We Stand with the Caretakers of Burnaby Mountain and Burnaby Residents Opposing Kinder Morgan Expansion

If you were at our June membership meeting you would have seen the presentation by City of Burnaby staff on the City’s opposition to the expansion of the Kinder Morgan pipeline. Following the presentation, the membership voted to support the City’s position on this important issue. We believe that it’s in all of our interests to oppose the project, for a variety of reasons including the safety of humans and the ecology as well as a desire to promote energy conservation and green solutions.

The legal battle has unfolded and Kinder Morgan has been attempting to do testing on Burnaby Mountain which is public, protected land on unceded Indigenous territory. The National Energy Board decision to allow this, against the wishes of the people and government of Burnaby, is being appealed. In the meantime, the courts have allowed Kinder Morgan to proceed.

There is a diverse and determined group of people who are not willing to let that happen and their numbers are growing. At the beginning of November several of them were threatened with lawsuits and injunctions. This week there have been many arrests of protesters. Civil disobedience in the face of injustice is an individual choice. At our membership meeting this week we voted to sign on to an open letter in support of those trying to protect the land for us all.

We, the undersigned, express our support for those who are protecting Burnaby Mountain from Kinder Morgan geotechnical survey work….

The text of the letter and the list of all the other supporters can be found here, along with a link to sign on as an individual – http://peoplesclimateconvergence.org/we-stand-caretakers-burnaby-mountain

In addition to signing the letter, other ways to support the land defenders can be found here – http://www.canadians.org/blog/top-5-ways-you-can-support-kinder-morgan-pipeline-blockade

CUPE National Human Rights Conference

CUPE 23 has voted to send two members to the CUPE National Human Rights Conference. It will be held in Winnipeg from Feb. 5 to Feb. 8, 2015. If you are interested in attending, please contact the office to submit your name for consideration by December 15th.

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From the CUPE.ca website:

We are at a critical moment for equality and the labour movement. Though we’ve made important human rights gains over time, growing inequality, globalization, privatization and the rise of precarious work threaten the progress we’ve made.  CUPE must be a leader in advancing equality. Our efforts benefit everyone.

CUPE activists will gather to share ideas and develop strategies in areas where workers have power: bargaining, organizing, mobilizing and political action.

 

CLC Winter School 2015

The Education Committee is pleased to announce that applications are now being accepted from members interested in attending the CLC 2015 Weeklong School in Harrison Hot Springs. An excellent selection of workshops with a diverse range of topics are being offered. Please see this letter for more details and the list of workshops. The Application Form must be received in the union office by Dec. 02 2014.

Significant dates to remember

As members of the largest union in Canada, we benefit from the research and advocacy that can be done on our behalf. Over the next month there are 5 significant dates to remember and issues to take action on. For more information and actions you can take, please see the document linked below.

  • November 20 – TRANSGENDER DAY OF REMEMBRANCE
  • December 1 – WORLD AIDS DAY
  • December 3 – INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES
  • December 6 – NATIONAL DAY OF REMEMBRANCE AND ACTION TO END VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
  • December 10 – INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS DAY

CUPE Significant Dates 2014

BC Labour History book project

A project is under way to write a history of BC Labour aiming to “provide a broad overview of BC labour history”. This is a joint project of the Labour Heritage Centre, the BC Federation of Labour and the Morgan Centre for Labour Studies at Simon Fraser University. It was launched on Oct. 21, 2014. For more info see the story at https://pnlha.wordpress.com/2014/10/24/bc-labor-history-book-project-launched/

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