VICTORIA - Delegates at CUPE BC’s 44th convention warmly received greetings from National President Paul Moist.
He warned that the Harper government has picked up on the Partnerships BC model by tying funding for municipal infrastructure to P3s.
Promising CUPE’s full support to municipal locals’ “fairness for civic workers” campaign, Brother Moist told delegates that CUPE will stand behind the fight to get decent wages and working conditions in this “Olympics 2010” round of bargaining.
BC’s leadership in working with aboriginal communities and locals’ important contributions to local advocacy organizations, food banks and the United Way also received high praise from Brother Moist.
At the end of the day, Brothers Moist and National Secretary-Treasurer Claude Généreux joined CUPE BC President Barry O’Neill and BC Federation of Labour president Jim Sinclair, transit workers and user groups and hundreds of delegates at a rally to protest legislation that guts democratic governance of Translink, the Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority.
Brother Moist described British Columbia, under the Campbell Liberals, as the “country’s incubator for public-private partnerships (P3s)” and praised CUPE BC for leading the P3 fightback.