quote:
Dear Sisters and Brothers,We are sending you a copy of the Fightback Solidarity Caucus Statement of Purpose (above).
This document calls for a profound transformation of the trade union movement in British Columbia. Its signers believe that unless we begin to reconstruct our unions as organizations that are democratic, that are accountable to their memberships, and that actually fight for the interests of working people, then we will continue to see betrayals like the May 2 sellout of the members of HEU.
If you find that you are in agreement with the vision set out in this text, we encourage you to add your name to it. Please contact us at [email protected] and let us know that you would like to sign the statement. Please include your union and local, the positions you hold (eg, steward, executive member, committees, etc.) and the city or town you live in.
You can also help by doing any or all of the following:
Distribute this statement -- send this out by email to all your friends and workmates, and to anyone else you know who you think might be interested in supporting it.
Put it up in your workplace -- post it on bulletin boards; hand it out to individual co-workers who might be sympathetic.
Post it in your union -- send it to your union's newspaper and web site, and to your local's newsletter. Circulate it at your local meeting. Forward it to other locals in your union and ask them to do the same.
Become a delegate to the Fed convention -- run for delegate to the November Fed convention as an open supporter of this statement.
Keep in touch -- send us your email address. We want to create a network where activists can pool information on what's going on in their workplaces, their unions and their communities, where we can discuss and debate strategy, where we can collectively prepare for the upcoming Fed convention, and where we can begin to lay the basis for an organized current fighting to democratize our unions and turn them into effective and militant organizations. Write to us at [email protected] .
We hope you will join with us in beginning the campaign to return the B.C. union movement to its roots. The stakes are enormous, and every hand is needed.
An injury to one is an injury to all,
Solidarity Caucus supporters
The 29 individuals whose names appear below are supporting the views contained in this statement of purpose in a personal capacity. Organizations and unions are listed for identification purposes only
Maryann Abbs—member, CEP 468; community activist, Vancouver
John Ames—executive officer, BCGEU component 5, local 503; Vancouver and District Labour Council delegate; member Vancouver GMB IWW, Vancouver
John Black—former president, Malaspina Faculty Association (CIEA), Malaspina College, Nanaimo
Jim Brown—member, Telecommunication Workers Union local 30, North Vancouver
Gretchen Dulmage—vice-chair, HEU/CUPE Childrens and Womens Hospital local 6010; VDLC delegate; member, VDLC executive, Vancouver
Claudio Ekdahl—executive member, BCGEU local 603; VDLC delegate; international solidarity and grassroots activist, Vancouver
Gordon Flett—union activist, Vancouver
Sandra Giesbrecht—shop steward and trustee, HEU Royal Jubilee Hospital local, Victoria
Ken Hiebert—member, International Longshore and Warehouse Union, local 500, Vancouver
Paul Houle—shop steward and executive member at large, BCGEU local 603, Vancouver
David Maidman—member, Ironworkers local 712, New Westminster
Andy Mathisen—member, IWA local 1-3567, New Westminster
Jack McCamy—2nd vice president, CEP local 298, Kitimat
Gene McGuckin—editor, The Pulper, CEP local 1129, chair of bargaining committee, Vancouver
Michele Mishler—member, HEU, Richmond Hospital
Will Offley—B.C. Nurses Union member and activist, Vancouver
Jeff Pazik—member, IWA local 1-3567; president, Woodworkers for a Fair Forestry Policy Society, Richmond
Darrell Pinkney—HEU chairperson and representative, HEU Equity Standing Committee, Nanaimo
Bob Peacock—chairperson, HEU Broadway Pentecostal Lodge local; member of HEU Provincial bargaining committee; former member of provincial executive, Vancouver
Susan Roth—member, IWA Canada local 1-85; elected official and chairperson, Beaver Creek Improvement District, a local public corporation, Port Alberni
Susanne Shaw—member, CEP local 514 and CUPE local 873, Port Alice
Sharyn Sigurdur—member, United Food and Commercial Workers Union; founding member, Members for Democracy (MfD), Mission
Bob Smith—editor, New Routes, CAW local 111, Vancouver
Gregg Steele—shop steward, HEU Royal Jubilee Hospital local; solidarity and grassroots activist, Victoria
Rick Tait—member, Teamsters local 155, Vancouver
Dan Tkachuk—member CUPE 382, Greater Victoria School Board
John Tregilges—former chairperson, BCGEU local 503, Vancouver
Bob Wilson—member and trustee, CEP local 468; delegate to Victoria Labour Council
John Yano—member, HEU, St. Vincent's Hospital local, Vancouver
[email protected]