BC Union Gets Powerful Endorsement from Advisory Firm on Its Net-Zero Demands

BCGEU Shareholder Proposal to $690B giant deemed "reasonably crafted," "warranted," and "flexible."

BURNABY – Ahead of the June 10 annual meeting of shareholders, influential proxy advisor Glass Lewis has endorsed the B.C. General Employees' Union's (BCGEU) shareholder proposal at Brookfield Asset Management (TSX:BAM.A), which would compel two of the company's largest affiliates to set clear, Paris-aligned emissions reductions targets by 2025.

"It's not enough for Brookfield's subsidiaries to show symbolic support for the firm's climate action goals – they need to provide hard numbers, so that shareholders and concerned citizens, like our union, can hold them accountable," the leader of the union representing over 85,000 working British Columbians says. "Our proposal is a huge opportunity for Brookfield to rebuild shareholder trust after its 2021 blunder."

Last year, critics slammed Brookfield for falsely boasting a 100 per cent, net-zero investment portfolio and accused the company of greenwashing. Smith says the climate crisis is at a tipping point: "there's no room for misleading statistics from powerful investment machines that can help steer us out of the fire – we need real action, not rhetoric."

Through affiliates Brookfield Business Partners (BBU) and Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (BIP), the private equity firm can put a real dent in global carbon emissions – especially at BBU, where Brookfield claims a 64% ownership stake. Right now, neither affiliate discloses their reduction targets, even though Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) found that Brookfield assumes a high climate risk exposure because of its heavy investment in fossil-fuels.

BCGEU believes emissions reduction targets from BBU and BIP will become more pressing following Brookfield's May 12 announcement to split its asset management business from its proprietary assets business as the contributions of BBU and BIP to Brookfield's financial results will increase.

The BCGEU is a long-term minority shareholder in Brookfield Asset Management. The union has been directly wielding its collective shareholder power to make companies more just, fair and environmentally sustainable since 2018. Some of its wins include a human rights commitment from RBC to stop doing business with the United States private prison industry, a commitment from Saputo to reduce its food waste by 50 per cent by 2035, and a move by Thomson Reuters to adopt the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

"In a world where working people often feel powerless against mounting ecological disaster, BCGEU members are showing their neighbours that we do have a say in our future. We can course correct, and we can pressure big players to do the right thing and put money where it will thrive – in sustainable investments, not volatile markets that hurt investors, workers, and the planet," said Smith.

Brookfield Asset Management's annual general meeting takes place on June 10, 2022. The virtual meeting will be available at this link.

View the BCGEU's investor letter here

The company's response to the proposal can be found in its management circular on page 79.

(Burnaby) - On April 27, the B.C. General Employees' Union (BCGEU) filed a Notice of Civil Claim in B.C. Supreme Court against Vancity Credit Union over the financial institution's unilateral decision to deny BCGEU members a jointly-trusteed, defined benefit pension plan that they had agreed to establish.
 
"Filing a lawsuit against an employer is an extraordinary step for any union to take, and filing this claim against Vancity is not a decision the BCGEU took lightly," said Stephanie Smith, BCGEU president. "But after years of delay tactics by Vancity capped off by unilateral withdrawal from the plan we feel this is our best option to force Vancity to honour the commitments they made in bargaining. Our BCGEU members fought for this plan, they won it in bargaining, and now we're going to the mat to make sure Vancity delivers on their commitment."
 
The lawsuit aims to force Vancity to honour the agreement between the two parties. In that agreement, which has been in effect since 2020 after being overwhelmingly ratified by union members, Vancity committed to work with the BCGEU to develop a jointly-trusteed, defined-benefit pension plan for unionized workers.
 
Joint trusteeship means that the pension is administered by both employer representatives and union members. A worker voice is crucial in making sure workers' pensions are whole and secure when it's time to retire. Jointly-trusteed, defined-benefit pension plans are the gold standard, providing more secure benefits for workers compared to solely-trusteed plans. Such plans have a preferred status under the BC Pension Benefits and Standards Act and Regulations when compared to an employer solely sponsored pension plan.
 
Despite agreeing to co-develop the pension plan with the BCGEU, Vancity repeatedly delayed the work-cancelling or postponing meetings and missing deadlines-before abruptly announcing their intention to offer their workers a solely-trusteed pension plan.
 
Click here to read a summary of the Notice of Civil Claim
 
"Vancity literally banks on its reputation as a company with progressive values," said Smith. "Our members work every day to maintain that reputation. Vancity customers choose them based on that reputation. It's time for them to live up to their reputation. We shouldn't have to sue them to make them honour an agreement they bargained with our members."
 
BCGEU represents nearly 1,000 workers at Vancity. The Notice of Civil Claim – S-223482 – was filed on April 27, 2022.
 
BCGEU is one of the largest unions in British Columbia, with over 85,000 members in almost every community and economic sector in the province.

UWU/MoveUP

VICTORIA, B.C. – The BC General Employees’ Union (BCGEU) is conducting a provincewide strike vote to give 33,000 members of their public service bargaining unit a voice in how to move forward in bargaining with their employer, the Public Service Agency. Negotiations between the parties reached impasse in early April primarily due to a significant gap in wage proposals.
 
“We’ve been clear from day one that cost of living protection for wages was the key to a deal this round,” said Stephanie Smith, president of the BCGEU and chair of the union’s public service bargaining committee. “It’s a fair demand and we know government can afford it but the employer tabled two wage proposals that didn’t even get halfway there. This vote is a chance for our members to tell their employer what they think of those offers.”
 
The strike vote will be conducted over five weeks starting Monday, May 16^th with a vote count scheduled for Wednesday, June 22^nd.

“This is the BCGEU’s largest bargaining unit and for more than one-third of these members this is their first round of bargaining,” said Smith. “This is their collective agreement and a strike vote is a major undertaking so it’s critical that we take time to make sure every member is informed and engaged and has a chance to vote.”
 
The BCGEU began preparing for impasse and potential job action early in the bargaining process, including negotiating with the Public Service Agency to determine essential service levels in case of job action. Essential service negotiations are expected to continue for several more weeks.
 
“We know that the best place to get a deal is at the table, and that is still our goal,” said Smith. “Experience tells us that a strong strike vote can be a very effective way to make that goal a reality.”
 
The BCGEU is the first of many public sector unions to bargain with the government in 2022. In total, almost 400,000 public sector workers have agreements that will, or already have, expire this year.

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Media contact:
Danielle Marchand
[email protected]
Press Secretary-President’s Office
BC General Employees’ Union (BCGEU)
Mobile: 778-968-4509

UWU/MoveUP

Over 70% of Independent Loblaw Shareholders Demand Supplier Audit Transparency
 

Union-filed shareholder motion earns significant support

Burnaby — Today, at the Loblaw (TSX: L) annual general meeting of shareholders, independent shareholders voted 72% in favour of a shareholder proposal asking for the company to release more information on supplier audits (34% overall). The shareholder proposal was submitted by the B.C. General Employees’ Union (BCGEU), an institutional investor in Loblaw.

Currently, Loblaw only discloses the number of audits it conducts with no additional information. Investors believe that enhanced information is required to ensure supply chain risks are being managed. The two largest proxy advisory firms in the world, Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis, both recommended that shareholders vote in favour of BCGEU’s proposal.

BCGEU filed the proposal following concerning supply chain controversies at Loblaw related to forced labour in the Uyghur region of China. In early 2021, Loblaw committed to not source cotton produced the Uyghur Region of China. However, according to shipment data compiled by Dr. Laura Murphy, Professor of Human Rights and Contemporary Slavery at the Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice at Sheffield Hallam University (UK), Loblaw imported textiles from the Uyghur region of China as recently as August 2021. In addition, a CBC investigation found Loblaw has sold tomatoes produced with forced labour.

In response to the AGM results, BCGEU President Stephanie Smith released the following statement:

 “Right now, investors are in the dark about what is going in Loblaw’s supply chain. Our proposal asked a simple question: should Loblaw disclose more information on the results of its audits in line with its peers? Today’s significant vote indicates Loblaw shareholders agree it must. We intend to keep pushing Loblaw to manage risk and protect shareholder value.”

Both Walmart and Tesco disclose more details on the results of those audits than Loblaw.  Gildan reports results of supply chain audits and classification criteria for the results of supply chain data.

Loblaw is majority owned by George Weston Limited and the Weston family.

View the BCGEU shareholder proposal here (page B-2 or 87): https://dis-prod.assetful.loblaw.ca/content/dam/loblaw-companies-limited/creative-assets/loblaw-ca/investor-relations-reports/annual/2022/2022_Loblaw_Circular_SEDAR_EN.pdf

View BCGEU's investor letter brief: https://assets.nationbuilder.com/bcgeu/pages/896/attachments/original/1650903276/2022-037%20INVESTOR%20BRIEF%20LOBLAWS8.pdf?1650903276

About BCGEU: BCGEU is one of the largest unions in British Columbia, with over 85,000 members in almost every community and economic sector in the province. Under BCGEU's capital stewardship strategy, the union has submitted shareholder proposals at some of Canada’s largest companies on topics such as human rights, racial equity, and executive compensation. The union's strategy has succeeded in achieving strong commitments on ESG issues.

Today the BCGEU recognizes Red Dress Day 

Red Dress day is a day to honour our missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and two spirit people. This day first began on May 5, 2010 and has taken place annually every year since.

It's a day to raise awareness and give voice to those whose stories have not been heard. We hang red dresses in public and private spaces and also wear red on this day as a symbol of all those who are missing.

Red dress day began as the REDress project started by Métis artist, Jamie Black, to bring attention to the disproportionate number of missing and murdered Indigenous women across Canada and United States.

There are many ways to honour the day: wearing red, hanging a red dress, or attending an event near you:

Vancouver

Host: Pacific Association of First Nation Women

Vancouver City Hall

12:00 pm-2:00 pm

Details

Victoria

Our Womxn Are Sacred Walk

Begins at 10AM

Hallowell and Admirals Roads to Maple Bank

Details

Surrey

May Day – or International Workers' Day – is a day in which the labour movement around the world comes together to recognize working people's collective power. Only by organizing to protect our collective interests as a class can we shift the balance of power under capitalism.

As we celebrate working people, we're also proud to announce that our union is now 85,000 members strong!

Our union has grown in a number of ways, including: new members organizing with the BCGEU for a voice on the job and the union ensuring seasonal members like wildfire fighters are included in our year-round membership figures.

Now even more workers in B.C. have a means to fight for justice, dignity, and respect at work. And that's certainly something to celebrate!

In just the past year workers at the following workplaces have organized and joined the BCGEU:

• Options Community Services Society
• YMCA of Greater Vancouver – Djavad Mowafaghian Child Care Centre
• Guru Nanak Education Society of BC 
• First Unitarian Fellowship of Nanaimo – Unitarian Shelter
• New View Society
• Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Vancouver – Men's Shelter
• YMCA of Greater Vancouver - Renfrew Station Child Care
• Beacon Community Association
• AgeCare Cariboo Place 
• UBC Okanagan Residence Life
• Sooke Family Resources Society

And just last week, 260 new members at Victoria's Our Place Society voted to organize their union with the BCGEU. They provide supportive housing and community-based services at 10 sites to those experiencing poverty and homelessness.

New members are joining the BCGEU all the time and 85,000 is an exciting milestone for our members.

Happy May Day! All power to the workers!

UWU/MoveUP

Union investor successfully pushes Toronto's Thomson Reuters to prioritize human rights and re-evaluate ICE contracts

Canadian media and data giant to adopt United Nations human rights framework and publish a human rights report after 3-year investor battle

(Burnaby, Canada) Thomson Reuters' enabling of U.S. immigration surveillance prompted the BC General Employees' Union (BCGEU)-a minor shareholder-to initiate a multi-year campaign to demand greater human rights due diligence from the Toronto-based company. After three successive shareholder proposals on the issue, the company has agreed to conduct human rights risk assessments on its products and disclose key findings from the assessments starting in the second half of 2022.

As part of its groundbreaking capital stewardship program, the BCGEU filed shareholder proposals in 2020, 2021, and 2022 targeting Thomson Reuters' human rights risk mitigation practices. In 2020, 30% of the company's independent shareholders supported the union's proposal. The next year, independent shareholders' support for the union's proposal more than doubled to more than 70%. The 2021 proposal also won coveted endorsements from both ISS and Glass Lewis, the leading independent governance analysis and proxy voting firms in the world, in addition to high profile institutional investors, lawyers, and human rights experts.

Facing another shareholder vote on the union's proposal in 2022, Thomson Reuters' confirmed it has aligned with the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) and has commenced a company-wide human rights impact assessment of global operations, products, and services, including studying human rights abuses enabled by the contracts with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). In addition, the company announced it had commenced a global ESG materiality assessment.

In response to this announcement, BCGEU President Stephanie Smith released the following statement:

 "This is why our union does capital stewardship the way we do-to force corporations to make progressive changes on the issues that matter to working people. Thomson Reuters would not have taken this action without sustained pressure from BCGEU over the past 3 years, and ongoing work by Mijente and the NoTechForIce campaign. Tackling human rights risk isn't just important for protecting shareholder value, real human beings will be impacted by the results of these audits. This win is for them as much as it is for our union.

 We eagerly await the results of the impact assessment this summer – and expect other data brokers are going to receive similar kinds of pressure from responsible investors in the future. This is just the beginning."

Thomson Reuters contracts with ICE have a total value exceeding $100m USD. The contracts are to provide data brokerage services that help the U.S. agency target undocumented immigrants for detention and deportation. The company, via its Consolidated Lead Evaluation and Reporting (CLEAR) software, amassed data from private and public databases on individuals, like social media information, names, emails, phone data, license plate scans, utility bills, financial information, arrest records, insurance information, employment records, and much more. Thomson Reuters' current biggest ICE contract is to provide Automated License Plate Reader technology to the agency through 2026 (from Vigilant Solutions, a company that has been shown to circumvent sanctuary laws to allow ICE information sharing). These technologies have been directly linked to deportations and raids across the U.S., potentially involving family separation and the detention of immigrants in conditions that violate their human rights.

News reports note that the company does not merely provide off the shelf software, Thomson Reuters employees have fine-tuned target lists and provide those lists to ICE with address changes, credit activities, location, and more.

The software has also been used by Minnesota law enforcement for surveillance on the community, according to new reporting from Buzzfeed News. Minneapolis has been the center of protests in the United States following the May 25 killing of 46-year-old George Floyd by police officers.

Link to Thomson Reuters announcement (found on pages 119-120 of the proxy circular): https://assets.nationbuilder.com/bcgeu/pages/896/attachments/original/1651092684/Pg_119-120_-_2022_Thomson_reuters_proxy.pdf?1651092684

Link to 2021 investor letter: https://www.bcgeu.ca/bcgeu_releases_investor_brief_calling_on_thomson_reuters_tsx_nyse_tri_to_properly_assess_human_rights_risks_of_working_with_ice

Link to 2020 investor letter: https://www.bcgeu.ca/bcgeu_releases_investor_brief_calling_on_thomson_reuters_tsx_nyse_tri_to_properly_assess_risks_of_working_with_ice

About BCGEU: BCGEU is one of the largest unions in British Columbia, with over 85,000 members in almost every community and economic sector in the province. Under BCGEU's capital stewardship strategy, the union has submitted shareholder proposals at some of Canada's largest companies on topics like human rights, racial equity, and executive compensation. The union's strategy has succeeded in achieving strong commitments on ESG issues.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 7, 2022

VICTORIA, B.C. – Negotiations between the BC General Employees' Union (BCGEU) and the provincial government's Public Service Agency (PSA) reached an impasse this week over an unresolved gap in wage proposals. The current agreement between the parties, which covers more than 33,000 union members, expired on March 31, 2022. 

"Our members have been clear from day one - COLA (cost of living adjustment) protections are the key to a deal this round-and our bargaining committee carried that message to the employer," said Stephanie Smith, BCGEU president and chair of the union's bargaining committee, "Unfortunately, the employers' revised wage proposal suggests that they haven't yet gotten the message. In fact, what they offered was less than half of COLA."

The union's proposal, tabled on March 8^th, was for a two year deal. The first year proposed COLA protection or a 5% general wage increase (whichever is greater). The second year proposed COLA or a 5% general wage increase, which would include a flat rate per hour that would positively impact the lowest wage workers in the public service. The proposal was designed to offer maximum protection for the union's members, protection that is in line with what is currently enjoyed by members of the legislative assembly, while remaining within the government's ability to pay.

"The bottom line is any wage offer that doesn't include COLA is a wage cut and no worker should be expected to take a wage cut-especially not the public service workers who kept our families safe and our province operating throughout all the uncertainty of the last few years."

The BCGEU began preparing for impasse and potential job action weeks ago as a standard part of the bargaining process. That work is ongoing and will include a provincewide member education campaign to ensure all 33,000 members of the union's public service bargaining unit are prepared for a strike vote.

"Our union has a long-standing and very constructive working relationship with the PSA," said Smith. "We've been bargaining agreements and solving problems together for almost 50 years. I'm hopeful that they will get the message and come back to us with an offer our members can ratify."

The BCGEU is the first of several public sector unions to bargain with the government in 2022. In total, almost 400,000 public sector workers have agreements that will, or already have, expire this year.
 
Backgrounder
 


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Contact: [email protected]

UWU/MoveUP

Press contact:
[email protected]

For Immediate Release

City of Burnaby Greenlights BCGEU Affordable Housing Project

 Replicable model could be a gamechanger for tackling housing affordability

Burnaby - Yesterday, Burnaby councillors voted seven to two in favour of a rezoning application brought forward by the BCGEU that had the potential to offer a new model for tackling housing affordability.

"Our union has been working on this project for more than two years," said BCGEU President Stephanie Smith. This vote is a major milestone that brings us one step closer to making our project a reality and we are deeply grateful to Mayor Hurley and councillors Calendino, Dhaliwal, Gu, Hillman, Keithley and Wang for their leadership in supporting our vision."

The project is located on Palm Avenue in a mixed use area north of Royal Oak Skytrain station. The union's plan is to develop a multi-use building with 292 units of housing-at least 50% at below-market affordable rates-as well as a 49-space childcare facility and new office space for the union. The proposal incorporates key design elements based on feedback from the city planning department including an expanded traffic study that ensured the project would not negatively impact existing residents.

The project received overwhelming support at a public hearing on March 29^th, with 45 residents showing up in person or on Zoom to speak in favour, and hundreds more sending letters of support to council.

"For the BCGEU, this project was driven by the vision of our membership," said Smith. "It's an opportunity to give back to a community we have been a part of for over 50 years. It's a chance to make real progress on affordable housing-an issue we have been actively engaged in for a long time. And Burnaby residents sent a clear message to council at the public hearing: they want to live in a progressive, affordable, inclusive city and they see projects like ours as the way to get there."

The BCGEU's rationale for the project stemmed from concerns that housing costs are far outpacing wage increases labour unions can bargain for. BCGEU members have passed multiple convention resolutions calling for their union to take action on housing affordability.

"Our union outlined the case for building affordable housing adjacent to major transit hubs as far back as 2014, and we are pleased today to take a step forward to implement our vision to provide a new area office for our members, and affordable housing and childcare for the community," said BCGEU Treasurer and Affordable BC campaign report co-author Paul Finch, who is leading the project. "This project leverages the increase in land value from upzoning to deliver more affordable housing, a policy we hope will be emulated by other municipalities across BC. We believe this model can be replicated by other unions, non-profits and faith groups to provide urgently needed housing starts amidst the current affordability crisis."

Facts about the project:

• The chosen location near Royal Oak Skytrain aims to align with Burnaby's 2019 Mayor's Task Force on Community Housing recommendations, which explicitly called for density around Skytrain stations/transit and building homes for working families with the maximum number of affordable units possible. The project includes significant 2-3 bedroom units for families. 
• Affordable rents will be commensurate with working-class wages, with the highest monthly rental cost for affordable units being 80% of CMHC market rates for the local market.

In addition to the rezoning with the City of Burnaby, the union engages advocacy for stronger housing policies through its Affordable BC campaign, and shareholder engagement on the financialization of housing with proposals and commitments from some of Canada's largest chartered banks.

Read the Backgrounder on the project here.

Read the Affordable BC Plan here: https://www.affordablebc.ca/

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About BCGEU: BCGEU is one of the largest unions in British Columbia, with over 85,000 members in almost every community and economic sector in the province.

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UWU/MoveUP