CUPE 4627 members put both Vancouver Community College campuses behind picket lines yesterday. In an unusual move, the employer helped out by closing the facilities and putting up notices that there would be no classes. The faculty association is also on side. Visit the CUPE gallery for photos of CUPE 4627 members on the picket line.
CUPE 4627 head steward Jo Hansen says the problem isn’t the employer, but the BC Liberal provincial government. She says negotiations were completed months ago and are only being held up now by government advisor Lee Doney and the Public Sector Employers’ Council. The local has been without a contract since 2010.
Meanwhile, at UBC, striking CUPE teaching assistants picketed Buchanan Tower and are planning more job action today.Their brothers and sisters in three CUPE locals at the University of Victoria are all in bargaining today.