Cupe Local 748 members that work for School District #8 are holding rallies in Creston on November 27 and in Nelson on November 28 to encourage public support in their efforts to achieve a fair and reasonable agreement with their employer.
Come out to one of the rallies and support our Brothers and Sisters in Cupe Local 748. Rally info is below.
Paul Moist
National President, Canadian Union of Public Employees
08/30/2013 http://www.huffingtonpost.ca
Labour Day is a time to celebrate the role of workers in the economy and address the real economic issues of our time.
Labour Day is about more than a well-deserved day off. It is a time to celebrate the important contributions working people make to our economy. It is also a good time to reflect on what is needed to improve the economic and social well-being for all workers.
Working people are the engine of the economy. The work we do, the services we provide and the money we spend drive the economy. But, in 2013 the economy is failing working people. Downward pressure on wages and government austerity programs are resulting in layoffs, contracting out, privatization of public services while families struggle to make ends meet. The rich are getting richer and the debt load of working people is increasing. It is no wonder our economy is experiencing such slow growth.
Economic recovery is being undermined by federal government actions over the last two years that erode workers wages, including: exploitation and fast-tracking approval for business to employ temporary foreign workers at wages below market rates; cuts to Employment Insurance and forcing workers to work at lower wages, continuous interference in the collective bargaining process on the side of employers, as well as attacks on unions and labour rights. These measures all need to be reversed and replaced by policies that support, rather than undercut real wage increases for workers.
At the same time, workers need a retirement security system in Canada to support our economy and provide economic security after a lifetime of work. It is a central economic problem today. Without adequate retirement incomes, we will pay with reduced living standards and an increase in seniors’ poverty. These outcomes, will, in turn, cost taxpayer money through programs like the federal Guaranteed Income Supplement and provincial and territorial income support and social assistance programs.
But, study after study shows that Canadians are not saving enough for retirement, and that this problem will only get worse as future generations retire. These troubling projections demonstrate the shortcomings of an increasingly individualized retirement income system. Working people are increasingly told their retirement security is their own problem. Save more for your own retirement at the same time your real wages are declining and debt level increasing?
The answer is clear. The economy needs a raise — disposable incomes need to rise to increase demand and create good jobs and economic growth. And we need to build an economy that sustains jobs with decent incomes for the next generation.
As we celebrate Labour Day this year, let’s really celebrate the contribution of working people by continuing to press for economic change to reverse growing income inequality. Press for economic change to drive the economy through higher wages and economic change to ensure all Canadians can retire in dignity.
Workers can count on the labour movement to do just that. We do that through collective bargaining and political action on behalf of all working people. And on this labour day, as national president of Canada’s largest union, I repeat my call to the government of Canada to convene a national pension summit where we can roll up our sleeves and address the affordability issues with defined benefit pension plans and re-tool the Canada Pension Plan so that it will continue to provide economic security for all Canadian retirees for generations to come.
From: The Independent, Vancouver, B.C., August 29, 1903
OTTAWA ― The Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) is quite sure its name is among the organizations and individuals on the Harper government’s list of “enemies” provided to new Cabinet Ministers earlier this week. But to confirm it, the CLC has filed formal access to information requests to key government departments, asking them to produce the lists of stakeholders deemed friends and foes by ministerial staff at the request of the Prime Minister’s Office.
Knowing that the government will try to avoid transparency and that it could take months and probably numerous appeals before the information is released, the CLC plans to bide the time with a Facebook contest in which Canadians can guess who’s on the Harper Government Top 10 Enemies List.
“It comes as no surprise to us that this government builds files and keeps lists of people they regard as threats to their own agenda,” said CLC President Ken Georgetti. “What is surprising is the PMO going so far as to refer to groups that have different opinions or have different ideas about how to make life better for Canadians as ‘enemies’ and instruct Ministers of the Crown to shut them out,” he said. “It smacks of the darkest days of McCarthyism and is a un-Canadian view of the world.”
Georgetti says there is no doubt in his mind the CLC is among the government’s list of enemies: “Our efforts to expand the Canada Pension Plan and help people save more for retirement, to expose the reckless expansion of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program and the abuse of migrant workers, and to reverse radical cuts to Employment Insurance have us in the PMO’s crosshairs.”
The CLC’s contest can be found at www.facebook.com/Harpers-Most-Unwanted and will run until all of its access to information requests have been fully answered.
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
Andrew Phillip Chernoff 