March 21 is the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The date was selected by the United Nations to honour the 69 people who were killed by police at a peaceful demonstration against apartheid in Sharpeville, South Africa in 1960. In South Africa, March 21 is a public holiday, "Human Rights Day," to commemorate the lives that have been lost in the fight for democracy and human rights.

The BCGEU is surprised and disappointed the Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General has dismissed safety concerns in the provinces’ correctional centres. Responding during Question Period in the legislature today, Minister Mike Morris stated “…safety is not an issue in any of the correctional centres that we have in B.C.”

In a letter sent to Chief Judge T.J. Crabtree, our union has asked Provincial Court judges to call on the province to hire and train more deputy sheriffs. This is the only way the serious shortage of deputy sheriffs can be fixed.

A chronic shortage of sheriffs has the B.C. government declaring "emergencies" in order to force overtime on courthouse staff, a union official said Friday. Read more...
 

The BCGEU has proposed a public safety designation for Deputy Sheriffs and Conservation Officers employed by the province. Both classification groups are designated as special provincial constables under the Police Act. Each designation would make them eligible for the Normal Retirement Age 60 rule (NRA60) in the Public Service Pension Plan. This would enable Deputy Sheriffs and Conservation Officers to retire earlier without an early retirement reduction.

Overtime

Your Component executive is very concerned that the employer is now using overtime to make up for a chronic shortage of Sheriffs at an even greater cost to the government.

Click here to see attached notice http://www.bcgeu.ca/local-101-executivegeneral-meeting

Please be advised that the union has contacted the Public Service Agency to set a hearing date for the benchmark reviews.

The Work Environment Survey (WES) results were released last week and your union has received emails from Component 1 members voicing their concerns about the survey results.