Keep Assiniboine Park public
“Keep Assiniboine Park public,” Paul Moist warned City of Winnipeg politicians yesterday in his remarks to the 2007 CUPE Manitoba Convention taking place in Winnipeg.
The national president reported enthusiastically that Manitoba’s NDP government is also resisting incredible pressure to privatize different services in the province. “The Doer government has said no to the privatizers,” said Moist. “The recent budget announced increases in support for child care,” said Moist, “all of those funds are for publicly delivered child care,” he emphasized.
Mount Saint Vincent part-time faculty, lab instructors reject university’s latest offer
A second group of Halifax university employees have rejected a contract offer from their employer. Part-time faculty and lab instructors at Mount Saint Vincent University rejected the employer’s latest offer by a large majority. CUPE Local 3912 represents some 100 employees at the Mount. CUPE National Representative Peter Baxter says, “The key outstanding issues are wages, compensation for lab instructors and leaves of absence.Get the record straight
CUPE New Brunswick is looking forward to seeing the end of bickering over the transfer of ambulance services to one provincial ambulance service. Once the details are complete, all New Brunswick ambulance paramedics will become members of CUPE Local 1252. Since 1969, the Local which represents the New Brunswick Council of Hospital Unions, has been the certified bargaining agent for the majority of individuals employed in delivery of ambulance services in the public sector. Since the paramedics will be employees of the government, they will all join the existing bargaining agent. Until the details are complete, 60 paramedics remain certified by the International Union of Operating Engineers.Calgary City Hall silences waste collectors
An advertising campaign critical of Calgary City administration is being silenced due to so-called “negative connotations to the City of Calgary”.
CUPE Alberta was told last Thursday its advertising campaign designed for city buses would not be allowed to proceed. The union campaign was in response to increased injuries of waste collectors due to handling heavy, toxic, or otherwise dangerous goods. The union wants the City to enforce existing bylaws requiring residents to dispose of garbage in a safe manner. The ads feature a picture of a garbage bag full of broken glass and the caption “Would you pick this up?” The ad also reads, “Waste collectors are not disposable. Tell the City to enforce its bylaws,” and contains a web address for more information. In an email explaining the City position, a staff person simply said, “We can’t approve these, due to negative connotations to the City of Calgary.”
CUPE welcomes Fort St. John school district employees
CUPE members offer a warm welcome and solidarity to new members from School District 60 in Fort St. John, BC. On March 29, 2007, the B.C. Labour Relations Board issued a certification notice, formally allowing the 350 school district employees to be represented by CUPE. They will become CUPE Local 4653. Fort St. John employees join with the 23,000 K-12 CUPE support workers in British Columbia, and a community of more than 100,000 such CUPE members across the country.Saskatchewan’s largest union calls first step a “brave” move
The Canadian Union of Public Employees - Saskatchewan is praising the newest provincial budget; calling the new funding for a seniors’ pharmaceutical care program the first, brave step towards a better province for everyone. In addition to the announcement on prescription assistance for seniors, CUPE Saskatchewan was eager to hear if the provincial government would allocate additional funding for women’s issues, and funding for programs that assist in aboriginal employment strategies. Left off CUPE Saskatchewan’s wish list, largely thanks to the Conservative budget, is funding for the pursuit of pay equity. Working women are still paid .71-cents for each dollar earned by a man, a figure which CUPE Saskatchewan finds unacceptable.200 Halifax ECE teachers stage ‘Day of Protest’
ECE teachers from six CUPE child care centres were joined by teachers from other non-profit centres and even some commercial centres in a march to Province House, the seat of provincial government in Nova Scotia on April 5th. CUPE centres were shut down for the day as workers voiced their opposition to recent changes to a funding formula that will hurt the non-profit centres. Many parents took time off work and brought their kids to support the workers.PEI Government’s pre-election budget
CUPE PEI is concerned that more than one million dollars are going into professional and contract services in staffing and human resources planning in the Public Services Commission. At the same time, there is a reduction of more than $350,000 in salary allocations for the Public Service Commission. This is an indication of the government’s intention to contract out more public service jobs in this province. Last year, the government spent $120 million in professional and contract services. While there are more investments in the health and education sectors, government chooses to decrease its revenues by reducing taxes especially to the corporations. The province will lose nearly $2.2 million from corporation taxes this year alone.Special Days in April:
- Manitoba Division Convention: April 11–14
- Nova Scotia Division Convention: April 22–25
- National Meeting for District Councils: April 27– 29
- Earth Day: April 22
- National Day of Mourning for workers killed and injured on the job: April 28