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.
CLC Website
from the Canadian Labour Congress
OTTAWA, June 6, 2013 — The President of the Canadian Labour Congress says that a government bill claiming to promote financial transparency is actually meant to bully and harass unions and their members, and he is calling upon the Senate of Canada to defeat it.
from the Canadian Labour Congress
The President of the Canadian Labour Congress says Ottawa should admit that seasonal unemployment is a reality in Canada and design the Employment Insurance system accordingly.
from the Canadian Labour Congress
Suppose home insurance depended on how often you move.
from the Canadian Labour Congress
OTTAWA, March 1, 2013 — The President of the Canadian Labour Congress says the federal government should scrap changes it has made to Employment Insurance regulations, which punish unemployed workers and treat them like second class citizens.
OTTAWA, December 18, 2012 (Marketwire) — The President of the Canadian Labour Congress says he is deeply disappointed that the country's Finance Ministers have once again failed to move forward on improving the Canadian Pension Plan, but he says most provinces want CPP reform and he vows to continue working with them.
"I blame Ottawa for this," says CLC President Ken Georgetti. "Most provinces want to use the CPP to improve retirement pensions for Canadians but the federal government keeps stalling. This government is letting down millions of Canadians who are not able to save enough for a comfortable retirement."
Georgetti was responding to a meeting of Finance Ministers near Ottawa on December 16-17. At the conclusion, federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said there was no consensus among provinces and there will be no immediate action on the CPP. He added that federal and provincial officials have been asked to do more study about what would constitute a "modest" increase in the CPP and to advise on the best timing for any increase.
"Mr. Flaherty said pretty well the same thing a year ago," Georgetti says. "Government officials did produce a study for this meeting that provided several workable options for enhancing the CPP. This is the time for action, not obstruction."
Georgetti says that Canadians are already facing a pensions crisis and that it will get worse. Sixty per cent of workers have no workplace pension, while one-third of Canadians between the ages of 24 and 64 have no personal retirement savings. "We have to do something about pensions and soon. If we don't act now, taxpayers in the future will have to spend billions of dollars more than they do today to support retirees living in poverty."
Ottawa also claims that the economy is too fragile to allow for any increased CPP contributions from workers and employers. Georgetti says, "The research provided by government officials for this meeting shows that the economic effect of increased contributions would be minimal, and also that Canada would still have a lower rate of payroll contributions that the U.S. and other OECD countries."
Georgetti vows that the CLC will continue to advocate for on behalf of all Canadians. "We believe that there is already enough support among the provinces to move forward on the CPP and we are going to be pushing hard for this to happen at the next Finance Ministers' meeting in June."
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.
from the Canadian Labour Congress
OTTAWA, December 16, 2012 — The President of the Canadian Labour Congress says that provincial and territorial Finance Ministers' meeting near Ottawa cannot allow the federal government to sabotage discussions aimed at improving the Canada Pension Plan.
by Ken Georgetti
OTTAWA, ONTARIO — September 6, 2012 — The veiled threats of a backbench Conservative MP to punish federal public servants for exercising their democratic rights as citizens has drawn the ire of the country's largest labour organization.
The president of the Canadian Labour Congress says Pierre Poilievre owes an apology to every public servant, especially to citizens of Quebec, for suggesting that a law be passed to deny them the same democratic rights enjoyed by other Canadians.<p><!–more–></p>
"Let's be clear about this. The MP for Nepean-Carleton is not interested in the rights or the freedoms of federal public servants. He's playing politics. He's trying to manufacture a crisis where none exists in order to justify what he really wants to do — and that's silence another critic of his government's agenda," said Ken Georgetti.
According to Georgetti, one of the services unions often provide for their members is to analyze the platforms of political parties and the records of candidates seeking election. Many organizations, private and public, offer a variation of this service to their members, subscribers and customers. And more often than not, that analysis comes with an endorsement or a recommendation. It's part of the democratic process.
This is about the Conservatives using the power they currently enjoy to hurt their political opponents.
"For a politician from Ontario — who has himself been endorsed in the past by the same process — to suggest that Quebec voters who belong to the PSAC should be treated differently is unfair. It also betrays a political ignorance that's unfitting of a Parliamentary Secretary not to mention stunning for an elected representative from the capital region," he said, adding that if Poilievre failed to apologize he should be stripped of his duties as Parliamentary Secretary by the Prime Minister.
Threatening legislation to impose rules on how a union serves and communicates with its own members — in this case a union with one of the most democratic structures and which is among the most accountable to its members because of federal law — is absurd and dangerously undemocratic. "What's next, Pierre? A law to stop newspapers in Quebec from endorsing the PQ?" chided Georgetti.
"Of course, that's not what this is all about," added Georgetti. "This is about the Conservatives using the power they currently enjoy to hurt their political opponents. It's the bully-state in action and apparently it's the labour movement's turn for a shakedown," added the labour leader.
Georgetti says it should come as no surprise that Canada's unions have a place on the Conservative hit list. Our history of standing up for fairness for working people stands in stark contrast to the unbalanced corporate agenda at play in Ottawa under the current government. "This isn't the first time that critics of this federal government have been singled out for special treatment. It won't be the last as long as politicians of Mr. Poilievre's caliber occupy seats in Parliament," he said.
Reports of rich public service severance packages exaggerated.
Dateline: Tuesday, March 20, 2012
by Andrew Jackson Canadian Labour Congress
The CBC have given a lot of play to a Greg Weston story that allegedly generous severance payments to public servants amounting to as much as $2 Billion will be triggered by job cuts in the upcoming Budget.
from the Canadian Labour Congress
The President of the Canadian Labour Congress says that new Statistics Canada numbers give the lie to the federal government's claim that unemployed Canadians do not want to look for work.
Ken Georgetti was commenting on the release by Statistics Canada of figures showing that between January and March 2012 there were 5.8 unemployed workers for every job vacancy in Canada.
