By Erica (she/her) Rogers General Information • News • Safety (OHS/WCB) 0 Comments

Participate in the survey for CUPE’s National Safe Union Spaces Working Group

Brothers, sisters, and friends,

Earlier this year, CUPE created a National Safe Union Spaces Working Group to address serious concerns about gender-based violence and other forms of harassment and discrimination in our union.

Our Working Group, advised by expert external consultants, has been reviewing CUPE’s existing tools and processes, identifying gaps where we need changes or additional resources to ensure safer union spaces for all members.

As part of this important effort, we are launching a survey. The survey will be open for two weeks (closing September 28).

We encourage you to participate in this survey, and to share it widely in your CUPE networks, including social media. Your active participation in the distribution of this survey will be key to the project’s success.

We acknowledge that these issues are widespread. All of us must work together to change this situation. We need you to help us identify actions we can take and policies we can adopt to make CUPE more welcoming for every member.

Violence, harassment, and discrimination seriously undermine union solidarity. Until all of us are safe, none of us are safe.

In solidarity,

The National Safe Union Spaces Working Group

Judy Henley
Sherry Hillier
Lee-Anne Kalen
Yolanda McClean
Nan McFadgen
Debra Merrier
Barb Nederpel
Carole Neill
Karen Ranalletta
Candace Rennick

By Terri (She/Her) Inouye Announcements • General Information • News 0 Comments

Compulsory Trades Certification System

A Message from BCFED:

Dear friends,

The BC government is reintroducing a compulsory trades certification system in BC called Skilled Trades Certification. Announcement details and a technical briefing can be found here. https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2021AEST0039-001140. This is a critical announcement for trades workers in BC, and it will translate into better jobs and more employment security for thousands of workers across our province.  

Now we need your support to ensure the BC government rolls out the strongest program possible. Parliamentary Secretary Mercier has launched a consultation process, including a series of round table discussions. These are happening imminently and there are still spots to fill. The BC NDP government would like to hear from uncertified trades workers to learn how they can best support them through this transition. We are asking for your help to reach out these workers.  

In particular they would like to hear from workers in the 10 initially impacted trades:  

·         mechanical: gasfitter Class A and B, steamfitter/pipefitter, refrigeration and air conditioning mechanic and sheet metal worker;  

·         electrical: powerline technician, industrial electrician, and electrician (construction); and  

·         automotive: heavy-duty equipment technician, automotive service technician and autobody and collision technician. 

If you are in contact with uncertified trades workers or have suggestions for how the BC NDP government can better reach out to these workers, please contact me at rarora@bcfed.ca.

Thank you so much for considering this request,

In solidarity,

Rohini (Reah) Arora ਰੋਹਿਨੀ ਅਰੋੜਾ she/her

Director of Organizing & Campaigns 

By Erica (she/her) Rogers Announcements • General Information • News 0 Comments

The results are in – United Way’s Period Promise reaches its 2021 goal!

The United Way Period Promise campaign was one of our chosen charities to recieve a donation this year. See below for a good news story update!

More than a month ago we launched our 2021 Period Promise Collection Campaign, presented by Pacific Blue Cross. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, we had to make a lot of shifts to the campaign so that we could run a collection and help keep everybody safe. We didn’t know how it would go, but we’re grateful to all of you who joined us in the effort, and we’re excited to share our preliminary results – with something more final coming next month.

 

This year’s campaign is the biggest that we have ever run, and it isn’t even done yet! We’ll reach out in the coming weeks once we finalize our counts of product and donations, and once a few more campaigns are wrapped up. It couldn’t have been done without all of you helping out.

You can read more about the impact this campaign is having here, but, in short, it’s pretty massive. With the support of hundreds of people who have made donations or run collection campaigns, and unions and businesses that have made big contributions, we are going to be able to support thousands of people who menstruate in our community. That’s huge. For some people, having access to free product is the difference between staying at home and going to work or school, buying tampons or food for their table. Thank you for helping make some of those choices much easier.

If you’re interested in making a donation, there’s still plenty of time to do so. Financial donations are helping us purchase more than 430,000 menstrual products this year – so they really do help! Another easy way to help is by supporting the London Drugs Wellness.Period campaign when purchasing products for yourself. A portion of your purchase will be directed towards United Way’s collection efforts!

Over the coming weeks we’re going to be working with volunteers and partners to sort the product into packages for nearly 80 front-facing community organizations in the Lower Mainland, Fraser Valley, and Sea to Sky Corridor. A big thank you to LifeLabs, who have offered to help deliver packages to dozens of these partner agencies in the coming weeks. If you’re interested in helping out with any of the work that is left to do, connect with us at PeriodPromise@uwlm.ca.

By Erica (she/her) Rogers Announcements • General Information • Internal Union Matters • News 0 Comments

BC school support workers welcome education recovery plan

BURNABY – British Columbia school support workers are welcoming the $43.6 million in funding announced yesterday to support the safe reopening of BC schools for the 2021/2022 school year. CUPE’s K-12 Presidents Council, representing over 30,000 support workers in B.C.’s education system, says the announcement by Minister of Education Jennifer Whiteside represents a big step forward in ensuring a healthy and safe school environment for students and staff.

 

“We are extremely proud of the work our members have done throughout the pandemic to limit the spread of COVID-19 in our schools, to protect students, fellow staff and our communities,” says Paul Simpson, president of the K-12 Presidents Council. “It is gratifying to see the efforts of school support workers recognized as an essential part of our province’s recovery from COVID-19.

 

Of the $43.6 million announced, $14.4 million in one-time pandemic funding will be made available to school districts to support the necessary cleaning and disinfecting performed by custodians and caretakers, hand hygiene, improved ventilation and restocking supplies of personal protection equipment (PPE).

 

“CUPE locals have been doing a lot of work in their communities and schools systems advocating for these health and safety measures. We are pushing for the necessary funding for school districts to continue enhanced cleaning measures that proved so successful during the pandemic,” says Simpson. “We are looking forward to working with school districts so that they can fully utilize this directed funding, along with their other resources, to effectively and efficiently keep schools clean and safe.”

 

CUPE K-12 locals are prioritizing the continuance of daytime custodial services in all schools across the province and says this new funding would be well used to continue this vital health and safety measure.

 

“Unfortunately, past BC governments almost eliminated daytime custodial services in schools. So, when the pandemic hit, we had to scramble. Thankfully, our efforts to re-establish daytime custodial services contributed greatly to cleaner and safer environments for students, staff, and helped slow the spread of COVID-19,” says Simpson. “I’m optimistic we have all learned this lesson from the pandemic and we can work to continue daytime custodial services permanently to keep protecting our communities from COVID-19 and a host of other illnesses.”

 

The K-12 Presidents Council represents 57 CUPE locals in school districts across British Columbia. CUPE represents more than 30,000 education workers including: education assistants, school secretaries, custodians/caretakers, Indigenous support workers, IT workers, Strong Start facilitators, trades and maintenance workers, and bus drivers.

 

 

For more information:

 

Greg Taylor

CUPE National Communications Representative

(604) 842-7444

gtaylor@cupe.ca

By Erica (she/her) Rogers Announcements • General Information • News 0 Comments

Richmond Municipal By Election – May 29th, 2021

In every municipal and school district election, employees have an opportunity to elect their employer.  This year, due to a council vacancy, there is a City of Richmond Council By-election.  We are joining both CUPE Locals at the City (Locals 718 & 394) and the Vancouver District Labour Council in endorsing Karina Reid in this important by-election and are asking for your support to elect Karina to City Council.

In person voting will be May 29th, but Richmond residents are able to register for a mail in voting package. Further information can be found on the City Website.

https://www.richmond.ca/cityhall/elections/services.htm

By Terri (She/Her) Inouye General Information • News 0 Comments

CUPE Seniority Lists

Hello Members,

The CUPE seniority lists (alpha/date order) plus, the CUPE secondary seniority lists have now been published on The Portal: www.sd38.bc.ca.

Once logged in to the Portal, go to top left-hand bar of the screen with the dots. Click on it and then go to Inside 38. Once you click on that, click on Human Resources tab. Scroll down the documents till you come across the CUPE lists.

If there are any discrepancies with your information, please contact Kim Wong in Human Resources.

Respectfully,

CUPE716 Executive

By Erica (she/her) Rogers Announcements • Education • General Information • Internal Union Matters • News 0 Comments

May Pro-D Day – SOGI for Cupe

Please join us in this SOGI session for CUPE members. During our session, we will be covering what SOGI inclusive learning environments look like, sound like and feel like. We will also be joined by student leaders from Burnett and Cambie, who will share their experiences of schooling with adults who hear and accept them as LGBTQ2S+ youths. Our session together will:

  • explore our own intersectionality and how that plays a role in the way we interact with students and colleagues
  • do a self assessment for what we are already doing and what we can do to contribute to inclusive learning environments
  • discuss why it’s important to practise gender neutral language with students and colleagues​
  • ​answer some questions about how young SOGI can go
  • include some resources for further professional development in SOGI ​

Facilitators for this session are Loreen Thomson, CUPE; Ellen Hsu, RTA; and Destiny Lang, Student Leader – Burnett

May 21st 9-11am – Registration is open now on the portal!

By cupe716_df0ei7 Announcements • Bargaining • General Information • News 0 Comments

Pay Grid Attached to Collective Agreement

We apologize for the omission of linking to a copy of the current collective agreement that did not have the pay grid attached. This has now been fixed and the link in the footer of the site labelled as “Quick Downloads” now contains the current collective agreement with the paygrid. You may also download it here. 

Collective Agreement w Pay Grid 2019-2022