ALL SOULS DAY ..eseceecescesceeeseeeeeeeseeeeeeeseeeeeseseeees4 Celebrate All Souls Day at Mountain View Cemetery on Oct 26, 2013 MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT The bargaining represen™- bargaining r= a Nick Eagland photo Langara Students’ Union’s new budget and memorandum agreement for 2013-2014 has students questioning the LSU’s future plans LSU doubles its expenses The Langara Students’ Union increases its employee salaries By NICK EAGLAND mid skyrocketing spending of students’ fee money, the Langa- ra Students’ Union has agreed to hike pay for its unionized staff for the next four years. Mean- while, the LSU plans a 17 per cent in- crease next year in students’ health and dental fees. The LSU, which received $853,401 in membership fees from students be- tween May 2012 and April 2018, ran a deficit last year of $133,525, according to its new budget report. The previous year it ran a surplus of $30,793. Under the new agreement, LSU staff who belong to the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 15 will receive pay raises of four per cent per year, bet- ter health-insurance coverage and in- creased employer contributions to their RRSPs. The LSU’s previous agreement, which covered 2007-2012, shows LSU staff wages are a minimum of $31 an hour and will increase to about $37 an hour by November 2017, the end of the new agreement’s term. The LSU’s wages are similar to those of other student unions, including the Kwantlen Student Association, the Capilano Students’ Union and _ the Douglas Students’ Union. These stu- dent groups base their wage increases on a combination of annual cost of liv- ing adjustments plus a one to two per cent increase. See LSU story , page 7 Fact The LSU plans a17 per cent increase next year in stu- dents’ health and dental fees. Cycling to work Bike to Work Week takes off on Oct. 28 to promote bicycle riding in the city By ANDREA ANTHONY fter seeing an increase in cyclists Apes: Bike to Work Week in the spring, organizers are hopeful that next week’s event will reflect the same growth. Over 2,500 people across Vancouver are registered for the event from Oct. 28 to Nov. 3. HUB is the non- profit organization that is running the event to promote cycling in the city. “The fall events are usually about half the size of the spring ones,” said HUB program manager Laura Jane. “It’s a great way to encourage people to try cycling the daily commute and also celebrate people who already do it in Vancouver.” Langara will host one of over 20 sta- tions in Metro Vancouver at Ontario St. and 50th Ave. There will be free drinks, free mechanic services and a chance to win a Mountain Equipment Co-op gift card. Stations will be open during the morning and afternoon commute throughout the week. “Cyclists need to have a heightened state of alertness,” said Vancouver Po- lice Department Const. Ryan Hooper. “Stay two steps ahead of drivers, pre- dict the road, and cycle defensively,” said Const. Hooper. Marpole’s community communica- tions director Jeremy Sally said, “Cy- clists should do anything they can to stay visible on the road.” To learn about cycling in a confident and safe way, HUB offers courses to the public. “That’s a really great way for someone who’s wanting to try it and to get an idea of what the best routes are and what’s the best way to do it,” said Jane. “Cycling is good for your health, it’s good for your wallet and it’s just good for the community in general.” & Gavin Fisher photo Lindsay Mitchell (Left), associate director of education programs for the Fraser Institute, and Jason Clemens, executive vice-president for the Fraser Institute. 100 students attend annual seminar Fraser Insitute’s seminar includes aboriginal issues By GAVIN FISHER post-secondary institutions across British Columbia attended the Fraser Institute’s annual student seminar last Saturday. Speakers at this year’s public policy seminar included Fraser Institute re- searchers as well as Paul Zak, TED speaker and author of The Moral Mol- 0:: one hundred students from ecule. The Fraser Institute is a conser- vative think tank that studies the ef- fects of public policy and economics on society. Lindsay Mitchell, associate di- rector of education programs for the Fraser Institute, said 22,000 students have joined these nationwide seminars since they first began in 1988. She said the seminars provide per- spectives that may not be available at colleges and universities. “There are a lot of liberal viewpoints on campus, and this might be, ‘Well here’s the other side of the story.” Bryan Breguet, an economics in- structor at Langara College, said it’s good to have seminars to get students engaged in public policy and econom- ics, but students need to be aware that think tanks often have an agenda. “If you attend a Fraser Institute [seminar] you should attend the others as well, then you decide which opinion you think has value.” This year’s seminar included lec- tures on health policy, Canada’s top economic issues, and aboriginal pros- perity and energy development in Brit- ish Columbia. Each lecture was fol- lowed by a group discussion period.