Thoughts on BC Politics and More

Members of the Community Bargaining Association (CBA) – including 13,000 represented by the BC General Employees' Union (BCGEU) – announced this morning that negotiations with the Health Employers Association of BC (HEABC) have broken down and have reached impasse. CBA members work in critical, community-based health services across BC, including drug and alcohol treatment centres, adult day care, detox and emergency shelters, women's clinics, seniors' services, mental health group homes, home support, and more.  Despite bargaining since March, the employer has failed to meaningfully engage on key non-monetary issues that matter most to frontline workers.  "CBA members serve some of the most vulnerable people in BC," said Scott De Long, CBA Bargaining Chair and BCGEU Vice-President Community Health Services.  "They work on the front lines of community health-often in precarious, high-risk environments-and they've been underpaid and undervalued for over 30...

This past Fall, British Columbians from all corners of our province — myself included — headed to the polls to cast our votes in the provincial election. Anyone who checked a ballot knows that, regardless of how we choose to vote, it is our business and ours alone. Our ability to cast our ballots anonymously has been one of the most fundamental tenets of our democracy.   The secret ballot allows us to make our own decisions free of judgment or pressure from our co-workers, neighbours, friends, and families.   Unfortunately, eliminating secret ballot votes for union certification seems to be a major New Year’s resolution for Premier John Horgan and his NDP government. They have made no secret of the fact that this is at the top of their ‘to-do’ list in order to maximize unionization across B.C.’s industries. Reverting to a card-check system will allow pro-union workers and advocates to single out co-workers who are less willing and pressure them into unionization. ...

Reprinted with the approval of the Vancouver Regional Construction Association ** First published in the Province Newspaper Feb 24th Preying on fear and pulling on the public’s heart strings will never make a prescriptive and regressive policy a good public policy. Yet, that’s exactly what the NDP government and B.C. Building Trades unions are doing as they work to sell voters on the need to build key infrastructure projects under a Community Benefits Agreement (CBA). Between them, they are touting benefits such as good-paying local jobs, increased hiring of women and Aboriginal workers, quotas for apprenticeship training, and labour peace as reasons to support the CBA. While our association supports creating opportunities for women, Aboriginal workers and under-represented groups, the Vancouver Regional Construction Association does not support this CBA because of the way it was negotiated, the way it’s being rolled out, and its potential impac...