By Lisa Descary As a rank and file trade union member and a socialist, I am very focused on reforms that I think will make life better for other workers: things like inexpensive quality childcare, cheap (or free) public transit…and housing. Given that I live in Vancouver, the most unaffordable city in North America, I Continue readingVancouver labour council has the wrong vision for the fall election
Vancouver
By Samantha Ponting The Trudeau government has recently cancelled a path to permanent residency for many caregivers, without any consultation with workers participating in Canada’s caregiver program. A new announcement posted on the Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Canada website states: These 5-year pilot programs [Caring for Children and Caring for People with High Medical Needs] Continue readingTrudeau government creates roadblocks for caregivers
On October 14 voters in Vancouver will elect a new City Councillor in a by-election. Upon hearing that Geoff Meggs was to take up a position with the newly elected BC NDP Provincial Government it was clear that an opportunity for a progressive to be elected to city council had presented itself. Jean Swanson, a Continue readingLabour for Swanson
By Daniel Tseghay In 1974, Jean Swanson was a 31-year-old single mother working as a waitress at the Patricia Hotel when Libby Davies and Bruce Eriksen stopped in for a drink. She had seen them on TV, fighting for better housing conditions with the newly-formed Downtown Eastside Residents Association (DERA) so she began talking with Continue readingA Political Revolution: Jean Swanson runs for Vancouver City Council
By Daniel Tseghay Throughout the summer, Unifor members at hotels in downtown Vancouver and Victoria will be in bargaining. Members at Hotel Vancouver, the Coast Coal Harbour, the Residence Inn, and Victoria’s Hotel Grand Pacific are looking to benefit from some of the incredible profits these high-end hotels are making every year. Three of the Continue readingUnifor gearing up for bargaining at BC hotels
By Daniel Tseghay On October 17th, BC’s Education Minister, Mike Bernier, fired all nine elected Vancouver School Board (VSB) trustees. The province’s reasoning is that the elected school board failed to pass a balanced budget by the June 30th deadline, violating the School Act. Bernier has now replaced the board with an appointed trustee, a Continue readingEntire Vancouver School Board fired: The crisis of education funding continues
By Daniel Tseghay Since Aug. 2, members of locals 9 and 11 of the Education and Training Employees’ Association (ETEA) have been on strike over wages, unpaid work, and workplace surveillance. They made the decision to strike after negotiations broke down. Local 9 represents private instructors at Vancouver English Centre (VEC) in Vancouver and Local Continue readingPrivate schools hoard profits: Picket pay an upgrade for striking instructors
On this second episode, Rankandfile.ca’s West Coast Correspondent Daniel Tseghay interviews Farah Shroff, First Vice-President of the BC Confederation of Parent Advisory Councils and Lisa Descary, a teacher and activist in Richmond BC. Both guests discuss the ongoing effects of cuts to public education in British Columbia and what must be done to fight the Continue readingRankandfile.ca Podcast Episode #2 – Education cuts in BC
Stage production explores the struggles of the Canadian Seamen’s Union 30 years ago, Jim Green, former Vancouver city councillor, longshoreman, steel cutter, shop steward, taxi driver, academic, community organizer, and university lecturer, wrote Against the Tide: The Story of the Canadian Seamen’s Union. It’s the story of a cross-Canada union that fought some hard battles Continue readingCharles Demers talks commies, mobsters and seamen
By Daniel Tseghay British Columbia isn’t known for its black population. Only about a single per cent of the greater Vancouver area is populated by black people. Those who’ve been here have been displaced, like the members of Vancouver’s Hogan’s Alley. But black people have been here. And the black experience has also been a Continue readingA glimpse of black workers’ history in Vancouver
By Samantha Ponting Locked out emergency roadside assistance workers for the British Columbia Automobile Association (BCAA) are calling on BCAA members to refrain from using Evo, a new car-sharing program operated by the BCAA, until workers reach a fair settlement with the company. 70 dispatch and administrative personnel of the BCAA, members of the Canadian Continue readingSay “No!” to Evo! Locked out dispatch workers ask car sharers for support
By Daniel Tseghay Despite the mayor’s ban on street meetings in January of 1912, thousands of unemployed Vancouverites gathered to hear Richard Parmeter Pettipiece of the Socialist Party of Canada speak at the Powell Street Grounds. When the police ordered their dispersal, the crowd remained on the Powell Street Grounds, later renamed Oppenheimer Park, after Continue readingBook review: Vancouver Working Class & Labour History Walking Tours