ALF V1

Close to 800 clients with learning disabilities will need to find new support after the local chapter of the Learning Disabilities Association closes on June 17.

This is the second time in three years the chapter has had to shut down because of lack of funding and a steady increase in its client base. In 2010-11 the chapter has provided support for 788 clients compared to 470 clients in 2009-10.

Sheryl Krill, executive director, said the continuous cuts in education has had a cascading effect that trickles down the line putting tremendous strain on non-profits and other organizations to pick up the load and it is just too much for some.

Krill was one of about 30 who attended the Join Together Alberta town hall meeting at the Golden Circle Seniors Center last night.

Red Deer was the first stop on the seven city tour of town hall meetings scheduled across the province. In leading up to the next provincial election and during the progressive conservative leadership race, Join Together Alberta relaunched to educate residents and to advocate for better funding for vital public services including education, health care and social services.

Bill Moore-Kilgannon, executive director, Public Interest Alberta said this story illustrates these cuts in services are impacting Red Deer and in the long run are going to cost the community more and the taxpayers even more.

Gil McGowan, co-chairman of Join Together Alberta and president of the Alberta Federation of Labour, said given the current strength of the economy, the provincial government should not be considering cuts or freezes to vital services like education and health care. He said the irresponsible cuts to corporate taxes and taxes for high income earners coupled with ongoing cuts to royalties has essentially blown a hole in the revenue base the province needs to fund things like education and other health care services.

“The answer isn’t to cut the services Albertans need to build a stronger foundation for the future,” he said.

The solution is to fix the holes in our revenue base by rethinking the cuts to profitable corporations, tax give aways to high earners and higher royalties.

“Fixing the holes that have been blown in our revenue base is the real pressing for our legislature going forward,” said McGowan. “It is at the root of everything. Politicians always talk about health care about education but all of these things are based on the foundation of our revenue base.”

The next town hall meeting is scheduled for tonight in Medicine Hat.

Red Deer Advocate, Tues Jun 7 2011
Byline: Crystal Rhyno

Issue: CUPW members in Calgary and Edmonton area hit picket lines last night (Tuesday, June 7th) for a 24-hour strike

Actions Requested: Join the picket line until 9 p.m. in Calgary at 1100 - 49 Avenue, N.E.; join the picket line at the main plant in Edmonton at 12135 - 149 Street until 10 p.m. or at the downtown plant at 9808 - 103A Avenue until 9 p.m. Check your local Canada Post depots for picket lines.

When: Immediately

Issue:

Postal workers in the Calgary and Edmonton areas hit the picket lines last night in their fight for an improved public postal service, safer working conditions and fairness for all employees.

Now it's time to show your support for your local posties by joining them on the line.

In Calgary, go to the main plant at 1100 49 Avenue N.E., where picketing will continue until 9 p.m. today (Wednesday).

In Edmonton, there will be pickets at the main plant at 12135 - 149 Street until 10 p.m. There will be pickets at the downtown plant at 9808 - 103A Avenue until 9 p.m. There will also be pickets at other Canada Post depots, including those at St. Albert, Sherwood Park, Camrose, Wetaskiwin and Fort Saskatchewan.

Gord Fischer, National Director of the Prairie region for CUPW, explained the reason behind the union's choice for its Edmonton and Calgary locals to go out next.

"Canada Post is refusing to put proper staffing in place, leading to overwork and forced overtime," Fischer said. "Routes don't get covered and mail ends up sitting in the depots, leading to complaints about service."

"The union has clear demands about improving our service and making sure adequate staffing is in place. Canada Post wants us to do more with less, regardless of what that does to the public's postal service."

Canada Post continues to dismiss the union's demands that health and safety issues be addressed. It also will not acknowledge the postal workers' proposals for innovation and service expansion to keep the corporation profitable.

Translator's note: On May 24, a massive explosion and fire at a newly inaugurated oil refinery in Abadan led to the deaths and injuries of an unknown number of workers. The explosion, caused by technical problems, occurred during a facility inauguration ceremony that had prompted President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to boast of Iran's growing capacity to refine oil. According to Hamid Reza Katouzian, head of the Energy Commission of the Majles, Iran's parliament, "experts had forewarned that the Abadan refinery was not ready to be inaugurated."

The explosion underscored once again the lack of safe working conditions in Iran's oil and petrochemical industry. In addition, recent labor strikes have challenged the industry's reliance on temporary contracts for its labor force. In March, 1,800 contract workers at the Tabriz Petrochemical Complex demanded that they be hired directly in order to receive the benefits and job security provisions to which permanent employees are entitled. In April, 1,500 striking workers at the Imam Khomeini Port Petrochemical Complex located in Khuzestan near the Gulf made similar demands.

Most recently, factional conflicts within the Majles over control of the income generated from oil production have led to leadership changes in the Oil Ministry. First, Ahmadinejad dismissed the oil minister and appointed himself "caretaker for the Oil Ministry." When parliament deputies and the Guardian Council called this act illegal, he appointed one of his allies, Mohammad Ali Abadi, as the new temporary "caretaker." Below are excerpts from a recent interview with Iranian economist Mohammad Maljoo in which he addresses the state of labor in the oil industry. It was published in the May 2011 issue of the Tehran-based journal Mehrnameh. This translation was originally published by Tehran Bureau on June 5, 2011. http://to.pbs.org/iqcYcl

Iranian voices in translation, Tues Jun 7 2011

In one fell swoop, the Alberta government has managed to ensure the perpetuity of both future minimum wage increases and the controversy over the minimum wage itself.

After freezing the wage last year, Employment Minister Thomas Lukaszuk was under mounting pressure to increase it this year.

Last year, the government argued that given the impact of the recession, an increase in the minimum wage would threaten jobs and the viability of small businesses. However, the minister suggested he'd consider an increase once the economy had recovered.

Well, advocates of a wage increase got their wish, but they are not exactly celebrating. The minimum wage is indeed going up, but in the process, two tiers of minimum wage are being created.

Alberta's minimum wage will go from $8.80 an hour to $9.40, effective Sept. 1. However, it will rise to just $9.05 for those who work as servers in licensed establishments. Eventually, there will be a permanent one-dollar discrepancy between the two tiers.

It makes the landscape more muddled, but also helps to reveal some plain truths about the minimum wage.

The province quite rightly points out that servers, for whom a large portion of their income is derived from tips, are not exactly minimum wage earners. Such workers represent a significant proportion of those earning minimum wage in Alberta. How exactly does raising their wage in any way address poverty?

Employers who do pay minimum wage might have some tough decisions to make. If they intend to absorb the cost, that could mean fewer positions, fewer hours of work and scaled-back benefits or training. Higher prices would be the other choice — bad news for low-income earners.

Here in Alberta, however, most low-skill jobs already pay above the minimum. That's what really matters — not what the minimum wage is, but how relevant it is.

It's true, for example, that Alberta will soon have Canada's lowest minimum wage. What's far more telling, though, is that only 1.4 per cent of workers in Alberta actually earn minimum wage.

When you factor in those earning tips, as well as students living at home, workers who take a second job for extra income, and those for whom their spouses are the primary household income earners, there are not many people left who represent the sort of minimum wage earner portrayed by labour groups.

A 2009 paper in the journal Canadian Public Policy pointed out that more than 80 per cent of low-wage earners are not members of poor households and that more than 75 per cent of poor households do not have a member who is a low-wage earner. The paper concluded, then, that planned increases in Ontario's minimum wage would "lead to virtually no reduction in . . . poverty."

However, groups such as the Alberta Federation of Labour want the government to go much further. The group is pushing for a so-called living wage of $12.20 per hour.

While such an hourly wage might look more attractive when viewed in isolation, the effects of such a policy would far outweigh any benefit.

In 2002, the Quebec government conducted an extensive review of the minimum wage. The report drew heavily on the work of economist Pierre Fortin, who concludes that a minimum wage falling between 45 and 50 per cent of the average income represents an increasing danger to employment.

Alberta's average hourly wage is $25.02, so the living wage puts us right in the danger category. In other words, the sort of policy that harms those it is intended to help.

For those who believe government's role is to directly assist those in poverty, there are a plethora of other ways by which to assist such individuals.

For others — a 17-year-old living at home, for example — there is great benefit in simply having a job. Not just in terms of having an income, but in the valuable work experience earned. Higher minimum wages mean fewer such jobs, and therefore, fewer such opportunities.

Given the far worse options being proposed by others, the Alberta government's muddled approach may be the least detrimental.

The Rob Breakenridge Show airs weeknights from 9-11 p.m. on AM770 CHQR. [email protected]

Calgary Herald, Mon Jun 6 2011
Byline: Rob Breakenridge

More than 1,000 Wisconsin firefighters, nurses, farmers and community members marched through Madison today to the Capitol Square to protest Gov. Scott Walker’s (R) extreme and anti-middle class budget.

The march came as the activists in the tent city “Walkerville” entered their third day of protest against the Walker budget that slashes funding for education actions, health care, seniors’ programs and critical services like first responder.

During today’s march, protesters engaged in civil disobedience and blocked streets around the Capitol Square. According to news reports, some arrests were made. Damon Terrell was one of those arrested and as fellow protesters cheered and thanked him for his action, he said:

This is nothing to be thanked for; this just has to be done sometimes.

Marchers carried signs calling upon lawmakers to focus on Wisconsin working families and not the wealthy and large corporation that Walker’s budget favors.

Recall elections for six Republican state senators who voted for Walker’s bill that eliminates the collective bargaining rights of public employees are just a month away. Working families across the state are mobilized to hold them accountable for their assault on workers’ rights and support of walker’s budget.

Follow the events in Madison via Twitter with the hashtags #wiunion and #notmywi and stop back here for updates.

afl-cio news blog, Mon Jun 6 2011

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) apparently doesn't want to be reminded of the people who will feel the sting of his budget cuts.

It was revealed last week that Walker, who is proposing budget cuts in education and vital social services—many to low-income family programs—ordered removed from the governor's mansion a painting of three Milwaukee children that the artist says he meant to remind governors how their policies impact children around the state.

In an e-mail to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Daniel Bice, artist David Lenz says:

I guess that was a conversation Gov. Walker did not want to have.

This is the second time this year a governor has removed art from a public building. In March, Maine Gov. Paul LaPage (R) ordered a labor history mural taken down.

The foundation that runs the Wisconsin governor's mansion commissioned Lenz and other Wisconsin artists for work to place in the mansion that would remind state leaders of the people they represent. Bice writes:

Lenz said he carefully selected the three children portrayed in "Wishes in the Wind." The African American girl, featured in a Journal Sentinel column on homelessness, spent three months at the Milwaukee Rescue Mission with her mother. The Hispanic girl is a member of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee. And the boy's father and brother were killed by a drunken driver in 2009.

"The homeless, central city children and victims of drunk drivers normally do not have a voice in politics," Lenz explained in an email. "This painting was an opportunity for future governors to look these three children in the eye, and I hope, contemplate how their public policies might affect them and other children like them."

When the story broke, Walker's office released a statement that said the first family was simply redecorating the floor.

The Walker administration says it is working out an arrangement with the Milwaukee Public library to display the painting. John Gurda, vice chairman of the library's Board of Trustees, told Bice that Walker should have realized the reaction removal of the painting would draw.

This is indicative of that tone-deafness. My point of view is this is not the Walkers' house, this is Wisconsin's house. This was commissioned by an organization that was there long before Scott Walker came in and will be there long after he is gone.

afl-cio now blog, Mon Jun 6 2011

MADISON, Wis. -- Those against Gov. Scott Walker's budget proposal are settling in for the long haul, pitching tents at the Capitol Square.

The lines have been drawn and the troops have been rallied yet again. Armed with camping gear, protesters are uniting in opposition to the budget proposal being advanced by Walker and his Republican allies in both houses of the state Legislature.

"This budget is a war on working families, the middle class, and anybody that doesn't make a ton of money," said protester Karen Tuerk.

Protesters are calling their tent city "Walkerville," named after the "Hooverville" shantytowns set up during the Great Depression.

Overnight camping will be allowed along parts of Carroll and Mifflin streets. Residents of Walkerville will also have food, portable toilets and hand washing stations.

"There are a lot of great businesses for food we can support while we're down here, so we're not lacking for food," Tuerk said.

Peter McElvanna, who owns Coopers Tavern on the Capitol Square, said he isn't worried about the round-the-clock presence of protesters.

"I'm happy to support what's going on here," said McElvanna. "It's very important what people are doing -- standing up for your rights. Too often the government doesn't listen to the little man and it's our right to protest."

Organizers of the protest said they worked hard to protect the interests of downtown businesses.

"We worked to address the concerns of the downtown business community, so we're trying to stay ahead of the curve and make sure folks are compliant with that," said organizer Peter Rickman.

Tuerk said she hopes their 17-day siege of the grounds around the Capitol will equal a victory for pro-union supporters.

Why 17 days? Organizers said that's when they estimate the state budget will have passed both houses.

"We'll be here until it is passed and letting folks know, letting legislators know, we are completely against what they are doing in there," she said.

And for anyone who thinks residents of Walkerville will tire themselves out, protesters said that's not likely.

"You know, doing this all day, you'd think it'd be a workout, it's really not," remarked Tuerk.

Channel3000.com, Sun Jun 5 2011

Provincial safety accreditation is now on the line for employers not in the business of providing safe workplaces for their employees.

Starting July 1 — Canada Day — Alberta employers who experience on-site fatalities, serious injuries or multiple stop work orders may face an immediate review of their safety accreditation.

Alberta Employment and Immigration Minister Thomas Lukaszuk introduced changes Thursday to strengthen the occupational health and safety accreditation program for employers in Alberta.

And if their Certificate of Recognition is pulled, those employers won't receive their annual Partnerships in Injury Reduction rebates from the Workers' Compensation Board - Alberta and won't be able to bid on certain projects.

Most corporations including government of Alberta will not accept bids for any jobs unless the company has COR.

"If you want to build anything for this province, bridge, road, highway, building, we expect you to hold a valid COR certificate. Not having one precludes you basically from participating in the majority of projects in this province."

Lukaszuk announced three trigger points to "spark automatic review and if you don't comply, pulling of the COR certificate." He warned employers "now that I've increased the number of occupational health and safety officers, the odds of them showing up at your job site is much better than they were before."

Those triggers are: if there is a fatality, serious injury or incident; if two or more stop work orders are issued within a 12-month period; or if ongoing OHS officer activity indicates possible health and safety issues.

Lukaszuk pointed out that multiple stop work orders can be issued during a single visit to an employers depending on what an investigator finds.

If the review finds the business no longer meets the requirement for a COR, "it will be pulled and then you're losing your refund for that year, which can hit your pocketbook quite heavily, but more importantly you are precluded from bidding on any project with the majority of contractors in Alberta," he told Today.

In addition, there is the cost of the reinvestment by the employer to return health and safety practices and protocols to OH&S standards for the COR to be reissued.

"The COR program is flawed and ineffective, as the Auditor General pointed out in a damning report last year," said Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour. "While the stricter guidelines announced (Thursday) are a step in the right direction, they are not enough to reduce workplace deaths and injuries."

For these new guidelines to work, the system must be completely transparent, but the government has already proved it lacks the courage to make public the full safety records of employers, he added. It promised to post records nearly a decade ago, but bowed to industry lobbyists and launched a watered-down website that provides only lost-time claims a meaningless statistic that excludes the majority of workplace injuries.

"I made an undertaking about a year and a half ago to crack down on occupational health and safety and to somewhat shift the balance. It shifted the wrong way," he acknowledged.

The balance at that time between education and enforcement weighed more heavily towards enforcement.

There are 9,000 players — representing about 50% of all working Albertans — that hold a valid COR certificate which is awarded to them by certifying partners in industry.

"It's sort of like a college of business that award you this certificate after a thorough review of your business, safety practices and protocols. That then entitles you to a partial refund of your WCB premiums at the end of the year which could be very significant," said Lukaszuk.

"Some $70 million annually is given back to those COR holders."

However, one of the weaknesses he said he identified was that over time, employers may let that commitment to COR standards slide.

"Once you get certified as living up to the requirements of COR, there really were no trigger methods to review you from time to time if you still conform to the requirements of COR. So in my opinion, having a COR certificate simple meant that you, at one point in time, have perhaps complied, but you may or may not be complying right now."

He won't be too upset if a company has its COR pulled, but Lukaszuk said, "if the certifying partners pull the COR, then trust me, I won't be feeling sad. I'll be glad that we removed that player from action."

In gauging reaction from employers from the tougher rules, Lukaszuk said he prefers to introduce such game-changing in collaboration with those involved.

"One thing I learned in a hurry: if you don't have a buy-in to begin with, you're buying yourself a lot of bad road and then you really have to heavily enforce. So with all these new measures that I put into place over the last year, I always try to collaborate with the labour movement and with the employers and with the safety associations.

"I think I have relative buy-in from all the players."

Fort McMurray Today, Fri Jun 3 2011
Byline: Carol Christian

A voluntary safety accreditation program that entitles employers to earn WCB premium rebates and bid on lucrative government contracts is being abused, admits Employment Minister Thomas Lukaszuk.

Lukaszuk announced Thursday that companies holding Certificates of Recognition (COR) that entitled them to $77 million in WCB rebates last year alone are going to have to start explaining why they still have accidents and fatalities.

"For the most part, Alberta's 9,000 COR holders have a record to be proud of. They have developed effective health and safety programs that practice what they preach and they are proud of their performance record," Lukaszuk said. "However, I believe there are some companies that are more interested in the Workers' Compensation Board premium rebates than their ability to keep the workplace as safe as it should be. Beginning July 1, this will come to an end."

Responding to concerns raised by the provincial auditor general last year, Lukaszuk said companies enrolled in the program will have their safety accreditation reviewed if they have on-site fatalities, serious injuries or multiple stop-work orders.

If they are found to not have adequate safety programs in place, they could have their certification revoked, he explained.

"Make no mistake, COR is a big deal to industry," Lukaszuk told reporters as children played safely in a mock Alberta Safety Council village in east Edmonton.

A Calgary Herald investigation last year revealed companies that have serious and fatal accidents still received rebates under the program.

Safety accredited employers are entitled to WCB rebates of about three per cent annually, which Lukaszuk says translates into hundreds of thousands of dollars for some of the largest employers.

Alberta Federation of Labour president Gil McGowan called the program "an unmitigated failure."

"The government has been handing out these certificates like candy and very little effort was made to determine whether employers actually deserved them," he said.

While he said the changes are a start, McGowan expressed concern the reviews and audits of COR companies will not be public.

"If employers lose their certificate, we think that should be publicized because workers deserve to know," McGowan said.

NDP MLA Rachel Notley said she doesn't think the measures will make a difference in decreasing Alberta's workplace fatalities, which are among the highest in Canada.

"The way you make work sites safer is by providing a meaningful role for employees to get involved in the development of health and safety plans on a day-to-day basis," she said. "We're one of the few provinces in the country that doesn't have mandatory joint work site health and safety committees."

Alberta Liberal MLA Harry Chase said the new measures announced Thursday can only work if the government ensures employers don't pressure employees not to report workplace injuries.

"Financial incentives come with a risk," he said. "Unscrupulous employers may be tempted to under-report workplace injuries to avoid losing COR certification."

Alberta injury expert Dr. Louis Francescutti, president of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, says he believes that's already happening.

He said it makes no sense that the number of hours lost due to injuries in Alberta are supposedly decreasing as fatalities are steadily climbing.

"The numbers you can't cheat on are the fatalities," he said. "You can't hide a dead body."

One hundred and thirty-six Albertans died on the job last year; 110 the year before that.

Lukaszuk says he is also considering regulations that will allow workplace inspectors to fine employers and employees on the spot for safety violations rather than launch cumbersome legal proceedings.

Calgary Herald, Fri Jun 6 2011
Byline: Darcy Henton