What is CUPE doing to hold the Liberal government accountable for its community-destroying actions?

CUPE BC has launched a provincial campaign to fight back against the Liberal agenda. It's called Strong Communities.

You will be hearing, seeing and participating in Strong Communities activities over the coming months. Check with your shop steward, or see www.cupe.bc.ca for action updates.

It's an opportunity to learn more about how the Liberal changes are weakening our communities and a chance to raise public awareness about what CUPE members do to strengthen them.

It's a chance to fight back.

CUPE launches Strong Communities action campaign

Members respond to broken election promises and cutbacks

FIRST they gave us a tax break. Now they're coming after us one by on to pay for it.

Someone has to pay for the election promises the Liberals made last May and that someone includes families, public sector workers, the disadvantaged, students and the folks who are just making ends meet. Sound like someone you know?

A 30 per cent tax break isn't free. The economy is in trouble post-9/11.

With a reckless bravado that puts both Ontario's Mike Harris and Alberta's Ralph Klein to shame, Premier Gordon Campbell has determined that he will make B.C. safe for business even if it means tearing down every village, town and city to do it.

Let's look at the B.C. Liberal record so far.

First they came for the women workers. The Liberals wasted no time in dropping pay equity from the Human Rights Code, stalling women's wages at an average 73 cents of every dollar earned by men.

'They said they supported the principle of pay equity but if they were committed to women they wouldn't have repealed the legislation,' noted Joanne Reece, chair of CUPE BC's pay equity committee.

Then they came for school workers, making education an essential service. This law is so divisive, anti-labour and anti-community that CUPE has filed a complaint with the United Nation's International Labour Organization.

'Putting in essential service legislation is just creating more disruption and uncertainty in our classrooms. It's not what's best for education, it's not what's best for children,' said Marilyn Hannah, chair of CUPE's K-12 task force.

Then community social service workers were told in November that their hard-won contract, through mediator Don Munroe, could be torn up by the Liberals. This in spite of Gordon Campbell's public statement before the election that he didn't believe in tearing up agreements.

'They are changing the law to roll back pay increases and force layoffs without severance,' said Mark Stevens, chair of CUPE's social services bargaining council. 'It's outrageous. A deal is a deal.'

They came for the health care workers, first by planning to let private contractors build a public hospital in Abbotsford. Then the Liberals further shirked their responsibility to public health by collapsing 52 health boards into six.

'They've consolidated power into six mega-sized health regions to pave the way for massive cuts and privatization. British Columbians didn't vote for that,' said Fred Muzin, president of HEU, the health services division of CUPE BC.

Then they came for the paramedics with a report that recommends ambulance services be regionalized under the health boards and funded through charity.

'This is the start of a two-tiered ambulance service with city dwellers getting better quality service than rural citizens,' said John Strohmaier, president of CUPE Local 873 (Ambulance Paramedics).

Then the Campbell Liberals came for young workers, new immigrant workers, and mothers returning to the workforce by creating the so-called training wage, where people are forced to work for below-minimum wage at $6 an hour for up to 500 hours.

'People are furious about this. It just gives employers another tool to take advantage of young workers,' said Justin Schmid, chair of CUPE's young workers' task force.

They are coming for college and university students too. The Liberals want to raise tuition fees and cut public funding of our public education institutions.

'Rather than limiting peoples' options through funding cutbacks or tuition hikes, we need to make education more easily accessible,' CUPE BC president Barry O'Neill said.

The new government is going after all workers with changes to the Employment Standards Act that are worse than anything seen in the decade-long attack on workers in New Zealand.

Soon they will come for injured workers with cuts to the Workers' Compensation Board.

'WCB rights and regulations have been written with the blood of thousands of working people,' said Susan Zander, chair of CUPE BC's occupational health and safety committee. 'The Liberal government has already reneged on protecting workers from tobacco smoke in the workplace. What's next?'

The B.C. Liberals learned a lesson this year when citizens stopped water privatization in the Greater Vancouver Regional District, in Kamloops, Oliver and Ladysmith. The lesson was to make sure the public couldn't get in the way when a local government wanted to hand the keys over to a private company.

Municipal workers are already being tested to see how they will respond to massive privatization under a new community charter. Premier Campbell was right when he said the proposed community charter was about empowerment. It's about empowering business and making sure that citizens can't get in the way.

The list of community-weakening legislation is 49 pieces long and counting. Virtually every one of the new Liberal laws will hurt our communities, undermine our rights and threaten our livelihoods.

Citizens are recognizing the community-destroying nature of this scorched earth agenda. The Liberals dropped by more than 20 points in the popularity polls conducted last December.

Huge public service cuts are being proposed in the order of 35-50 per cent slashes in service to our communities. What services will be left? What do we do when our jobs are gone?

The Liberals say that to sustain health care and education they need to slash other services. Yet, their policies are creating an even greater need for community, social, and environmental services.

'Municipal infra-structure, such as water and sewage lines, could be left to rot,' O'Neill said. 'This could make communities vulnerable to a Walkerton-style disaster.

'The Liberals, through their secretive core services review, are intent imposing hardships on our communities without any mandate or any public consultation.'

The Liberals are also intent on carrying out a mail-in referendum on aboriginal treaty rights, which threatens to further divide our communities.

A statement from the BC Federation of Labour emphasizes that 'negotiating treaties with First Nations is not about special rights for one group of British Columbians over another. Negotiating treaties is about pursuing justice, fairness and economic stability.'

These are just some of the reasons that CUPE must 'fight with all our might.' as CUPE BC secretary-treasurer Colleen Jordan puts it, to preserve our jobs, our services and our democratic rights.'

First they came with tax breaks that benefited corporations and the wealthy more than regular people, and created a massive budget deficit. Can we afford to stand by while the B.C. Liberals make us pay for their miscalculations?

CUPE BC says 'NO'... for the sake of our communities, 'NO!'

What can you do?

Leading up to the February 19th provincial budget, you will be learning more about what the Liberals have in mind for you and your families. It won't be good news.

1. Meet with your CUPE shop steward. Read the material the steward gives you and complete an on-the-job canvass. This is your chance to tell the Liberals that you are concerned about the direction they are taking.
   
   
2. Talk to other workers and people in your community about the Liberal agenda. Share your concerns. Give them a copy of CUPE materials that explain the broken Liberal promises.
   
   
3. Attend a budget protest rally in Victoria or a town hall meeting in one of 13 communities on February 23rd. See our back cover for more details.