School District 44 workers are experiencing unprecedented levels of violence, leaving our members left physically and psychologically damaged. CUPE 389 must continue to uplift committees and advocates by supporting campaigns on ending workplace violence, whilst lobbying the government to amend funding formulas that have created an inaccurate measurement of the K-12 sector support needs (which has been a contributing factor to violent incidents).

Library Workers on the North Shore and throughout British Columbia also have not seen a decline in reported violent incidents. During times of economic uncertainty, communities have been largely supported by public libraries in the delivery of social programs, year-round. With funding challenges; staff shortages; threats of violence; and an increased workload; our workers are facing physical and mental health challenges that need to be addressed. We must stand up and demonstrate to local governments the value that library workers have in our community, campaigning for a review of the current funding models in BC. We need to ensure service levels are appropriate for the needs of the community; whilst providing safe measures to our workers, both physically and mentally.

As the housing affordability crisis continues, reports of violence from the unhoused against municipal workers is increasing at an alarming rate. Lobbying governments to create a universal safe-working procedure for municipal workers would ensure our member’s safety is prioritized whilst performing the necessary work with a compassionate lens.

FUNDING REFORM TO HELP ELIMINATE WORKPLACE VIOLENCE

While a collaborative approach to bargaining is always preferred, sometimes various forms of job action may be required to achieve fair wages, good benefits, and improved working conditions.

Our Employers know that with the current economic landscape in Canada, a strong strike vote may be hard for Locals to achieve. This is especially true when our National strike pay remains extremely low, even after it was raised by 16.67% recently.

Let’s face it, our workers live paycheck to paycheck. CUPE National’s current strike pay of $350 maximum per week equates to $17.50 per hour, well below the Living Wage threshold, and minimum wage in British Columbia.

Employers understand this and could use it against CUPE 389 members at the bargaining table, if we do not push for a plan to improve the compensation for those that uphold the picket line. Join me in calling for CUPE National to conduct a further review to improve our National strike pay figures with a goal to tie it to Living Wage standards regionally.

CALL TO CONTINUE STRIKE PAY IMPROVEMENTS

As housing costs have long outpaced wage growth, the plan to improve affordability for CUPE 389 members needs to go well beyond just the bargaining table.  

We must engage in Political Action with labour-friendly municipal candidates ahead of the 2026 municipal election, lobbying our municipalities to form partnerships with multiple forms of government; publicly-funded organizations; non-profit organizations; and Indigenous communities to increase their ability to deliver affordable housing dedicated to low and median-income earning families.

By providing this investment in public infrastructure whilst increasing the threshold of affordability to median-income earning families such as CUPE 389 workers; we must demonstrate the value of offering priority access in publicly funded affordable housing, as offering priority to CUPE 389 members protects the level of services we continue to provide the community; solves recruitment and retention issues that are a result of excessively high housing costs; improves community based issues such as alleviating traffic congestion, as workers would be able to afford to live in the communities they work in; and lastly, being included in the plan to affordability will improve CUPE 389 member’s mental health. Please visit the Affordable Housing campaign I have organized below to find out more details and learn about the current status of Union prioritized Affordable Housing inventory.

POLITICAL ACTION ON AFFORDABLE HOUSING THAT PRIORTIZES CUPE 389 MEMBERS

CUPE 389’s greatest tool is the power we have in numbers. As our members continue to maintain the negotiation of LTD programs as a bargaining priority; the biggest challenge has been the initial funding model, which can be extremely costly; with employers often shutting it down because of the estimated figures to fund individually.

Group, regional or sector based LTD programs parterned with other locals, allow the cost of implementation, funding, and administration to be dispersed among all participants. I believe CUPE 389 can use aspects of the current K-12 model to organize our other units who have long since prioritized a group/regional/sector based LTD program within their work place.

GROUP LTD PLAN ORGANIZING

I will promote our local to seek expanded partnerships with our Indigenous communities. CUPE 389 sponsorship and attendance at cultural events demonstrate that our members value Indigenous culture and activities.

We hope to answer questions about the work we do, various collective agreement achievements pertaining to self-identifying Indigenous members, and providing a safe space to learn about the benefits of working for a CUPE 389 unionized job.

Statistics show that 740,000 people in BC do not earn a LIVING WAGE to pay for basic living expenses. 2/3 of the workers in Metro Vancouver that do not earn a living wage are racialized workers. Only 50% of racialized women earn a Living Wage. Many of these racialized workers are precarious workers, often working multiple jobs to pay their bills, including those within our union.

Living Wage BC is currently gathering data to include single individuals in the wage threshold calculation, as those individuals often have to bear the complete cost of housing, on a single income.

My platform proposes that CUPE 389 engages with the Living Wage BC campaign using their collected data and annual reports, bargaining Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) protection language, that factors the diverse needs of our community based on the economic factors associated with the North Shore.

LIVING WAGE BC STRATEGY

Racialized workers are disproportionately affected by temporary, part-time, and gig work throughout BC. Our local must be the voice for these workers, by communicating to our employers on the importance of raising awareness on these inequities.

CUPE 389 should support policies, guidelines and/or campaigns that are designed with an understanding of equity seeking groups and the challenges they continue to face. The creation of such policies, guidelines and campaigns would assist in identifying organizational gaps and should involve members of Indigenous, Black and Racialized working groups.

An example where bargaining committees can help these marginalized workers tackle precarity is by negotiating conversion language in Collective Agreements that create more full-time, permanent positions. It should be noted that improving precarious worker compensation (in lieu %) also reduces the gap between Regular Full Time status. By keeping pace with total compensation figures, it will limit the employers desire to create a cheaper, more precarious workforce.

RACIALIZED AND PRECARIOUS WORKER BARGAINING ADVOCACY

Presently, CUPE’s policy as a whole is that the Union should not provide support or advocate for members dealing with WorkSafeBC. Put simply, CUPE’s policy is that once WorkSafeBC steps in, CUPE steps out.

Our job as Unionists is to represent our members with work related issues. An injury that occurs as a result of a member performing their job, is a work related issue!

WorkSafeBC is an insurance company that has a fiscal responsibility to minimize their total expenditures paid through claims. The organization is extremely confusing to understand with regards to the Workers Compensation Act, Prevention Manual, various timelines, and the appeals processes. Often, whether a claim is accepted or denied is contingent on the specific wording used to describe the incident or injury. Inexperience or a lack of knowledge on WorkSafeBC claims/appeals can greatly affect the potential financial outcome for workers.

In certain cases, members that have had a claim approved, may have the claim appealed by the Employer, which adds confusion and stress to the process. Head injuries that alter cognitive function may also affect the ability to file a claim, as it can impede a member’s understanding of the process.

If elected, I will provide assistance to our members, as well lobby for CUPE National to develop educational programs around WorkSafeBC claims procedure, and provide WorkSafeBC training to our National Servicing Representatives.

WORKSAFE BC ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANCE REGARDING CLAIMS

The improvements to communication begins with adjusting the target and volume of communication we provide to our membership. Using the Action Network, we can allow our membership to opt-in creating a personalized level of communication from their union, chosen speficifically in their settings.

This is important because we must not flood those who do not want expansive information, just to provide information to all.

Those who wish to receive all information can. Those who only want meeting invitations or bargaining updates will only receive those.

Want to stand in solidarity on the picket line of a neighboring union that would love to return the favour to you? Perfect, this strategy would allow us to specify and target that communication goal.

COMMUNICATION STRATEGY