Do you use Blue Cross for your Medical/Dental?
Unlike most other benefit insurance providers, Pacific Blue Cross (PBC) is a not-for-profit organization with an elected board of directors. CUPE members who receive extended health benefits through PBC can vote in the PBC board elections.
You may remember there was an election earlier this year that started and then was stopped. Voting in the new election begins at 8:00 am on Friday, August 21 and closes at 4:30 pm on Tuesday, September 3. We are asking for your help to get the message out to your members and make sure they vote.
Why is the election important? Tens of thousands of CUPE members across BC rely on Pacific Blue Cross services, and we want to ensure that PBC stays in good hands, with good governance by people who care about workers and their families. The workers at PBC are also CUPE members, and we want to make sure there are directors around the table who respect their work and their collective agreement.
CUPE has endorsed the following candidates for director:
- Jatinder Bir
- Lori Mayhew
- Aaron Sumexheltza
Jatinder, Lori and Aaron are all committed to ensuring that Pacific Blue Cross keeps people-focused programs and services at the core of how they operate. They know that working people need reliable and affordable access to things like prescription drugs, vision care, and physiotherapy.
We’re aiming to get 1000 votes for our candidates, and we are relying on your connections with your members to make that happen. We know the election timing isn’t ideal, especially with the start of the school year, so we have made it easy for you to participate by providing you the following tools:
- A draft email to send to your members
- A poster for your union notice boards
- A website with information about our endorsed candidates, and
- Social media shareables
Voting closes on September 3, so we need to act fast.
Pacific Blue Cross members will each receive an email from PBC with information about candidates, the voting process, and a link to the designated Simply Voting site. They will need their Policy Number and ID Number (from their PBC ID card) to vote.
If you have any questions about the election, or how to use these tools to connect with your members and encourage them to vote, reach out to Tania Jarzebiak at tjarzebiak@cupe.ca. Tania may also reach out to you to discuss what your local can do to ensure our candidates win this election.
Thank you for your attention to this, and for mobilizing your members behind this important vote.