Political action required - Zellers, Public Child Care, Farm Worker Rights

PSAC Local 30048 encourages its members and the public to support three worthy campaigns that directly affect Lethbridge and our members.

1. Zellers
Our local Zellers will soon be closing. No Target store is scheduled to be opened. This limits shopping choice and puts valuable community members out of work. Further, all Zellers employees across Canada are losing their jobs and being asked to reapply to Target. Is this fair?
See www.targetfairness.ca and write to ask Target to keep our Zellers open.
Mr. Tony Fisher
President
Target Canada
5570 Explore Drive
Mississauga ON  L4W 5N1


2. Quality Public Early Childhood Education and Care
Public Interest Alberta is asking for support in their campaign. They are calling on the Alberta government to commit to accessible and affordable quality early childhood education and care. Visit http://pialberta.org/action-areas/childcare to share your voice.


3. Safety NOW for Alberta Agriculture Workers
Join UFCW in calling on the Alberta government to ensure that discrimination against Alberta Agriculture Workers is ended and to extend the Occupational Health and Safety Act to include workers in the agriculture industry. Send a message to Premier Redford at Safety NOW for Alberta Agriculture Workers.

National Day of Action Update

Advert in Lethbridge Herald, Sept 22, 2012

On Saturday, September 15, 2012, several Local 30048 members took to the streets of Lethbridge to hand out “We Are ALL Affected” postcards to homes in their respective neighborhoods and to engage small downtown business owners in discussions about the recent and ongoing cuts to the public service.  

We encouraged business owners to go to the weareallaffected.ca website and talk to their local MPs about how cuts are hurting Canadians - not only the workers directly affected, but also individuals seeking a range of government services.  

The effect of cuts will most certainly filter to local economies, as demonstrated by the $132,000 that was spent by Southern Alberta PSAC members in the Lethbridge area on this Saturday (see Local 30048 Notices - Community Spending Project for more details).  

Most business owners were receptive to our presence and our concerns, and some businesses very supportive (e.g., Round St Cafe, The Penny Coffee House, Pita Pit, Painted Cottage, Gentlemen Three Menswear, Tompkins Jewellers, The Shoe Tree and Naturistas).  

There were a few business owners that were less than receptive to the message that PSAC members were trying to impart.  In particular, the owner/manager of Bernard Callebaut Chocolates (also owns the Quiznos next door) was very clear in his message to us that the public service is overstaffed and should be cut, and was not concerned with losing valuable customers in Lethbridge due to cuts. He was clearly unsupportive and even offensive towards the public service, in the visiting member's opinion. He commented that in particular agriculture cuts would be a good place to start. We would ask that you consider this if you are a customer there.

Big Jim and The Twins

A group of PSAC activists also attended a couple of outdoor events this same weekend, Lethbridge’s “Take Back the Night” March as well as “Love N Records”, both of which were held in a Galt Gardens, sporting our “We Are ALL Affected” shirts and handing out postcards.  We were fortunate enough to have support by local musician John Greenshields of "Big Jim and the Twins" who wore one of our shirts during his concert in the park. 

The National Day of Action in Lethbridge was a successful event; members engaged other members by getting them involved in the Community Spending Project and by encouraging them to hand out postcards to businesses they frequent.  It is our hope that these efforts will raise awareness that We Are ALL Affected by the cuts to public services and programs.       

Grievance Handling Course Announced

Dates have been announced for a grievance handling course to be held in Lethbridge October 27-28. The sign up deadline is October 17. If you have interest in handling grievances and becoming a Shop Steward, please talk to a member of the local executive and sign up.

Details:
http://prairies.psac.com/education/events/grievance-handling-lethbridge

About the course:
This course will develop your knowledge and confidence in effectively solving problems at the workplace.  You will learn how to systematically approach workplace issues and build your grievance handling skills, such as identifying problems, investigating concerns, and writing and presenting grievances.

Local 30048 meeting - rescheduled

Because of the Lethbridge wildfires, we cancelled our September 10 meeting. Here is the rescheduled meeting notice.


Local 30048 Meeting
Sept 24, 2012
7:00 pm
Lethbridge Research Centre
Cafeteria Conference Room

Agenda:
PSAC National Day of Action Update
LRC Foodbank garden update
Budget allocation for political/social justice action 2012
Bargaining update
Education and courses

If you wish to add an agenda item, please contact Stephanie Erb at stephanieerb68@yahoo.ca by Sept 21/12
Please plan to attend.
Questions? Contact any current executive member (see PSAC board at LRC or website below)
Visit us at www.local30048.ca

PSAC National Day of Action 2012 - Saturday - what you can do! - Pizza Night

Please join us at Pop’s Pub South on the Sat, Sept 15 at 7pm for a casual get together to thank all of our volunteers that helped out with the National Day of Action campaigns, and get to know your fellow public servants.  Show up wearing a button and enjoy free pizza courtesy of the Lethbridge PSAC Area Council (buttons will be available at Pop’s too). This is for all PSAC Lethbridge Area Council members!

Please note this is the third part of our Lethbridge We are ALL Affected National Day of Action campaign. Please scroll down to see details of the other two campaigns (Buttons and Postcards AND Community Spending).

We strongly encourage participation in all actions from all Lethbridge Area Council PSAC members (from all components and locals). For more information, please email aglocal30048@gmail.com.

We are ALL Affected - Key Messages

·         We are all affected by government cutbacks because we all rely on services like food inspection, Old Age Security, environmental protection, preservation of parks and historic sites, search and rescue, assistance to veterans, support for our troops, border security and transportation safety.

·         Canadians find it harder to access the services they need and may not even realize that programs have been cut until after they are gone.

·         These job cuts are bad for our communities, our country and our economy. Workers and their families are forced to cut spending, small businesses lose customers and local economies suffer.

·         Public service workers are our families, friends, neighbours and customers.

PSAC National Day of Action 2012 - Saturday - what you can do! - Button and Postcard Campaign

The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) has declared that Saturday, September 15^th 2012, be a “National Day of Action” for members and their allies from coast to coast to coast.

On the 15^th please wear a “We Are All affected” button in support of public services as you enjoy everything our city has to offer, whether it be shopping, dining out, or attending the “Love and Records” event in Galt Gardens. Let’s make a strong visual presence within our communities and make this campaign successful.

We are also looking for volunteers to help us hand deliver postcards to the public on Friday 14^th and Saturday 15^th, if you would like to lend a hand, please send an email to aglocal30048@gmail.com. This is for all Lethbridge Area Council PSAC members!

Buttons and postcards will be distributed at worksites prior to Friday.

PSAC National Day of Action 2012 - Saturday - what you can do! - Community Spending Campaign

PSAC National Day of Action 2012                                                                         

On Saturday, September 15, 2012 PSAC members across Canada will be demonstrating their support for public services and talking about how the cuts are affecting all Canadians. We’ll be talking about the impact on local economies and on services Canadians rely on. Join us in standing together for public services.

What are we doing?

Community Spending Project

The purpose of this project is to estimate the amount of money spent by PSAC members in our community on one typical Saturday. This is for all members of PSAC Lethbridge Area Council!

PSAC members will be asked to keep a rough tally of their and their family spending on Saturday, September 15, 2012.

·         What did you and your family do on Saturday?

·         How much did you spend?

·         What did you spend this money on?

·         Do you have a photo of yourself engaged in your Saturday activity or with a local merchant you supported?

For example:

On Saturday, PSAC member Suzie, went shopping and bought a pair of shoes from the Mall (value: $120). Later, Suzie, her husband and two children went out for dinner at a local restaurant (value: $60) and then went for a movie with popcorn and drinks (value: $50).

Once you have your information, please email it by Wednesday, September 19 to aglocal30048@gmail.com.

What will we do with this information?

We will compile this and use it to write letters to our local MPs, our Chamber of Commerce, Economic Development Lethbridge, our local MLAs and City Council. We will also write a Letter to the Editor of the Lethbridge Herald. We will create an infographic possibly to be included in a forthcoming Lethbridge Herald.

Meeting tonight cancelled!

Due to the fires around Lethbridge, the Local 30048 meeting tonight (Sept 10) is cancelled.

Canadian Labour in Graphics

Here's a link to a National Post graphical piece on Labour in Canada.

This includes provincial breakdowns and changes over time for:

• Unemployment
• Women in the workforce
• Gender gap in wages (yes, there still is one - averaging about $3 per hour)

http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/09/03/labour-in-canada/