HOW WIDESPREAD IS THIS? WHAT CAN WE DO?

CUPE Launches Survey:

CUPE has launched a long-awaited survey into the unpaid work done by Education  Assistants (EAs) in B.C’s  K-12 sector.  The survey focuses on the issue of unpaid work performed routinely by EAs, including how much and when unpaid work is performed, why EAs perform unpaid work, and how much the public school system encourages, facilitates or pressures EAs to donate free work time.

Tell Us About Yourself:

This survey is for all EAs – full time, part time, casual – all education support workers providing direct classroom support.  We need your help to ensure the largest number possible of EAs participate in this important survey.  The easiest (and best) way to do the survey is on-line.  Please take 10 minutes to complete the survey by going to: www.bceducationassistants.ca and clicking on the survey link.  You can also download a hard copy.

 Here’s How You Can Help:

• Do the survey.
• Distribute copies of this flyer to other EAs at your school (or post one on your bulletin board!)
• Talk to other EAs so they also complete the survey.
• Use the new web site to let other EAs know about the survey.

We need to hear from as many Education Assistants as possible – to find out what’s really going on in B.C’s schools – so we can work together to find solutions.

Contact: John Malcolmson, CUPE Research, 604-291-1940

Thanks for your help.

Members and former members who were impacted by Bill 29 in the facilities subsector are now able to submit a claim form to determine if they are eligible to share in a Bill 29 compensation fund.

That fund is part of a settlement agreement on the implementation of last year’s Supreme Court ruling on Bill 29, reached between health care unions and the B.C. government in late January.

What’s in the claims package?

• Claim Form: must be filled out, signed and mailed to the union by the June 15, 2008 deadline. Packages that are mailed out include a postage-paid envelope with which to return the completed form to the union office.
• Claim Form Guide: to assist people in filling out the form. This guide is also available in Filipino, Punjabi and Chinese and will be mailed to individuals if requested.
• Q&A for Potential Claimants: inlcudes 11 questions frequently asked by Bill 29 claimants. People should review this information carefully before calling the office with questions.

How do people get a claims package?

Members and former members who believe they have a claim under Bill 29 but who did not receive the package in the mail should:

• Call 604-294-5266 and ask for a Bill 29 claims package to be mailed to you. Anyone leaving a voice mail message must speak slowly and clearly, and include their phone number along with their mailing address.
• Send an email to infoiuoe@iuoe882.com requesting that a package be mailed to them. Individuals must include their name and full mailing address.

People who were not members of IUOE when they were impacted should obtain a claims package from the union that represented them when they were impacted by Bill 29.

Anyone who has questions about how to fill the Claim Form, and did not find an answer in either the Claim Form Guide or the Question and Answers for Potential Claimants, can call the union at 604-294-5266. They can also send a question by email.

What happens after the June 15 deadline?

Individual health care workers were affected by Bill 29 in many different ways. In order to create process for potential claimants that is as fair, objective and transparent as possible health unions secured the services of respected mediator and arbitrator Vince Ready.

On March 31, Ready handed down a decision that sets out categories of impact and criteria, under which potential claimants may qualify for redress. He also established several key questions for the Claim Form that will be used to determine whether or not an individual is eligible.

Once we have received all potential claims, a joint union-employer committee, assisted by Vince Ready, will use the information collected to determine whether or not a potential claimant is eligible for a payment from the fund, and the amount of money individuals who qualify will receive.

Given the high number of applications we anticipate receiving, and the time it will take to review each claim, the process will take some time. However, final decisions and cheque distribution must occur before the end of the year.

Everyone’s patience is greatly appreciated.

New Health Legislation threatens Medicare as we know it, unless we ACT NOW!!

KILL BILL 21!

Bill 21, the Medicare Protection Amendment Act, is being pushed through the legislature by the provincial government right now!

Reasons to fight Bill 21:

• Bill 21 adds a so-called “sustainability principle” even though health care spending has remained stable over the past decade as a percentage of the province’s economy. Government will use this language to justify further cuts to public health care services and allow doctors to charge patients extra for medically necessary services.
• Bill 21 contains code words like “individual choice” and “personal responsibility”  that really mean patients could be forced to pay more user fees and rely on costly private insurance.
• Bill 21 calls for an “integrated” health care system that paves the way for more private investors to take profit from our pubic services.

BILL 21 is being debated as you read this!

Send a message to Health Minister George Abbott telling him to Kill Bill 21!

TAKE ACTION NOW – GO TO http://www.bchealthcoalition.ca/content/view/185

Bill 21 can be viewed at : www.leg.bc.ca/38th4th/1st_read/gov21-1.htm . . . cut & paste this address into your search engine . . .

Living wage policies are an essential tool to address the shocking gap – revealed today in a Statistics Canada report – between the wages of new-immigrant and Canadian-born workers.

The HEU recenlty launched a campaign calling on health authorities to be accountable for ensuring the mutlinational corporations with contracts to provide cleaning and food services in public hospitals provide fair, family-supporting wages and safe working conditions.

The union’s membership includes over 3,500 contracted-out hospital cleaners and food services workers; many are recent immigrants, who work two or three jobs to make ends meet and provide for their families.

Today’s report showed that in 2005, men who were recent immigrants earned only 63 cents for each dollar earned by Canadian-born men, while recent immigrant women earned only 56 cents for each dollar earned by Canadian-born women.

Since 2003, health authorities have handed over more than $643 million in taxpayer dollars to Sodexo, Aramark and Compass to provide cleaning and food services in public hospitals in the Lower Mainland and Southern Vancouver Island. The three corporations currently pay their staff about $13 an hour, with few sick days or benefits.

“Health authorities are standing by while people who work in our hospitals are unable to afford a decent quality of life like school field trips for their children, heat in their homes or a modest savings plan for their retirement.”

Avelina Vasquez, who immigrated to Canada from the Philippines in 1991, says she had hoped a life in this country would bring more family time, an opportunity for education and less financial stress. But she says she has been unable to upgrade her skills because she is too exhausted to study, after supplementing her work as a hospital cleaner with housekeeping jobs.

“This is not what we expect when we come here,” explains Vasquez. “We want to work hard and make a contribution to Canada, but we deserve to be treated fairly and earn enough to have opportunities and provide a quality life for ourselves and our families.”