I do not believe that monies union members pay in dues, should be used for partisan purposes, not at least without them members having an opportunity to decide by secret ballot if this is something they are in favour of.
The following is just one more reason why I believe this should not be permitted. Here we have the leadership of the BCGEU not only is blatantly supporting the NDP and using the dues of union members to do so -- support for this cause appears to be so weak they are now basically pleading for members to take part.
The campaign, "BCGEU Votes" is an outreach program, and while it does not outright call for the support of the NDP, there is little doubt as to who the recipients of their time and energies will be.
This campaign is not about promoting what is right for the majority of hard working British Columbian's. No, instead they say that "Getting our members out to vote is critically important for our union."
They also state, "The future of our union, our members and our province, depends on it."
You can read more about it in the following email, which was provided to us, by a member of the BCGEU. In fact -- two emails were received from them. The second shows that there does not appear to be a lot of support for this campaign.
In part, Karri Bepple states, "I haven't had a lot of people respond to me about the Saturday, April 6th event - I know it's a few short weeks away and I would really appreciate if you can help me get the word out to more members."
Many of these areas have been noted with BLUE italics in the two emails provided to me.
It appears they are now having to offer prizes in the hopes of having people come out to attend their workshops. Again these areas have been noted in BLACK italics
PEOPLE should support what they believe in. Politics is not where big business and big labor should be calling the shots.
The role of unions is to help workers in the work place – spending the dues of union members in partisan politics is not in my opinion a role they should be engaging in.
That's what I believe -- what say you?
Let's 'stay sharp'
I'm Peter Sharp -- I'm a BC Conservative -- and I believe in BC.
NOW ... here are the two email messages which I had forwarded to me:
From: Kari Bepple <kari.bepple.bcgeu@gmail.com>
Date: 12 March, 2013 3:19:13 PM PDT
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Subject: Political Action Campaign - BCGEU Votes! needs your help!
You are receiving this email because you are members that are involved in activism - some on your local exec, some as stewards, or bargaining reps, or OHS reps or all of the above! I felt it made sense to send this out to you all first!
BCGEU has launched a membership outreach campaign called BCGEU VOTES! Our Provincial Executive has made this a priority for the union and the objective of the campaign is to outreach to all of our members and confirm that they will get out and vote!! I recently spent two days in training and will be overseeing the campaign for area 05 for the next two months. - here is a message I received at training last week from our President, Darryl Walker:
"This is perhaps one of the most important campaigns our union has ever undertaken. The future of our union, our members and our province, depends on it."
This is our opportunity to really make a change for the better—especially for our members and families. Getting our members out to vote is critically important for our union and hopefully we will see change. You are key to making this happen.
With your help, we are going to talk to our 65,000 members about the importance of this election--in lunch rooms, at meetings, over the phone, through social media and other communications, and on the doorstep.
17 key members, working with staff, will put together a campaign plan to engage and mobilize our members around the election.
For those of you that don't know me I am the local chair of 305 and I'm heading up the political action team (area 05) for BCGEU Votes! I will be on book off until May 14, 2013 working out of the area office. I have a few things I'd appreciate your help with.
If you have some time you can spare to come out and help me get the word out to members, I'd appreciate hearing from you! I will be entering people's names that volunteer into draws for prizes and will make sure everyone is fed whenever they come out!
I am planning a number of events over the next few months where I will build a team of volunteers to go to the doorsteps of our members and encourage them to get out and vote or to come in and do some really easy phone banks that I will make fun and worthwhile. It will be members engaging members.
I am looking for union members to give as little as two hours of their time and I guarantee we will make it fun. I hope that every Local will come out to help do this. We are going to be issuing prizes for the local that gets the most participation with door knocking/phone banking combined. Perhaps there is another local you can challenge???
