News and media

Vancouver - Responding to today’s announcement of a small increase in the minimum wage, BC Federation of Labour President Irene Lanzinger says “it simply isn’t enough to help address the plight of 500,000 low wage workers in BC.” The increase to $11.35 September 1, 2017 will still leave a minimum wage worker in an urban centre more than $4,000 below the poverty line. Almost a year ago, the Clark

Vancouver - A week of events to highlight the depths of poverty and inequality in BC and the need for the next provincial government to take action through a concrete poverty reduction strategy kicks off in Vancouver Saturday, February 25. The launch event is a panel discussion on Good Jobs, Good Wages that focuses in on concrete measures that can be taken to tackle the rise of precarious work and

Vancouver - Today’s BC budget offered a number of election goodies for voters—including a rollback of some of the massive increases in MSP premiums imposed by the BC Liberals—but nothing to invest in vital public services that have been cut over the past 16 years, says the BC Federation of Labour. “Hard working British Columbians and our families are grappling with urgent challenges around

Vancouver - Today’s Speech from the Throne offered few concrete measures to make life better for hard-working British Columbians, nor did it deliver real action to address the growing poverty and inequality crisis that is too prevalent in our province, says the BC Federation of Labour. “It was the same platitudes, and same old excuses from a tired government that’s run out of gas,” says BCFED

Vancouver - The BC Federation of Labour is renewing its call for the BC government to make workplaces safer after two more workers were killed in fatal incidents at Okanagan timber facilities in the past five days. On Friday, a worker at a log sorting facility in Lumby was killed on the job. Yesterday, an employee at a mill in Kelowna also died in a workplace accident. The RCMP and Workers’

Vancouver – The BC Insulators Union and the BC Federation of Labour are extremely relieved the BC Court of Appeal has unanimously overturned a February 2016 BC Supreme Court ruling that WorkSafeBC laws protecting asbestos removal workers from the deadly substance were too “voluminous and complex” to enforce. The BC Court of Appeal this month overturned a Supreme Court decision of February 2016