour Campaign will continue until the minimum wage is increased and tens of thousands of workers are brought up to the poverty line.

Keep up the fight!

Jim Sinclair, President, B.C. Federation of Labour

via the YMCA

Great opportunities for youth (15 to 30 years old) - PAID work experience within the Federal Government. For more information, contact Lisa Okada, Program Facilitator - Federal Public Sector Youth Internship Program, YMCA of Greater Vancouver. Tel: (604) 685-8066 or Toll Free: 1-888-298-3947.

Opportunities for youth that have not completed high school (and are not currently attending full time studies):

Vancouver:

• Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Downtown Vancouver - Priority Administration Intern
• Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Burnaby - Administrative Intern
• Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Vancouver - Health Services Intern
• Canada School of Public Service, Downtown Vancouver - Administrative Intern
• Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Burnaby - Administrative Support Intern
• Service Canada, Surrey - Administrative Intern
• Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Downtown Vancouver - Citizenship & Immigration Counsellor Assistant
• Department of Justice, Downtown Vancouver - Material Management Intern

Abbotsford:

• Correctional Service of Canada, Pacific Institution - Administrative Intern
• Correctional Service of Canada, Matsqui Institution - Administrative Office Assistant Intern
• Correctional Service of Canada, Pacific Institution - Information Gathering Intern
• Correctional Service of Canada, Pacific Institution - Information Gathering Intern

Opportunities for youth that have completed high school but have not completed any more than 2 year of full time post-secondary education and are not presently in full time studies:

Vancouver:

• Pacific Council of Senior Officials, Downtown Vancouver - Administrative Intern
• Citizenship & Immigration Canada, Downtown Vancouver - Citizenship & Immigration Services Intern
• Citizenship & Immigration Canada, Downtown Vancouver - Citizenship & Immigration Services Intern
• Public Service Commission, Downtown Vancouver - General Administrative Intern
• Public Service Commission, Downtown Vancouver - Human Resources Intern
• Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Downtown Vancouver - Human Resources Intern

Eligibility Criteria:

• 15 to 30 years of age
• Non-Graduates of High School or High School graduates with no
  more than 2 years of full time post secondary education
• Canadian Citizens or Landed Immigrants

via BCFed

In conjunction with the PSAC Leadership Training Conference taking place this week in downtown Vancouver, come and take part in the next petitioning event for the B.C. Federation of Labour’s $10 NOW campaign Sat. Oct. 20th.

• Saturday, Oct. 20, 9:45 am to 12 noon
• meet at the Port of the World room, Renaissance Hotel, 1133 W. Hastings, Vancouver then;
• disperse to solicit signatures in downtown Vancouver

It’s an important event because the BC Fed is trying to get as many petition signatures as possible before Nov. 1 - the sixth anniversary of the last time B.C.’s minimum wage was increased. The event is being organized in conjunction with our leadership training conference and is designed to link PSAC leaders with activists who’ve been part of the minimum wage campaign and share skills.

The PSAC will host a lunch for all volunteers back at the Renaissance Hotel, and the BCFed will have a premium for all those who take part. If you’re interested please contact Stephen Howard at the B.C. Federation of Labour, 604-430-1421 or cell 604-220-2965.

Jamey Mills, PSAC-BC Youth Coordinator and BC Fed Young Worker’s Committee chair, was one of the determined volunteers who helped campaign to get the “Grant’s Law” approved. When told about the regulation’s approval, Mills commented, “I was so excited about this! It was such an empowering moment, it’s really sad it took such an unfortunate event to get a progressive change like this in place.”

• If you are a young worker and member of the Public Service Alliance of Canada and want to get involved and support similar work, please contact Jamey Mills at jamey_m@telus.net for more information.

VICTORIA - A regulation requiring a mandatory prepayment system at service stations throughout the province will be in effect Feb. 1, 2008, to help protect employees who work late at night, Labour and Citizens’ Services Minister Olga Ilich said today.

“Government’s priority is to protect all workers in British Columbia,” said Ilich. “We want to make sure that people return home safely after a day’s work.”

The regulation makes a prepayment system mandatory in service stations across B.C. 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This expands on other regulations brought in following the tragic death of station attendant Grant De Patie in 2005.

(more…)

Dear Sisters and Brothers:

The B.C. Federation of Labour is pleased to announce that the BC Fed Health & Safety Centre is continuing the Occupational Health & Safety and Labour Education Program into the 2007/2008 school year.

For the past four years, the Centre has been training young workers from various affiliates to facilitate high school sessions across the province.

In 2003, the B.C. Federation of Labour and the BC Teachers’ Federation introduced this Program to prepare young workers to talk to the students in the high schools about their rights in the workplace. Since then, over 30,000 high school students have participated in the workshops, and over 40 young union members have been trained to deliver these workshops. The success of the Program is due to the commitment and passion of these young facilitators.

(more…)

Friday, May 25th 2007 – East Vancouver’s Sir Charles Tupper Secondary School will set the scene for Roots, Rhymes and Resistance X: Our Beautiful Struggle (RRR X). This tenth installment of this annual cultural event is poised to deliver Vancouver’s finest in Pinoy hip-hop and progressive politics.

• Roots, Rhymes and Resistance X: Our Beautiful Struggle
• Friday, May 25th, 2007
• Doors Open: 6pm at Sir Charles Tupper Secondary School, 419 East 24th Avenue

Organized by Vancouver’s Filipino-Canadian Youth Alliance/Ugnayan ng Kabataang Pilpino sa Canada (FCYA/UKPC), RRR promises to be another jam-packed affair as part of this year’s rendition of Asian Heritage Month. Always a stand out, RRR once again remains the only event in this years line up organized by Filipino youth for the community and it’s supporters. Likewise it maintains the unique mesh of integrating current political issues affecting the Philippines and the Lower Mainland’s Filipino Community.

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Come out and help with this $10 minimum wage campaign event and see a Giants hockey game.

• Where and when: Pacific Coliseum, Friday, April 27th at 6 p.m.

The B.C. Fed Young Workers Committee are going to distribute the $10 NOW Campaign material and gather signatures on a peition at the Pacific Coliseum. Unions are being asked to help out with this important campaign.  People will be meeting at the main entrance to the Pacific Coliseum starting at 6 p.m. before the Giants game at 7:30.

Anyone who helps with the petition blitz will be given a ticket to the Giants playoff game against the Prince George Cougars (popcorn not included.)

The B.C. Federation of Labour is stepping up efforts to gain a much-needed pay raise for BC’s lowest paid workers by winning an increase in the provincial minimum wage.

Please join us on:

• DATE: SATURDAY, MARCH 24, 2007
• TIME: 1:00 to 3:00 pm
• PLACE: BROADWAY AND COMMERCIAL SKYTRAIN STATION

Together with members of our Young Workers Committee and special guests like NDP MP Libby Davies, we’ll be distributing campaign materials and getting signatures on our $10 NOW petition.

Visit bcfed.com for more information about the $10 Now campaign.

The latest profile of federal workers shows women have made important progress in the public service.

The proportion of women within the segment of the public service known as the “core public administration,” or CPA increased steadily over the period studied — 1995 and 2006 — and since 1999, women have outnumbered men, Statistics Canada data released yesterday showed.

The study compared data from 1995 and 2006 to track employment trends in the federal public service and how workers compare to the rest of the country’s workforce.

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Visible-minority immigrants are slower to integrate into Canadian society than their white, European counterparts, and feel less Canadian, suggesting multiculturalism doesn’t work as well for non-whites, according to a landmark report.

The study, based on an analysis of 2002 Statistics Canada data, found that the children of visible-minority immigrants exhibited a more profound sense of exclusion than their parents.

Visible-minority newcomers, and their offspring, identify themselves less as Canadians, trust their fellow citizens less and are less likely to vote than white immigrants from Europe.

The findings suggest that multiculturalism, Canada’s official policy on interethnic relations since 1971, is not working as well for newer immigrants or for their children, who hail largely from China, South Asia and the Caribbean, conclude co-authors Jeffrey Reitz, a University of Toronto sociologist, and Rupa Banerjee, a doctoral candidate.

Continue reading at the Globe and Mail.

Pinoy Poetiks: a night of poetry and cultural performances by Filipino youth and the community to fundraise for the victims of typhoon “Reming” in the Philippines

• When: Saturday Jan. 6th, 2007 at 7pm
• Where: Rhizome Cafe, 317 East Broadway (near Kingsway - across Kingsgate Mall)
• Suggested minimum donation: $5

Just as we entered the holiday season, another tragedy has befallen the Filipino people –mudflows from the slopes of the Mayon volcano, triggered by heavy rains from typhoon “Reming” (international codename: Durian) buried at least eight villages in Albay province in the Bicol region. As of December 1, the mudflows have killed at least 338 people, more bodies are still being recovered. Local officials have warned that the death toll could hit a thousand.

Please come and support and help us continue to build our direct people-to-people support in the face of increasing hardships and adversity facing the Filipino people.

Organized by Ugnayan ng Kabataang Pilipino sa Canada/Filipino-Canadian Youth Alliance-Vancouver

Last weekend brought together young workers from across British Columbia and two young workers from Alberta and Ontario to participate in the YOUR* course (*Young, Organizing, Unionizing and Resisting) held in Vancouver from September 30 - October 1, 2006.

Their expectations ranged from wanting to learn more about their union, meeting other active youth, hearing other people’s perspectives on the important issues for youth, discussing why youth are/not involved in the union and learning how to get more involved.

Click here for some photos!