Public Service Alliance of Canada BC

Thanks to Steve Houston & Amy Painter, BC Regional Council, for sending in some photos taken at the Vancouver Pride Parade. The theme for the Vancouver Pride Parade this year was “Love and Joy” Multi-union Pride presented and promoted “Peace and Love” as the theme of their float.

Click for the photos!

Greetings Everyone!

Vancouver Multi-union Pride evolved from the BC PSAC LGBT Support Group a number of years ago. Sister Diana Smith (National Component) successfully promoted the concept of a Multi-union Pride Committee that would represent the face of labour in the Vancouver Pride Society Parade and Festival.

We have grown in leaps and bounds over the years. We continue to be the largest single group in the Vancouver Pride Parade. We have won a trophy for “Best Political/Union Float” and are extremely well received by thunderous applause as we march past spectators along the parade route.

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Yellowknife – Supporters of striking Ekati diamond mine workers will be leafleting customers at Brinkhaus Jewellers store in Vancouver and Idar Jewellers in Victoria this Saturday as part of their union’s Canada-wide “Dirty Diamonds” campaign to win a fair first contract.

Brinkhaus Jewellers and Idar Jewellers are two of several dozen BHP Billiton-authorized Canadian jewelers selling AuriasTM and CanadaMarkTM diamonds from Ekati. The Public Service Alliance of Canada says customers will be politely asked to not buy diamonds being produced by strikebreakers behind picket lines in its efforts to pressure mine owner BHP Billiton to reach a first collective agreement.

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Minutes of the Vancouver Regional Women’s Committee May 25, 2006

In attendance:

• Angela Marafon
• Alethea Boire
• Stephanie Oostrander
• Patricia Ganczar
• Cheryl Oenema
• Kay Sinclair
• Deanna Wilson
• Regina Brennan

Continue reading below, or download the Vancouver RWC minutes May 25, 2006 (pdf).

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Here are some recent additions and changes to the PSAC education schedule:

Visit the education page to see all the courses scheduled to date. Register for these courses online.

Updated @ 2PM: A vote has taken place and the new collective agreement has been ratified.

Limousine company ends strike at Vancouver Airport

Mar, 31 2006 - 8:30 AM - VANCOVUER/CKNW(AM980) - Drivers for the exclusive limousine provider at the Vancouver Airport are no longer on strike.

A picket line that went up yesterday outside the shell road head office of Limo Jet Gold has been taken down because a tentative deal has been reached.

The 30 drivers are members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada and Union rep Patti Ducharme says the agreement could be quickly approved. “I expect the agreement will be ratified if not today, some time tomorrow,” said Ducharme.

The limousine service is owned by Herb Dhaliwal, a former Liberal MP and Cabinet Minister.

source: cknw.com

(Vancouver) A major study released today finds that BC’s welfare system is systematically discouraging, delaying and denying assistance to many of the people most in need of help, with harmful consequences for some of the province’s most vulnerable residents.

Denied Assistance: Closing the Front Door on Welfare in BC examines why the number of people receiving welfare has plummeted in the wake of changes to eligibility rules and the application system, and looks at what is happening to people who seek and are denied welfare. It is the first in-depth assessment of the new application system, drawing on data obtained through Freedom of Information requests and extensive interviews with people who have applied for welfare, front-line community advocates and Ministry workers.

“The provincial government says its policies are a success. It claims that more people are leaving welfare for work, and that the new application system is ‘diverting’ people to employment,” says Bruce Wallace, Researcher with the Vancouver Island Public Interest Research Group (VIPIRG), which undertook the study with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA). “This is true for some people. But our research found that many others are being ‘diverted’ to homelessness, charities, survival sex and other forms of hardship.”

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Update @ 2PM: Unionized FedEx workers refused to make deliveries to the entire complex where LimoJet’s main office is located. Picketing continues as talks have resumed on both sides. Here are some photos from the picket line.

Picket lines went up at 8:30 a.m. this morning in front of the Limojet offices on Shell Road in Richmond. When Principal Herb Dhaliwal decided to leave the Limojet offices, PSAC Members blocked Herb’s exit using Limousines and their bodies. Despite his best efforts, Herb was unable to leave the parking lot. A few minutes later after parking his car Herb was seen leaving the area on foot and was picked up moments later on Shell Road.

Picket at Vancouver Airport not expected to disrupt services

Mar, 30 2006 - 8:10 AM - VANCOUVER/CKNW(AM980) - A picket line at Vancouver’s International Airport is not expected to disrupt services this morning, unless you’re planning to take a limousine.

Contract talks between Limo Jet Gold and its unionized drivers have broken off, so the 30-members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada have walked off the job.

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When the city adopted its ethical purchasing policy in February last year, staff estimated that it could add $150,000 to the city’s budget and cost the parks board $185,000. A report Tuesday updating council on the progress of the policy says the costs have been negligible. In one notable instance-the cost of city uniforms-ethical purchasing resulted in a $14,000 saving, thanks to a consolidation of suppliers and a standardization of products. This is not the case in all areas. The introduction of fair trade coffee at the Carnegie Centre and the Gathering Place has tagged $11,000 on to their budgets.

The ethical purchasing policy governs the products city staff buy. Because of industry trends, availability and the nature of civic government, it applies mostly to uniforms and foodstuffs. When most of us hear the term “fair trade,” we think coffee. But the term, which designates that the farmer, producer or supplier has received fair compensation, employs environmental practices, and supports improved social services and investment in local economic infrastructure, also applies to the chocolate, sugar and bananas the city uses.

Read more about the COV’s ethical purchasing policy at the Vancouver Courier’s website.

For Immediate Release: VANCOUVER – Picket lines could be up at Vancouver International Airport Thursday morning at 8:00 am as members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) will be in a legal strike position against their employer Limo Jet Gold Express Ltd.

The PSAC represents drivers at Limo Jet, the exclusive provider of limousine service at the Vancouver International Airport. “Management at Limo Jet, have refused to seriously deal with the issue of dispatch fees and allow its employees to make a decent living” said Patty Ducharme, PSAC’s Regional Executive Vice-President for BC.

“On average PSAC members are paying more in dispatch fees to Limojet then they earn in wages to support their families,” Ducharme added. “Instead of getting serious about bargaining Limojet ownership is threatening to close the operation and put people out of work.”

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Please visit www.vdlc.ca for links and more info.

Please note some recent additions the PSAC BC education schedule …

Visit the education page to see all the courses scheduled to date. Register for these courses online.

Adrian Dix, MLA for Vancouver-Kingsway invites you to attend a Community Childcare Forum:
With the cancellation of the Federal-Provincial child care agreement as of March 2007, child care in our community is in jeopardy once again. Come and express your views.

• Wednesday March 29, 2006 6:15 to 8:00 pm
• Collingwood Neighborhood House 5288 Joyce Street,Multi-purpose room
• Dinner starts at 5:30 pm, child minding available.

For more information about the Canada wide campaign to protect child care, CODE BLUE FOR CHILDCARE, please check out the following web sites www.childcareadvocacy.ca and www.cccabc.bc.ca

In addition to the CCCA’s campaign, the CLC is planning a lobbying campaign on parliament hill in May 2006 to target three priorities

• anti scab legislation
• child care agreements
• healthcare privatization

This information was presented at last nights New Westminster District Labour Council meeting.

This year’s Spring Weekend Seminar sponsored by the New Westminster & District Labour Council will be held April 8th & 9th, 2006 at the Justice Institute of BC, 715 McBride Boulevard, New Westminster, BC.

The courses are designed to equip individuals with the knowledge and skills to handle the many roles in the union. See below for the registration form, course description, and delegate information.

If you have any questions, please contact the NWDLC at 604-524-9311. We encourage your participation at the April seminar and urge you to share the course information with members in your workplace and union.

• New Westminster & District Labour Council (CLC) Weekend Seminar
• Location: Justice Institute of BC, 715 McBride Blvd, New Westminster, BC
• April 8th & 9th, 2006

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Minutes of the Vancouver Regional Women’s Committee October 26, 2005

In attendance:

• Deanna Wilson
• Alethea Boire
• Stephanie Oostrander
• Sanda Turner
• Juliana Sou
• May Chiu
• Regina Brennan

Download the minutes , or read below.

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Minutes of the Vancouver Regional Women’s Committee, March 14, 2006

In attendance:

• Angela Marafon
• Alethea Boire
• Stephanie Oostrander
• Sanda Turner
• Patricia Ganczar
• Parveen Deepak
• Trudy Wilson
• Cheryl Oenema
• Regina Brennan

Agenda:

1. Review of the Regional Women’s Committee Handbook
2. Summer School for Union Women
3. Pre-convention Seminar for Women Delegates
4. PSAC Convention Observer Funding
5. Mail
6. Fall planning

Continue reading below, or download the Vancouver RWC minutes March 14, 2006 (pdf)

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For immediate release, via Vancouver & District Labour Council: After receiving hundreds of citizen emails, letters and telephone calls in support and hearing from a broad-based delegation of citizens speaking in favour of the World Peace Forum 2006, Vancouver City Council voted last night to continue financial support for the event scheduled for June 23 – 28, 2006. The key portion of the multifaceted motion, moved by Councilor Peter Ladner, read “given the international nature and topical significance of the World Peace Forum 2006 that City Council provide a one-time special grant of $50,000 to the World Peace Forum Society in support of this event”. It was supported unanimously by the full Council and Mayor. The resolution also makes available “a further $50,000 to the World Peace Forum Society subject to raising $584,000 in cash donations”.

World Peace Forum Executive Director Jef Keighley expressed the organizers’ satisfaction with the outcome saying “we are grateful for the support from the City of Vancouver and appreciate the fact that Council members were clearly moved by the strong support we received from citizens across the city, around the Lower Mainland and around the world. We have always wanted the City of Vancouver’s support and we hope that Mayor Sullivan and City Councilors will play an important role by helping to welcome our guests and by participating in key sessions on the role of cities in pursuing peace.”

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Remembering our Sisters

This event will highlight photos of some of the sixty-five commemorative quilts produced by women of the Downtown Eastside. Poetry and music will be featured at an event taking place at 119 West Pender Street, on March 8, 2006 from 4:00pmm. til 7:00 p.m. International Women’s Day. A special guest, poet and Guatemalan woman’s activist Sandra Moran will perform and bring greetings from the women of a country also devastated by hundreds of cases of missing and murdered women. Teenage girls from North Vancouver will perfom a touching piece of music they wrote in commemoration of women from the Downtown Eastside.Remembering Our Sisters uses the celebratory occasion of International Women’s Day to both commemorate the more than sixty-five women who have disappeared from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside and to celebrate the art and political activism of those who continue the struggle for equality and survival among some of Vancouver’s most marginalized women.

The organizations Wish Drop-In Centre, PEERS and PACE, groups that provide counselling services for current and exiting sex-trade workers, are hosting the celebration, art and performances with broad community support from women in BC’s Labour Movement and others.

VDLC Friends and Affiliates,

The Save St. Paul’s Coalition needs our help.

The Coalition is trying to set up a meeting with the Health Minister for the end of March and need your signatures on their petition to help make that happen. The letter they have sent the Minister is attached.

Please visit their website, at www.stpauls.wera.bc.ca and if you haven’t already signed their petition, please do.

The Vancouver and District Labour Council is already on record as supporting the work to save St.Paul’s and Mt. St. Joseph’s Hospitals from being closed or moved by the Campbell Liberals and supports the Save St.Paul’s Coalition, in their fight to do the same.

In solidarity, The Vancouver and District Labour Council

• Saturday, March 11, 12 noon
• Extra Foods / Super Valu, 1020 Park Royal South, West Vancouver

Speakers:

• Jim Sinclair, BC Fed
• Brooke Sundin, UFCW Local 1518
• Suzanne Hodge, UFCW Local 247

organized by the BC Federation of Labour