Abbotsford members stand up for their term staff

CEIU members in Abbotsford, BC, were not letting the loss of their term co-workers go unmarked. On June 11, the day the last of the terms were working, their co-workers wore buttons with the message “Quality Public Services – You’ll miss us when we’re GONE”. Management responded with threats to send home those who refused to remove the buttons, but our members stood their ground.

Seven members were sent home without pay, and when Integrity and Processing staff learned of management’s action, many donned buttons to support their coworkers. Realizing this group was not going to remove the buttons and was prepared to join their colleagues already without pay, management’s hand was forced. Rather than face the prospect of an empty office, the employer stopped sending staff home.

“Each member had to decide for themselves to wear the button,” said Local President Chris York. “Our terms meant a lot to us, both personally and because they helped us give the public the kind of service we believe they should get.”

The week following the confrontation, management began by telling the Local that any client-facing staff wearing a button would be disciplined. The union response included a June 16 visit to the Local by CEIU’s National President, Jeannette Meunier-McKay, Kay Sinclair of the PSAC, National Vice-President Pat Wakefield and her alternate, Dianne Mitchell. “In BC, we have just finished a conference of Local Presidents where many delegates spoke of rising stress levels as term staff were being let go,” said Meunier-McKay,  “and I have huge respect for members, like those in Abbotsford, who actually put something on the line for our terms.”

By June 17, the employer had withdrawn the leave without pay action against the seven members who had been sent home, and confirmed that no disciplinary action would be taken.

Speaking for her members, Local President Chris York thanked CEIU and the PSAC for the support shown to her members:

On behalf of all of the members of Local 20903 I want to sincerely thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to visit our office on Wednesday. 

Your show of support for our members was powerful and meaningful and has had a big impact not only on our Local as a collective, but on individual people; for some the often-asked "what does the Union do for me" has been answered in a very personal way. 

I am certain it is not a coincidence that less than 24 hours after such a strong message of support was seen first hand by the employer that management stepped back and reversed their decision not only with respect to the wearing of the union message in the workplace, but also with regard to the 7 members who were suspended and placed on leave without pay June 11th for refusing to take the buttons off. 

It was never our intention that such a small button would become such a big issue, but anytime our legal rights are threatened, we cannot back down, and as demonstrated over the past week, we will not back down.  We must never forget that every right that we have has been hard fought for, perhaps by generations long past, but somewhere along the way, someone has paid a high price for what many of us take for granted today. 

I am so proud to be a member of this Local who believed in their principles and were willing to draw a line not to be crossed, and who stood together knowing they where doing nothing wrong.  I am extremely appreciative and equally as proud of the strong encouragement, assistance and backing of both PSAC and CEIU during this time.

“As we head into collective bargaining in 2011, local leadership will be key to the mobilization of our membership,” said Meunier-McKay, “and our leadership at the Abbotsford local is showing the way. They are an example for all of us.”

Linda Nance, Pat Wakefield, Dianne Mitchell, Jeannette Meunier-McKay, Chris York