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'Employees have a right to expect that their work is valued by their employer.' - Darryl Walker.
Vancouver (26 July 2010) - The B.C. Government and Service Employees’ Union (BCGEU/NUPGE) has announced that members it represents in the Legal Services Society of B.C. will be in a legal strike position at noon Monday after serving the required 72-hour strike notice late last week.
Employment security emerged as the main issue that produced the impasse. After several rounds of budget cuts and downsizing, the employer moved to lay off 58 staff and contract out their work to local agents in 2010.
The bargaining committee made several proposals to strengthen language around contracting out as part of a new collective agreement, but the employer has refused to negotiate this issue. Society members strongly supported a strike vote after the impasse was reached.
“Employees have a right to expect that their work is valued by their employer and that their jobs won’t be handed over to private contractors at the first opportunity,” says BCGEU president Darryl Walker. “The workers have done their part. Now it’s the employer’s turn, to show that it respects and values its employees by negotiating a contract that provides protection from contracting out.”
Since 2002, B.C.'s Liberal government has cut legal aid funding by more than 40%, forcing the society to close 12 branch offices and 5 regional offices, and to cut dozens of staff.
“Our members at the Legal Services Society have been hard-hit by government funding cuts and office closures since 2002,” says Walker. “The last round of cuts has severely affected their ability to serve the public, and they’ve said enough is enough.”
The Legal Services Society currently employs 110 BCGEU members in offices located in Vancouver and Terrace.
NUPGE
The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is one of Canada's largest labour organizations with over 340,000 members. Our mission is to improve the lives of working families and to build a stronger Canada by ensuring our common wealth is used for the common good. NUPGE