If contributions for this edition of Island Views are any indication, those of you in attendance at recent VIDC meetings have heard our appeal, i.e., no content, no newsletter. The dilemma for this issue was not a lack of submissions: there were an abundance - and many of three or more pages in length. So thank-you, thank-you, thank-you to all the contributors!

No, the dilemma this issue wasn't about how to deal with a limited volume of material. Instead, it was a matter of compiling this material within limited available time, and discovering that my fellow members in CUPE Local 3479 were so overloaded with work they would have difficulty getting the newsletter printed for us. [We have been relying on the printing services available through Local 3479 because our employer allows us to do union printing virtually "at cost" -- with the proviso that institutional printing requirements take priority, and because there isn't a unionized commercial print shop in the Comox Valley.]

So, call this an "interim fall edition" of Island Views. Submissions received earlier this summer, or those received just a little too late for the spring issue, are included herein. The smaller number of pages for this issue enabled a smaller volume for printing, and appreciation is due the Local 3479 members who "squeezed" in the job.

A complete fall edition of Island Views is forthcoming. In fact, as the Communications Committee has previously discussed, it is our intention to begin to schedule publication so as to send copies with the VIDC minutes and meeting announcements. Watch for a complete Fall 1998 edition in your next VIDC mailing and, if you wish to contribute further, please send submissions before October 31^st.

Remember, whenever possible to provide your submissions on disk, or send an e-mail attachment so as to minimize the time necessary for re-typing. And please endeavour to limit submissions to 1,000 words or less. Submissions received after October 31^st will be included in the Winter edition -- deadline is January 15^th.

Gail Miller, Chair
Communications Committee

Island Views provides a forum through which CUPE members on Vancouver Island can express their perspectives on matters that impact the labour movement today. Contributions need not reflect agreement with the official positions of our union, or the labour movement on the whole. However, we do ask that your perspectives be respectfully stated, and that you accept our assertion that publication does not necessarily imply agreement with, or endorsement by, the Vancouver Island District Council and/or the Canadian Union of Public Employees. The names of contributors will be entered in a draw to be conducted at the next scheduled VIDC meeting. The winner of each draw will receive $50.

Forward submissions to:

1052 Arrowsmith Avenue, Courtenay, B.C. V9N 8M8  Fax: (250) 897-0271   E-mail attachments to: miller@nic.bc.ca