TO: All COPE 378 Members at BCAA Sales Centres

RE: TENTATIVE COLLECTIVE AGREEMENT REACHED

Your Negotiating Committee is pleased to advise all COPE 378 members at BCAA Sales Centres of a tentative three (3) year renewed Collective Agreement reached with the Employer.

Easter Monday would be included as a Statutory Holiday effective 2010. This is something your Union has been trying to negotiate for you since we certified in 1997.

Salary Scale improvements would be 3.5 % in the first year, 2.25 % in the second year and 2 % in the third year. The first year increase is retroactive to and including 1 October 2008.

Other benefits and highlights include:

To all members of COPE 378;

Our local received a notice from COPE/SEBP National President Serge Cadieux informing us the Canadian Labour Congress endorsed a national boycott of Petro-Canada in support of workers in Quebec.

The Communication, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP) requested the boycott in support of 260 locked-out members of CEP Local 175 at the Petro-Canada Montreal refinery.

Members of CEP Local 175 have been locked out since November 17, 2007. We are fast approaching the one year anniversary of the lockout.

The COPE 378 Executive Board held its monthly meeting for October Thursday at the Union offices.

The highlight of the meeting was a presentation from Joe Drexler of the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). The ICEM is a Global Union Federation that coordinates labour organization in industries where COPE 378 has a number of interests, namely energy.

COPE 378 has made a formal submission to the 2008 Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services.

This full submission is available for download.

Please click here for a copy of the submission.

The Northwest Rivers at Risk tour concluded last Friday after a final stop in Prince Rupert.  The tour had previously visited Terrace and Kitimat, encountering warm and welcoming audiences - and surprisingly sunny weather.

The tour featured a diverse array of speakers, each with unique perspectives of the problems posed by private power and the BC Energy Plan. 

Labour Federations representing more than 4 million workers in Canada and the United States are warning that the current Western Climate Initiative (WCI) Cap-and-Trade Program will fail to achieve its environmental and economic goals unless changes are made.

In submissions to the WCI, Labour Federations called for provisions to ensure a fair transition to a cleaner economy. This includes a commitment to address the concerns of workers in vulnerable industries. The Federations also called for a carbon tariff to be added to foreign and domestic imports brought into WCI provinces and states. This would stop the loss of manufacturing jobs caused by dirty imports from jurisdictions with lower pollution standards.

Both recommendations were rejected by the WCI.

Oct 17, 2008

COPE 378 President ANDY Ross is taking the opportunity to visit with COPE 378 members while on tour in Terrace, Kitimat and Prince Rupert.  Ross is a speaker on the Rivers at Risk tour, highlighting the dangers of private power to rivers and streams throughout BC. 

COPE 378 is reuniting with our partners from the Wilderness Committee, the BC NDP, and the Save our Rivers Society for another Rivers at Risk tour to BC Communities.

Following on highly successful public forums in the Kootenays and the Columbia-Revelstoke regions, Rivers at Risk is this time touring a number of communities in the North West of the province.

Keynote speaker Rafe Mair will be joined by COPE 378 President Andy Ross, Joe Foy from the Wilderness Committee,  and members of the Save our Rivers Society at the three events. NDP MLA Robin Austin will be hosting the events.

Tour dates include:

Terrace

October 15 at 7:00 PM

Terrace Theatre

Kitimat

October 16 at 7:00 PM

As you know, Election Day is set for Tuesday October 14.

In BC, polls are open from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm, and you should have received your “Where to Vote” card in the mail from Elections Canada.

According to Section 148 of the Canada Elections Act, Employers must ensure that all employees have 3 free hours in which to vote. This means that if your hours of work do not provide you with three consecutive hours to vote, your employer must give you additional time to provide these three hours. The intent of this is to ensure that you have enough time to get to and from your home voting location, and to have any and all necessary documentation for voting.