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July 30, 2013 - No. 94 Opposition to Harper Government's Nation-Wrecking Health Care Rally at Premier's
Meeting
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The actions to confront
Harper were organized by the Ontario Health Coalition and the Canadian
Health Coalition. On July 24, forums were organized to discuss the
degradation of health care that is taking place in every jurisdiction
in the country. Delegations of health care advocacy organizations,
health care
workers, and others from every region of the country took part in the
forums. On July 25, more than 2,000 people participated in a large
rally at a park near the site of the premiers' conference and a
demonstration at the site itself.
"We are here today because
Medicare is under threat like
never before," McBane said. "The Harper government has set in motion a
strategy which will unravel Medicare if we don't stop him. Health care
is the most important policy issue on the minds of Canadians. Eighty
per cent of Canadians according to
a poll released a couple of days ago want Prime Minister Harper to
convene a first ministers' meeting to secure the future of health care.
Yet the Harper government has announced there will be no meetings.
There will be no new health accord when the current one expires."
TML: Could
you tell us about the
working conditions in forestry in your region and what impact the new
forestry regime is having?
Anyone can bid at the
auction, any contractor with money
can bid, they don't even need a labour force. Then they can sell to
whomever they please. They act much like brokers. If Resolute is the
buyer, the sale is done according to its conditions. The different
players in the industry who buy the auctioned wood
will compete with one another by lowering what they offer. The workers
will be the ones to pay for that; their working conditions will
deteriorate. We used to be able to depend on moving so many thousand
cubic metres of wood, cutting it according to the supplies guaranteed
to each plant. Now that 25 per cent
of the wood is auctioned off, there are layoffs. Resolute has laid off
owners of forestry equipment who worked for them as well as other
employees. What
will happen is that unionized workers with pension plans and benefits
will become contractual workers for these brokerages, losing whatever
they had; other workers will
simply leave the sector. That's how the overall conditions for forestry
workers will deteriorate. Rumour has it that if this continues,
Resolute will soon become a purchaser of wood rather than making wood
products. That's what we're afraid of, that Resolute will declare that
it is contracting everything out and nothing
can stop it from doing whatever it wants. 2011 strike at Tembec plant in Matane. |
As far as the paper manufacturers are concerned, there may very well be a lesser demand for paper, but the industry is using this as an excuse to attack rights, wages, and working conditions. We held a 104-day strike at the Tembec plant in Matane [in 2011]. The company tried to invoke the poor market conditions to impose concessions, in particular on the question of pension plans. We succeeded in keeping our pension plans as they were and obtained a salary increase that was above the industry average.
One thing we try to do is have a clause within agreements that states that any concessions are temporary and must be removed once the market conditions improve, but the industry is not that keen on such an arrangement.
Also on the question of working conditions, we are deeply preoccupied by Quebec's new forestry regime which came into force this year. In our region for example, under the new regime, we have lost 40 per cent of our wood supplies, which are now auctioned off. Anyone can purchase this 40 per cent that is not reserved for wood processors. Workers who cut the wood have their own equipment -- multifunctional machinery -- and trucks to transport the timber. This involves a huge investment of close to $1 million, not counting expenses for maintenance. A worker owning such equipment and offering his services to a company could be planning ahead for years to come, because he depends on a specific volume of wood -- so many thousand cubic metres per year -- to make a living and pay off his machinery. He has just lost 40 per cent of his wood supply to the auction, which is 40 per cent of his livelihood. He will no longer cut that wood because it no longer belongs to the company. He will not be able to pay for his equipment, so he will go elsewhere.
What will happen is that the big companies will go to see the contractor who bid at the auction for the wood. They will tell him, "OK, we'll give you this much." The contractor will have no choice but to sell. Many of these contractors are small entrepreneurs who own their own equipment. The big companies will set the price. How will the contractor keep his workers with prices that will be too low to offer them decent living conditions? The conditions will deteriorate and workers will go elsewhere.
On top of this, with the EI reform, the workers will be harassed and forced to accept a lower paying job in the off season. They will definitely choose to leave the sector.
So that's why we're putting so much effort into changing these provincial and federal laws and to improve working conditions in these sectors. The work week should be 40 hours, the same as everywhere else. Pension funds and benefits must be provided to entice a new generation of forestry workers to work and stay in the sector. Employers should be forced to contribute to the pension fund and group benefits for their workers. These could be negotiated with the employer and there could even be a section in collective agreements that requires employers to provide these pensions and benefits. People work an average of 50 hours a week cutting wood. When a worker reaches 61 or 62, he is no longer able to keep doing this work. The natural resources are there for the taking, the workers provide the expertise and lose their health in the process, while some higher-up pockets all the money. Wealth must be more evenly distributed. It is not only a matter of money, it is a matter of health and human dignity. There are many projects we could take up. For example, 90 per cent of workers over 60 years of age could work for six months a year and transfer their knowledge to the younger generation; arrangements could be made with EI for these workers.
We intervene by means of collective bargaining and at the government level. The negotiating process is an uphill climb but we do succeed in winning certain things. When we negotiate, we constantly face demands for concessions from the company at hand, whether it is in financial difficulty or not.
(Translated from original French by TML.)
The Fight for Regional Employment
in Eastern Quebec
TML: Tell us about the work of the Regional Council at this time.
Yannick Proulx: In our region, the question of employment is a crucial one and our situation is complex. The situation with regards to Employment Insurance (EI) for example, is a source of great insecurity. The Harper government's reform is aimed at seasonal industries and these are of utmost importance to our region in the forestry industry, tourism and fisheries. One must not forget that in the public sector, at the municipal level as well as in education, a number of jobs are seasonal. There are also jobs in the cultural and community spheres that are basically non-unionized but where workers have to apply for EI every year. The insecurity comes from the fact that workers wonder how they are going to reintegrate into the workforce, what will they have to do in order to work? There is also the problem of being qualified, as the available workers in the labour market must fit the requirements of the available jobs. One could say that there is a gap between the available jobs and people's qualifications. The job openings often require a college or university degree while the available seasonal workers are generally people with a high school education who gained a lot of experience in their workplace. The dilemma of regional employment is already huge but the EI reform will just make things worse.
The new EI rules are being applied but, from what we can
tell, they are being applied unequally. In the Maritimes and New
Brunswick, for example, there are places where things are worse than
here. The rules are applied unequally, but the process has begun
nevertheless. Services have already been reduced.
The Service Canada staff has been reduced. Workers already had to wait
a long time before being able to submit their EI application, but with
the new rules, the process will be even more difficult. I think the
government expects people to lose patience and abandon their
applications entirely. More people than ever
are being turned away, delays are longer than ever and it's only a
small minority who dispute the process and defend themselves.
Residents of Percé on the Gaspésie protest the EI reform. Their banner condemns the "black hole" seasonal workers suffer,
the period when these workers are without an income from EI or their jobs.
What's more, in our region, the forest industry is not taking off. In the meantime, people are being placed in jobs elsewhere so that when the industry restarts, jobs in forestry will once again be available. But there is the risk of another kind of problem: that the forest industry will restart with no one enrolling in forestry technology and other forestry-related programs in the schools. I wouldn't encourage my own children to take these programs. It will be hard to find qualified workers for the forest industry jobs. So the dilemma I spoke about will deepen. There are jobs and more may be available but they won't have the right people for the right jobs. The people we have who are looking for work can't find the kind of jobs they are looking for.
Another problem is that economic activity in certain regions is not diversified. There are some exceptions, like Rivière-du-Loup. It has a strong industrial base, a public sector, a private sector, its geographic position is good, and it is fully developed. In the main Regional County Municipalities of the Lower-St-Lawrence-Gaspésie, the urban areas are not too bad economically speaking. The main problem in the rural areas is where the economy is much less diversified. The biggest problems are with agriculture and forestry. Things are not improving and in our regions these sectors have been the weakest in the recent years.
The dramatic change we're seeing in the public sector is the withdrawal of the state as an employer in the regions, whether it's Hydro-Quebec, various government departments, or at the federal level with Service Canada and other agencies. If you take Hydro-Quebec in Gaspésie and the Iles de la Madeleine, from 2010 to 2012, 10 per cent of the staff was cut. There was a branch in each region but now everything has been centralized to Quebec City. There has been a tremendous push for centralization of state management and, in cities like Rimouski, this has had a negative impact. When an employer like the government leaves, quality jobs leave and with them so do the spin-off jobs; less cars are sold, there are less people in the restaurants, business goes down as a result of this loss of stable revenue. Another impact on the economy comes from no longer having access to the same quality of services. Before, when you spoke to a local Service Canada representative, this person knew her region, all the employers and the overall working conditions. But now, you speak to a public servant in Ottawa. They are not aware of any of the employers here, they know nothing of the regional realities.
On top of that, there are all the cutbacks in the school boards, the hospitals, and we are expecting more downsizing in the public sector. The needs are still there but we wonder how these services will be provided.
We are fighting to keep our jobs in the region, trying to make adjustments so as to stimulate projects that will give rise to construction activity. We are trying to have as many jobs as we can get but we are limited by a context whereby many sectors are looking at downsizing. On the issue of Employment Insurance, we are mobilized. In Quebec, especially Eastern Quebec, the Maritimes and Côte-Nord, we have the biggest mobilization. The business community, small- and medium-sized employers, are all on our side. Only big businesses are satisfied because they see the overall economic result, which is to exert downward pressure that will lower wages in the long run.
In the face of all these problems, people are taking all sorts of initiatives. They are determined to find ways to stay in their region and raise their families here. We are fighting hard to deal with the real challenges in order to provide a future for the region.
Take the question of oil for example. Whether we should exploit this resource in the region or not is a big issue at this time. In our opinion, we shouldn't shy away from such projects because there is money and there are jobs involved. But as things are developing now, with the lack of transparency and the way in which the project is evolving, it is not socially acceptable. Even the promise of a stronger economy and job creation has yet to be seen. Companies have to prove that things will proceed safely, and this has also yet to be proven. As a matter of fact, the attitude taken towards our region is that, considering all our economic problems, we would be fools not to accept the exploitation of our oil resources. But we don't feel the issue poses itself in that way. We think we would be fools to endanger the environment. Is that a risk we can take, seeing as the oil-extraction companies have offered us no guarantees on these matters? If one considers that our main economic engine at this time is tourism, think of how one ecological disaster could adversely affect the industry.
So you can see that the challenges and problems are numerous and that we are dealing with issues that are vital for the population of the region.
(Translated from original French by TML.)
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