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.

(Photos: PSAC)


This article was published in

 June 2, 2021 - No 52

Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/WF2021/Articles/WO08527.HTM


    

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