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Strong strike mandate sends the message: double standards don't work. Negotiate a fair deal now.
Vancouver (04 July 2012) - The provincial government has given community social services workers another strong motivation to attend strike vote meetings being held around B.C.
Members are facing rising costs at every turn. Inflation is driving up the cost of living. The price of a litre of gas has climbed by 43 per cent since the last pay raise for community social services workers. Bread is up more than 11 per cent and milk more than 10 per cent.
However, these are not the only double digit increases.
News hit British Columbians hard when they found out that senior executives at Community Living British Columbia are receiving huge bonuses, after all. Frontline workers are expressing outrage that these wage increases of 10 per cent or more are being handed to the senior managers responsible for mismanaging community living services and who have created the current crisis.
Voting took place last week throughout the province with community social service workers sending a strong message that this double standard has to stop.
The Community Social Services Bargaining Association (CSSBA) is the multi-union bargaining committee for B.C.'s unionized community social service workers. The CSSBA includes ten unions with a combined membership of about 15,000. The B.C. Government and Service Employees' Union (BCGEU/NUPGE) is the largest union in the community social services sector with the HSABC/NUPGE also representing members at the table.
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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