Moms on the Move is holding a provincial day of protest tomorrow, October 28, to remind BC Premier Gordon Campbell of his promise to build the best system of supports forchildren with special needs in Canada.

In the past several weeks, cuts to funding have been announced in a number of programs, including:

The provincial government has just announced that seasonal flu vaccine will be administered at the same time as the vaccine for H1N1.  Prior to this, the government planned to offer the seasonal vaccine only after the H1N1 vaccination program was complete.  H1N1 vaccination for high-risk groups will begin next week.
 

Members of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1724 are on the verge of a strike. Support the HandyDart workers at a rally at MetroTown Sunday Oct. 24 to support fair collective bargaining in the public sector.

Rally information here.

Please be advised that Compass has now locked out union members working at retail food service locations in the Fraser Health Authority.

While picket locations do not impede other union members from going to work, the B.C. Federation of Labour and the United Steelworkers Local 2009 are asking union members to not use any of these food services while management tries to operate these sites.

(This information applies to HSA members of the Health Services and Support / Community Subsector.)

In September, HSA mailed to every member in the Health Services and Support (Community Subsector) information about the Community Retraining Fund available to unionized workers in the Health Services and Support Community subsector.  The package includes:

a) an overview,
b) answers to frequently asked questions, and
c) application forms.

By James Clancy
National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE)

Ottawa - We're long overdue for serious tax reform in this country. Most Canadians agree on this. But the new unfair Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) in Ontario and BC is not what most of us had in mind.

Earlier this year the Harper government reached agreements with Ontario and BC to merge the provincial sales tax (PST) and federal goods and services tax (GST) into a single harmonized tax (HST). The new HST is an unfair tax for two key reasons.

The H1N1 vaccine has just been approved for use across Canada and the vaccination program for BC will begin shortly.
 
This approval is based upon positive results of clinical trials of the vaccine in Europe. 
 
As with any seasonal flu vaccination campaign HSA encourages members to participate.  Vaccination is an integral part of the prevention against serious health risk. 
 
Health care workers will be among the first to be offered the vaccine in BC along with:
 

Learning Opportunities Near You!

Due to increased demand for steward training, HSA is offering the following workshop:

Steward Training Level 1 (3-day workshop):
â–º November 30, December 1 & 2, 2009

Also, there is still room in the following OH&S Steward Training Level 1 workshops:

â–º November 2 & 3, 2009
â–º November 23 & 24, 2009

Please apply ASAP as workshops have been filling up quickly.

Pre-registration forms are available from the HSA website at www.hsabc.org.