RICHMOND—CUPE BC’s 2014 political action conference—Walking the Talk—kicked off last night in Richmond with a keynote address by Jeremy Bird, a key campaign official on US President Barack Obama’s two election campaigns.

Bird shared examples of how the Obama campaigns combined “old school” traditional organizing with modern technology, but stressed that no technology can replace hard work and old fashioned door-to-door campaigning.

BURNABY - CUPE members joined picket lines on Monday morning as the BCTF began its first day of rotating job actions.  CUPE members throughout B.C. are showing their solidarity on the line.  Please send us your photos. Email to [email protected]

NARAMATA – The Labour Relations Board has ordered Naramata Centre to stop using replacement workers as a way to get around the legal strike of its employees.

Centre workers who belong to the Canadian Union of Public Employees began a full strike on May 15 and it quickly became clear that the Church Centre was trying to continue operations with workers other than Centre managers – a violation of the Labour Code.

BURNABY—With rotating strikes by the BC Teachers Federation set to begin Monday, Premier Christy Clark should skip her party’s glitzy convention in Kelowna this weekend and get back to work finding a real solution to the dispute her government has created, CUPE BC President Mark Hancock said today.

WHITE ROCK - Members of CUPE Local 402-01 walking the picket line in White Rock were joined yesterday by CUPE BC officers, CUPE members from around the Lower Mainland, members of other unions, and representatives of the BC Federation of Labour for a solidarity rally outside White Rock City Hall.

WHITE ROCK – CUPE workers are frustrated and questioning how City negotiators could come back to the bargaining table today unprepared and with no proposals to assist in getting to a settlement.

VANCOUVER - CUPE Local 873 ambulance paramedics and the Facilities Bargaining Association (FBA) have reached a tentative agreement with the BC Health Employers Association.

The five-year-deal includes a 5.5-per-cent general wage increase over the life of the contract. It also limits contracting out, expands employment options and protects benefits.  The agreement, reached this week with the assistance of mediator Vince Ready, must still be ratified by both parties.

NARAMATA- Members of CUPE 608 are on the picket lines today, following yesterday’s rejection of the employer’s final offer.  Long-term and loyal employees are on strike to say no to the United Church Centre’s proposal to contract out key service areas, including food and beverage, and grounds maintenance.

Feel free to share pictures and send your support on Twitter and Facebook.  For tweeters, the United Church of Canada hashtag is #UCCan.

View the CUPE BC photo gallery.

NARAMATA – Workers at the United Church’s Naramata Centre gave a resounding thumbs down today to a final offer from their employer. The vote required by the Labour Relations Board and requested by the employer.

Following the rejection, all CUPE 608 employees will be off the job beginning at 8 a.m. on Thursday, May 15.

CUPE National Representative Tom O’Leary said that employees at the United Church Centre feel they have no other options, especially given the employer’s decision to force a final offer vote on a proposal the union had rejected last week.

BURNABY – CUPE says that years of downloading major costs to school boards without providing funding to cover them is taking a toll on K-12 education in B.C. 

“Downloading costs onto school districts is now hurting students,” said CUPE BC President Mark Hancock. “Premier Clark campaigned on a ‘families first’ platform in the last election but her definition of family must not include students, as she’s continuing Gordon Campbell’s policy of deliberately underfunding education.”