March 3rd

In British Columbia, women are hurting because of cuts to health services, ever increasing health user fees, and the loss of good jobs in the health sector.

User fees, increases in user fees, and higher deductibles all disproportionately affect women, who on average earn less than men. According to Statistics Canada, women earn 73 cents for every dollar a man earns. A senior woman’s average annual income is $16,000, ten thousand dollars less than a senior man’s income. 56% of lone parent mothers and 24% of senior women live in what Statistics Canada describes as a low-income situation, more commonly referred to as living below the poverty line.

Most minimum wage workers in Canada, nearly 60%, are adults, not teenagers, and most of them are women. As well, many women working in the health sector, who made decent wages and had health benefits, have lost their jobs. All of this means that women have less money to pay the rent, buy their groceries, and meet the ever increasing costs that are being off loaded by government onto their shoulders, including ever increasing health costs.

Read the BC Health Coalition/Vancouver Women’s Health Collective fact sheet below (.pdf).

Womenfactsheet.pdf

March 3rd

Labour legislation should treat workers and employers fairly in the event of a strike or lock-out. Both sides must pay an economic consequence in such situations. Workers who do strike or who are locked out do not picket on the assumption that they will lose their jobs to replacement workers or scabs. Disputes need to be settled as quickly as possible and not dragged out through the use of replacement workers who endanger the livelihood of the regular workers

Next week, Parliament will be debating Bill C-263, which would ban replacement workers. Visit www.canadianlabour.ca (link opens in new window) for more information and to let your MP know you support C-263!

March 4th

The ballots have been counted and the results are in, click for the list of elected delegates and alternates to the BC Regional Convention.

Make Poverty History is part of a global call to action against poverty. National campaigns are currently active in more than 50 countries. At the start of the 21st century 1.2 billion people live in abject poverty. More than 800 million people go to bed hungry and 30,000 children die every day from poverty-related causes.

Read more here.

We have prepared a series of fact sheets that provides information about the Work Force Adjustment Appendix (WFAA) negotiated for Treasury Board employees. It forms part of the collective agreement and complements provisions in the Public Service Employment Act and regulations.

Read more here. Note that this information applies to TB units only.

Pat McVicar and Helga Crosby, Local 20943

March 8th : via email

Thanks to the dedication and hard work of the Women's Representative for CEIU Local 20943, Helga Crosby and to the generosity of all the staff of HRCC Coquitlam and Maple Ridge we were able to donate 12 boxes and 2 laundry baskets of clothing, towels, and bedding to Cythera House and Tri-City Women's Transition House. As well, CEIU and staff contributed a total of $90.00 worth of Safeway gift certificates.

-Pat McVicar, Local President, CEIU 20943

posted March 9th

Here is a letter Patty Ducharme sent to Anne McLellan regarding the Sisters in Spirit fund. Please let Ms. McLellan know  you support the fund as well.

Dear Anne McLellan:

On the occasion of International Women’s Day, we are writing to urge you to immediately facilitate the establishment a $10 million fund for research and education related to violence against Aboriginal women.  As Minister for Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, we are certain that you can appreciate the importance of affirming the value of the lives of the some 500 Aboriginal women who have been disappeared/murdered over the past three decades.

Read more on the Human Rights pages.

posted March 9th

Gordon Campbell's Liberals have abandoned BC women and their mean-spirited cuts and policy decision have turned back the clock for women in our province, said Angela Schira, Secretary-Treasurer of the B.C. Federation of Labour on the International Women's Day release of a report entitled "Losing Ground: The Effects of Government Cutback on Women in British Columbia 2001 - 2005."

From the abolishment of the Ministry of Women's Equality and Human Rights Commission to the handcuffing of women's advocates, the BC Liberal government has not only abandoned BC women," said Schira.  "They've turned back the clock and attacked rights that women have struggled decades to build."

Read more of this news release  and the report itself  at bcfed.com.

VANCOUVER – Negotiations between the The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), bargaining agent for employees working for the Vancouver Airport Authority, and the Authority have broken off.

“The employer has no interest in having a transparent staffing policy or protecting their employees from harassment in the workplace”, says Patty Ducharme, PSAC Regional Executive Vice-President/BC. “Until the Employer respects and addresses the issues brought to the bargaining table by our members, our negotiating team is unable to move the process forward.”

Read more on the YVR negotiations page.

A recently exposed settlement between Wal-Mart and the Department of Labor in the United States provides a sweetheart deal for child labor violations by the world’s largest and richest corporation—and one of the biggest political campaign donors in the country.

The deal, agreed to in early January, requires Wal-Mart to pay a nominal federal fine of $135,540 for child labor violations in which 85 minors operated hazardous equipment at stores in Connecticut, New Hampshire and Arkansas. But the deal gets even sweeter for Wal-Mart because the DOL agreed to give the company 15 days’ notice before conducting any further investigation of company violations.

Read more and please sign the petition at unionvoice.org 

The IWW - the first 100 years is the theme of the 37th annual Pacific Northwest Labour History Association conference at Simon Fraser University Harbour Centre, 515 W. Hastings St., Vancouver, BC, June 10 - 12, 2005.

The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) was founded in Chicago in June 1905. Now 100 years later, the PNLHA conference reflects on the Wobblies' enduring contribution to the labour and social justice movements and their current influence.

Read more here.

Canada has 243,000 km of coast line, patroled by the Coast Guard. What do the Coast Guard do? How do they do it? Rick Mercer found out on the March 21st episode of Monday Report. Click to visit cbc.ca and watch the video .

He also visited UVic and did a piece on tuition hikes and Rock The Vote BC. Click to watch that video segment .

The IWW - the first 100 years is the theme of the 37th annual Pacific Northwest Labour History Association conference at Simon Fraser University Harbour Centre, 515 W. Hastings St., Vancouver, BC, June 10 - 12, 2005.

The PNLHA conference is being held in collaboration with the Thinking Through Action: 20th Century Social Movements and Their Legacy conference, and registrants will have access to both conferences.

The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) was founded in Chicago in June 1905. Now 100 years later, the PNLHA conference reflects on the Wobblies' enduring contribution to the labour and social justice movements and their current influence.

The exciting program includes presentations by Paul Buhle (Brown University) on The Culture of the IWW; What Has Sustained the "Wobblies" and Alexis Buss (General Secretary, IWW) and Jon Bekken (Editor, Industrial Worker) on An Organizers' History. Maria Dunn & friends will perform a multi-media, musical presentation on the history of working people in Alberta - Troublemakers: Working Albertans, 1900 - 1950. There will also be 15 other sessions, workshops and musical offerings as well as a display area.

For more information, and to register for the conference online, visit www.pnlha.org . Download the full program below.

Program.rev050328.pdf