Clay Suddaby | CUPE Communications

British Columbians go to the polls on May 9 this year to elect their provincial government. After 16 years of cuts, privatization and attacks on working people by the right-wing BC Liberal government, CUPE and CUPE BC are pulling out all the stops to make sure CUPE members in the province know what’s at stake.

Support from CUPE National has made it possible to have a Provincial Election Coordinator in place earlier than ever before, and member engagement is already ramping up all over the province, with workshops and volunteer recruitment well underway.

Since the BC Liberals first took power in 2001, they have closed more than 250 schools, stripped health care and education workers of their collective agreements, privatized public services, and rewarded the wealthiest British Columbians with massive tax cuts while increasing fees and service charges for the rest. The BC Liberals won the last election in 2013 with a margin of just over 5,000 votes across the province. In many ridings across the province, the number of CUPE members is greater than the BC Liberals’ margin of victory.