Supporting the Rainbow Kitchen

Rebecca Baugniet

In past years, CUPE Local 410 has offered support to The Rainbow Kitchen – a  non-profit organization serving  the equivalent of nearly 100,000 meals per year for those in need in the Victoria Area. They currently have a call out for donations so we are sharing the information here in case any members would like to help them at this time.

Donation Needs

We are currently in need of the following items:

Food Products

1. Pasta (all kinds)
2. Canned Vegetables (beans, tomatoes, peas, beets, corn, etc.)
3. Canned Fruit (peaches, pears, oranges, etc.)
4. Rice (any kind)
5. Lentils or dried beans
6. Puddings and jellos (we have very creative people!)
7. Syrups (maple, molasses, honey)
8. Flour, Sugar, baking supplies
9. Canned Soups
10. Oats and Cereals

Hygiene Products

  • All female hygiene products
  • Kleenex packets
  • Toothpaste
  • Toilet paper
  • Deodorant (male/female)
  • Nail clippers
  • Hair brushes/comb (male/female)
  • Bandanas

Rainbow Kitchen follows VIHA regulations. This means we cannot accept any protein cooked or raw that does not come from a VIHA regulated kitchen or facility. Thank you for your understanding.If you have any further questions, please contact Gigi @ +1.250.580.9295.

For more information, please visit: https://rainbowkitchen.ca/donation-needs/

National Day of Mourning for workers killed or injured on the job

Fatima Ferreira

Especially during this time of COVID, please take a moment to remember those who have died on the job, helping others while risking their family’s and their own health so the rest of us can be safe and Shelter in Place.

From CUPE National:

On April 28, the National Day of Mourning for Workers Killed or Injured on the Job, we remember all the workers we have lost, and we vow to keep fighting for safe and healthy workplaces for everyone.

Every year in Canada, around 1000 workers lose their lives on the job. Their deaths are preventable and should not happen. And each one is a tragedy.

Last year, CUPE lost 11 members to workplace-related fatalities. 

“Our love and solidarity go out to the families, friends, and co-workers of those we have lost,” said CUPE National President Mark Hancock. “A healthy and safe workplace is the right of each and every worker under the sun, and this is why we fight for the living.”

This is never an easy day, but it’s especially difficult this year because of the coronavirus pandemic. We have already lost several CUPE members to COVID-19, and fear there may be more to come.

“We want to express our solidarity and support for all workers who are continuing to offer essential public services, despite the risks to their health and to that of their families,” said CUPE National Secretary-Treasurer Charles Fleury. “More than ever, this crisis highlights the need for us to stand together for safe working conditions.”

This April 28, and every day, CUPE will continue to fight – for better legislation, for better education, and for the vital personal protective equipment our members need.

Future updates will be post in the Forum

Fatima Ferreira 3 Comments

Good Afternoon:

The Union Management Committee met via conference call this morning.

It was a positive meeting:

  • The employer will continue to pay employees, as per the previous email from P&C
  • Employees will be notified in advance of any changes to the current state.
  • Concerns from part-time staff regarding additional hours will be addressed by P&C
  • Communication from the CEO and P&C will be sent out shortly—next few days to personal emails
  • CEO messages will be weekly
  • Joint (GVPL/Union) messaging will be posted to the local website

Much of the information that management is working with is changing by the day and by the hour, which is why at this time, we cannot provide you with more information.

As mentioned in an earlier post: In this extraordinary time, please remember that we have access to EFAP to help us with strategies to cope with uncertainty: https://livewell.optum.com/defaultGlobal.asp?programPIN=healthy&redirectURL=/member/default.asp

Please take care of each other by following the recommendations from our Health Minister, Dr Bonnie Henry.

In Solidarity, Fatima

Covid-19 Update

Fatima Ferreira

Hello Everyone:

The Membership meeting scheduled for next Monday, March 23, 2020 is cancelled.

We recognize that this is a very uncertain time for our members. We will provide updates and information as it becomes available to us.

At this time, please follow the direction provided to you from your supervisors.

Rebecca and I will post relevant information to the forum as we receive it. At this time information is limited.

CUPE National / BC have posted some info on their websites, at this point it is limited information.

In Solidarity, CUPE Local 410 Executive Committee

Postcard from 2019 CUPE National Convention

Rebecca Baugniet
Vicki Sundher, Treasurer-Secretary, Darrell Joyce, President, Rebecca Baugniet, Membership Secretary and Fatima Ferreira, Correspondence Secretary:
Your CUPE Local 410 delegation to 2019 CUPE National Convention

Greetings from Montréal! It is our last day at the 2019 CUPE National Convention and we wanted to send our membership a quick postcard before we head home to Victoria.

For those of you who are unsure about what happens at a CUPE National Convention, here is a quick summary. It is a week-long opportunity for delegates from CUPE locals across Canada and in many different sectors, to come together, learn more about the challenges that are facing other sectors in our union, hear committee reports from the different sectors and debate and vote on constitutional amendments and resolutions.

Our week started on Sunday afternoon, when we registered, received our convention packages (including a voting card and ballots) and participated in the library sector meeting. This was a chance to hear from the CUPE Libraries committee and discuss challenges facing libraries with members from other locals. The committee drew our attention to Resolution No. 150, submitted by CUPE Metro Vancouver District Council (B.C) and Locals 2329 (N.L.) and 1169 (Alta.). This resolution states that “CUPE NATIONAL WILL: Create a national campaign that increases awareness of the important services provided by CUPE library workers in public library boards, schools, and post-secondary education institutions. The campaign will highlight some of the key challenges experienced by CUPE library workers across the country.”

This resolution came to the floor yesterday afternoon, and I am pleased to report that following several eloquent speakers supporting the resolution, it was adopted! This is one example of a resolution that is important to our own sector, which we learned now represents over 22,000 library workers across Canada. Over the past week we have heard from many other sectors and adopted many other constitutional amendments and resolutions (a few have been defeated as well). We have heard how our union is supporting workers across this country and internationally. We are members of Canada’s largest union – now over 700,000 members strong! It was inspiring to hear how CUPE is working to fight for better workplaces, living wages, defending pension plans and health and safety protections. We also had the chance to hear from international labour activists, such as Sara Nelson, the International President of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO and Geici Maiara Brig, a union leader from SINTRASEB, Brazil. Our special guest on Wednesday was Jagmeet Singh, leader of the federal NDP party. You can read more about Sara Nelson’s visit here and Geici Maiara Brig’s here.

If members have any questions about this convention, please don’t hesitate to approach or email any member of the delegation – we will be happy to answer your questions. In addition, publications and reports can be found online at cupe.ca. Happy Thanksgiving CUPE Local 410!

CUPE is the largest union in Canada and they keep on growing

Vicki Sundher

Canada’s largest labour union keeps on growing as they announce their membership has reached 680,000 workers nationwide.

The latest figures come following a year of organizing successes across the country. Together in 2018, thanks to the hard work of CUPE staff, member organizers and activists, over 7,800 workers from a diversity of sectors joined the union. There is so much to be proud of.

CUPE represents workers in every province, working in sectors like child care, communications, education, emergency and security services, energy, health care, libraries, municipal, post-secondary, social services, and transportation. CUPE was founded in 1963 with 57,000 members.

Some of the members CUPE has recently welcomed are :

  • WestJet Encore Flight Attendants
  • TAPS (Together Against Poverty Society)
  • 48 Professional Librarians from Surrey Public Library
  • 18 Municipal and Library workers of Fort St James and 6 service workers from District of Mission
  • CUPE 374 and CUPE 1004 also welcomed members to their union
  • K-12 workers in Powell River welcomed 2 IT workers to their union
  • 25 workers from Nelson CARES Society at Stepping Stones Emergency Shelter

Interested in how many Locals are in BC? Check out the link :

https://www.cupe.bc.ca/locals_directory

CUPE BC Convention 2019 – Day 2

Darrell Joyce

Vicki Sundher (Treasurer) and I (Darrell Joyce, President) have been enjoying our second day of conference, getting down to the nitty gritty of hearing all the committee reports and voting on resolutions. Highlights of the day include guest speaker Ivan Coyote (who you may remember from last year’s staff day for GVPL workers), who gave a moving and informative speech about their experience growing up as a transgender, nonbinary person. One thing that came from this speech was we ended up scratching out our “preferred” pronoun area on our credentials and instead wrote “uses” pronoun, as gender identity is not a preference. In fact, today a resolution was passed to look at using gender -inclusive language and moving away from gendered language, such as “brother” and “sister”–something we have already passed in our own local!

Speaker/Author Ivan Coyote (Photo credit: Joshua Berson -CUPE BC, from their Facebook page)

We also heard from outgoing CUPE New Brunswick President, Daniel Legére, about the plight of workers working in nursing homes in NB who have been prevented from striking by the NB government through various court injunctions and appeals. Delegates of CUPE BC showed their support in a Facebook live stream, video can be found on CUPE BC’s Facebook page and here is the embedded video:

Outgoing CUPE NB President Daniel Legére (photo credit: Joshua Berson – CUPE BC, from their Facebook page)

Tomorrow, at lunchtime we are joining the student Climate Strike event at Victoria City Hall (time/location may change, so check here for up to date info: https://climatestrikecanada.org/)

This is not a labour strike (i.e. GVPL/AGGV staff are not striking!) but a student movement, which we are attending as guests. Anyone not working tomorrow, or on their lunch break, is welcome to join this public event. See the above website for details.

In Solidarity,

Darrell Joyce

President, CUPE 410- Greater Victoria Public Library & Art Gallery of Greater Victoria Workers