Agreement No. 40010201 APRIL 2016 l Volume 64, Number 1

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Taking time to celebrate our winsAs a labour union with roughly equal public and private sector membership, we have a responsibility to make lives better both for our members and more broadly for the general public.

In doing this, we’re often focused on what needs fixing in society. Sometimes, it may seem like we spend a lot of time talking about what’s wrong, and forget about what’s right. But when right triumphs, that’s a cause for celebration. It’s an opportunity to remind ourselves that your union makes people’s lives better, and how communities can come together and effect positive change.

One of our major successes recently has been in the Ministry of Children and Family Development. Our members, supported by the Representative for Children and Youth, Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, B.C. First Nations leadership and the preliminary report by Bob Plecas commissioned by government, put pressure on the province to substantially increase funding for the ministry.

The BCGEU worked closely with members and activists to launch the successful Choose Children campaign and we’re pleased the B.C. government responded by providing an additional $217 million to the ministry over three years, includ-ing 330 new social workers. Our work isn’t finished, but we are moving in the right direction.

Also in recent weeks, our members who work at Mountain View Home in Abbotsford, which provides 24-hour care for adults with mental health issues, learned the Fraser Health Authority has reversed a decision to close the facility. Although no new spaces for patients will be available, current residents can remain at Mountain View, and BCGEU members will continue to provide professional care for the clients.

On the labour relations front, your union has also seen some significant wins in the casino sector. The BCGEU membership continues to grow, with the successful certification of more than 700 new members at the River Rock Casino in Richmond. You can read about that on page 6.

Thanks to a dedicated group of members working in partnership with the union’s organizing department, the majority of workers from River Rock are now certified with the BCGEU: dealers, slot attendants, cashiers, count team and guest services representatives, supervisors and housekeepers.

And, to show how a union can make a real difference in workers’ lives, the BCGEU recently won a key arbitration ruling for members at New Westminster’s Starlight Casino. The arbitrator ruled the employer didn’t have the authority to violate the negotiated wage structure by offering part-time work to laid-off members at reduced rates of pay.

Now, the union obviously doesn’t win every dispute with employers or government. Still, the BCGEU continues to fight every day for our members and the public, to make their lives better. It’s what makes me get up each morning.

4911 Canada Way, Burnaby, B.C. V5G 3W3Phone: 604-291-9611Fax: 604-291-6030

1-800-663-1674 (toll free)www.bcgeu.ca

A component of the National Union of Public and General Employees. Affiliated with the B.C. Federation of Labour and

the Canadian Labour Congress

Provincial ExecutivePresident: Stephanie SmithTreasurer: Paul FinchExec. Vice-President: Brenda BrownExec. Vice-President: Sussanne SkidmoreExec. Vice-President: Michael ClarkeExec. Vice-President: Mike NuyensComponent 1: Dean PurdyComponent 3: Andrea Duncan Pamela PyeComponent 4: Sherry Ogasawara Salli RyeComponent 5: Kimberlee MacGregorComponent 6: Doug KinnaComponent 7: Richard SchaefferComponent 8: Carla Dempsey Scott DelongComponent 10: Rory SmithComponent 12: Lori Joaquin Maria MiddlemissComponent 17: Dave MacDonaldComponent 20: George Buis

2. unifor467/MoveUp

From the President ................2CSS Month ..............................3BC Budget 2016 ......................4Marijuana Proposal ................5New Certification ...................6News ........................................ 7Violence in Workplace ........8-9Photos ............................... 10-11Owning Our Future ............... 12BCGEU Community ......... 13-15

The Provincial is published up to five times a year by Solidarity Publications Ltd., 4911 Canada Way, Burnaby, B.C. V5G 3W3 E-mail: theprovincial@bcgeu.ca

Contributing Editors: Karen Tankard, Evan Stewart, Chris Bradshaw, Aaron Donovan, Carol Wood. Design & Layout: Chris Bradshaw. Signed articles do not necessarily reflect the views of the publishers. We cannot guarantee the return of unsolicited editorial contributions.

In this issue:

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T hey’re our social safety net. Each March we recognize BCGEU members in com-munity social services (CSS).

Community Social Services Awareness Month is a union-initiated effort to highlight the value of the province’s ex-tensive network of community-based social services and the thousands of workers on its frontlines. It’s officially observed by the provincial legislature and dozens of B.C. municipalities. For two BCGEU members working in one of the country’s largest and most diverse cities, it’s an opportunity to talk about the important work they do every day.

AMANDA GREENLAY

Amanda Greenlay’s commitment to her work is rooted in her feminism and social justice. She supports women and children who have experienced violence and sought refuge in the tran-sition house where she works in Surrey.

“I listen to women’s stories and sup-port their choices. I support social change by providing advocacy and education for oppressed and marginal-ized women,” she said.

There is no typical day in a transition house and a chronic lack of resources is a constant challenge when working with women and children who are traumatized and may also be deal-

ing with mental health, substance use, poverty and other issues. But, Greenlay sees positive changes hap-pening incrementally. She believes her work contributes to ending violence against women and building a more just society.

VALDA SUFIAN-KARGBO

Across town, CSS worker Valda Sufian-Kargbo is also creating change. She coordinates a program at the DiverseCity Community Resources Society for newcomers to Canada ages 13 to 18. She, along with volunteers, help them navigate their new culture.

“Children and youth don’t make the decision to emigrate here themselves, so they often feel powerless,” Sufian-Kargbo said. “Many are also trauma-tized and vulnerable to pressures like human trafficking and drugs.”

Youth in her program have emigrated with their parents from such diverse locations as China, Rwanda, Mex-ico, and the Philippines. Others are refugees from war-ravaged countries, such as Syria and Iraq. All face challen-ges settling into a new city and country.

Drawing on her own experiences as a child of immigrants from Sierra Leone, Sufian-Kargbo endeavours to become a positive influence and have impact on young people’s lives. It’s what she loves

Building strong communities and strengthening social solidarity

most about her job. She’s particularly excited about a new project to docu-ment and publish the immigration stories of the youth she supports. Each young person has a unique experience to share.

Sufian-Kargbo and Greenlay are just two of the thousands of community-based social service workers and BCGEU members who are building stronger communities and social solidarity.

Community social services support youth and adults with developmental disabilities and Aboriginal com-munities. They help women facing domestic violence, the homeless, and individuals battling addictions. They work to strengthen families through counselling, and help youth in conflict with the law. They provide children with a great start to life through early childhood education and learning.

As we recognize workers such as these each Community Social Services Awareness Month, we should be mindful of the important work they do yearround.

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I f you’re a senior, a student, living with a disability, earn-ing minimum wage, or a renter, you’re out of luck. The

B.C. Liberal government’s February provincial budget offered nothing to help you get support, study, better health care, a higher wage, or find affordable housing.

The budget contained no good news for BCGEU members who deliver import-ant public services, with one exception.

Funding for the Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD) will increase to allow the hiring of an additional 100 social workers and 30 support staff. This is in addition to the 200 workers MCFD committed to add in its November 2014 announcement, for a total of 330 additional service delivery staff by the end of fiscal 2016/17.

“The increased funding for MCFD is welcome news,” said BCGEU presi-dent Stephanie Smith. “Through the hard work of our union, especially our frontline members, we were able to persuade the government that a significant budget increase was abso-lutely necessary. The BCGEU reports, Choose Children and Closing the Circle, detailed not just the chronic problems in the ministry, but also provided a roadmap to what it would take to make meaningful improvements.”

Additional social workers and support staff will improve the lives of vulner-able children and families in crisis who need their services. However, the province still hasn’t addressed the

significant wage disparity with other provinces to ensure skilled social work-ers stay in our province.

Beyond MCFD, there were no sub-stantive improvements for BCGEU members. After more than a decade of frozen and shrinking budgets, additional investment is long overdue in all government ministries.

The justice system is one example. A shortage of sheriffs and court clerks has lead to delays in court proceed-ings. One B.C. Supreme Court judge publicly criticized the provincial government recently for failing to fund the justice system adequately.

As many BCGEU members know, other branches of government desperately need additional resources to get the job done properly. B.C. has the leanest public service in the country. In many cases it’s too lean, and it keeps shrinking relative to population growth.

The provincial budget announced the creation of a commission to study B.C.’s tax competitiveness.

“If it is to provide any real value, this commission must also include in its terms of reference the issue

of tax fairness. Our province needs to explore ways to make the system more fair and generate new revenue to fund services,” said Smith. “This government is unable to fund critical services precisely because of its unfair tax policies.”

Our union has already proposed one potential source of new revenue. With the federal government set to legalize recreational marijuana, we believe the provincial government should prepare to use the existing liquor distribution and retail system for warehousing and distribution purposes. This will create more jobs and new revenue to support public services.

See BCGEU propo sa l fo r non -medical marijuana on page 5 for more information on our propos-al to regulate, distribute and sell recreational marijuana in B.C.

In the Throne Speech, the govern-ment made a vague reference to modernizing community care and assisted living. Our members in home support already know their services aren’t keeping pace with B.C.’s aging population. The provincial Seniors’ Advocate has confirmed this.

“Home support is a cost-effective way to provide care for our seniors and allow them to remain in their homes. We owe it to our seniors to provide the services they need to live independ-ently,” said Smith.

For BCGEU’s detailed analysis of the 2016 B.C. Budget please visit: www.bcgeu.ca/publications

B.C. Budget 2016 provides an important lift for MCFD, nothing for other services

“Through the hard work of our union, especially our frontline members, we were able to persuade the government that a signifi-cant budget increase was absolutely necessary.”

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I t wasn’t so long ago that legal-izing marijuana was unthink-able in our country. Times have changed. The BCGEU

is at the forefront of the campaign to ensure marijuana sales are handled responsibly.

When Justin Trudeau’s Liberals swept into office last October 19, they did so with a host of mandates from Canadians. Former Prime Minister Stephen Harper thought the Liberals’ position on legal marijuana would sink them. In the end, it was hardly an issue.

Now, it’s up to Trudeau’s government to navigate the legalities around re-moving marijuana from the Criminal Code. It will be up to the provinces to determine how marijuana will be regulated, sold and distributed.

Thousands of BCGEU members in our province are a vital part of the Liquor Distribution Branch (LDB), which has a system that’s perfectly suited to handle the change.

Public and private liquor stores already provide an age-controlled environ-ment with a proven track record of identification (ID) checking. In fact, youth in B.C. have a much harder time accessing alcohol than they do tobacco.

On the distribution side, BCGEU mem-bers are part of a secure network that already transports hundreds of millions of dollars of a controlled substance, alcohol, every year. We don’t need to create a separate, parallel system for marijuana sales. That would be costly and time consuming given that we already have the LDB systems in place.

Besides the logistical advantages of using the LDB, selling through liquor stores would also provide a number of less obvious benefits to the public.

• Our stores are known for education campaigns on responsible alcohol consumption. They will bring the

same passion and energy to building public awareness around respon-sible marijuana use.

• B.C. public liquor stores offer superior product knowledge. LDB product specialists select products that satisfy consumer demands and educate retail staff to better help customers.

• With an established network of stores, B.C. public liquor stores are extremely well suited to adapt to changes on a province-wide basis. Sunday sales, cold beer and wine, and an incredibly popular mobile app have all resulted from changes in consumer needs.

Last December, the BCGEU joined the B.C. Private Liquor Store Association (BCPLSA) to advocate for the sale of non-medical marijuana in liquor stores.

The Responsible Marijuana Retail Alliance (RMRA) held a news confer-

ence on Dec. 9. More than a dozen reporters, photographers, and camera operators packed into a meeting room at the BCGEU Burnaby headquarters to hear the announcement. The story garnered a significant amount of media attention.

BCGEU president Stephanie Smith and BCPLSA representative Damian Kettlewell also appeared on radio talk shows in Victoria, Vancouver, Montreal and beyond discussing our proposal to sell non-medical marijuana in B.C. public and private liquor stores.

The BCGEU is not part of the debate regarding the legalization or decrim-inalization of marijuana. However, in response to the federal government's decision to legalize marijuana, we are advocating for the most socially responsible approaches.

Selling non-medical marijuana through our liquor stores also has another important benefit: sustainable, local jobs. Liquor stores and warehouses provide stable, family-supporting jobs that are vital in B.C. communities.

Component 5 members interested in getting involved in the Responsible Marijuana Retail Alliance campaign can sign up at: responsibleretail.bcgeu.ca

BCGEU proposal for non-medical marijuana sales makes headlines

BCGEU president Stephanie Smith and BCPLSA representative Damian Kettlewell at news conference

S e l l i n g n o n - m e d i c a l marijuana through our l iquor stores also has another important benefit: sustainable local jobs.

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A union membership sign-up campaign isn’t what automatically comes to mind when you see people

queuing outside a coffee shop.

But that’s exactly what happened when the BCGEU, with the help of a small but determined committee of workers, offered hundreds of employ-ees at Richmond’s River Rock Casino the chance for union membership.

“We had a 24-hour operation at a nearby coffee shop,” said lead organ-izer Ursula Clark. “People would do their shift at the casino then come to the coffee shop to sign a membership card. People lined up outside to wait their turn.”

Much of the credit for the successful campaign goes to the 11-member inside committee of River Rock employees who, late last summer, approached the BCGEU about joining. BCGEU organizers were settling in for a campaign lasting several months to obtain the hundreds of membership cards they needed to make a Labour Relations Board (LRB) application to unionize River Rock.

“We got the number of membership cards we needed in three days. That’s unprecedented. When the inside com-mittee told us they could deliver the membership cards in one week, we smiled politely and cautioned them on how difficult sign-up can be. But, they did it. They proved us wrong,” Clark chuckled.

In the end, employees voted overwhelm-ingly in favour of joining the BCGEU. In the coming months, the union will begin negotiating a first collective agreement on behalf of more than 700 employees who work as dealers, slot attendants, cashiers, count team mem-bers, guest services representatives, deal-ers, slot and craps dealer supervisors, housekeepers, housekeeping supervisors and guest services supervisors — about half the casino’s workforce.

While unionizing River Rock appears to have happened rapidly, the BCGEU has approached casino workers multiple times over the past 20 years. This time, the workforce was upset with the employer and ready to join.

“The employer fired six long-term managers in the summer,” said organizer Laarni de los Reyes. “Well-liked managers with 25 years of experience. This upset other work-ers. It made them feel insecure about holding on to their own jobs.”

As well, she said, there have been no pay raises in more than a decade, other than complying with increases in the provincial minimum wage.

Also, workers with a longer history at River Rock were still reeling from the employer’s 2009 decision to take away three days of paid annual sick leave. River Rock is one of B.C.’s most successful casinos. In 2014, the casino’s parent company, Great Canadian Gaming Corporation, posted net earnings of $74 million.

“We’re very happy to welcome these new members from River Rock. We’ve been focusing on growing our casino membership in recent years. We hope to expand to other B.C. casinos in the future,” said Dave MacDonald, BCGEU vice president for general services.

The BCGEU represents more casino workers than any other union in B.C. Worksites are located in New Westminster, Richmond, Burnaby and the southern interior.

Persistence pays off:Unionizing B.C.’s premiere casino

(Bottom) Richmond’s River Rock Casino housekeeping staff attend their first BCGEU union meeting after the successful organizing effort.

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D ozens of employees at New Westminster’s Starlight Casino will be getting signifi-

cant back pay, thanks to the BCGEU.

The union grieved after layoff notices were handed to 43 unionized poker dealers in December 2014, when Starlight closed its poker tables.

The dealers were offered three medi-ocre options, including working as a casual employee for less pay and no job security, or ending their employment.

The third was a recall option to a different position with reduced work hours and significantly reduced wages, amounting to a pay cut of approxi-mately $2.37 per hour.

The union-f iled g r i e v a n c e w a s argued before an arbitrator, who ruled in favour of the BCGEU’s position in January 2016. The arbitrator found Starlight didn’t have the authority to violate the wage structure provisions previously negotiated for the dealers.

“This is an important win for the affected employees at Starlight and unionized casino workers around B.C. Going forward, this employer must honour negotiated pay rates,” said BCGEU general services vice president Dave MacDonald. “This win sends the message the BCGEU will fight back

when an employer breaches clear col-lective agreement language.”

Poker dealer Wei Chen, the grievance’s original complainant, echoes that. “The win reflects well on the BCGEU. It’s strong encouragement for people to stay with the union,” he said.

The BCGEU represents more casino employees than any other union in B.C. It recently unionized more than 700 employees at Richmond’s River Rock Casino.

Former casino dealers win big in BCGEU wage grievance

B uilding strength for the future. It’s something we in the labour movement work

toward. Global events, such as rapid economic change, have forced unions like ours to adapt to change and become more flexible as we fight for stronger collective agreements and more meaningful labour laws for today’s workers.

A stronger BCGEU in the future means developing leadership and union aware-ness among young workers now.

The concerns of young workers often differ from those of other members. That’s why our union goes above and beyond to ensure young workers' voices are heard when we set bar-gaining priorities and union policy. Undertaking this level of consultation is vital to ensuring future generations of active and engaged union members.

The young workers committee was created at the 2002 BCGEU Triennial Convention and was tasked with en-gaging young workers in our union. Through conferences, training and other initiatives, the committee cre-

ates opportunities for young leaders to reach out to others.

The committee works with young workers across our union to develop programs that fit their needs. Each union component executive, local executive and cross-component com-mittee designates one seat for a young worker. Any BCGEU member under the age of 29 at the beginning of the three-year term is eligible to hold a young worker seat.

The young worker committee is currently in the process of developing workshops, panels, and other discus-sion-based sessions for its triennial conference, to be held at Harrison Hot Springs in April. The theme of this year’s conference is Solidarity in Action. Sessions will cover topics ranging from social media in the work-place to navigating rules of order for formal meetings.

The committee is also working to train BCGEU young worker activists as facilitators for the B.C. Federation of Labour’s Alive After 5 program, which is designed to educate young members

of the workforce about their occupa-tional health and safety rights. Alive After 5 workshops are held in high schools and employment programs across the province.

Are you a young member looking to get involved with BCGEU? To find out more about opportunities in your area, contact your local chair or BCGEU area office.

Solidarity in action – BCGEU young workers committeeJocelyn Poirier-Hardy

GregoryMcNeil

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Occupational health & safety

A s a w o r k e r y o u need to document incidents in detail and then take matters to your supervisor and steward. It may need to be reported to the police or WorkSafe BC.

V iolence in the workplace has got to stop. In our July 2015 issue, The Provincial pub-lished an article on violence

in health care. It detailed how our dedicated workers in health services and community health are subjected to many types of violence in their workplaces. Unfortunately, that’s only a small part of the story. It’s time to expand the conversation.

Employers are ultimately respon-sible for worker safety. According to the Workers Compensation Act, every employer in B.C. must ensure the health and safety of all of their employees, and any other workers present at a workplace.

Employers must also remedy any workplace conditions that are hazard-ous to the health or safety of their workers. In some cases, these are less tangible factors, such as worker turn-over, staffing levels and work culture.

Often when we hear the word violence, we think of physical examples, such as hitting, pushing, kicking, and yell-ing. Workers can also be subjected to

intimidation, stalking, verbal threats, cyber-bullying, rumours, sabotage, ostracism, pranks, spitting, insinua-tion, swearing and more. These are all hazardous to the health of workers too.

Violence isn’t acceptable even in a workplace with clients who have a history of violence. Our provincial prisons are a case in point, where correctional off icers frequently witness violence. Overcrowding, gang aff iliations, inmates with addictions and mental health issues, and dangerously low officer-to-inmate ratios are all contributing factors.

Correctional officers are BCGEU members and they’ve been tracking incidents of violence and confirm that

violence in prisons is on the rise. In 2014, there were 973 violent incidents by inmates against other inmates and staff at B.C.’s nine prisons. By the end of 2015, there were 1,394 incidents on record. This level of violence is beyond reasonable.

In the health sector, the majority of our union’s health service members work directly with clients as program officers, residential care aides in long-term care for seniors, or as nursing assistants in a variety of facilities. Most of the workers are women. They face violence from clients suffering from dementia, disorientation from medica-tion, and other conditions.

A procedure as routine as adminis-tering an injection, or transferring a patient from a bed to a chair can result in aggression and injury. It’s a misconception that seniors are too frail to inflict damage or injury.

Some of our members are support workers in residential facilities for violent offenders who’ve been desig-nated as not criminally responsible for their actions. Like correctional officers, these workers are at risk for violent incidents and have experienced an unacceptably high level of violence.

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The union pushes these employers to ensure adequate risk assessments, frameworks and staffing levels are in place to keep our members safe. The difference between patient and inmate isn’t always clear and it can mean heightened risk for our members.

The situation for home support workers in community health services is slightly different, but members in this sector are equally vulnerable to violence. Community health workers go into seniors’ homes every day to assist with daily tasks, such as dressing, bathing and taking medications.

Here’s a scenario that workers often come up against. When a client with dementia doesn’t recognize the worker on a particular day, the worker is treated like an intruder. Suddenly, the worker is on the receiving end of a fearful outburst, yelling, or worse. The worker is isolated. Because the workplace is the client’s home, there are fewer safety protocols in place.

In the community social services sector, workers in residential group homes face the same challenges as home support workers in health as their work involves people with developmental disabilities and youth at risk. The supports in place vary widely between workplaces when clients become violent.

In some cases, there are well-established protocols for worker safety. Occasionally though, workers are on their own to ensure their safety as best they can. We know of cases where members have had to lock themselves in a room and call for help when faced with a violent client.

Another violent scenario plays out with our members who serve customers at sports and entertainment events, in facilities like BC Place. Occasionally, people get drunk and things get out of hand. Violent incidents and reckless fan behavior is a reality. In fact, the BCGEU and WorkSafe BC are intervening to force the employer to comply with workplace safety legislation.

As a worker, you need to document incidents in detail and then take matters to your supervisor and steward. It may need to be reported to the police or WorkSafe BC. If the incident involves the employer, or a lack of action on the part of the employer, it’s even more important to record the details so the BCGEU can take action.

Staff in BCGEU’s occupational health and safety (OHS) department provide training and support to member activists. Together they work to improve health and safety conditions for our members. OHS representatives are appointed by the president of the BCGEU, trained through our OHS department, and participate in workplace committees at their worksites. For more information, or copies of the posters that you can display on your union bulletin board at work, email: ohs@bcgeu.ca

Violence cuts across all of society, but that doesn’t make it acceptable. Violence isn’t part of anyone’s job.

• 54 per cent - of all time loss claims caused by acts of violence in B.C. happen in health care

• 33 per cent - of workplace violence incidents involved a victim who worked in social assistance or healthcare services

• 21 per cent - increase in acts of violence and force in B.C. for health care and social services since 2010

• 23 per cent - of Canadians have experienced workplace harassment: Queen's University poll

• 28 per cent - of Canadians have experienced sexual harassment in their place of work or at a work-related function (43 per cent women and 12 per cent men): 2014 Angus Reid survey

• 17 per cent - of all self-reported incidents of violent victimization occurred in the victim’s workplace, including physical assault, sexual assault and robbery

• 71 per cent - of workplace violence were classified as physical assaults

• 50/50 - men and women are equally likely to report experiencing workplace violence

• 45 per cent - of survey respondents (full-time workers across Canada) reported they were bullied

• Source of bullying - 24 per cent of the time, a co-worker was identified; 23 per cent of the time, an immediate supervisor; 17 per cent of the time, a higher manager; 17 per cent of the time, someone external to the company

• 1/3 - of bullied workers reported the bullying to HR

• 1/3 - of bullied workers said it caused them health problems, including clinical depression and PTSD

• 26 per cent - of bullied workers had to quit their jobs to stop the bullying

Sources: • Workplace Bullying Institute

www.workplacebullying.org/canada-2012/

• Queen’s University School of Business https://smith.queensu.ca/news_blog/2014/workplace-harassment-declining,-but-remains-pervasive-poll.php

• Statistics Canada: www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/85f0033m/2007013/4054154-eng.htm

• WorkSafe BC

Workplace ViolenceBY THE NUMBERS

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Pink Shirt Day – BCGEU members and staff join in marking Pink Shirt Day 2016 in Williams Lake. (Feb. 24)

MLA Breakfast – BCGEU president Stephanie Smith and treasurer Paul Finch meeting Abbotsford-Mission MLA Simon Gibson (Feb. 24).

MLA Breakfast – Component 12 VP Lori Joaquin (r) and first vice chair Maria Middlemiss meeting with Vancouver-Kensington MLA Mable Elmore. (Feb. 24)

Sheriffs leafleting – Component 1 VP Dean Purdy (r) joins sheriffs in front of court house to protest staff shortage. (March 23)

Sheriffs leafleting – BCGEU president Stephanie Smith talking to media as sheriffs protest staff shortage. (March 23)

Pink Shirt Day – BCGEU members join in public events marking Pink Shirt Day 2016 in downtown Vancouver. (Feb. 24)

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Heart in Health Care – BCGEU activists, including provincial executive member Scott De Long (3rd left) attended a B.C. Health Coalition rally at Vancouver health ministers'conference. (Jan. 20)

Mountain View Home Rally–BGEU president Stephanie Smith with community members, including MLA Sue Hammel at the My Life My Choice Mountain View rally in Abbotsford. (March 11)

Mountain View Home Rally – BCGEU president Stephanie Smith speaking to community supporters at the My Life My Choice Mountain View rally in Abbotsford. (March 11)

Save the Fraser – BCGEU treasurer Paul Finch pledges union support for the Save the Fraser declaration at a press confer-ence in Vancouver. (Feb. 4)

Save the Fraser – BCGEU treasurer Paul Finch with First Nations representative at the Save the Fraser press conference in Vancouver. (Feb. 4)

LEAF breakfast – The BCGEU was proud to be the Diamond Presenting sponsor at the West Coast LEAF Equality Breakfast. (March 11)

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M oving forward. That’s what we’re doing on a variety of fronts to better serve our members. We’re expedit-

ing grievance handling by increasing servicing staff, investing in new tech-nologies to improve communications with members and modernizing our area offices around the province. We’re also investing wisely through real estate assets – ownership of our buildings.

Right now, our sights are set on construction of the new Fort St John area office. We’ve secured a prime downtown location, a corner lot with ample parking that can accommodate block heater outlets.

The two-storey facility will feature meeting rooms, amenity space and a lounge area for members on the main floor, plus office space for staff on the second floor. The 6,300 square foot building will be constructed using the most environmentally sustainable materials and practices. It will have high efficiency heating and cooling system, recycled flooring materials, low flush toilets and automated faucets.

Most of the interior spaces will have daylight views. As well, the building access, circulation and washrooms will exceed the minimum requirements for wheelchair accessibility. We expect this office to open in the fall of 2017.

BCGEU’s Fort St John area office will be well suited to the city’s downtown revitalization plan, premised on the understanding that a healthy and vibrant downtown is the corner-stone of a liveable and sustainable community. The city’s vision is for a compact and mixed use down-town with plenty of amenities and high quality design, which supports walking and transit use,

a t t ract ing business , res idents , employees and visitors.

This isn’t the first time the BCGEU has been part of a downtown revitalization plan. Our newly constructed award-winning area office in Prince George was also part of a plan to enhance that city’s downtown. We jumped at the chance when the City of Prince George offered a 10-year property tax incentive to those building within the downtown core.

Not only was it a wise use of union money, it allowed us to build a modern, centrally located green bu i ld ing to b e s t s e r v i ce our members. In 2015, the Prince George city council awarded the BCGEU a certificate to recognize the innovative project design of that area office.

Owning our future

In recent years we’ve also opened a new area office in Kelowna, plus purchased and modernized an exist-ing building to house our Cranbrook area office.

Building ownership is a good investment for BCGEU members for several reasons. Ownership provides a secure means of future cash flow dur-ing a period of considerable market appreciation. We also benefit from not having to deal with rent increases or squabbles with landlords over leasehold renovations and improvements. Finally, ownership means we can borrow money against the equity appreciation in these buildings should the need arise.

Area offices are a hub of union activity – from local meetings to stewards’ train-ing, to education fairs. These are your buildings. Working for you.

(Top) Three views of the Prince George area office. ( B t m . ) B C G E U E V P Sussanne Skidmore, president Stephanie Smith accept urban design certificate from Prince George Mayor Lyn Hall.

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W e’re growing to serve you better. In the last little while, we’ve been adding staff at

BCGEU headquarters in Burnaby and in area offices around the province.

The decision to increase our ranks is a response to issues raised by delegates at our 2014 triennial convention.

“We heard loud and clear from conven-tion delegates that our union needs to add staff in key areas to better meet the needs of our members,” said BCGEU president Stephanie Smith.

“We’re adding staff representatives to address the higher volume of griev-ances filed. We’re also adding staff because our union is growing, thanks to the fantastic work of our organizing department.”

Last year, the BCGEU organized 1,200 new members. In 2016, 100 new members have already joined us.

Chair of Local 1202 and the Area 2 cross-component committee, Jeff Morgan, says the additional staff makes his union work easier.

“North Vancouver Island is a large geographic area to serve,” said Morgan. “With additional staff in the area office in Nanaimo I can get answers to my questions quickly. This makes it easier for me to connect with members and represent their interests in a timely way.”

“Our budget this year also reflects the changing regional nature of our union work,” said BCGEU treasurer Paul Finch. “Different parts of our province have different needs. Those needs change as well as our union grows and

as we modernize operations. We have increased the staffing complement at area offices where we can have the most impact on the day-to-day needs of our members.”

There have also been staffing increases at BCGEU headquarters in Burnaby.

“We have increased staff in our mem-bership records department. That will provide us with a much better system to track the BCGEU’s large and diverse membership spread all across the province,” said Smith.

“We are also in the process of bringing our website design and web mainten-ance in-house. This will allow us to create a website particularly suited to our diverse membership and provide cost savings at the same time.”

Staffing increases to better meet the needs of members

Y ou’ve worked for nearly a lifetime. You’ve given years of dedicated service to your employers. Now, it’s time to retire. Poverty and hardship shouldn’t be part of

the equation. A pension is your safety net against it.

Most BCGEU members have a pension promise: a guaran-teed, predictable and reliable income after they stop work-ing. Having a pension is like having a piggy bank that has been saving money for you all along.

Three quarters of BCGEU members are enrolled in a pension plan: the Public Service Pension Plan (PSPP), the

Municipal Pension Plan (MPP) or the College Pension Plan (CPP). BCGEU also has its own plan, the BCGEU Pension Plan. As well, some BCGEU members participate in Group Registered Retirement Savings Plans (RRSP). The plan you’re enrolled in depends on your employer and collective agreement.

BCGEU members often say they’re happy to have pension plans, but don’t feel they know much about the way their plan works, or how it’s different from other means of retirement savings.

We’ve produced a video to help members better understand their pensions. It’s called “Pensions 101” and it gets into the basics of how the three primary plans (PSPP, MPP, and CPP) work and what members can expect to receive once they retire.

In addition to the new video, the pensions section of the BCGEU website is a great resource for learning more about your pension plan. There, you can find pension estimators, information on free pension seminars put on by the pension plans themselves, and news about the plans.

Visit our pensions website and watch the video at: www.bcgeu.ca/pensions

Pensions 101

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LEARNING LEADERSHIP – [top] Justine Stark (left) facilitating a session at the CLC Winter School leadership workshop; [bottom, l-r] BCGEU attendees Anita Sullivan, Jessica, and James Coccola participating in an interactive session of Leadership Lab.

PUBLICATIONS MAIL AGREEMENT NO. 40010201 RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO:

4911 Canada Way, Burnaby, B.C. V5G 3W3 Email: theprovincial@bcgeu.ca

I t’s not an easy time to be a trade union leader. They’ve got to grapple with increasingly complex challenges. Among them:

political, legal, and economic attacks on workers and their organizations; the shifting nature of work amid the pressures of globalization and neoliberalism; and the ever-changing cultural and social forces that impact our ability to organize, mobilize, and bargain effectively.

These issues were examined during a weeklong workshop in January entitled Leadership Lab: What are Unions for? The workshop brought together 24 emerging BCGEU leaders.

Held as part of the Canadian Labour Congress' Winter School in Harrison Hot Springs, workshop participants piloted a new approach to leader-ship development. They were tasked with exploring the complex environ-ment in which the BCGEU and the labour movement struggle to maintain relevance and effectiveness.

Drawing on the expertise of speakers from Simon Fraser University, semin-ars included an examination of the impacts of globalization and migra-tion on labour and the emergence of neoliberal and austerity policies that have marked the world's political economy since the 1970s.

SFU professor Mark Leier brought history to life with images and music. Using his banjo, Leier got the class singing old folk and union songs, while learning about the struggles of working people over the past 150 years in North America.

What are unions for? An experiment in leadership

For many participants, this was a high-light of the week and an opportunity to learn lessons from labour history.

As well, Harsha Walia, a member of Local 303 and activist with No One is Illegal, led a workshop on the world's refugee crisis and Canada's policies toward immigrants and asylum seekers.

Chief Roland Willson of the West Moberly First Nation outlined the historical, cultural, social and environ-mental aspects of his community's opposition to the Liberal government's Site C dam on the Peace River. Willson thanked the BCGEU for its support in the fight to protect communities in the Peace region as well as trad-itional hunting territory and valuable agricultural lands.

James Coccola, a policy analyst at the Ministry of Justice and young worker representative on the administrative services component executive said the BCGEU leadership lab helped him to locate the union and labour movement within the broader move-ments for social justice. For Coccola,

unions are about advancing collect-ive interests. He expects his fellow BCGEU leadership lab participants will be doing just that.

The leadership lab examined the micro as well as the macro. In the workshop, The Constellation of Change, participants explored their own journey of activism using collaborative techniques and the framework of the theory of change.

Reflecting on her experience at the leadership lab, Anita Sullivan, chair-person of Local 505 in Kamloops and an employee of the Liquor Distribu-tion Branch, said the weeklong work-shop reinforced her commitment to being more involved with her union.

"It broadened my perspective. I had a passion for First Nations and environmental issues, believed in it in my heart. Now I'm not content to be just an observer from the outside. It gave me the confidence to step up,” Sullivan said.

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L earn with us. Education offered by the BCGEU is a key element of our success in advocating for members, providing the

knowledge, skills and confidence to be a strong workplace leader. Knowledge is power and power is success.

Our inclusive and interactive courses help members build on their experi-ences, share knowledge and acquire new tools to succeed in the workplace.

The provincial executive’s education and scholarship committee helps ensure all members have access to training. Education liaisons connect the cross-component committees with members to determine local educa-tion needs. Then, they work with the BCGEU education officer to create educational courses.

Courses are available for all members in elected positions — stewards, local and component officers, occupational health and safety representatives and bargaining committee members.

We also develop courses for the general membership on important issues, such as respectful workplaces and anti-bullying, pensions, and occupational health and safety. Re-cently, we’ve added FoodSafe training. We want to ensure members have useful educational offerings.

Check the range of educational oppor-tunities available to BCGEU members. Access educational opportunities through your local education liaison, the BCGEU website: www.bcgeu.ca/union_education or your area office: www.bcgeu.ca/offices.

BCGEU education: Turning knowledge into action

R educe, reuse and recycle. The Developmental Disabilities Association (DDA) depends on us to do these things for

the good of the environment and the work of the organization.

DDAis a community-based social service agency providing programs and services to children and adults with developmental disabilities and their families in Vancouver and Richmond.

Workers at DDA are members of BCGEU Local 303. Their work involves creating extended networks of support, investing in individual needs, and striving for an inclusive and safe community.

DDA supports more than 1,600 indi-viduals and families in the Vancouver and Richmond area every year.

The work of DDA is supported by a variety of social enterprises, includ-

ing a service collecting second-hand clothing, recyclables and some reusable household items in good condition for resale to support its over 50 programs and services.

David Wong, a BCGEU steward at DDA for eight years, encourages all BCGEU members to support DDA's work.

"By donating clothes you help benefit residents in our group homes, participants in our day programmes and our child care centres" he said. "Revenue is reinvested in our services".

The whole community and the environment benefit when valu-able, reusable material is kept out of landfills, thus reducing energy and material consumption.

For more information about the kinds of articles that DDA accepts and location of the near-

est clothing donation box using your postal code go to their web site: www.develop.bc.ca or call 604-273-4DDA (332) or contact the organization by email at : clothing4dda@develop.bc.ca to arrange pick-up in the Lower Mainland.

Go green and support people with developmental disabilities

Agreement No. 40010201

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