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St. Albert city council took formal action to place decision-making on their 2011 remuneration out of their hands on Tuesday as they created a committee to be made up of local people who will decide what the mayor and council will be paid.

Council members also approved a $7,500 transfer from the council contingency fund to cover expenses.

The Council Remuneration Review Committee will be composed of five members-at-large from the community selected by city manager Bill Holtby. Originally, the recommendation was made to council that two of the five people be members of the St. Albert Chamber of Commerce or the Alberta Federation of Labour. Coun. Cathy Heron and Coun. Cam MacKay took issue with each member respectively and argued that having an open selection process would create an unbiased committee.

"I have a problem with putting the Chamber member [in], they have a very narrow focus on the City of St. Albert. It's all business, and there's a lot more to being a councillor than businesses," Heron said. "We need somebody on the committee that understands the role of being a councillor."

Holtby replied that an effort would be made to recruit a former councillor to the committee when he goes to the community to find five people willing to serve.

MacKay had a similar complaint as to having a member from the Alberta Federation of Labour, a pro-union advocacy group.

"My concern, just about this group, is not with their qualifications, but a large amount of their time is spent lobbying municipal government for higher wages and, if we're seen as having them set our wages, it seems like the issue of bias comes up in my mind," MacKay said.

Holtby told council that he would ensure that the committee would be provided with enough administrative staffing capacity to get their job done. He said having council select committee members wouldn't be seen as positive in the eyes of the public.

"A big thing with this is ensuring that there isn't a bias and that there's not a perception of bias and that's going to be key in the selection of the members," Holtby said.

The last time such a committee was struck, a group of volunteers selected the volunteers that would sit on the remuneration committee.

The mayor of St. Albert is currently paid $84,742 per year and city councillors make $29,560. The mayor also receives a development budget of $7,500 while councillors receive $5,000. The mayor's annual car allowance is set at $1,800.

Last year, council received a report on compensation delivered by the Hay Group. The council-commissioned report recommended raising salaries for non-union employees on a yearly basis as a part of 11 recommendations addressing compensation throughout the corporation.

The report, received by council on Nov. 29, 2010, included the creation of a council pay philosophy — which was handled at the same meeting — and the review of administrative policies relating to remuneration, salary grids, organization, sick leave, travel and vacation leave.

At the beginning of January, administration recommended an increase to the mayor's salary of 8.75 per cent, and an increase to councillors' salaries of 4.84 per cent. The recommendation was made after a biennial survey was made of similar municipalities in Alberta using a 60th percentile comparator.

Saint City News, Fri Apr 29 2011
Byline: Ian Kucerak

Alberta's Revenue Crisis (April 2011)

AFL Revenue Policy Paper presented to AFL 47th Constitutional Convention, April 28 to May 1, 2011

Alberta's relatively low revenues from natural resources and taxes dampens our expectations of what government can accomplish, and the result is that Alberta actually spends less – far less – than it ought to on public services. Any clear-eyed examination of public spending (taking into account population growth and inflation) shows that Alberta's spending on services is flat or dropping. Alberta does not have a spending problem; we have a revenue problem. If we have any spending problem at all, it is that we do not the right amount. Alberta lags behind the rest of the country and the rest of the industrialized world on a variety of key social indicators – demonstrating that our investments in social and environmental infrastructure are falling further and further behind.

The state of Alberta's economy can be measured in more than dollars -booming business is also mirrored in the workplace death toll.

Government figures show workplace fatalities in 2010 spiked by 24 per cent over the previous year. The figures, compiled by Alberta Employment and Immigration, record 136 deaths. In 2009, that number was 110.

Over the past decade, workplace deaths have spiked in step with boom times, reaching a record 166 deaths in 2008.

As the economy shows signs of recovery, union leaders are worried more workers may pay for haphazard safety practices and lax enforcement.

"We've been warning the provincial government for the last couple of years that a crisis in health and safety was looming, simply because we were going to be emerging from the recession," said Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour.

"During the recession, it's not surprising the number of fatalities and injuries went down simply because there were fewer people working in dangerous occupations, especially in the energy sector and in construction," McGowan said.

The government has announced 30 new health and safety inspectors over three years to help prevent unsafe practices.

Employment and Immigration Minister Thomas Lukaszuk noted that the recorded fatalities also include workers killed in car accidents and by longterm exposure to hazardous materials.

"Workers were exposed to (substances like asbestos) then and become a statistic now, rather than in the past," he said.

"When you look at actual fatalities on the job site, the number doesn't fluctuate that much."

That said, Lukaszuk acknowledges more needs to be done to instil safety on the work site.

With a booming economy comes proportionally more workers and, therefore, more accidents. Alberta's economy also tends to attract more workers from other parts of Canada and the world, some of whom may be less experienced.

"Those are all academic arguments about why numbers grow when the economy expands, but those are not excuses," Lukaszuk said. "Until we reach the point where it is socially unacceptable in Alberta to create places of employment that are unsafe, or work in a manner that is unsafe, my job isn't done."

Liberal MLA Hugh MacDonald, a longtime safety critic, praised the Tories for addressing the issue, but said more could still be done.

"Yes, you gotta give them credit for some of the initiatives they attempted, but it's not enough. Whenever you look at a 24 per cent increase, the workforce hasn't expanded 24 per cent, economic activity hasn't expanded 24 per cent.

"That's just not an excuse."

MacDonald said he'd like to see the results of workplace inspections posted online, akin to what's currently done for restaurants.

He said accident reports should also be made admissible at trial, which "would help lead to more prosecutions."

Only a small percentage of workplace accidents and deaths are ever followed by criminal charges in Alberta.

McGowan also said the inspectors recently hired by the government are only replacing the dozens cut during the Klein era.

"We're still playing catch-up and we're seeing the result of that in terms of a 24 per cent increase in workplace fatalities," he said.

The labour federation highlighted the numbers on a day of mourning on Thursday.

About 300 union members marched to a memorial near City Hall to lay wreaths and observe a moment of silence for colleagues killed on the job.

Among them was Spencer Beach.

Eight years ago, Beach was replacing a linoleum floor in a new Edmonton home with a chemical to loosen the glue.

The furnace clicked, sparking a flash fire that burned at 1,500 C, leaving him with third-and fourthdegree burns over 90 per cent of his body.

Doctors gave him a five per cent chance of survival.

"I didn't know anything about safety," said Beach, his nose and ears partially reconstructed with skin that looked thin, pale and stretched.

After years of surgery, rehabilitation and pain, Beach now works as a public speaker on safety.

It's a perfect job for him: "Hopefully I can prevent this from happening to any other families."

He has since published a book about his plight, titled In Case of Fire.

"I'm through (my experiences) to the point where I'm not a burn survivor, I'm an extremely hot man," said Beach.

Calgary Herald, Fri Apr 29 2011
Byline: Jen Gerson

Occupational Health and Safety Policy Paper (April 2011)

AFL occupational health and safety policy paper presented to AFL 47th Constitutional Convention, April 28th to May 1, 2011

Negative coverage of Alberta's occupational health and safety (OH&S) laws and practices percolated in the news throughout 2010. This paper will propose legislative and policy changes that will function as a starting point in addressing Alberta’s poor record in making sure all workers are safe and healthy. The paper will propose several ways in which the labour movement can keep occupational health and safety on the public agenda through 2011 and beyond.

The Alberta Federation of Labour says 2010 was a deadly year with 136 workplace-related deaths in the province, up from 110 deaths in 2009.

The AFL released the figures Thursday on the international day of mourning for those killed on the job.

"Every year, far too many Albertans are killed or injured," said Guy Smith, president of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees at a ceremony in Edmonton.

Smith said the province needs to start doing random, frequent inspections of workplaces as well as prosecute and penalize those who contravene regulations.

"My incident was 100 per cent preventable," Beach said at a wreath-laying ceremony in Calgary.

"It only would have taken us to actually go and use the laws that were in place, that already exist under Occupational Health and Safety, and to embrace them."

Last month, Alberta Employment and Immigration Minister Thomas Lukaszuk announced the province would hire 30 new occupational health and safety officers over the next three years to improve the province's record on workplace accidents.

cbc.ca, Thurs Apr 28 2011

Labour Law Policy Paper (April 2011)

AFL policy paper presented to AFL 47th Constitutional Convention, April 28 to May 1, 2011

Earlier this year, we saw attacks on labour rights and labour laws begin in Wisconsin after the election of a Republican governor and state legislature. Not content with seeking cuts to pay, benefits and working conditions, these Tea Party Republicans sought to eliminate the right of unionized public-sector workers to engage in collective bargaining in all but very limited areas. The conflict soon spread to other states including, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Tennessee and New Jersey.

Labour groups are remembering workers killed or injured on the job.

Marches and ceremonies are being held across the prairies as part of the National Day of Mourning.

The Alberta Federation of Labour says the provincial government has ignored warnings to improve workplace safety.

President Gil McGowan says government figures show the number of Alberta workers killed on the job jumped by almost 25 per cent last year — to 136 deaths from 110 the previous year.

In Saskatchewan, 45 workers were killed and almost 39,000 reported workplace injuries.

A walk to the Manitoba legislature organized by Safe Workers of Tomorrow will end with remarks by the province’s labour minister, Jennifer Howard.

“We warned the government time after time that more needed to be done to save lives and prevent injuries as our economy recovered,” McGowan, whose organization represents 140,000 workers, said Thursday.

“Sadly, our warnings were largely ignored and the result has been more preventable deaths – more families missing loved ones.”

McGowan said the new fatality figures in Alberta make a mockery of Employment Minister Thomas Lukaszuk’s assertion that the province has been making progress in reducing workplace injuries and accidents.

The government has increased the number of safety inspectors but McGowan says much more needs to be done.

He points out that the government has failed to respond to a judge’s two-year-old recommendation to include agricultural workers in safety legislation. He also says there’s been no full response to “shocking” gaps in health and safety enforcement revealed by the auditor general last year.

The labour federation has repeatedly called for improvements to workplace safety that include posting full safety records of employers online, increasing prosecutions against employers whose unsafe worksites cause injury or death and giving inspectors the power to issue tickets for violations during inspections.

It also wants mandatory worksite health-and-safety committees that include workers.

Saskatchewan Labour Minister Don Morgan says everyone needs to “evaluate and renew their personal commitments to safety at work, at home and in their communities.”

The number of Alberta workers killed on the job jumped by 24 per cent last year while the provincial government failed to fulfill its responsibility to protect its citizens in the workplace.

New government figures show that 136 workers lost their lives in 2010, up from 110 in the previous year.

 “We warned the government time after time that more needed to be done to save lives and prevent injuries as our economy recovered,” says Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour, which represents 140,000 workers. “Sadly, our warnings were largely ignored and the result has been more preventable deaths – more families missing loved ones.”

Hundreds of workers are attending a wreath-laying ceremony in Calgary at noon today at the City of Calgary Workers Memorial, on the southwest corner of Calgary City Hall at 9^th Avenue and Macleod Trail S.E. They will march there carrying union banners from the Westin Hotel at 320 4^th Ave. S.W., where they are attending the biennial AFL convention. The ceremony is part of the International Day of Mourning to remember those killed and injured on the job.

“These new fatality figures make a mockery of last year’s claim by Employment and Immigration Minister Thomas Lukaszuk that the province was making ‘good progress’ in reducing workplace injuries and accidents,” says McGowan.

While the province has taken small steps, including a limited increase in the number of safety inspectors, the AFL says much more must be done. The government has still failed to respond to a judge’s two-year-old recommendation to include agricultural workers in healthy and safety legislation after an inquiry into the death of Kevan Chandler. It has failed to fully respond to the shocking gaps in health and safety enforcement revealed by the Auditor General last year.

The AFL has repeatedly called for simple action to improve workplace safety, including posting the full safety records of employers online, rather than the meaningless statistics now provided; increasing the province’s dismal record for prosecuting employers whose unsafe worksites cause injury and death (the prosecution rate for workplace fatalities is 2.8 per cent); giving inspectors the power to issue tickets for violations during inspections; and introducing mandatory worksite health-and-safety committees that include workers.

McGowan noted that, in 2010, up to 49 Alberta workers died from being exposed to asbestos. “Only a few days ago, Stephen Harper was campaigning on expanding asbestos exports to nations with lower workplace standards than Canada, while scores of his fellow citizens have died or are dying because of exposure to this hazardous substance,” says McGowan.

Contact:               Gil McGowan, president, Alberta Federation of Labour @ 780-218-9888

Terry Inigo-Jones, AFL Communications Officer, 780-910-1137