From Carol.Adams at bcgeu.ca Thu Apr 1 17:09:47 2004 From: Carol.Adams at bcgeu.ca (Adams, Carol) Date: Thu, 1 Apr 2004 17:09:47 -0800 Subject: [LabComm] Apr. 15 rally outside Victoria courthouse - support women from BC Coalition of Women's Centres Message-ID: <517DADDBB3EDAF44A2620DCB53689BD6020D20F4@exchange.bcgeu.bc.ca> -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Outlook.bmp Type: image/bmp Size: 501230 bytes Desc: Outlook.bmp URL: From newswire at news.bc.ndp.ca Mon Apr 26 13:37:17 2004 From: newswire at news.bc.ndp.ca (BC NDP NEWSWIRE) Date: Mon, 26 Apr 2004 12:37:17 -0800 Subject: [LabComm] NDP to introduce Health Care Services Continuation Act Message-ID: -- James calls for a 90 day moratorium on health care privatization -- VICTORIA ? Premier Campbell should immediately order a moratorium on further privatization in health care so that hospital employees and health employers can get back to meaningful negotiations and end the current disruption, BC NDP Leader Carole James said today. James said that NDP Opposition House Leader Joy MacPhail would table in the Legislature today a private members? bill that would impose an immediate 90-day moratorium on health care privatization and ensure the resumption of collective bargaining. ?The Campbell government should step back from the brink, and focus on bringing much-needed calm to the situation,? said James. ?The 90-day cooling off period on privatization is necessary for bargaining to continue in good faith, and for our health care system to function while bargaining resumes. ?Cancelling surgeries and disrupting patient services will result in millions of dollars in costs to BC taxpayers,? said James. ?Strikes in the health care sector benefit no one, and compromise patient care. We need to get both parties back to the table, and ensure that bargaining can continue without outside pressures. The Health Care Services Continuation Act offers a viable intermediate solution to the dispute.? The Hospital Employees Union took full strike action as of this morning. Wage rollbacks and contracting out are at the forefront of the dispute. ?This government is pushing its privatization agenda without consultation or public discussion. It is no surprise that we have ended up with another unnecessary crisis,? James said. ?This latest crisis is a further example of the Campbell approach to health care in BC,? said James. ?The Liberals are taking health care in the wrong direction with privatization, conflict and confrontation.? MacPhail will place the private members? bill on the Order Paper today. The bill could be called for debate as early as Wednesday, though the government can call the bill for debate at any time. - 30 - Media contact: Scott Perchall 604-862-7747 To unsubscribe or change your settings go to: http://www.e-2ve6y.signup.bc.ndp.ca/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From Teresa.Marshall at bcgeu.ca Tue Apr 27 09:30:51 2004 From: Teresa.Marshall at bcgeu.ca (Marshall, Teresa) Date: Tue, 27 Apr 2004 09:30:51 -0700 Subject: [LabComm] ROCK AGAINST THE CUTS - Save BC women's centres concerts June 2 & 3 Message-ID: <517DADDBB3EDAF44A2620DCB53689BD60126D629@exchange.bcgeu.bc.ca> Greetings sisters and brothers - Please circulate this info to your members, co-workers, friends and families. I also have colour and greyscale versions of the poster available (preview at www.bcgeu.ca ) Please let me know if I can forward this material to you directly for faxing, publication and distribution. This is also a challenge to fellow unions to purchase block concert tickets for distribution to your members and to local women's groups! (Contact me for a list of women's organizations whose clients and members could not afford tix otherwise). The Vancouver East Cultural Centre seats approx 350 people. Your support is greatly appreciated in making these shows full houses. In solidarity, Teresa Marshall BCGEU communications 604-291-9611 ext 454 ROCK AGAINST THE CUTS - Two nights of music to benefit BC women's centres WEDNESDAY, JUNE 2, 8 pm Black Mountain Veda Hille Loud The Gay THURSDAY, JUNE 3, 8 pm Holly McNarland Members of: Be Good Tanyas & Po' Girl Sandy Scofield Ridley Bent Vancouver East Cultural Centre 1895 Venables @ Victoria Drive Advance tix $26 (incl. service fees) from Ticketmaster 604-280-4444 Proceeds go to the B.C. Coalition of Women's Centres! www.savewomenscentres.ca Sponsored by: B.C. Government and Service Employees' Union and B.C. Coalition of Women's Centres -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From newswire at news.bc.ndp.ca Thu Apr 29 18:43:17 2004 From: newswire at news.bc.ndp.ca (BC NDP NEWSWIRE) Date: Thu, 29 Apr 2004 17:43:17 -0800 Subject: [LabComm] NDP Opposition Bulletin: NDP holds Campbell government to account on health privatization legislation Message-ID: Late yesterday, the Campbell government tabled legislation forcing privatization and wage and job cuts on workers in the health care system. The BC NDP Opposition forced the Campbell government to answer for its decision to deliberately provoke confrontation with health care workers. In an all-night session of the Legislature, NDP House Leader Joy MacPhail and MLA Jenny Kwan held the government to account for its legislative attack on health care and working people until six o?clock Thursday morning. During the all-night debate, MacPhail and Kwan hammered the government on what MacPhail called the most draconian piece of legislation the province has seen in a generation. ?This bill green-lights massive privatization of our health care system to an unprecedented level in British Columbia,? she said. ?This bill is just a massive attack on working people, because this government doesn't have the guts to negotiate in good faith. ?They?re stealing $200 million out of working people's pockets ? the very working people who deliver patient care. Day in and day out, they deliver patient care ? women, visible minorities, people who perform dangerous work. They support their families on these jobs. This government ? in the middle of the night ? is ramming through a bill to attack them ? not to support patient care. This government doesn't give a whit about patient care, and their three years of failed health care policies prove that.? Kwan said it?s hypocritical of the government to have quietly raised the salaries of Liberal MLAs while attacking the wages and jobs of health care workers. ?The Liberal government quietly changed the rules so that the largest cabinet in the history of British Columbia can collect what they call a ?capital city allowance? without the public knowing that their wages have been increased,? said Kwan. ?While they increased their own wages, they are now, under Bill 37, cutting the wages of the lowest-paid workers in the health care system by 15 percent.? Commenting after the Legislation was passed, NDP leader Carole James said the Campbell government deliberately chose to take the path of confrontation in another dispute involving our health care system. ?This is hardly surprising to anyone given that the government?s clear objective from the very beginning has been to privatize public health care in British Columbia,? she said. ?Mr. Campbell had the option to take a responsible position in this dispute. He could have called for a halt to privatization in health care for a reasonable period during negotiations so both parties could get back to the table and find the grounds for an agreement. ?But the government chose instead to play games. It has deliberately fanned the flames in this dispute, and now the province finds itself facing another crisis that could easily have been avoided if the government had just acted responsibly.? To unsubscribe or change your settings go to: http://www.e-2ve6y.signup.bc.ndp.ca/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From newswire at news.bc.ndp.ca Fri Apr 30 11:42:24 2004 From: newswire at news.bc.ndp.ca (BC NDP NEWSWIRE) Date: Fri, 30 Apr 2004 10:42:24 -0800 Subject: [LabComm] James calls on Premier to recall the Legislature to resolve crisis Message-ID: VANCOUVER ? BC NDP Leader Carole James today sent the following open letter to Premier Gordon Campbell urging him to recall the BC Legislature tomorrow in a effort to resolve the growing crisis facing the province. -------------------------------------- Mr. Gordon Campbell, Premier Province of British Columbia Parliament Buildings Victoria, British Columbia Dear Mr. Premier I am writing you today to strongly urge you to recall the Legislature tomorrow ? Saturday May 1 ? in order to put an end to the crisis facing British Columbia. As a result of developments in the health care sector this week, and the choices your government made to deliberately provoke confrontation, the province is on the brink of a crisis that threatens to further erode investor confidence in British Columbia and destabilize the BC economy. This crisis is entirely the fault of your government. At numerous points in the past week, your government had the option to choose positive solutions and a non-confrontational approach to this dispute. On Monday, our Opposition Caucus in the Legislature put forward a Health Care Services Continuation Act that called for a reasonable suspension of further privatization during the period of negotiations between hospital workers and health employers. Such an approach would have allowed both parties to get back to the table and avoid the situation we currently face. Instead, you chose to force through the Legislature a bill that is a blatant attack on working people in this province ? a bill that can only create further tension and confrontation in an already poisonous labour relations climate. The NDP debated against this legislation for as long as possible under the rules of the Legislature until the final vote was called at 5:30 a.m. Thursday. During the debate on Bill 37 Wednesday evening, in an attempt to blunt the most extreme clauses of this legislation, our Caucus put forward numerous amendments that would have addressed the most serious concerns of health care providers while ensuring an orderly resumption of full health care services. Those amendments included: 1) Removing the extremely harsh imposition of retroactive wage cuts that would see employees?including those who have already received lay-off notices?forced to pay back wages received since the expiration of the former collective agreement. 2) Extending the transition period during which the wage reduction would apply, giving employees?the vast majority of whom are women, many of whom are single parents?more time to adjust to a 15 percent reduction in their pay. 3) Providing that should health care unions opt for the arbitration clause in the Act, that the arbitrator be mutually agreeable to the employer and the Union. However, rather than take the responsible path here, you instructed every one of your MLAs in the Legislature to vote against each of these reasonable amendments. Mr. Premier, your approach to health care is not working. In the last election, you made a promise to respect and value by health care providers. But, one of your first acts as Premier was to tear up legally-binding agreements in the health sector. The situation we face today as a province is a direct result of that action. Our province desperately needs a new approach to this issue. You have an historic opportunity in the coming days to demonstrate courage and responsible leadership. You must now demonstrate that kind of responsible leadership by recalling the Legislature tomorrow to repeal Bill 37 altogether; or, in the alternative, to amend the legislation to address the very real and serious concerns of health care providers, and indeed of many thousands of other British Columbians. I implore you to set aside your partisanship and ideology and to govern in the interests of all British Columbians. Sincerely, Carole James, leader BC New Democratic Party - 30 - Media contact: Scott Perchall (604) 862-7747 To unsubscribe or change your settings go to: http://www.e-2ve6y.signup.bc.ndp.ca/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: