Public Service Alliance of Canada BC

SPP Montebello Summit August 20-21, 2007

Prime Minister Stephen Harper will meet with US President George W. Bush and Mexican President Felipe Calderon at Montebello on August 20-21 2007, to discuss the so-called Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP). What will be on the agenda? We can only guess at this point, because all of the meetings to review the progress of the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) have taken place in secret so far.

• Join protests across Canada against the SPP …
• Rally in Vancouver - Monday Aug 20th, 5:30 PM, Vancouver Art Gallery (south side).

The SPP – which is being implemented without any public discussion or parliamentary debate – is about eliminating Canada’s ability to set its own independent regulatory standards, environmental protection measures, energy security, foreign, military, immigration and a frighteningly wide range of other policies.

• What is the SPP? Security and Prosperity for whom? A series of fact sheets at the national website.
• Read John Gordon’s letter to Stephen Harper regarding the SPP (pdf).

The summit brings together a US president whose policies are backed by hardly a quarter of his own people, a Mexican president whose election is highly disputed, and a Canadian Prime Minister heading a minority government. The decisions they make will have no legitimacy and will affect the food we eat, the air we breathe, and the human rights and civil liberties we enjoy.

Workers in Toronto to join global protests against the abduction and imprisonment of Mansour Osanloo and Mahmoud Salehi

OTTAWA - Canadian workers will mark an International Day of Action this Thursday, August 9 to protest the Iranian government’s arrest and imprisonment of two of that country’s prominent labour leaders.

Trade unionists and activists around the world are worried about the safety and
well-being of Mansour Osanloo, President of the ITF affiliated bus workers’ union Sandikaye Kargarane Sherkate Vahed (Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company). Mansour was reported as kidnapped on July 10th as he was getting off of a bus.

• Rally in Vancouver - join BC Federation of Labour, BC Teachers Federation, VDLC, CAW Local 111 & 333, Hospital Employees Union and other unions
• Time: 17:00 to 19:00 , Thursday, August 9, 2007, Vancouver Art Gallery, Howe & Robson

On July 12th it was confirmed that Osanloo has been imprisoned. Just days before his abduction, Canadian Labour Congress president Ken Georgetti had the pleasure of meeting Mansour as he addressed the ITUC General Council in Brussels. This was the first time that the ITUC - or for that matter its predecessor, the ICFTU welcomed an independent Iranian trade union leader from inside the country to its meetings.

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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.

Via BC Federation of Labour

• Saturday, March 31, 11am – 12:30pm
• Burrard Bridge, Vancouver
• Gather at 11am at Seaforth Peace Flame Park (south end of bridge by Cornwall Ave.)
• Calling parents, grandparents, early childhood educators and child care supporters to span the bridge sidewalks with signs and songs!

March 30-31 marks the elimination of federal-provincial childcare funding agreements by the Harper Conservatives. It also marks the closure of several childcare resource and referral centres in BC and the elimination of critical services to working families as a result of funding cuts by the Campbell Liberals.

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via BC Federation of Labour

The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers need your support!

Saturday, March 24^th, 11AM - 1PM, Vancouver International Airport Terminal

• Save the jobs of 700 Aviation Maintenance Professionals in Vancouver
• Help us put an end to the corporate race to contract Aviation Maintenance in Canada to lowest foreign bidder
• Ensure that the security and safety of the flying public is paramount

Speakers:

• Angela Schira, Secretary Treasurer, B.C. Federation of Labour
• Carlos Da Costa, Transportation Coordinator, IAMAW Member, Local Lodge 764, IAMAW
• Peter Julian, Federal NDP, Member of Parliament BC NDP MLA
• Jim Coller, PDGC, District Lodge 140, IAMAW

Gathering Point: 10:30 Sea Island Elementary School, corner of Miller Road and Templeton. Lots of Parking. Rain or Shine, Dress accordingly.

March and Demonstration: 11:00 am Vancouver International Airport Terminal in the grass area across from the Airport RCMP Station which is located at the West End of Miller Road, right hand side of the outgoing Domestic Departures Ramps.

Community response to the most recent child care cuts is building around the province of BC. There are many ways you can help get the message to political leaders that child care funding must be restored immediately and that BC can afford to build a quality, affordable, accessible, public child care system now. Visit bcgeu.ca for more information.

Rallies and protests are scheduled across the province this month, click for a calendar of events (pdf).

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Promise made.

“Yes, I’m ready to support women’s human rights and I agree that Canada has more to do to meet its international obligations to women’s equality. If elected, I will take concrete and immediate measures, as recommended by the United Nations, to ensure that Canada fully upholds its commitments to women in Canada.” - Stephen Harper - January 18, 2006

Promise broken.

Since coming into office, the Harper Conservatives have

• closed more than half of the Status of Women of Canada regional offices
• have changed the funding criteria for women’s groups and have removed the word “equality” from the SWC’s list of objectives
• eliminated support for equality rights test-cases (the Court Challenges Program)
• refused to adopt proactive pay equity legislation and have canceled funding to the Canada-wide child care program.

The Harper Conservative have consistently dismissed equality rights for women. They will continue unless we speak up!

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INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY 2006 - March and Rally Saturday March 4th

• Gather at the Broadway Skytrain @ 11am
• March to Grandview Park (Commercial & Charles) @ 11:30 am Rally starts at Noon - 1 pm
• To volunteer or for more information call 604-708-0447
• Wheelchair accessible, ASL Interpretation provided

Join this week’s action! Stand up for Vancouver-Kingsway on Saturday, February 25

Stephen Harper is trying to get away with the same Liberal-style ethics and patronage he campaigned against, and David Emerson is ignoring the voters of Vancouver-Kingsway. New Democrats say that voters come first, and we’re taking action.

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Please join us for International Women’s Day 2006 - Building Anti-imperialist Solidarity: Towards a Just and Lasting Peace

Sunday March 5th, 10am-4pm, a Conference focusing on the current issues facing working class and marginalized women internationally:

• Women and war, occupation, and intervention
• Exploitation of women’s labour
• Forced migration, immigration and trafficking of women
• Privatization of women’s basic needs (health, childcare, education, transportation)

Venue to be announced.

Wednesday, March 8th, 5:30 pm, a Rally and March - Meet at the Vancouver Public Library

For more information or to volunteer, contact Grassroots Women

Filipinos and their Canadian allies in Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver concluded a successful national day of protest with rallies and actions last Friday, January 13, 2006 protesting the unjust deportation of live-in caregivers. The national day of protest was coordinated by SIKLAB-Canada, a national alliance of Filipino migrant workers in Canada, to mark the delivery of over 1000 signed petitions calling for a stop to the deportations to Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) Minister Joe Volpe at his Toronto campaign office. In Vancouver, REVP Patty Ducharme and members of Labour and community groups attended a rally. |inline

We will be doing a Labour Blitz using the Canadian Labour Congress - B.C. Federation of Labour Better Choice-Count Me In Leaflet on the following dates/times and locations. Candidates who are affected and who may wish to participate have been contacted.

• Wednesday January 18 7 - 8:30 am Metrotown Sky Train
• Thursday January 19 7 - 8:30 am Surrey - Scott Road Sky Train
• Thursday January 19 7 - 8:30 am Surrey - Surrey Central Sky Train
• Thursday January 19 7 - 8:30 am Surrey - King George Sky Train

If you are in the vicinity, stop by and say hello to the BCFed volunteers and the candidates.