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December 14, 2013 - No. 49 Challenges the Workers' Movement Faces Collapse of
a
Public Authority
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Entering the New Year is a
good time to reflect on the challenges the
working class faces. The working class has a duty to itself and the
country to
take up the mantle of nation-building. The federal government and those
in
Quebec, the provinces and territories are depriving the people of a
public
authority that can defend them from the rapacious global monopolies.
Powerful
private interests dictating the affairs of state have overwhelmed the
public
authority.
The well-being and security
of the people and their social and natural
environment are at great risk because of their disempowerment and the
wrecking of their political, social, cultural and organizational
cohesion. Not a
week goes by without announcements from global monopolies of closures
such
as Kellogg's, Heinz and U.S. Steel. Not a week goes by without news of
an
environmental disaster or risk to the people's health from pollution.
The same
is the case with announcements of omnibus bills and retrogressive
legislation.
With the collapse of a
public authority that defends public right and the
public interest, the unions which are part of that public authority are
themselves tackling their inability to fulfil the role they were
created to play.
The working people must discuss this serious problem. How are they to
renovate the role the unions must play as defence organizations at a
time the
unions are being criminalized for playing their role, or threatened
with
liquidation as a result of anti-union legislation? This task requires
an organized
conscious approach. In the collective battle to defend the rights of
all, workers
can succeed in finding a way forward. Within that struggle, workers can
and
must uphold their own dignity and affirm the dignity of a modern
country that
guarantees the rights, well-being and security of all its members and
humanizes
the social and natural environment.
Recent decisions by foreign
monopolies operating in Canada will have
disastrous effects on the local and broader economy. The first was the
decision
by U.S. Steel to permanently close the blast furnace at the Hamilton
Works
steel mill. The second was the announcement by U.S. finance capital to
shut
the Heinz vegetable plant in Leamington, Ontario. And the latest, the
decision
to close the Kellogg's plant in London, Ontario.
The viewpoint condoning
wrecking and conciliating with monopoly right
is part of the politics of neo-liberalism. Whereas under laissez faire
capitalism
a liberal democracy established a civil society in which rights based
on
ownership of private property prevailed, today, in the relation between
private
interests and public interests, neo-liberalism declares that private
monopoly
interests dominate and have the right to trump all other interests.  |
The relationship with the monopolies has become completely one-sided in favour of monopoly right. The lack of any mutual benefit with the global monopolies is a particular concern. No mutual benefit between the monopolies and people and no equilibrium based on recognition of the public interest exist, as narrow private interests trump the broader public interests, as monopoly right trumps public right. This is not only wrong but dangerous.
What should the working class think and do about this situation? Clearly, the takeover by private monopoly interests of the public interest must not continue. Such a downward spiral spells disaster for the economy and people.
Governments refuse to take any action in defence of
public right. Plainly,
the working class through its own organizations and media must rally
the
people to change the situation. Private business decisions that affect
the public
interest must be brought under popular political control. The people
cannot
allow the monopolies to hide behind the deceit of privacy when a
decision is
obviously public and directly affects the local and broader economy,
the public
interest and natural and social environment.
The People Must Change the One-Sided
Relationship
with the Monopolies!
Monopolies Take Notice: No Mutual Benefit with the
People and Their Economy,
No Right to Be in Canada!
Monopolies Take
Notice: No Equilibrium Based on Recognition of the Public Interest,
No Right
to Do Business in Canada!
Canada Post's Drastic Cuts in Postal Services
On December 11, six months ahead of the scheduled review of the Postal Charter, Canada Post announced plans to make devastating cuts to postal services and raise stamp prices for the public. In a document entitled "Canada Post's Five-point Action Plan," the corporation is proposing to "build the foundation of a new postal system."
While the proposals are being presented with high sounding ideals like "to better serve customers," and that "changes will emphasize convenience and secure delivery," it is clear that the intent is to further streamline the post office to serve monopoly corporations and large volume mailers and to facilitate the privatization of postal services at the expense of providing a universal postal service to all Canadians.
The proposals five main points are:
1) The elimination of
door-to-delivery by letter carriers, which is to be
replaced by community mail boxes. This would result in the elimination
8,000
jobs over the next five years and eliminate letter carrier service that
has been
in existence for more than 150 years. This would result in an enormous
drop
in the production of value, which would be a huge blow against the
nation and
the level of service Canadians expect from their public post office.
2) Drastic increase in the price of stamps. The proposed price per stamp being proposed would be $0.85, up from $0.63 as it is today for letters 0-30 g mailed within Canada. This price only applies to stamps being bought in books or coils. Stamps bought individually would cost $1.00. The pricing for U.S., international and oversized mail weighing more than 30g would also increase. The corporation will continue to provide large volume mailers with "deep discounts," so they would pay significantly lower prices for first class service. Canada Post calls this "an incentive" for corporations to prepare their mail for sortation. Discounts are also being proposed for businesses and other organizations that use postage meters.
3) Further expansion of postal franchises, which means the further elimination of Canada Post's retail offices and the complete privatization of the retail operations of Canada Post.
4) Further consolidation of mail sortation and distribution. This means closing down more mail processing plants and centralizing sortation in three or four plants across the country. This has already been implemented in many cities such as Quebec City, Windsor, North Bay resulting in damage to the local economies and a deteriorating postal service for the vast majority of Canadians.
5) Accelerated attacks on
the wages and benefits of postal workers, which
the corporation describes as "addressing the cost of labour." Part five
of the
corporation's proposal states, "The company will continue to bring the
cost of
labour in line with its competitors through attrition and collective
bargaining
over time. Canada Post will also take the necessary steps to
permanently
address the sustainability of its pension plan."
The document clearly indicates that these drastic measures are not enough. The corporation is planning further attacks on the public post office and the wages, working conditions, benefits and pensions of postal workers. In a section called "Future Options Under Consideration," the company suggests that the frequency and speed of delivery is also up for discussion next year during the review of the Canadian Postal Service Charter. This is a direct threat to five-day delivery and the present delivery standards, which the corporation will not be able to maintain when mail processing is centralized in a few major centres across the country.
While Canada Post's "Action Plan" may temporarily take the focus away from the pension plan, the corporation makes it clear near the end of the document that it intends to "restructure the Plan." It is not accidental that the day before Canada Post released this "Action Plan," Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced that the government decided to allow Canada Post temporary pension relief so the corporation can continue not to make the required solvency payments for another four years. This gives the corporation an opportunity to divert revenue, which should be put into the pension plan, into implementation of the "Action Plan" and further dismantle postal services.
The document says, "The temporary relief gives Canada Post a brief window in which to transform. During this time, Canada Post will act with urgency to restructure the Plan in order to ensure its long-term sustainability."
Postal workers know what Canada Post means when they talk about long- term sustainability. In the last six months, the company has already twice unilaterally raised the pension premiums paid by workers. The corporation refuses to recognize that the pressure on the pension plan is because the post office has been and continues to be systematically dismantled and privatized with fewer services and tens of thousands of fewer workers producing value. According to Canada Post, the problem with the plan is that "people are healthier and living longer," and that "long-term interest rates have been chronically very low." The negative attitude of the corporation towards the pension plan means that postal workers must call on every ounce of strength and organization they can muster, and prepare to defend the security of their pension plan.
These latest plans of the
corporation are an integral part of the Harper
government's ongoing attempts to wreck the public post office to
benefit the
most powerful monopolies. Minister of Transport Lisa Raitt issued a
news
release December 11 saying she looks forward to seeing progress
resulting
from this plan. She has been repeating the lie "that mail volumes have
dropped
almost 25 per cent per household in the last five years," and on that
basis
supports the idea of "eliminating door-to-door delivery in urban areas."
The Canadian Union of Postal Workers held a press conference December 11 in Ottawa to condemn the announcement by Canada Post. National President Denis Lemelin stated that this unilateral action by the corporation would gut the post office. He said the Union was informed about the "Five- point Action Plan" at 7 am that morning and immediately called on the corporation to withdraw the document and consider options other than slashing services. Mr. Lemelin called on all Canadians to stand up and fight for the public post office and promised that the Union would stand with them. He concluded the press conference saying, "Canada Post belongs to the people of Canada and they should have a say about the kind of postal service they want. We should take this opportunity to have a full nationwide discussion so people can express their views about the unilateral cutbacks imposed by the Harper government and Canada Post."
To organize such a
discussion is an urgent priority. Across the country,
postal workers have been making their views known for a long time. They
have also been suffering the consequences of the reorganization of
Canada
Post. Several suicides are reported of workers who could not take the
abuse
a day longer. The situation shows that the discussion is not a matter
of
conciliating with a reorganization of the post office based on plans to
destroy
the production of value, privatize the post office or extort
concessions from
workers to deprive them even more of pensions, benefits and wages
commensurate with the work they do and safe working conditions
befitting a
modern civilized country.
The Harper government is causing as much damage as possible before the next election in 2015. Workers and their allies in all strata should force the government to call an election before 2015 because of its corruption and the outrageous wrecking measures it is taking. In their fight to oppose the destruction of Canada Post and their rights, which the Harper government is facilitating, workers should focus on their demands for a modern public post office and not on the scheming of the company executives for a private institution from which only a privileged few will profit.
(Photos: TML, CUPW, UFCW)
Canada Post's Propaganda Offensive for Wrecking
Postal workers oppose Canada Post's attacks and disinformation during 2011 strike and lockout.
The announcement of Canada
Post's "Five-point Action
Plan" has been
accompanied by the release of an avalanche of statistics to convince
people
that Canada Post is failing and that a public postal service is
outdated. The
monopoly media have taken the opportunity to present exaggerated
reports
calling for the elimination of universal postal service and full
deregulation of
postal services.
Deliberately exaggerated claims are being made to convince people that the sky is falling on Canada Post and the corporation has no choice but to cut postal services, raise postage prices and attack the wages and benefits of postal workers. The media report doom and gloom over a drop in first class mail volumes. The Conference Board of Canada projects that by 2020 the corporation will be facing an operating loss of $1 billion per year. The pension plan is said to be facing a $5.9 billion solvency deficiency and because of this must be "restructured." All of this desperate talk is to paralyse people's thinking as to a pro-social new direction for the public post office to serve the people and nation-building.
A review of the corporation's financial reports of the last several years shows that these statistics and projections are not just exaggerations but in many cases outright lies.
But putting the statistics aside, neither the corporation nor the Harper government has been able to explain why more than $2-billion have been invested in the past few years to modernize mail processing and delivery if the post office is failing. Do they think that Canadians are so gullible that they will believe that billions of dollars would be invested in a sector of the economy that is supposed to be "dying" and "a thing of the past"?
The facts show the opposite is the case. The profits of UPS, FedEx, Pitney Bowes and other monopoly corporations in the communications sector have been steadily rising. The demand for the privatization and deregulation of Canada Post is not because it is failing but on the contrary, the elimination of the public post office is the potential source of super profits for these monopolies.
It is more than dishonest for the corporation to claim that the "Action Plan" and the drastic cuts are due to loss of mail volumes and the financial crisis facing Canada Post. This is the continuation of "Postal Transformation," which was put in place by Moya Greene who was appointed President and CEO of Canada Post in 2005. Before any noise began about lower mail volumes and during a period the corporation was making hundreds of millions of dollars of profit every year, Moya Greene explained her plan to modernize the Post Office. She pointed out that the goal of the corporation was to "modernize and revitalize Canada Post" to reorient it to serve big business. She stressed that the approximately $2-billion investment was being made to take advantage of the fact that one-third of the workforce would be retiring in the coming years. She said, "This is an opportunity to synchronize modernization plans with the pace of retirements."
Since then we have seen the
disastrous effects of new
sortation machines
and restructured letter carrier routes. Thousands of jobs have already
been
eliminated including practically all mail service courier positions
(truck
drivers) where "Postal Transformation" has been implemented. The
ongoing
pressure on workers has taken a heavy toll in injuries, and in the
Montreal area
alone, several suicides of letter carriers have been reported due to
the
unbearable working conditions.
Along with "Postal Transformation," the corporation, hand-in-hand with the Harper government, has been implementing privatization and deregulation. Deepak Chopra, previously President of Pitney Bowes Canada and Latin America, was appointed by Stephen Harper to head Canada Post in 2011. Since that time, the destruction of the public post office has been accelerating. More than 60 major Retail Post Offices have been closed in large urban centres across the country and replaced by hundreds of postal franchises located in major drug store chains and convenience stores.
With Bill C-9, a federal budget bill in 2010, the Harper government succeeded in taking international letters out of the exclusive purview of Canada Post. With this bill, the government legalized the existing illegal operations of businesses known as "remailers" that were handling letters bound for international destinations. By sneaking deregulation into a budget bill to avoid debate, Harper enabled large private mailers to take millions of dollars of revenue from Canada Post each year.
Stephen Harper and Deepak Chopra are not modernizing the post office; they are dismantling it for the benefit of the monopoly corporations they represent. The investment of billions of dollars and the attacks on the wages, working conditions and benefits of postal workers are integral parts of the Harper government's plans to sell off the public assets of the Post Office at a low price with minimum risk for the buyer. Canada Post's "Five-point action Plan" is another step on the road towards the destruction of the public Post Office and Canada's national economy.
The struggle of postal workers for sustainable working conditions and wages benefits commensurate with the work they perform is an important block to the wrecking plans of the Harper government. The more than 50,000 postal workers and over 20,000 retirees must unite with other workers across the country to demand the recognition of their rights and a Canadian standard of living that reflects the highly developed productive economy. Postal and other workers and their allies amongst a broad section of Canadians are determined not to allow private interests to appropriate the assets of the public post office that workers have built over many years through their hard work. Harper must be stopped!
Broad Canada-wide support for the just fight of postal workers for proper working conditions and to
to defend the public post office in 2011.
(Photos: CUPW, TML)
Closing of Kellogg's Cereal Plant in London
2009 lockout of Kellogg workers based on the company's treatment of workers as a cost of production
and its demands for concessions. (D. Starchuk)
Assault on Ontario manufacturing continues; public authority does nothing
In a terse statement, the U.S. monopoly Kellogg said that next year it will begin to wind down its ready-to-eat cereal manufacturing plant in London Ontario and permanently cease food production by the end of 2014. More than 550 members of Local 154G of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers Union and 65 non-union employees will lose their jobs. Kellogg had previously announced on November 5, that 110 unionized workers would be laid off New Year's Day, 2014, while eleven managers were fired immediately.
Kellogg also stated that a snack manufacturing plant it owns in Charmhaven, Australia will also be closed and a food manufacturing plant in Rayong, Thailand will be expanded. Reports suggest that Kellogg will gradually transfer cereal manufacturing from London to plants in Michigan and Pennsylvania. Whether this entails pillage of the means of production at the London plant has not been revealed.
Workers at the London Kellogg plant produce a wide variety of well- known cereals including Corn Flakes, Frosted Flakes, Bran Buds, All Bran, Bran Flakes and Raisin Bran. Food manufacturing began at the plant in 1907 and underwent a $223-million renovation and expansion in 1985.
The statement said, "Kellogg Company today announced several changes to optimize its global manufacturing network ... [to] unlock cost savings.... [CEO John] Bryant said, `We are taking action to ensure our manufacturing network is operating the right number of plants and production lines -- in the right locations -- to better meet current and future production needs and the evolving needs of our customers'."
The "right number," according to the narrow private interests of the monopoly does not include the unionized plant in London but does include the non-union government subsidized smaller one in Belleville, Ontario, which opened in 2008 to "unlock cost savings" by stealing the claims of workers on the value they produce. The crime against workers uses the propaganda fraud of labelling their claim on the value they produce as a cost of production.
The Ontario Liberal government gave Kellogg a grant of $2.4-million in 2007, and an interest free $9.7-million loan in 2008, to build the new non- union plant in Belleville to "unlock cost savings." The loan was 10 per cent of the company's capital investment in the new plant, which produces Mini-Wheats cereal. This year, the Liberal government announced another grant for the Belleville plant of $4.5-million. The government has not yet said if the closure of the London plant will affect the grant.
In a statement on the London plant closure, Ontario
Liberal Premier
Kathleen Wynne expressed "disappointment" and then went on to list the
names of various monopolies that have promised new investments in the
province. The Harper federal government has said nothing.
Another example of Kellogg's wrecking of communities: lockout of workers in Memphis, Tennessee
to force concessions, which began on October 22, 2013.
This latest manufacturing shutdown, coming just days before the announced massive wrecking of Canada Post, is very disconcerting for the working class to say the least. Under the hoax of "cost savings," the production of value is being destroyed in Canada in both the goods and services producing sectors. How are Canadians to work and live without the production of value in their own economy? The ready-to-eat cereals produced in London will now have to be bought from the United States. This means an equivalent value will leave the country rather than having workers produce that value here. This deprives the country of jobs and wealth.
The public authority does nothing to prevent this attack on Canadians and destruction of the production of value. Governments and capital-centred flunkies turn truth on its head and routinely call destruction of the production of value and the theft of workers' claims on the value they produce, in both the goods and services producing sectors, as unlocking "cost savings."
The Harper federal government and the Ontario Liberal government hand over huge sums of public money to these monopoly wreckers and then allow them to tear down the economy, steal the claims of workers, destroy work and the production of value, and even transfer production to the U.S. and elsewhere. If the people allow this to happen without resistance, the future does not look good. An organized resistance is not only possible but necessary to defend the people's economy, well-being and security. To do so is to take up the task of political empowerment. The people need political empowerment to create a public authority that defends the economy and the well-being and security of all, a public authority that engages in nation-building not nation- wrecking. Such a public authority is the responsibility of the people to create through their own determined organizing, thinking and actions with analysis.
In the Kellogg case, the public authority could immediately act to stop the shutdown of the London plant and prevent the theft or destruction of the means of production. Some alternative to closure could be found. However, if the Kellogg monopoly is unwilling to come to some arrangement, the government could tell Kellogg that only products the company manufactures in Canada will be allowed to be sold in Canada. Also, at what point is the seizure of assets of Kellogg's London plant justified to pay back the government donations to the Belleville plant and for restitution for a breach of trust or fraud in this wrecking of a significant part of the Canadian economy?
If Kellogg refuses to stop its wrecking path, the manufacturing of cereals under different names using locally produced grains could continue in the London plant using a joint worker/government initiative or some other arrangement. If governments have all this public money available as handouts to serve the narrow private interests of the monopolies, such as the $220- million Ontario is to give Cisco Systems, it should be able to find similar amounts that serve the broad public interests of Canadians to guarantee their employment, well-being and food security, and the country's manufacturing base.
Defend the Production of Value in Canada! Keep the Kellogg's London Plant Producing! Manufacturing Yes! Nation-Wrecking No!
Canfor Mill Shut Down in BC While
Another Opens in China
On October 24, forestry giant Canfor announced that it would be permanently closing its Quesnel mill and laying off 209 employees because of a lack of timber caused by the mountain pine beetle infestation. The Quesnel mill was one of the few mills in British Columbia that cut metric-sized wood for the Chinese market.
Interestingly, a little over a month later on November 26, Canfor announced plans to invest in a new joint venture mill in China on the country's northern coast. This mill will be importing lumber from British Columbia and cutting it into metric sizes for Chinese buyers.
Canfor's joint venture is
with a Chinese-based company, Tangshan Caofeidian Wood Industry Inc.,
which is a division of the giant Hebei Wenfeng Industrial Group. The
Industrial Group set up Caofeidian Wood with the expressed goal "to use
Canada and the world's global forest resources to feed China's growing
demand for wood products." The Group has a Canadian affiliate, LJ
Resources Ltd. and currently owns 16 per cent of the shares of BC-based
Conifex.
Another interesting feature of this new Canfor/Caofeidian Wood venture is that Caofeidian Wood is involved in the development in northern China of a nearby massive deep water port that, among other functions, will be a hub for the importation of lumber and raw logs from BC and other locations. This "Log Port," as it is called, will include a fumigation facility, which is important, because without it, wood can only be shipped to it in winter months. Russ Taylor of Vancouver-based Wood Markets Group says, "the BC logging sector now has the opportunity to export logs year-round to a new port."[1]
Raw log exports, of course, are a controversial issue in British Columbia, as well as other jurisdictions such as Washington State and New Zealand. In recent years, the export of raw logs from BC, especially to China and especially from coastal BC, has been ramped up to record levels with 47 million cubic metres being exported between 2002 and 2012. At the same time, dozens of mills have closed in BC and an estimated 35,000 forest sector jobs have been lost.
The Canfor/Caofeidian mill announcement coincided with other announcements made during Premier Christy Clark's visit to China. According to one news report, an early-stage agreement between a group of Chinese investors (under the umbrella of the China New Energy Chamber of Commerce) and the BC government "could see as much as $1 billion invested in Canada by Chinese companies," especially in the area of wood pellet plants. Wood pellets could be used to supplant coal in China where air pollution from the burning of coal is a major problem. In Canada, an estimated half of "the north-western BC wood basket is too poor to use as lumber," but could be used for pellets.[2] Pellet production requires fewer workers than mill production.
Will this be the shape of things to come in British Columbia? Is there a globalized division of labour at work here, whereby BC exports more raw logs, as well as relatively unprocessed dimensional lumber and wood pellets to China, while China gets to process the raw logs and semi-processed wood into a wide range of value-added products to be sold at home and abroad?
All of this is undoubtedly good for Canfor and its Chinese partners. But the question must be asked: Where will BC communities and our forest resource fit into this globalist vision? Will BC's forestry manufacturing sector be enhanced and developed, or will the province be further reduced to a reliance on the export of raw or semi-processed natural resources, a plantation for globalist corporations?
The Premier, Canfor and Chinese investors are making deals behind closed doors in Beijing about BC's forest resources, but what about public and community input? Why are all the decisions in the hands of globalist corporations who don't think twice about shutting down mills in one country while opening them up in another?
Notes
1. St. Denis, Jen. "Canfor planning wood
joint venture in China," Business
Vancouver, November 27, 2013.
2. Vanderklippe, Nathan. "China, Canadian groups sign pacts as Beijing
targets forestry sector," Globe and
Mail, November 26, 2013.
* Peter Ewart is a columnist and writer based in Prince George, British Columbia. He can be reached at: peter.ewart@shaw.ca
Justice for Injured Workers
Ontario Injured Workers' Groups Protest at
Ministry of Labour
Participants rally outside Ministry of Labour in Toronto to demand justice for injured workers, December 9, 2013.
The Ontario Network of Injured Workers Groups (ONIWG) held its 22nd annual Christmas demonstration at the Ministry of Labour in downtown Toronto on December 9, while at the same time activists in London rallied outside the constituency office of Health Minister Deb Matthews.
The Toronto event was attended by over 200 people, including many injured workers as well as members of the Local 1005 of the United Steeworkers (USW) from Hamilton, the Steelworkers' Toronto Area Council, the Public Service Alliance of Canada, the Canadian Union of Public Employees, the Ontario Public Service Employees' Union, the Power Workers' Union, the Ontario Federation of Labour and the Workers' Centre of the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist).
In London the action included a Christmas dinner for
participants and the distribution of the latest issue of Justice For Injured Workers to
passers-by.
London action outside Health Minister Deb Matthews' constituency office, December 9, 2013.
Both demonstrations were characterized by a militant spirit demanding that the rights and dignity of injured workers be affirmed in the face of brutal attacks by the government and the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) on their claims and benefits.
In Toronto, following the introduction of the new ONIWG executive, attendees shouted slogans, four of which highlight the specific demands of the injured workers: "Full Cost of Living!;" "No More Deeming!;" "Universal Coverage!;" and "Justice Humanely and Speedily Rendered!"
Karl Crevar, a long-time injured worker activist asked
for a minute of silence for Darrell Sanderson, a double amputee and
well-known injured worker activist who passed away recently. Karl noted
that Darrell spent many years of his life working for the rights of
people with severe work-related disabilities and those who had lost
their lives at the workplace.
Karl's comments expressed the fight of the injured
workers for their rights. He noted that the Ontario Ministry of Labour
deliberately targets injured workers and denies them their right to
benefits. He denounced the unholy alliance between the Ministry of
Labour and the accounting monopoly KPMG which the government has hired
to justify increasingly brutal cutbacks to benefits for injured
workers, forcing more and more injured workers and their families to
join the ranks of the poor in Ontario.
Ippocratis "Jimmy" Velgakis, a worker who was injured in
1991 and denied his claim by the WSIB for over 20 years, spoke about
the two hunger strikes he has undertaken to bring attention to his
state of destitution. After his first hunger strike, the WSIB promised
action but, he said, it was a ruse to get him to stop his protest. His
second hunger strike this November ended after 11 days when the WSIB
tribunal promised him a hearing. Mr. Velgakis pointed to his case as an
example of how the WSIB abuses injured workers and tries to get them to
give up affirming their rights in various ways.
Toronto
David Marshall, head of the WSIB, was loudly denounced for aggressively denying injured workers' claims, which has earned him an annual 20 per cent bonus for his "achievement" of retiring the WSIB "unfunded liability" and finding other "efficiencies" in service delivery. The participants called for his resignation and demanded an end to to the use of the fraudulent unfunded liability to deny injured workers their due.
Kim Hoover, an ONIWG
activist, introduced the Chain of Shame, each of its links bearing the
name of an injured worker, their age and date of their injury. She
enumerated the cuts to injured workers' benefits by the WSIB, the
increased denial of claims and the shortening of the time period for
injured workers to attend retraining programs, and denounced David
Marshall and the WSIB for their brutality and callousness. She invited
anyone who has a name to add to the Chain of Shame to send it to
chainofshame@gmail.com
Jake Lombardo of the Local 1005 USW introduced the fourth issue of Justice for Injured Workers, which was hot off the press. Noting that the paper reports on the situation injured workers face and their fight for their dignity and their rights, he called on everyone to help finance the paper and ensure its wide distribution as a way to end the marginalization of injured workers. Lombardo also pointed out that injured workers are a political force who have been active in opposing the austerity agenda of the Liberals and Conservatives during elections and that this work has to continue and be supported by everyone.
Dr. Robert Storey, a professor of Labour Studies at McMaster University in Hamilton, reported on the work that he and Carol Elston from the University of Guelph did in preparation for the Meredith Conference recently held in Toronto. They interviewed 118 injured workers across Ontario, recording their issues and concerns. Their report, entitled "People's Commission Report on Workers' Compensation," will be coming out shortly.
Nancy Hutchison brought greetings on behalf of the Ontario Federation of Labour and called on all the unions to get behind the struggle of injured workers and their demands.
Minister of Labour Yasir Naqvi, who was invited to speak. was extremely defensive in his short intervention, pointing out that "governments are very slow and that they are slow for me." He said the Wynne government is working more closely with injured workers and their groups to improve outcomes for them, including addressing anti-reprisal policies and claims suppression. In the face of the real facts of life, few at the demonstration seemed convinced.
Responding to the Minister, Karl Crevar reminded all
that the workers' compensation system set up a hundred years ago by
Meredith was based on the premise that workers would give up their
right to sue their employers if they received just compensation for
their injuries at work. He pointed out that since 1990 this system has
been under attack by various governments and businesses and that
injured workers will continue to organize and demand that the Ontario
government and all governments do their duty to protect injured workers
and meet their demands for just compensation and a dignified life.
London
Lip Service -- A Poem
We don't want lip service --
NO!
We don't want your pity -- NO!
We don't need your "favors" -- NO!
Give us what is ours! (GIVE US WHAT IS OURS!)
Stop looking right through
us...NO!
Sitting high -- don't judge us -- NO!
Don't evaluate us -- NO!
Through the telephone line?
Enough, it's enough, it's
enough,
It's enough -- enough, it's enough, it's enough!
Injured Workers are onto
your
game
Break us down with your delays.
Then you say, it's all in the name
Of saying, you care -- (BOO!)
Let me tell you that we all
know,
You change ministers like pantyhose.
It's time tax payers know
They're supporting your lies.
Shame on you,
All the stuff you put us through,
Unfunded liability,
Who comes up with this shh...stuff?
Shame on you,
Getting paid not to do.
What? Give us what is ours!
(GIVE US WHAT IS OURS!)
We don't need no head games -- NO!
We don't want fake training -- NO!
No experience rating -- NO!
Give us what is ours! (GIVE US WHAT IS OURS!)
We don't need more stresses
--
NO!
You know our bodies can't take it -- NO!
No financial torture -- NO!
Give us what is ours! (GIVE US WHAT IS OURS!)
No lip service, no lip
service
Enough, it's enough, it's enough, it's enough.
Shame on you,
All the shit you put us through -- shame on you,
Getting paid not to do.
* Heather
Cherron von Atzigen is an
injured worker, activist and singer. She was formerly
employed in the
hospitality industry. She recited her poem "Lip Service" at the ONIWG
demonstration at the Ontario Ministry of Labour.
Informative and Lively New Issue of
Justice for Injured Workers
The fourth edition of Justice for Injured Workers has just been released. People are encouraged to order their papers today and distribute them in their workplaces, to friends and relatives and in their communities so that everyone is informed about the just demands of injured workers for their rights.
Disseminating the paper contributes to ending the marginalization of injured workers and the attacks on their rights. Injured workers continue to face an attack on their rights, from the denial and suppression of claims to cuts to benefits through the WSIB. It is a shameful situation that leaves many injured workers living in poverty.
Any worker could be injured on the job. The fight of injured workers is everyone's fight and also contributes to affirming the rights of the next generation of workers. It is epitomized in the slogan "Our Security Lies in the Fight for the Rights of All."
In this issue, as always, Ontario injured workers and their allies are eager to inform about the important work they are doing. First and foremost, this includes the firm conviction that their right as injured workers to just compensation must be recognized. Justice for Injured Workers also informs about the need to oppose the wrecking of the workers' compensation system by the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) and the provincial government. Those in charge of the WSIB are transforming the system from one that should provide just compensation that ensures injured workers' well-being, to a private insurance model based on suppression of claims and cutting of benefits to reduce "costs." There is coverage of the annual Injured Workers' Day at the provincial Legislature on June 1, a tradition which has now spread to BC. This issue also covers the international Meredith Conference held this fall in Toronto. The conference underscored the historic principles of the workers' compensation system and the need to see them upheld today. Also featured is an interview with Michele McSweeney, the new President of the Ontario Network of Injured Workers. She emphasizes the need for injured workers to be proactive in opposing the agenda of the WSIB to cut benefits and suppress claims and calls on everyone to support this just fight. Karl Crevar, a long-time activist for the rights of injured workers, gives an interview in which he exposes the phony nature of the WSIB's "unfunded liability," a bookkeeping fraud used to fabricate a financial crisis to justify cuts to injured workers' benefits. He points out, "There is no such crisis. If the government stood their ground and demanded that the employers pay for the funding of the system, as they were supposed to, we would not be talking about an unfunded liability." Every page of Justice for Injured Workers is packed with the many actions of injured workers, making it clear that injured workers are part and parcel of all the important political struggles taking place in Ontario.
TML salutes the steadfast and fighting spirit of the injured workers and their fight for rights, as shown in Justice for Injured Workers. This work gives great honour to the working people and flies in the face of those who run the WSIB, who hold the unacceptable view that injured workers should accept being cast as victims and simply be grateful for whatever handouts they are given.
Copies of the paper can be ordered by contacting President of the Ontario Network of Injured Workers Michele McSweeney at 905-577-3362 or by e-mail at oniwg1990@gmail.com.
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Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca