2013
MARCH
voice
The Members’
Update from your Executive
2
This government is well past their expiry date By Paul Faoro, President
T
he provincial election is on May 14. That’s less than 60 days from the time this Members’ Voice came through your mail slot to E-Day, where we collectively can change government. This is a change that is desperately needed. In CUPE 15 about half of our membership works for an employer that receives its funding directly from the provincial government. For the last 12 years we have had a government whose priority has Paul Faoro, President been cutting taxes for corporations and the wealthy at the expense of properly funding public services. CUPE members have felt the effect of the BC Liberals’ skewed priorities. Members have had their wages frozen, their benefits clawed back, and their rights taken away. The lack of sustained funding has hammered public sector employers. The Vancouver School Board is facing another multimillion dollar shortfall for the coming school year. This is on top of the $80 million it has had to cut from its budgets over the last 10 years due to underfunding. Education spending in BC is the
second lowest in Canada behind only Prince Edward Island. This is from a government that spews its “Family First Plan” on a daily basis.
have taken our province from second to ninth place compared to other provinces for per capita investment in health care needs of its residents.
Premier Christy Clark presented her government’s 2013 budget a few weeks ago and it doesn’t look any better. School boards are squeezed further as they will have to absorb many new costs such as MSP increases and converting from the HST to PST. Post-secondary funding will be cut again and the tuition fees will continue to rise. Premier Clark wants students to carry more debt load for their education as graduates are expected to use 8% of their income to pay for student loans, up from 5%.
This budget was coined “Investing in our future” but it does nothing for our future but place more costs on working families. The BC Liberals affirmed this budget as “balanced” but when you know they are selling $260 million of government assets or what I should say as “our” assets there is nothing balanced about it. This government is well past their expiry date.
The arts and cultural sector will feel the cut of $126.7 million to the Ministry of Community, Sport and Cultural Development – a cut that amounts to 41% of its budget. Our members at the Vancouver Art Gallery, Museum of Vancouver, HR MacMillan Space Centre, and Maritime Museum have fallen behind due to grant cuts under this government. Last year BC’s arts funding was well below that of all other provinces of Canada. The national average for provincial arts funding is $26 per capita with BC at approximately $6.50 per capita. Premier Clark is also slashing health care spending as levels announced last year for the fiscal year 2013-2014 have been reduced by $234 million. Budget documents also forecast that health authorities and societies will spend $90 million less on front-line health care services than forecasted in last year’s plan. The BC Liberals
In the last provincial election, more than half of the eligible voters stayed home. In order to address this and help elected people who value public services and working families in British Columbia, our Provincial Division has started member-to-member calling. That is CUPE members calling other CUPE members to talk about the importance of this election. The phone banks have started but we need more members to help with the calling. The calling is taking place from the CUPE Regional office in Burnaby Monday through Thursday each week until the election. Ideally we need help between the hours of 4:00 and 8:00 p.m. If you can help please call the CUPE 15 office at 604-879-4671 or send an email to email@cupe15. org. There are 85,000 CUPE members in B.C. We need your help to ensure every member votes on May 14th.
The Heart and Soul of Labour By Leanne Toderian, Secretary-Treasurer
E
arlier this month, I attended a Langara membership meeting where the Bargaining Committee met to discuss taking a strike vote. The membership felt they had waited long enough for some movement toward a settlement from the employer and it simply was going nowhere. As we have learned in the labour movement our option at this point is to take a strike vote. Dates were set and the members were ready to cast their ballots. Then happily, Leanne Toderian a deal was offered Secretary Treasurer by the Employer and the membership will now attend a contract ratification vote instead of a strike vote. I am very pleased they fought off some wicked stuff and it can be described as a step in the right direction. Congratulations to the Langara members, the Langara bargaining committee, and Kathie Currie, Staff Representative. At the last General Membership meeting, discussion arose about encouraging and involving
young workers around the union. This question has been asked by many before and it was a good chance for our members that attended to share their thoughts and suggestions on how to accomplish this. Out of that discussion I was happy to follow up with a young worker who attended the meeting and I encouraged him to harness the enthusiasm shown at the meeting and organize a meeting or event. Watch for upcoming events from these young enthusiastic activists! Also arising from that discussion was a motion that you will find in the Notices of Motion section of this newsletter. If passed, this motion will provide an opportunity for a young worker from any sector to run for election as a delegate to attend convention. If no young worker is eligible under the 50 percent attendance at membership meetings bylaw the seat will go back into the at large pool and become open to all members. I think this is a step in the right direction and hope to see more young workers get involved. I am sure you have all noticed labour and unions get quite a bad rap in the media and perhaps in your own circles. With the upcoming provincial election things will be in high gear. Accusations will fly and the age old attacks on unions and labour will arise. I have pondered the whys and figure it boils down to this: it is inconceivable to some that anyone would help or fight for something they may or may not directly benefit from. This puzzles those who are used to the dog
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eat dog mentality of many of those not on the left of politics. But we all know involvement in the labour movement is a calling because there are no pots of gold at the end of the rainbow. This is something that capitalists will never understand. Which leads me to a related item. A cherished member of this union has been struck with a serious illness and a few of her union colleagues decided they wanted to help. One thing lead to another and the next thing you know, not only did they get help from her friends, coworkers, union sisters and brothers, but Barry O’Neill, our BC President and Mark Hancock, our BC Secretary Treasurer, attended an event held in her name recently. This kind of solidarity and support is not easily found and I was humbled to be part of it. One thing I have learned is that we stick together like family. It is a blessing. Lastly, I would like to thank our outgoing Chief Steward from the City, Steve Salsman. Steve and I worked together for years as stewards in the trenches and I got to know him to be a solid activist who has a sound commitment to labour values. He brought a critical eye which is so much different than a critical voice. He had solutions. But I am happy to say he is still an active steward and on a much needed break from Chief. Sally Bankiner has taken up the reins and will be Chief for the City sector stewards and is already gearing up for her new role. Congratulations Sally!
CUPE Local 15, Vancouver Municipal Education and Community Workers