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“By speaking with Ministers Cadieux and McRae, we were able to express our members’ frustrations, and to lobby for our members’ rights and their working conditions,” says Darryl Walker, BCGEU President.
Vancouver (14 April 2014) — Darryl Walker, President of the B.C. Government and Service Employees' Union (BCGEU/NUPGE), senior staff and elected government officials were in Victoria Thursday discussing members’ issuesrelating to three Ministries.
Walker and the BCGEU/NUPGE delegation met with Minister Stephanie Cadieux of Children and Family Development (MCFD), Minister Don McRae of Social Development and Socail Innovation (MSDSI) and Minister Amrik Virk of Advanced Education to discuss members’ concerns in each respective ministry. Meetings were held also with opposition critics David Eby (Advanced Education) and Michelle Mungall (MSDSI).
Workload, funding and staffing were priority subjects at the meeting with MCFD and MSDSI staff
President Walker raised workload, funding and staffing issues for MCFD/MSDSI staff, and worked with Ministers Cadieux and McRae to identify potential solutions moving forward.
The union signed off on the terms of reference for the joint MCFD-BCGEU working group as mandated by B.C.'s Representative for Children and Youth. The working group was established to address staffing and workload issues within the Ministry.
“By speaking with Ministers Cadieux and McRae, we were able to express our members’ frustrations, and to lobby for our members’ rights and their working conditions,” says Darryl Walker. “We are looking forward to the Ministries’ commitment to work with us – this is a positive step forward.”
Cuts to post-secondary education funding, trades training and ESL funding were main topics with Advanced Education representatives
The primary aim of the meeting with Minister Virk was to highlight the union's concerns about the cuts to post-secondary education funding, and to trades training and English as a Second Language Funding.
The union requested that the Minister advocate within cabinet and in the public for greater investment in post-secondary education in B.C. Instead, the Minister discussed finding savings through efficiencies in the system and was somewhat dismissive the union's concerns.
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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