Nanaimo, Duncan, & District Labour Council 

CLC Tea Talks Reveal Pension Divide

At an informational meeting in Victoria, CLC President Ken Georgetti described a time when he grew up when workers  used to have pensions they could live on.  Georgetti asked the rhetorical question of why the CLC should fight for better pensions when union members already have plans and it would reduce the opportunities for organizing workers.

"Why shouldn't everyone have a decent pension", he asked. "Why should retired workers have to choose between food or paying rent? Or getting rid of their pets to save money? Or decide if they can afford their medications? "

"The nature of the work force has changed radically", he said. "Today's young worker will experience up to five careers. All those who have pensions are under attack. The single best way to improve retirement income is to improve the CPP."


The Canada Pension plan is portable. It doesn't provide contribution holidays for employers. It can't keep money and not pay out. It is actuarily sound for the next 75 years, and it's protected against inflation.

The Conservative Plan, the PRPP, he said is NOT a pension plan. It's another voluntary savings plan like the other plans that have failed.

Canadian RRSPs, he went on, have the highest management fees in the world, an average of about 2.31%. Considering that for every 1% of management fees, actuaries figure you lose about 20 % of your savings, an average fee costs you about 50% of your savings.

The goal of the original Canada Pension Plan was to provide about 25% of pre-retirement income. It was deliberately set low so that private companies, the banks and investment companies could "fill in the gap" to provide another 25%. Sadly we now have 30 years of experience showing that it did not work.

Today's workers often begin their working lives with high student debt, they work on contract, or part time and often have two or three jobs to get by. The ministers of finance meeting in Victoria tomorrow can either let us contribute to our own dignity, or they can pay through future taxes. "A living wage in retirement", he said, "is not too much to expect after a lifetime of hard work."

Dr Michael Prince, the Lansdowne Professor of Social Policy at the University of Victoria said it made sense to keep the discussion of reforming CPP pensions alive because doing that will work, while PRPPs will not.

He reminded listeners that the GIS was brought in as a short term stop-gap program and it has become, instead of being a heavy lifting component of retirement security.
Instead the GIS balloon has gotten bigger and bigger.

A fifty year experiment of holding back the CPP has not worked. Only 28.5 % of British Columbians are covered by a workplace pension plan. Only 25% contributed to an RRSP, and the median contribution was only 6% of the maximum.

PRPPs are locked in, they are not portable, have no employer contribution, and are auto enrollment, and are anything but voluntary. Accessibility, he said, will remain an issue until the CPP is expanded.

2012 NDDLC Executive Elected

At its Annual General Meeting, The Nanaimo, Duncan & District Labour Council elected the following to the 2012 Executive:

President, Ellen Oxman
Vice Presidents, Jim Sadlemyer, Jennifer Duggan, John Little
Secretary, Debbie Fraess
Treasurer, Betty Smits
Sergeant at Arms, Steve Lewis
Members at Large, Bob Smits, Ann Batchelar, Nancy Curley, Patricia Varnadore
Youth Rep, Lucy Oxman

Tom Duncan rejoins the other trustees, Alatair Haythornthwaite and Sue Creba for a 3 year term.

Municipal and School Board Election Coverage

We now have a new page to cover municipal and school board elections throughout our area. Please book mark it for keeping up to date on endorsed candidates, all candidate meetings and more. Municipal/School Board Elections

Doctor Jorge Balseiro, of the Cuban Medical Brigade, came to Nanaimo to explain how Cuban Doctors are helping restore Community Health care in Haiti.

See our coverage here: Cuban Doctors in Haiti

Western Forest Products Still Trying to Stiff Workers

Brian Butler, a Vice President of Steelworkers Local 1-1937 says that the union is
going ahead with a court hearing later this month because of their concern that WOP has only re-opened its two Nanaimo sawmills with skeleton crews to avoid their obligation to pay millions of dollars in severance packages if the mills are closed.

The union has long feared WFP is trying to avoid paying severance packages to hundreds of its workers who were laid off from its two Nanaimo mills in 2008 and 2009. According to the collective agreement, the workers are entitled to severance packages after a shutdown of two years at their mills, but the union believes WFP partially reopened the mills with skeleton crews just weeks before the two-year deadline expired to avoid the pay-outs.

Butler said that while the union is “pleased” that officials from WFP announced promises made this week of a $200-million investment in operations on Vancouver Island during a visit to Nanaimo with Premier Christy Clark this week. However, the lack of specifics on where the money will be spent has led to skepticism among local forestry workers.  John Little, a laid off worker at one of the Nanaimo mills remembers that in the recent past, forestry executives promised a billion dollar investment that never materialized.

Butler concluded that the announcement was "a hastily organized photo-op organized by Premier Clark who recently appeared to miss Vancouver Island in her job strategy proposals.”

Occupy Nanaimo, Too

October 15, Nanaimo

About 500 people from all walks of life gathered on Saturday, Oct 15 in Diana Krall Plaza in Nanaimo to take part in the global movement that stresses the disparity between rich and poor in the world. The occupation of the Plaza was peaceful and joined the expression of hope for change in 71 countries around the world.



19 year old Matthew Orrick, rally organizer, noted that people were losing their jobs and their homes, while a rich minority prospered by immoral and often illegal means.




Serge Vallaincourt told the crowd it was time to stop the installation of Smart Meters by BC Hydro - and the job losses of 800-1200 meter readers.



Unionist were prominent among the people speaking. Richard Goode, President of the BC Ferry and Marine Workers Union, said he spoke, not just as a trade union leader, but a citizen of the area, and urged people to get out and participate in politics and voting in November.



Jim Sadlemyer flew the CAW flag, and also present was Paul Finch, Vice President of the B.C.G.E.U.



Nanaimo MLA Leonard Krog urged to the crowd to get involved - to make a difference. He urged them to join political parties, to run for office and to vote in the November municipal and school board elections.




Were you in this crowd?

Email us and tell us what you thought of it at labour@telus.net

To read Jack's letter to Canadians, go to our MLA/MP page, please at this url:

http://www.nddlc.ca/mlasmps.html

Labour Day 2011 Well Attended

Hundreds of local trade unionists and activists and their families descended on Transfer Beach in Ladysmith on Labour Day 2011, on September 5th. They enjoyed free hot dogs and drinks, listened to great music from Beverly Mckeen, Martin Jones and Art Farquaharson, and cheered short speeches by Barry Oneill and other labour leaders.

For more pictures and stories see our Labour Day Picnic Page at

http://www.nddlc.ca/labourday.html

Workers Most Vulnerable to Possible Double-dip Recession, CAW says

September 9, 2011, 10:00 AM EST

---

Canada's job market still hasn't fully recovered from the last major economic crisis, leaving workers more vulnerable to layoffs, wage cuts and poorer quality job prospects in the event of a double-dip recession, says CAW President Ken Lewenza.

Lewenza's comments come after Canada's latest national job report showed stagnant growth over the month of August, as the economy lost over 5,000 net jobs and 16,000 more Canadians joined the unemployment rolls.

"There are clear signs that our economy is struggling and facing down another potential recession," Lewenza said. "Our government can keep denying that fact, or they can take proactive measures to lessen its impact on Canadians."

Lewenza said that, while still poor, Canada's job market indicators prior to the 2008 global financial crisis showed workers had entered the recession in a much stronger position than today.

In September of 2008, there were fewer Canadians vying for jobs (18.3 million), the unemployment rate was 6.2 per cent, the employment rate (the proportion of Canadians actively employed among the total working age population) was 63.7 per cent, and part-time work made up 18.5 per cent of total jobs.

Today, there are more Canadians in the labour market (18.7 million), unemployment rate is at 7.3 per cent, the employment rate has dropped to 61.9 per cent and the share of part-time jobs has risen to historic highs of over 19 per cent in recent months.

He noted that Canada's recovery period flooded the economy with too many poor quality temporary jobs, contract jobs and other more 'precarious' forms of work - filled by Canada's most vulnerable working populations, including women, temporary foreign workers, new immigrants and youth.

"These workers are often the first to lack access to important workplace benefits and government benefits, and face the headwinds of recession without adequate protection," Lewenza said.

"It's time for the Conservative government to stop just waiting for disaster to strike, and start putting measures in place to deal with this impending crisis. This must come in the form of a good jobs strategy, which would promote the creation of sustainable full-time, permanent employment."

Thanks to the CAW for this story.

Canada seeks Buy American exemption

Previous NAFTA deal set to expire Sept. 30

Canada is asking for an exemption from the new Buy American provisions in U.S. President Barack Obama's proposed jobs act, just weeks before the exemption for the previous stimulus is set to expire.

Minister of International Trade Ed Fast, concerned about a potential "trade barrier initiative," has begun consultations with Washington to negotiate an extension for a Canadian exemption before a Sept. 30 deadline.

Obama's proposed $447-billion US American Jobs Act is intended to give a much-needed jolt to a stalled U.S. economy, but Fast called the bill misguided.

"We believe that protectionism is counterproductive, especially during these difficult economic times around the world," the minister said, adding that 75 per cent of Canada's trade is with the U.S.

The measures contained in the bill echo Washington's original stimulus package in 2009 — a fight that Canada thought it had already won

The minister said he was "very surprised and certainly disappointed" to learn of the provisions, adding that Canada is working "very aggressively" to raise the same arguments made two years ago with the Obama administration and to Congress.

Even if there is an extension, Canadian manufacturers are concerned that even if states and municipalities might be allowed to buy Canadian doesn't necessarily mean they will.

It reminds this reporter of what Pierre Trudeau told an American - "Living next to you is in some ways like sleeping with an elephant. No matter how friendly and even-tempered is the beast, if I can call it that, one is affected by every twitch and grunt."