The Last Day of Work

160 H.E.U Workers Dismissed At Lodge on 4th

June 6, 2010,
By Bob Smits.

Thirty five years ago, the Lodge on 4th began as a 22 resident care home in Yellowpoint called 4 All Seasons. Over the years, licensing and staff became concerned about the lack of modern facilities and the more and more dilapidated state of the home.

In 1997, workers at the home organized into the Hospital Employees Union and negotiated their first collective agreement. By September of 2007, the workers and residents moved to a new residential care facility on 4th Avenue in Ladysmith. Some of the residents and staff came from 4 All Seasons, some came from the Ladysmith Hospital, and some came from other facilities.

From the beginning, supply shortages indicated the facility was underfunded. In the spring of 2008 the management said it was losing money. In November of 2009, the Lodge gave the staff a section 54 notice of reorganization. When the union responded with a plan to save more than a million dollars a year, the employer ignored the proposal, claiming that the union's figures were wrong, even though they came from the employer. It was evident that what the employer wanted was de-unionization, not lower costs.

Today, more than 160 health care workers worked their last shift at the Lodge on 4th, although the H.E.U. is optimistic that a hearing before Vince Ready will cause the dismissal to be overturned due to irregularities from the employer.  This article and the pictures are dedicated to the hard working care aides, L.P.N.s, cooks, activity, laundry and food services workers that cared for seniors at the Lodge on 4th.


Irene Casselman and Nell Ford, LPNs                   MLA Doug Routley Talks to Laid off Workers
Resident Joan Woods come to say GoodBye            HEU worker, Heather Arnold, Bonnie Pearson

 
Bonnie Pearson, HEU

Ellen Oxman, President of the Nanaimo, Duncan & District Labour Council Speaks to Laid-Off workers

CAW Launches Groundbreaking Study Tracking Laid Off Workers

June 4, 2010, 2:00 PM EST

The CAW is unveiling a new study tracking laid off workers in three different cities across southern Ontario at a press conference on Monday, June 7 at the Sheraton Centre, downtown Toronto.

The study, which is the first of its kind in the province, tracks a random sample of workers in Toronto, Brampton and Kitchener, many of whom lost their jobs only months prior to the official beginning of the recession. CAW President Ken Lewenza will be introducing the study.

Written by Sam Vrankulj of McMaster University, the study focuses on the experience of manufacturing workers struggling with unemployment during the worst recession since the 1930s. It examines the various challenges in finding new employment and retraining; the impacts on workers health and well being and the role of action centres in providing critical supports.

Some key findings:

. This is still a very difficult labour market. Only 24% of the participants were working at the time of the survey. Of this group, approximately 70% were employed in part-time, temporary or more precarious forms of work. Just 39% found their new jobs in manufacturing while the other 61% were working in other sectors.

. When workers get adequate income and tuition support they take advantage of retraining opportunities after job loss. Otherwise, the financial obstacles are too great. There were 90% of study participants who enrolled for upgrading or retraining who identified the level of income support and the cost of tuition as the most important factors enabling that enrollment.

. Workers report high levels of satisfaction with the unique services provided by action centres and peer helpers. They offer a wide range of supports, both formal and informal, to meet the needs of laid off workers - including job search, retraining, financial, personal and social needs.

. More targeted supports are needed to address the multiple obstacles faced by laid off workers who are older, women, immigrants or who lack strong literacy skills.

The study was initiated by CAW with funding approved in the adjustment contract between CAW, Chrysler Canada and the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities.

CLC Endorses National Boycott Against Sears

Ken Georgetti, President of the Canadian Labour Congress announced today that the CLC has endorsed a national consumer boycott against Sears Canada. The Boycott is at the request of the 500 United Steelworkers who are locked out April 1 at  a Sears warehouse and distribution centre in Vaughn, Ontario.
Ken Neumann, United Steelworkers National Director said Sears is a profitable company, and yet they are asking for roll-backs in pensions, health-care benefits, vacation entitilements, and other standard provisions.After walking away from the bargaining table in late March, refusing to return to negotiating, and locking out their employees and not upholding the bargaining process, he said, Canadians should not be spending their hard earned money at Sears.

Warrant Issued For Owner Ted Leroy Trucking

A warrant has been issuded for the Duncan owner of Ted Leroy Trucking failed to show up for sentencing in Campbell River, after being found guilty of six pollution charges linked to an oil spill in a Vancouver Island ecological reserve.

The company owned a barge that listed and sank as it was towed through the waters of Robson Bight Ecological Reserve in August 2007. The judge found that LeRoy was likely "wilfully blind" to the poor condition of the barge that was loaded with 11 pieces of equipment when it sank.

The sinking released a 14-kilometre oil slick into a key orca habitat where whales swim up to rub themselves on rocks just metres from the beach.

The company was declared bankrupt in December 2007.




Duncan Rally This Saturday-Seniors Care

The B.C. government and the Vancouver Island Health Authority are putting
seniors' care in the Cowichan Valley at risk by threatening the continuity and
quality of residential care.

There has been an escalation of activity undermining the care our seniors
need. Cowichan Lodge is closed. They've issued pink slips at Sunridge Place
and now they are contracting out staff at Cerwydden Care Centre and the Lodge
on 4th in Ladysmith.

Our seniors have contributed so much to our families and communities. They
deserve our thanks, respect, and the very best care possible.

Please come out and add your voice and let your community know that seniors in
the Cowichan Valley deserve better!

Bring your friends and family!

Save our seniors' care rally
Date: Saturday, April 24
Time: 4:00 pm
Location: Duncan City Square, 200 Craig Street,  Duncan

There is a public meeting earlier on Saturday with the Vancouver Island Health
Authority to discuss the future of the Cowichan Lodge. If you are interested,
please attend!

Public meeting on Cowichan Lodge
Date: Saturday, April 24
Time: 2:00 pm
Location: Duncan United Church, 246 Ingram Street, Duncan

HEU Workers Plan Information Line at Lodge on 4th

As many of you know, the operators of "The Lodge on 4th", a publicly funded
retirement home in Ladysmith has given section 54 layoff notice to more than
100 Hospital Employees Union members.

The HEU workers, which include LPNs, Care Aides, Kitchen, Laundry,  Activity,
Rehab, Staffing workers and Unit Clerks were given layoff notices despite
having made proposals to the Company that would have saved a million dollars a
year.

The workers would like your support on an INFORMATION line, to be mounted this
Tuesday, April 20th from 10 AM to 6PM on the sidewalk in front of the Lodge on
4th at 1127 4th Ave in Ladysmith. They intend to mount this line every Tuesday.

THIS IS NOT A PICKET LINE AND NOT INTENDED AS ONE

If you have a spare hour or more this Tuesday, please come and walk with these
HEU members to show your support.

Workers Block Planned Auction 
U.S. Owners Owe $2 Million To Workers

U.S.-based Catalina Precision Products, Ltd in Windsor ON is planning to auction off equipment at Aradco and Aramco plants, while it still has not paid vacation, severance and termination pay amounting to some $2.4 million.

For more on this story go here

Health Minister Falcon Bypasses Negotiations, Orders Paramedics To Accept Offer Before Vote Concluded

On November 3, the British Columbia government introduced legislation to impose a contract on the province’s striking paramedics. B.C. Minister of Health Services Kevin Falcon claimed that, “with the H1N1 pandemic impacting the acutecare system and winter and the holiday season fast approaching, the public needs certainty that they’ll have the care they need in an emergency”,

The paramedics have been on strike since April 1 for better staffing levels, wages and an independent industrial inquiry commission to address the critical condition of ambulance services in British Columbia. During the strike, paramedics have been forced to perform virtually all their normal services under a so-called “essential-services” order from the provincial government.

The Ambulance Service Collective Agreement Act reflects an offer made to the CUPE 873 paramedics in September. The one-year deal is retroactive to April 1, 2009, and includes a wage increase of just three per cent. At that time, John Strohmaier, the president of CUPE 873 told his members the latest contract offer at that time was “repugnant” and “a piece of crap.” He said the offer was, “woefully short of reasonable expectations.”

In a statement, the union said it is unfair to dedicate ambulances and paramedics to the Olympics Whistler Sliding Centre for three weeks of practice while as many as 20 B.C. communities are left with no ambulances on any given day.

NDP Finds "Smoking Gun"

Links Legislation to Olympics

And why did the paramedics have a collective agreement forced upon them while they were still voting on the last offer? The NDP says it’s the Olympic Games.

On November 4, MLA John Horgan quoted what may illustrate the real reason for the imposition. He read a memo, from VANOC's director of medical services, Dr. Mike Wilkinson, warning of the consequences if paramedics’ services couldn’t be guaranteed. The memo had been sent to The former Deputy Minister of Labour, Lee Doney. It reads 

"VANOC Medical Services requires definite confirmation by October 1, 2009, that all required ambulance services will be provided as planned. These services include the ability to engage the VPCs" — which are the Vancouver paramedic crews — "and BCAS" — which is the B.C. Ambulance Service — "members in full venue planning as soon as possible. This confirmation must also include a guarantee that no services during the games will be disrupted or reduced from what has been planned."

Horgan went on to say, "I don't know about you, hon. Speaker, and smoking guns, but it strikes me that that memorandum from VANOC to the guy at the negotiating table on behalf of the B.C. Liberal government, saying that we really need to get this pesky issue resolved before we can start planning for health services at venues across the Lower Mainland…. We really need to get this resolved. Then not weeks after that memo crossed the desk of Mr. Doney, we have in this place back-to-work legislation."

Unite Here! Local 40 Rallies in Nanaimo

Rob Campbell, CUPE 1858                                MP Jean Crowder, MLA Len Krog


CEP members, President Oxman (NDDLC)         Steel 1-1937's John Little and IAMAW
                                                                    Rep Alastair Haythornthwaite


        Vice President Sue Creba Shows Support from the NDDLC


Coast Hotel cleaner Tracey McAlpine describes the difficult task of cleaning 18 rooms a day in the Coast Bastion. She noted that she frequently had to take time to retrieve cleaning supplies from different floors, and that the only way to keep up is to "cut corners" and skip lunches and breaks.

She also said recent renovations at the Coast have made them harder to clean, especially with light coloured fabrics.















The rally concluded with a warning to Coast Hotels.

Unite Here! Local 40 will not accept substandard agreements. They will not accept overwork, they demand respect from their employers, and they WILL conduct more demonstrations unless they are heard.

CLC Economist Warns Crisis Not Over Yet

Speaking at the All Island Labour Council meeting in Victoria Saturday, CLC senior economist Andrew Jackson (shown at left) remarked that while it appears the global financial crisis may have “bottomed out”, what's really happening  isn't yet a recovery, it's just that jobs losses are occurring more slowly.

He added that while Canada has an official job loss of just under 10 %, when you add in those who went from full time jobs to part-time jobs, and those who went to self employment, the real figure is more like 15%, he said.

The real danger is that talk about going back to a balanced budget by both Liberals and Tories, both of whom have ruled out tax increases, leave no other way to address the deficit other than deep spending cuts. 

When union officials of all G20 countries met with government heads of state in Pittsburgh recently, they told Harper it was not the time to begin considering an exit strategy but that governments had to stay the course on stimulus. In the short to medium term, Jackson saw no reason to move to balanced budgets.

Instead, with interest rates at rock bottom, we should look at what kinds of public projects make sense, including energy conservation projects and energy refits. The private sector, he warned, is not going to create the jobs we need.

More and more manufacturers were shifting production out of the country, said Jackson, giving as an example, John Deere, who shut a new manufacturing plant in Welland ON and fired 800 CAW members.

What has been driving the economy forward before this crisis is working families going deeper in debt. The top .1% of income earners got 5% of all income, and their income increased by a billion dollars. Real wages, on the other hand, stagnated with no growth.

And while wages are low in foreign countries, so is consumption. In the US and Canada about 75–80 % of spending is household consumption, while in China it is only 30%, so it will take a long time to ramp up the Chinese economy.  He also pointed out that in the US, wage rates are falling rapidly, and without a real welfare system, workers are undercutting each other on wages.

Delegates To All Island Labour Council Discuss E.I. Reform

At the latest all island Labour Council meeting in Victoria October 2, delegates discussed needed c hanges to unemployment insurance rules. Ottawa collects EI premiums and has built up a gigantic surplus of $54 billion in the fund, the result of deep cuts in benefits paid to unemployed workers.

In 1996, the maximum weekly benefit was $604. Today’s maximum is only $435, and the average benefit is just $335 per week. In 2006-07, only four in ten unemployed workers, and even fewer women, qualified for EI. Those who do qualify are eligible, on average, for just 32 weeks of benefits. Some who do qualify are only eligible for a maximum of 14 weeks of benefits.One delegate from Port Alberni, laid off in the forest industry, said all he got was 19 ½ weeks of benefits. 

When the CLC did in depth studies of eight Canadian communities, including Campbell River, they found many people had already run out of benefits, many more were about to run out of benefits, and most of the forest workers laid off last year had run out of benefits entirely.

The Conservative plan to increase benefits from 15 to 20 weeks, said Andrew Jackson, will leave out anyone who collected more than 35 weeks of benefits in the past 5 ½ years. Conservatives are making capricious decisions about who is deserving or undeserving of receiving benefits.

Delegates pointed out it is already very difficult for anyone who has lost a job to find a new one. Canada lags behind other industrialized countries in worker training. We must increase access to labour adjustment programs and training, as well to extend E.I. Benefits and training benefits to get people back in the workforce.

CLC sees Opportunity For Pension Reform

Speaking at the Victoria All-Island Labour Council Meeting, CLC Senior Economist Andrew Jackson pointed out the current panic in financial markets has caused those markets to slump in value by $4 Trillion. As a result, employer funded pensions have also taken a big hit, especially with interest rates as low as they are now. The average private pension plan is underfunded by 20-30%. 

There is some return in the equity market, so there is some improvement in the viability of private pension plans but many of them cannot deliver what they are expected to deliver. Air Canada finances are so shaky that they cannot fund the pension plan without going under. In other words workers are being asked to trade off pensions for jobs. He added that while we know how much private pensions have lost, we have absolutely no idea how much RRSPs have lost in value, but many have lost more than 30% in value.

The CLC Plan to provide dignity in retirement has three separate legs to stand on, he said.  The first leg is to improve the Guaranteed Income Supplement by 15%. While Canada has lower poverty for seniors than many other countries, the Old Age Pension and the Guaranteed Income Supplement provide only a bare minimum income. Raising it would move all seniors above the poverty line, and end the situation where 1 senior woman in 6 lives in poverty.

To provide better pension benefits, tax subsidies to RRSPs could be reduced to finance an increase in Old Age Security benefits paid to all workers. The GIS is means tested, so only those in need would receive it.

The second leg is to double the Canada Pension Plan payout. CPP was only designed to provide about 25% of annual income and private pensions were expected to cover other needs. With a small increase of 5.5% in total, split between employees and employers over a period of seven to ten years, we could raise the payout of CPP from 25% of average salary to 50% of average salary. Since the CPP is fully portable and fully indexed it will provide far better security for all retirees. And raising the CPP will reduce the amount paid out for GIS.

CLC proposes this be paid for with either a small premium by employers or a financial transaction (including stock market transactions) tax at a very low rate – something like a tenth of one percent per transaction.

Employees are far more at risk with private pension plans. Nortel employees found this out the hard way when they failed to receive severance and discovered their pension plan was underfunded by 33%. Members of a CAW local in New Brunswick discovered that for years their employer had been diverting pension money to operations, so that their pension plan was underfunded by 50%. An employee of 20 years ended up with a total pension of $400 per month.

One third of Canadians have no retirement savings of any sort. Only 38 % of Canadians have a private pension plan of some sort. Many are seriously underfunded, most are not portable and they are far more subject to pension fund collapse if employers go bankrupt. 

On the other hand, in Canada, the vast majority of private pension plans are for 1-4 people – mainly the executives of corporations. While execs at Nortel took $45 Million in bonuses, and $1 million a year pensions, their employee pension plans were underfunded by 33%.

RRSPs have also failed to deliver. RRSPs have an extremely high cost, with admin and charges often eating up 2-3%of your fund,  making it very difficult to accumulate capital with current low interest rates.  Those with RRSPs have average amounts saved of only $60,000, which will only currently provide some $250 per month as an annuity.  Those with RRSP savings also saw them depleted drastically in the recent crash.

Jackson predicted banks and other financial institutions will lobby very hard against improvements to the CPP, because they want to preserve their very lucrative RRSPs. Large corporations, on the other hand, would benefit from an increase in CPP because their private plans are usually integrated with the CPP, and their costs would be lowered somewhat.

He suggested that we must introduce federal pension plan insurance to deal with failing employer plans. Ontario now has pension plan insurance up to $1000/month for each worker, and it has been recommended they raise that to $2500/month. This fund should be brought in at the national level, with each province able to opt into it.

He concluded by saying, "This is a fairness issue. We simply must bring the same sort of values to pensions that we see in medicare. Everyone must be covered and no one should be locked out in the cold."

Weyerhauser Forced to Compensate Workers

CUPE 873 Paramedics Offered "Crap"

Membership Will Vote On Sub-standard Offer

John Strohmaier, president of CUPE Local 873, called the most recent contract offer “repugnant” and “a piece of crap,” in an internal message to members on Monday night.

The president of the union representing B.C.’s striking paramedics told his members negotiations with the B.C. Ambulance Service have reached an impasse, and called the offer “woefully short of reasonable expectations.”

“We could never recommend this settlement proposal to our membership,” Strohmaier wrote.

Nevertheless, the union executive said yesterday it will take the offer to the membership for a ratification vote.

BCNU Delegates Suspended From Labour Council Activities

As can be seen by the letter below to Labour councils from the Canadian Labour Congress, the delegates from the BC Nurses Union have been suspended from participating in labour councils and education programs.  All BCNU delegates to the NDDLC have been advised of the suspension.

Ongoing meetings between the CLC, BC Federation of Labour Executive with representatives of the BCNU have failed to resolve this sad situation. In a conference call to labour councils, delegates were requested to treat members of the BCNU with respect as the labour movement attempts to avoid irrepairable damage and end this dispute.

CLC Letter to Labour Councils