|
April 10, 2012 - No. 31
All Out for April 21 Day of Action!
No to Cuts! Increase Funding for Social
Programs!
Click to
enlarge poster.
Saturday, April 21 -- 3:00-5:00 pm
Queen's Park,
Toronto
For further information visit the OFL
website
See also the page for the Day of Action on Facebook
|
|
All
Out
For
April
21
Day
of
Action!
• No to Cuts! Increase Funding for Social
Programs! - Janice Murray
Discussion of Ontario
Budget 2012
• Hamilton Steelworkers Say No! to the
Austerity Budget! - Local 1005
USW
• A Renegade Budget - Dan Cerri
For an Economy Based
on Production Not Parasitism
• This Week in the Legislature
• Financial Services Industry Is Part of
the Problem, Not a Solution - Jim Nugent
• Moody's and the Other Credit Rating
Scammers - Steve Rutchinski
• A New Direction for the Economy, Not a
Casino Economy! - David Greig
Invest in Education
• Teachers Oppose Government Disinformation
About Their Sick Days - Laura Chesnik
• Brock Education Workers Win Job Security
Protection and a First Contract - Christine Nugent
First
Nations
and
Colonial
Injustice
• Attawapiskat First Nation Welcomes
Departure of Indian Agent - Philip Fernandez
All Out for April 21 Day of Action!
No to Cuts! Increase Funding for Social Programs!
- Janice Murray -
The Ontario Federation of Labour has called for a
province-wide Day of Action against the
cuts to public services and social programs at Queen's Park April 21. Ontario
Political
Forum calls on everyone to go all out
to make this Day of Action a resounding rejection of the
Ontario government's austerity budget. Far from cutting social programs
and the jobs of the
workers who provide them, funding to these programs must be increased.
We affirm as the working people of Ontario that this is our economy and
we will have a say in the direction it is to take.
Let us mobilize our collectives, get on the buses and
take our demands to Queen's Park. Let us carry the discussion with our
peers as to what direction we want for the
economy. Let us argue out the alternatives. Workers in every sector
know very well what is required to develop their own
sectors in a way which will benefit the society. Teachers, health care
workers and others in the public sector know what they require to
deliver these services in a way that benefits everyone. We do not agree
to have this discussion of what is needed by the society cut short by a
government which acts in the interests
of the monopolies and declares that there is no alternative but to
implement an austerity budget and lower the standard of living and
conditions of life of the overwhelming majority.
The situation faced by the working people in this
province, and in
particular the most impoverished sections of the working class, was
unacceptable before this budget was tabled and this budget
will make things worse. Not only that but workers have learned from
their own bitter experience that when the monopolies and their
governments manage to impose concessions, it only gives rise to the
demand for more
concessions. Once they impose this budget, there will be more
"austerity budgets" to come, with further dire consequences for the
people. Together we can be effective in stemming the reactionary tide
and working out the kinds of changes and reforms
that favour the interests of the people and society. For a government
that stops paying the rich and increases investments in social programs!
All Out to Queen's Park on April 21
Against the Cuts!
Whose Economy? Our Economy!
Public Right Yes!
Monopoly Right No!
Stop Paying the Rich! Increase Funding for Social
Programs!
Discussion of Ontario Budget 2012
Hamilton Steelworkers Say No! to the Austerity Budget!
- Local 1005 USW -
With the release of the Ontario budget on March 27,
2012, it is important to keep a few things in mind: we did not cause
the deficit, and austerity measures will make things worse. Why is it
that society is being forced to pay for a crisis it did not cause and
for deficits run up, not in the public interest, but in
the interest of a rich and powerful minority? Neither the federal nor
provincial levels of government have a mandate from the people to
impose an austerity agenda that will wreck our social infrastructure
even further. These budgets are illegitimate.
Besides this, Local 1005 condemns the threats made by
Minister Dwight Duncan when he introduced his budget. Referring to
contract negotiations in the health and education sectors, he said,
"[I]f no agreement can be struck to protect Ontario's progress in
education and health care, we are prepared to propose
necessary administrative and legislative measures to protect the public
from service disruptions."
Duncan is taking a page out of the manual of the Harper
government which declared illegal the struggles of first the postal
workers and then the Air Canada workers in the name of national
security. As time goes by, it is clear that both the Harper and
McGuinty governments would like to see all workers disorganized
and all workers' struggles in defence of their rights and the rights of
all made illegal.
Local 1005 is very concerned that there is no opposition
to the austerity budget in the Legislature despite the fact that it
contains serious attacks against the public interest. This underscores
the need for the workers to be directly political themselves which
means they must speak out against the nation-wrecking
going on. They must lead by arguing out the need to set a new direction
for the economy which upholds public right, not monopoly right.
Local 1005 not only demands the restitution of the
Canadian steel and other industries, but will do everything it can to
defend Ontario teachers and all those who deliver health care and
require health care services on par with their needs. We call on all
those who administer and deliver education and social services
to tell us what it takes and what they require. As one doctor recently
put it, paying staff to clean a hospital properly will go a lot further
to eliminating C. difficile, than pouring a ton of money into
the coffers of the pharmaceutical industry under the hoax that this
will find a cure.
Say No! to
this austerity budget! Oppose the McGuinty
government's attacks on the rights of the workers. This is how we will
find a solution to the crisis which favours the working people, not the
filthy rich.
A Renegade Budget
- Dan Cerri -
 The Oxford English Dictionary defines
"renegade"
as a person who deserts and betrays an organization, country or set of
principles. It goes on to describe the origins of the word from the
Spanish renegado as re-
(expressing intensive force) + Latin negare
"deny."
Although usually reserved to describe
the actions of an individual, the word renegade can be used to
describe the Ontario Budget delivered on March 27 because it betrays
the government's duty to the workers and people of Ontario to establish
an economy that defends public right. The budget indeed denies people's
rights in a very intensive and
forceful way.
The government's budget demands concessions from
teachers and other public sector workers that Finance Minister Dwight
Duncan said would be achieved even if it required passing legislation.
It will also lead to net losses in social programs like education and
health care that people expect their governments
to protect. It goes as far as attacking the most vulnerable in society
by freezing Ontario Works and Ontario Disability Support Program
benefit rates. The budget has nothing to do with building the economy
so that it serves the majority of people who work and live in the
province.
The budget serves only the narrow interests of the
monopolies and financial oligarchy. The monopolies have already
benefitted from government spending on bailouts and other pay-the-rich
schemes and now the onus for paying back these debts will fall on the
backs of the workers and people of Ontario through
wage freezes, increased taxation, user fees and cuts to social
programs. Meanwhile, the financial oligarchy will make billions on
their interest loans to pay down the debt. The Canadian Bankers
Association (CBA) could not hold back their contentment with a budget
that, according to them, "acknowledges the key
role of the banking sector in the long term economic growth of the
province." Instead of dealing with the problems of the economy in a
human-centred way, the budget once again politicizes private interests.
Workers and people in Ontario are seeking new ways to
establish a plan to organize their lives. They are finding that the
current arrangements and mechanisms are not working and are not even in
their interests. Those who try to organize for something new are
sometimes deemed "renegades." But it is becoming
clear that it is the current economic and political systems that are
renegade, including government budgets that only serve the narrow
interests of the rich.
For an Economy Based on Production Not
Parasitism
This Week in the Legislature
In the Legislature this past week, debate continued on
the budget
delivered by the Liberal government on March 27. Similar to last week,
the government defended the budget based on its support by the
financial oligarchy.
Here's
what Mary Webb, the senior economist at Scotiabank, said: "The
challenge for this government in this budget was to provide a credible
repair plan, and so it has. It has provided a broad-based
plan -- detailed, strategic -- that they hope will keep them on the
deficit
reduction track even with more moderate growth."
Janet Ecker is currently President of the Toronto
Financial Services
Alliance (TFSA), a public-private partnership between the City of
Toronto and the financial sector and former cabinet minister in the
Harris and Eves governments. Ecker said of the budget on behalf of the
TFSA that "[T]he government is
making ...
tough [and] necessary choices." She added that:
"We strongly support their efforts to eliminate the
deficit. It is
an important step for Ontario's future economic growth and will help
support continued growth of financial service jobs in the province. We
understand the government's fiscal and political challenges in
achieving a balanced budget and that it requires
a concerted effort by all sectors. And while we respect their choices,
we are disappointed the planned corporate and education tax reductions
are being delayed. The TFSA supports the government's efforts at
further pension reform in the public sector, noting that Ontario can
offer the expertise of some of the strongest
pension funds in the world."
The Dominion Bond Rating Service (DBRS) credit rating
agency said, "Overall, DBRS views the continuation of the fiscal
recovery plan and the increasing emphasis on cost containment as an
encouraging step in the right direction." However, the DBRS, along with
other
rating
agencies like Moody's, threatened to downgrade Ontario's credit rating
again if it did not take the steps deemed necessary to pay down the
debt. Such rating agencies urged the government to pass a public sector
wage freeze and implement spending
caps. This anti-social agenda was taken up with vigour by the
Progressive Conservatives
this past week in the Legislature. Thus, the credit rating agencies
could influence the interest rate that Ontario pays
to borrow funds in a very
self-serving way.
Financial Services Industry Is Part of the Problem,
Not a Solution
- Jim Nugent -
In early April, the Royal Canadian Bank (RBC) was
charged by U.S. securities regulators with manipulation of financial
derivative markets through hundreds of millions of dollars in illegal
trading in stock options. According to the U.S. Commodity Futures
Trading Commission (CFTC), RBC engaged in a " trading
scheme of massive proportions ... designed and orchestrated as part of
RBC's strategy to realize certain Canadian tax benefits..."[1]
RBC, with headquarters in Toronto, is Canada's largest
bank and by some counts is Canada's largest corporation. Globally it is
one of the 100 largest publicly traded companies with 72,000 employees,
a net revenue of over $5 billion a year and total assets of $726
billion. RBC is an aggressive player in the international
financial oligarchy and has frequently faced charges similar to the
current accusations by the CFTC, including charges over the 2008
financial crisis.
While one of its member banks was being charged by U.S.
regulators, the Canadian Bankers Association (CBA) was endorsing the
McGuinty government's 2012 budget for recognizing that the banking and
financial services industry plays "a key role in the long-term economic
growth of the province." For the
working class and people of Ontario, where 45 per cent of Canada's
banking and financial services are based, this raises the question of
whose interests are being served by the big role of financial services
in the Ontario economy. What kind of security for people's livelihoods
can be ensured by an economic strategy
of allowing a section of the financial oligarchy to use Ontario as a
base in the global scramble among international financiers for swindles
and big scores?
 Throughout the last 20
years, through boom and bust,
the number of people employed in the financial services sector has been
steadily growing. This is also true of the closely related sectors of
professional services (accountants and lawyers) and business services
(e.g., call centres and credit bureaus). These sectors
have increased from 794,900 employees in 1991 to 1,347,000 in 2011, an
increase from 15.8 per cent of the workforce to 20 per cent.
During the same period, governments have allowed the
number of jobs in the goods producing sector to stagnate and decline.
From 1991-2011, there has been an net job growth of only 1,700 jobs in
the entire sector made up of agriculture, forestry, mining, utilities,
construction and manufacturing. During this
period, the employed workforce grew by 1,714,000. The only goods
producing sub-sector showing growth over this period was construction
with 155,000 more construction workers employed in 2011 than in 1991.
If the number of temporary construction jobs is set aside, there is a
net loss of 153,000 goods producing
jobs in Ontario during this 20-year period, led by a net decline of
109,000 manufacturing jobs.
In the last ten years, this
trend has been accelerating
with a net job loss of 271,000 jobs in goods production (a 293,000 net
loss if construction is excluded), including the loss of 305,000
manufacturing jobs. This long-term trend of loss of goods producing
jobs was ratcheted down even further by the 2008-09
recession. While there has been important expansion in mining and
utilities recently, these sub-sectors together make up only one per
cent of the goods producing sector and this hasn't had significant
impact on the net loss of goods-producing jobs in Ontario.
The same trend can be seen in the growth of the portion
of the GDP controlled by the financial services sector. In the
1991-2011
period, the relative positions of goods production GDP and financial
services GDP have been reversed. Goods production's share of GDP has
gone down from 31 per cent in 1991
to 25 per cent in 2011, while financial services and related sectors
went up from 27 per cent to 32 per cent.
Bankrupt
politicians have enabled ever greater amounts
of the productive capacity of the working class and people to be put at
the service of parasitic financial speculators, at the expense of
the even development of the economy to meet the needs of the people for
livelihoods and for goods and services. This
trend has continued regardless of which bankrupt political party was in
power, without the working class and people of Ontario ever approving
this
or even being consulted.
Note
1. From papers filed with U.S.
District Court for the
Southern District of New York by the Commodity Futures Trading
Commission.
Moody's and the Other Credit Rating Scammers
- Steve Rutchinski -
 Moody's and the other major
bond rating agencies that
made possible the swindles of the century such as the Enron fraud and
the
Wall Street sub-prime mortgage collapse that triggered the "worst
financial crisis since the great depression"[1] are at
it again -- only
this time it is the workers and people of Ontario who
are the target of their scams.
Following the release of the 2012 Ontario Budget,
Reuters proclaimed Moody's, Standard and Poor's and other bond rating
agencies to be the arbiters of Ontario's creditworthiness. The litmus
test would be whether the McGuinty
Liberals could carry through with imposing the austerity
measures upon society.
Moody's already declared in December that the
outlook on Ontario debt ratings is "negative." Following the budget
release, Jennifer Wong, Moody's lead "analyst" for Ontario said that a
downgrade of Ontario's credit rating is "still a possibility." Standard
and Poor's made similar declarations.
These bond rating agencies are scammers who time and
again have been implicated in scandals and frauds, yet the monopoly
media
play their role in service of the financial oligarchy and report the
disinformation of these agencies as the gospel truth. Finance
Minister Dwight Duncan joined the chorus
as well following Moody's declaration and urged Opposition parties in
the Legislature not to destabilize Ontario's financial rating by
opposing the budget and risking an election.
Banks Are Not Shy About Lending to Ontario
First let's be clear -- Canadian banks have no
reservations whatsoever about Ontario's creditworthiness. They are
coming out of the 2008-2009 financial crisis with record profits as a
result of federal and provincial stimulus spending, for which we are
now
being forced to pay. They have bundles of surplus cash and a
shortage of secure investment avenues given the "flat" recovery. They
are lining up at the government trough to reap huge, secure
profits by re-financing Government of Ontario debt.
On April 2 for instance, Gadi Mayman, the CEO of the
Ontario Financing Authority (OFA) that manages Ontario's debt
servicing, reported the OFA had raised $34.9 billion to cover renewal
of long-term debt in 2011-12. "Robust demand in Canadian dollars" he
said "allowed us to complete 81 per cent, or $28.3
billion, of our long-term issuance in our home market, well above the
60 per cent target set out in last year's Budget." It means the demand
from Canadian banks and financial institutions for Ontario issued bonds
to cover debt was very strong.
In the coming fiscal year, 2012-2013 the OFA forecast
for long-term borrowing is to raise $36.5 billion, with at least 70 per
cent coming from domestic lenders, from the Canadian dollar market.
How is it Moody's, Standard and Poor's and others
haven't
noticed the "robust" confidence of the domestic and international
financial oligarchy that they can make a killing by lending to the
Ontario government? It is fraud. Moody's, Standard and Poor's and the
other bond rating agencies are scammers and adjust
their creditworthiness ratings according to who is paying for their
"analysis."
Moody's Is Neck Deep in Fraud
It is amazing how Moody's and other credit rating
agencies have lost all credibility within the financial investment
community, yet the financial oligarchy, governments in their service
and the monopoly media make them out to be paragons of virtue and
objective
financial evaluators in order to blackmail the workers, people and
society. Moody's pronouncements that society must accept austerity
measures or have its credit rating downgraded are a form of extortion.
Moody's Investors Service, Standard and Poor's and
Fitch, the three major U.S. agencies rating corporate debt, were
responsible for covering up the Enron fraud, fleecing investors,
including pension funds, of billions of dollars, until
the whole fraud
unravelled in 2001. Enron executives were able to run up $13 billion
in outstanding debt and another $10 billion more in loans because
Moody's, Standard & Poor's and Fitch knowingly misrepresented
Enron's credit worthiness as AAA.[2]
Moody's pretended it was "unaware" that Enron was
perpetrating a scam, however in the 2008 sub-prime financial melt-down
it became very clear Moody's and other bond rating agencies were "hip
deep in a conspiracy to hide the size and vulnerability of the risks
the big banks were taking in the Bush era."[3]
Moody's involvement in a conspiracy has been
revealed in detail. McClatchy Newspapers, for example,
published an article on October 18, 2009, entitled "How Moody's
Sold Its Ratings -- And Sold Out Its Investors." It contains
detailed information of how Moody's suppressed anyone
in its corporate ranks from speaking the truth about the fraud the big
banks were perpetrating.
The article also explains how Moody's and other bond
rating agencies are instruments of the financial oligarchy to disinform
investors and the public, according to the interests of whoever is
paying for Moody's services. McClatchy
explains, "... in the 1970s
ratings agencies were allowed to switch from having
investors pay for ratings to having the issuers of debt pay for them.
That led the ratings agencies to compete for business by currying favor
with investment banks that would pay handsomely for the ratings they
wanted." Regarding the sub-prime mortgage scam, McClatchy quotes Lawrence
McDonald,
a former vice president of Lehman Brothers investment bank, which
played no small roll in creating the global crisis resulting from the
sub-prime assets fraud. McDonald says, "In 2001, Moody's had revenues
of $800.7 million; in 2005, they were up to $1.73 billion; and in 2006,
$2.037 billion. The exploding profits
were fees from packaging ... and for granting the top-class AAA
ratings, which were supposed to mean they were as safe as U.S.
government securities."[4]
Today, when bond rating agencies like Moody's are making
pronouncements about Ontario's creditworthiness, another chapter in the
episodes of these credit rating scammers is being written by the
McGuinty Liberals, the monopoly media and the financial establishment.
Everything about it -- except who is paying
Moody's for its services -- is counterfeit. It is shocking that the
media, far from denouncing the interference of the credit rating
agencies to influence decision-making in the Ontario Legislature --
surely a form of blackmail -- actually promote such interference. The
government is so bereft of argument to justify its wrecking budget and
need for "austerity" that it has to itself promote the self-serving
banking interests which the credit rating agencies serve. It is
unconscionable. All the scams to make the big score from the hides of
the people and their society nowadays are using the buzzword
"austerity." They must be rejected.
Notes
1. Mick Arran, "Moody's Hip Deep in Wall Street
Conspiracy," Factesque,
April 2, 2010.
2. Alex Berenson, "Enron's Collapse: The Rating Agencies," New York Times, November 29, 2001.
3. Arran, "Moody's Hip Deep in Wall Street
Conspiracy."
4. Kevin G. Hall, "How Moody's Sold Its Ratings -- And Sold Out Its
Investors," McClatchy
Newspapers, October 18, 2009.
A New Direction for the Economy,
Not a Casino Economy!
- David Greig -
One aspect of the McGuinty government's anti-social
plans for the economy and its recently tabled budget, involves what it
calls modernization of its gambling operations. On March 12, the
province's Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) announced plans
for an overhaul that would increase gambling
expenditures by the public and generate $1.3 billion in new revenue per
year. The OLG cites stagnation and declines in parts of its operations
among the reasons for its plans. Visits by U.S. residents to its border
casinos have declined by two-thirds since 2002 and on-line gambling
beyond OLG control has increased.
The OLG is the largest gambling operation in North
America, formed in 2000 from the merger of the province's lottery
entity started in 1974 and its Ontario Casino Corporation founded by
the Rae government in 1993. Total net income per year from the various
lotteries, bingos, slots and casinos in recent years
is around $6.0 billion. After expenses, including payments to private
profit makers operating part of its facilities and to municipalities
and some First Nations where they are located, about $2 billion per
year is recouped by the provincial government. This makes the OLG the
biggest "non-tax" revenue generating
provincial government agency.
The proposed changes aim to increase the public's
spending on OLG's gambling alternatives, and thereby its profits to the
government and the private business interests operating aspects of the
OLG or otherwise dealing with it. Further privatization, including
private operation of its lotteries is part of the proposal.
Slot facilities at various horse racing tracks are to be closed in
2013. The variety of OLG gambling "options" in stores and other public
locations and on-line are to be rationalized and expanded in order to
increase people's participation and spending.
One of the plans is to establish a new casino in the
Toronto region. Mayor Rob Ford has declared his support since, he says,
"It
creates good jobs, well-paying jobs." Discussion about a location and a
possible referendum is underway. A 1997 Toronto vote solidly rejected
establishing casinos and opposition is again
emerging and pointing out the negative consequences for society.
As recently as the 1960s governments in Canada greatly
restricted gambling mainly to horse racing and charity bingos. The
harmful social and economic consequences of gambling still had official
recognition. The fact that the government approach to this issue had
completely reversed by the end of the 20th century
was another clear indication of the increasingly parasitic nature of
the monopoly-capitalist dominated economy. The official excuses abound:
prohibition doesn't work, people want to gamble, it creates jobs and
economic activity, it provides funds for social amenities and services,
promotes tourism, other jurisdictions
promote it, so must we, etc., ad nauseum. According to OLG
annual reports, gambling even provides the few million dollars in much
needed
funds to help treat "problem gambling."
Excuses do not negate the truth. Gambling, like its
speculation twin that characterizes so much of the workings of monopoly
capitalism, creates no wealth. Rather, it involves the transfer of
wealth, created as always by human labour, from many hands to a few.
More specifically, thousands of working people,
middle strata and the poor, living in this fend-for-yourself culturally
deprived society that isolates people, crushes hope and blocks real
solutions to their problems, are legally cheated of their modest or
even meagre resources by this state profiteering operation and the
associated private profiteers. A very, very few
"players" become very rich at the expense of all the others, a result
harmful to society and often even to the winners.
With respect to government finance, the OLG and its
"non-tax" contribution is part of the restructuring of revenue
collection that has transformed "unfair taxation" that benefits the
rich into much more unfair taxation benefiting the rich even more:
reduction of corporate taxes, lowering of marginal tax rates on
high incomes, reliance on sales taxes, growth of user fees, etc.
Government gambling and lotteries represent a tax in all but name,
probably the most unfair and regressive of all.
As for jobs, the OLG operation engages some 18,000
employees in activities that create no wealth for society. Society,
with government as its authority, is duty-bound to guarantee a
livelihood and well-being to these workers as it is to all its members.
Likewise, it has the responsibility to engage the people in
the productive labour that sustains society and its members, above all
in manufacturing and provision of services. Government promotion of
gambling and lack of attention to manufacturing and other productive
activities indicate the violation of its responsibility.
As for the health care and other services and amenities
to which the OLG funds are allocated, these are responsibilities the
government is also duty-bound to fulfill for society. Rather than
appropriating the necessary wealth from what instead augments the
claims of the rich and their monopolies, here it is being
raised by fleecing millions of ordinary people, often of limited means.
This again indicates the urgent need for a new direction to the economy
that stops paying the rich, and provides real solutions instead of
parasitism and gambling.
Invest in Education
Teachers Oppose Government Disinformation
About Their Sick Days
- Laura Chesnik -
In his YouTube video posted March 2, Ontario Premier
Dalton McGuinty asked
teachers for their "unwavering commitment" to eliminate the deficit. He
stated: "To make
that happen, we're asking teachers for a real two-year wage freeze.
We're asking for an end to a generous sick leave
plan that allows some teachers to get paid, upon retirement, for 200
unused sick days."
 McGuinty's
disinformation about teachers' sick days is aimed at pitting the people
of Ontario against teachers' negotiated working conditions. The issue
is
the ability of teachers to carry forward unused sick days over the
course of their careers. Accumulated sick days can then be paid to the
teacher when they retire as a "retirement gratuity" -- if they meet
certain criteria as outlined in their contracts with their
local boards. Criteria varies from board to board; however, it includes
a minimum number of years teaching in the public system and/or for a
certain board, and a maximum number of sick days that can be used.
At a recent meeting of elementary teachers in Windsor,
participants opposed the government's disinformation. They pointed out
that the 20 sick days allotted to teachers each year is based on two
sick days per month. These sick days were negotiated in past contracts
because there was a recognition that teachers
work with children who frequently get sick and as a result, teachers
get sick more often. (In pre-negotiation discussions, the Ontario
government has demanded teachers reduce this number to six sick days
per year that cannot be carried forward).
Participants explained that the unique circumstance in
educational workdays means that if they have a medical
appointment that cannot be booked outside of school hours, they
must use a half or full sick day. They don't have the option to
leave school early, come to school late or to miss one class or
period. They must take off at least a half day. Furthermore,
teachers pointed out that being forced to give up sick days may
open the door to allow for other needed days to be taken away. As
many teachers are also parents, they need appropriate days to be
able to take care of their children when they are sick.
In discussions amongst teachers after the meeting, it
was pointed out they do not receive post-retirement medical benefits
and the "retirement gratuity" exists in lieu of providing such
benefits; this despite the fact that not all teachers qualify. Another
teacher pointed out that the "retirement gratuity" was a compromise
made to teachers as a result of the 10-year wage freeze, equivalent to
a big loss considering inflation, under the Harris government.
McGuinty's demand that teachers forfeit the majority of
their sick days and their "retirement gratuities" does not mean this
money will be transferred to the classroom to improve the public
system. Instead, it will leave the public education system altogether
and the communities where the teachers who would
receive it live, bound for whatever pay-the-rich schemes the Ontario
government has for it.
Teachers and the public want real solutions to the
problems in public education and are willing to discuss any measures
that will solve these problems. However, they will not accept
disinformation geared at "choosing" to degrade their working conditions
and their students' learning conditions so that more money
can be stolen from public education.
Brock Education Workers Win Job Security
Protection and a First Contract
- Christine Nugent -
A group of educational workers at Brock University in
St. Catharines have won a significant victory after a short
strike during first contract negotiations. Success in these
negotiations was a result of a determined stand by the workers involved
and practical solidarity from the faculty, other workers and
the students in support of the workers in the small bargaining unit.
The contract arrived at includes significant job security provisions
which were the main objective of the workers.
The bargaining unit is made up of 38 English as a Second
Language (ESL) Instructors in ESL Services at Brock University. They
are represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local
4702 Unit 3. The ESL instructors were forced to go on strike on March
26 when the Board of Trustees
refused to approve the tentative agreement that had been reached
between CUPE Local 4702 and the Brock University administration
negotiating
team and ratified by the members of the local. This was
the first strike ever at Brock University.
The Board of Trustees wanted job security protection for
the new bargaining unit reduced below the job security provisions in
the contracts of other educational workers at Brock, leaving the work
of the ESL instructors open to contracting out. The Brock
administration negotiating team came back to the union
claiming that there had been a "mistake" in their contract offer that
included the standard job protection.
 The union bargaining team
refused to change contract
wording agreed to by the negotiating committees, namely Article 23:01:
there shall be no contracting out of any work performed by members of
the bargaining unit and Article 23:02: no member of the bargaining unit
shall be laid off, or have their hours
of work or salary reduced, due to the use of volunteers or students in
Bargaining Unit positions. The Board of Trustees chose to undermine the
bargaining process and risk students not completing their school year
in order to retain conditions to contract out workers' jobs.
Other educational workers at Brock saw the position of
the administration and the trustees on job security for the ESL
instructors as an attack on the job security of all workers at the
university. When the ESL instructors began their strike, many in the
other units of CUPE Local 4207 and the Brock University Faculty
Association (BUFA) refused to cross the picket lines. Over 100 classes
were cancelled.
The BUFA issued a statement denouncing the abuse of the
bargaining process by the Board of Trustees and the attack on job
security. It expressed the point of view that an attack on one group
of workers was an attack on all workers: "BUFA supports the strike
action by CUPE initiated today. The issue
of whether the board and administration can ignore their responsibility
to vote yes or no on ratification of a signed agreement is of
significant interest to us in our own future bargaining. The implied
issue of contracting out ESL instructors also has implications for our
future negotiations."
Other support for the striking workers came from the
transit workers of Niagara Transit Services who refused to drive buses
over the picket line. Educational workers from the University of
Toronto's CUPE Local 3902 came out to support the strikers and
international
students walked the picket line with their ESL
instructors.
Faced with the pressure of
the fighting unity of all the
education workers at the University, the administration was forced to
meet with the union and the mediator on April 2. The ESL
instructors, in fighting for their first contract and job security,
have gone from a situation in which there were no permanent
employees to one where there are 32 permanent positions. Job protection
language in the new contract includes:
- Conversion of 12 limited term part-time positions (one
year contracts) into permanent part-time positions. These positions
include pro-rated benefits (80 per cent of coverage enjoyed by
full-time
employees). This includes a tuition waiver for all members in these
positions (something to which the employer had not
previously agreed).
- No member of the Bargaining Unit shall be laid off, or
have their hours of work or salary reduced, due to contracting out.
- The employer will issue a letter indicating that there
is no intention to contract out any work of the bargaining unit for the
life of the collective agreement.
- Confirmation that part-time instructors will not have
their work contracted out during the weeks between terms when they do
not hold a contract.
The provincial government is underfunding universities,
colleges, high schools and elementary schools. The recent budget of the
McGuinty government is putting the administrators of these institutions
in the position of either standing up to the government and opposing
this budget squeeze and defending education
as a right of all or of taking the road of the Brock University Board
of Trustees. To say you are part of building a modern educational
system means in deeds to oppose the activities of such administrators
and the McGuinty government budget.
First Nations and Colonial Injustice
Attawapiskat First Nation Welcomes Departure
of Indian Agent
- Philip Fernandez -
 On April 5, the Harper
government sent the Attawapiskat
First Nation a letter that it was withdrawing third-party manager
Jacques Marion from the community by April 19. According to the CBC,
Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan issued a statement on that day
saying that "in recognition of the accomplishments
that have been achieved in substantially addressing the urgent health
and safety needs of affected Attawapiskat residents through the
third-party manager, we have notified the Attawapiskat First Nation of
the department's intent to move the First Nation out of third-party
funding agreement management and back to
co-management." From the perspective of the community, expressed in a
press release a day later, nothing could be further from the truth.
Marion, who Chief Theresa
Spence and her Council had
previously called a "modern day Indian Agent," was imposed on the
community colonial-style, without consultation or notice on November
30, 2011 under the fraud that the First Nation had mismanaged its
finances and had, therefore, caused the housing
and other social crises in the community. This was done to cover up the
criminal negligence of the Harper government and previous federal
governments, which systematically violated their obligations under
Treaty 9 by severely underfunding social programs to this Cree nation
on the James Bay for over two decades.
In response to the withdrawal of the third-party
manager, Chief Spence on April 6 noted: "My Council is very pleased
that it will once again be able to ensure that what funding is provided
by Canada is administered in a way that benefits the First Nation and
its members. We have instructed our administrators
and co-managers to work to ensure an orderly and timely transition."
The press release outlined how Marion had been
totally negligent in his duties to the community. He did not release
funding to students living outside the community in a timely manner
causing them hardship and disrupting their studies, especially during
the critical exam period. When attempts were made
by these students and their parents to contact Marion, they were
informed that he was on holidays in Hawaii with no back-up plan.
In addition, vendors' and suppliers' invoices had not
been
paid, including the vendor for the Attawapiskat elementary school's
breakfast program.
The press release pointed out that Marion refused to
authorize the making of loan payments to the Bank of Montreal, putting
the community at risk of defaulting.
While being totally irresponsible to the community and
its needs, Marion continues to incur fees of $1,300 per day,
charged to the First Nation, against its will, the press release points
out, noting further: "Chief Spence has written to the Department of
Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development seeking
confirmation that immediate steps will be taken, before April 19th, to
ensure that no further damage is done to the First Nation and its
members during the transition period."
In the meantime, "Attawapiskat's court proceedings
remain in progress. The proceedings seek a declaration that the
decision to impose the Third-Party Manager was unlawful, and seek to
refute the suggestion by the Prime Minister of Canada that 'management
problems' caused the housing crisis suffered by the
First Nation." The case will be heard on April 24 at the Federal Court
in Toronto.
It is the courageous stand of Chief Theresa Spence, the
Band Council and people of Attawapiskat, and their determined and just
struggle to uphold their hereditary and treaty rights against the
Harper dictatorship and its racist colonial justice that has won this
victory and the support of Canadians across the land.
PREVIOUS
ISSUES | HOME
Read Ontario Political Forum
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: ontario@cpcml.ca
|
