Tag Archives: canadian labour congress

Asbestos ban is a good start but we need a registry, says Hancock | CUPE

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May 11, 2016

Following Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s announcement that the federal government is “moving forward on a ban” of asbestos, CUPE National President Mark Hancock reiterated CUPE’s call for a comprehensive ban of the deadly substance.

“Asbestos is killing CUPE members. It’s been a serious hazard for decades. We’re happy to hear the government is moving on this issue, and we want to see them do the right thing by introducing a comprehensive ban,” said Hancock.

A comprehensive ban means, among other measures:

  • Banning the use, export and import of all asbestos-containing materials
  • Establishing an expert panel to make recommendations for implementation of the ban
  • Creating registries of cases of asbestos-related diseases and buildings used by the public that contain asbestos.

The Canadian Labour Congress has a detailed description of what a comprehensive ban would look like here.

“The government has to do more than just say ‘we’re banning it.’ We need to find out exactly where it is, so workers can take the appropriate actions to protect themselves from exposure. We need to prevent exposures, and support workers who have been exposed. It’s about protecting workers and protecting Canadians,” said Hancock.

Trudeau made the announcement on Tuesday at a building trades unions policy conference in Ottawa. No details or timetables for imposing a ban have been released. In April, CUPE joined the CLC in lobbying the federal government about implementing a comprehensive ban, and sent a letter to the prime ministeron the issue.

CUPE has been calling for a full ban of asbestos for decades, but successive governments have been slow to act and sometimes even worked counter to the cause, despite overwhelming evidence of the serious harm caused by exposure. Every year approximately 2,000 Canadians die from asbestos-related diseases.

Learn more about asbestos here.

Source: Asbestos ban is a good start but we need a registry, says Hancock | Canadian Union of Public Employees

Federal Budget 2016: First steps towards a fairer and more prosperous Canada | Canadian Labour Congress

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Tuesday, March 22, 2016

The Canadian Labour Congress responded to today’s federal budget announcement with optimism, saying it begins the important work of reinvesting in Canadian communities, creating jobs, addressing children’s and seniors’ poverty, and repairing the programs and services Canadians rely on.

“This budget is a step in the right direction for our economy, particularly the Employment Insurance improvements, which will make a big difference for unemployed Canadians, and help stimulate the local economies that need it most right now,” said Canadian Labour Congress President Hassan Yussuff.

Yussuff also highlighted the government’s infrastructure commitments: “I’m pleased to see significant funding for public transit, affordable housing, social infrastructure and green infrastructure. We can look forward to this creating jobs and helping to build communities across Canada.”

In terms of skills training and workforce development, Yussuff noted that the budget contained promising measures, but fell significantly short of what was promised in the government’s election platform.

However, Yussuff said he was encouraged to see the government announce significant and long-overdue investments in First Nations communities, including support for education, child care and infrastructure, particularly water and wastewater infrastructure.

“It is inexcusable that in a nation like ours, a critical necessity like clean water is not available to all. I’m very glad to see the government recognize that and commit the funding necessary to end boil water advisories on reserve in five years,” Yussuff said.

Finally, Yussuff said he was pleased to see the government’s action on both child poverty and seniors’ poverty in today’s budget.

“Returning the OAS eligibility age to 65 and increasing the Guaranteed Income Supplement for single low-income seniors are important signs that this government believes seniors should not be forced to retire in poverty. The next step on this issue is universal expansion of the Canada Pension Plan,” Yussuff added.

Other aspects of the 2016 budget the CLC highlighted include:

  • The government’s budget projections maintain the Conservatives’ reduced health care transfers to provinces and territories. The CLC said they are disappointed by that, but hopeful that continued talks between the Health Ministers will result in new, sustained funding for health care that allows our system to meet the needs of our aging population.
  • An additional $245 million to welcome and resettle an additional 10,000 Syrian refugees to Canada. The CLC commended the government for this announcement, and pledged to continue unions’ support for refugees.
  • Commitment to a National Early Learning and Child Care Framework, although no immediate investments are promised in the coming year outside of improvements to on-reserve child care facilities. The CLC believes families could have benefited by immediate, modest investments this year, to help provinces and territories begin to address child care access and affordability.
  • Restoration of the Court Challenges Program, an important service cut by the Conservatives that made financial assistance available to individuals and groups to assert their equality rights in Canada’s courts.
  • Support for the automotive sector and the promotion of food safety. However, the CLC noted that these and many other positive aspects of the budget could be compromised if the government ratifies the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Source: Federal Budget 2016: First steps towards a fairer and more prosperous Canada | Canadian Labour Congress

Job numbers highlight need for urgent EI reform

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Friday, February 5, 2016

Canada’s largest labour organization says today’s job numbers from Statistics Canada highlight the need for the kind of economic stimulus that urgently needed Employment Insurance (EI) reforms would produce now.

The job market was stagnant in January and unemployment rose to 7.2 percent. In Alberta, unemployment rose to 7.4 percent, the first time it has been above the national average since 1988.

Over the past year, unemployment has risen by 123,000 workers across the country: more than half of these (69,000) are in Alberta. Most job creation has been in Ontario, while other provinces continue to struggle with slack labour markets.

Self-employment has grown twice as fast (1.3 percent) as employment (0.6 percent). Private sector job growth continues to be weak, adding only 30,000 jobs over the past 12 months — a growth rate of only 0.3 percent. Two sectors account for most job growth over the last year — health care and social assistance added 90,000 positions, and professional, scientific, and technical services added 38,000 positions.

“These job numbers and the slow economic growth we’re seeing now demonstrate the need for the kind of immediate stimulus that would come from urgently needed fixes to the employment insurance program,” said CLC president Hassan Yussuff.

The Liberal government has promised to review and improve the program, but Yussuff says there are urgently needed reforms that can be immediately implemented.

“Fewer than 40 percent of unemployed Canadians – and fewer than 37 percent of unemployed Albertans – are receiving EI,” said Yussuff. “Part of the problem is that workers run out of benefits before they can find a new job.”

The immediate reforms the CLC hopes to see include:

  • Temporarily extending EI benefits for an additional five weeks to help displaced workers who risk exhausting their benefits while hunting for hard-to-find jobs. This would be especially helpful in hardest hit regions where jobs are especially scarce.
  • Returning to the previous definition of “suitable employment” and restoring the “best 14 weeks” pilot programs that created a single national standard for determining benefit levels.
  • Eliminating the eligibility requirement of 910 hours of insured employment for new entrants and re-entrants to the labour market to make access to EI fairer, especially for young workers and new Canadians.
  • Hiring staff to make up for years of devastating cuts under the Conservatives to help eliminate unacceptable delays faced by workers trying to get benefits approved, decisions on appeals, or questions answered.
  • Implementing the election promise for an increase of $200-million in funding for provincial literacy and essential-skills training aimed at those who don’t qualify for EI. While it’s not part of EI, it would help where it’s needed most.

“It takes time for infrastructure spending to kick in and create jobs, so let’s act now to stop penalizing unemployed workers, get them the benefits they paid into and so urgently need, and help them start contributing to their local economies again,” said Yussuff.

Issue: Jobs and the Economy
           Labour Force Survey

Source: Job numbers highlight need for urgent EI reform | Canadian Labour Congress

Liberals shouldn’t sign Harper’s TPP deal

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The massive Trans-Pacific Partnership puts corporations, not Canadians, first and the federal Liberal government should not sign it.

Representatives of the 12 countries involved in the TPP are gathering in New Zealand Feb. 4 to sign the far-reaching treaty.

The deal was reached in the dying days of the Harper Conservative government and during a federal election. The full text was only made public in November. The new government is still analyzing the 6,000-page text and has yet to carry out an economic impact assessment. So why the rush to sign?

“You or I would never sign a contract without reading the fine print,” said CUPE National President Mark Hancock. “But that’s exactly what the Liberals are about to do. It’s a serious mistake that will have consequences for decades to come.”

What we already know about the TPP is bad news.

The TPP gives new rights to the world’s richest corporations, while workers and the environment lose ground. The deal supports privatization, will drive down wages, and increases the cost of health care and education. A recent study shows Canada will lose at least 58,000 jobs in the first decade under the TPP.

Independent analysis confirms the TPP is not about helping Canadian exports – 97 per cent of our exports to TPP countries are already duty-free.

The TPP extends the length of patents on prescription drugs – a move that could cost our health care system up to $630 million a year, and is a major roadblock to a universal national prescription drug program. The TPP’s longer and stricter copyright protections could mean higher costs for schools, universities and libraries.

The TPP’s investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) system will let foreign corporations sue governments if a law or regulation interferes with their investments – and profits. Under these NAFTA-style rules, Canada is already the most-sued developed country.

“Governments, not corporations, should set our country’s laws and policies. The TPP stands in the way of immediate and bold action on climate change,” said CUPE National Secretary-Treasurer Charles Fleury.

The Harper government tried to buy its way around some of the deal’s consequences, promising billions in compensation for auto parts makers, as well as dairy, egg and chicken farmers. And the full social and economic costs of the TPP are only now being tallied.

“The TPP is a corporate rights deal. It rewrites laws and regulations in the interests of big business, at the expense of citizens and the environment,” said Hancock. “Canada should not sign this dangerous deal.”

Source: Liberals shouldn’t sign Harper’s TPP deal

Yussuff calls on CUPE members to hold Liberals to account | Canadian Union of Public Employees

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The next four years present an opportunity to build the Canada we want, Canadian Labour Congress President Hassan Yussuff told CUPE Convention delegates.

“The work you did and our movement did across the country was absolutely stellar,” he said. “We had to defeat the Stephen Harper government and it was such a pleasure to watch his sorry ass walk off that stage.”

While the outcome of the election may not have been ideal, it did end a decade of rule by a prime minister who used racism and xenophobia as an election tool, who attacked unions and who moved human rights backward a decade.

In the next four years, we must hold Justin Trudeau to his promises to repeal Bill C-377, to begin an inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women and to restore card-check certification. We must convince Trudeau to repeal, not revise Bill C-51, he said, adding that we must prioritize electoral reform so everyone’s voice counts and we don’t end up with huge majority governments representing a minority of Canadians.

He closed by calling on CUPE members to leave Convention united and stronger.

“The enemies of this organization are not in this room,” he said. “When you leave, leave as 600,000-plus united, and tell the employers: You attack one of us, you attack all of us.”

Source: Yussuff calls on CUPE members to hold Liberals to account | Canadian Union of Public Employees