Convention 2024: Day 3 Recap

September 14, 2024

MoveUP President Annette Toth with new MoveUP lifetime members Lori Mayhew and David Black

The third and final day of the 2024 MoveUP Convention was not lacking in excitement in any way.

2024 Peter Corren Award: Zoran Stjepanovic

MoveUP’s Peter Corren Award was created in 2018 to acknowledge a member or retiree, living or deceased, who has volunteered their time and energy to ending discrimination against First Nations, 2SLGBTQIA+, Persons Living with Disabilities and/or Persons of Colour.

It is given to an individual who has displayed a passion for grassroots advocacy within the four equity groups that our Human Rights & Multicultural Committee supports as defined by the Canadian Labour Council and BC Federation of Labour.

MoveUP is proud to present this year’s award to Zoran Stjepanovic. A MoveUP member from Capilano University, Zoran has been a dedicated advocate for the health and well-being of those in marginalized communities, in particular the 2SLGBTQIA+ community.

Zoran has championed the intersectional needs of queer, trans, and gender-diverse individuals through his volunteer involvement with the Health Initiative for Men, Qmunity, and the Windsor-Essex Pride Fest.

Peter Corren was one of the most prominent 2SLGTBQIA+ activists in Canadian history. Along with his husband, Murray, the two are known for their series of court challenges that helped ensure the rights for gay people to adopt children, led to the legalization of equal marriage, and the inclusion of human rights material and curricula in BC’s public schools.

Peter meant a great deal to 2SLGBTQIA+ Canadians across the country, but he also meant a lot to our MoveUP family specifically. He was a 20-year member of our union, a dedicated job steward, and a human rights activist. He passed away in December 2009 following a long battle with cancer, but his legacy remains.

Vice-President election results

Following the presentation of the Peter Corren Award, the election results for vice-president were announced. MoveUP welcomes our vice-presidents for the next three-year term: Rysa Kronebusch (Utilities), Dimitri Ossinsky (ICBC), and Christy Slusarenko (Combined Units).

Lifetime Membership

Our 2024 Convention also saw two long-time leaders of our union – David Black and Lori Mayhew – presented with the most prestigious honour our union can bestow: lifetime membership.

After serving as president for over a decade, and before then having been a vice-president and other leadership positions within our union, David began the process of stepping down in June 2022 as part of his desire to ensure there would be time for our union to prepare for a leadership shift with all the passing of knowledge that it entails.

As the longest-serving president in our union’s history, there are far too many campaigns and job actions to list out. But perhaps the legacy David leaves behind in his time is highlighted by our union’s fight to protect our members’ jobs in the public sector and to push back against government (namely, the BC Liberals now dispersed into BC United/BC Conservatives).

Lori Mayhew redefined the role of secretary-treasurer for our union. She established new processes for the way our union handles financial requests and decisions, ensuring accountability and transparency, and made shrewd financial investments to guide our union to a strong and stable financial standing both in our day-to-day operations and in our ever-critical defence fund.

Lori also broke glass ceilings and was a role model for working women in our union. She stood in the face of misogyny at a time when some among our executive board questioned “whether a women should be paid that much” as the role of secretary-treasurer transitioned into a full-time role. Towards the end of her tenure with MoveUP, she would also briefly assume the role of president becoming just the third women president in our union’s history.

Congratulations David and Lori and thank you for your many years of dedicated and passionate service to our members and our union.

Resolutions of note

The following resolutions were passed by delegates on the final day of Convention.

MoveUP will lobby vendors to eliminate plastic sleeves and bags used to package products and instead use environmentally favourable product (EN-1);
CB-1 amended, CB-4 amended, CB-7 revised (Nominations), CB-11 (Trial), CB-12 (Decision), CB-13 (Appeals), CB-14 (Prohibited Activities);
MoveUP will ramp up the Decriminalization of Sex Work campaign (CS-1); and
MoveUP will continue to educate and advocate for an increase to income assistance for those on disability (CS-2)