According to the second quarter portfolio report, the GSU Defense Fund had assets of $3.8 million invested with RBC Dominion Securities in addition to $317,000 in cash on deposit at Affinity Credit Union. Total assets currently stand at $4.117 million.

“This is a new high in terms of the market value of the Defense Fund investments,” said GSU general secretary Hugh Wagner. “The main purposes of the Fund is to provide members with income support in the event they are on strike or locked out in a collective bargaining dispute and to defend the collective bargaining and union representation rights of GSU members.”

Each year since 1996 GSU members attending annual union meetings have voted to continue to pay additional dues of $10 per member per month into the GSU Defense Fund. Continuation will be voted on again at the fall 2017 annual meetings of GSU Locals and Sub-Locals.