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

Locked out workers take boycott of Sears to holiday shoppers

Vancouver – Locked out service technicians employed by Sears Canada, will be taking their boycott of Sears straight to holiday shoppers this weekend.

The 77 workers, members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) 213, have been locked out since October 1, 2007, when Sears Canada imposed a collective agreement, with no negotiated wage increases, cuts to holiday time, and a longer work week with no overtime.

The workers will be joined by Jim Sinclair, President, B.C. Federation of Labour, and Rick Dowling, International Executive Council Member, Business-Manager, IBEW 213.

WHAT: SEARS CANADA BOYCOTT
WHEN: 10:30 am, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2007
WHERE: OUTSIDE METROTOWN SEARS (4750 Kingsway, Burnaby, B.C.)

For more information, please contact Jessie Uppal at 604-220-0739

Tell Harper to Stop Blocking a Climate Agremeent In Bali

Right now, a major UN summit in Bali has just a few days left to hammer out an agreement on stopping catastrophic climate change. But instead of helping out, Canada is actually sabotaging the talks! On Saturday, experts gave us the global “fossil” award for being the worst country in the world on climate change.

There’s still a few days left to save Canada’s reputation — and the climate — but we need a massive democratic roar to remind our Prime Minister what Canada is all about, and stop him from blocking the world at Bali.
Click below to sign the petition, which will be advertised with the number of signatures in an ad campaign across Canada this week. The goal is to get 25,000 people to sign in the next 3 days — before the ads run.
After you sign, forward this
information to all your friends and family right away.
Click here to sign petition.

Prime Minister Harper’s short-sighted, undemocratic and big oil-driven policy on climate change is damaging the world and destroying our image as a good country. We’re supposed to be the nice guys, who try to do the right thing in the world.
The vast majority of Canadians are hopping mad on this issue — we can win this. We just need to show Harper how serious we are that he change course. Sign up now and forward this
information to everyone you know - we’ve got just 3 days to hit 25,000 signatures!

Thanks for you help!

PS - Here are links to some more info on this:

David Suzuki (the Nature of Things) calls the government’s spin on climate change “humiliating” and “ludicrous”:
click here to access link

The former editor-in-chief of CBC news discusses the damage done by Canada’s climate policy to our international reputation:
click here to access link

UNITE HERE Local 40 members at 3 Vancouver area hotels are currently bargaining new contracts. These hotels are the Hilton Metrotown, the Holiday Inn Broadway and the Delta Vancouver Airport. UNITE HERE is committed to fighting for the same standards at these 3 hotels that workers in the downtown hotels achieved in their recent contract campaign and need our support.

Please take a moment to fill out the attached Unite HERE pledge (pdf), which reads:

I/We Publicly Endorse UNITE HERE members and their struggle for justice in the following hotels: Delta Vancouver Airport, Hilton Metrotown, Holiday Inn Vancouver Centre. I/We will not Eat, Sleep, or Meet at the Delta Vancouver Airport, Hilton Metrotown, or Holiday Inn Vancouver centre in the event of a labour dispute.

And mail or fax back to the UNITE HERE office at: UNITE HERE! Local 40,4853 Hastings Street, Burnaby BC V5C 2L1 -fax: 604-291-2676

In addition if your Component, Local, or other group is planning on holding an event at any of these hotels, we ask that you contact the hotel directly (sample letters: hilton, delta - both MS Word .doc) and let them know you support UNITE HERE members in their fight for a fair collective agreement.

For more information, visit www.local40union.com or www.hotelworkersrising.org

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.

The PSAC stands in strong support with the Assembly of First Nations’ National Day of Action to Make Poverty History. We encourage all members across the country to participate in the actions taking place on June 29, and in the AFN’s Make Poverty History for First Nations campaign.

In Vancouver: Solidarity for Aboriginal justice

• March and Rally
• March: 11:00 AM - Vanier Park to Library Square
• (Begin assembling at 9:30, Coast Guard Station by the Burrard St Bridge)
• Rally: 12:00 Noon - Library Square (300 West Georgia)
• more info: (604) 684-0231 or www.ubcic.bc.ca/NDOA.htm or NDOA@ubcic.bc.ca

The Make Poverty History for First Nations campaign highlights the struggles facing First Nations people and communities. First Nations and all Canadians must take action together and demand that Canada’s political leaders honour their commitments to end poverty.

Too many First Nations children, elders, families and communities are living in conditions that should not be acceptable to anyone in Canada:

• 1 in 4 First Nations children live in poverty.
• First Nations youth commit suicide at 5 to 8 times the Canadian rate as a result of poverty and despair.
• High school graduation rates for First Nations youth are half the Canadian rate.
• Close to 1 in 4 First Nations communities are under boil drinking water advisories.
• Mould contaminates almost half of all First Nations homes.
• More than half of First Nations people are not employed.
• Diabetes among First Nations people is at least three times the national average.
• First Nations suffer from Third World diseases such as tuberculosis at 8 to 10 times the rate of Canadians in general.

More than half of First Nations people are under 23 years of age. If poverty is not addressed today, it will continue to negatively impact First Nations families and communities into the future.

(more…)

Dear PSAC Members:

Please join the campaign to raise the minimum wage! The lowest paid workers in BC need our support.

I’m asking you to support the campaign to boost the minimum wage in BC to at least $10 an hour and to eliminate the $6 ”training rate” for new workers (AKA another subsidy for big business.).

The Campbell government has frozen the minimum wage at $8 since November 2001. The labour movement says five years without a raise is too long. Minimum-waged workers in BC cannot live on their wages. We’re calling for an immediate increase to at least $10, closely followed by regular future increases that are tied to cost of living increases.

A minimum wage of at least $10 would benefit 115,000 workers who earn the minimum, plus another 135,000 workers who make less than $10 per hour.

Please click on the following link to go to the B.C. Federation of Labour campaign site and join thousands of people by signing the $10 NOW petition.

Please forward this link to friends and family who also support the call to raise the minimum wage. Thank you.

In solidarity, Kay Sinclair, Regional Executive Vice-President, BC

via Nick Humphreys, BC Regional Council

1. The certainty of spills
2. The impossible clean-up
3. The local ecology
4. Jobs and communities
5. Global warming

It looks like the Harper government is going to lift the ban on oil tanker traffic in BC’s inside waters.

The tankers would run through Caamano Sound and up the inlets to Kitimat. The likelihood of a spill are high and the results for the environment, including our salmon resource would be catastrophic.

Read more and sign a petition opposing the lift of the moratorium at www.notankers.ca.

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.

Congratulations to all of you who helped convince your MP to vote in favour of Bill C-257, the Anti-scab Legislation, at Second Reading. Not surprisingly, business leaders mobilized during the committee stage to get MPs to change their mind. You may have noticed the fear mongering in the media. Under the leadership of the CLC your union has worked hard to counter the business lobby.

• More background from the CLC.

We are running out of time. Bill C-257 will be voted on at Third Reading on March 21. Members of Parliament are in their ridings until March 16. This is your last week to talk to your MP in person and let them know that you are watching and you expect them to vote in favour of Bill C-257 and working people. The following MPs particularly need to hear from their constituents:

• Ron Cannan (Kelowna Lake Country)
• Raymond Chan (Richmond)
• Hedy Fry (Vancouver Centre)
• Colin Mayes (Okanagan-Shuswap)
• Keith Martin (Esquimalt- Juan de Fuca)
• Sukh Dhaliwal (Newton- North Delta) Update: We have been informed Mr. Dhaliwal supports the legislation and will vote in favour of it.
• Stephen Owen (Vancouver Quadra)

Please take a moment to call or send an email to your MP and let them know that replacement workers are bad for working families, bad for business, and bad for Canada!

• By phone: MP’s contact information.
• Email your MP at the regional website.

In Solidarity, Janet Routledge, BC Regional Coordinator, Public Service Alliance of Canada

James Little, reporting from CFB Comox … updated Feb 9: Thanks to Mark Miller (UNDE 21016) for some more photos.

PSAC members employed at IMP Group Limited set up information lines at the gates of CFB Comox in the early mornings of Feb. 6th and 7th. These members were informing their co-workers of the lack of progress five months of negotiations have achieved. The PSAC has recently asked the federal government to appoint a conciliation officer in an effort to speed up the bargaining process.

Each morning we set up the information lines at 06:30 hrs and the member participation was outstanding. The Commissionaires, the Military Police and members of the military with their loaded guns, greeted us each morning. Turns out the military was also conducting an identification search at the same time as our plant gate. This actually turned out to be a benefit for our members as the military was slowing traffic making it easier for us to distribute the over 400 flyers each day.

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December 6 is the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women in Canada. Established in 1991 by the Parliament of Canada, this day marks the anniversary of the murders in 1989 of 14 young women at l’Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal. They died because they were women.

As well as commemorating the 14 young women whose lives ended in an act of gender-based violence that shocked the nation, December 6 represents an opportunity for Canadians to reflect on the phenomenon of violence against women in our society. It is also an opportunity to consider the women and girls for whom violence is a daily reality, and to remember those who have died as a result of gender-based violence. And finally, it is a day on which communities can consider concrete actions to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls.

Violence against women remains a reality in our world. Federal funding for equality-seeking women’s groups is inadequate and threatened. Two dollars for every woman and girl in our society should be allocated for women’s equality. It is not too much to ask.

Send an email message to your MP to raise awareness.

It has been three months since the XVI International AIDS Conference in Toronto and the Government of Canada has yet to announce its plans to combat the pandemic.

On August 18th, the day the conference closed, Health Minister Tony Clement promised the Government would act. He said: “Is there more to do? Yes there is and we’ll be announcing that in the near future.”

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Saturday October 14th, rain or shine!

The Make Poverty History Campaign will be holding this Walk & Rally from Peace Flame Park to the Vancouver Art Gallery to coincide with global mobilizations around the International Day of Poverty Eradication.

Last year, Global Television estimated 2000 of us were marching. Let’s double that number this year. Come join us for some great music and learn how you can support others in our community who are working to eliminate local and global poverty. Bring friends and family! Bring out your whole school or office!

The walk starts at 11 am at Seaforth Peace Flame Park (south end of Burrard Street Bridge). March to the Vancouver Art Gallery. Estimated arrival time 12 pm.

Festivities begin at 12 noon at the VAncouver Art Gallery - Guest speakers, music, NGO booths, and more!

For more information contact bccic@web.ca. Make Poverty History is one of the campaigns the PSAC Social Justice Fund supports. Download the poster here (pdf).

Please join Concerned Canadians and Filipinos in Canada in marking the 34-year anniversary of the declaration of Martial Law in the Philippines.

On September 21, 1972 in the Philippines, former dictator Ferdinand Marcos declared Martial Law. For 14 years, the Filipino people suffered unprecedented human rights violations and terror — drawing the attention and sympathy of the world. The iron-fisted dictator Marcos was eventually defeated by the Filipino people and the solidarity of peace-loving people all over the world.

Now, 34 years later, the Filipino people are once again facing another iron-fisted president. Since 2001, there have been 750 extra-judicial killings, 184 forced disapperances, and more arbitrary arrests under Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s administration. These gross human rights violations have intensified under Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her military counter-insurgency campaign Oplan Bantay Laya (Operation Freedom Watch). The overwhelming majority of the victims of Oplan Bantay Laya are leaders and members of progressive community organizations, like the Cordillera Peoples’ Alliance, trade unions, human rights groups, and political parties, like Bayan Muna (People First) asserting national freedom, social justice, democracy, and lasting peace in the Philippines.

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via Multi-Union Pride

The fall session of Parliament begins today. That means we’re in the home stretch leading to a vote to re-open the divisive equal marriage debate, which Prime Minister Harper has promised will take place this fall.

We believe we’ll win this vote, and put an end to the threat that now hangs over LGBT people and all Canadians who believe in equality. However, equality opponents know this is their last chance, and they are going all out to pressure MPs. They wrongly say equal marriage is a threat to children and to religious freedom and that Bill C-38 was rushed through Parliament without proper study.

According to a September 4 Hill Times story, an alliance of 13 traditional marriage, family and religious advocacy groups will launch a 15-point lobbying campaign beginning on Sept. 18. The alliance will bring religious leaders, local leaders, and political leaders to Ottawa to meet with their respective MPs, and will have prayer rallies in front of MP offices across the country.

Read more at equal-marriage.ca and tell your MP you oppose re-opening the divisive equal marriage debate.

Via South Vancouver Island Area Council

Help ensure sustainable, local jobs and sustainability in BC’s forests!

• Saturday September 16, 2006, Victoria BC
• 11:30AM
• Meet at Centennial Square by City Hall (Pandora and Broad St.), then march down Government Street to Legislative Buildings
• 12 noon - 1:30PM
• Rally at Legislative Buildings with PPWC, Steelworkers, B.C. Federation of Labour, Save Our Valley Alliance, Youbou Timberless Society, WCWC, Sierra Club, NDP, Green Party

Vote for better aid

Hundreds of thousands of Canadians support the Make Poverty History call for “more and better aid”. It means more aid spending for the world’s poor but better spending too - more focused, more effective. Now there is a chance to make sure that Members of Parliament (MPs) vote for not just more aid but better aid.

On September 19th and 20th MPs in the House of Commons will debate and vote on legislation (Bill C-293) to ensure Canada’s aid spending will go exclusively for poverty reduction and the promotion of human rights along with humanitarian assistance. It’s a great idea for a law that will make sure aid is not mis-spent and will go to beat global poverty.

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Earlier this week Union of Solicitor General Employees (USGE) members held a workplace demonstration / plantgate at Kent and Mountain Institutions in Agassiz. They distributed leaflets and spoke with people as they arrived for work. Here is one of the leaflets (pdf).

The constant pressure to work harder and longer along with the stress from working outside of their job descriptions has forced USGE members to take action in an effort to bring recognition to their plight. USGE has repeatedly warned management that their bullying tactics in conjunction with their unwillingness to hire appropriate numbers of staff would lead to an unhealthy work environment.

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from Monica Urrutia, PSAC Regional Representative

Hi all,

Many of you know that I am very active in the Filipino community. As the press release below states the political killings in the Philippines keeps increasing, so the Filipino community and our supporters and allies are also stepping up starting off with weekly actions at the Philippine consulate. International condemnation seems to be one of the few things the current Philippine President responds or reacts to. With that in mind I am sending this out to those within the PSAC and the labour movement whom I’ve met or worked with and ask for your support.

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