Public Service Alliance of Canada BC

cheers to Paul Jones (BC Regional Council), Sue Neumann (CIU 20040), and Garry Fraser, PSAC Regional Rep. for these photos and report from Pride Day in Vancouver

Garry: Alison and I had our Think Public and our Student Campaign Booth set up at Sunset Beach.  It was a beautiful day with a nice breeze off the ocean, and we set up early. Carol Pegura donated hundreds of buttons to our booth and they were they a big hit. We had thousands of people come by and talk and laugh, take a bandana, a fan or a button, talk about our Think Public Campaign. Alison would also talk with them about the Student  Campaign and she got hundreds of signatures for the petition. BC Regional Council members Paul Jones and Angela Marafon both came by the booth after the parade and dropped off two magnificent sets of rainbow balloons which we tied down to our canopy – it looked incredible! Jack Layton dropped by and said hello and had a photo op with Angela.

Big thanks to Sue, for these photos of BSO’s marching in uniform for the first time in the parade, and Paul for the photos of the Multi-Union Pride group.

Cheers to Garry Fraser, PSAC Regional Representative, for this report and some photos from the Surrey Fusion Festival!

The West Fraser Area Council and the BC Mainland Human Rights Committee joined together to and set up a Think Public! booth at the Fusion Festival on July 18th and 19th. Members from Passport Canada, Western Economic Diversification, Service Canada, Veteran Affairs, Canada Revenue Agency all joined together to get the PSAC Think Public! message out to the public. We also shared our tables with the Service Canada Centre for Youth who were assisting youth in their employment endeavours.

Hundreds of people dropped by the booth where we handed out Think Public leaflets and bandannas and had a petition available in support of the PSAC summer student campaign. We heard from the public of their strong support for public services and had an opportunity to enjoy the festival and participate in the community’s celebration of its diversity. We also sampled many international foods and heard excellent and diverse music from all four corners of the globe.

The Fusion Festival was a great venue to meet the public, we had a great time, and we look forward to next year! Here are some photos … (more…)

2009 Brings the PSACBC GLBT Members to Multi-Union Pride 2009.

Educate! Liberate! Celebrate! We are stronger in numbers!

Paul Jones, GLBT Regional Council Coordinator invites one and all to join us in this year’s “MULTI-UNION PRIDE” Celebration at this year’s Pride March in Vancouver.

• When: Sunday August 2, 2009
• Where: TBA (Marshal point on Robson Street)
• Time: 11:00 – 11:30 am

Swag provided. Wear your most colourful outfit! Afterall …  It’s a gay affair! Download a poster (pdf).

La Chiva (with the help of many friends) has begun a major fundraising campaign in Vancouver to support of the Tejido de Comunicación of the Association of Indigenous Councils of Northern Cauca, Colomba (http://www.nasaacin.org).

The Tejido has asked for our help in raising funds to repair the equipment for Radio Pa-Yumat, their community radio station, which was destroyed last December by unknown saboteurs, seriously hindering their ability to accompany their communities.

This and many other attacks and threats have come from all of Colombia’s armed actors. The attacks are clearly in response to their community’s position of non-violent resistance to war and the effectiveness of the Tejido’s communications strategy in bringing that message to the national and international scene (see: http://www.nasaacin.org/noticias.htm?x=9919).

For the Nasa indigenous communicators, communication is simultaneously community accompaniment and resistance to what they call the ‘death project’ presented by transnational interests and the armed actors that threaten the viability of popular community-based responses, or ‘life plans’.

Truth, participation and democracy derived from the communities are what social movements seek to strengthen within society. They are confronting the mass media, which engages in what might be more accurately regarded as propaganda rather than communication: the domination of the media landscape to ensure passive audiences and to halt the development of communication based on raising consciousness from social movements. Is this confrontation why the Communications Weavers are currently being singled out, persecuted, and threatened?
– Vilma Almendra, member of the Tejido de Comunicación

As friends of the Tejido, we are mobilizing our support to show that they are not alone and that we share their vision for another possible and necessary world.

On July 1 2009, Latino Soy (FM96.1 in Vancouver) began a summer-long radio campaign to raise funds for the Tejido de Comunicación. They have been in direct contact with Radio Pa’Yumat, collecting donations, broadcasting interviews and informing Vancouver’s Spanish-speaking community about the situation in Cauca and the importance of communication in popular resistance struggles in the Americas.

Please join us in Vancouver for the following events, where you can learn more about the situation in Colombia (and its relation to Canada), support the work of the Tejido, and have a good time while you’re at it!

Mark your calendars!

Salsa en Minga
A salsa party in support of the indigenous Communications Network in Northern Cauca, Colombia
With genuine hard-hitting salsa music by DJ La Salsómana
FREE Salsa lesson with Ramses (8:30-9:30pm)

Saturday July 25 2009
Doors: 8pm
Venue: Cambrian Hall
Address: 215 E 17th Avenue (Main Street & 17th Ave)
Cost: $10
Snacks and locally-produced alcoholic beverages will be available.
We will also be selling copies of ‘Country of the Peoples without Owners’

Tickets available at the door, or at the following locations:
Panaderia Latina Bakery: 4906 Joyce Street, Vancouver
Los Guerreros Latin Food Products: 3317 Kingsway, Vancouver
Info: 604.607.4814 or 604.338.0806
Presented by La Chiva and Grupo Atarraya. Sponsored by Latino Soy 96.1FM

Film Screening and Celebration:
Country of the Peoples without Owners
A screening of the documentary (Spanish w/ English subtitles) created by the Tejido de Comunicación about the process of the Minga de Resistencia Social y Comunitaria
This documentary has been warmly received by audiences across Colombia, up and down the West Coast of North America, in Eastern Canada and, more recently, to hundreds in New York.
With music by DJ La Salsómana

Saturday August 1 2009
7:30pm
Venue: Rhizome Cafe
Address: 317 Broadway East, Vancouver, (near Broadway and Kingsway)
Cost: $5 – $10 Sliding Scale (No one will be turned away).
Come early for dinner and drinks!
Copies of the documentary will also be for sale.

Presented by La Chiva and Grupo Atarraya with the generous support of Rhizome Cafe and Latino Soy 96.1FM.
For more information about the above events, please check out the Canada-Colombia Project blog: http://www.canadacolombiaproject.blogspot.com

Stop by the Surrey Fusion Festival, July 18th and 19th, and say hello to PSAC members from the West Fraser Valley Area Council who will be in the pavillion area, speaking to members of the public about the value of quality public services and our ThinkPublic! campaign.

Surrey Fusion Festival will be Surrey’s largest two-day multicultural celebration with 40 international pavilions celebrating music, food and culture. Two stages of entertainment with headline performers on the World Music Stage and the Celebrations dance stage, all this in a brand new beautiful urban park.

Fusion Festival takes place July 18 and 19, 2009 at Surrey’s magnificent new urban park Holland Park located at King George Highway and Old Yale Road. This will be the largest multicultural event in Surrey’s history as over 60,000 people are projected to attend this FREE outdoor festival.

More info at fusionfestival.surrey.ca!

Panel discussion on proposed corporate media bailouts, cuts to the public broadcaster, and exciting alternative models for media

• Wednesday, May 27, 6:45-9:00 pm
• VIVO Media Arts Centre, 1965 Main St. near 3rd [close to Main Street/Science World Skytrain and Main Street #3 bus]

Organized by the Campaign for Democratic Media-Vancouver

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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.

The Pacific Aboriginal Network (PAN) would like to invite you to our Learning Day Event and Annual General Meeting March 5th. This event is free.

Develop Your Learning Plan – Unleash Your Brain’s Potential

The brain is different than other organs of the body. Many organs wear out with repeated and sustained use. However, the brain actually thrives on challenge. Use it or lose it is something that all cognitive scientists agree on.

In this workshop we will look at how we can use learning plans to increase our intelligence, learning skills and advance our careers. Not only will you learn how to fill them out, how to prepare for the learning plan interview with your supervisor, you will learn how to use them to keep your brain functioning very well for the rest of your life. There are practical things that all of us can use to exercise our brains.

We will also discuss options – courses, volunteering, portfolios, job shadowing, mentoring, transferrable skills, etc. that will be helpful in your career.

The workshop will be followed by a network lunch.

• Time: 8am – 2pm (lunch included)
• Location: Blue Horizon Hotel, Downtown Vancouver
• Cost: Free
• Who: Open to Metis and Aboriginal Federal Public Service Employees
• Registration: Send an email to vanessa.schols@inac-ainc.gc.ca

Workshop Facilitator Bio

Bob Aitken is with the School of Instructional Development at Vancouver Community College. He teaches in the Provincial Instructor Diploma Program and the Diploma in Adult Education Program offered by Vancouver Community College. He has a MEd in Curriculum and Instruction. He travels extensively working with faculty in schools and colleges, leaders in corporations, government and non-profit organizations to help them realize the value of brain research to working, leading, training and living. His practical approach and sense of humour have made him a popular speaker at national and international conferences.

Space is limited so rsvp soon.

Vancouver International Airport union demands independent inquiry into snow removal problems at YVR after learning new details concerning a jet crash in an early January snowstorm and damaged caused by plowed snow, while landing on runway that should have been closed; union releases crash photos

Vancouver – A union representing hundreds of workers at Vancouver International Airport is demanding an independent inquiry into snow removal problems at YVR after learning new details of a jet crash during a snowstorm in early January.

A Mexican-registered Cessna Citation 650 business jet with five people on board crashed off Runway 12 after landing in a snowstorm at Vancouver at 5:30 p.m. on Sunday January 4, collapsing its nose gear when it went through 18 inch deep plowed snow alongside the runway edge lights, according to a report from Transport Canada’s Civil Aviation Daily Occurrence Reporting System (CADORS).

But original YVR reports to the media said the nose gear “collapsed after landing” and did not mention that the nose gear was broken by the heavy, ploughed snow, says Stephen Dunsmore, Regional Vice-President Pacific of the Union of Canadian Transportation Employees – a component union of the Public Service Alliance of Canada. The union is also releasing photos of the jet crash on the PSAC BC website at www.psacbc.com.

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Vancouver Area Council AGM – October 21st, 2008
Held at the PSAC Regional Office – Joyce Street Vancouver BC

In attendance:

• Megan Adam (UEW 20147) – delegate
• Jamey Mills (UTE 20027) – delegate
• Robert Strang (CEIU 20944) – delegate
• Jack Seto (GSU 20008) – delegate
• Bill Plemming (GSU 20008) – delegate
• Tracy Shudo (CEIU 20949) – delegate
• Rhonda Johns (UPCE 20095) – delegate
• Bruce Ogilvie (UTE 20027) – delegate
• Sam Wiese (CEIU 20949) – delegate
• Terri Lee (AGR 20044) – delegate
• Sid Wong (AGR 20044) – delegate
• Sharon Tieman (UPCE 20101) – delegate

• Ann-Marie Friesen (UEW 20729) – guest
• Deanna Wilson (NAT 20088) – guest
• Crystal Graber (CEIU 20974) – guest

• Monica Urrutia – PSAC staff

Agenda

• Call to Order
• President’s Report
• Treasurer’s Report
• Bylaw Amendments
• VAC Executive Elections
• Resolutions to PSAC Convention
• Delegate to PSAC Convention Election

Continue reading below, or download the Vancouver Area Council AGM minutes, October 21 2008 (pdf)

Agenda – M/S/C Sam W, Megan A

President’s Report – Sam spoke mostly to Political Action and the actions she has taken, specifically surrounding the Federal Election and Defending Quality Public Services. (Report to be attached.)

M/S/C Sam W, Jamey M

Treasurers Report – Amendment request on budget to increase DLC affiliation from $400 to $600. M/S/C Megan A, Rhonda J – rationale- we are allocated this amount and should spend it

Report- M/S/C Sharon T, Tracy S

Amendment request to reduce donations from $300-$200. M/S/C Jamey M, Megan A – rationale-to balance the other amendment

Budget W/Amendments – M/S/C Sharon T, Rhonda J

-A discussion then occurred surrounding a resolution in regards to the VAC surplus

Bylaw Amendments – Amendment request to include Port Moody to the Jurisdiction of the VAC. M/S/C Jamey M, Megan A

All other bylaw amendments were carried with Sam W as the Mover and Megan A as the 2nd.

Elections:

• President – Sam W – Nominated by Sharon T – Won by acclamation
• 1st Vice President – Jamey M – Nominated by Megan A – Won by acclamation
• 2nd Vice President –Rhonda J – Nominated by Sam W – Nominees Terri L (Jack S) and Robert S (Jamey M) respectfully declined. Won by acclamation
• Secretary- Megan A –Nominated by Sam W – Nominee Terri L (Tracy S) respectfully declined. Won by acclamation.
• Treasurer – Sharon T –Nominated by Sam W – Nominees Jack S (Jennie) and Tracy S (Sid) respectfully declined. Won by acclamation.
• Members at Large – Bruce O – Nominated by Jamey M, Terri L – Nominated by Sam W and Robert S – Nominated by Megan A. Won by acclamation

Resolutions to PSAC Convention:

Temporary Foreign Workers

The Public Service Alliance of Canada will work through the Canadian Labour Congress to demand that the Federal Government overhaul its current temporary foreign worker programs by ensuring that these workers have access to full rights of citizenship, not just temporary access to jobs; and

PSAC will work through the CLC to demand that the Federal Government provide the same rights of access to Permanent Residency and/or Citizenship to Foreign Workers as any other individual; and

PSAC will call through the CLC for a full review of Canada’s immigration programs, including the role of Ministerial exemptions, the use of spot-checks and the addition of penalties for employers violating regulations; and

PSAC will continue to work with CLC member unions and progressive organizations to ensure that temporary foreign workers rights are protected.

M/S/C Sam W, Megan A

May Day

Whereas May First, known as May Day or International Workers’ Day, is a historic commemoration and international celebration of the social and economic achievements of the working class and labor movement dating back to the struggle for the eight-hour work day in the United States and Canada on May 1, 1886; and

Whereas May Day is not officially recognized in Canada or the United States, but instead has been replaced with “Labour Day”,

Whereas May Day commonly sees organized street demonstrations by hundreds of thousands of working people and their labour unions throughout most of the world; and

Whereas there are local activists/community organizations that hope to reclaim the historic tradition of May Day in Canada;

Be it resolved that locals/branches of the Public Service Alliance of Canada work with or support local activist/community organizations presently involved in organizing May Day actions to include as many workers and workers’ organizations as possible on May First 2009 and subsequent May Days; and

Be it further resolved that locals/branches/Area Councils of PSAC be encouraged to join or endorse May Day Organizing Committees; and

Be it further resolved that the PSAC call upon Federations of Labour to promote and assist the labour movement to fully participate in every community to reclaim the fighting tradition of May Day on May First of each year with demonstrations, rallies and meetings to highlight the workers’ movement in Canada as part of the international May Day actions which take place around the world.

M/S/C Sam W, Megan A

Election of Delegate to PSAC Convention

• Delegate- Megan A
• 1st Alternate- Terri L
• 2nd Alternate- Sam W

Emergency Resolution – an emergency resolution was brought forward by Terri L and was tabled to the next meeting.

Swearing in to occur at next VAC meeting.

Meeting Adjourned.

PSAC BC Human Rights Committee presents “Tea Amid the Rubble” – A report from Stephen Aberle about helping to rebuild demolished Palestinian homes as part of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions’ 2007 Summer Rebuilding Experience. Everyone welcome!

• February 12, 2009, 6:00PM
• PSAC Vancouver RO
• 5238 Joyce Street, buzz 200

Stephen spent the last two weeks of July last summer in the West Bank town of Anata, just northeast of Jerusalem. Together with several dozen other volunteers from around the world – including Canada, Britain, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, the U.S.A., New Zealand, Israel and Palestine – he helped rebuild two Palestinian families’ homes, demolished by the Israeli authorities.

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You’re Invited!

Welcome to Douglas Day festivities. This is the 150th anniversary of Governor James Douglas proclaiming the territory a British colony and he did it right here in Fort Langley.

• When: Wednesday November 19, 2008, 4PM to 8PM
• Where: Best Western Langley Inn, 5978 Glover Road Langley, British Columbia

Parks Canada employees working for Canadian Heritage work daily at Fort Langley to ensure these types of heritage events and sites are celebrated. We wish to invite you to celebrate Canadian heritage and meet the people who protect, preserve and communicate the significance of Canada’s natural and cultural heritage sites for the enrichment of visitors from around the world. More than 4,000 Parks Canada workers take on these very important tasks.

Please join us in celebrating their contribution to Canadian Heritage and the 150th Anniversary festivities. We hope to see you there.

via BC Federation of Labour

Food fair to raise funds for relief efforts in Myanmar (Burma), organized by the Myanmar Community in Vancouver.

• Sunday May 18, 2008
• Manawmaya Buddhist Monastary
• 13260 – 108th Ave @ 132nd St., Surrey

Come one, come all! Bring your family, friends, and anyone who will be interested. Your support is greatly appreciated.

To PSAC members in Vancouver Quadra,

Please Think Public when voting for your PM in the by-election on March 17th.

Check the Candidates and their Parties’ views and records on public services and privatization.

• downsizing – cuts to Service Canada programs, offices, and workers
• de-regulation – Bill C-39 to amend the Canadian Grain Act. This Act would eliminate important grain weighing and inspection jobs of PSAC members in Vancouver.
• tax cuts – The Conservative Government’s corporate tax cuts will take 60 billion dollars out of revenues over the next five years. This is money that could be spent on national child care and pharmacare programs, and a national housing strategy.

As the largest federal public service union in Canada, the PSAC is asking you to keep these issues in mind when you cast your vote on March 17th.

Downsizing, de-regulation, and tax cuts come at the cost of services to the public and of the jobs of workers providing those services.

Goal is to collect 5,000 pairs by February 14.

Socks can be delivered to:
VDLC office, 20 – 1880 Triumph Street, Vancouver
Reclaiming Our Spirit, 3985 Dumfries, Vancouver

Labour of Love Fundraising Luncheon:
February 14, Thursday, Simon Baker Aboriginal Friendship Centre, 1607 East Hastings

Message from Reclaiming our Spirit:

Hello everyone, homelessness has a thousand faces.  The reasons people are homeless are many and varied.  Many of the homeless have become disconnected from their families and communities.  A broad base of understanding is required to create and build programs and services that will work towards providing support for each and every person who faces homelessness.  Homelessness can affect people of any age, gender or ethnic background, it does not discriminate.  It is that time of year again and Reclaiming Our Spirit will be conducting our 3rd Annual Sock Drive for the Homeless.  We are seeking your support to make this a successful fundraiser.  If you have any questions please do not hesitate to call our office. 

Also as a part of this important community event we will be having our First Annual Labour of Love Fundraising Luncheon at the Chief Simon Baker Room February 14, 2008 at 1607 East Hastings street from 12:00 noon -2:00 pm. All proceeds from this luncheon will go towards the Labour of Love Sock Drive.   All support is appreciated.

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

Vancouver Prison Justice Day, Friday, August 10th

Speakers and Performers

Join us at 7 p.m. at Trout Lake Park (E. 15th and Victoria) at the Claire Culhane Memorial Bench (in the southeast corner) to hear ex-prisoners and prisoners’ rights activists speak on justice issues such as the danger of passing the Conservative government’s U.S. style crime bills into law.

This is a memorial rally in honour of Harriet Nahanee, Dec. 7, 1935 – Feb 24, 2007

Vancouver Workers are Rising – UNITE HERE Local 40

• Rally & March – Friday, August 10, 4:15 pm
• Vancouver Art Gallery, Downtown Vancouver

Rally at the Art Gallery and march to the Downtown Hotels to hear workers speak on and about the working conditions in the service industry. Join them in their struggle for respect and justice on the job.

Wage workers in Haiti earn as little as $2 (US) per day. The unemployment rate is 60% to 70%. Women struggle on the edge of survival to find work, feed families, and send children to school or scramble for health care when emergencies arise.

The 2004 foreign invasion and coup against the elected government of President Aristide was a huge setback to workers rights and womens rights. Minimum wage rates were slashed, schools and health care facilities were closed, and legal and extra-legal violence has risen sharply, including that which targets women.

Join us in hearing from trade union and women’s rights organizers.

• Wednesday May 30th
• Public Meeting, 7 PM – SFU Harbour Center, 515 W. Hastings St.
• Luncheon for Trade Union Members, 12 noon to 2 pm, Maritime Labour Centre, 1881 Triumph St.

Hosted by the International Affairs Committee of the Vancouver and District Labour Council. Please RSVP.

More details in the Haiti tour poster (pdf) and at canadahaitiaction.ca

Surrey Delta Langley Area Council March 13, 2007 Meeting Minutes, Held at the Newton Seniors Center

Present: Terry Ruyter (UTE Local 20007), Carol Pegura (UTE Local 20029), Kim Forster (UTE Local 20029), Regina
Brennan (PSAC Area Rep), Dale Odberg (UVAE Local 20029), Johann Ackermann (UTE Local 20029), Jeremy Amour (UTE Local 20029) Earla MacLean (UTE Local 20029), Sharon Palis (UTE Local 20029)
Guest: Kay Sinclair, REVP – BC Region.

Continue reading below or download the SDL AC minutes (pdf)

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Head Tax Families Society of Canada will mark the 60th anniversary of full rights and the vote for the Chinese in Canada. The Canadian Citizenship Act, which went into effect in the spring of 1947, defined the franchise as part of citizenship status.

• Time: 9AM, Saturday May 12, 2007
• Place: Memorial to Railway Workers and War Veterans Keefer and Columbia (NE corner), Vancouver

The Head Tax Families Society of Canada is today’s Canadians on a twenty-three year struggle for an inclusive redress with justice and honour for affected head tax families. Go to www.headtaxfamilies.org for more information.

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