Monthly Archives: July 2013

It’s Time For The “Idle Worker No More” Movement In Canada—-Just Saying…

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July 25, 2013     https://andrewchernoff.wordpress.com/

By Andrew Phillip Chernoff

 

“OUR PEOPLE AND OUR MOTHER EARTH CAN NO LONGER AFFORD TO BE ECONOMIC HOSTAGES IN THE RACE TO INDUSTRIALISE OUR HOMELANDS. IT’S TIME FOR OUR PEOPLE TO RISE UP AND TAKE BACK OUR ROLE AS CARETAKERS AND STEWARDS OF THE LAND.” — Eriel Deranger
Athabasca Chipewyan First Nations 

Canadian workers, union and non-union, have something in common with our Canadian indigenous people and need to get where they are at, and do what they are doing.

The Idle No More movement gets it. The large part of Canadian workers—Canadians in general– don’t.

It’s time for the “Idle Worker No More” movement in British Columbia….in Canada.

So many British Columbian workers……Canadian workers…..not their unions….but individual workers…..union and non-union…..full-time, part-time, seasonal, casual….are mesmerized by the Pied Pipers of “the one-percent”.

Christy Clark’s British Columbia provincial Liberal government and the Stephen Harper federal Conservative government…….are examples of where so many Canadian workers have been are stunned…..left to their technological gadgets and fancy television sets….they just don’t get that they are being oppressed, used as labour hostages.

I have seen the results of the two most recent provincial and federal elections. Voter apathy……not even fifty-percent of Canadians or British Columbians could be bothered to get involved, playing right to the tune of the Pied Pipers of “the one-percent”.

Strength in numbers I often say. In the above cases, the Pied Pipers of “the one-percent” have very strong control of their labour hostages.

Why?

  • Collective personal debt of Canadians is huge.
  • The debt of retired Canadians is staggering as we have all been told over the last week.
  • Seniors without an adequate pension are forever struggling.
  • The Canadian government has changed the age of CPP from 65 to 67.

People have to work longer. Not just because of the increased age in getting the pension, but because they can not control their personal investments; can not control their personal spending; can not shake the Pied Pipers of “the one-percent”.

Fear as well is a big factor. Fear of a poor economy. Fear of change. The belief of the devil I know than the devil I don’t: If I think it is bad here, it might be worse somewhere else.

The Pied Pipers of “the one-percent” will use anything and everything; prey on any worry or anxiety, to quash hope, courage and faith.

In the words of Tommy Douglas, Courage, my friends; ’tis not too late to build a better world.

Workers, whether union or not, men and women, can no longer allow corporations, multi-national companies and labour oppressive provincial and federal governments:

  • to make us labour hostages in the race for imperialism, industrialism, of Canadian goods and resources;
  • to monopolise our labour for pennies on the dollar;
  • to erode hard earned gains for workers that involved blood, sweat, tears, suffering and in some cases death; things that we have taken for granted after years of being accustomed to having them as a matter of fact and engrained in our lives and work environments.

It’s time for workers, and all Canadians, to rise up and take action, to become collectively engaged, as caretakers and stewards of those hard earned gains, or everything that has been done for us by dedicated labour activists over the last one hundred and five years will be all for not and possibly lost for future generations of workers to come.

Those hard earned gains have become engrained in Canadian society for decades and if they continue to be threatened  or lost without opposition would create such upheaval economically, socially, in British Columbia and Canada for future generations that things we all and enjoy and have may become a dream and a wish: once it is gone, it may never be possible to get it back.

In the same passion, that our Brothers and Sisters in the Idle No More movement have called on a peaceful revolution, to honour Indigenous sovereignty, and to protect the land and water; I call on a peaceful revolution, to honour and fight to protect labour gains and rights that have been achieved for all workers, union and non-union; to protect, and improve the Canadian way of life; to keep, protect and sustain our land and water for generations of Canadians to come.

I conclude this commentary, with comments from Jack Layton who penned a letter to New Democrats and Canadians before he died in which he looked toward the future, refusing to let his vision of Canada die.

To young Canadians: All my life I have worked to make things better. Hope and optimism have defined my political career, and I continue to be hopeful and optimistic about Canada. Young people have been a great source of inspiration for me. I have met and talked with so many of you about your dreams, your frustrations, and your ideas for change. More and more, you are engaging in politics because you want to change things for the better. Many of you have placed your trust in our party. As my time in political life draws to a close I want to share with you my belief in your power to change this country and this world. There are great challenges before you, from the overwhelming nature of climate change to the unfairness of an economy that excludes so many from our collective wealth, and the changes necessary to build a more inclusive and generous Canada. I believe in you. Your energy, your vision, your passion for justice are exactly what this country needs today. You need to be at the heart of our economy, our political life, and our plans for the present and the future.

And finally, to all Canadians: Canada is a great country, one of the hopes of the world. We can be a better one – a country of greater equality, justice, and opportunity. We can build a prosperous economy and a society that shares its benefits more fairly. We can look after our seniors. We can offer better futures for our children. We can do our part to save the world’s environment. We can restore our good name in the world. We can do all of these things because we finally have a party system at the national level where there are real choices; where your vote matters; where working for change can actually bring about change. In the months and years to come, New Democrats will put a compelling new alternative to you. My colleagues in our party are an impressive, committed team. Give them a careful hearing; consider the alternatives; and consider that we can be a better, fairer, more equal country by working together. Don’t let them tell you it can’t be done.

My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world.

All my very best,

Jack Layton

Canucks’ Roberto Luongo drops longtime agent, hires high-profile J.P Barry-Pat Brisson duo

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By Brad Ziemer, Vancouver Sun July 24, 2013

VANCOUVER — Vancouver Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo has dumped his longtime agent and is now being represented by the heavyweight duo of J.P. Barry and Pat Brisson of CAA Sports.

Barry confirmed Wednesday that the change was made earlier this week. Luongo was previously represented by Gilles Lupien, who negotiated the 12-year, $64-million deal that Luongo signed with the Canucks in 2009.

There has been considerable speculation that Luongo is unhappy about the recent turn of events that saw Cory Schneider, and not him, traded away by the Canucks.

Barry would not directly comment on the reasons for the move, but said he plans to meet soon with general manager Mike Gillis and assistant general manager Laurence Gilman.

“I think I am going to have to reserve comment for a while,” Barry said. “We need to get up to speed and take some time. Obviously we are coming on to a difficult file and we need to give him proper advice and we need to take some time here, talk with Roberto, talk with Mike and Laurence. There are media reports and then there’s talking to the parties. We’ll take the time to do that over the next little while here … we’ll try and reach out to them in the next day or two.”

Barry said he’d prefer to let Luongo comment directly on the reasons for the change in representation.

“I think Roberto will probably make some comments, but in discussing it with him he felt he needed to perhaps find some different representation,” Barry said. “I’ll let him speak about that, but that is the position he took.”

Luongo has nine years remaining on his deal, which carries an annual salary cap hit of $5.3 million. So why would he need a new agent now?

“There’s a misperception about what agents do in the business,” said Barry, who also represents Daniel and Henrik Sedin. “We do more than just negotiate contracts. Our job is to guide players and their careers year to year and whether it deals with public relations or it deals with marketing or it deals with many, many other different things, obviously he is a star player and has been one of the best goaltenders in the world for a long time, so we’re here to help him out.”

Gillis travelled to Luongo’s home in south Florida early last week to meet with him.

“I have full confidence in Roberto and I have full confidence that he’ll be here and that is how we are operating,” he said after a promotional event with season-ticket holders at Rogers Arena on Tuesday night.

“It was fine, it was good,” Gillis said of the meeting. “It was fun. It was amiable. It wasn’t stressful. We talked about the team and we talked about the coaching change. We talked pretty well about everything we could possibly talk about. I told Roberto how I felt about him and how we felt about him as an organization.

“We talked about a variety of different things. All-in-all, we spent about 3½ hours together. I’m not sure how to describe it. It was just a normal conversation with a guy that I have known for a while. I didn’t leave with any sense of trepidation.”

Asked where he felt Luongo was emotionally, Gillis declined to answer: “I’m not going to talk about that,. There are some things that will remain private.”

In an email last week, Luongo said he had been asked by the team not to comment on his meeting with Gillis.

New Canucks coach John Tortorella also told reporters Tuesday night that he was confident Luongo would be back.

“I think he is a hell of a goalie and we are going to jump on his back,” Tortorella said. “You don’t go where you need to go if you don’t have goaltending. Everybody I have talked to, and I have only spoken to him once and never face to face, everybody says he is an absolute pro and a great guy. So I have tried to leave him alone, let him think this out and get his head wrapped around it. I think he’s going to be fine.

“He’s our guy, he’s our guy, we will not have any sniff at all if we don’t have him as our goalie. I have full confidence that he is going to respond and that he is going to handle it and will be fine.”

Time for Premiers to Stand Up to Federal Bullies on Health Care

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Paul Moist

Paul Moist

National President, Canadian Union of Public Employees

07/24/2013

In order to ensure that all Canadians receive the same high-quality, publicly delivered health care in every community across the country, provincial and territorial governments need stable and adequate funding from the federal government

When Canada’s premiers meet for the annual Council of the Federation this week, the future of health care is a critical item on the agenda.

The timing of this meeting is critical. It is the last meeting of our premiers before the 10 year Health Accord expires. The accord sets the terms for health care funding and priorities between the federal and provincial governments. Too bad Prime Minister Harper is not even taking the time to meet with premiers for a discussion.

The federal government has been neglecting its responsibility to protect public Medicare. We are facing a federal government that has abdicated its role in upholding national standards. They cut funding to the Health Council of Canada, the body responsible for ensuring national standards for quality care were met. They have walked away from discussions with the provinces to control the cost of drugs and forge a national drug coverage program. They cut health care funding for veterans and refugees, and refused to uphold the Canada Health Act’s protections for patients against user fees and extra-billing.

Now, with a new phase of funding agreements on the table, the federal Conservative government has presented a plan for health care that will mean $36 billion less for Medicare over the next 10 years.

The cuts start in 2014 with elimination of Canada Health Tranfser (CHT) equalization, then sharp cuts in CHT increases beginning in 2017. Instead of increasing at 6 per cent a year, the health transfer will be tied to economic growth, with a 3 per cent floor. Over time, the federal government’s share of health care spending will shrink to a small fraction of its original 50 per cent contribution — down to 18.6 per cent by 2024. This is not acceptable.

The federal government needs to be a full partner with the provinces and territories on health care. We need national standards for health care we need to uphold the Canada Health Act. This is important for all Canadians but cuts to health care funding will have deeper impacts on some of us. Women will continue to shoulder the biggest burden, as the primary providers of both paid and unpaid care. Canadians marginalized by class, gender, race, disability and other oppressions suffer most when federal funding and national standards are weakened.

CUPE also wants to make sure that we avoid a repeat of what happened in the 1990s when Federal health transfers were cut. Successive levels of government cut services and privatized them, and ended up imposing higher costs for families and more unpaid work for women; longer waits and two-tier care; more hospital overcrowding and avoidable deaths from medical errors and health care associated infections; and worse quality and higher costs for services delivered by the private sector. This is not a scenario we can look forward to with equanimity, not only because CUPE represents front-line health care workers but because all CUPE members, no matter where they work, depend upon Canada’s health care system.

You know that the Federal government has choices. The Parliamentary Budget Officer has shown that, instead of downloading financial problems onto other levels of government, Ottawa can increase program spending and transfers by $25 billion in 2012 alone — and more over time — while maintaining fiscal sustainability. Over 87 per cent of Canadians — in every region of the country and across party lines — support public solutions to make health care stronger.

We need a federal government that is invested in improving our health care — not one that slowly erodes the public services that make Canada great. We need a federal government that will protect Medicare by vigorously enforcing the enforce Canada Health Act’s ban on user fees and extra billing. We need a government that will be proactive about creating national strategies to address pressing issues in health care, like health associated illnesses. Finally we need a government that is willing to invest in improving Medicare — by creating a national continuing care program that will care for our growing senior population in a publicly-funded and publicly-delivered system and establishing a national pharmacare program.

The role of a premier is to stand up to federal government bullying on behalf of all Canadians. We are asking the Premiers to send a strong message to the Harper Conservative Government: Get back to the table and get back on board to support public health care for all in Canada.

The time for pension leadership is now: Georgetti calls on Premiers to move forward with an expanded Canada Pension Plan

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Wednesday, 24 July 2013  http://www.canadianlabour.ca

 

OTTAWA ― The Canadian Labour Congress is pleased Ontario has pledged to continue to press for an expanded Canada Pension Plan at this week’s Council of the Federation meetings. 

Ken Georgetti, the President of the Canadian Labour Congress says he was pleased to learn that Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynn is keeping CPP expansion on the agenda for the premiers to discuss.  The leadership of provincial governments have been a key factor building majority support in favour of increasing the amount that Canadians save through the CPP to avoid a future retirement income crisis.

“While the federal government drags its feet, it falls on the provinces to lead the way to ensure that Canadians have enough  for a decent retirement after a lifetime of work.  The future cost of caring for those who don’t have a workplace pension to help them save for retirement – housing, health care, community and social services – will be our children’s to bear, if government fails to act now,” says Georgetti.

According to Georgetti, it’s time for the Premiers to make it crystal clear to the federal government that the formula required to expand the CPP already exists and it’s time to get on with the work to make it a reality.

“The time for excuses is over. We’ve got 40 years of experience with voluntary pooled pension schemes, whether you call them RRSPs or PRPPs.  The bottom line is they don’t get the job done.  They are an inadequate and expensive savings vehicle for the vast majority of Canadians, and the federal government knows it. They just need to stop listening to financial industry lobbyists and the selective arguments of some selfish business interests.” he said.

A recent Harvard University study echoed the Canadian government’s own findings earlier this year that showed improving taxpayer subsidies (deductions for PRPP or RRSP contributions and Tax Free Savings Accounts) only benefit people who are already actively saving for retirement, whereas automatic contributions (like CPP premiums) greatly increase the savings of passive savers – the large majority of people who need a retirement plan like the CPP.

Georgetti says “The choice for today’s political leaders is stark – you can help business save a little more today by dragging your feet on retirement income security or you can take steps to prevent a retirement income crisis that will result in a generation of impoverished seniors whose care will come at a very high social and economic cost to the Canadian public and business alike.”

The Canadian Labour Congress, the national voice of the labour movement, represents 3.3 million Canadian workers. The CLC brings together Canada’s national and international unions along with the provincial and territorial federations of labour and 130 district labour councils. Web site: www.canadianlabour.ca Follow us on Twitter @CanadianLabour

Decent work hours

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Did you know that:
  • One of the greatest stories in world labour history is the fight for the 8-hour day;
  • In the early 1800’s, a normal work week in Canada and the U.S. was 14 to 16 hours a day, 7 days a week;
  • Canadian workers went on strike in 1834 for a 10 hour day, and again in 1872 for a 9 hour day. By the late 1800’s, workers began to organize and challenge employers to further reduce working hours to 8 hours per day;
  • On May 1, 1886, workers of the world tried simultaneous strikes and other job actions;
  • Some were killed, including policemen. Others were forced to pay the price, whether they were involved or not;
  • Over one hundred years ago, in 1894, the Canadian government proclaimed the first Monday in September as Labour Day, a statutory holiday;
  • To this day, workers of the world commemorate May 1 and the fight for the 8-hour day in Chicago.
When workers stand up together for fairness:
  • Working time is reduced to improve work-life balance;
  • Processes are put in place for a fairer allocation of working hours and holidays;
  • Overtime is paid at 1.5 times and even more;
  • But most provinces still don’t have an 8-hour work day;
  • In some provinces, the normal work week remains at 48 hours a week, and full-time employees still work, on  average, more than 40 hours a week in many provinces.