About Us
Our union represents more than 2500 members who work in the newspaper and printing industries throughout British Columbia. We also represent a chocolate factory – Purdy’s Chocolates – which employs about 100 of our members in Vancouver.
Our workplaces range from the province’s largest newspapers – The Vancouver Sun and The Province, which together employ 900 members – to dozens of smaller community papers, ranging from the Mission City Record to the Campbell River Courier to the Prince Rupert Daily News.
To represent and service members from widely different workplaces and from throughout the province, our union is organized into six councils, where elected representatives deal with the issues closest to the membership. The councils are: Vancouver Island, the Interior, Lower Mainland Community Newspapers, Commercial/Industrial, Kennedy Heights and Granville Square.
The Interior Council represents members who work at: 100 Mile House Free Press, Alaska Highway News, Cranbrook Daily Townsman, Dawson Creek Daily News, Hucul Printing, Kamloops Daily News, Kamloops This Week, Kelowna Daily Courier, Nelson Daily News, Penticton Herald, Prince George Citizen and Prince George This Week, Prince Rupert Daily News, Salmon Arm Observer, SpeeDee Printing Solutions, Trail Times,
The Lower Mainland Council represents members who work at: Abbotsford News, Abbotsford Times, Bowen Island Undercurrent, Burnaby News, Burnaby NOW, Chilliwack Progress, Coquitlam NOW, Hope Standard, Korea Times, Langley Times, Maple Ridge News, MetroValley Classifieds, Mission City Record, Peace Arch News, Richmond Review, Surrey Leader, Surrey NOW, Royal City Record, TriCity News, WestEnder, Xtra West
The Vancouver Island Council represents members who work at: Campbell River Courier-Islander, Cowichan News-Leader, Nanaimo Daily News, Queen’s Printer, Times Colonist, Total Delivery Systems,
The Commercial Industrial Council represents members who work at: Canadian First Marketing, College Printers, Construction, Maintenance & Allied Workers Bargaining Council, elefont designs, Flint Ink Corp of Canada, GA Roedde, Hostmann-Steinberg, Linda Coe Graphic Design, Marine Printers, Mitchell Press, Purdy Chocolates, Starfish Communications, Sun Chemical, Working Design, working TV,
The Granville Square Council represents members who work at: Pacific Newspaper Group (Vancouver Sun & Province) Granville Square Plant
The Kennedy Heights Council represents members who work at: Pacific Newspaper Group (Vancouver Sun & Province) Kennedy Heights Plant
These councils also send representatives to the Local Executive, which meets monthly and directs the affairs of the Local between meetings of our Annual Congress.
The Annual Congress meets in October and is the supreme decision-making body of our Local. About 65 representatives from throughout the province are elected by the members to meet for a few days to consider the major policies affecting the Local. This is also where our elected officers are nominated.
The Local has five full-time officers – a president, secretary-treasurer and three vice-presidents. These officers work with the councils to deal with the day-to-day concerns of our members. We also have one full-time and one part-time national representative assigned to our Local. Additionally, we have three clerical staff who work in our downtown Vancouver office.
Our Local is part of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada, a national union based in Ottawa. It represents 180,000 workers in telecommunications, broadcast and print media, pulp and paper and energy industries. We are also affiliated with the Canadian Labour Congress, the B.C. Federation of Labour and various local labour councils throughout the province.
