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Downtown Eastside harm reduction peer workers unanimously vote to unionize

A group of Downtown Eastside harm reduction peer support workers standing together outside.
Downtown Eastside harm reduction peer support workers. Photo courtesy of CUPE Local 1004.
Laurence Gatinel - CFRO - Vancouver • BC | 20-01-2021
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By David P. Ball
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Peer workers at some of the best-known harm reduction facilities in the Downtown Eastside surprised even their own union this week when they opened the ballot box and discovered their vote to unionize was 100 per cent unanimous.

The peer workers at Portland Hotel Society (PHS) services — including the decades old Washington Needle Depot, Insite, iOAT and several overdose prevention sites — will now move to certify their membership in CUPE 1004.

The vote was cast last year but frozen because of PHS opposition to the labour drive and then delayed due to the onset of the pandemic.

But now PHS has acknowledged the full time workers it pays as peers with lived experience can be considered employees of the charity.

Andrew Ledger, president of CUPE Local 1004, spoke to The Pulse on CFRO about peer support workers' unanimous vote to unionize this week at Portland Hotel Society facilities.

And he reflected on two beloved peer workers who lost their lives before seeing their efforts pay off, including a key union drive leader.

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