Workers, especially those in health care, long-term care
and
education workers, together with seniors and social justice
organizations continue to fight to demand that the government act to
defend the public good and not private interests. Workers are demanding
that the government must stop paying the rich.
The wealth created by the workers which is claimed by governments must
be used to fund social programs and serve the public good, not line the
pockets of private interests such as the private owners of long-term
care.
The latest consultation from the Redford government is
its "Fiscal
Framework Survey." The survey is posted online and consists of 14
questions about the government's fiscal framework. The explanatory
notes make clear that the all-important question of budget allocations
for social programs like health and
education as well as infrastructure spending are not included. The
"conversation" is to take place without even establishing the social
responsibility of government to provide the right to health care,
education and other social programs with a guarantee. Instead it is
aimed at establishing a vague principle that the people
of Alberta want "savings" as a pretext to attack social programs and
claim they are not sustainable.
The aim of the survey is to get the people of Alberta to
buy in to
the idea that the big problem facing the government is that it is too
dependent on resource revenues. When oil prices are high, the money
flows in, and when they are low, the government faces deficits and
cannot fund its social programs. The
survey asks people to weigh in on some vague statements about when and
how the government should withdraw revenues from current spending. It
asks, "When should the province save? How should the province save?"
and
so on.
If the stranglehold of the oil cartels and
financial oligarchy is
leading to such disequilibrium and disaster, how is the solution to
increase their domination and control and privatize everything? Would
the solution not be a plan to build a self-reliant economy including
developing manufacturing and agriculture?
The First Nations are fighting to overthrow the colonial legacy and new
arrangements must be developed to guarantee in practice the right of
First Nations to their own economic base and control over development
in their territories. Increased funding for social programs and the
development of public enterprise are
real solutions.
The revenues which are claimed by government
come from
the wealth
which exists in nature and the hard work of the workers. When it comes
to the natural resources, the claims of First Nations must be settled
in their favour. Then workers have first claim on the wealth they
produce, followed by the government
whose claim should go to social programs and the public sector
expenses. But this is turned on its head and the claim of the global
monopolies, which have become entirely parasitic, is given first place.
Everything is viewed from the perspective of the global monopolies, not
from that of the society which exists
in the 21st century comprised of those who produce the wealth and
depend on society for their living. This capital-centred outlook sees
workers and social programs as "costs" to be gotten rid of in order to
achieve prosperity. It is a proposition which does not stand up to
scrutiny which is why so much confusion
is generated over the government's aim. This is why the survey and the
consultation are so bogus.
People like Harper, Redford, Clark, McGuinty use their
positions of
power to implement the will of the monopolies, not the popular will.
One way in which they abuse their power is through the use of all sorts
of tools which destroy the coherence of the polity's ability to think
together and express its social
consciousness. Microtargetting is an exercise which picks the citizenry
apart one by one. Polls and surveys with irrational questions are
things over which the polity exercises no control. The questions are
manipulated to serve pre-determined conclusions and aims. This shows
all
the more the need for the working class
to develop the discussion on things like the present survey and work
out for themselves why it should be rejected as a fraud. This
discussion should take place publicly so that everyone can make up
their minds about it.
On Monday September 10, more than 800 support
staff at Edmonton Catholic Schools began a strike in defence of their
rights. In doing so, they also affirmed that Education Is a Right! and
that their demands are important not only for their own well-being but
for the proper functioning of the schools and the
support they provide for children with special needs. The workers
include school secretaries, librarians and educational assistants who
work with kids with special needs. They are represented by Local 52A,
Edmonton Catholic Support Staff Association, Communications, Energy and
Paperworkers Union (CEP).
The main demands of the workers centre on cuts to
their hours, excessive and unsustainable workloads as well as the
refusal of the school board to agree to a defined wage increase for the
second year of their contract. The school board has offered a wage
increase for the first year of the contract, but has not
addressed any of the other issues. Their refusal to make a concrete
proposal for a wage increase for the current year also shows where
their intentions lie when it comes to the teachers, whose contracts
expired on August 31.
TML spoke with many workers
on the picket line who passionately explained why they felt they had
no alternative but to use their collective strength and take strike
action.
The largest group in the local is comprised of the
educational assistants. Virtually all of them have had their hours and
FTE (full-time equivalency) cut. They carried picket signs with the
slogan "full time students -- part-time workers" to show the inadequate
level of support given to children with special needs.
The media is suggesting that the support staff are
responsible for depriving students of education. This is irresponsible
and far from it, the attacks on the support staff in terms of cuts to
hours and increased workloads are also an attack on the students they
support. It is the Alberta government which must be condemned
and held to account for its refusal to carry out its social
responsibilities.
Almost all the workers who used to be full-time
now work either 0.8 or 0.9 FTE. They no longer have any prep time which
they need as their work involves modifying the curriculum and preparing
materials and aids for the students they work with. They are excluded
from professional development activities and
staff meetings unless they come on their own time. No educational
assistant is permitted to receive overtime pay
for any reason. For example, even though they
take responsibility to make sure all the kids are safely on
the bus at the end of the day, they are paid at most only "bell to
bell."
Many others work far fewer hours and their FTEs
were further reduced last April. In her campaign for leadership of the
Tories, Premier Alison Redford promised to restore funding cut from the
education budget. But the reality is that the hours worked by the
educational assistants have been severely cut and
have not been restored to previous levels. Many work two or three jobs
to try and make ends meet, while the students are deprived of the help
they need and which is theirs by right.
Under the guise of "inclusion," the government
provides funding for "mainstreaming" children with special needs into
regular classrooms but there is actually no requirement that the
funding be used to support the children so designated. The cuts to
their hours, the support staff explained, show that funding has
actually been
pulled from providing support to kids with special needs to make up
shortfalls in other areas. "Inclusion" is not about the kids, they
said,
but is being used to "cut costs." In this way the government is
refusing to meet its responsibility to guarantee the right of every
child to the supports they need in order to ensure
their right to education.
All of this has a profound impact on the right of
students to education. The government speaks about the need to stop
bullying in the schools, the workers told TML,
but the cuts to special education constitute bullying of kids with
special needs. We are fighting for them because they cannot fight for
themselves, the workers said.
Not only are the rights of students with
disabilities and special needs violated, but when assistants are not
present in classrooms where they are needed, this affects the ability
of the teacher to teach and of all the students to learn.
There are more kids in the schools and this means
a much greater workload for school secretaries, who together with other
support staff are the "glue that holds it all together," as the union
says. Many secretaries find themselves working through their breaks and
feeling pressured to work unpaid hours to complete
work which is absolutely essential. Another issue facing many support
staff is the attempt to push down their classification levels.
Providing the right to education with a guarantee
requires that support staff must be provided the living and working
conditions they require to keep the schools functioning and vibrant and
provide the services that students and other staff need to do so. In
this way the rights of all are interdependent. All out to
support the striking Edmonton Catholic Schools support staff! Join them
on the picket line -- for more information go to www.ecssa.ca.
Overwhelming Affirmation of Strike Vote
One day after support staff
at
Edmonton Catholic
Schools began their strike, they were forced to vote again on the
collective agreement they had already rejected. The Alberta Labour Code
gives employers the "right" to demand a vote supervised by the Alberta
Labour Board. The pretext used was that not enough
people had participated in the vote rejecting the contract and voting
to take strike action.
Edmonton Catholic Schools
support staff
responded
to this clumsy attempt to sow doubt and division with an overwhelming
show of strength and solidarity. More than 91 per cent of the workers
came out to vote and 72 per cent of the workers voted No! to the school
board's last offer.
The union pointed out that a yes vote would mean a
return to work under the same conditions. It would provide no security
and hours could be cut again. The workers have been without a
collective agreement since August 31, 2011, more than one year. While
the workers would receive a retroactive increase
for last year, the school board is demanding that the union sign a
contract
without any agreement on a wage increase for 2012. How does this
constitute good faith bargaining?
Workers on the picket line pointed out the
hypocrisy of the reasons given for forcing them to have a second vote
on the contract they had already rejected. If the government actually
believed that a low turnout invalidates a vote, then on what basis does
it claim legitimacy and that it is a properly constituted government?
The real motive had nothing to do with democracy or ensuring that the
vote represents the will of the workers.
Instead of responding to the demand of Canadians
for real participation in making decisions which affect their lives,
governments attack the workers' defence organizations. The support
staff made sure that this effort backfired. Workers told TML that what is important is for
everyone to stand together. For example, a worker who had previously
voted to accept the agreement stated that she would now vote with the
majority because what was crucial was that the workers stand together
and not permit anyone to decide for them.
More Secret Plans to Wreck
Seniors' Care Brought to Light
Recently a "concept paper"
called "Moving
Continuing Care Centres Forward" produced by Alberta Health was brought
to light through the diligence of seniors determined to hold the
government to account. Showing once again that any conception of a
government serving the public good has been smashed,
the paper was being circulated behind closed doors, in particular to
the private interests who want to expand the seniors care
"marketplace." In what has become a familiar scenario whenever the
plans being hatched in secret are brought to light, the government
declined to comment, saying this was just a discussion
paper.
Currently, Alberta Health
Services operates 73 of
173 long-term care facilities for seniors in the province. The rest are
operated by for-profit corporations or the not-for-profit sector. All
indications are that the government wants to leave the bulk of seniors'
care to the "marketplace." Whenever public facilities
are closed on whatever pretext, such as the recent closure of
Carmangay, the seniors and disabled are forced to move to for-profit
facilities. Corporations like Revera count seniors' residences and
continuing care as the most profitable part of their "real estate
portfolio" and governments are responding by opening up
the sector even more to private for-profit care.
The great "innovation"
proposed in the paper is
that seniors should not have to move from one facility to another when
the level of care they need changes, and that when a couple require
different levels of care this should not lead to separation. Seniors
and their families have been advocating for such changes
for a long time and these are no brainers. But through sleight of hand,
this needed change becomes the pretext to privatize even more aspects
of health care and seniors' care. It is also used to reduce the level
of care provided and further open the "market" for private operators to
profit.
The document is a stark reminder of the way in
which people are marginalized from the crucial decisions which affect
their lives. For example, the paper speaks about collaboration with
communities. Yet the word community is turned on its head and it is
the private interests who want this "marketplace" who
the government considers to represent "community."
In the service of these private interests, the
government puts forward an entirely anti-social and anti-human set of
principles. Nowhere is there any recognition of the social
responsibility of governments to care for the seniors who have
contributed so much to society and the right of seniors to live in
dignity. Instead
it sets up a phony conflict between generations, stating that
"addressing the needs and priorities of Alberta's aging population
should be done in ways that are fair and equitable to future
generations of Albertans; and should not place a disproportionate tax
burden on future generations."
No humane society could
accept such drivel which
considers society's elders as a burden on the younger generations. Yet
this kind of "prioritizing" as to who should get thrown out of the
lifeboat is second nature to the rich and the governments under their
dictate.
In a similar tone it
states: "The Alberta
government should encourage independence, self-reliance and
self-determination among Albertans throughout their lives, facilitate
and support individual responsibility, and support families in helping
aging Albertans maintain their independence."
This is doublespeak for
demanding that people fend
for themselves and takes the social responsibility for seniors' care
away from the government
where it belongs and thrusts it on families. Today people are born 
to
society and have
claims on society based on the rights which belong to them by virtue of
being human. The modern family is not an
economic unit capable of providing for its members. We live in a
society of modern, large-scale industrial production dominated by the
most powerful global monopolies. People are dependent on society for
their livelihoods, not the family.
People are striving to solve the problem of
establishing a society which recognizes this modern reality and the
guarantee of the rights which belong to all people by virtue of being
human. Join in to block the schemes of the Redford government to serve
private interests and fight for fully public long-term and
continuing care which guarantees the right of seniors to health care
and a life of dignity and security in retirement!
Monterey Place Workers Take the Fight for Their
Rights and Dignity to the Community
- Peggy Askin -
AUPE Local 095 health care
workers join Monterey workers on picket line, September 11, 2012. (AUPE)
Monterey Place seniors' care workers, locked out
since June 26 by Triple A Living Communities Inc., are going out to the
community almost every day to let Calgarians know why they
are fighting for an increase to the sub-standard wages they receive and
for working conditions that will allow them to
provide quality care to seniors. They are also providing Calgarians
with information on the business interests of those like Triple A which
enrich themselves at the expense of seniors and the workers who
care for them.
Triple A Living Inc. receives public funding to
pay its staff on par with workers employed by Alberta Health Services
doing the same jobs. But the government does not require that these
profiteers provide the same level of staff or that funding for wages
actually goes to the workers. This allows the
private operators to pocket millions by paying their staff lower wages
and forcing larger workloads on fewer workers. Triple A pays the
workers -- Licensed Practical Nurses, Personal Care Aides and general
support staff -- on average 30 per cent less than staff in public long
term care facilities.
The workers are maintaining a spirited picket
line from 6 am to 6 pm and on some days evening pickets as well.
They are also going door to door in the community as part of a campaign
called "Stop the Ripoff" to let people know
why they are persisting in their fight. They are providing information
about the business interests of their multi-million
dollar private-for-profit health care employer. The workers are asking
people to put signs on their lawn.
The "Stop the Ripoff" lawns signs are
everywhere in the neighbourhood. The Monterey workers are leafleting
all over the city, to make sure that Calgarians are aware of their
fight for respect and dignity and quality care for seniors. These hard
working women and men are defending the rights
of all and taking a stand against private business interests enriching
themselves at the expense of public right.
On Labour Day a large contingent of Monterey
workers joined in the activities at the Calgary and District Labour
Council Labour Day BBQ held at Olympic Plaza. Alongside workers
from many sectors, they served food and also walked the plaza speaking
to hundreds of Calgary workers and
union activists about their fight. Every day the workers are joined by
families, residents and other workers, showing that the concerns of
Monterey workers and residents are everyone's concern.
On September 11, a large contingent of Alberta
Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE) Local 095 health care workers
joined their fellow union members on their picket line. Local 095
represents general support services workers of Alberta Health Services
in Calgary. Local 095 was part of the February
16 province-wide one day wildcat strike where health care workers
stood up for their rights and dignity. Together with the Monterey
workers they marched to the back of the seniors' centre facing busy
68th Street
NE and unfurled their banners for passing motorists to see.
AUPE is calling on all concerned citizens to send
a letter to Premier Alison Redford calling for an end to the use of
public health care funding to increase the profits of private
interests. To send a letter or for more information on the campaign, go
to: www.stoptheripoff.ca.
All Out to Support the Monterey
Workers!
To Be Published Soon
The Lougheed Legacy
With the September 13 death of Peter Lougheed, Premier
of Alberta from 1971 to
1985, the ruling elite at both the provincial and national level, their
media, government spokespersons and pundits of all sorts have bombarded
the airwaves with self-serving accounts of what Lougheed accomplished
and what he represented.
Lougheed is presented as a great statesman who championed the interests
of Alberta and Canada. The Progressive Conservative Party in Alberta
declares that they are following in Lougheed's footsteps today and that
they are ones who represent the interests of the working people of
Alberta, which everyone knows
is not the case. The PC Party then and now champions the interests of
the oil and gas monopolies.
Next week TML Daily will publish material on
the Lougheed
Legacy for purposes of contributing to the discussion on the
significance of unfolding events.
Read The
Marxist-Leninist
Daily
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
As the release of the
"Moving Continuing Care Forward" draft paper
shows (see below), the government continues to hatch new assaults on
peoples' rights in secret. In public, it speaks of consultation,
discussion and having a conversation with citizens. This means that
careful attention has to be paid to what
the government is really up to, as well as how to mobilize the
collective strength of the working class
and people so as to turn things around and make sure the rich cannot
wage this anti-social offensive.
The survey also presents the idea that the
government
should be
"saving" for the day when resource revenues run out. This is quite an
admission that the exploitation of the resources by the global
monopolies, who are bent on drilling, digging and shipping out
resources as fast as possible, will end in disaster.