BURNABY—The Canadian Union of Public Employees has filed a complaint with the BC Safety Authority after managers for Southern  Railway were seen paying an untrained civilian what appears to be $5 to flag traffic at a busy railway crossing at Scott Road in Surrey late Monday afternoon.

CUPE 402 President Jeannie Kilby and CUPE 402-01 President Mike Guraliuk with CUPE and community members at the White Rock city hall rally opposed to privatization of city services.

WHITE ROCK – CUPE members joined several hundred City of White Rock residents at city hall today protesting plans to privatize garbage collection and recycling services.

BURNABY – The hard-hitting BC paramedics’ advertising campaign is garnering accolades and support from across BC and around the world.  By the time you read this the social media and Google views will likely have topped five million.

The Imagine a World Without Paramedics print, radio, tv and online ads have been running for two weeks.  In that time, the Ambulance Paramedics of BC – CUPE Local 873 reports the following impressive stats just for social media coverage:

CUPE BC Secretary-Treasurer Paul Faoro listens as Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson answers a question about regional transportation and transit improvements during CUPE BC’s telephone townhall for CUPE members.

NEW WESTMINSTER – The BC Labour Relations Board has derailed Southern Railway (SRY) from circumventing the provincial labour code. The U.S.-owned railway walked away from contract talks and locked out its 126 CUPE Local 7000 workers in January.

The LRB has now ruled that Southern unlawfully used replacement workers (scabs) when they used A&B Rail to replace switch ties on Annacis Island. Not only has Southern been ordered to cease and desist using private contractors to do union work, they have also been ordered to pay CUPE $5,000 in damages. 

WHITE ROCK – CUPE members in the City of White Rock have been out talking to the community about the proposed privatizing of residential garbage and recycling services, and they have heard lots of support for keeping it public.

Women from CUPE Metro hosted the 2015 International Women's Day lunch in North Vancouver. The event is held in different communities each year.

NORTH VANCOUVER - First Nations elder Audrey Rivers-Tiyaltelote welcomed everyone to the International Women's Day event on Squamish territory at the Chief Joe Mathias Centre on Friday, March 6.

She opened by honouring the three generations of the past, present and future. The Squamish elder spoke about the hundreds of missing and murdered women in B.C.

PORT COQUITLAM - Locked out CUPE 7000 Southern Rail (SRY) workers formed a new picket line this morning outside Canadian Pacific’s rail yard in Port Coquitlam.  The workers were protesting CP Rail performing their work during a labour dispute.

The 126 rail yard SRY employees have been locked out of their jobs on January 5. Since then, Southern Rail managers have been running the trains, but CP Rail has been helping them with line switching inside SRY’s Trapp Yard in New Westminster.