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Gov. John Kasich's S.B. 5 and Republican lawmakers must be feeling the heat. Recently, 1.3 million Ohioans signed petitions to put on the November ballot the repeal of a law (S.B. 5) that eliminates the collective bargaining rights of more than 350,000 public employees. Today, Kasich & Co. pleaded for a so-called "compromise" in order to keep the repeal measure of the ballot out of the voters' hands.

At a press conference this afternoon, Melissa Fazekas, spokeswoman for We Are Ohio, the coalition leading the repeal drive, said:

We're glad that Gov. Kasich and the other politicians who passed S.B. 5 are finally admitting this is a flawed bill. Just like the bill was flawed, this approach to a compromise is flawed as well.

Our message is clear. These same politicians who passed this law could repeal it and not thwart the will of the people. They should either repeal the entire bill or support our efforts and encourage a no vote on Issue 2 [the repeal].

Kasich and Republican lawmakers rammed S.B. 5 through the legislature in March, ignoring the huge and near daily demonstrations and rallies in and around the Capitol. Kasich and his backers refused earlier offers to meet with workers and discuss the issue.

After the bill passed and Kasich signed it, We Are Ohio mounted a massive drive to collect enough signatures to put the repeal before the voters in November. Only 231,000 signatures were needed to put repeal on the November ballot. But the 10,000 We Are Ohio volunteers from all over the Buckeye State found overwhelming support for repeal and collected more than five times the number required.

The Associated Press reports that a recent Quinnipiac University poll found 56 percent of Ohio voters say the new collective bargaining law should be repealed, compared with 32 percent who favor keeping it in place.

AFL-CIO Now Blog, Wed Aug 17 2011
Byline: Mike Hall

Today, Wisconsin working families are going to the polls to defend two state senators who stood up to Gov. Scott Walker's (R) attack on workers. Democratic state Sens. Jim Holperin and Bob Wirch face recall elections financed by Republican tea party money.

Wisconsin State AFL-CIO President Phil Neuenfeldt says the two lawmkers:

took bold and courageous action for the working people of Wisconsin last February. As members of Wisconsin's heroic "Fabulous 14" Jim Holperin and Bob Wirch have a proven record of fighting for Wisconsin's middle class.

In an effort to prevent Walker and his allies from ramming through legislation that eliminated the collective bargaining rights of public employees, 14 state senators left the state to prevent a vote. But eventually, Republican lawmakers used parliamentary trickery to pass the bill.

Last week, Wisconsin working families recalled two of those Republican state senators, and if Holperin and Wirch win tonight, the Republicans will hold just a 17-16 edge.

The Aug. 9 recall elections and today's balloting follow a massive mobilization that saw more than 12,000 volunteers mobilized for months in recall districts, contacting more than 1 million voters and, on the week before the Aug. 9 election alone, knocking on 125,000 doors.

Challenging Holperin is tea party extremist Kim Simac. Simac recently compared Wisconsin public schools to Nazi indoctrination camps and outsourced local jobs to China. When Simac published a patriotic book she authored, she choose to outsource jobs to China by utilizing foreign printers instead of a multitude of local printing houses.

Jonathan Steitz is challenging Sen. Wirch. Steitz is a newcomer to both Wisconsin politics and Wisconsin itself. Born and raised in Texas, Steitz works mostly in Chicago and London as an international attorney who turns layoffs into profits for an out-of-state law firm.

AFL-CIO Now Blog, Tues Aug 16 2011
Byline: Mike Hall

Alberta Employment and Immigration Minister Thomas Lukaszuk is promising to make workplaces in the province fairer, cracking down on employers who fail to pay fair wages and benefits.

Lukaszuk announced Wednesday the government is going to hire six new Employment Standards officers, increase the use of outside auditors and put out more information for employers so they know what is expected.

"I am putting those employers who don't comply on notice that we are stepping up our efforts to improve fairness for employees in Alberta through enforcement and education," he said.

He said the increase in inspectors was a necessary response to a move that department made last year to allow Albertans to file complaints online.

That new website was launched in December and, between then and the end of the government's fiscal year in April, the department saw a 20 per cent increase in complaints, rising to 6,484 claims from the 5,454 the department saw the year before.

"Our complaints have gone up so we are stepping up our officers to keep up with that."

Lukaszuk said that, while the move to allow complaints over the web has led to more work, it was clearly the right thing for the province to do.

"You want Albertans and temporary foreign workers and other Canadians who work in Alberta to feel comfortable and not be encumbered in their ability to file a complaint."

Lukaszuk said some employers in the province don't fully grasp the rules, while others are simply flaunting them, and it is that group the province will be keeping an especially close eye on.

"There are some who simply choose not to follow regulations and that is the group that we will be focusing on with additional enforcement."

Lukaszuk said the new inspectors should be in place within the next few weeks and the money was already part of last year's budget.

Liberal critic Hugh MacDonald called the government's move overdue and insufficient.

"This is a good first step. I would certainly encourage the minister now to rigorously enforce the employment standards act, through the courts if necessary."

MacDonald said it is unfair to responsible employers and hurts the economy when bad employers get away with bad behaviour.

"How can you compete if you are a good employer and other people in your sector are knowingly not paying vacation pay, short-changing employees on their wages?"

The Alberta Federation of Labour was also not warm to the minister's announcement, suggesting the government needs to take a more proactive approach.

"Resolving the complaint by providing one person their overtime doesn't change the pervasive belief that employers don't have to pay overtime," said Nancy Furlong, the organization's secretary-treasurer.

She said many workers fear retribution from their employer if they raise a complaint.

"I know — anecdotally, of course — quite a few people who won't enforce their own rights because they are certain they will be fired if they ask for overtime."

She said the government should do more to make sure workers know their rights.

"There needs to be some serious education of workers on their rights and their entitlements as opposed to a toolkit for employers."

St. Albert Gazette, Sat Aug 13 2011

New efforts by the province to stick up for workers who feel they are being treated unfairly by their employers is a welcome step.

The province announced this week it will hire six new employment standards officers and will increase the use of third-party auditors in order to deal with employee complaints about employers and improve compliance with employment standards. The changes were prompted by an increase in the number of complaints filed by workers since the province introduced a new 24/7 online complaint system last December.

The announcement was welcomed by a local voice for workers, the Lethbridge and District Labour Council.

"For too long, employees have had the cards stacked against them, even locally with students (who find) a lot of employers aren't paying holiday pay," said the president of the council, Richard Merrick, in a Lethbridge Herald story in Thursday's edition. "It's really hard for them to get any kind of justice."

Let's hope these changes by Alberta Employment will help deal workers a fair hand.

Sometimes a failure to adhere to employment standards might simply be the result of ignorance on the part of an employer. A new guide for employers to educate them about employment standards should help in that regard.

Other times, employees are simply taken advantage of by their employers and that's where the increased efforts to deal with employee complaints are especially needed.

"We're holding employers accountable and I'm putting them on notice - we'll be doing more than ever before to ensure fairness in the workplace," Alberta Employment and Immigration Minister Thomas Lukaszuk said when announcing the new measures.

Lukaszuk said while most employers treat their employees fairly, his department still receives complaints about maternity leave, unpaid overtime or vacation pay, insufficient termination notice, improper jobs for young workers and other violations.

It isn't only employers who need to be educated about employment standards. Workers, too, need to be aware of what their rights are as employees. Toward that end, the province has unveiled a new awareness campaign called "Tell Your Boss Where to Go." No, the campaign doesn't encourage workers to give their bosses a piece of their mind, but to direct them as to where they can go to obtain information about employment standards.

While the Alberta Federation of Labour praised the government's efforts to provide more enforcement of employment standards, Nancy Furlong, the group's secretary-treasurer, called the changes "a drop in the bucket, and it's the wrong focus. . . The focus should be on education. Somehow we have to make sure that workers and employers know what the rules are."

Even if workers know the rules, often they are afraid to challenge their employers, said Furlong.

If these new efforts do what they're intended to do, perhaps workers will be less afraid to stand up for their rights, and the province will stand up with them to see that fairness triumphs.

Lethbridge Herald, Fri Aug 12 2011

An increasing number of workplace complaints has prompted the provincial government to hire more people to investigate employers across the province, a step that can only help Lethbridge workers, according to the president of the Lethbridge and District Labour Council.

Richard Merrick said the council, which works with local unions, fields at least one complaint daily about employers who are not following Alberta's Employment Standards Code, usually by withholding vacation or overtime pay.

"For too long, employees have had the cards stacked against them, even locally with students (who find) a lot of employers aren't paying holiday pay," he said. "It's really hard for them to get any kind of justice. The Employment Standards (Code) is unfair to a lot of employees."

Alberta's department of Employment and Immigration announced Wednesday it will put more time and effort into resolving a climbing number of workplace complaints. The department plans to hire six new employment standards officers and bring in independent auditors to investigate payroll records in addition to government auditors already swamped with cases. It also plans to offer more training on how to use the employment standards legislation and has put out a guide for employers.

Merrick said the efforts will make a difference to Lethbridge's workforce.

"Locally, it's going to help the employees and that in turn helps employers because it makes a more level playing field and helps to improve the relationship between the parties," he said. "We have plenty of grievances with employers where there's a union group, so that suggests to me that there's lots of problems here locally about how employees are treated."

More Albertans are making formal complaints about their employers, a fact the province attributes partly to its online complaints system, introduced in December 2010, which allows employees to submit complaints 24 hours a day over the web. Nearly 20 per cent more complaints were lodged in 2010-11 compared to the previous year, rising from 5,454 complaints to 6,484.

Jay Fisher, a spokesperson for the department, said the government has also tried to educate people about their rights as employees with a "Tell Your Employer Where to Go" information ad campaign, displayed in every Alberta city including Lethbridge.

"Those campaigns are also helping increase the number of complaints because people are more aware of employment standards," he said.

To keep up, the government is bringing in third-party auditors who will join government auditors in investigating complaints, with the expenses billed back to the employers.

"They're experts at it and can do those sorts of things quite quickly and our guys are spending their time on the complaints and the investigations, following them up as opposed to poring through some payroll records to see who's owed how much in overtime," Fisher said.

Although the Alberta Federation of Labour lauds the government for trying to enforce the employment standards, it scoffs at the notion that the province is doing enough to make people aware of the regulations and of their rights.

"Having six new people helping to enforce labour standards is a good thing. It's a drop in the bucket and it's the wrong focus, but it is a good thing," said Nancy Furlong, the Federation's secretary/treasurer. "The focus should be on education. Somehow we have to find a way to make sure that workers and employers know what the rules are."

Furlong said her organization gets dozens of calls a week from residents inquiring about their rights as employees.

"That's the bigger issue as far as I'm concerned," she said. "There are lots of people who a) have no idea what their rights are and b) they're afraid to challenge their employers anyway, because although they are protected under the code, it's not an easy thing to take a chance on losing your job to enforce your right to overtime or your right to hours of work."

Lethbridge Herald, Thurs Aug 11 2011
Byline: Katie May

EDMONTON - A new online system for workers to report grievances against their employers has worked so well the province has been "flooded" with complaints to investigate, Employment and Immigration Minister Thomas Lukaszuk says.

To address the backlog, he announced Wednesday his department is hiring six new employment standards officers, bringing the total to 60 across the province.

In the 2010-11 fiscal year that ended March 31, the province received approximately 6,400 complaints — a 20 per cent jump from the previous year. The upward trend has continued.

While the government continues to receive complaints in person and by phone, Lukaszuk said the rise is entirely due to the new online system launched in December.

"The moment we introduced the new online complaint filing system. we have been, to some degree, flooded with complaints," he said.

"We anticipated there would be some increase, particularly among young workers who tend to be more proficient with technology, but I found the increase to exceed my expectations."

All reports are put through an initial review. Those found to have substance are investigated, which is why new officers are required, he said.

As a result of the complaints received in 2010-11, about $5 million in unpaid earnings was identified as owing to workers. While much of that was generated by employers who made errors interpreting employment standards, Lukaszuk said the province has decided to get tougher with those who deliberately or repeatedly flout the law.

Third-party auditors will be brought in to deal with companies that are evasive or refuse to open their books to investigators, he said. The companies will be billed for the auditors' expenses.

In addition, the province has created a new tool kit for employers to help improve awareness of employment standards, and provide help on calculating workers' pay, overtime and holidays.

"It takes away the excuse," Lukaszuk said. "Following this announcement, no employer will be able to say, 'I didn't know what to pay my employee.' "

Liberal labour critic Hugh MacDonald, who is running for party leader, called Lukaszuk's announcement a good start but said the province needs to prosecute more of the worst offenders.

Lukaszuk said there may be additional announcements, including the possibility of introducing fines for companies with poor adherence to the regulations.

Nancy Furlong of the Alberta Federation of Labour said the government needs to go further to protect workers and ensure complaints are handled in a timely manner.

"The improvements are welcome, although they have thousands of complaints, so whether six new people will be enough is hard to say."

Calgary Herald, Wed Aug 10 2011
Byline: Keith Gerein

EDMONTON – Moves to improve the enforcement of Alberta’s Employment Standards code are welcome, but the government approach is wrong and doesn’t go far enough in protecting workers, says the province’s largest labour group, the Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL).

“Once again, Minister of Employment and Immigration Thomas Lukaszuk has chosen to focus on responding to complaints, instead of being proactive in preventing unfair and abusive workplace practices,” says Nancy Furlong, Secretary Treasurer of the AFL, which represents 145,000 workers. “Waiting for complaints to come in is an abdication of the responsibility the province has to enforce Employment Standards. Many employees, particularly vulnerable Temporary Foreign Workers, young workers, or people newly hired may be unaware of their rights or afraid to complain,” she says.

“The government’s hiring of six new officers is too little to have any serious effect on ensuring Employment Standards are enforced at the thousands worksites all over the province. The AFL is also concerned at the increased use of third-party auditors. Enforcing standards is a provincial responsibility and can only be done effectively by provincial inspectors. Third-party auditors will simply not have the same authority or impact as government officers when dealing with problem employers. We are not sure why it is appropriate to go to third parties. Enforcement is an obligation of the province and as such audit should be an integral part of the operation,” she says.

 “At the root of the problem is that the minister is focused on the needs of employers over the needs of Albertans. For example, he has chosen to produce a toolkit for employers to remind them of their responsibilities, but not one for workers to remind them of their rights.”

“What Albertans really need and deserve are stronger Employment Standards, more proactive investigations to ensure standards are being maintained, real enforcement of those standards and more prosecutions of violators. Alberta must also act to end the unfair discrimination against farm workers and domestic workers, who are excluded from the Employment Standards that protect other workers and from Occupational Health and Safety laws and Workers Compensation,” says Furlong.

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MEDIA CONTACT: Nancy Furlong, AFL Secretary Treasurer @ 780 720-8945

Never before in American politics have voters recalled more than two state legislators in a single year. That record could be broken on Tuesday, when Wisconsinites vote to decide the fate of six Republican state senators who voted for Gov. Scott Walker's conservative, anti-union agenda. Democrats need to win three of these recall races (and defend two more in another round of recalls next week) to reclaim a majority in the state Senate and throw a wrench into Walker's political machine.

Publicly, Wisconsin Democrats are oozing confidence. Mike Tate, chair of the state party, told reporters last week that internal polling showed Democratic challengers ahead in three races and tied in the rest. Jessica King, who is running to unseat GOP Sen. Randy Hopper in District 18, has predicted that Democrats would win all six races.

But in private, representatives of left-leaning groups are biting their nails about the razor-thin margins separating Democrats and Republicans in several of the races. These officials, who requested anonymity so they could speak candidly, strongly believe Democrats will claim at least two seats. Three races are too close to call, and they're writing off another as all but impossible.

Here's a breakdown of the six recall races, starting with the ones progressive insiders think Democrats are most likely win.

Looking Good for Democrats

District 32: Sen. Dan Kapanke (R) v. Rep. Jen Schilling (D)

Kapanke, who represents the LaCrosse area in southwest Wisconsin, is the only GOP senator hailing from a deeply Democratic district. The conventional wisdom among pollsters and political scientists is that victory is all but assured for Schilling, who was elected to the State Assembly in 2000. Polls have consistently shown Kapanke trailing by double digits in his recall race, including a Daily Kos poll from late June that put Schilling ahead by 14 points.

Kapanke knows he's in deep trouble. Secretly recorded at meeting of LaCrosse Republicans meeting in June, Kapanke said he hoped the government workers in his district—and there are lots of them, he stressed—"are sleeping" on election day. He mused grimly: "We could lose me. We could lose Randy Hopper in the 18th or Alberta Darling over in...the 8th," adding, "If [the Democrats] gain control of the Senate, it might be over for us."

District 18: Sen. Randy Hopper (R) v. Jessica King (D)

In 2008, Hopper defeated King in this traditionally Republican district by a mere 163 votes. "That's just 82 voters—that's it," King told supporters at a recent rally. "It comes down to who gets out the vote."

This time around, King heads into election day with as much momentum as she could hope for. The 18th may lean to the right, but it also boasts the most public workers per capita outside of Dane County, home of the state capital, Madison. For instance, there are nearly a dozen correctional facilities in the district, and by supporting Walker's anti-union budget bill, Hopper curbed corrections officers and other prison employees' compensation and bargaining rights. "I voted Republican my whole life," says John Eveland, a CO who plans to vote for King. "I feel just absolutely betrayed."

Betrayal is a theme Hopper knows well. He made headlines in March when protesters arrived at his house to confront him over his anti-union vote. They encountered his wife, who informed them that Hopper had left her for his 26-year-old mistress. She has since joined the recall effort against him. Hopper also helped his alleged girlfriend land a government job with an inflated salary. Safe to say, the controversy surrounding Hopper's personal life has not helped his chances: An August 3 poll put King ahead by 9 percentage points.

Too Close to Call

District 14: Sen. Luther Olsen (R) v. Rep. Fred Clark (D)

In February, Olsen was one of the few Republican senators to question Walker's attack on collective bargaining and organized labor, calling it "pretty radical." But in the end, he voted for the budget bill and now faces Clark, a progressive assembly member, in a recall race saturated with vicious, and sometimes plain misleading, radio and TV advertisements.

Left-leaning groups accuse Olsen of backing no-bid sales of state power plants (a claim PolitiFact rated "mostly false") and wanting to slash Medicare (Olsen argues he hasn't said anything about the federal program). Meanwhile, right-leaning groups have hyped Clark's spotty driving record—including an ad with real footage of him hitting a bicyclist in a Madison intersection—while ripping the Democrat for not paying child support. So dirty is the race that Clark pushed Olsen to sign a pledge requiring outside political groups, who've funded many of these ads, to tell the truth or at least unmask their donors. (According to the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, most conservative groups trying to influence the election are not disclosing their funders.)

Early polls showed Clark leading Olsen by a few points, but in recent weeks, that slim lead has evaporated, leaving the two in a statistical dead heat.

District 8: Sen. Alberta Darling (R) v. Rep. Sandy Pasch (D)

Darling, chair of the powerful Joint Committee on Finance, was Scott Walker's top ally in the state Senate, helping to craft the governor's controversial budget-repair bill. Of the six Republicans facing recalls, Darling, a 20-year Senate veteran, was considered the least likely to lose.

However, Pasch, a Democratic assemblywoman, has closed the gap with Darling, transforming herself from an also-ran into a serious contender. A Democratic poll from July showed Pasch with a one-point lead over Darling, which would have been unthinkable just a month earlier.

The Darling-Pasch race has been characterized by mud-slinging on both sides. After Republicans accused Pasch of coordinating with a third-party progressive group named Citizen Action of Wisconsin, Democrats fired back by filing an official complaint against Darling, accusing her of plotting with right-wing groups including the Club for Growth and the influential anti-abortion outfit Wisconsin Family Action. It remains to be seen whether the political one-upmanship will tilt the race either way. Democratic officials say that Tuesday's outcome is essentially a toss-up.

District 10: Sen. Sheila Harsdorf (R) v. Shelly Moore (D)

Harsdorf, a 23-year veteran of the state legislature, goes into Tuesday with the most valuable trait any candidate can hope for: name recognition. The Harsdorfs are a political institution in the 10th District, which borders Minnesota's Twin Cities.

Democrats say it will take a Herculean effort on the part of Moore, a union organizer, to oust Harsdorf. A Democratic poll showed Harsdorf and Moore in a "dead heat" in late July, but party officials aren't optimistic that they can overcome what's sure to be a last-minute push from conservative outside groups to bump Harsdorf over the finish line on Tuesday.

Looking Good for Republicans

District 2: Sen. Robert Cowles (R) v. Nancy Nusbaum (D)

Cowles, a 24-year veteran of the state Senate, is largely considered the strongest Republican in the recall elections. He is the only Republican facing recall to be endorsed by the League of Conservation Voters. He's known for moderate stands such as supporting the extension of jobless benefits. Polls show him tied with Nusbaum, the former mayor of DePere. Democratic officials say they believe Cowles doesn't face a serious challenge and will cruise to victory.

motherjones.com, Mon Aug 8 2011

When energy ministers from around the country gathered in Kananaskis recently, Alberta Energy Minister Ron Liepert billed the meeting as a potentially historic gathering at which politicians will begin long-overdue discussions towards the creation of a truly pan-Canadian energy strategy.

Now, some might think this meant that the energy ministers would work to develop a sustainable, secure energy strategy that works for Canadians in all regions of the country. But the event proved to be an elaborate attempt on the part of the Alberta government and its patrons in the oil patch to win support from other provinces and the federal government for their controversial plans to build bitumen export pipelines to the US Gulf Coast and the port of Kitamat in BC (the "gateway" to China).

Royalties are not taxes. They are the price that forestry, mining and energy companies pay to develop resource assets owned by Canadian citizens.

Clearly. some groups who were involved in the process are sincerely committed to a wide-ranging discussion about what's really best for Canadians when it comes to energy policy (the respected and even-handed Canada West Foundation is particularly notable in this regard). But it's also clear that a number of extremely influential individuals and groups had already made up their minds: they want bitumen pipelines, no matter how many good jobs in upgrading, refining and petrochemical production those pipelines might end up exporting to the US and China.

Unfortunately, Minister Liepert appears to fall into the category of pipeline salesmen rather than the category of big-picture policy thinkers.

The same can be said for the Canadian Council of Chief Executive Officers and EPIC, a new think tank created by a coalition of major oil companies, which have both recently released reports calling for ­ you guessed it ­ more bitumen export pipelines and quicker approvals for oil and gas projects in general.

Instead of slapping together a plan for a couple of questionable pipelines and calling it an energy policy, Canada's energy ministers should set their sights much higher. Here are a few issues that cannot be ignored if federal and provincial politicians are serious about doing more than putting a bow on the status quo and declaring their work done.

Energy Security: Like it or not, we live in a world that runs on oil. For the time being at least, individuals and businesses simply can't make do without the stuff. Yet Canada is the only major oil producing jurisdiction in the world that doesn't have a coherent national strategy that puts their interest of its citizens first.

The results are perverse. Despite our status as a net energy exporter, Ontario, Quebec and the Maritime provinces import roughly 700,000 barrels of crude oil a day from places like Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Nigeria and Venezuela. In fact, Quebec and the Maritime provinces import more than 80 percent of the oil they use from outside Canada.

Why? Because almost all of our pipelines run north-south. Shockingly, we don't have the infrastructure to send western oil to our fellow citizens in the eastern half of the country.

Minister Liepert and others are right when they say we should be looking for new markets for our oil. After all, demand from our biggest costumer, the US, is stagnating and quirks of the US distribution system mean we're not getting world price for what we sell.

But if new markets are what we're looking for, doesn't it make more sense to build pipelines connecting west and east within our own country before building pipelines to supply refineries in Texas and China? Building pipelines to supply the Canadian east as opposed to the Far East also has the benefit of keeping the jobs, profits and tax revenue associated with upgrading and refining within Canada.

Economic Impact of Oil: Driven by massive investment in the oil sands, Alberta's energy sector has become the driving force behind the Canadian economy. This has been great news for Albertans and the hundreds of thousands of other Canadians who have flocked to our province to participate in the boom.

However, from a national perspective, by relying too heavily on the energy sector, we run the risk of developing what economists call Dutch Disease. This is an economic condition in which a booming energy sector drives up the currency and oil-related investment but, in the process, drives down investment, profits and jobs in other sectors, particularly manufacturing.

Any national energy strategy worth its salt would recognize this threat and take steps to deal with it. One possible solution is the one offered by former Alberta premier Peter Lougheed: set a slower pace for development in the oil sands. By proceeding with five or ten projects at a time (instead of the sixty-plus that are currently on the books) we would reduce the likelihood of developing a full-blown case of Dutch Disease.

As added benefits, a more reasonable pace for development would also make it easier to address cumulative environmental impacts and also would reduce (perhaps eliminate) the need to bring thousands of temporary foreign workers into the country to supplement the domestic construction labour force. In other words, a slower pace for development would ensure that it would be Canadian workers who would benefit most from the construction of major Canadian resource projects.

Royalties: Royalties are not taxes. They are the price that forestry, mining and energy companies pay to develop resource assets owned by Canadian citizens.

The good news is that royalties generate billions of dollars each year, especially in resource-rich provinces like Alberta, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland. This is money that we use to build needed infrastructure and fund vital public services like education and health care. The bad news is that we don't always (or even often) get the best possible price for the sale of our assets.

In Alberta, for example, under the Stelmach government we're actually collecting fewer royalties as a share of our overall energy oil and gas sector's revenue than the Social Credit government did in the late sixties (and less than a third of the proportion that was collected under Lougheed).

To rectify this problem, and ensure Canadians get the best possible price for the sale of their assets, a national energy strategy could introduce a truly national process for setting and bargaining royalty rates, so that energy companies could no longer play one jurisdiction against the other.

The bottom line is this: in an environment characterized by historically high oil prices and rapidly declining options for oil companies in other parts of the world, provinces like and Alberta, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland hold all the cards. By cooperating, we can play those cards more aggressively and successfully. Energy companies won't fold or leave the table, because they have nowhere else to go.

Transition: A post-carbon economy is years away, but make no mistake, it's coming. It's coming because the science around global warming is real and frightening; because a global political consensus has emerged in support of a greener economy; and because, more practically, the world is running out of oil (at least cheap oil).

This doesn't mean that we should stop developing our oil resources. The oil sands are one of our country' most valuable assets at the moment and it would be foolish not to exploit them. However, what the coming of a post-carbon economy does mean is that we're going to have to start looking at the oil sands in a different way. In particular, we should very consciously start thinking of the oil sands as a transitional resource: a resource that will help provide us with the revenue necessary to build the next, greener economy in Canada.

If Alberta find a way to join other provinces in crafting and supporting a national energy strategy that uses the oil sands as a bridge to a better future for the entire country, then not only will our country's economic prospects be brighter, we may also be able to manage the "politics of envy" that inevitably come from one province having so much more wealth than others.

In the end, Minister Liepert is right about one thing: the meeting in Kananaskis had the potential to be historic. How unfortunate that he and other provincial energy ministers failed to think and dream big. A true national energy strategy has to be much more than a plan to build a couple of pipelines that export jobs along with our oil.

We can do so much better. In fact, for sake for future generations of Canadian, we need to do much better.

Gil McGowan is president of the Alberta Federation of Labour. The AFL represents 145,000 unionized Albertans, including about 25,000 who work in the energy sector or energy-related construction.

Straight Goods, Mon Aug 8 2011
Byline: Gil McGowan

This Tuesday, six Republican state senators who supported Scott Walker's radical agenda face recall. Here's what you need to know about the issues at play.

August 5, 2011 |

Tuesday, August 9 is going to be a big day not just for Wisconsin politics, but nationally. It was this winter, after all, that the Capitol building in Madison was the scene of not just protest, but a full-on occupation by workers and allies enraged by Republican governor Scott Walker's bill stripping collective bargaining rights from the state's public employees. Teachers, students, organized labor, local and national progressive groups, leaders, and even rock stars convened in Wisconsin to join the rallies, but the bill was passed anyway.

The movement in Wisconsin pivoted then from massive protest to massive organizing, and now Tuesday will see the recall elections of six Republican state senators who supported Walker's anti-worker bill. One Democratic state senator, Dave Hansen, has already successfully retained his seat after a July 19 election, and two other Democrats face recalls on August 16.

Just three wins, and the Democrats regain control of the state senate. And the polls look good to do just that. But Walker and his corporate and Tea Party cronies aren't going to give up easily, and with all political junkies' eyes on Wisconsin in the coming days, expect plenty of drama and dirty tricks.

Only three times in U.S. history have recall elections switched party control of a legislative body; Wisconsin has only seen two legislators recalled in its history. This is an unprecedented fight, and it's one where Democrats, progressives, and organized labor have been on the offensive. It has huge implications.

"I believe if given the facts they're going to make good decisions," Walker told reporters of the recalls. We couldn't agree more. We've compiled a list of things to keep in mind while the voters make those decisions.

1. Voter suppression

Wisconsin native Meredith Clark called Scott Walker's voter ID bill his "evil genius masterpiece." The bill doesn't go into effect until 2012, but it requires poll workers to start asking for photo ID right away—a surefire tactic for confusing and driving away voters who believe they don't have the right to vote without these documents. (Though it's unlikely to have an impact before the recalls Tuesday, Walker also ordered closed several DMVs in Democratic districts, making it harder for voters to get state-issued photo ID.)

And that's just the legal voter suppression.

The other kind? Well, Americans for Prosperity (the Koch brothers' group) sent out absentee ballot applications to at least two of the districts that are holding recalls with instructions to mail the ballot back days after the real deadline of August 9. AFP called the mislabeled date a typo, but this isn't the first time AFP has been involved in some election shenanigans in Wisconsin, as AlterNet's Adele Stan reported.

It may be the first time, though, that they're so openly colluding with the religious right; as Stan wrote:

"The address for the "Absentee Ballot Application Processing Center" on the return envelope is a Madison post office box, 1327, that is the mailing address for Wisconsin Family Action, a religious-right group that is virulently anti-gay, and was a vocal supporter of Wisconsin's 2006 anti-same-sex-marriage ballot measure, which passed into law."

A Milwaukee prosecutor also looked into charges that Wisconsin Right to Life and Family Action were offering gift cards to volunteers who signed up anti-choice voters to vote by absentee ballot in the recalls.

After a closely-watched state Supreme Court election was decided by 14,000 votes mysteriously found by a Waukesha County clerk, it's a safe bet that there will be more battles over the voting process in the next week.

2. Corporate cash

Elections aren't cheap in the post-Citizens United age, and these recalls have already broken records for spending in five districts. The amount of outside cash pouring in is staggering; the 8th district, where Alberta Darling faces a challenge from Sandy Pasch, $7.9 million has already been spent. The Club for Growth alone has dumped $400,000 into Darling's race, which Wisconsin Democratic Party chairman Mike Tate called the "crown jewel" of the six.

Darling is the co-chair of the legislature's Joint Finance Committee, the committee that passed Walker's anti-union bill. She was originally considered the safest of the recall targets, but Pasch has polls that show her within range or even ahead of Darling.

As far as where the money is coming from to make these races so costly, Greg Sargent at the Washington Post noted:

"In fairness, labor is investing big money in the recall wars too, via a major ad campaign being waged by the labor-backed We Are Wisconsin. But labor has been involved in this fight since the beginning, and the sudden influx of outside conservative money suggests that national right wing activists understand that if Dems take back the state senate, it would represent a massive blow to their broader agenda."

3. Women's issues

Unions were the big issues that led to the recall campaigns, but Walker and his crew have been awful on many issues. Walker's targeted Planned Parenthood for deep funding cuts and has a long history of anti-abortion action. and Wisconsin Right to Life has been pouring in funding and won a court battle just this week, removing the state's limit of $10,000 on individual donations to a candidate or political action committee. Right to Life's PAC isn't the only one bringing in the big bucks—Ralph Reed's Faith and Freedom Coalition is involved as well.

The attacks on public sector workers has hit women hard as well. Mary Kay Henry, president of the Service Employees International Union, told me several months ago that Walker's union-busting bill was falling heavily on public sector nurses and teachers; jobs that are disproportionately female (and also disproportionately people of color). "Their plan unfolds on us and it's landing disproportionately on women because we're in the public sector," Henry said.

It's no wonder, then, that five of the six Democratic challengers are women, and that national groups like EMILY's List and prominent national politicians like Kirsten Gillibrand, the senator from New York, are calling on women to support them with donations as well as votes and volunteer time. Nancy Nusbaum, running in the 2nd district, is a former head of the pro-choice group Wisconsin NARAL, and Shelly Moore, in the 10th district, is a member of the National Education Association Board of Directors.

4. National election picture

The 2012 election might be a presidential election year, but it's going to hinge on the states. Deeply unpopular conservative governors have driven polls up for Democratic incumbents, like Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown, who were previously looking vulnerable, and if Wisconsin is trending Democratic in 2012, that could be a good sign for Barack Obama's reelection (though he should be careful not to assume that he can ride reverse coattails if the national jobs picture is still dismal).

Meanwhile, Wisconsin's senior Senator, Herb Kohl, is retiring in 2012. Kohl is the lone Democrat representing the state after the defeat of progressive hero Russ Feingold in 2010. And a Wisconsin leaning left could be poised to elect the first out lesbian to the Senate—if Representative Tammy Baldwin decides to run. ("I think I am likely to run," she told the Capital Times.) Widely considered one of the most progressive members of the House, Baldwin polls second among possible Democratic candidates to...Russ Feingold, though he has said he'll hold off a decision until September and has urged other Dems to get in the race.

Either one of them would add a much-needed progressive voice to the Senate.

There's also Paul Ryan, one of the austerity-obsessed GOP House leaders, who hails from Wisconsin's 1st district. McClatchy reported:

"A Ryan loss would cost his party a lot more than a seat in Congress. It would deprive it of one of its most influential figures. And it would be a huge blow to its policy agenda, which Ryan has played a central role in crafting."

Defeating Ryan would be an uphill battle, but a resurgent Democratic party will certainly give him the run of his life—and his popularity is stumbling after his polarizing budget proposal, which would have taken a hatchet to Medicare, among other things.

It's no wonder that organizations like the Progressive Change Campaign Committee are recruiting volunteers from around the country to call out the vote in Wisconsin.

5. The Tea Party

Scott Walker was one of the Tea Party-backed governors swept in in 2010, and the six state senators being recalled are closely linked to him. And the Tea Party is pulling out all the stops to keep them in power.

Andy Kroll at Mother Jones writes:

"Spearheaded by the Tea Party Express, the "Restoring Common Sense" tour brings together four different conservative groups—TPX, Tea Party Nation, FreedomWorks, and the Patriot Action Network—and plans to hit nine cities in what the groups see as a crucial battle to keep the GOP senators in office, and thus prevent Democrats from jamming up Republican Governor Scott Walker's agenda."

The Tea Party may have been declining in influence since the protests erupted in Madison so spectacularly this winter, but they're not giving up and going away quietly, and the politicians they backed continue to forge ahead with destructive policies. The successful recall of several of the Republican state senators in Wisconsin could be a serious—and very public—blow to the image that the Tea Party so desperately wants to cling to, of a massive popular movement.

6. Labor

Organized labor has been declared dead so many times that it took even progressives completely by surprise when union-busting was the catalyst for some of the biggest, most dynamic protests this country's seen in a while. The protests were organic, pulled together by grassroots groups, but the big unions quickly realized the potential and made Madison a rallying point for their cause. And it spread to nearby Indiana and Ohio.

Labor knows that these recalls are going to be a show of its power, something it can point to come 2012 when the Democratic party comes calling for the usual ground troops. Significant victories here will prove that the unions still have the power to make or break an election, as well as provide an obvious issue for national Dems to rally around. If the recalls succeed, the so-called pivot to jobs that the administration and Congress are talking about after the deeply unpopular debt ceiling deal might actually succeed.

7. Recall Walker?

Scott Walker isn't eligible for a recall yet, because he hasn't been in office a full year. But if the Democrats manage to take back the state senate, expect a big target on Walker's back just as soon as it's possible.

AlterNat.org, Fri Aug 5 2011