The BC Human Rights Committee has decided to postpone their next meeting until January 5, 2005. The agenda remains the same.

The guest speakers, Harry Monk and Jacquie Hepner, have confirmed their availability. All PSAC equity members are welcome to join them for good food, time for discussion, fun door prizes, and delicious dessert.

Please RSVP to Monica Urrutia before December 23rd as dinner will be served. Also, please identify if you have any specific food requirements/allergies ahead of time as the Committee wishes to accommodate to ensure maximum participation from PSAC equity members.

Read more here.

Re-circulated by the Vancouver and District Labour Council

For those that may not know, the DEWC is a drop-in centre for women and children living in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.  They provide a safe, comfortable space for approximately 250 women and children, seven days a week. Unfortunately many women in the neighbourhood battle poverty, violence, addiction, racism, classism, and homelessness, DEWC helps to alleviate the impact of socio-economic disadvantage by providing basic needs and services in conjunction with long term supports.

With Christmas approaching the DEWC has a donation drive to provide for a Christmas celebration for approximately 650 women and children. They depend on donations to provide each woman and child with dinner, a food hamper and gift. All donations welcome (list below of requests), any new items with invoice, or cash can be provided with tax receipt. 

Read more here.

Thank you for your overwhelming response and support to the Action Alert we have circulated on the brutal massacre of Hacienda Luisita strikers (link opens in new window). To date, almost 4,000 messages of support and letters of condemnation were sent to Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Department of Labor and Employment, Department of National Defense and other concerned government agencies and to the family of former Pres. Corazon Cojuangco-Aquino, whose family owns the sprawling 6,000-has Hacienda Luisita.

Read more on the International Solidarity page.

hli_updates.pdf

December 8th : via email

As you know, the BC Regional Convention will take place April 8-10, 2005 in Vancouver.

To date we have only received 18 nominations for delegates. Deadline for receipt of nominations is January 21, 2005. Click for the nomination form (.pdf). Deadline for resolutions is January 28, 2005. If your local has any issue that they feel should be discussed at the regional convention, this can be done through submitting a resolution.

If you have any questions please feel free to call or send an email to the office of the Regional Executive Vice-President. If you have submitted a nomination form and want to confirm that we received it, please contact us.

Christine Beynon, REVP's office.

Ottawa - As of 6:00 a.m. this morning, members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) working at Canada Post offices in Fredericton N-B, and Antigonish N.S. began rotating strike action which will soon impact all points of service at Canada Post.

“Strike action became inevitable due to the wholly unreasonable series of rollbacks asked of the 2500 PSAC members by Canada Post,” said Luc Guevremont, President of the PSAC component Union of Postal Communications Employees (UPCE).

Read more here.

Jeannie Baldwin, REVP-Atlantic Region, is asking we contact the Post Office or our MP, to let them know if we are unhappy with progress in negotiating a fair collective agreement for UPCE members.

Read more here.

Cheers to Frank Karabotsos, Pres. CEIU 20961 for uploading these pictures of some excellent picket signs members at 555 W. Hastings in Vancouver made during the TB strike!

Click here for the photos.

December 9th

OTTAWA - Members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) have ratified a new agreement with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).  The settlement had been reached in mid-October, following a series of rotating and general strikes that began on September 8th.

“Our members can be proud of their strike,” says PSAC National President Nycole Turmel.  “They were responsible for moving CRA from its original position of proposing wage increases that were inferior to those being offered to other federal public sector workers and for achieving breakthrough provisions for term workers.”

Read more here.

As you may be aware UPCE started rotating strike action across the country last Thursday. Last week lines were up at Fredericton and Antigonish, then Edmonton. Today, they are on the line in Ottawa. While BC has not yet been called to the lines there is something that all PSAC members can do to support UPCE brothers and sisters.

Many UPCE members are in 3 Contact Centres and the National Philatelic Centre, and deal with Canada Post customers. What would have a profound affect on Canada Post and would really help the UPCE members on strike, would be for all PSAC members and their family and friends to call the following work areas at the toll free #'s provided below. Our information shows that calls received last week have impacted Canada Post service!

Read how to support UPCE here.

Since the time of our last bulletin of December 9, 2004, your UPCE Bargaining Team has remained in negotiations, hard at work in pursuit of your next collective agreement.

As you know, the Employer rejected your Team’s amended position tabled on December 8, 2004. The Employer’s unwillingness to address your bargaining priorities resulted in UPCE membership taking strike action on December 9 and 10.  A big THANK YOU to the membership in Antigonish, Frederiction and Edmonton for their strong show of solidarity on Thursday and Friday. You did a wonderful job in proving to the Employer that you stand behind your Team and your bargaining demands, and expect the Employer to recognize the value you bring to the Corporation. Well done!

Read more here.

Click for more photos

December 14th : via email

Lines were up at 5:30 am this morning at Vancouver. The members were up early and very energetic! There were four picket squads for the first shift (approximately 40 members). They focused on the three employee entrances handing out leaflets to CUPW members, and other workers entering the office (as the public customer service area is not yet open) and "walking slowly" in front of the truck exit gate to slow down any trucks / vans leaving. Truck delay is the most popular activity for the first shift.

CUPW members are supportive. Labour relations has been down to the line and a picket captain reported that management may have been taking photographs.

The lines should be up in Richmond (shift was to start at 8 am). Jim Little (A/Regional Representative) is out there to help out the line and work out our last-minute washroom and parking challenges.

- Monica Urrutia, A/Regional Rep., Vancouver RO

OTTAWA - Members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada working at Parks Canada Agency have accepted a new collective agreement that was negotiated in mid-October after a two-month rotating and general strike. 

The four-year agreement, which expires on August 4, 2007, provides for across-the-board annual wage increases for the 4,800 members of PSAC at Parks, as well as additional salary adjustments ranging from 2.6% to 19% for operational service workers that will go towards closing a wage disparity identified by a Treasury Board-PSAC pay study.

Read more here.

Ottawa - On day seven of their strike, more than 700 PSAC members working at Canada Post are targeting the Atlantic and the West today. The members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada will picket the following cities: in the Maritimes: St.John's (Nfld), Antigonish, Halifax, North Sydney, Saint-John (NB), Moncton and Fredericton; in the West: Winnipeg, Regina, Saskatoon, Edmonton, Calgary, Victoria, and Vancouver.

"While talks continue with Canada Post, we have decided to increase the pressure on the employer by having picket lines in several cities at the same time," explains Luc Guevremont, president of PSAC's Union of Postal Communications Employees. "Canada Post management must understand that our members will not accept less than what was negotiated with other employees."

Lines were up again at 5:30 am. I talked to the morning squad about where we were at, which provinces were out and our strategy for the day. Employee entrances had tighter lines, but the delay of trucks is still the popular event. A few CUPW drivers have been refusing to drive across the lines, so they would get out, then a supervisor or another non-CUPW worker would drive the truck across the lines, then CUPW drivers would get back in once the truck is across. Lots of impact and energy! Picket squad shifts have already changed over with the current strategy still in place.

- Monica Urrutia, A/Regional Rep., Vancouver RO

Click for more photos

December 22nd

The UPCE Bargaining Team was presented with a comprehensive final offer from Canada Post, which still contains many rollbacks and do not address our key issues. Read the updates at the national website.

More strike photos from Vancouver have been posted!