Public Service Alliance of Canada BC

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.

|inline

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.

|inline

TO: PSAC National Officers and Local Presidents in the BC Region (Please post and distribute within your membership)

FROM: John Gordon

RE: Vacancy: Alternate REVP BC

Since Patty Ducharme has been elected National Executive Vice-President at the 2006 PSAC Convention, Kay Sinclair is now assuming the responsibilities of the REVP for B.C. Therefore, we need to proceed to the election of the Alternate REVP BC.

The following election procedures will be followed:

|inline

OTTAWA — The Public Service Alliance of Canada is planning its first organizing drive of the thousands of students it claims the federal government hires every year as ”cheap labour.”

John Gordon, PSAC’s newly elected president, said the campaign is aimed at ensuring students get top-notch job opportunities and income without being ”exploited as cheap labour” and undermining the jobs and security of regular public servants.

”The youth today aren’t much different than the youth of yesterday,” said Gordon. ”When you join the workforce as a student, you learn pretty quickly that you are doing the same job as the colleague next to you but you’re not getting the same pay and benefits.”

|inline

TORONTO - John Gordon has been elected as the National President of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC). Gordon has been the union’s National Executive Vice-President since 2000. Competing against three other candidates, Gordon was elected on the third ballot. Over 400 Convention delegates participated in this process.

“PSAC will be moving quickly to implement the plan to defend quality public services adopted at our convention this week,” said Gordon. “We don’t intend to have the Conservative government’s proposed budget ’savings’ come at the expense of needed public services and our members’ jobs.”

Prior to his election as National Executive Vice-President, Gordon was the National President of the Union of Public Works Employees from 1982 to 1999. A PSAC activist since 1974, when he joined the federal public sector as a tradesperson with Public Works Canada, Gordon has held a variety of union positions in his Component.

Delegates also elected Patty Ducharme as the union’s National Executive Vice-President. For the past six years, Ducharme has been PSAC’s Regional Executive Vice-President (REVP) for British Columbia. Prior to her election as REVP in 2000, Ducharme had worked as a customs inspector in British Columbia and served as First Vice-President of Branch 20040 of the Customs Excise Union Douanes Accise (CEUDA). She has been a PSAC activist for over 20 years holding a number of union positions.

In a two-way contest, Union of Postal Communications Employees President Richard Des Lauriers was elected alternate National Executive Vice-President. All elected officers take up their duties effective immediately.