SGEU ad justified

In his Dec. 10 letter, D. L. Meyers raised questions about the Saskatchewan Government and General Employees’ Union (SGEU) campaign in support of public liquor stores.

Members, who have been democratically elected to make decisions about how union funds are spent, believe it is important to have a broad public discussion about public vs. private liquor sales. This important issue affects not only union members, but families and communities across the province.

To better understand the implications of privatizing liquor retailing, we commissioned a research project to study the effects of public and private liquor systems in Western Canada. The report, Impaired Judgment, which can be found on the SGEU website at www.sgeu.org, shows that public liquor systems benefit average families by returning profits from liquor sales to the provincial government.

This is money that benefits us all — because it can be reinvested in schools, hospitals, community safety, parks and much more.

In order to ensure that this message reached as many people as possible, we ran a TV ad that focuses attention on this issue.

Meyers raises questions about costs. SGEU members have always had the right to access financial statements and to have a say in how the union’s money is spent — in the same way that taxpayers have a say in how government money is spent. They can review budgets and financial statements. And, they can influence decisions by electing leaders who best represent their views. Donna Christianson, Watson Christianson is chair, SGEU/SLGA negotiating committee.