‘BY STANDING together to campaign and defeat ultra-Conservative politicians and their corporate-only agenda, Canadians can make things better,’ UFCW National President Paul Meinema said in his New Year address.
He continued: ‘The momentum to turn the tide against Boss Harper and other ultra-Conservatives is building.
‘In a recent national survey, almost 60% of those polled said they felt the Harper government was moving in the wrong direction. The same poll indicated that Canadians felt the government was performing poorly, that our international reputation was in decline, and that the working relationship between the provinces and the federal government had gotten worse over the last year.
‘The poll was taken just as Harper’s finance minister, Jim Flaherty said “No” to his provincial counterpart’s plan to improve the Canada Pension Plan, (CPP).
‘According to Flaherty, a better CPP would be bad for business, and Canadians should learn to do a better job themselves saving for their retirement. So once again the Harper government held the corporate line.
‘The government’s so-called Action Plan only created jobs for advertising agencies, but no decent jobs for everyday working families.
‘In fact, the hard-right direction of Harper and other ultra-Conservatives has attacked the labour rights of everyday people, to destroy their ability to effectively come together and bargain for a fair wage and a say in their workplace.’
He continued: ‘But the only poll that can really point Canada in a better direction is the ballot box at election time.’
He said that UFCW Canada can have a tremendous impact as a community actively campaigning to elect family-friendly governments.
The union leader said: ‘Call or write your elected representatives and media outlets and let them know now that labour rights, a better CPP, affordable daycare, job creation, and other family-vital issues are a priority.’
• Elsewhere, 300 Teamsters union members have been locked out at an IKEA store in Richmond, B.C., since May after the workers refused to accept a concessionary contract.
They were invited to return to work if they were willing to accept a contract they had voted down. IKEA had also directed workers to an anti-union website that supplies information on how to organise a decertification campaign.
A union fact-finding commission released a report slamming IKEA’s ‘radical anti-worker agenda that opposes unionisation campaigns and encourages union decertification.’
The commission, which held hearings in B.C. in November, included representation from UFCW Canada, as well as other labour allies including UNI Global Union, the Teamsters, the Nordic Transport Workers’ Federation, and the International Transport Workers Association (ITWA).
The commission was formed by the ITWA and UNI Global Union. UFCW is the key affiliate to UNI Commerce in North America.
Its conclusion, recommended IKEA end the lockout and immediately return to good-faith bargaining; stop its union-busting tactics; and to show the same respect it does at its Sweden stores for unions and fair collective bargaining.
‘Their Swedish values appear to have gone down the drain, at least over here,’ said one of the workers to the commission.
‘We just want to go back to our jobs and to negotiate,’ said Keith Austin, another of the locked-out members. ‘But we refuse to accept the sweeping and humiliating deteriorations the company is trying to force us to accept. We refuse to surrender to IKEA’s threats.
• In another dispute, UFCW Canada Local 175 members at Wallack’s Art Shop & Gallery in Ottawa have achieved a first collective agreement.
Workers paid less than $13 per hour receive an increase of 2%. Those making more than $13 per hour receive a lump sum payment equivalent to 2% of their total earnings in the previous 12 months. Entry level rates for all classifications increase by 55 cents per hour.
Overtime will now be paid for hours worked during any of an employee’s regular days off, and all hours worked beyond 40 hours per week. Previously, workers worked more than 88 hours per two-week period to receive overtime pay.
In addition, employees can now bank overtime hours to be used to reduce any loss of earnings during a short week, layoff or other reason. The contract ensures employees receive a 15 minute paid rest period per half-shift. Employees are now paid eight hours pay for any Statutory Holiday and an additional float day has been added.
Those workers with five years of service receive three week’s vacation entitlement paid at 6%. Those on layoff or leave of absence may request their vacation, floater days, or days in lieu of holidays, be paid at any time.
Improved language provides all employees with a safety shoe allowance of $100.
Other improvements include a grievance procedure, minimum call-in of five hours pay, and restrictions on contracting out and managers performing bargaining unit work.
Language also establishes a sunset clause, time limits, steward representation, seniority rights for vacation and job postings, layoff recall and improved bereavement entitlement.
•The National President of the 340,000 member National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE), James Clancy, has written to the Canadian Prime Minister to advocate for the development and use of a Fairness Test as a means to assess the impact of national tax and spending policies on income inequality.
In his letter Clancy said that ‘rising income inequality has quickly become one of the major social policy issues in Canada.
He continued: ‘There is a substantial body of research that supports the observations we heard from Atlantic Canadians.
‘High levels of income inequality make our economy unstable, diminishes the quality of life of all Canadians, brings a wide range of societal problems, and undermines our democracy.
‘Furthermore, high levels of income inequality raise ethical and moral questions about the kind of society we want for ourselves and future generations.’
Clancy says that the growing need for action ‘became all the more clear to the National Union during our recent bus tour of the Atlantic Provinces.
‘Our Fairness Express stopped in 32 communities and spoke with thousands of Canadians about income inequality and the impact it was having on their communities. What we heard during those conversations was both sobering and inspiring.
‘We met people from almost all walks of life. Atlantic Canadians see themselves struggling to get by on a daily basis while others become increasingly wealthy.
‘While the well-to-do of their provinces reap all the benefits, they are left having to stretch farther each week, each day, to cover the rising costs of child-care, housing, pharmaceuticals, or education.
‘These Canadians do not feel better off as a result of tax cuts.’
The National Union argues that addressing income inequality must be a top priority for the Harper government. One positive step forward would be to ensure that future federal budgets are tasked with implementing measures that will reduce income inequality.
‘Your government should develop and implement a Fairness Test to assess the distributional impact of key tax and spending policies in budgets and determine whether they will reduce income inequality or make the problem worse,’ explained Clancy.
‘Income inequality is not inevitable. It is the result of policy decisions made by governments.’