Misused funds

according to a B.C. Supreme Court decision handed down earlier this month, the Union of British Columbia Performers misused member retirement funds by placing them into a ‘general welfare trust’ for use in other union programs. The plaintiffs, three ubcp members, claim the funds (about $1.7 million collected by ubcp under the terms of its 1992/93 collective agreement) should have been held in trust only for retirement programs.

Legal costs for the plaintiffs have been indemnified by the ACTRA Performers Guild and the ACTRA Fraternal Benefits Society. As part of a counterclaim, the ubcp has sued the apg, the afbs and actra’s b.c. branch.