QUALICUM BEACH – As the Mayor and Council’s lockout enters its third week, CUPE members are urging them to focus on getting back to the table instead of trying to provoke workers and scare the community.

Referring to last week’s release from the Town on safety for the public and exempt employees, CUPE 401 Vice President Laurence Amy said that locked out CUPE members monitoring the work that exempt staff are doing is standard practice in these situations.

QUALICUM BEACH –   The Qualicum Beach Town Council has refused to settle its first-
ever labour dispute.  Discussions initiated by locked out municipal workers led to a three-hour in-camera council meeting today but failed to produce a contract settlement.

QUALICUM BEACH - The mayor and council of this seaside Vancouver Island community celebrated the British Columbia Day weekend by locking out their 75 municipal workers. More than 100 vocal CUPE Local 401 members and their supporters were on hand outside the town hall when the lockout officially took effect at 3pm Friday.

QUALICUM BEACH - On Friday, July 31, the eve of the British Columbia Day holiday weekend, the town of Qualicum Beach plans to lock out its 66 municipal workers for the first time ever.

Despite a long history of labour peace, the current mayor and council have refused to give their public employees the same modest two-per-cent per-year wage settlement reached in neighbouring municipalities. Wages are the only outstanding issue after mediated contract talks broke off last month. The workers have been without a contract since 2013.

QUALICUM BEACH - CUPE municipal workers in Qualicum Beach have served 72 -hour strike notice. The strike will begin at 10:26 am on Sunday, July 26 in the form of an overtime ban.

The move by the 46 members of CUPE Local 401 came after mediated talks with the town of Qualicum Beach broke down last month. 

CUPE Local 401 President Blaine Gurrie says “our priority is to get back to the bargaining table and reaching a fair settlement so we can focus on best serving the citizens of Qualicum Beach.  We want to minimize any impact on the public.”

CUPE Local 50 welcomed 19 new members who provide support services to the RCMP detachment in the City of Langford.

VICTORIA—CUPE Local 50 welcomed 19 support workers from the RCMP detachment in Langford as new members this week. During a Local meeting, CUPE 50 President John Burrows introduced the executive, offered the members background information and shared the Local’s proud history of representing workers in the Victoria region for almost 100 years.

POWELL RIVER - Public library workers have a new contract.  CUPE Local 798 and the Powell River Public Library Board have both now ratified a new five-year collective agreement.

CORPORATE – BC Transit and the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 4500 (CUPE 4500) have ratified a new labour agreement under the Province of British Columbia’s Economic Stability Mandate.

The term of the agreement is five and one half years, to December 31, 2020. It covers 19 full-time employees based in Victoria covering three job classifications: Transit Supervisors, Lead Transit Supervisors and Transit Communications Coordinators.

PRINCE GEORGE–CUPE Local 4951 ratified a collective agreement with the College of New Caledonia in a vote concluded on June 29.

“I’m pleased that members voted to ratify this agreement and will have access to professional development funds,” said CUPE 4951 President Lily Bachand. “This round of bargaining highlighted the excellent work done by our bargaining committee.”

WHITE ROCK – City Council’s soliciting for private solid waste collection has local CUPE municipal workers and residents concerned.  Among the options being touted by Council are moving the collection for single-family dwellings from the current public service to private for-profit collection.