Teach Landlords a Lesson: Defend the VTU

Over the past two years we’ve successfully fought off multiple attempts from landlord, Andrzej Kowalski, to evict our neighbours from the 1177 Tenants Collective. First, Kowalski tried to displace the whole building and convert tenants’ homes into unnecessary luxury condos. He was defeated by a powerful tenant-led campaign. Kowalski then set his sights on Terry, the Moss Boss, by trying to claim that a caretaker was needed for their 7-unit building. This too was defeated through the power of tenant organizing. Unable to take no for an answer, Kowalski has now turned his sights on the VTU itself. Earlier this month, Andrzej Kowalski sued the Vancouver Tenants Union for $35,000 in small claims court. We have retained lawyers who think we have a strong chance of defending against the lawsuit. However, there’s never any certainty in litigation, and a loss of $35,000 would financially devastate the VTU. Kowalski would destroy this organization that we have spent the last 8 years building together. He’s not satisfied with getting rich from exploiting his tenants. He also feels entitled to dip into our pockets and take what we’ve all contributed to building this movement. WE ARE GOING TO FIGHT BACK We are launching the Teach Landlords a Lesson: Defend the VTU campaign to urge tenants across the city to come together for the VTU and fight back against landlord intimidation. We will not tolerate landlords using a biased court system to bully us into submission. While we defend ourselves in court, we will fight the likes of Kowalski in the streets, in our buildings and our neighbourhoods. The best way to teach landlords a lesson is to show that when they hit us, we only get stonger. To that end, we're pursuing an ambitious fundraising target that will help insulate us from this threat. If we win this lawsuit we’ll use this money raised to bolster our tenant organizing and anti-displacement work, and to work towards a permanent, member-accessible office & educational space. This is not the first legal threat we've faced this year, and it won't be the last. Monthly sustainer donations or an increase to your dues will also ensure that this is never a problem or worry for us again. Please give what you can to defend the VTU! While we work on a more streamlined member dues portal, you can contact treasurer@vancouvertenantsunion.ca to increase your monthly dues. Any dues increases for the next 6 months will be counted as donations towards this campaign.