Found at: https://peoplesvoice.ca/articleprint/Lower_Mainland_Civic_Workers_gear_up_for_strikes.html
Lower Mainland Civic Workers gear up for strikes
(The following article is from the July 1-31, 2007 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)
PV Vancouver Bureau
About nine thousand civic workers in several BC Lower Mainland municipalities are gearing up for strike action as soon as the beginning of July.
Since last December, most of the Lower Mainland's 12,000 civic workers (members of CUPE) have been working without a contract. Across the region of two million people, talks have stalled as GVRD bargainers refuse to make meaningful progress, forcing CUPE civic workers to prepare for job action to achieve a fair contract.
In Vancouver, CUPE reports that "the employer has aggressively attacked union wage and working conditions with a proposed wage freeze for some of the lowest paid workers, reduction of sick pay and vacations among other take-aways. In Delta, the employer has refused to continue bargaining and instead is forcing their civic workers into mediation. At other bargaining tables, GVRD bargainers are pursuing reductions in a range of areas including benefits, callout, sick leave and more."
Speaking to People's Voice, a spokesperson for CUPE 1004 (Vancouver outside workers) said that as prices skyrocket, his members increasingly find it difficult to work where they live. Fed up with years of minimal pay increases at best, many are ready to look for better-paying jobs if they cannot win a better contract.
Civic workers here include a wide range of occupations, from planners to plumbing and building inspectors, water operators, pavers, cleaners, garbage collectors, and rec centre, swimming pool and library workers. Their work is vital heading towards the 2010 Winter Olympics, which is proving to be a gold mine for developers, yet they are faced with demands for concessions.
On June 25, a record 97 percent of Vancouver's 790 library workers (CUPE 391) became the seventh group to vote in favour of strike action.
"We are dismayed," says Ed Dickson, CUPE 391 Bargaining Committee Chair. "There is no justification for the shameful demands the employer is making - demands to establish lower wages, demands to cut our benefits and access to sick leave. Vancouver's library workers deserve a fair contract. Not a single library workers' issue has been addressed in the days of talks that took place." The library workers are seeking to address pay equity concerns, fair treatment of part time and auxiliary staff, benefit improvements and protection against contracting out.
CUPE says responsibility rests on Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan to seek a political solution to avert a strike that could affect everything from Olympic construction to tourism. Civic workers in Vancouver face some of the most regressive take-away demands, like the demand to freeze the wages of 150 building service workers until after the Olympics.
"Mayor Sullivan holds the key," says Paul Faoro, President of CUPE 15, Vancouver inside workers. "All Mayor Sullivan needs to do to avert a strike is to instruct bargainers to stop demanding to take away worker rights, wages and benefits and negotiate fair contracts with the public employees that make Vancouver work."
A few days earlier, Vancouver's outside workers, including garbage workers who receive trash from across the GVRD at the Vancouver Landfill, voted 96 percent in favour of strike action.
"During hard economic times, city workers have sacrificed and taken zeros, but now it is time to honour that sacrifice with fair contracts that improve workers lives - not contracts that make it even more difficult for workers to take care of their families and make ends meet," says CUPE BC President Barry O'Neill. "Without fairness, there will be no labour peace in the Lower Mainland this summer."
On June 13, Burnaby's 2000 city workers became the fifth group of civic workers to register a high strike vote (93%) in response to proposed take-aways and stalled negotiations with GVRD Labour Relations Bureau.
CUPE 23 President Rick Kotar said his frustrated members are prepared to take action to achieve a fair contract.
"We had high hopes for a positive round of negotiations, but when we got to the table we found an employer being led by the GVRD to take a hard line," said Kotar. He points to a booming economy in a city that is reaping windfall tax revenue from rapidly increasing property values as reason to hope for smooth negotiations.
"Hopefully this vote will let the city know that we are serious about getting a fair deal... Before that can happen, city council needs to stop listening to the GVRD, and start negotiating with the people who make Burnaby work."
CUPE 23 has been at the bargaining table since October 2006. They have not met with the employer since March 2, 2007.
Other civic groups which have taken strike votes include Vancouver inside workers (CUPE 15), Delta public employees (CUPE 454), North Vancouver District workers (CUPE 389) and North Vancouver Recreation Commission workers (CUPE 389).
For information on how to help CUPE members win fair contracts in this dispute, visit www.supportyourcivicworkers.ca.
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