LTS workers have been fighting for a fair first collective agreement. Several speakers from different unions and labour organizations spoke in solidarity with the LTS workers and to demand that the federal government act to end the dispute and fix the Canada Labour Code. 

The following are remarks made by VDLC President Stephen von Sychowski. 

Good morning,

My name is Stephen von Sychowski, I’m the President of the Vancouver and District Labour Council.

We bring together affiliated unions here in Vancouver and in neighboring municipalities, representing approximately 60,000 union members.

We’re very proud to count your local, IBEW 213 among them.

I want to thank everyone for being here today, and especially all of the speakers and our co-organizers NWDLC and IBEW 213. 

I’ve said it before at other rallies and picket line visits and I say it again, we stand with you 100%.

It is unacceptable that any employer would act the way that LTS has over the course of the past several years.

It is especially shameful when it is a large and well resourced employer who could easily do the right thing, but chooses not to.

We know it hasn’t been easy being out here all this time, and we thank you for doing it, because it is so crucial that even when an employer uses every dirty trick in the book, even when they throw their all of their resources and do everything they can to undermine your right to join a union we don’t back down. We don’t walk away from the fight.

That’s the message we have to send to employers as a movement if we want to win long-term.

But there are supposed to be checks and balances in place to protect against this kind of behaviour.

Our labour code is supposed to provide the mechanisms for workers to freely exercise their right to join a union.

But that labour code isn’t working

Worse, in the face of clear evidence that it isn’t working the response from the federal government has been inaction.

Your union has been calling for on the federal government to intervene and ensure that the spirit of the code is upheld, that you are able to access your rights in practice and not just in theory.

Both of the labour councils represented here today have joined that call.

Still, the government has sat on its hands. The game is rigged, and the referee is asleep. 

They sat on their hands while Ledcor utilized scab labour to undermine your strike, while they engaged in unfair labour practices.

They say on their hands while the employer refused to bargain in good faith.

They took no action when asked to provide for a binding arbitration process to end this strike and secure a collective agreement.

We just went through a federal election where all the major parties promised the sky and pitched themselves as defenders of working people.

The reality is that successive governments, whether Liberal or Conservative, have failed to act to implement anti-scab legislation, and to close the loopholes that undermine the exercise of workers rights.

The reality is that time after time throughout the years, NDP bills to strengthen workers right have been voted down by these two parties time and again.

Well, it’s a new parliament and its time to once again demand that the platitudes we heard for five weeks of election campaign are made good on.

The government can and must act quickly and meaningfully to help end this dispute and avoid future ones like it

We will continue to stand with your union in making those demands and in calling for LTS to return to the bargaining table in good faith.

But whatever happens, know that your fight, though difficult, is just.

We are with you for a fair contract now!

Thank you

Image credit: BC Building Trades. 

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We ask our affiliates, delegates, and the general public to respect the boycott and United Here! Local 40 picket lines and not to give any business to these hotels until the boycott is lifted. 

Read more about the boycott here.

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Young people are not only politically aware and active, but are often leaders on many of the crucial issues we face today. Yet, they are not enfranchised to vote for the elected representatives whose decisions will impact their futures. It’s time to expand democratic engagement and give youth sixteen and older the vote.

That’s why the VDLC endorsed the Vote16BC campaign in May of 2020, and encouraged Vancouver City Council to do the same while also calling for action from the provincial government to make this a reality. 

Support for the June 24 motion at Vancouver City Council was widespread, including Mayor Kennedy Stewart as well as Councillors Carr, De Genova, Fry, Swanson, Wiebe, Dominato, and Bligh, as well as Councillor Boyle who submitted and championed the motion. Councillor Hardwick was absent, while Councillor Kirby-Yung abstained. 

Thank you to Mayor and Council for your support of this important campaign. 

For more information, visit the Vote16BC website.

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Votes in favour for the motion included Mayor Kennedy Stewart, and Councillors Carr, De Genova, Fry, Wiebe, Boyle, and Dominato, as well as Councillor Swanson who submitted and championed the motion. Councillors Bligh and Hardwick were absent, while Councillor Kirby-Yung abstained. 

Thank you to Mayor and Council for standing with hotel workers, who are demanding the right to return to their jobs as COVID restrictions are lifted and the hospitality industry begins to re-open. No worker should lose their job because of pandemic profiteering. 

For more information, read this press release from UNITE HERE! Local 40.

Image credit: UNITE HERE! Local 40

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UPDATE

These motions were tabled to next week’s meeting, on June 22. CLICK HERE for the meeting agenda and to send your comments!

The motion “Endorsing the Vote16BC Campaign to Lower the Voting Age to 16 across British Columbia” was submitted by Councilor Christine Boyle of OneCity, while the motion “Supporting Hotel Workers’ Right to Return to Their Jobs at Living Wages” was submitted by Councilor Jean Swanson of COPE. 

We thank Councilors Boyle and Swanson for bringing these motions forward, and urge Council to adopt them.  

Read our letter to Vancouver City Council here.

Read the motions, and send your own comments to Vancouver City Council here. 

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Grocery and retail workers are doing their part to keep us all safe when we need to shop, it should be incumbent on us all to do the same. UFCW 1518 is asking Dr. Bonnie Henry to implement a mask mandate for grocery and retail stores. 

Read more about their campaign, and send a letter of support HERE. 

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The Pacific National Exhibition (PNE) and its over 4,200 workers and CUPE members have been left out of Canada’s post-pandemic economic recovery plan.

Please consider posting a link to www.SAVEthePNE.ca on your union’s Facebook page or other social media.

Due to the PNE’s affiliation to the City of Vancouver it has been deemed ineligible for Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS).

This means:

• 1,600 part-time workers not working;
• 100 full-time staff laid off;
• the annual hire of 2,500 seasonal workers on hold;
• the jobs of 4,200 union members are in danger.

The PNE might face a $52 million shortfall. This could mean closure or privatization for the PNE and Playland, and a serious negative impact on thousands of employees, many of them young workers in their first unionized job. 

CUPE 1004 is launching a campaign to Save the PNE and fight for that work.

Please visit www.SavethePNE.ca and send an email to urge our politicians to save the PNE and its 4,200 jobs. Please share with your union members, friends, family and neighbours and ask them to send their own messages. 

CUPE 1004 thanks you for whatever solidarity you can provide for our fellow union members at the PNE.  Together we can help save the PNE for future generations and help save the jobs of 4,200 workers.

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However, TSSU indicates that since that time the university has failed to make good on its agreements. It has launched a petition and a letter writing campaign to call upon SFUt o fulfill its obligations.

The VDLC sent a letter to SFU in support of this campaign. The letter can be viewed here:

Click HERE for more information on the campaign, and to sign the petition.

The post Tell SFU to Honour its Agreement with RAs appeared first on Vancouver and District Labour Council..

The letter is also endorsed by International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Local Lodge 16, MoveUP, PSAC Local 20221 (Union of Canadian Transportation Employees), and UNITE HERE Local 40. 

The post LEEFF and Protecting Workers appeared first on Vancouver and District Labour Council..

This newly chartered local of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts (IATSE) represents workers who established the Vancouver Artists Labour Union Co-operative (VALU CO-OP), but also includes units for independent visual artists (including painters, installation artists, and sculptors), media artists, illustrators, photographers, art administrators, art assistants, curators, cultural workers, and tattoo artists in British Columbia. 

More information on Arts and Cultural Workers Union HERE. 

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