Five things to know about new BC Fed president Irene Lanzinger

WATCH: Irene Lanzinger speaks with Global News about her goals as president of the B.C. Federation of Labour

The labour movement in British Columbia has a new leader.

Irene Lanzinger, former president of the B.C. Teachers’ Federation, became the president of the B.C. Federation of Labour yesterday, defeating Amber Hockin by 57 ballots during the federation’s annual convention.

She’s the first woman, teacher, and public sector employee to lead the B.C. Federation of Labour, who represent over 500,000 unionized workers across the province.

Lanzinger spoke with Global News to discuss her victory and goals as president. Here are five things we learned.

1. She’ll continue pushing to raise B.C.’s minimum wage

Lanzinger, who was secretary-treasurer of the BC Fed prior to her election, said that advocating for a $15/hour minimum wage would continue to be a top priority for the federation.

“There are so many good arguments,” she said.

READ MORE: The BC Fed began their campaign earlier this week

“We have high levels of poverty in BC, we have a big gap between rich and poor. A good minimum wage, a higher minimum wage, helps lift people out of poverty. When you earn $15 an hour, you spend all of that money, so it’s actually good for the economy too, because the money goes back into the economy. People spend that on rent, on groceries, and at $15 rather than $10.25, they might be able to go to a movie or a restaurant.

“We just think it’s good for everyone, there’s no reason not to.”

2. She’ll push to grow the number of unionized workers in B.C.

While her predecessor Jim Sinclair was generally lauded by labour union groups, the number of unionized workers in B.C. fell from 36 per cent in 1997 to approximately 31 per cent today.

“We’ll be doing a lot to try and help unions to organize. That’s not easy, because we’re in a tough organizing environment,” said Lanzinger.

“But you do improve jobs by making more jobs union jobs…We say organizing unions should be a right, not a risk.”

3. She wants to strengthen bonds between the labour and environmental movements

“We think it’s time we stop pitting jobs against the environment,” she said.

“The fact is we do need to clean up the environment and we do need good jobs, and we can do both of those things in areas like better forestry management, better transportation, clean energy, retrofitting schools and hospitals. Why aren’t we doing that? There’s good jobs in construction and it would reduce carbon emissions.”

4. She’ll keep a focus on health and safety

“Health and safety is always one of our top priorities,” she said.

“The BC Fed has actively pushed for criminal prosecution for employers who cause the serious injury or death of a worker through their negligence. We’re going to continue to work on that until we have better rules in place.”

5. She thinks being the first woman president of the BC Fed is important

“I think it is absolutely significant. It’s about time,” she said.

“Women make up half the workforce, and actually make up a greater proportion of the unionized workforce than men.”

“I hope to be out in the media lots, speaking out on worker’s rights, and to see a woman defending workers and prominent in the media, that’s a role model for young women, and I think that’s very important.”