FEATURE: Forest Week 2013
COMMUNITY: HSS School Spirit Week
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Steelworkers vote 97% in favor of strike
MUDDY Madness
Jackie Lieuwen/Houston Today
People flocked from Houston and the surrounding area to check out the first annual Houston Mud Drags at the airport last Saturday. Above, John Bodnar races his Green Machine through the mud-filled track. See page 23 for more photos.
Members of the United Steelworkers (USW) union employed by Canfor have voted 97 per cent in favour of taking strike action. The strike vote was conducted by USW Local 1-424 and the results provide negotiators with a strong mandate as they work towards achieving a contract when they return to bargaining with Canfor this week. Without a contract since June 30th, the USW BC Interior Bargaining Committee has been focusing on negotiating a threeyear deal for their northern BC union members until an impasse was
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reached in the latter days of August.
Union workers negotiating three-year deal.
At issue are some key items, according to the union, including wage increases, a trades wage increase, and funding needs of the forest industry pension plan. See STRIKE on Page 3
What would it take to get a Service Canada in Houston? By Jackie Lieuwen Houston Today
Getting information about services from the federal government currently involves a web-surf or a trip to Smithers or Vanderhoof, but a Service Canada representative was asked what it would take to get an office in Houston. “ P r e s s u r e your Member of
Parliament,” advised Carole Morrison, Citizen Services Specialist, who gave a presentation in Houston to 12 local business owners and managers at a Chamber of Commerce meeting last Thursday. “In Ottawa they have a series of criteria - it could be based on population, on the industries or on the need - and then they make a
decision from there,” she said. “It is possible that maybe one day we will have representation here and its just a matter of having our official make that decision,” Morrison said. She says the more people who bring the request forward, the better the chances to get a Houston service centre. “Every year we seem to open up those
doors and provide outreach to different communities,” she said, adding that this year both 100 Mile House and Clinton got a Service Canada Centre. Morrison says that in many communities without a service centre, they do service days once a month or a few times a year, where they come in and make themselves available for service.
On that day, anybody who needs information from Service Canada can stop by and get the information they need, she said. “I can do something like that here as well,” she said, adding that she plans to come through Houston three times a year and will available for presentations. Morrison said Service Canada of-
fers a huge variety of programs and services involving pensions (CPP), employment insurance (EI) benefits, as well as things like finding a job, the job market, training and apprenticeships, getting a social insurance number or passport, applying for veteran services, and finding information about immigration and the Canada Revenue Agency.
They also have an online program, “My Service Canada Account,” where people can get personal information about their CPP contribution, EI claims, income tax returns, and calculations of a pension based on when they might retire. For more information see servicecanada. gc.ca under “Services for you,” and for youth services see youth. gc.ca.
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