BCBusiness

aDam blasberG march 2015 BCBusiness 23 I rene Lanzinger, recently elected president of the B.C. Federation of Labour and the first woman to hold the post, didn't waste time making good on her campaign pledge to maintain the Fed's activist tradition of standing up for workers. Barely a week into the job, she had already visited two picket lines, while vowing to provide a voice to all work- ers in the province, whether union or non-union. Daughter of immigrant parents from Aus- tria, Lanzinger made her union mark as president of the mili- tant B.C. Teachers' Federation, before moving to the labour fed- eration as secretary-treasurer in 2010. The 60-year-old math and science teacher won organized labour's top job, replacing Jim Sinclair after his 15 years at the helm, by just 57 votes over chal- lenger Amber Hockin, who had called for a change in direction by the federation. After 104 years, the B.C. Federa- tion of Labour finally has its first woman president. What does that mean to you? It's about time. Women repre- sent half the unionized workers in this province. There's also the importance of role modelling. I believe that young women see- ing a woman representing half a million people, speaking out on workers' rights and progressive issues, is important. I will be out there as often as I can, and I hope there are young women who are influenced by that in a positive way. Irene Lanzinger T h e C o n v e r s a t i o n the b.c. Fed's new boss on declining unionization rates, a $15 minimum wage and why business is not the enemy by Rod Mickleburgh You are also the first leader of the federation from the public sector. Does that indicate the private sector, where unioniza- tion rates have fallen dramati- cally, is losing its prominence in the labour movement? It's probably good to have a public sector president, given that we are now a majority of the union movement. But no, we are not going to be the future face of labour. We are as concerned about declin- ing unionization there as are our brothers and sisters in the private sector. It shows we have some organizing work to do. We want to move those numbers up, whatever union we come from. Well, that may be difficult. The unionization rate in this once- union-heavy province now stands sixth in Canada at 31.5 per cent, trailing even Prince Edward Island. Are British Columbians turning away from unions? I don't get that sense. I think that perception is the result of a kind of narrative established by anti-union, anti-tax political forces who want to cut public services. We've had govern- ments, aided by some right- wing media outlets, that try to discredit unions. Yet, if you ask people whether they'd like to have a union job or not, most would rather have a union job because they know that means better wages and benefits, and there's someone to go to if you get into trouble, particularly on health and safety issues. Good wages and benefits and union jobs are good for the economy and good for the community. Everyone should support that, including governments. And one day, we're going to have govern- ments who do that. You are quite the optimist. I am. You can't be president of the B.C. Federation of Labour without being an optimist. Oth- erwise, you'd run away and hide. FActoID in 1984, workdays lost in B.C. because of strike totalled 813,500. in 2013, the total was 93,500. b.C.'s total unionization rate 1997 ......... 36.5% 2001 ......... 35% 2007 ......... 32% 2013 ......... 31.5% In 1973, the rate was 42%

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