joint release of BCGEU, CUPE, HEU and HSA
Community social services workers in Port Alberni will strike tomorrow, March 19, as part of the ongoing escalation of job action by 10,000 workers to end wage and benefit discrimination in the sector.
Striking Port Alberni workers belonging to the Canadian Union of Public Employees will be joined by community social services workers from Nanaimo belonging to the Hospital Employees' Union at a noon-hour protest at MLA Gerard Janssen's office (4859 Johnston St.) in Port Alberni.
Friday's job action in the community social services sector is as follows: - Members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees and Hospital Employees' Union in Port Alberni will go on strike. - On Friday, Saturday and Sunday, March 19, 20 and 21, HEU members in the community social services sector in Victoria working in residential settings will continue to provide only essential service levels. Health Sciences Association members who provide residential programs at SHARE Family and Community Services (Coquitlam), John Howard Society (Campbell River & Courtenay ) and Wiseman House (Nanaimo) will also go to essential service levels. - BCGEU members at three agencies in the Lower Mainland and two agencies in Prince George, on strike since last Monday, March 15, remain on strike.
Community social services workers work in a variety of community agencies providing support for community living, family and children's services, services to women, and child care. The four unions representing 10,000 workers in this sector are the BCGEU, CUPE, HEU, and Health Sciences Association.