Six new groups join BCGEU in spite of unfair B.C. laws

Union attracts members from diverse employers

Vancouver (5 Feb. 2007) - Six new employee groups from communities across the province have voted to join the B.C. Government and Service Employees’ Union (BCGEU/NUPGE) to improve pay and benefits, and to make their workplaces better.

“I want to welcome the new members who have joined our ranks to address their priority issues in the workplace,” says union president George Heyman. “They have chosen
BCGEU because our organization has a good reputation for giving workers a voice, addressing their concerns, and negotiating good contracts."

New members include 18 employees at the Campbell River Solutions for Kids Corp., who provide important services for special needs kids and their families. Their key issues are better wages and benefits, which Heyman says will be addressed when they become part of the existing provincial community social services contract.

In Port Alberni, 10 workers at the local Hostel Society have joined the union for better wages and fairer treatment by their employer. The facility is an emergency housing shelter for homeless people in the area. Staff work as care attendants and outreach and support workers.

In the Lower Mainland, 25 employees of Sodexho Canada, who operate the French multinational company’s White Rock call centre, are also new union members. They
dispatch housekeepers for Sodexho’s contracts for hospitals and care facilities in the Fraser Health Authority and they’re seeking higher wages and better treatment from their employer.

Also new to the union are workers at the Surrey-based Options: Services to Communities Society, where the four staff chose to end their membership in the Christian Labour Association of Canada (CLAC) in favour of BCGEU.

Meanwhile, two employee groups in the interior have also signed up with BCGEU, Heyman says. These include: health science professionals working at the Crossroads Treatment Centre in Kelowna, where the eight clinical counsellors treat people with addictions, and 25 staff at the Canadian Mental Health Association for the Kootenays in Cranbrook. They provide support services, training and counselling for people with mental illnesses.

Despite unfair provincial labour laws that B.C.'s Campbell government has heavily tilted against workers, Heyman says his union is building on organizing successes. In 2006, more than 2,000 workers joined BCGEU - the most of any union in the province. NUPGE