Every three years we elect our Mayors and Councilors. These elections are just as important to the union movement as the Provincial and Federal elections can be. If you have an anti-union municipal government, it can mean the difference between having decent paying jobs in your community versus low paying non-union contractors.

For example, the City of Burnaby has had progressive Councils for many years and adopted a fair wage policy which ensures that all workers employed by contractors to perform work for the City are paid a wage which is at least comparable to civic employees’ wages.

Prior to the municipal elections, the District Labour Councils throughout British Columbia rate incumbent candidates on their records regarding union supported issues, or interview new candidates to gauge their opinions on these issues and publish a list of the candidates we ask you to support. The current list is enclosed with this newsletter.

Remember that the voter turnout in these elections is traditionally very low. This means that your vote can make a huge difference particularly when there is a large group of candidates.

Steve Redey was our dispatcher for well over a year. He was on a leave of absence from Simon Fraser University where he works as a maintenance electrician. SFU would not approve an extension of his leave. His only option was to quit SFU and continue working for the Union or return to SFU to protect his seniority, pension, etc. For family and personal reasons, he decided to go back to SFU.  Thanks Steve for the job you did for us.

William Maarsman, our organizer was filling the dispatch roll until a replacement was hired. I am pleased to report that Adam Van Steinburg was hired as the new dispatcher two weeks ago.  Adam is an electrician who has been an activist in our local for several years.