Feature of the month

CBC Canada news writer, Rafferty Baker, reported on September 20, 2016, that “Vancouver city workers repair pathetic eagle’s nest“. The article discusses the work that the arborists, who are CUPE 1004 members, have done in terms of building a nest, and fixing it to save the young eaglets from falling out of the nest. The article also mentions how Jody Taylor, who was an arborist that passed away in a tragic work accident earlier this year, was also a part of the eagle’s nest project.

The local recognizes the work that our members put into supporting our communities and thanks them!

Full article here: http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/canada/british-columbia/vancouver-city-workers-repair-pathetic-eagle-s-nest-1.3771626

Last night Vancouver held its City Service Awards at Hillcrest Community Centre. Amongst the group of recipients were our members from VanDusen Botanical Garden who won the Park award for their incredible work, making VanDusen one of the most beautiful parks in the country.

The city’s leadership award was given to brother Justin Burnett from Sanitation Branch. Justin’s incredible leadership during the difficult time following the death of Hanif Jessa was recognized as an important part of keeping our members supported. Because of Justin’s dedication, our members were able to continue to provide the phenomenal service that 1004 sanitation members are known for and the citizens of Vancouver depend on.

In Solidarity
Andrew Ledger

On March 2, 2016, a CUPE 1004 member from the Portland Hotel Society was featured in an article by the Georgia Straight as one of the 6 noteworthy feminists battling gender bias in Vancouver.

The article says:

Stacey Forrester

Downtown Eastside nurse Forrester is the Vancouver coordinator for Hollaback!, an international group that aims to end street harassment of women. Since joining the organization in 2015, she has led a number of local campaigns that give harassed women a voice while bringing attention to the sexism and prejudice facing women in public spaces. Forrester is also the cofounder of Good Night Out Vancouver, a grassroots campaign that targets harassment in pubs, bars, and clubs in order to make Vancouver’s nightlife scene safer for everyone.

Stacey Forrester combats public harassment as part of Hollaback Vancouver and Good Night Out Vancouver.

More details can be found at: http://www.straight.com/news/648746/6-noteworthy-feminists-battling-gender-bias-vancouver

Great work Stacey!

History was made during the last provincial by-election. In the Mount Pleasant riding, Melanie Mark was elected, and she is the first indigenous woman to be elected to British Columbia’s legislature! Melanie has deep roots in the community and is dedicated to working to address the issues for this riding, while representing the BC NDP’s.

One of CUPE 1004’s member’s, Andy Healey, who regularly works at the Portland Hotel Society and was booked off by the local for one month to dedicate his time to helping Melanie Mark’s NDP campaign. Some amazing things that Andy was able to coordinate include coordinating in the Downtown Eastside on election day, hundreds of unregistered voters had a chance to access democracy in the historic by-election. This is just a part of the great things that he was able to do to help the campaign.

Thank you Andy for your hard work and dedication!

For three months a CUPE 1004 member, Ryan Petrin, was booked off from his regular duties at the City of Vancouver as a Streets member, to work on the United Way campaign. Over the months Ryan would travel around the Metro Vancouver area helping to coordinate United Way community programs, give speeches to a variety of events, develop information materials, as well as share the message behind what United Way does.

Ryan has worked with the City for a number of years now and is a young worker, job steward, and union activist.

Ryan -Thanks for all of your hard work!

Tony Cheng, a worker for the City of Vancouver engineering department, has gone over and above his good deeds for the year. He organized a toy drive this holiday season to help children of low-income families in the Metro Vancouver area to enjoy Christmas morning. The Lower Mainland Christmas Bureau sent the local a letter thanking everyone for their donations. With the collective power of this local, 228 toys and $750 in Superstore gift cards were raised.

Thank you Tony for all of your hard work!