Workplaces

Feb 042013
 

Alberta Labour Fed calls for refining bitumen in Alberta, shipping out synthetic crude oil.

from the Alberta Federation of Labour

CALGARY — The so-called "bitumen bubble" is actually an opportunity for the province to add value and create jobs, says the Alberta Federation of Labour.  In a new report, the AFL shows that the difference in price between bitumen and crude makes it economically viable to invest in the infrastructure needed to upgrade Alberta’s oil resources here.

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Jan 302013
 

New Ontario guidelines stress employer responsibility for preventing soft tissue injuries.

from the Workers Health and Safety Centre

Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are the most prevalent injury among health care workers. And many of these disorders are suffered by workers who lift, transfer and reposition patients.

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Jan 282013
 

Unions scaling up a strike-first strategy for recalictrant employers.

by Jenny Brown

Small but highly publicized strikes by Walmart retail and warehouse workers last fall set the labour movement abuzz and gained new respect for organizing methods once regarded skeptically. “The labour movement is all about results,” says Dan Schlademan, who directs the Making Change at Walmart project of the Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW). “The results are creating the energy.”

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Jan 272013
 

Retailers ignore petitions calling for end to epidemic of garment factory fires.

from the International Labor Rights Forum

Major US apparel companies continue to put at risk the lives of the workers in South Asian factories who sew their clothing, by covering up problems identified in confidential audits and ignoring best fire safety practices, according to a new report published today by the Washington, DC-based International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF).

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Jan 212013
 

Ten years of litigation result in disappointing decision.

from the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada

The December 19, 2012 Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) decision marks the end of over ten years of litigation regarding the federal government’s appropriation of an estimated $30.2 billion surplus from the superannuation accounts of public service, RCMP and Canadian Forces employees in 1999.

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Jan 142013
 

CUPE signs Amnesty statement on Idle No More.

from the Canadian Union of Public Employees

Joint statement supporting Chief Spence and Idle No More:

Indigenous and human rights organizations stand in solidarity with Chief Theresa Spence in her appeal for full respect for Aboriginal and treaty rights by the government of Canada. There is an urgent need for Canada to demonstrate genuine respect and long-term commitment, initiated by a meeting between First Nations’ leadership, the Prime Minister and the Governor General.

Full honour and implementation of Indigenous peoples' treaties are crucial to the evolution of Canada and the principle of federalism. Cooperative and harmonious relations cannot be achieved by devaluing treaties or by unilateral government actions. 

Bills C-38 and C-45 remove environmental protections to First Nations lands in order to pave the way for more corporate development of resources.

We firmly support grassroots actions of the "Idle No More" movement. It has put the spotlight on federal policy and legislative agendas that are trampling the inherent rights of Indigenous peoples affirmed in domestic and international law.

Read the resolution passed by CUPE's National Executive Board

CUPE National will:

Support the Idle No More protests currently taking place in communities all across Canada and encourage all CUPE locals to attend and support these peaceful protests in their communities.

Support Chief Theresa Spence in her efforts to force the federal government to engage in a meaningful process of nation to nation  negotiations aimed at addressing outstanding treaty rights and federal government obligations to First Nations communities.

Provide information to all CUPE locals outlining the issues that have given rise to both the Idle No More protests and the hunger strike of Chief Theresa Spence.

Support the Assembly of First Nations and demand that the federal government engage in a meaningful process to respect all treaty rights and begin to address the Canadian government obligations negotiated in First Nations treaties. 

Because:

Canada traditionally has not met its obligations to First Nations People to provide safe drinking water, safe housing, and high-quality education.

Currently, disease and poverty are the only things increasing at an alarming rate on Attawapiskat and other First Nations lands.

The federal government has passed several pieces of legislation affecting aboriginal people, without consultation or negotiation and in the process trampling on the treaty rights of First Nations.

The federal government continues to support large scale and foreign developments on First Nations Territories; an occupation without consent or compensation.

Profits that are currently extracted from First Nations Land are not shared with First Nations communities.

Bills C-38 and C-45 remove environmental protections to First Nations lands in order to pave the way for more corporate development of resources; ignoring treaty rights and threatening water, wildlife and all resources depended upon by First Nations peoples and all Canadians.

 

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Jan 072013
 

Workers' Action Centre lobbies for enforcement, tackles recalcitrant employers.

from the Workers' Action Centre

Our wages are stolen when:

  • We are not paid for all the hours that we work, or we are not paid at all;
  • We are not paid minimum wage, overtime pay or for other legal rights;
  • We are wrongly treated as independent contractors or self employed;
  • We are charged a fee to get a job.

Follow a group of painters as they track down a well-known repeat violator who has a history of hiring workers and not paying them. Inside the luxury condo buildings of downtown Toronto, workers all along the subcontracting chain struggle with unpaid wages and numerous violations of their rights. Cash payments, no records or documentation of hours and a very slippery employer make it even harder to track down this boss. Finally, after much hard work, they encounter the boss in an underground parking lot and put on the pressure.

Workers talk about trying to get their wages from Com-Kote developers.

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Here are 12 simple measures that the government can implement to stop wage theft. Please join us as we work together to win these changes in 2013!

  1. Increase fines and penalties for wage theft.
  2. Make fines for employers who break the law mandatory.
  3. Publicize all employers who are found guilty of wage theft.
  4. Give workers 2 years to claim unpaid wages.
  5. Get rid of the unfair $10,000 limit on the unpaid wages that can be claimed.
  6. Make employers found guilty of wage theft pay workers interest on unpaid wages.
  7. Workers should be paid double the wages owing to them when there are repeat and serious violations.
  8. Increase proactive enforcement of workplaces and target sectors where wage theft is common.
  9. Follow through on commitment to add $10 million in permanent funding to proactive enforcement.
  10. Remove exemptions that deny some workers rights such as overtime and minimum wage.
  11. Ensure equal rights and protections for temporary foreign workers and those without status, including strong protection against recruitment fees.
  12. Increase the minimum wage to bring workers out of poverty.

 

Source

 

Jan 032013
 

Labour supports First Nations' call to respect nature as well as treaties.

from CUPW president Dennis Lemelin, with video featuring David Bleakney

Dear Mr Harper:

On behalf of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers I am writing to demand that you demonstrate more respect, on behalf of Canadians, in addressing the many problems that have been raised by Indigenous leaders and their communities.

Most recently, Chief Spence, from Attawapiskat has chosen the extreme and brave measure of conducting a hunger strike against the ongoing disrespect directed against First Nations peoples that obscures and denies their inherent rights. Respect for indigenous peoples requires much more than words and apologies. They involve actions that reflect respect and a dignified approach. If you are to speak on behalf of Canadians then you must take into account the historical and ongoing destruction of Indigenous territories and culture which your government regrettably increased. 

I am referring to the following:

Bill C-27: First Nations Financial Transparency Act

Bill C-45: Jobs and Growth Act, 2012 [Omnibus Bill includes Indian Act amendments regarding voting on-reserve lands surrenders/designations]

Bill S-2: Family Homes on Reserves and Matrimonial Interests or Rights Act

Bill S-6: First Nations Elections Act

Bill S-8: Safe Drinking Water for First Nations

Bill C-428: Indian Act Amendment and Replacement Act

Bill S-207: An Act to amend the Interpretation Act

Bill S-212: First Nations Self-Government Recognition Bill

Passing these bills without consultation is a gross violation of any form of relationship of consent that First Nations peoples deserve.   Bill C-45 specifically affects the Indian Act, First Nations sovereignty and their rights in their lands and yet they were left out of the discussion.

You have a choice to introduce Canada to the world as a frontrunner in government-indigenous peoples’ relations and consultation, or to continue on the path of disrespect.

The small amount of information presented to the public regarding legislation being pushed through parliament, affecting such a great number of people who have treaties to be honoured, is shameful given the lack of due consultation and consent from First Nations and their leadership. Treaties were signed on a nation-to-nation basis, and cannot be changed by one government’s whim through unilateral legislation.

Your government ushered in the era of Truth & Reconciliation. This cannot happen if you continue to undermine First Nations peoples’ by pushing the same paternalistic and assimilative tactics the forefathers of this country wholeheartedly practiced but we today know to be archaic and void of humanity.

You have a choice to introduce Canada to the world as a frontrunner in government-indigenous peoples’ relations and consultation, or to continue on the path of disrespect. You can start today by suspending the above-mentioned bills, and ceasing the introduction of new versions of these bills until proper consultation has been initiated.

We place our support for change of Canada’s Land Claims and Self-Government Policies to “recognize and affirm” the Inherent, Aboriginal and Treaty Rights of First Nations, including respect and implementation of the Historic Treaties.

We call on reforming Canada’s Comprehensive Claims and Self-Government policies to be consistent with the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous People in that it recognizes the Rights of Self-Determination, Land Rights and Free, Prior Informed Consent.

Please do the right thing by actively acknowledging these historical wrongs.

Sincerely,

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Dec 202012
 

Michigan’s abolition of Rand formula encourages workplace free-loaders.

by Marc Zwelling

In mid-December, Michigan’s legislature unexpectedly passed a pair of employer-friendly bills (public and private sector) that ban union-shop provisions in union contracts. Michigan workers don’t need to belong to a union in order to get hired at a union shop, and they can now opt out of paying union dues.

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Dec 172012
 
60 percent of workers have no pension.

Labour Congress says that Conservatives trying to sabotage talks.

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.

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