NEW WESTMINSTER—Paul Moist, national president of CUPE, and Charles Fleury, national secretary-treasurer, shared a message of solidarity here on Wednesday, offering support for locked out Southern Railway workers on behalf of the union’s 630,000 members across Canada.

During their visit to the picket line neat the Southern Railway office, the national officers presented CUPE 7000 President Bill Magri with a donation from CUPE National.

BURNABY- Across the province CUPE locals are using new campaign material to raise awareness of workplace hazards. In October 2014 CUPE BC relaunched the Spot the Hazard campaign to assist locals in preventing workplace injuries.

The campaign gives local health and safety committees an additional tool. The campaign is supported by:

NEW WESTMINSTER—Locked -out members of CUPE 7000 will be sending a Valentine’s Day greeting to Southern Railway with a public rally to take place outside the company’s service yard in New Westminster.

BURNABY—CUPE 7000 has released a short video to raise public awareness of an incident last month in  which Southern Railway managers drove a train through a crossing on a foggy night with no headlights on.

Raising the question, “Does this look safe to you?”, the 40-second video includes cell phone footage of an incident that occurred on January 13 and was subsequently covered on television  news  and shared on social media. At the end of the video, CUPE 7000 members urge viewers to contact Southern Railway.

BURNABY—This year, Black History Month comes at a critical moment for human rights and equality in North America. The police shooting of Michael Brown, a young African American teenager, in Ferguson, Missouri, and similar incidents involving police violence against people of African descent in New York, Toronto and elsewhere have only heightened unrest, thrusting the issues of anti-black violence, systemic racism, and discrimination into the public spotlight.

NEW WESTMINSTER—Southern Railway workers are not only standing strong for their own collective agreement but are also waging a larger fight for the rights of all working people, Judy Darcy and Paul Faoro told locked out CUPE 7000 members at a picket line here on Thursday.

The New Westminster MLA and CUPE BC secretary-treasurer thanked the workers for their resilience in the face of an employer that’s so far unwilling to bargain.

NEW WESTMINSTER—The picket line at the east end of the Southern Railway Trapp Yard was briefly  converted to a pizza party on Wednesday afternoon, with members of New Westminster’s  civic CUPE local bringing food and pop to locked out members of CUPE 7000.

BURNABY—In the wake of yesterday’s announcement that the United Church’s Naramata Centre will close permanently, CUPE will seek renewed discussions with Church representatives.

“We have had 30 employees on strike and on a picket line at the United Church’s Naramata Centre for over eight months. This dispute has always been about fair treatment of loyal employees and we will seek fair treatment as part of any closure of operations and discussions on the future of the property,” said Tom O’Leary, CUPE National Servicing Representative.

VICTORIA—CUPE Local 50 reps were out talking to members this morning at the crack of dawn. President John Burrows said that meeting members as they come into work is a great way to connect and make sure that important information gets into their hands – and it is something that the Local has been doing for 40 years.

“This morning, we gave out copies of our new collective agreement and some CUPE health and safety information. It is a great opportunity to have a quick chat with members and make sure they have the information they need to work safely,” said Burrows.

BURNABY—The release today of the Fraser Institute’s latest attack on wages and benefits for working people shows how out of touch with economic reality the right-wing organization is, says CUPE BC.