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It is important for unions to get involved in municipal politics as a way to improve their communities, the president of the Vancouver and District Labour Council (VDLC) says.
“It is our municipal governments that touch our members’ lives every day,” Joey Hartman told 175 delegates to Unifor’s BC Regional Council meeting today.
Municipalities administer local social programs, run libraries and even maintain the streetlights that keep our families safe at night, she said.
Hartman said many of the candidates the VDLC endorses for city council and local school boards end up getting elected, which goes a long way to making Vancouver a better place to live.
Hartman said labour councils are also a good way to find get involved with other groups committed to improving their community.
One of those groups in Vancouver is the Metro Vancouver Alliance, a broad-based alliance of community groups, labour, faith and educational institutions working together for the common good that will hold its founding assembly in March after more than two years of organizing.
“We work on issues that come out of our grassroots,” Deborah Littman, lead organizer at Metro Vancouver Alliance (MVA), told the council.
Littman said her group is currently holding small-group dialogues among its member organizations, including the labour council and several union locals, to come up with a list of priorities for the next municipal election in Vancouver.
Unifor Local 111 in Vancouver is a founding member of the MVA.
