Delegates will elect a new president on Sunday
Vancouver (6 June 2008) - George Heyman will deliver a final keynote address to the B.C. Government and Service Employees' Union (BCGEU/NUPGE) today and then step down after nine years as president.
A new president will be elected from a field of five candidates during the union's 47th constitutional convention, which opens today at the Westin Bayshore and ends on Sunday. A secretary-treasurer and four vice-presidents will also be elected on the final day of the convention. The union represents 69,000 members across the province.
More than 400 members, activists and leaders will hear during the convention from several invited speakers and guests.
Following Heyman's farewell address, Maria Hla Tin, a Vancouver-based representative of the Action Committee for a Free Burma, will give an update on current social and economic conditions in her country. Delegates are expected to endorse demands for Canada to enact sanctions against the military regime in Burma.
Jim Sinclair, president of the B.C. Federation of Labour, and Carol James, leader of the B.C. New Democratic Party, will address the convention on Saturday. Larry Brown, national secretary-treasurer of the 340,000-member National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE), will speak to delegates on Sunday.
Throughout the convention, delegates will debate a wide range of resolutions to chart the union's future policy and course. Issues include ongoing opposition to the privatization of public services, support for child care and for the continued operation of the Insite safe-injection site in Vancouver. NUPGE
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