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Conservative candidate Ryan Hastman is being both offensive and untruthful when he suggests that the federal Conservatives are the only party that can be trusted with the future of the oil sands, says the Alberta Federation of Labour, which represents thousands of Alberta energy sector workers.

"The Conservatives have dropped their promise to stop raw bitumen exports to countries with lower environmental standards than Canada,” says AFL president Gil McGowan. “We can only assume that they’re now OK with exporting unprocessed bitumen, and the value-added jobs that go along with upgrading, to countries like India and China.”

In response to media reports quoting Hastman declaring that only a Conservative government can protect Alberta jobs, McGowan sent him a letter reminding him of his party’s backsliding on the issue of unprocessed bitumen exports (click here for full text of letter).

In his letter to Hastman, McGowan noted that Minister of Natural Resources Christian Paradis recently travelled to the Unites States to lobby the Obama administration to approve the Keystone XL Pipeline. If approved, this pipeline would export hundreds of thousands of barrels of diluted bitumen south. Exporting that bitumen before it is upgraded will create thousands of jobs in the U.S., but only a few here at home.

“As an Alberta labour leader whose job it is to defend the interests of working people in the province, I'm frankly offended when Hastman and other Conservative hopefuls talk about jobs in the oil sands when their party's own policies are sending those jobs down the pipeline to places like the U.S. and perhaps China,” says McGowan.

“I'm also offended when they suggest that anyone who questions the energy industry's 'rip-it-and-ship-it' approach to development is somehow anti-oil sands," adds McGowan.

"The truth is that the vast majority of Albertans want to see development in the oil sands proceed: but they want to see that development done in a way that is as environmentally sustainable as possible and in a way that creates as many good jobs for Albertans as possible. I'm frankly tired of people like Hastman saying that everyone who doesn't parrot the line put forward by big energy companies is somehow un-Albertan. This kind of bully-boy politics just has to stop."

McGowan concluded his letter by congratulating the NDP for developing a more nuanced policy on the oil sands -- one that mirrors public concerns in Alberta about environmentally responsible development and Alberta-based job creation.

"The NDP has come a long way on their approach to the oil sands," says McGowan. "And they've done that by listening to Albertans and people who actually live and work here. Hastman should try that sometime."

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Contact:     Gil McGowan, President, Alberta Federation of Labour @ 780-218-9888 (cell)

April 19, 2011


Mr. Ryan Hastman
c/o Campaign Headquarters
5611 Gateway Blvd North
Edmonton, AB  T6H 2H3

Dear Mr. Hastman;

I read with interest local media reports of your statements on oil-sands development where you declare that only a Conservative majority can protect Alberta jobs. This is simply not true.

I note that the current Conservative platform has removed Prime Minister Harper’s 2008 promise to stop the exports of unprocessed bitumen to jurisdictions with lower environmental standards than Canada. Given this, I can only assume that your party is now in favour of exporting bitumen, and the jobs that come from upgrading it, to countries like China or India.

Also, the leader of your party recently decreed that a Conservative government will not honour the recently passed Parliamentary motion to ban oil tanker traffic in B.C.’s northern coastal waters. This only reinforces the fact that the Conservatives want to export jobs through a massive bitumen pipeline to Kitimat, B.C.

I further note that Conservative MP Christian Paradis recently travelled to the Unites States to push the Obama administration to approve the Keystone XL Pipeline. If approved, this pipeline would exports hundreds of thousands of barrels of diluted bitumen south. Exporting that bitumen before it is upgraded – bitumen that is owned by the Alberta public – will create thousands of jobs in the U.S., but only a few here at home.

We need to ensure value-added jobs stay here, Mr. Hastman, not export them with bitumen pipelines. Yet you seem to have forgotten this during your media event yesterday.

I find it offensive that the Conservatives pretend they’re the only party with a vision on the oil sands just because they’re cozy with the owners of energy companies.

Albertans have a vision of oil-sands development done in a manner that not only protects the environment, but keeps quality, value-added jobs here. The Alberta Federation of Labour gives credit to the New Democratic Party for having policies that most closely align with Albertans’ vision of how this important resource should be developed. The NDP have these policies because they’ve actually sat down and listened to Albertans. I’d recommend you do the same.

Yours,



Gil McGowan
President, Alberta Federation of Labour

There was a telling exchange during Gov. Scott Walker's appearance Thursday before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

The governor had gone to Washington to take a star turn before former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was scheduled to fly into Wisconsin and defend the Walker Way: stripping Wisconsin public employees of basic rights in the workplace, rendering public employee and teacher unions dysfunctional, undermining democracy at the school district and municipal level, and restructuring state government to limit access to health care and sell off public properties in no-bid deals with campaign donors.

The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is chaired by a rigid conservative ideologue, Congressman Darrell Issa, R-Calif. And Issa, like the other Republicans on the panel, has something in common with Walker: He is a major recipient of campaign contributions and political support from groups associated with the billionaire Koch brothers. So the governor's appearance was supposed to be a typical D.C. insider gathering, where Walker's political allies would toss the governor softball questions and let him ruminate on the joys, er, the "necessity" of cutting funding for public services and education.

But it did not turn out that way. Walker was paired on the panel with Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin, who has maintained good relations with public employee and teacher unions while renegotiating contracts and addressing budget shortfalls. Shumlin's presence exposed Walker as an outlier who has caused unnecessary divisions and inflicted unnecessary pain on Wisconsin workers, farmers, communities and schools.

Walker tried his best to peddle the fantasy that his general attack on state, county and municipal employees and teachers, and his specific attempt to silence them in the workplace by stripping them of most collective bargaining rights, was needed to balance the state budget.

But then Congressman Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, asked the million-dollar question, or, to be more precise, the $137 million budget repair bill question.

"Your proposal would require unions to hold annual votes to continue representing their own members. Can you please explain to me and members of this committee how much money this provision saves for your state budget?" asked Kucinich.

Walker tried to avoid the question.

Kucinich pressed him. "Did you answer the questions?" the congressman asked. "How much money does it save, Governor?"

A reluctant Walker finally responded: "It doesn't save any."

That is the takeaway line from Walker's trip to Washington.

Busting unions is a political ploy, not a fiscal necessity. Walker has divided Wisconsin, thrown our Legislature and our communities into disarray, and caused what many legal observers believe to be the most serious constitutional crisis in the modern history of the state. And for what?

Not to save money.

Not to get Wisconsin's finances in order.

But to play politics with people's lives.

When the time comes to hold this governor to account, much will be said on all sides. But the most powerful condemnation of Walker's false claim that he needed to bust unions in order to balance the budget has come from the governor's own lips.

"How much money does it save, Governor?"

"It doesn't save any."

The Cap Times, Apr 17 2011

Striking workers at the St. Albert Post Office returned to work this morning (Friday) after being ordered to end their wildcat walkout by the Canadian Industrial Relations Board (CIRB).

The Rural and Suburban Mail Carriers (RSMCs) began a wildcat strike on Tuesday to protest arbitrary cuts to their wages that were imposed by Canada Post.  Word spread quickly across the country and letters of support in solidarity streamed in from citizens and trade-union organizations.

Officials with the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) will meet with Canada Post today to try to resolve any remaining issues that triggered the strike at the distribution centre in St. Albert.

Bev Ray, president of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) Local 730 in Edmonton, apologized for any inconvenience caused by this service disruption.  “We hope that customers understand how important it was for these workers to take this action to protect their livelihoods and the future of their families,” she said.

About 15 RSMCs walked off the job after being told, without advance notice, that the parcel rate that determines their pay for parcels they deliver was being cut. The carriers, who use their own vehicles and pay for their own insurance to deliver the mail, get paid by an averaged rate of mail delivered, so a cut in parcel rate means a cut in pay that could come to thousands of dollars per year even though they still have to deliver the same amount of parcels.

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For more information contact Bev Ray, President @ 780) 423-9000, ext. 223 or (780) 719-4555   [email protected]

 

EDMONTON - The Auditor General's Report on oil-sands royalties confirms Albertans' worst suspicions – that the Progressive Conservative government cares more about the energy industry's bottom line than what is in the best interests of Albertans, says the Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL).

"Premier Stelmach should hang his head in shame with the release of this report," says Gil McGowan, president of the AFL, which represents 137,000 workers. "The Auditor General has confirmed our fears that we may be missing out on billions of dollars in foregone royalty revenues."

In February, McGowan and the leaders of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), the Health Sciences Association of Alberta (HSAA), the United Nurses of Alberta (UNA) and the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE) wrote to Auditor General Merwan Saher (click here for full text of letter), asking him to investigate why the government is failing to meet its own targets for collecting revenue from oil and gas companies.

"What the Auditor General discovered is that the government doesn't actually have any targets – which is shocking when you consider that the oil sands provide one of our province's most important revenue streams to fund things like health care and education," says McGowan.

"The Auditor also shows that there has been a seismic shift in the way the Conservative government looks at oil-sands royalties. For a brief period, the government paid lip service to maximizing royalties for the benefit of all Albertans, the owners of the resource. But, as the A-G shows, the government is now far more concerned with attracting investment with bargain-basement royalties than it is about collecting a fair amount of royalties on behalf of the Alberta public."

McGowan points out that the government's decision to re-orient its approach to oil sands royalties away from maximizing value for the owner of the resource was made without any public consultation -- and without being honest with Albertans about what the change will mean for government revenue and the funding of vital public services.

"It makes me wonder who these guys are working for: the Albertans who elected them or the oil companies who wine and dine them," said McGowan.

McGowan says the Conservative's failure on oil-sands royalties should infuriate Albertans on two levels: First because it's robbing them of billions of dollars in revenue that could be used to pay for things like schools, health care and infrastructure; and, second, because there is no reason why Alberta should be rolling over in the face of lobbying pressure and scare tactics from big oil companies.

"With high oil prices, instability in the Middle East and dwindling international supplies, we hold all the cards," says McGowan. "And yet the Tories are behaving as if it's the oil companies that have the better hand."

"The Tories are allowing literally billions of dollars to slip through their fingers at the same time that they're saying we can't afford to keep school open," says McGowan. "It's outrageous. The Tories always talk about the need to run government like a business. If a CEO was ever as careless with his company's assets as the Conservatives are with our energy assets, he'd be fired in a minute."

To help Albertans understand just how significant the Auditor General's findings are, McGowan says people should think about how they would treat the sale of assets they own personally, like their homes.

"For individual Albertans, their home is usually their biggest asset. For Alberta as a whole, our biggest asset is the oil sands," says McGowan.

"Can you imagine selling your home without trying to figure out what a reasonable price would be? Can you imagine setting the price for your home far below market value and then patting yourself on the back because so many people are lining up to take advantage of your stupidity? That's what's happening with our collectively owned oil sands assets. The Tories think they're smart because oil companies are lining up to get a piece of the action. But giving away your assets at bargain basement prices doesn't prove that you're smart; it proves you're a sucker. Unfortunately, in this case, it's the Alberta public that's going to pay the price for the government's gullibility in the form of billions of dollars in foregone revenue. Where is a Peter Lougheed or a Danny Williams to drive a harder bargain when you need them?"

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Contact: Gil McGowan, President, Alberta Federation of Labour @ 780-218-9888 (cell)

CBJ – April 15 – An audit has shown Alberta's oilsands royalties system to be an embarrassment to the province, the Alberta Federation of Labour said today.

“Premier (Ed) Stelmach should hang his head in shame with the release of this report,” AFL President Gil McGowan said in a statement. “The Auditor General has confirmed our fears that we may be missing out on billions of dollars in foregone royalty revenues.”

In a report released yesterday, the office of the Auditor General of Alberta said while the province's Department of Energy has developed measures to track the performance of conventional oil and natural gas royalties since a review in 2007, no measures are in place to assess oilsands royalties.

“The economic impact of the oil and gas industry and the significance of royalty revenue for funding services such as health care, education and infrastructure, make it important that the royalty regimes are well-designed and monitored to align with the government’s policy goals and objectives,” Auditor General Merwan Saher wrote.

The importance of the oilsands to Alberta and the unique “size and nature” of the deposits in the province make direct comparisons to oil and gas unfair, the AG wrote.

Work is being done to put a similar royalty scheme in place that properly values the oilsands, but “until clearly stated oilsands royalty regime targets and measures are in place, the department will not be able to readily demonstrate the effectiveness of its oilsands royalty regime,” Saher wrote.

That the royalty system in place has been unaccountable for so long is unbelievable, McGowan said.

“What the Auditor General discovered is that the government doesn't actually have any targets – which is shocking when you consider that the oilsands provide one of our province's most important revenue streams to fund things like health care and education,” he said.

“With high oil prices, instability in the Middle East and dwindling international supplies, we hold all the cards. And yet the Tories are behaving as if it's the oil companies that have the better hand.”

The sale of such an important asset without a critical review of the price would be unthinkable to most Canadians in other parts of their lives, McGowan argued.

“For individual Albertans, their home is usually their biggest asset. For Alberta as a whole, our biggest asset is the oilsands,” he said.

“Can you imagine selling your home without trying to figure out what a reasonable price would be? Can you imagine setting the price for your home far below market value and then patting yourself on the back because so many people are lining up to take advantage of your stupidity?

“That's what's happening with our collectively-owned oilsands assets.”

Canadian Business Journal, Apr 15 2011

Swazi police fired tear gas to disperse activists who held anti-government protests for a second day on Wednesday, despite a call to stop the action after a police crackdown.

Union leaders said they had suspended their protest against King Mswati III, Africa's last absolute monarch, to re-strategize as fresh arrests and a heavy police presence in the main city blocked activists from rallying.

Hundreds of teachers at first refused to end the protest, and police fired tear gas to remove them from an office where they were staging a sit-in. But the standoff ended after several hours, said Muzi Masuku, a spokesman for the Open Society non-governmental organization, which helped mediate in the crisis.

Masuku said police eventually agreed to let the teachers' trade union transport them either to their homes or to a church in Manzini where they would spend the night.

The protesters want the free-spending king to loosen his grip on power and allow multi-party democracy, and are also angry at government proposals to slash salaries for civil servants amid a severe budget crisis.

Unions called for the protests Tuesday to mark the 38th anniversary of the banning of political parties in a country where 70 per cent of the people live in dire poverty and 25 per cent of adults have HIV, the world's highest rate. On Tuesday, police also fired tear gas and water cannons, beat protesters with batons and arrested activists to break up the protest, according to organizers. At least 100 people were detained, including top labour and civil society leaders, unions said.

"The state has responded with extreme brutality and people feel unsafe. Many of our people are in police cells," said Vincent Dlamini, general secretary of the National Association of Public Servants and Allied Workers Union.
But most top union leaders who had been detained have since been released, said Dlamini, who was held from Sunday to Tuesday.

Two protest leaders were detained Wednesday, with one held under house arrest, according to Sipho Kunene, leader of the Swaziland Federation of Labour. Police patrolled Manzini Wednesday, arresting people in groups, including four teachers who were speaking to an AFP journalist in a cafe.

Edmonton Journal, Thurs Apr 14 2011

Information picket lines have gone up at the Canada Post distribution centre in St. Albert after rural and suburban mail carriers walked off the job.

“Our members are furious over changes introduced without notice that could cost them thousands of dollars per year,” says Bev Ray, president of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) Local 730 in Edmonton.

The rural and suburban mail carriers at the distribution centre at 131 - 1 Hebert Road, St. Albert, were given letters by Canada Post yesterday saying that the number of parcels they delivered was being cut.

“There was no discussion with the carriers beforehand. In fact, Canada Post said the new rules came into effect April 11, even though the letters weren’t given to the carriers until April 12,” says Ray.

The carriers, who use their own vehicles and pay for their own insurance to deliver the mail, get paid per piece of mail delivered, so a cut in parcels means a cut in pay that could come to thousands of dollars per year.

“These workers have not had a pay increase for more than two years. To arbitrarily announce measures that will seriously cut their wages is an appalling and inconsiderate move by Canada Post management,” says Ray.

About 15 rural and suburban mail carriers are affected at the St. Albert centre, but CUPW is concerned that similar measures are being planned at other Canada Post facilities across the country.

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Contact:

For more information contact: Bev Ray, President at 780-423-9000 or 780-719-4555

Issue: Postal Workers Need Your Help – TODAY!

Actions Requested: Support the CUPW picket line at 131 – 1 Herbert Road, St. Albert

When: April 13, 2011 – Immediately

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Your help is urgently needed on a picket line at a Canada Post distribution centre in St. Albert, where members of Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) walked off the job yesterday.

The picket is being maintained 24 hours a day to prevent scabs from going to work at the installation, 131-1 Herbert Road, St. Albert (the southeast corner of the strip mall at St. Albert Trail and Herbert Road). Canada Post has had contractors nearby, and made attempts to bring them in to do the work of CUPW members. CUPW, members and supporters blocked the entrance to protect the work of the unionized rural and suburban mail carriers (RSMC) employees.

Letter carriers, MSCs and Canada Post customers are not being prevented from entering and leaving the site.

"Our members are furious over changes introduced without notice that could cost them thousands of dollars per year," says Bev Ray, president of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) Local 730 in Edmonton.

The rural and suburban mail carriers were given letters by Canada Post yesterday saying that the number of parcels they delivered was being cut.

"There was no discussion with the carriers beforehand and no notice provided to the union. In fact, Canada Post said the new rules came into effect April 11, even though the letters weren't given to the RSMC employees until April 12," says Ray.

The carriers, who use their own vehicles and pay for their own insurance to deliver the mail, get paid per piece of mail delivered, so a cut in parcels means a cut in pay that could come to thousands of dollars per year.

"These workers have not had a pay increase for more than two years. To arbitrarily announce measures that will seriously cut their wages is an appalling and inconsiderate move by Canada Post management," says Ray.

About 15 rural and suburban mail carriers are affected at the St. Albert centre, but CUPW is concerned that similar measures are being planned at other Canada Post facilities across the country.

For information, contact: Bev Ray, president of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) Local 730, 780-423-9000, ext. 223.

With a tense round of bargaining just under way between the province and its teachers, the B.C. Supreme Court has declared “unconstitutional and invalid” a law that has restricted teachers’ bargaining rights for more than nine years.

The B.C. Liberal government imposed legislation in 2002 that took the makeup of classrooms – the total number of students as well as the number of special needs students integrated into each class – out of collective bargaining.The B.C. Teachers’ Federation challenged the law under the Canadian Charter of Rights, arguing those components have a significant impact on their working conditions and should be freely negotiated.

Madam Justice Susan Griffin, in a ruling released Wednesday, sided with the teachers and delivered a rebuke to the province for its vague claims and secretive agenda.

The release of the ruling partly overshadowed Premier Christy Clark’s by-election launch. Ms. Clark, who was education minister when the labour law was introduced, met with reporters to announce she’ll be seeking election in Vancouver-Point Grey on May 11, but questions about the education decision dominated the exchange.

When the law was passed during an emergency session of the legislature in January, 2002, Ms. Clark called it a “really balanced piece of legislation … reasonable and very, very fair.”

On Wednesday, she said the law, at the time, had broad-based support. “But clearly it wasn’t the right bill. The Supreme Court has told us that so we are going to address that, and we’re going to have to make sure we get on a different footing with the teachers’ union, just as the court has suggested.”

It was a rough start for Ms. Clark’s first day of campaigning for a seat in the legislature. Ms. Clark met reporters outside her downtown cabinet offices, rather than making the announcement in the riding that was recently vacated by former premier Gordon Campbell.

In her written decision, Judge Griffin dismissed the government’s claims that the law was needed to counter the “virtual paralysis of the school system.” In fact, the court found the changes were imposed without consultation to curtail costs and that the government’s objectives interfered with free collective bargaining.

Evidence at the trial showed the government expected to save, in 2001 dollars, $275-million each year by taking class size out of the contract. “A key reason that school administrators and the government did not like to have class size and composition limits included in collective agreements,” wrote Judge Griffin, “was the fact that these limits increased costs to school districts.”

As well, the judge described evidence brought forward by the province that class-size limits were causing hardships to students and parents as “vague … anecdotal hearsay.”

The province has one year to respond to the decision and is considering an appeal. But in the meantime, the court has thrown the government’s net zero bargaining mandate for the public sector into question.

The current contract with teachers expires in June and the province maintains there is no money for wage hikes – it hopes to meet its target to eliminate the provincial deficit by 2013, in part by keeping public-sector wages frozen.

Susan Lambert, president of the B.C. Teachers’ Federation, would not speculate on the cost of rolling back the 2002 law, but she said the province has a moral obligation to act swiftly to end the “shameful legacy” of underfunding classrooms in the wake of Wednesday’s ruling.

“It’s a tremendous victory for teachers, and for students and for parents. It’ll have a significant impact on restoring learning conditions in schools,” she said. “This is a turning point.”

She said the law left students struggling in oversized classes with inadequate supports for too long and she expects the provisions that limited class sizes will be restored.

The Globe and Mail, Wed Apr 13 2011

Byline: Justine Hunter and Ian Bailey