Public Service Alliance of Canada BC

Tom Cochrane wants you to help make poverty history at the 2006 AIDS Conference: August 2006

The eyes of the world will be on Toronto August 13 to 18 at the XVI International AIDS Conference. This meeting brings together thousands of delegates from around the globe and Canada’s role in fighting the AIDS pandemic will be under the spotlight.

Over 40 million people worldwide are living with HIV/AIDS and 95% of these people are living in the developing world. Poverty fuels the AIDS pandemic and is making millions more poor. To address the AIDS crisis, world leaders must take action to make poverty history.

At the G8 meeting in 2005, heads of state promised to reduce debt loads of the poorest countries. Unfortunately, the G8 plan will help only one-third of the countries with high HIV rates, and just 13% of the debts of 60 countries overwhelmed by AIDS will be cancelled.

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Progressive Filipinos in Vancouver will rally outside of the Philippine Consulate offices in downtown Vancouver this Monday to call for a stop to the political killings of activists in the Philippines and for the ouster of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

According to the human rights group Karapatan, since 2001 when Arroyo came to power, there have been 690 extra judicial killings of political activists and other civilians. Women and children, priests, lawyers, trade unionists, peasants and progressive politicians are included in the list of those killed. The list may be viewed at cp-union.org.

In Vancouver, a mock funeral march and protest rally and vigil will take place in front of the Philippine Consulate offices at 700 West Pender (at Granville) on Monday, July 24, 2006 from 3:30 – 6:00 p.m. Rallyists will display the names and some pictures of the 690 people killed on tombstones and light candles to protest what they see as the Arroyo-sanctioned killings.

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This is to inform you that the members of COPE 15 working at Island Savings Credit Union in Shawnigan Lake, Mill Bay and Duncan commenced strike action on Saturday July 15th. If you are in the area between the hours of 9:00am and 5:00 pm please drop by and give them your support.

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OTTAWA - Due to the lack of transparency by Canada Post in refusing to reveal its development plans for this public service, members of the Union of Postal Communications Employees (UPCE) of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) will support a citizens’ action against the Crown Corporation on Monday, June 19, at noon.

“We hope to obtain answers to the questions we have been asking Canada Post management for months,” explained UPCE President Richard Des Lauriers.

“Unfortunately, instead of getting firm answers as to the impact of the Corporation’s development plan on services to the public, we have received meaningless slogans. The time has come to go over to Canada Post offices and get the answers.”

The UPCE and PSAC are therefore supporting the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) citizens’ search that will take place on Monday, June 19, at noon at the Head Office of Canada Post at 2701 Riverside Drive in Ottawa. This is when union members will peacefully enter the offices of Canada Post and seek the documentation that they have been asking management for but have been unable to obtain.

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The 385 members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada at the Ekati diamond mine in the Northwest Territories have been on strike since April 7 in their attempt to negotiate a first collective agreement.  They are up against a multinational corporation, BHP Billiton, which is refusing to bargain in good faith, is using scabs and is trying to break the union at all cost.

The union movement cannot allow this company to stifle our rights without a fight.  BHP must be told clearly that workers in Canada do have a right to union representation, that they have the right to bargain collectively and that they refuse to allow scabs to steal their livelihood.

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Via email: Costa Rica has long stood out in Latin America as a peaceful and democratic society.  Its President, Oscar Arias Sanchez, is a Nobel Peace Prize winner.  It’s not the kind of place you’d usually find LabourStart calling for a global campaign — but that’s exactly what we’re doing today.

Costa Rica is now the kind of country where trade union leaders have their lives threatened, union offices get raided by armed men, and courts are mobilized in an effort to break unions.  All this takes place in the context of the struggle by unions against CAFTA — the free trade agreement between several Central American countries and the USA.

Costa Rican unions are appealing for a large number of email protest messages to be send to the country’s president and other leaders. Please lend your support to this campaign today: visit labourstart.org and send an email message to the Costa Rican government.

Via Canadians for Equal Marriage: The equal marriage issue is heating up on Parliament Hill, and we need your help.

Although we’re ahead in the vote count, equal marriage opponents are asking Mr. Harper to delay the motion to re-open the debate. They want this delay so they have more time to mobilize against us.

Stephen Harper has confirmed he’ll hold a vote on re-opening equal marriage. So the only issue is when. How long will he delay that vote? Until he thinks he has the votes to win? Until after the next election?

THE ONLY WAY TO PREVENT THIS DELAY IS TO CONTACT YOUR MP!! Do it now so they know we won’t tolerate a delay. Do it now so they know it’s not okay to pander to the religious right. Go to www.equal-marriage.ca/election.php to e-mail your MP in just a few clicks.

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Via Labourstart.org: Nothing stays fresh forever. Not food, not news, and not online campaigns.

Online campaigns have their own typical life spans. In the first few days, they often succeed in mobilizing large numbers of people to send off messages of protest. After that, support steadily diminishes. After a few weeks, only a trickle of messages — if even that — reaches the target employer or government. This sends the wrong message, we think.

That’s why at LabourStart we tend to suspend campaigns that haven’t reached a satisfactory end after 90 days. We don’t want employers and governments to think that people have forgotten.

But this week, we’re making an exception to our rule — and we have a very special request to all of you.

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Diamonds produced in the North West Territories at the BHP Billiton Ekati Diamond Mine are “dirty”. BHP Billiton has been promoting its signature “Aurias” diamond as “conflict free” rather than “blood diamonds” produced in war-torn countries like Sierra Leone and the Congo. But Ekati is now the site of a major labour conflict.

Why should this concern you?

As one of the largest multi-national corporations doing business in Canada, BHP has chosen to force its employees into a strike by failing to negotiate a fair and reasonable first collective agreement.

Canadians appreciate employers who respect our tradition of bargaining in good faith…especially when the employer’s profits were $7.5 billion in 2005!

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Egale is writing to you because the upcoming Census 2006 treats same-sex couples unfairly. We’re hoping you will take a simple action to show your support for same-sex couples across Canada.

The census form instructs same-sex couples who are married to check the ‘Other’ category at the bottom of the list of relationships, rather than checking the top box marked ‘Husband or wife.’

Egale Canada, the national organization which advances equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans-identified people in Canada, is recommending that same-sex married couples list their relationship as ‘Husband or wife’ rather than ‘Other.’ According to Statistics Canada, either response will be captured correctly as a married same-sex couple. In addition, Egale is calling on all concerned Canadians to add a comment on Page 6 of the questionnaire, such as ‘Same-Sex couples deserve equal treatment.’

Please take further action to make express your support for same-sex couples. Please visit http://www.egale.ca/census2006, and see how easy it is to make your voice heard.