Nanaimo, Duncan, & District Labour Council 

Union membership ratify an agreement which protects jobs, increases wages

Burnaby – The union membership at four Hertz locations in the Lower Mainland, including Vancouver International Airport, have ratified a four year collective agreement bringing an end to a difficult five-month strike, announced the Canadian Office and Professional Employees Union, Local 378 (COPE 378) today.

“We’re pleased with this contract and the hard work done by our bargaining committee,” said COPE 378 President Andy Ross. “This was a hard fought battle. We are proud of our membership and their determination to get a fair contract which meets their needs, and the needs of their families.”

The main issue in the labour dispute was job security. The new agreement includes language protecting the right of full-time employees to work full-time hours, and protects against part-time employees being used in place of full-time employees. The agreement also protects members’ full benefits if a COPE 378 member must work reduced hours due to a lack of work.

The contract also provides a cumulative 8% wage increase over the life of the collective agreement, and a signing bonus in November of 2010.

Hertz had been pushing full-time employees into part-time work, thereby depriving them of benefits and decent wages. In October 2009 the COPE 378 membership at Hertz voted 100% in favour of a strike. Hertz forced a ‘final offer vote’ in early February 2010, which the membership soundly rejected as it provided no job security provisions. The union membership then immediately began job action.

“Ending this strike with this agreement is a victory for our membership and a powerful reminder of why unions are still relevant and necessary in today’s economy,” said Ross. “We started with a company determined to offload costs onto the backs of their employees; Hertz wanted to save a few bucks by stripping long-term workers of their benefits,” added Ross.

“COPE 378 members proved we can apply our own pressure. When employees join together to force companies to realize the value of their work, they can win the fair and equitable contracts that they deserve,” Ross concluded.

COPE 378 represents workers at four Hertz Lower Mainland locations. The picket lines came down at 3 PM on June 29th to allow all members to vote in the ratification meeting. The majority of the members voted to accept the terms of the tentative agreement. COPE 378 Hertz members will be back at work on July 1st.
 

Transport Canada Finally Agrees to Study Dangerous Vans

Transport Minister John Baird has finally agreed to let Transport Canada review the safety of 12 and 15 passenger vans often used for transportation of school students and sports teams. The vans, which are banned for that use in a number of American States and several provinces, were the subject of a private member's bill introduced by MP Yvon Godin, in whose riding a horrific accident took the lives of fifteen members of a local basket ball team.

For more information, go to Transport Canada To Study Vans

Liberals and Conservatives ram through trojan-horse budget

Tue 08 Jun 2010

OTTAWA – Today New Democrat Leader Jack Layton sharply criticized Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff for keeping enough of his MPs out of the House to allow the Harper Conservatives to drive their bloated budget bill through the House of Commons.

“Oil is still flowing into the Gulf of Mexico, yet the Liberals helped the Conservatives adopt a budget bill (C-9) that hands responsibility for environmental assessments to the industry-friendly National Energy Board. Trojan-Horse bills such as this one are the last refuge of a government trying to make unpopular changes.”

Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff has described the budget as a “dumpster bill” and has said that it is an abuse of power. Still, Mr. Ignatieff has said his party supports it because he doesn’t want to trigger an election.

The budget bill also contains a mix of other unrelated items and resembles bloated U.S. budget bills that often include hundreds of items added during political horse-trading.

Provisions buried in the Harper budget bill include:

• Authorization for the sale of the Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. with no debate or public scrutiny;
• A move towards privatization of Canada Post by removing Canada Post’s exclusive right to collect Canadian mail destined for delivery in other countries;
• Approval for the draining of the Employment Insurance Account, which held a surplus of $57 billion in premiums paid in over the past decade by workers and businesses.

“Each of these provisions should have been scrutinized and debated by Parliament. Tagging them onto the budget bill and counting on weak and disorganized Liberals to help force them through the House is a sad comment on how Mr. Harper governs and on Mr. Ignatieff’s failure to act like a real opposition leader,” said Mr. Layton.

Tories Try to Hide Looting of E.I. Fund, Privatization of Canada Post

Harper budget bill puts profits before people

OTTAWA –New Democrats are moving to break up the Conservatives’ omnibus budget bill (C-9) by removing major non-budget items hidden in the bill. A mix of other unrelated items are contained in the bill, similar to how controversial changes are tacked on to budget bills in the United States.

“Omnibus bills such as this one are the last refuge of a government trying to make unpopular changes,” said New Democrat Leader Jack Layton. “The Conservatives know that Canadians wouldn’t support these changes on their own so they have to try to hide them in their budget bill.”

Laws buried in the budget bill include:
 
Authorization for the sale of the Atomic Energy Canada Ltd. with no debate or public scrutiny;

A move towards privatization of Canada Post by removing Canada Post’s exclusive right to collect Canadian mail destined for delivery in other countries;

Changes to the Environmental Assessment Act that will give the Minister of Environment the power to dictate the scope of environmental assessments;

Hand responsibility for energy project reviews to the pro-business National Energy Board;

Approve the draining of the Employment Insurance Account, which held a surplus of $57 billion in premiums paid in over the past decade by workers and businesses.

New Democrat Deputy Finance Critic Chris Charlton said it was particularly troubling to see Liberals voting for the budget to be left as is. “The environment won't be saved by eloquent speeches,” said Charlton. “Workers aren't helped by words! Meaningful change requires all Members to stand up and be counted when it's time to vote”

“We hope that all opposition parties will stand by their convictions and vote these measures out of C-9,” said Layton. “If these measures are allowed to stand, then not only workers and the environment will be short-changed, but democracy itself will have been compromised.

Errr...Thanks Anyway

Vancouver Island University Students Send "Thanks" for Not Raising Tuition

Aimed at VIU Board Members the students are sending mock thank you cards to Board members thanking them for their late March decision that failed to pass a tuition increase.

The cards include graphs showing that VIU tuition fees have increased as much as 300% since 2001. Signatures are being accepted at the Student Union building.
To go to the Student Union website, click here Education Shouldn't Be a Debt Sentence

Sunridge Place Slashes Wages During Negotiations

Sunridge Place, a private retirement home in Duncan, BC this week told all it's recently unionized HEU employees that it is unilaterally rolling back wages and benefits while it is still undergoing negotiations with the HEU for a first collective agreement. 

Sunridge has now changed the operators of Sunridge Place from Duncan Care Campus to Bundock Management, further complicating legal issues.  The Hospital Employees Union continues to attempt to negootiate a first collective agreement.

Ladysmith Town Council Opposes Contracting Out  

 Ladysmith Town Council will be letting B.C.’s premier, health minister and the Vancouver Island Health Authority (VIHA) know it stands unanimously opposed to the contracting out of care and support services at Lodge on 4th.

 Following passionate appeals from a delegation representing Lodge residents, family members, health care workers, and concerned citizens the Council passed two resolutions at its regular meeting on May 3.

 The first will call on the provincial government to work with all concerned parties to address the deterioration of seniors care’ in the Cowichan  Valley.

 The second resolution will seek a meeting with VIHA to remind them of the commitments it had made eight years ago when Ladysmith Hospital was closed. Among those commitments, recalled Ladysmith Mayor Rob Hutchins, was a promise to hire laid-off hospital staff at Lodge on 4th and to maintain the terms and conditions of their collective agreement.

 Delegation members included Lodge on 4th family member Joan Cochrane, resident Bob Lyon, HEU members Janet Meding, Sheila Niehaus and Linda McAdam, and long-time Ladysmith resident Dan Cross, who is also a member of the BCGEU.

 This is the second municipal council in the Valley to unanimously oppose contracting out in seniors’ care facilities. Two weeks ago, a similar resolution received the full support of Duncan City Council.

 Seniors’ care issues have been an ongoing concern in the Cowichan Valley and
across the Island in recent years. Those concerns have been heightened by the pending mass lay off of 140 HEU members at Lodge on 4th and 40 BCGEU members at Cerwydden Care in Duncan.

Speakers at Nanaimo Day of Mourning Ceremony Call For Action

Speaking at the Nanaimo Day of Mourning Ceremony,  Hassan Yussuff, the secretary-treasurer of the CLC, said nothing has changed since the first day of mourning in 1984. "I find it quite shocking that people have been dying at work at the same rate today as they were when we started this observation 26 years ago," he said.

He went on to call for action to hold employers to account for inaction to prevent injuries and deaths, and treating workplace injuries as a cost of doing business.

He suggested that the quickest way to get employers to pay attention was to send a few CEOs to jail for violating laws that make it a crime to endanger workers.

Yussuff said the CLC wants to see the B.C. government implement three initiatives to demonstrate that they take workplace deaths seriously.

"The government needs to train the police to be able to investigate workplace deaths as thoroughly as they do other deaths," Yussuff said.

"We also think we need special prosecutors who are trained in the laws associated with workplace safety."

Ellen Oxman Calls for More Attention to Young Workers

Ellen Oxman, President of the NDDLC, said that as a mother of young children about to go into the workforce noted that it was especially important to make young people aware that they had the right to refuse unsafe work, and to be properly trained to do work safely.

121 workers died in 2009 because of their jobs. "Nobody should have to give up their life to go to work, "she said.



More pictures here on our Health & Welfare Page

 Listen to the NDDLC Day of Mourning Message NDDLC Radio Ad

Is today the day you die at work?

In 2008, according to the latest official report from the Association of Workers’ Compensation Boards of Canada, 1,036 people lost their lives at work.

That’s twenty people every week.

Dead because their workplace was not safe.

Dead because they got injured.

Dead because they got cancer.

Dead because they were attacked.

Twenty people who never come home again.

Twenty people every week.

Dead because their employer failed to ensure they were safe at work.

Over the last decade, the number of Canadians who die every year because of something that happened to them at work has been steadily growing. In 1998, the number stood at 809. Ten years later in 2008, the number was almost 30% more. And the preliminary numbers for 2009 in some provinces don’t look like much of an improvement.

Here in British Columbia, 125 workers lost their lives in 1998 because of their jobs. Ten years later, the number had climbed to 140. In 2009, 121 workers died because of their jobs. But that’s not progress. That means at least two British Columbians a week died last year because of something that happened on the job.

Why is this being allowed to continue?
Why are employers not being called to account?

Twenty-six years ago, the Canadian Labour Congress declared April 28 a National Day of Mourning for workers killed or injured on the job to raise awareness of the thousands of workers whose lives were forever changed by injury and the hundreds who died every year. In 1990, Parliament passed the workers' Mourning Day Act to formally recognize April 28 as a “day of mourning” across Canada.

Over the past 26 years, successive governments have pledged their support to workers and their unions. They announced new workplace health and safety laws and regulations – some of the best in the world. Unfortunately, they have failed to provide the resources needed to enforce those new laws. This is the reason why Canada’s workplaces claim a growing number of lives every year: the laws are not enforced, so reckless employers are allowed to carry on without consequence.

Enough is enough! It’s time to enforce the law and bring employers who kill to justice.

Any workplace death or injury is preventable. Thousands of men and women, some as young as 15, have needlessly had their lives taken, over the past 26 years, by their employers. How many more of us have to be killed before governments finally take action?

 Today is the day we remember those whose lives have been taken.

 Mourn them. Think of the families and friends left behind. Share their grief. If you can, imagine their loss.

 Then, think of the employers who got away with manslaughter and murder.

 Get angry. Be outraged.

Then resolve to do something. Do something to make sure that your workplace is safe. So that you or one of your brothers and sisters at work doesn’t end up as one of next year’s statistics.

Do something to force the lawmakers and the legislatures to change their ways.

NDDLC Area Day of Mourning Ceremonies

In Canada, in 2008, 1,038 workers lost their lives on the job. In British Columbia, 160 workers lost their lives in 2008 because of their jobs. In 2007, the number had already reached to 140. That means we've had a 114% increase in fatalities in 2008 as compared to 2007. And a 28 % increase in workplace deaths over the past decade - another three workers DEAD every other year.

The Nanaimo, Duncan & District Labour Council has written Regional District Boards, and Municipalities throughout our region, asking them to proclaim April 28, 2010 the National Day of Mourning for Workers Killed and Injured on the Job. We have also requested that they fly flag(s) at half-mast on Wednesday, April 28 in remembrance of all those workers who have lost their lives and their health due to workplace injuries.

The Day of Mourning has now grown into a worldwide event observed by unions, central labour bodies, labour councils, municipalities and national governments. The Day of Mourning is observed in nearly a hundred countries worldwide; it has been formally endorsed by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU). The Parliament of Canada officially recognized the Day of Mourning in 1991.

The Nanaimo, Duncan & District Labour Council will join the United Steelworkers for a Lake Cowichan ceremony on Wednesday, April 28 at 11:00 AM at the Lake Cowichan Woodworkers Memorial Site near the Kaatza Museum.

The Nanaimo, Duncan & District Labour Council will hold the Nanaimo area Day of Mourning Ceremony at Pioneer Plaza, near the intersection of Front and Bastion Streets in Nanaimo at 1:00 PM, Wednesday, April 28. Guest speakers will include Hassan Yussuff, Secretary Treasurer of the Canadian Labour Congress, Ellen Oxman, President of the NDDLC, and Nick Perry, an injured worker. We invite you to attend our ceremony and participate.

The Nanaimo, Duncan & District Labour Council and CUPE 3570 will hold the Parksville area Day of Mourning Ceremony at the Picnic Shelter in Parksville Community Park at 4:30 PM, Wednesday, April 28. Guest speakers will include Nick Perry, an injured worker.

The Nanaimo, Duncan & District Labour Council represents 65 affiliated local unions with a combined membership of 14,000 men and women trade unionists in the central Vancouver Island area, from Cobble Hill to Qualicum Beach, and the Gulf Islands north of Saltspring.

We thank you for your continuing support of our campaign to reduce and eliminate workplace deaths and injuries. If you would like to acquire a Day of Mourning Flag to display, please contact our office.

Ellen Oxman, President


Soon to be Laid Off Union Members Walk Information Line

Soon to be laid off HEU members at the "Lodge on 4th" retirement home in Ladysmith walked an information line in front of their workplace today (April 20th). They were joined by other union members, by relatives of residents, a former MLA and the President of the Nanaimo-North Cowichan NDP.



"What a perversion of priorities", said former Nanaimo MLA Dale Lovick, "to attack workers that provide vital services to seniors instead of attacking the underfunding of seniors care throughout British Columbia."

In November, employees got a “Section 54” notice that told them they had 60 days  to negotiate with the employer an “adjustment” plan. Despite the union's proposal which would have saved the employer about $1 million a year, according to the employer's own financial statements, Huard, the owner, has discarded these 150 employees.

“Contracting out has negative consequences for the workers and the residents they care for,” said HEU spokesperson Bonnie Pearson. “The disruption and upheaval caused by contracting out creates unneccessary anxiety for seniors and is distressing for families who depend on staff to look after their loved ones.”

Research in both Canada and abroad concludes privatization and contracting out leads to reduced staffing levels in care facilities, lower wages with fewer benefits and heavier workloads for employees. Workers affected include licensed practical nurses, care aides, cooks, food service workers, laundry workers, and activities, rehabilitation and clerical staff. 

ANTI-HST Initiative Gains Momentum

The Anti-HST Iniative spearheaded by former Premier Bill Vander Zalm is gaining momentum. On Friday, a well organized force of volunteers guided those wishing to sign the Anti-HST petition to separate tables for each Nanaimo Area Constituency at Beban Park.

 To defeat the HST, volunteers registered with Elections BC, have to collect at least 10% of registered voters's signatures in every provincial constituency by July 5^th.

Vander Zalm said he was shocked last summer to learn the Liberal government would combine the provincial sales tax with the federal GST, after promising during the election they wouldn't. And he was disappointed with the light media coverage. After his wife Lillian encouraged him to contact the media, he was inundated with emails and the campaign was born.

He ignores all predictions the campaign will fail, and told anti-HST supporters "it not only can be done, it will be done," to loud applause.

Apparently the petitioners have already surpassed the 10% margin in Nanaimo, but are still working on signatures in Nanaimo-North Cowichan and Nanaimo-Parksville.

Members of COPE 378 at Hertz Car Rental have been on strike since February 2nd, 2010. COPE 378 is asking for your support and solidarity: don’t rent from Hertz.

Listen to their radio ads here

Media player must be installed

• What's going on with Hertz cars? MP3
• What's going on with ICBC repacement cars from Hertz? MP3
• 
  

COPE 378 members are picketing three Lower Mainland locations:

• Vancouver International Airport (YVR) Hertz customer service counter
• Hertz administration office, 3846 McDonald Rd, Richmond
• Hertz customer service office, 1270 Granville St, Vancouver

For more information on the COPE 378 strike click on

Hertz Hurts

SKLAR PEPPLAR BOYCOTT ANNOUNCED

The Canadian Labour Congress has endorsed a National Consumer Boycott against Sklar Pepplar, Alan White branded furniture and its manufacturer, AW Manaufacturing.

The boycott is at the request of the United Steelworkers and is in support of 100 workers who lost their jobs and were cheated out of their severance pay when Sklar Pepplar filed bankruptcy August 2008. In late 2008, Sklar Pepplar bought the company's assets out of bankruptcy, closed the facility, and bought AW Manufacturing Inc in Mississippi and now uses product from that plant to sell to Sklar's customers.


American Workers Launch
16 Deaths Per Day Facebook Page

Twenty-five West Virginia coal miners are dead in the worst mining disaster the United States has seen in two decades. Four more are missing, their chances of survival dimming by the hour.

This senseless tragedy wasn't an accident. It wasn't a mere occupational hazard. In fact, the mine's owner, Massey Energy, was also responsible for a 2006 fire that trapped 12 miners and killed two of them, because the company had removed ventilation controls the year before and had not replaced them.

Indeed, Massey Energy has been assessed repeatedly and routinely for worker safety violations. Massey, which brought in $24 million in income in the fourth quarter of 2009, simply saw the petty fines it incurred for violations as a cost of doing business, not as a reason to act to protect its workers from injury and death. And Massey is hardly alone.

The rules that protect workers from negligent employers in the US are so weak that thousands of employers make the rational decision to just ignore them and pay the token penalties if they're forced to. This week in West Virgina, we've seen the consequences of this arrangement.  

Americans are trying to pass the Protect America's Workers Act, which would strengthen workplace safety rules, increase fines for willful negligence that hurts workers and protect whistleblowers on the job. Theyre asking for help on Facebook    

16 Deaths Per Day Facebook

Pensions Are An Issue of Fairness

Pensions are a hot button issue for many Canadians now and rightly so. The current financial crisis is casting a long shadow over money markets, imperiling the retirement savings of many and raising uncomfortable questions about how millions of Canadians have been left to fend for themselves.

In this climate of fear and uncertainty, half-truths and misinformation are being cultivated by corporate interests and their allies in government who are attempting to cobble together a rationale that will excuse them from making good on their pension obligations to workers. This allows them to avoid the broader issue: the need for pension reform for all Canadians.

Witness the haste and the narrow mandate of the national pension consultation recently conducted by the federal government. Rather than address the glaring inadequacies of our current pension patchwork – a system that leaves millions without adequate retirement income – the government chose to focus on narrow issues.

The current consultation on financial literacy is one such example. It is composed almost entirely of representatives of the private financial industry - there are no elected union leaders, no representatives of those working with anti-poverty groups, no provincial representatives from education ministries, or school boards. 

Reading the Discussion paper from the Task Force one is reminded of Marie-Therese's comment when told the peasants had no bread - let them eat cake! If only Canadians had enough common sense, financial literacy, and motivation they would fix the problem. 

Canadians don't save more for retirement because we can't afford to!

Real wages have basically stagnated for the past 25 years

Those living on “minimum wages” are so far below the poverty line they simply cannot afford to put away money for retirement.

Those living in my area of Vancouver island have seen their careers and retirement plans built around the forest sector disappear as a result of federal and provincial mismanagement of their industry and international trade. Workers who gave up wage increases in favour of negotiating pensions for their retirement have seen their pensions evaporate when the companies they worked for went bankrupt. 15 years ago, we had 3,500 Union Woodworkers in the I.W.A, with good defined benefit plans and wages. Today, in their successor local of the Steelworkers, we have less than 700. How would financial literacy have helped them?

And let's have some financial literacy for those attacking public sector workers who are now finding their negotiated deferred income – their pensions - attacked by scoundrels calling them 'gold-plated' while upper management CEOs are getting $1.4 Million defined benefit plans topped up with RRSPs.

Let's be clear. The current task force on "financial literacy" is a smokescreen to allow the current federal government not to do anything about the root cause of financial insecurity in retirement - inadequate public pensions. Worse, it will obfuscate the interests of the private financial industry in not giving an inch to allow better funding of public pensions. 

There are several new articles on pensions on the NDDLC Studies and Reports page, including some comments by the Public Service Alliance.

  NDDLC Studies, Reports and Briefs

The Forest Workers Safety Network (FWSN) is an initiative of United Steelworkers District 3, which represents some 25,000 forest workers in British Columbia. The network is available to all BC forest workers, at no cost, whether or not they are members of the United Steelworkers (USW) union.

Today, the FWSN.org is asking it's members and visitors to help out with finding a
a better and more ergonomically sound control mechanism for grapple yarders.
FWSN.org invites members and visitors to view a video and forward any comments, conclusions, or observations using the FWSN.org Feedback Form.

In this Youtube.com video, the grapple yarder operator begins by demonstrating the numerous controls located on a seemingly awkward right-hand stick and then takes the viewer for a ride while he pulls in a few turns. If anyone knows of a better and more ergonomically sound control mechanism, FWSN.org would like to know about it. Watch the video and let's hear about your observations and/or suggestions.
Here's the url for a great site....

Forest Workers Safety Network

Radio Labour - The Solidarity Report Now Available

Radio Labour 5 is now available with five minutes of international labour news, and is available every Friday Morning from the Radio Labour website, from Facebook, and iTunes.

You can even download an MP3 file for your mobile phone from their website. To listen to Radio Labour, click on the bottom link under Community Partners.

Radio Labour also has a 30 minute audiocast of labour news and features available every Sunday morning. They are looking for labour activists to suggest story ideas and contribute audio files.

Campbell Tables “Smoke and Mirrors” Budget

Yesterday, the BC Liberals tried to distract voters from the impact of the HST and the possibility of an ever larger deficit. Last year Colin Hansen insisted that BC would not head into deficit, even while everyone else insisted we would. Everyone else was right.

The first "smoke” is claiming that the government can dedicate five sources of income to health care, including the HST. Presumably if we all know the HST is going to health care, then we won't hate it as much. Meanwhile, health care spending already needs $6.4 Billion more from general revenue than received from the five sources named - Medical Service Plan premiums, tobacco taxes, lottery revenues dedicated to a provincial health account and federal health transfer payments. As the Globe and Mail said, “It is less a policy than a publicity stunt, and a clumsy one at that.”

Mr Hansen also predicts that he can return the province to surplus by containing health care costs, and imposing a three year public sector wage freeze. Never mind that health-care costs rose 6% in 2011-12 and to reach Hansen's goal of 2.8% will require cutting health care spending by more than $500 Million, even while the government itself predicts growth in population of 1.4% and a consumer price index growth of 2 % .Health authorities had to slash programs to meet a $300-million funding shortfall last year and there is little in the new budget to address long-term health costs, said Rachel Tutte, co-chair of the BC Health Coalition.

Rather than restoring funding for the arts to 2008-09 levels, as recommended by the standing committee on finance, the budget includes $7.9-million in BC Arts Council grants and $11.5-million in gaming grants. Both represent about a 50-per-cent cut from 2008-09 levels. Funding has also been cut to the BC Film Commission - from $1.2-million last year to less than $950,000 this year.

B.C. LIBERAL BUDGET FAILS TO PROVIDE LONG-TERM ECONOMIC STRATEGY

Opposition Leader Carol James says Liberals have no post Olympic vision for future growth and job creation.

See Carol James Comments

Budget ignores jobs crisis and provides no vision for a better BC

March 2, 2010

With no help for children living in poverty, reductions to student aid and continued layoffs and cutbacks in public services, Colin Hansen's budget fails to address the critical issues facing British Columbians.

BC Fed Comments On Budget

NDDLC Sponsors Coca Cola Expose!

This year, The NDDLC has sponsored the film The Coca Cola Case for showing at the Nanaimo Global Film Festival. It is showing at Vancouver Island University, on Saturday at 3:45 PM in Bldg 250, Room 125.

In this gripping documentary, directors German Gutiérrez and Carmen Garcia present a searing indictment of the Coca-Cola empire and its alleged kidnapping, torture and murder of union leaders trying to improve working conditions in Colombia, Guatemala and Turkey. The filmmakers follow labour rights lawyers Daniel Kovalik and Terry Collingsworth and an activist for the Stop Killer-Coke! campaign, Ray Rogers, as they attempt to hold the giant U.S. multinational beverage company accountable in this legal and human rights battle. This is an inspiring story of international solidarity and the principled stand taken by courageous union leaders in the global South.

For more information on the Killer Coke campaign, go to our Hall of Shame page.
Hall of Shame

For more information about other films showing at the Film Festival, times of showing, and maps of VIU, check out the link to The Nanaimo Global Film Festival

UFCW WINS NEW CONTRACT

LIFTS OLD DUTCH BOYCOTT

The 170 members of UFCW Canada 401 at Old Dutch Foods in Calgary have voted in favour of ending the prolonged labour dispute. Because of the ratification of the agreement, UFCW has requested the boycott of Old Dutch Foods be lifted by the CLC and all its affiliates.

Wayne Hanley, National President of the UFCW thanked the CLC and its affiliates for their support during the lockout.

NDDLC Elects 2010 Executive

At their Jan 21 meeting, The Nanaimo, Duncan & District Labour Council elected a new Executive for 2010. Relected were Ellen Oxman, President; John Little, Vice President; Jennifer Duggan, Vice President; Debbie Fraess, Secretary; Betty Smits, Treasurer; and Members at Large Bob Smits, Gail Jewsbury and Steve Lewis. Newly elected were Jim Sadlemyer, Vice President; and Maggie Phinney, Member at Large. Sue Creba moved from Vice President to 3 Yr Trustee.

2010 NDDLC Executive Photo
 

Lodge on 4th Owner Stuns Staff

Lodge on 4th retirement home operator Jerry Huard stunned HEU staff today by handing them a sixty day notice for Section 54 so they can further privatize operations. The notice gives the employer and the union 60 days to negotiate changes to their collective agreement that will likely result in further reductions in wages and benefits for employees at the facility. The notice comes just days after VIHA confirmed the facility was rated as a high risk - to residents because of violations of government health and safety regulations.

HST Adds $24 Million Unfunded Costs To School Districts

The BC Liberal/Federal Conservative HST will cost B.C. schools an extra $24 million next year for everything from buses, paper and cleaning supplies to soccer balls, says a group of school treasurers. B.C. Association of School Business Officials say the upcoming harmonized sales tax will have a “significant effect” on the bottom line for students in the 2010-11 school year. 

“Many costs not subjected to the provincial sales tax will be in the HST,” said association president David Green. $50-million worth of school supplies and $26 million in contracted-out transportation were previously exempt from the provincial sales tax, said Green, but will have to pay the HST beginning in July. According to Green, the cost of those items will go up an additional seven per cent. 

The HST will also increase the cost of capital project contracts worth $330 million for earthquake upgrades and renovations by $14.7 million. The association has asked for a 68-per-cent rebate on its HST costs, which Green said would leave schools with no increases in sales tax. A government spokesman, meanwhile, admitted the government “recognized the HST will result in additional costs for schools.”

New Democratic Party finance critic Bruce Ralston said the latest numbers are “another unanticipated cost of the HST.” “It takes money out of the classroom,” he said. “It’s another reason why it’s not a good tax.” Cost pressures already facing schools include the elimination of the $100-million facilities grants, H1N1-associated costs ($300,000 in the Vancouver School District) and unfunded medical-service premiums for staff ($200,000 in Vancouver), said Ralston.

Vancouver school district chairwoman Patti Bacchus said the HST will add about $1 million to Vancouver’s “extremely stressed” budget.

VIHA Confirms Neglect, High Risk at 

Lodge on 4th in Ladysmith

Ladysmith's The Lodge on 4th and Cobble Hill's Gate House Adult Care have been rated as high risk by VIHA, the Vancouver Island Health Authority. Facilities designated as high risk are thought more likely to violate government health and safety regulations and get more frequent inspections. Inspectors determine risk based on inspection results, staffing issues, complaints and building problems.

Fewer than half of seniors facilities across the VIHA region were low risk (28), while 8 of the 62 facilities were classified as high risk.  The Lodge on 4th, with 101 beds has been classified as high risk for more than a year. Inspectors verified complaints for everything from residents waiting too long for meals to failing to provide proper supervision and not assisting people who have trouble getting around.

The health authority says its "progressive enforcement" process for high-risk facilities works,  but June Ross, a Nanaimo seniors advocate wants the health authority to get tougher on centres that violate the rules.  "I'm absolutely shocked," she said, " and I'd like to know what the government is going to do about it".

The Lodge on 4th, which is funded by VIHA, was first determined to have a high hazard rating in June, 2008 with a "laundry list" of non-compliance with regulations. A routine inspection in July, 2009 again resulted in a high hazard rating, and some of these problems still haven't been addressed by the facility, according to Kim Macdonald, regional manager of community care facilities licensing.

VIHA admits it also has substantiated other complaints, including one from November, 2008 that medication wasn't given to patients at the appropriate time and that residents were waiting too long for meals. The health authority also confirmed complaints that amounted to "neglect," with a lack of staff resulting in failure to provide adequate care or supervision of residents, said Macdonald. Also, people who required help to get around the facility weren't getting that assistance fast enough.

In April, 2009 VIHA verified complaints that policies regarding medication still weren't being followed, serious incidents weren't being reported to the health authority and staff members were not providing appropriate assistance to residents. 

Since the Lodge on 4th opened in September 2007, staffing levels have been decreased as mamagement tries to cope with inadequate funding from VIHA.

Macdonald claimed that the Lodge on 4th had submitted an acceptable plan describing how they will prevent such situations in the future.

Montebello Police Agents Provocateurs 

Called Before Ethics Panel

October 23, 2009

The Quebec Police Ethics Committee has overruled the police ethics commissioner, and  ordered a review of the conduct of three provincial police officers who posed as protesters at the summit of the three North American leaders in Montebello, Que., in August 2007.

The ruling came after the police ethics commissioner rejected a complaint in May 2009 filed by Dave Coles, President of the Communications Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada, whose members took part in demonstrations at the summit.



Coles, subsequently asked the committee to review the commissioner's decision.
In a ruling released this week, the committee set aside the commissioner's rejection of Coles' allegations that the officers violated sections of the police ethics code dealing with:

• Disrespect or impoliteness towards any person.
• Use of obscene, blasphemous or abusive language.
• Failure to respect the authority of the law by inciting persons to violence.
• Refusal to produce identification when asked to do so.
• 
  

The committee found the commissioner was wrong to reject six of the eight allegations made by Coles. Infiltration by police officers to arrest criminal offenders is acceptable, but all acts committed by the officers towards that end are not necessarily legitimate, the committee said.

The committee said the complaint also raises important questions about whether a police officer can renege on his ethical obligations just because he has been asked by his superiors to pose as a demonstrator or pass himself off as a fraud or a drug dealer.

"These questions and their answers must be publicly and openly debated before the committee so that when infiltration techniques similar to those used in the instant case are used, police officers abide by the provisions of the code," it said.

The ruling ordered the commissioner to summon the three police sergeants to appear before the committee within 15 days. It also ordered the commissioner to pursue his investigation in relation to the theft of a flag belonging to the union.

The committee failed to comment on whether it was ethical for police officers to goad demonstators to throw rocks at fellow officers.

To refresh your memory of the event, here's a video clip of the event, shot by our friend, Paul Manly. Police Agents Provoke Demonstrators

OLYMPIC SECURITY AND AGENTS PROVOCATEURS?

Council of Canadians media officer Dylan Penner raises another question: How will this ruling affect security for the B.C. Winter Games where the Integrated Security Unit refuses to rule out using agents provocateurs to provoke protestors to commit illegal acts?

The B.C. Civil Liberties Association has sought without success assurances from Olympic security teams that they will not repeat what happened in Montebello, according to a recent Georgia Straight article, which contains a link to Paul’s footage: http://www.straight.com/article-241166/isu-wont-rule-out-agents-provocateurs.

Unite Here! Local 40 Rallies at Coast Bastion in Nanaimo

Coast Hotels markets itself as a good corporate citizen and a worker-friendly employer.  But workers at Coast Hotels in Vancouver, Kelowna, Prince George, Nanaimo and Victoria tell a different story. They tell stories of management overworking employees, and refusing to bargain industry standard wages and conditions.

On Friday, October 16, more than 100 union supporters marched on the Coast Bastion Hotel in Nanaimo to demand that the hotel respect the workers and bargain a new collective agreement.  MP Jean Crowder, MLA Leonard Krog, Ellen Oxman, the President of the Nanaimo, Duncan & District Labour Council, Richard Goode, the President of the BC Ferry and Marine Workers Union, and Rob Campbell, President of CUPE 1858 were among many members of other unions supporting the hotel workers.

See the Labour News Page for more pictures and story...more on this story

Here are two videos of the rally  Unite Here Rally  and Unite Here Rally Long Version