local voice 2015 vol 10 issue 4

MoveUP: What's in a Name?

Climate Leadership

Storm of the Century

Women at Work

Campaign for a Living Wage

ALSO INSIDE

Quarterly publication for members of MoveUP, The Movement of United Professionals

Volume 10 | Issue #4 Winter 2015

let’s moveuP together

In This IssueconTenTs

Convention 2015

10

7

Vancouver Storm 2015

19

3 PresIdenT’s oPenInG MessaGe By David Black

4 TransLaTIons

6 PresIdenT's word

7 a naMe ThaT suITs our MeMbers and our MIssIon

8 MoveuP conTrIbuTes To cLIMaTe LeadershIP TeaM

9 reaL Leaders don’T Lock eMPLoyees ouT

10 convenTIon 2015

12 Three worrIsoMe FacTs abouT canada’s econoMy By Iglika Ivanova

13 Thanks To ouTGoInG board MeMbers

14 MeTro vancouver aLLIance

15 Governor GeneraL canadIan LeadershIP conFerence

16 a GLobaL MoveMenT For woMen aT work By Rysa Kronebusch and Susan Orr

17 MakInG choIces: do I Pay My renT or do I eaT?

18 Icbc: worTh deFendInG By Adrian Dix

19 workInG In The eye oF The sTorM

20 PoLITIcaL acTIon rePorT: The 2015 FederaL eLecTIon By Lori Mayhew and Karl Riley

21 GoLden Tree To honour LosT FarMworkers By Benjamin Anderson

22 caMPaIGn For a LIvInG waGe By Deanna Ogle

23 reP assIGnMenTs

President’s opening Message

USW 2009

David Black

President, COPE 378

The fall months are always busy ones for this union. The slower pace of the summer quickly becomes a memory in the rear view mirror as Thanksgiving and Halloween whiz by, and we head towards December.

This year seems busier than most. While some of our larger worksites are enjoying a lull between rounds of collective agreement bargaining, many of our smaller units are not. It’s advantageous to have these negotiations off-set as we can spend the time our members are due working to get the best agreements possible.

And, of course, our members at BCAA are still locked out. As the Local Voice was going to print, BCAA’s Emergency Roadside Assistance Dispatchers had been locked out for over five months. Their employer remains tone deaf and stubborn. In fact, they recently boasted on social media that they won an Aon Human Resources award… by posting photos of our locked out mem-bers. The photos came down quickly in an effort to sweep the problem under the rug. Fortunately, our members are resolute. They want to work but they want to be treated and paid fairly. We’re incredibly proud to support them.

We also held elections for our union which saw our executive board re-newed with a mix of experience and fresh faces. I was honoured to be ac-claimed president for my third term and Lori Mayhew was re-elected as sec-retary-treasurer. Gwenne Farrell was acclaimed as the vice-president for our utilities group and at our convention, held at the beginning of November, Ali-cia Gallo was elected as vice-president of our combined units group and An-nette Toth was re-elected as vice-president of our ICBC group. My sincere and heartfelt thanks to all outgoing board members, and to all those who stood as candidates for election. Their participation makes this organization stronger, smarter, more resilient and deepens our connection to our members.

Last, but certainly not least, we debuted our rebrand to our convention delegates. The new name, MoveUP, the Movement of United Professionals, better reflects our mission and our members. Delegates gave the rebrand a warm response, and I look forward to fulfilling its promise with you all.

MoveuP, the Movement of united Professionals, is affiliated with the canadian office and Professional employees union, the british columbia Federation of Labour, the canadian Labour congress, unI Global union and IndustriaLL.

MoveUP Executive Board Members:President: david blackSecretary-Treasurer: Lori MayhewVice Presidents: annette Toth (Icbc), Gwenne Farrell (utilities), alicia Gallo (combined units)Accenture Business Services: Melanie GreenlawBC Hydro: rysa kronebusch, bruce sarvisICBC: yasmin carroll, bryan Finstad, Joyce Galuska, Inner Johal, robert starcevich FortisBC Energy: Joe nex Fortis-Hydro: kathryn PrinzCombined Units: brenda Meyers, susan orr, dana richmond, Tim weigelt

MoveUP Communications, Campaigns & Research:Communications Director: sage aaronCommunications Officer: Jen holmwoodResearch Officer: Iain reeve

MoveUP Senior Union Representatives:brad bastien, Glen MacInnes

MoveUP Union Representatives:carrol edwards, Tony Geluch, noel Gulbransen, cathy hirani, barry hodson, barbara Junker, cindy a. Lee, sarah Melsness, bonnie Merriman, brian nelson, kevin Payne, cheryl Popeniuk, kelly Quinn, karen rockwell, kevin smyth, ryan stewart, stephen von sychowski

MoveUP Administrative & Office Staff:Joanne banfield, karen caston, elaine chilman, Lise cluff, adele earwaker, yudon Garie, sarah hall, Lisa Jeffery, shelley Lockhart, carol McLuskie, karen Mcrae, Michelle Mihaichuk, kim smith, barbara stephen, Marilyn vassell

MoveUP Financial Staff: Controller: barbara Liang Jenny chen, sandi Malhame, amandeep nijjar

Occupational Health & Safety & WCB Appeals:steve Milne

Organizing:Georgi bates, caitlin Gilroy, christopher sano

LTD Trust Administrator:Jim Moynham

Human Resources and Organizational Development Director:ram atwal

The Local voice is the official quarterly magazine published for the members of MoveuP.Isbn 1918-9753 coPe 378 voiceLetters to the editor are welcome but may be edited for brevity and clarity. Please contact MoveuP for permission to reprint articles, graphics, or photographs.

address all correspondence to:MoveuP communicationsSuite 301 - 4501 Kingsway, Burnaby, B.C. V5H 0E5Phone: 604-299-0378 Toll Free Line: 1-800-665-6838Fax: 604-299-8211

visit MoveuP’s website at www.MoveuPTogether.caor contact us via email at [email protected]: sage aaron

MOVEUP Local Voice voLuMe 10 Issue #4 winter 2015 | 3

4 | voLuMe 10 Issue #4 winter 2015 MOVEUP Local Voice

"Job stewards have, without

a doubt, the most important

position in the union."

– David Black

by davId bLack, MoveuP PresIdenT

stewards: our Foundations and our FuturePresIdenT'sword

I was recently acclaimed to a third term as your presi-dent. I feel incredibly honoured and humbled by this trust, and fundamentally optimistic about our future.

This isn’t to say I don’t see challenges coming our way. We continue to face employers who don’t value the work you do, or your quality of life. We still have governments who don’t value the role unions play as workers’ advocates.

But I believe, with smart choices, we can navigate these challenges, do the right thing by our members and their communities, and make things better for the lives we touch. We’ve already started by making significant chang-es for the better, improving the way the union serves our members by training and empowering our stewards.

Job stewards have, without a doubt, the most im-portant position in the union. But at one point in our union’s history we didn’t act that way. We centralized power to solve problems at the union office with our staff union representatives and elected leadership.

The people who did this meant well but our im-pact in the workplace was severely weakened. Stewards weren’t given the power or knowledge to be the union at work, to step in when things went wrong and to make positive changes for members. At the same time, our staff union reps were dealing with crushing workloads, which took them away from bargaining and complicat-ed arbitrations.

Empowering and training our stewards is about strengthening our first line of defence, and making sure problems don’t escalate. Our stewards’ skills have been beefed up through worksite and industry-specific training resulting in better, faster grievance manage-ment. We have the statistics to back this up. Three years ago stewards opened only about 8 per cent of all grievances. Now, just a few short years later, they open about 40 per cent of all grievances. The number of overall grievances filed has gone down dramatically

since 2012. And we know from our member polling over the last three years that the number of members who contact stewards first, compared to those who contact union staff, has increased significantly. This is a powerful testament to the way our members are step-ping into their roles, being effective in their worksites and showing leadership.

This also allows our union reps to eliminate the backlog in bargaining, and to prosecute long-stand-ing grievances and arbitrations. Consequently, we’re spending less money on lawyers, getting better results and in a much more timely fashion.

To be honest, it’s not always easy for the union of-fice to step back and let the members take more con-trol. But it’s necessary. We draw our strength from our members, and we take our cues from them as well. Therefore, we have to keep going.

I’m recommitting to top-notch member education programs that will help us find new ways to empower our stewards. This means building on our successes as well as innovating with our member education pro-grams. Our annual Job Steward Seminar, held over three days each spring, is one such success. Additionally, we will devise new ways of delivering member and activ-ist education to make it even more accessible. We’ve piloted shorter seminars that travel to our members, in-stead of asking our members to come to us. With the expanded space in our new office, we can hold smaller sessions more frequently.

I’m excited by what we’ve done and

the work we have ahead of us for the next

three years. I invite you all to learn more

about your stewards’ roles in your work-

place, and consider becoming one.


rebrand

by davId bLack, PresIdenT

a name That suits our Members and our Mission

On the Friday of convention we unveiled the cul-mination of a year-long project to delegates: a new brand and a new name. This union is now

MoveUP, the Movement of United Professionals. why rebrand? We decided to rebrand because our elected lead-

ership and staff have done a lot of work over the last few years to create a strong sense of mission and of self, while distilling a set of values that drive our organization.

However, we were getting beat in the field. In public relations – making our work known to the wider pub-lic – and in organizing – inviting new people into our union. This was not because of our efforts, but because of our name.

COPE was not a unique enough name. In Vancou-ver, we were often confused with COPE (Coalition of Progressive Electors), and across Western Canada we’re confused with CUPE. That name wasn’t memorable and it didn’t reflect our evolving and diverse membership.

And, quite frankly, we didn’t want to be just “COPE-ing” anymore.

why MoveuP?We consulted rank and file members, our activists,

our leadership and branding professionals to develop our new name.

When we talked to our members about who they are and what they do, one thing was very clear in uniting them all – the degree of professionalism and pride they take in their work.

MoveUP is about uniting professionals in a movement for progress and prosperity. We are carrying on the tradi-tion of the labour movement and we’re also modern.

We hope this new identity communicates our de-sire to invite people in, to let them know that we have a purpose and a direction, and that we will be strong and determined advocates on their behalf.

When we unveiled the new name at convention it was met with resounding applause and enthusiasm from delegates. Several people came up to the micro-phone to express their pleasure with the new name. An ICBC member who came from the autobody sector explained how he never identified with the word “of-fice” in the old name. Another member, a dedicated trade unionist, who works for a credit union said she was happy our name stood out and was different than other unions.

Our legal name remains Local 378 of the Canadian Office and Professional Employees Union, but we will be doing business as MoveUP.

MoveUP: we’re proud, we’re strong, we’re united and we’re on your side. Let’s MoveUP together.

we’re proud,

we’re strong,

we’re united and we’re on your side.

Let’s MoveUP together


by IaIn reeve, research oFFIcer

cLIMaTechanGe

Moveu P contributes to climate Leadership Team

Climate change is one of the defi ning issues of this generation. Like most parts of Canada, British Columbia has many challenges to overcome if it

is going to meet the necessary reduction in greenhouse gas emissions required to prevent future devastating al-teration to our climate. However, British Columbia also has an impressive array of advantages that could assist with this transition, and see our province benefi t from similar changes elsewhere.

With this in mind, MoveUP works with a coalition of labour and environmental organizations in a group called Green Jobs BC. The purpose of this group is to inform the public, lobby the government, and unite opinion around the development of a green economy in British Columbia. While many politicians, business leaders, and commentators argue that economic de-velopment and action on climate change are in confl ict, Green Jobs BC feels that they can in fact be compli-mentary, especially in our home province. B.C. has the resources, environmental ethos, and progressive mind-set necessary to be a climate leader and Green Jobs BC wants to promote that.

Recently, recognizing the need to move forward on these issues, the provincial government has created a Climate Leadership Team which will plan the next stage of climate policy for the province. The process involves a signifi cant amount of public consultation.

This is why MoveUP has recently contributed to the Green Jobs BC submission which argues that three ma-jor planks make up a signifi cant part of the province’s

climate policy: renewable energy, public transportation, and public building retrofi ts.

While the potential completion of Site C will help the province meet its renewable energy needs for the near future, we must continue to look for new and more diverse ways to generate renewable power. The sub-mission calls on the government to amend the Clean Energy Act to allow BC Hydro to research, test, and then invest in new renewable generation infrastructure drawing on sources like wind, solar, biomass, and ther-mal. This will ensure continued renewable energy re-sources — which will only grow in demand as the move from fossil fuels ramps up — and create economic ben-efi t across the province.

Investment in mass transit is essential to a green fu-ture and the submission calls on the provincial govern-ment to provide leadership — particularly in the Lower Mainland where the failure of the transit plebiscite has left the funding future of the region’s transit in doubt.

Lastly, funding green retrofi ts for existing pub-lic buildings will not only ensure greater conservation of power, but also create trades jobs — particularly in green-oriented trades, an area where B.C. can clearly be a leader.

Our hope is that our work with Green Jobs BC not only helps us make stronger strides towards a sustain-able economy, but also results in sustaining existing green jobs and creating more good jobs for workers in B.C., many of whom will be MoveUP members.

renewabLe enerGy

PubLIc TransPorTaTIon

PubLIc buILdInG reTroFITs

Green Jobs bc

Our hope is

that our work

with Green

Jobs BC not

only helps us

make stronger

strides towards

a sustainable

economy, but

also results

in sustaining

existing green

jobs and

creating more

good jobs for

workers in B.C.,

many of whom

will be MoveUP

members.


bcaareal Leaders don’t Lock employees out

BCAA works hard to portray a certain image. Their business is built on the premise that they care about their members, that they will be there for people

who need them, and that the company is grounded in old-fashioned, family-oriented values. More than that, they present themselves as leaders – in business and in the community.

But would a real leader lock their employees out for half a year?

BCAA’s Roadside Emergency Roadside Assistance Dispatchers have been locked out for over five months. These people can’t work, can’t get a leg up to improve their lives and if it wasn’t for MoveUP’s defence fund, they wouldn’t be able to provide for their families.

Our members are being denied the basic freedom of opportunity that all Canadians should enjoy: hard work should be rewarded with fair pay.

This is part of a larger shift within BCAA. The Cana-dian Automobile Association started as a non-profit car club at the beginning of the 20th century as highways and roadways across North American were being built. Their mission was to provide services – and advocacy – for car owners. The CAA lobbies on behalf of car own-ers to this day.

Many parents buy their kids BCAA memberships when they first get their drivers licences. BCAA trades on that reputation of service and security. But that’s not what they do any more. The first clue was when they locked out the Roadside Dispatchers who provide what most people think is their core service – helping people

who get in trouble on the road. Now it’s easy to find stories online of people who’ve waited for hours beside broken down cars because help was late – or it didn’t show up at all.

Instead of guaranteeing roadside help, a BCAA membership is now the first step to selling members one or more of BCAA’s many insurance products. In-deed, BCAA no longer offers free road safety semi-nars to members. In fact, they’ve recently restructured their memberships to make them more expensive and they’ve downgraded the benefits members get for the money they pay.

BCAA is hoping most people don’t notice how the organization has changed; how it no longer values long time members; how it is no lon-ger a leader in the community; how it is just trying to make a quick buck. They’re hoping no-one notices if the lockout carries through the winter season when the weather will make road travel more dangerous across B.C. and the Yukon.

Fortunately, our members are standing up for their rights. They’re also standing up for the kind of organiza-tion BCAA once was and should still be. Our members are calling out BCAA, its CEO and its board on their lack of leadership, and reminding them that the true leaders are walking a picket line for fairness.

Fortunately, our members are standing up

for their rights. They’re also standing up for

the kind of organization BCAA once was

and should still be.


our evolution: Member-driven changeconvenTIon2015

Delegates took the opportunity to speak on a number of issues. They participated in interactive working groups on green jobs, political action,

member-to-member communication, and learning about how our union works.

Additionally, they heard from a variety of thought-provoking speakers from within the union and beyond. On the Friday the union’s new brand was revealed to delegates: MoveUP, the Movement of United Profes-sionals. The new identity better refl ects the union’s members, where the union wants to go, and it invites people to join.

PresIdenT’s addressDavid Black was acclaimed president for a third

term. He spoke to delegates about the importance of empowering and training stewards in the workplace, growing and making a positive contribution to larger society. He encouraged our members to become more involved in determining MoveUP’s direction.

consTITuTIonaL chanGesDelegates participated in approving amendments

to our union’s constitution. All but two recommenda-tions were accepted. C-2 and C-9 were referred back the committee for future discussion.

vIce-PresIdenT eLecTIonsAnnette Toth was re-elected as Vice-President for

our ICBC group and Alicia Gallo was elected as Vice-President for the Combined Units. President Black ex-tended his congratulations to Annette and Alicia, and heartfelt thanks to candidates Joyce Galuska and Tim Weigelt for enriching the union’s democracy and debate.

GuesT sPeakers:hassan yussuff , President of the canadian Labour

congress, told delegates that “hard work is the only way to move ahead and re-energize.” He talked about the challenges faced during the last 10 years under Ste-phen Harper and the opportunity now to move ahead for progress. Yussuff said, “When you pick a fi ght with us [the labour movement], we will not stop until you are defeated. Christy Clark will learn that soon.”

deputy Mayor andrea reimer brought greet-ings from the city of vancouver. Reimer thanked the delegates for the work they do in their worksites and in their communities. “Your support for fairness and good paying jobs in a diverse range of sectors is mak-ing sure that people across B.C. and Western Canada can do their job safely and eff ectively while earning a decent living to support themselves and their family,” she said.

coPe/sePb national President simon berlin de-tailed the union’s growing global solidarity work. “I’ve had the opportunity to travel with your offi cers to the UNI Global Union meeting in South Africa and to the UNI Finance meeting in Turkey.” COPE/SEPB is the larg-est union in Canada which represents fi nance workers and in Turkey he learned from other fi nance unions and heard about the challenges faced by fi nance workers around the world.

Berlin also shared a strong message of support and solidarity for the locked out BCAA workers. “When I was here I got to visit these brave, strong people,” he said. “They’re inspiring and I am with them all of the way.”

MoveuP’s 2015 convention brought together members from across diff erent regions and workplaces with the theme of evolving together though member-driven change.


bc ndP Leader John horgan said, “we will con-nect to our roots so working people know we’re on their side.” On the BC Liberal provincial government, currently mired in scandal for deleting government records, Horgan explained that there’s a “three-D” ap-proach in “BC Liberal land”. “First,” he said, “you deny there’s a problem. If that doesn’t work, you defl ect. If those two Ds don’t work you can always press the de-lete button.”

“If we’re going to get the change we want,” said Horgan, “we have to get active off the couch and throw the buggers out.”

Joey hartman, President of vancouver and dis-trict Labour council, talked about solidarity at a com-munity level. Hartman told delegates that this con-vention and this union are all about its members. She said “the fact the executive has chosen evolution as a theme for this convention signals that your leadership is forward-looking.”

hahrie han, anton vonk associate Professor of Po-litical science at university of california santa barbara, talked about building people power in the 21st century. Her presentation focused on the question: how do or-ganized people become organized power?

Han says that there are two key groups in organizing change. Transactional mobilizers organize large num-bers of people who choose how much participation or power they adopt. Transformational organizers cultivate agency. When someone new comes into the organiza-tion they are given power and form relationships. Suc-cessful organizations do both.

“Our power comes neither from the money we raise nor the messages we craft, but from the heartbeat at the centre of our work,” she said.

Irene Lanzinger, President of the bc Federation of Labour, said “the world will be changed by people will-ing to go to meetings at night (or on weekends).” Lanz-inger said that in the federal election, “working people and unions were engaged more than I’ve ever seen in the political process.”

Looking toward the provincial election, Lanzinger asked delegates to think of the progress we can make if

we elect a government that will refl ect our values. She said unions and their members make the world a more equal place. “We raise the bar; we raise wages and ben-efi ts for everyone.”

Iglika Ivanova, senior economist and Public Inter-est researcher at the canadian centre for Policy al-ternatives, said good public policy has the potential to shape a more just society. “Inequality is a pressing issue for us all. It is one of the key issues of our time,” she said.

She shared the staggering truth that each year, by January 2, at 11:42am, each of Canada’s top 100 CEOs will have already earned as much as the average worker will earn in the entire year.

There are a number of consequences of high and growing income inequality, Ivanova said. It creates so-cial injustice, is bad for the economy, reduces social mobility, exacerbates social problems, is bad for the en-vironment and climate change, threatens democracy, and undermines social and political cohesion.

To Ivanova, this information is a call to action. “Public policy is the key lever to reset the balance,” she said.

“If we’re going to get the change we want,

we have to get active off the couch and

throw the buggers out.” – Horgan

“Our power comes neither from the money we

raise nor the messages we craft, but from the

heartbeat at the centre of our work,” – Han


by IGLIka Ivanova, senIor econoMIsT aT The canadIan cenTre For PoLIcy aLTernaTIves

Three worrisome Facts about canada’s economy beyond The drop in GdPeconoMy

Earlier this fall, Statistics Canada confi rmed that Can-ada’s economy shrank during the fi rst six months of 2015, offi cially tipping us into recession territory.

The dip in GDP made a lot of headlines, but there are three other trends in the data that suggest the eco-nomic slowdown is just the tip of Canada’s economic iceberg.

1. business investment is down for the third con-secutive quarter

This decline comes on the heels of a long period of weak business investment since early 2012. Former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney famously ac-cused companies of sitting on piles of “dead money” in the summer of that year. The latest statistics show little has changed since.

The problem is that without business investment, we can expect weaker job growth and a slower econo-my to continue. The Bank of Canada cut its interest rate in January 2015 to encourage investment and boost the economy. But unfortunately, all this seems to have done is further distort real estate markets, particularly in places like Vancouver where housing aff ordability is hitting record lows.

2. a number of key economic sectors are in de-cline, not just oil and gas

Over the last decade, Canada’s economy has be-come overly reliant on mining and oil exports. It’s not surprising that when prices tank, as they have over the last year, our resource sector is hit hard. But the eco-nomic decline extends beyond these sectors.

Nine out of 20 major industries have been in decline or stagnating during the fi rst six months of 2015, includ-ing construction, manufacturing, wholesale trade and transportation. These nine industries account for close to half of Canada’s economic activity. You won’t see all industries scaling back unless the recession gets really bad, but it’s clear that the economic weakness is not confi ned to the resource sector.

3. household debt is on the rise as disposable in-come declines

Some commentators have pointed to higher con-sumer spending as a beacon of light amidst negative economic news. However, this consumer spending is fi -nanced by increasing debt rather than by income growth — an often overlooked fact in the current debates.

Despite record-low interest rates, total debt pay-ments are taking up a rather large share of disposable income (14% on average). The share of household in-come Canadians spent on debt payments, or the aff ord-ability of debt — has barely budged since the 2008/09 recession, a new Statistics Canada study shows.

If debt-fi nanced consumer spending is all that’s nudging Canada’s economy forward, we’re in trouble.

For more articles

by Iglika and other

CCPA analysts, visit

PolicyNote.ca

0.1%

CANADA:Quarterly Drop in Economic Activity

While a quarterly drop in economic activity of 0.1% seems small, these three

trends suggest that Canada’s domestic economic fundamentals are weak.

Unless we’re prepared to remain at the mercy of

global commodity markets, we need to be talking about what governments can do to diversify the

economy and set Canada up on a path for good jobs and income growth.

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) outlines a number of ideas in its Alternative Federal

Budget (policyalternatives.ca/afb2015). We’ll make sure the new federal government hears from us on these

ideas in the months and years ahead.

FOR MORE ARTICLES BY IGLIKA AND OTHER CCPA ANALYSTS, VISIT POLICYNOTE.CA.

Iglika Ivanova


execuTIve board heartfelt Thanks to outgoing board Members

Between August 7 and October 2, 2015MoveUP held elections for our executive board, secretary-treasurer and president

positions. Some board members decided not to seek re-election and others were not success-ful in their re-election bids. Each board member from the 2012-2015 term has made signifi cant contributions to MoveUP, enriched our democ-racy and worked incredibly hard on behalf of our members. We off er our gratitude and thanks to all of the following outgoing board members.

SaFar alIKHanI became a MoveUP member at TransLink in 2001. In 2006 he became a job steward and later was chosen to serve on the union’s bargaining committee. He was elect-ed to the executive board in July 2014. Outside of work and union involvement, Safar volunteers extensively in his community.

tIm BouZoVetSKY has been a MoveUP member since August 1991 when he started work with BC Gas, now FortisBC Energy. Tim is a single father of two, an avid motorcyclist and is very ac-tive in his church and hometown of Chilliwack. He has been a job steward for over eleven years and has been on the FortisBC Energy bargaining committee several times.

KarIn CIreZ has been a MoveUP member since 1993 and currently works at ICBC’s Head Of-fi ce as the union-appointed Return to Work Coor-dinator in the Wellness Department. Karin served on the Education, Political Action, and Health & Safety Committees, and was chair of the Women›s

Committee. She is also an avid volunteer who helps organize fundraisers for local community organizations such as the Greater Vancouver Food Bank, Women's Centre's, Charlford House, United Way and the Burnaby Fellowship.

nanCY DeVrIeS works for Accenture in Vernon, and has been active and involved with MoveUP since 2000. She has taken several la-bour education courses, including Collective Bargaining, Women in Leadership and Facing Management, and is a veteran of past ABS bar-gaining committees.

Colleen FInn works for D.A. Townley & Associates Ltd. as a supervisor in the remittance department. She has been a chief job steward for the past eleven years. She’s a trained Canadian Labour Congress facilitator and her roots extend back through to COPE 15. Always eager to learn more and help others, Colleen gave much of her time to the union’s Education, Constitution and Bylaws, Women’s Rights and Advisory committees.

treVor HanSen started with ICBC at the driver licensing head offi ce in Victoria in June of 2008 and became a job steward soon after. He was acclaimed to the executive board in May 2011 and was a member of MoveUP’s Youth Ac-tion and Electoral committees. A graduate of the Labour College of Canada, he now works at the MoveUP offi ce as a staff union representative.

CalVIn JonaS has been a MoveUP mem-ber since 1989 when he started with BC Hydro. Prior to working at BC Hydro, his background was in education and IT. He joined the executive board in 2011 and brought 30 years of non-profi t

management experience to the position. His inci-sive analysis and expertise were employed on the union’s Audit and Education committees.

Petro KoromVoKIS has worked for Coast Mountain Bus Company for 20 years in a variety of positions, from Information Clerk to Transit Sched-uler. He was the fi rst chair of MoveUP’s LGBTQ subcommittee, represented the union at the World Pride Conference in Toronto in 2014, and is an ar-dent defender of human rights in the workplace.

laurIe KIrK works at Coast Community Credit Union and became a member of COPE 15, now merged with MoveUP, in 1997. She’s the chief job steward for 20 branches and sat on the bargaining committee. Laurie sat on the union’s Grievance Committee and attends Alternate Dis-pute Resolution meetings and Labour Manage-ment meetings.

HeatHer lee served as Vice-President for MoveUP’s combined units after the union merged with COPE 15 in 2010. Heather’s long service in the labour movement and tireless ad-vocacy on behalf of working people has earned her the gratitude and regard of many members.

KeItH ParKInSon became an employee in the Security Division at Hastings Racetrack and a member of MoveUP in 2000. He became a job steward in 2003 and was fi rst elected to MoveUP’s Executive Board in October 2011. He sat on Hastings bargaining committees in 2008, 2012 and 2014. He also served on the union’s Constitution and Bylaws, Electoral and Political Action Committees.

Top photos (left to right):

Safar Alikhani, Tim Bouzovetsky,

Karin Cirez, Nancy DeVries,

Colleen Finn

Bottom photos (left to right):

Trevor Hansen, Calvin Jonas,

Petro Koromvokis, Laurie Kirk,

Heather Lee, Keith Parkinson


buILdInG neTworks

unions and The Metro vancouver alliance: Finding common Ground and working For The common Good

Members of unions across the Lower Mainland are actively involved with the work of Metro Vancouver Alliance, a broad based coalition of

community groups, labour, faith and educational insti-tutions, all working together for the common good.

The MVA is comprised of 54 affiliated organizations representing a diverse cross-section of Vancouverites.

MVA members come from all walks of life: union lo-cals, faith congregations, youth groups, neighbor-hood houses, co-ops, aca-demic departments, com-munity non-profits and small businesses.

Joey Hartman, Presi-dent of the Vancouver and District Labour Council, explains, “The VDLC was one of the founding mem-

bers of MVA because we thought it was important that our Labour Council and affiliated unions reach out to non-traditional partners. By working together we will be more effective at creating positive change.”

Broad-based community organizations like MVA operate on the principle of ‘power before program.’ In other words, they build strong relationships amongst diverse groups in the community, come together to lis-ten to their members’ concerns, agree on issues that can be worked on together, and then move forward.

Prior to MVA’s official launch in 2014, leaders within MVA’s member organizations engaged in a listening campaign, spending time connecting with their mem-bership and hearing directly from them about the issues that they felt were important.

After hundreds of conversations four issues emerged: transit, housing, income justice, and social inclusion.

After meeting with Vancouver’s mayoral candidates during the municipal election and using the strength and diversity of MVA’s membership to secure concrete commitments, campaign teams are now working on these issues directly.

MVA’s income justice team was successful in pressur-ing the City of Vancouver to become a living wage em-ployer and is now working on showing other municipali-ties and businesses the benefits of paying a living wage.

The transit team is working on RouteSpeak, a proj-ect that provides a vehicle to help bus and Skytrain users guide transit decisions by creating relationships with transit managers and governing bodies.

The housing team is working with the City of Van-couver to strengthen by-laws which are designed to protect tenants from renovictions and on a proposal to ensure that affordable purchase and rental housing is built into all new developments. The social inclusion team is also working with the city, identifying areas civic planners must work on to strengthen neighborhoods and reduce social isolation.

Jamey Mills, a union activist with the Public Service Alliance of Canada sums it up, “When I became involved with MVA I was really surprised that there are so many other groups out there working on some of the same issues as the labour movement. Affordable housing, in-come inequality, transit and the environment, our over-all quality of life - these are issues that we all care about and we can all work together on. And let’s face it, union meetings can sometimes be a bit dry. MVA meetings are never boring.”

MVA’s income justice team was

successful in pressuring the

City of Vancouver to become

a living wage employer and is

now working on showing other

municipalities and businesses the

benefits of paying a living wage.

www.metvanalliance.org

For more InFormatIon VISIt


MeMbers' sTorIesGovernor General canadian Leadership conference

by Joyce GaLuska, execuTIve board MeMber

My heart pounded as I hung up the phone. I’d been selected for an interview. I hadn’t even told anyone about applying. Weeks passed with

nothing, until the day an email from the Governor Gen-eral popped into my inbox. I was going!

The Governor General Canadian Leadership Con-ference (GGCLC) was created in 1983 to bring together influential people who have acquired considerable ex-perience in their chosen fields. The goal of the GGCLC is to provide an opportunity to examine the relationship between industry and community.

I flew into St. John’s, Newfoundland, where the three day plenary began with an introduction by His Ex-cellency the Right Honourable David Johnson.

The first conference speaker was, Commander Chris Hadfield. He was a dynamic speaker, reminding us to make sustainable decisions that last more than one po-litical term.

We heard from global managing directors, CEOs, economists, and Hassan Yussuff – President of the CLC. We were told to set audacious goals. We were reminded to take care of our community and employees. And that we must have courage; to fail fast, to say no and to ac-cept imperfect answers.

We learned that the Aboriginal community is the fastest growing market in Canada. Wab Kinew, a high-ly respect First Nations journalist, writer and speaker, spoke of collaborative education being foundational; that we can have economic development without sac-rificing core values.

We were then broken into smaller groups. Mine was headed to Prince Edward Island. Over the course of the following 8 days in PEI we had 50 meetings.

We dined with Lt. Governor Frank Lewis. We met with Premier Wade McLaughlin, successful entrepre-neurs, and the “World’s tallest free-standing chef” – Mi-chael Smith. We visited successful distilleries and brew-eries. We planted grass to stop erosion, served in a soup kitchen, learned about the seal over-population and saw collaboration at work in the fisheries co-op.

We met a small-business owner that sells sand sculptures worldwide, learned about the University of Prince Edward Island's new Sustainable Engineering degree and how Holland College uses geothermal and solar panels to heat their building and their woodwork-ing students revitalize the community by renovating heritage homes.

We learned that truly successful entrepreneurs put their people and community first. We saw how busi-nesses in PEI partnered to bring in tourism, how in-novation is the key to success and sustainability is the lifeblood of survival.

On Isle de la Magdalaine, also know at the Maggies, we learned how the Francophone and Anglophone communities have had to work together to ensure the survival of their island.

In those two weeks a deep connection was made between all the participants. Through this we learned that an organization’s greatest asset is their people and that collaboration is a key element to success.

After leaving the Maggies we flew to Ottawa where we collaborated on our presentation to the Governor General and proposed an award called PEI’s Next Top Innovators. It was a resounding hit!

A week later the Governor General announced awards to honour Canada’s top innovators. Coincidence?

Photo top left:

Our ICEBERG

escapade in

St. John’s,

Newfoundland.

Photo top right:

Dining at Lt.

Gov. Frank

Lewis’ residence,

Charlottetown,

PEI.

His Excellency the Right

Honourable David Johnson


by rysa kronebusch and susan orr, woMen’s rIGhTs coMMITTee co-chaIrs

a Global Movement For women at work

woMen's rIGhTs coMMITTee

In September more than 300 participants from In-dustriALL affi liates in 60 countries took part in the 1st Women’s World Conference in Vienna, Austria. The

conference brought together women trade unionists to address some of the issues most aff ecting women in the workplace.

Austria’s President, Dr. Heinz Fischer, addressed the opening ceremony, with the Austrian Ministers for Health and Labour, and their Secretary of State. We heard from a number of prominent representatives from unions around the world and members who shared their experiences and expertise in improving health and safety, increasing maternity protection, preventing HIV/AIDS, building membership, fi ghting precarious work, ending gender discrimination, and achieving a work/life balance.

here are some of the highlights of our discussions:Women’s health and safetyPanelists led a thoughtful discussion on some of the

health and safety issues women across the world face in the workplace. Angeline Chitambo from Zimbabwe discussed why women are more susceptible to the AIDS virus. Evgeniya Esenina from Russia gave a presentation around safety issues called "We don’t come to work to die." Nan Aye Mya Mu from Myanmar discussed health and safety concerns in mining. Perhaps most moving was a presentation by Phumeza Mgemgo from South Africa. She spoke of the many women aff ected by in-adequate safety equipment who have miscarried as a result of exposure to toxins.

Violence against womenA key theme of the conference was the unions’

role in preventing violence against women. MoveUP’s Vice-President and IndustriALL Women’s Committee

Co-Chair Gwenne Farrell started the discussion on the murdered and missing indigenous women in Canada and the lack of political support from our federal gov-ernment. Nuran Gulenc, an activist in Turkey, discussed the Petro-Is Trade Union’s twitter campaign to bring at-tention to violence against women. Carol Bruce from IndustriALL Global discussed combating sexual harass-ment in the garment industry in Ethiopia.

It is unfortunate that in 2015 we are still having con-versations around women’s safety and respect; that many women are still looked at simply as sexual beings or as property and are afraid to go to work. Women are the caregivers as well as the breadwinners in their family, yet they are paid less, have less support and are some-times raped and killed at their jobs or in their homes.

In South Africa, for example, women work in intol-erable conditions in mines and are forced to wear men’s clothes that are often too big. Some are raped and killed un derground and most sexual harassment is not report-ed. A woman’s only option is to leave her job or transfer.

Gender-based violence and discrimination, wheth-er at work or not, limits women’s potential at work and is therefore a trade union issue. This conference was a good stepping stone to help women around the world connect and share in order to emerge stronger and bet-ter equipped to improve the lives of women through the trade union movement.

300 participants from 60 countries


The unITed

wayMaking choices: do I Pay My rent or do I eat?

Do I pay my rent or do I eat? Do I pay for electricity or do I pay for gas? Do I pay for food or do I pay

for feminine hygiene products? Those were Victoria’s choices during Christmas 2013.

The 31-year-old single mother and her son had just moved to Richmond on an advance provided by her employers. She had $1,200 to last till the middle of January and $1,150 of that had gone to rent. Victoria found herself somewhere she never thought she’d be.

“When I walked into the Food Bank, Janice didn’t even question why I was there, she was like hey, you’re a new per-son and we’re here to help,” Victoria says of her fi rst trip to the Richmond Food Bank. Over the next year, she would re-turn again and again and her friendship with Janice grew.

As Executive Director of Richmond Family Place, funded in part by The Unit-ed Way of the Lower Mainland, Janice Lambert sees a lot of families like Vic-toria’s. That’s because almost 22% of children under 18 in female lone-parent families were living in poverty in B.C. in 2013. In Richmond, poverty is hidden.

“There are pockets of housing within Richmond where families on a low in-come are, but it’s not just one neigh-bourhood. It’s scattered,” Janice says. So agency programs must go where families are. Richmond Family Place off ers two early learning programs and an evening dinner program at the Richmond Food Bank where she met Victoria as well as at their main location in Central Richmond.

Richmond Family Place helped Vic-toria through the ups and downs of the last few years. It also helped her become more self-confi dent.

Poverty is a complex social issue. Not only does it get in the way of meeting basic human needs – such as access to nutritious food, stable and safe housing, and clothing – it also marginalizes chil-dren and families. The United Way of the Lower Mainland helps people move from the margins of poverty to a place of hope and possibility.

Behind every changed life is some-one who makes that happen. You can help. Please give generously.

One in 6 people in Greater Vancouver

lives in poverty. For a lone parent with

one child, that means living on just under

$24,000 a year (before taxes). Experience

what it’s like to live at or below the

poverty line and face decisions that will

either make or break the month.

Try it now at www.makethemonth.ca

Choose Vancouver from the

drop-down menu and hit “start.”

Do I pay my rent or

do I eat? Do I pay for

electricity or do I pay for

gas? Do I pay for food

or do I pay for feminine

hygiene products?

Can you make the month?


headlinesub-headline

In September, BC NDP Leader John Horgan named me Opposition critic for ICBC, in addition to my re-sponsibilities for BC Hydro. I’m looking forward to

holding the government to account for its management and mismanagement of public auto insurance in B.C. and advocating for ratepayers, ICBC employees and the public interest.

We forget how controversial ICBC was when it was created. My late dad, an insurance agent and bro-ker who supported public auto insurance, was a lonely voice in a sea of opposition by agents, private insurance companies and right-wing politicians against the new crown corporation and the Dave Barrett government that created it.

Yet, the BC NDP initiative has stood the test of time. This is due to the work of your members in provid ing service to the people of B.C. and to the value of an idea – that public auto insurance provides the highest level of service for public benefi t. For all of their bluster, no right-wing premier has dared privatize ICBC since the BC NDP lost the 1975 election.

Alas, this does not mean that ICBC has been well-managed under the BC Liberals. To the contrary, rate-payers and MoveUP members alike have paid the price for often arbitrary, politically motivated management. And, it is often MoveUP members who pay the price for these Liberal failures – as motorists deal with the latest BC Liberal manipulation.

In October, ICBC management announced the lat-est rate increase by the Corporation. Average basic rates have increased on average $185 since Christy Clark be-came Premier in 2011. The BC Liberals attempted to claim that their management of ICBC had reduced the rate in-crease was fundamentally misleading. They had simply transferred money from the optional side to the basic side while raising rates for motorists and protecting transfers to the premier’s top priority – her own government.

While the government has tried to shift responsibil-ity to increases in claims costs, there is also the impact of the BC Liberal government’s misplaced priorities. In short since Ms. Clark became premier, provision for unpaid claims at ICBC has increased by a staggering $1.6 billion. This refl ects the false economy of laying off front-line staff who provide essential services to meet artifi cial staff targets. Who pays? You do, motorists do, as does ICBC’s reputation.

On behalf of John Horgan and his team, I want to thank MoveUP members for the work you do at ICBC. And I have a request. If you have information, ideas or suggestion of how I can hold management or the gov-ernment to account, please let me know. Together, we can make ICBC better, and show that the case for public auto insurance is as strong today as it was in the time of Dave Barrett.

by adrIan dIx, bc ndP crITIc For Icbc

Icbc: worth defending

crown corP-oraTIons

Adrian Dix (third from right)

and community members

You can reach

me at my public

e-mail:

Adrian.Dix.MLA

@leg.bc.ca

"On behalf of John Horgan

and his team, I want to thank

MoveUP members for the

work you do at ICBC."

– Adrian Dix


200Power Poles

10,000Metres of Wire

1,200Pieces of Electrical

Equipment

2,400"Trouble Calls"

crews replaced approximately...

72hours

Source: BC Hydro

bc hydroworkInG In The eye oF The sTorM

August 29th, 2015 started as a normal Saturday for Accenture’s Nancy DeVries. A former executive board member for Accenture, she was submitting

an expense claim. The 25 year employee has spent the last 16 years working in the Vernon call centre, which acts as a backup for the Lower Mainland centre at Ed-monds. DeVries is also a shop steward and former ex-ecutive counsellor.

A major storm was hitting the Greater Vancou-ver area. Things in the call centre were quickly falling apart. The website, a lifeline for both staff and public, had crashed. Phone lines were swamped. DeVries knew they would need extra staff and submitted her name for the 1:00 am – 4:00 pm shift on Sunday – all she could work within overtime guidelines.

“I hadn’t worked a storm in a long time,” DeVries re-calls. She arrived to a dark building. A miscommunica-tion meant DeVries was the only person working at that location.

During a normal 7.5 hour shift staff answer 65 - 100 calls, redirecting calls to appropriate departments. Dur-ing her shift after the storm DeVries fi elded 228 calls. Over 19,000 people tried calling in during the outage. Most encountered busy signals. DeVries couldn’t get through to the trouble centre. Their priority was police, fi re and ambulance.

During times like this, DeVries and her co-workers calm people down, suggesting what they can do and where they can go. “It was a rude awakening,” she re-calls. “This was just a bad storm. How could we manage a natural disaster? The province needs to get on this,” she adds. “People need to be prepared for three to four days without power for refrigeration, cooking, light, and heat. Communication will go down. People won’t be able to access services.”

710,000 Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island cus-tomers lost power at some point during the storm – over half of all customers in those areas. This was the largest power outage in BC Hydro history.

“They never seem to have enough people,” DeVries states when asked about staffi ng levels. “It’s a stressful job and we don’t have the kind of management atten-tion we used to.”

At one point DeVries was trying to help a woman from a poultry farm. “They had 100,000 chickens and their generator had broken down. The birds were dying. It was their livelihood,” she recalls. “It was heartbreaking.”

Along with the stress, mental illness plays a key role – both for staff and customers. “Listening to the struggles of other people takes its toll,” DeVries admits, having struggled herself with anxiety and depression. “Hearing sad stories over and over again is hard. I try to help people who are down.” DeVries admits helping customers or other members is the best part of her job. “I like to see things resolved. It can be challenging. We should take the time to listen to people and show em-pathy, more and more people suff er from mental health issues and hardship.”

Over 72 hours crews

restored power to over

700,000 customers –

a number never

accomplished by

BC Hydro crews before.

Crews responded to

2,400 “Trouble calls” –

in a normal month

there are 2,000 in the

entire province.


by LorI Mayhew and karL rILey, PoLITIcaL acTIon coMMITTee co-chaIrs

Political action report: The 2015 Federal election

PoLITIcaL acTIonrePorT

The defeat of the Harper Conservative govern-ment this October was welcome news to many across Canada. After a decade of the Conserva-

tives’ failures to protect and create good jobs, support investment and growth in our economy, and protect healthcare, Canadians were ready for change. Harper’s unprecedented attack on workers’ rights, the ill-con-ceived, union-busting bill C-377 and years of erosion of many of the values that make Canada a great country will hopefully be things of the past.

We will see over the coming months if Justin Trudeau’s new Liberal government will make the real changes they campaigned on – including rethinking their ill-advised support for Bill C-51 and reversing the Barbaric Cultural Practices Act. The Liberals’ history in government has been littered with scandal, defi cits and corruption so we will be closely watching to see if this new government is able to overcome the past and work to be a champion for the middle-class, to prioritize job creation, to improve the Employment Insurance plan and to protect the social programs that are the founda-tion of Canadian society.

And while the election didn’t go exactly as many of our members had hoped, we still achieved some of the change we desired. We re-elected some veteran NDP

MPs in Metro Vancouver and welcomed Jenny Kwan in Vancouver East to fi ll the shoes of the outgoing, high-ly-accomplished Libby Davies. Unfortunately, we lost some hard-working NDP MPs in Surrey, throughout Western Canada, Quebec and in the Maritimes.

However, we painted Vancouver Island orange with the election of six NDP MPs. Rachel Blaney in North Island-Powell River, Gord Johns in Courtenay-Alberni, Sheila Malcolmson in Nanaimo-Ladysmith and Alistair MacGregor in Cowichan-Malahat-Langford will join Mur-ray Rankin in Victoria and Randall Garrison in Esquima lt-Saanich-Sooke as strong representatives in Ottawa to hold the Liberal government to account and advocate for the progressive issues that matter to our communities.

It is up to the Liberals now to cooperate with the NDP if they truly intend to transform Ottawa and re-build Canada.

It was amazing to see how many MoveUP mem-bers were out volunteering on campaigns, participating in our joint labour canvasses and bringing attention to important local issues. The skills you developed will be incredibly helpful in the coming 2017 Provincial Elec-tion, where many of us will work to bring change to the B.C. government.

We will see over the coming months if

Justin Trudeau’s new Liberal government will make

the real changes they campaigned on...

After a decade of

the Conservatives’

failures to protect

and create good

jobs, support

investment and

growth in our

economy, and

protect healthcare,

Canadians were

ready for change.


oh&s

benJaMIn anderson, bc Labour herITaGe cenTre

Golden Tree to honour Lost Farmworkers, demand workplace safety

saTurday, ocTober 3, 2015. abboTsFord, b.c.

It wasn’t lost on me that some of the leaves had al-ready begun to turn golden brown. The event was to take place in the picturesque International Friendship

Garden & Cultural Gateway in Abbotsford, B.C. At least 200 people had gathered to celebrate the lives of the three women killed in a crash in March 2007. The wom-en – Sarbjit Kaur Sidhu, Amarjit Kaur Bal, and Sukhvinder Kaur Punia – were three of a large group of farmwork-ers packed into the back of a van, a van with makeshift bench seats and only two seatbelts: not nearly enough to protect the 15-passenger-van’s 17 occupants.

This wasn’t the fi rst such incident, explained former BC Federation of Labour President Jim Sinclair, and un-fortunately it wasn’t the last. The monument is a tribute not only to the memories of the women who lost their lives but also to their families’ perseverance and their dedication to the improvement of working conditions

for all workers. It represents a “journey from tragedy to triumph” said Manpreet Grewal of Abbotsford Commu-nity Services.

In front of the golden monument, speakers hon-oured the memories of the women and commemo-rated not only the tragedy but its implications for work-ers in B.C., pushing for meaningful progress in terms of workplace safety regulations.

The speeches were followed by a somber, yet cel-ebratory, unveiling. A towering golden tree bearing the countenance of each woman, her arms extended to the sky as branches bearing the fruit of the future and of meaningful change, the monument serves as a remind-er of this massive loss and the actions that led to it but simultaneously gives one hope in the power of collec-tive eff ort, reminds one of the massive strides in work-place safety that we can achieve by working together.

These women and countless others who have faced perilous working conditions will not be forgotten. On the contrary, said Irene Lanzinger, President of the BC Federation of Labour, the golden tree “serves as a re-minder of the importance of standing up for the rights of all workers.”

saturday, october 3, 2015abbotsford, b.c.saturday, october 3, 2015abbotsford, b.c.

Honouring lost workers...Honouring lost workers...Honouring lost workers...Honouring lost workers...Honouring lost workers...Honouring lost workers...Honouring lost workers...Honouring lost workers...Honouring lost workers...Honouring lost workers...Honouring lost workers...Honouring lost workers...Honouring lost workers...Honouring lost workers...Honouring lost workers...Honouring lost workers...Honouring lost workers...Honouring lost workers...Honouring lost workers...Honouring lost workers...Honouring lost workers...Honouring lost workers...Honouring lost workers...Honouring lost workers...Honouring lost workers...Honouring lost workers...Honouring lost workers...Honouring lost workers...Honouring lost workers...Honouring lost workers...Honouring lost workers...

The Golden Tree Memorial stands at the centre of the International Friendship Garden & Cultural Gateway:

32320 George Ferguson Way, abbotsford, B.C.

learn more at www.goldentree.ca


by deanna oGLe, caMPaIGn orGanIZer For The LIvInG waGe For FaMILIes caMPaIGn

campaign for a Living wage Gains Momentum LIvInGwaGe

My fi rst experience of the living wage was when my mother was hired on as a support worker at a local hospital. This was a good union job.

A living wage was transformative for my family and the impact has been generational. Not only did my mother make enough to ensure that she could meet her house-hold expenses, it allowed her to shift her focus from day-to-day to planning to our future.

Many of us see ourselves and our stories represent-ed in statistics on poor children. We know that poor children are being raised in poor families. In B.C., over one in three children living in poverty live in homes where at least one parent is working full time, full year. By encouraging employers to pay all direct and con-tract staff a living wage the Living Wage for Families Campaign off ers a concrete solution to address work-ing poverty.

The living wage is a regional calculation that looks at the amount that a family of four, with two adults working full time, full year, need to earn to meet their expenses. Working poverty is a Canada-wide problem and there are more than 50 communities nationally that have calculated their regional living wage. Across B.C. the living wage varies from $16.82/hr in Prince George

to $20.61/hr in Kitimat to $20.68/hr in Metro Vancouver. The living wage al-lows working families to support the healthy development of their children and participate in the social, civic and cultural lives of their communities.

The City of New Westminster was

the fi rst local government in Canada to commit to pay-ing a living wage to all staff and contractors. Last fall the Huu-ay-aht First Nations, located on the west coast of Vancouver Island, became the fi rst First Nations govern-ment to make this same commitment. As a result of a wide campaign of public support for the living wage, from both community organizations and unions, the City of Vancouver voted unanimously on July 8th in support of working towards becoming a Living Wage Employer. This is a welcome response to the growing income inequality we see in our communities.

The fi ght for fair wages is a fi ght that labour has been involved in for over a century. The collaboration between labour and community organizations on the issue of working poverty strengthens and enriches our organization. It recognizes that each of us has deep roots in the communities where we live and the ability to earn enough to care for our families is a goal that we are all working towards.

My mother still works as a support worker at the hospital that initially paid her a living wage. She is proud of her work and the ability that her work has given her to raise her family. She is also proud of her union and the work of collective organizing for fair wages. After all, work should lift you out of poverty, not keep you there.

The Living Wage for Families Campaign contin-ues to work with local communities to support local governments in becoming Living Wage Employers. If you are interested in discussing the living wage in your community we would love to hear from you ( [email protected]).

livingwageforfamilies.ca

Across B.C. the living wage varies from:

$16.82/hrin Prince George

$20.61/hrin Kitimat

$20.68/hrin Metro Vancouver

to $20.61/hr in Kitimat to $20.68/hr in Metro Vancouver. The living wage al-lows working families to support the healthy development of their children and participate in the social, civic and cultural lives of their communities.


MoveuP members work at the following propertiesaccenture business servicesUnion Rep: Cheryl Popeniuk

alma Mater societyUnion Rep: Trevor Hansen

alma Mater society securityUnion Rep: Trevor Hansen

aviscarUnion Rep: Cathy Hirani

bcaa sc & ersUnion Rep: Trevor Hansen

bc computerized dispatch (yellow cab)Union Rep: Kevin Payne

bc Federation of LabourUnion Rep: Barry Hodson

bc Ferry & Marine workers unionUnion Rep: Barry Hodson

bcGeuUnion Rep: Ryan Stewart

bc hydro (including Powertech construction services)Union Reps: Tony Geluch, Barbara Junker, Mike Novak

bc nurses’ union Union Rep: Ryan Stewart

bc TransitUnion Rep: Stephen Von Sychowski

beach Place venturesUnion Rep: Kevin Payne

berlitz canadaUnion Rep: Kevin Payne

boilermakers 191Union Rep: Noel Gulbransen

bonny’s TaxiUnion Rep: Kevin Payne

burnaby english Language centreUnion Rep: Stephen Von Sychowski

canadian Freightways Ltd.Union Rep: Cheryl Popeniuk

canadian northern shield/rsaUnion Rep: Barry Hodson

capilano universityUnion Rep: Tony Geluch

carpentry workers benefit and Pension Plans of bcUnion Rep: Ryan Stewart

catalyst PaperUnion Rep: Ryan Stewart

cIaTuUnion Rep: Noel Gulbransen

coast Mountain busUnion Rep: Stephen Von Sychowski

coastal community credit unionUnion Rep: Sarah Melsness

coastal community Financial ManagementUnion Rep: Sarah Melsness

coastal community InsuranceUnion Rep: Sarah Melsness

college of Pharmacists of bcUnion Rep: Noel Gulbransen

college of registered nursesUnion Rep: Noel Gulbransen

columbia hydroUnion Rep: Noel Gulbransen

columbia valley credit unionUnion Rep: Sarah Melsness

community savings credit unionUnion Rep: Sarah Melsness

cMaw bargaining councilUnion Rep: Noel Gulbransen

cMaw Local 1995Union Rep: Noel Gulbransen

coral cabs (richmond Taxi)Union Rep: Kevin Payne

cuPe 454Union Rep: Barry Hodson



cuPe bc & LocalsUnion Rep: Barry Hodson

da Townley & associatesUnion Rep: Ryan Stewart

dollar ThriftyUnion Rep: Cathy Hirani

ecojusticeUnion Rep: Barry Hodson

enterprise rent-a-carUnion Rep: Cathy Hirani

First canada uLcUnion Rep: Trevor Hansen

Fortisbc customer service centresUnion Rep: Cindy A. Lee

Fortisbc energy Inc.Union Rep: Cindy A. Lee

Fortisbc Inc.Union Rep: Cindy A. Lee

Gulf & Fraser Fishermen’s credit unionUnion Rep: Sarah Melsness

handy PackUnion Rep: Cindy A. Lee

hastings entertainment Inc.Union Rep: Ryan Stewart

hertzUnion Rep: Cathy Hirani

IaMaw Transportation district Lodge 140Union Rep: Ryan Stewart

IaMaw district Lodge 250Union Rep: Ryan Stewart

IaMaw Local Lodge 764 Union Rep: Ryan Stewart

Ibew Local 230Union Rep: Ryan Stewart

IcbcUnion Reps: Kevin Payne, Kelly Quinn, Kevin Smyth

Island savings credit union and InsuranceUnion Rep: Sarah Melsness

Iwa Forest Industry PPUnion Rep: Barry Hodson

kekinow native housing societyUnion Rep: Barry Hodson

kelowna cabs Ltd.Union Rep: Kevin Payne

konica MinoltaUnion Rep: Trevor Hansen

kruger Products (scott Paper)Union Rep: Noel Gulbransen

Ladysmith & district cuUnion Rep: Sarah Melsness

Lake city casinoUnion Rep: Kevin Payne

Lu’Ma native housing societyUnion Rep: Barry Hodson

MacLure’s cabs Ltd.Union Rep: Kevin Payne

Marine workers & boilermakersUnion Rep: Ryan Stewart

Master Trade officeUnion Rep: Noel Gulbransen

Musicians’ association of victoria and the Islands, cFM Local 247Union Rep: Ryan Stewart

new democratic PartyUnion Rep: Barry Hodson

Plumbers Local 324Union Rep: Noel Gulbransen

schneiderUnion Rep: Cathy Hirani

seaspan International Ltd.Union Rep: Kevin Payne

seIu 2Union Rep: Ryan Stewart

southern railwayUnion Rep: Cindy A. Lee

Teamsters Local 31Union Rep: Ryan Stewart

Teamsters Local 155Union Rep: Ryan Stewart

Teamsters Local 213 & 213 Member benefit PlanUnion Rep: Ryan Stewart

Telecommunications workers union (Twu)Union Rep: Barry Hodson

Telecommunication workers Pension PlanUnion Rep: Barry Hodson

Teletheatre bcUnion Rep: Ryan Stewart

Thunderbird winter sportsUnion Rep: Barbara Junker

TransLinkUnion Rep: Stephen Von Sychowski

Tree IslandUnion Rep: Cindy A. Lee

unifor Local 1928Union Rep: Ryan Stewart

united Fishermen & allied worker unionUnion Rep: Ryan Stewart

vancouver Musicians associationUnion Rep: Ryan Stewart

vP credit unionUnion Rep: Sarah Melsness

vancouver shipyards Ltd.Union Rep: Kevin Payne

vancouver Taxi Ltd. (central Taxi dispatch)Union Rep: Kevin Payne

vantageone credit unionUnion Rep: Sarah Melsness

victoria shipyards Ltd.Union Rep: Kevin Payne

westminster savings credit unionUnion Rep: Sarah Melsness

working ventures Insurance solutions Union Rep: Barry Hodson

xylem water solutionsUnion Rep: Ryan Stewart

yellow PagesUnion Rep: Barry Hodson

Phone: 604-299-0378Fax: 604-299-8211e-mail: [email protected] 1918-9753 coPe Local 378 voice

MoveuP: President david black Secretary-Treasurer Lori Mayhew

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local voice 2015 vol 10 issue 4

Documents

members of moveup

outgoing board members

moveup togetherin

icbc group

living wage

vancouver storm

global movement

lori mayhew