Funding boost University benefits from cash infusion from government. PAGE 11 Hospice home Charity marks half-way point in fundraising campaign. PAGE 35 Decision time Clippers close in on roster selections after pre-season. PAGE 3
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VOL. 24, NO. 54
Picket lines set to go up
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ESSENTIAL SERVICE levels maintained at government offices in Nanaimo. BY TOBY GORMAN THE NEWS BULLETIN
B.C. Government and Service Employees’ Union workers across the province will hold a one day strike Wednesday (Sept. 5) to try and get provincial negotiators back to the bargaining table. BCGEU president Darryl Walker said he issued a strike notice to the B.C. Public Service Agency and Labour Relations Board on Wednesday, which means 153 communities and 1,785 government work sites across the province will be affected. Darlene Thorburn, staff representative for BCGEU in Nanaimo, said picket lines will be up at all Nanaimo government BCGEU work sites, but essential services will continue at varying levels. “The most essential services will be maintained, so children and family, social development and corrections, things like that will be pretty close to 100 per cent of service,” said Thorburn. “The liquor stores, which aren’t essential service, will be 100 per cent out and everything in between will have varying levels of service.” An estimated 700 Nanaimo BCGEU workers will participate in the strike, which is expected to last for one day during regular business hours. BCGEU members work in corrections and sheriff, hospital services, retail liquor stores and warehouses, government administrative and support services, environmental operations, social work, child protection and probation services. ◆ See ‘STRIKE’ /6
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LABOUR DAY: Community support becomes a major goal of today’s unions BY TOBY GORMAN THE NEWS BULLETIN
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hat we want for ourselves, we want for all. That mantra is the underlying philosophy of a labour union, and on Labour Day in Nanaimo, that philosophy rings as true as ever. While unions aim to ensure workers at any level can operate in a safe, rewarding environment, unions and their members also instill that belief
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in organizations and committees outside the workplace in an effort to ensure that all community members have an opportunity to experience a decent quality of life. Nanaimo’s union roots date back to Samuel Myers, a coal miner who fought for worker rights in the late 1800s and eventually formed the city’s first coal mining union. Today, through the rise of fishing and forestry industries and, later, trades and teachers’ unions among
others, labour is finding new ways to make communities stronger. “We’re always trying to find ways to make sure people are better off,” said Bob Smits, administrator for the Nanaimo and Duncan District Labour Council. “We’re part of the community too. What we wish for ourselves we wish for everybody else so we wish everybody had a decent job that pays union wages but if they don’t, we still try to help.” ◆ See ‘SUPPORT’ /7
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