Vancouver Public Sector Workers'
Stand Against Concessions
Lively Car Rally to Support the Just Demands of Granville Island Workers
 
Local 20378 of the Public
Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), BC
division, organized a car rally on Sunday, May
23 to support members who work on Granville
Island and their bargaining team as they head
into more negotiations for a new contract with
their employer Canada Mortgage and Housing
Corporation (CMHC). Granville Island is a
popular destination in Vancouver for tourists
and the public.
"The management team of
CMHC has put unacceptable concessions on the
table that would undermine a collective
agreement that members have fought hard for
over the last 40 years," one of the organizers
of the rally explained, and added, "They are
seeking concessions from some of their lowest
paid workers." The Local 20378 team is
defending the terms of the present collective
agreement and opposing the unjust and
unacceptable concessions proposed by the CMHC
Granville Island management. The PSAC team is
seeking to improve the terms of the next
settlement. This is part and parcel of the
overall struggle, they say, to stop the rise
of "precarious, part-time, non-standard, and
temporary work in Canada."
Representatives of
different locals of PSAC, along with allies
from other unions including the BC Government
and Service Employees' Union, MoveUP and the
BC Nurses' Union gathered with their cars and
bicycles in the parking lot at Fir and 2nd
avenue at 12:15, covering them with placards
and flags. The line of cars then wended its
way noisily through the streets of the
Granville Island area, three times, honking.
Workers on the island who are members of PSAC,
as well as others, came out to greet the
convoy with smiles and raised fists. The
convoy then reconvened in good spirits at Fir
and 2nd to take stock and plan future events.
Included in the unacceptable concessions tabled
by Granville Island CMHC management, that are
being opposed by PSAC BC Local 20378 are:
1. Reducing, by four hours, the period during
which workers receive shift premiums each day.
In the face of objections by the bargaining
team, management revised their demand to apply
only to new hires, which would divide the union
and force new workers to work for less.
2. Deleting language in the contract that
ensures that if vacation leave and designated
paid holidays are improved for non-union
corporate staff, the same would apply to
unionized staff.
3. Increasing the hiring of casual workers,
with no limits on numbers, for any jobs and in
any departments. The union maintains that work
at Granville Island should be done by a
full-time, secure workforce.
This article was published in
June 2, 2021 - No 52
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/WF2021/Articles/WO08527.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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