From bc_labour_enews at bcfed.net Fri Nov 3 17:34:48 2006 From: bc_labour_enews at bcfed.net (bc_labour_enews at bcfed.net) Date: Fri, 3 Nov 2006 17:34:48 -0800 Subject: [BC_Labour_E-NEWS] B.C. Federation of Labour E-News--November 3, 2006 Message-ID: <1EFB83EC494285438D10B2CCC12063764EE946@bcfednt.bcfed.local> B.C. Federation of Labour E-News--November 3, 2006 Stories Action Alert: Tell Gordon Campbell to raise BC's minimum wage to $10 A quarter-million of BC's lowest paid workers deserve a raise. Add your name to this electronic petition calling on Gordon Campbell to immediately increase BC's minimum wage to $10. BC's lowest paid workers deserve a raise - Scrap the training wage, increase minimum wage to $10 per hour B.C.F.L. President Jim Sinclair is joined by CFS rep Shamus Reid to call for an increase to BC's minimum wage. Vancouver - It's time to scrap the training wage and raise BC's minimum wage to $10.00 per hour says B.C. Federation of Labour President Jim Sinclair. "BC's lowest paid workers deserve a raise," Sinclair said. "Minimum wage earners working full-time should earn enough to stay above the poverty line. That can only be achieved by immediately raising the minimum wage to at least $10.00 per hour." "The provincial government likes to crow about a booming economy, but it's only booming for a few. BC's lowest paid workers have been left behind," Sinclair said. Sinclair's comments came on the fifth anniversary of BC's last increase to the minimum wage. Between 2000 and 2005, employment in BC grew by nine percent, but the number of British Columbians earning the minimum wage increased by 36 percent. "Five years ago BC's freeze on tuition was eliminated, but a freeze on minimum wage was put in place and students have been paying the price ever since," said Shamus Reid, BC National Executive Representative of the Canadian Federation of Students. "Since 2001, average tuition has climbed from $2,275 to $4,900 in 2006 and wages haven't come close to keeping up," Reid said. Earlier this week Harry Arthurs, former Mediator and Dean of Osgoode Hall Law School, released a report reviewing the federal Labour Relations Code. Arthurs recommended that "the [federal] government should accept the principle that no Canadian worker should work full-time for a year and still live in poverty". Read more or download the Federation's brief on minimum wage . Premier's P3 policy 'a disaster' for B.C. municipalities VICTORIA - Premier Gordon Campbell has dealt BC municipalities a harsh ideological broadside with today's announcement that Partnerships BC now has the authority to decide whether major public infrastructure projects become public-private partnerships (P3s), says the B.C. division of the Canadian Union of Public Employees. Read more. Events The Defence of Public Water: A Mexican Voice Against Water Privatization. Date: Monday November 6, 2006 from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm With Special Guest Claudia Campero, Arena Mexican Water Activist & Organizer of Blue October www.blueoctobercampaign.org Learn more. B.C. Federation of Labour 50th Convention A Proud History. A Strong Future. The B.C. Federation of Labour's 50th Annual Convention takes place November 27 through December 1, 2006 at the Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Centre. This year's theme: A Proud History. A Strong Future. celebrates the B.C. Federation's 50th Anniversary. Learn more. "STRIKE UP THE BAND" B.C. FEDERATION OF LABOUR 50TH ANNIVERSARY CONCERT Date: Thursday November 30, 2006 from 8:00 pm to 10:00 pm In conjunction with our upcoming Convention, we have been working with the Vancouver Folk Music Festival Society to hold a special concert to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the B.C. Federation of Labour. Learn more. Publications Guest Worker Contract Dubious Alleges Union Lawyer-Costa Rican digging Vancouver tunnel testifies firm promised far less pay than official documents reflect. The lawyer for the union representing Latin American workers, imported to dig a tunnel under False Creek in Vancouver, has raised the possibility that immigration and contract documents for at least one of those workers was tampered with by an employer. The suggestion, raised Wednesday at a hearing of the BC Labour Relations Board and yet to be proven, is the latest twist in the ongoing dispute between an Italian subcontractor on the Canada Line project and the union that organized tunnelers brought to Canada on federal work permits. The Italian firm is SELI Tecnologie. The LRB session was considering a complaint of unfair labour practices laid against SELI by the Construction and Specialized Workers Union Local 1611, which organized the workers in June. Read more. cope 15 -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: winmail.dat Type: application/ms-tnef Size: 188644 bytes Desc: not available URL: From bc_labour_enews at bcfed.net Fri Nov 17 16:44:45 2006 From: bc_labour_enews at bcfed.net (bc_labour_enews at bcfed.net) Date: Fri, 17 Nov 2006 16:44:45 -0800 Subject: [BC_Labour_E-NEWS] B.C. Federation of Labour E-News November 17, 2006 Message-ID: <1EFB83EC494285438D10B2CCC120637651EDBC@bcfednt.bcfed.local> B.C. Federation of Labour E-News November 17, 2006 Stories WCB hearings-first step to improved safety for gas station workers The B.C. Federation of Labour is urging its members to participate in key public hearings scheduled by WorkSafe BC during the next two weeks to consider new Regulations designed to protect late night workers from "Gas-and-Dash" violence of the sort that cost the life of gas station attendant Grant Depatie. The draft Regulations under consideration to require prepayment for gas purchased between 10:00 pm and 6:00 am are a step in the right direction, says B.C. Federation of Labour President Jim Sinclair, but do not go far enough. Learn more. Armed Forces reservists deserve job protection - No one should lose his or her job for serving Canada Vancouver - Reservists in Canada's armed forces deserve job protection and continued benefits, says B.C. Federation of Labour President Jim Sinclair. "This Remembrance Day, let's not only remember those who have sacrificed to serve Canada in the past, but those that are sacrificing their jobs and livelihoods today," said Sinclair. Read more. Segregation of health care providers from public forums undermines "health conversation," say unions The provincial government should reverse its plan to exclude health care providers from the 16 regional public forums that are the centerpiece of the $10-million "Conversation on Health." Health union leaders told Health Minister George Abbott today that the government's plan to declare more than 100,000 British Columbians who are health care providers as ineligible to participate in the public meetings will deepen public skepticism of the consultation process. Read more. Or sign up to the Conversation on Health Care . Health care workers may not be allowed to participate but Gordon Campbell can't ignore working people and their views on health care. Whether a mill worker, or a teacher, a construction worker or municipal employee tell Gordon Campbell working families need a strong public health care system, not more privatization. Western forest products shuts mills, sells logs: province needs to act to protect and restore sector, says steelworkers BURNABY, BC - It's wrong that Western Forest Products sells nearly a third of the publicly-owned logs it harvests but says it can't run its New Westminster sawmill, says the United Steelworkers (USW). And it's a travesty that the BC government can't or won't do anything about it. In response to Western's planned February closure of the New Westminster mill, the USW has unveiled a series of measures to boost investment and address the log-export-crisis that is destroying coastal communities. Learn more. Events B.C. Federation of Labour Convention-A proud history. A strong future. The B.C. Federation of Labour's 50th Annual Convention takes place November 27 through December 1, 2006 at the Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Centre. This year's theme: A proud history. A strong future. celebrates the B.C. Federation's 50th Anniversary. Learn more. "Strike up the band" B.C. Federation of Labour 50th anniversary concert Thursday November 30, 2006 from 8:00 pm to 10:00 pm, Orpheum Theater In conjunction with our upcoming Convention, we have been working with the Vancouver Folk Music Festival Society to hold a special concert to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the B.C. Federation of Labour. Learn more. National Day of Remembrance--Action on Violence Against Women Wednesday December 6, 2006 from 7:30 am to 7:30 am Join union sisters and brother, partners from the community and other guests as we remember women who have been victims of violence and work to end violence against women. Learn more. Publications The Fluke that Made BC Boom Do Gordon Campbell's B.C. Liberals deserve credit for the province's improved economic and fiscal fortunes? That question sparked considerable debate a year and a half ago, during the 2005 provincial general election. Yes! B.C. Liberal supporters loudly proclaimed. No! screamed their political opponents. More than a few members of the news media enthusiastically joined the former group. One was Vancouver Sun editorialist Harvey Enchin, who wrote a lengthy column that appeared on May 14, 2005 -- mere days before voters went to the polls. B.C. Liberal policies, Enchin claimed, "have, in fact, kickstarted a dramatic economic turnaround." However, two recent reports from independent entities headquartered outside the province indicate that government policies have had little to do with BC's improved circumstances. The first was written by Scotia Economics, a division of Scotiabank, while the second came from Moody's Investor Services. Both reports illustrate that British Columbia's current prosperity is primarily due to a historic boom in global commodity prices. Read more. Coroner's Inquest Demanded in Sullivan Mine Deaths Between May 15 and 17 this year, four workers died inside a dark, airless shed on the grounds of Teck Cominco's decommissioned Sullivan Mine near Cranbrook in the East Kootenays. Now the government report on this tragedy is at the centre of a storm of controversy. Family members, the MLA for the region, and the union that represented workers at Sullivan when the lead/zinc/silver mine was open are calling for a coroner's inquest. They say there is more to know about the facts, and who is responsible. Doug Erickson, an environmental contractor working for Pryzm Environmental, and Bob Newcombe, a Teck Cominco employee, were the first to succumb to an oxygen-depleted atmosphere inside the tiny water-monitoring structure build over a tailings dump. B.C. Ambulance paramedics Kim Weitzel and Shawn Currier died trying to rescue Erickson and Newcombe. Read more. cope 15 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: bcfllogo.jpeg.preview.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 9573 bytes Desc: bcfllogo.jpeg.preview.jpg URL: From bc_labour_enews at bcfed.net Tue Nov 21 12:38:14 2006 From: bc_labour_enews at bcfed.net (bc_labour_enews at bcfed.net) Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2006 12:38:14 -0800 Subject: [BC_Labour_E-NEWS] Strike Up The Band! 50 Years of Making Trouble For All The Right Reasons Message-ID: <1EFB83EC494285438D10B2CCC120637651EFCD@bcfednt.bcfed.local> Strike Up The Band! 50 Years of Making Trouble For All The Right Reasons Date: Thursday, November 30, 2006 Time: 8 pm Venue: The Orpheum Theatre Admission: $35 (plus gst & service charges) Tickets:604.231.7535 or www.ticketstonight.ca Information: www.thefestival.bc.ca The BC Federation of Labour celebrates its 50th anniversary Thursday, November 30, 2006, with a star-studded gala at the Orpheum Theatre, produced for the Federation by the Vancouver Folk Music Festival. The gala concert will be a highlight of the Federation's 50th Annual Convention, taking place November 27 through December 1, 2006, at the Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Centre. The theme of the anniversary convention is "A Proud History. A Strong Future." Strike Up The Band! will feature blues icon Jim Byrnes, African-American roots music celebrity Linda Tillery with Vancouver's Universal Gospel Choir, and Po'Girls member Allison Russell. Steve Dawson will lead the Union All Star Band, assembled for the occasion, and a performance by Tons of Fun University will add a comedic note to the evening's entertainment. Joe Keithley will emcee the event. "The link between folk music and the trade union movement is as old as the drive to organize," notes Vancouver Folk Music Festival artistic director Dugg Simpson, who has programmed the gala evening. "Call them rebel songs, slave songs, songs of freedom or songs of protest, from 1871's The Internationale through 1930's The Hungry Mile to this summer's rallying cry Yell Fire by Michael Franti and Spearhead, music and song have been integral to the dignity of labour." Tickets to Strike Up The Band! Are $35 (plus gst and service charges) and are available by phone at 604.231.7535 and online at www.ticketstonight.ca . UFCW Local 120B -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: fedgala_web_ban_v5.preview.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 16181 bytes Desc: fedgala_web_ban_v5.preview.jpg URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: UFCWbug.gif Type: image/gif Size: 2260 bytes Desc: UFCWbug.gif URL: