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End of an era with Dolphin Cinemas
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Delivery 604-942-3081 • Friday, May 23, 2014
Spirit of the West headlines city concert
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Your source for local sports, news, weather and entertainment! >> www.burnabynow.com
Doggone good citizens
Canine helpers:
Maya Ahira, in front, with Lex, and Vanessa Singh, with Milo. The girls, who are Grade 3 students at Suncrest Elementary School, raised nearly $300 through a bake sale and donated the money to the SPCA.
Jennifer Thuncher staff reporter
L
ike most eight-year-olds, Maya Ahira and her friend Vanessa Singh love animals. Unlike most kids their age, the girls turned their love of all things furry into cold hard cash for the SPCA. The Grade 3 students at Suncrest Elementary collected close to $300 for the Burnaby branch of the B.C. SPCA, by holding a class bake sale. “Since most of the animals at (the SPCA) are strays up for adoption, I thought maybe it would be nice because they need the money. … When I went there, most of them looked like they do need some help,” said Maya, whose own boxer Lex once went missing but was eventually turned in to the shelter. Vanessa said she was
Larry Wright/ burnaby now
SPCA Page 8
Simon Fraser professors vote to unionize Cornelia Naylor staff reporter
Professors at Simon Fraser University are boning up on their contract negotiation skills as they prepare to hammer out their first-ever collective agreement with the university. The SFU faculty voted 73 per cent in favour of forming a union during a Labour Relations Board vote last week, becoming the last public university faculty in B.C. to
join the union fold. The vote was the culmination of a process that started last spring at the SFU Faculty Association annual general meeting, when about 30 members unexpectedly put forward a resolution saying the association should explore the question of unionization. It passed, and subsequent forums arranged by the association showed a groundswell of support. “It turned out that there were a whole
lot more than 30 people who were interested,” association president and SFU business professor Neil Abramson told the NOW. It was a big change from about five years ago, when less than 30 per cent of the association’s membership supported unionization, according to then-president and history professor Hilmar Pabel. “It’s gone from a third to 73 per cent,” he said. “And this is historically an important development because it’s typically
been a third for, a third against and a third indifferent.” What caused the shift? One factor has been salary and benefits, according Abramson. After negotiations went to arbitration this year, SFU’s faculty got only a two per cent wage increase, while unionized faculty at the University of British Columbia and the University of Northern British Columbia got 2.5 per cent, and the SFU Page 4
COFFEE WITH RICHARD! Saturday, May 31 9:00 - 10:30 am Caffe Artigiano 4359 Hastings, Burnaby
A headstart for your child. French Immersion 4 Convenient Locations No Registration Fee*
*for online registrations. See our website for details.
l us EdithsMontessori.com Cadl ay! to
604-522-1586
May 31, 2014
I hope to see you there!
Richard T. Lee MLA Burnaby North
604.775.0778
Richard.Lee.MLA@leg.bc.ca www.richardleemla.bc.ca