Listen to Albertans, not gov't, on pension reform, labour group urges: AFL sends letter to finance ministers meeting in Kananaskis
Alberta is the only province opposed to the plan, and Finance Minister Ted Morton maintains that putting more money into CPP won't fix the pension problem.
In an open letter to federal and provincial finance ministers meeting in Kananaskis next week, the federation on Wednesday urged the ministers to disregard Alberta's objections and expand the CPP.
"Ted Morton and the Conservative government do not speak for Albertans," federation president Gil McGowan said. "It's clear that Albertans are at least as supportive of CPP expansion as other Canadians."
McGowan points as proof to a recent Environics poll that showed two in three Albertans support increasing Canada Pension Plan benefits through a gradual increase in contributions by both employees and employers. Across Canada, 78 per cent of respondents said they support increasing government pension benefits.
In addition, Edmonton's city council on Nov. 26 voted to send a letter to Premier Ed Stelmach and Finance Minister Ted Morton in support of expansion.
Morton said the federal government's own studies show the system is working for high- and low-income Canadians, because the wealthy fund their own retirements and low-income Canadians have access to CPP, Old Age Security pension and the Guaranteed Income Supplement.
"In the middle-income bracket there is a problem," he said. "Our position is that the solution should be tailored to fit the problem. The solution is not across-the-board CPP hikes. ... It doesn't address the problem."
Morton said increasing CPP contributions prevents working Albertans from investing their money elsewhere and that increasing employer CPP contributions is a "payroll tax" and prevents businesses from hiring new workers.
Further, he said the federal government's plan will not benefit those who are retired or over 50 years old.
The solution, he said, is to improve Albertans' access to pension plans through their employers, which Alberta has been working on for more than three years.
"Alberta will proceed with private-sector pension reform regardless of whether there's a change in CPP or not," he said. He said Albertans can expect to see changes in 18 to 36 months, depending on how fast the economy recovers.
McGowan said Alberta has the lowest pension coverage in Canada with only one in five private sector employees with access to a pension plan through their work, according to a federation study.
In addition, he said most Albertans are not saving enough for retirement: in 2008, 38 per cent of Albertans contributed to their RRSPs, and the average contribution was $3,200.
Edmonton Journal, Wed Dec 15 2010
Byline: Karen Kleiss
HSAA contribution honours Alberta EMS victim
"The 21,000 members of HSAA and the entire EMS community mourn the loss of their brother and colleague," said HSAA president Elisabeth Ballermann. "His tragic death reminds us of the risks that workers face every day, particularly those professionals whose work involves travel."
Killed in a traffic accident Dec. 6 in northern Alberta while transporting a patient on Highway 2 west of McLennan, O'Mahony is believed to be the first HSAA member in the union's 40-year history to die in the line of duty.
Ballermann, who attended funeral services for O'Mahony on Monday, said: "Our hearts are with his family and with our injured sister, his EMS team partner, who is recovering in hospital, as well as the patient who was being transferred at the time of the crash."
While this is a project of the Edmonton and District Labour Council, the location in the province's capital will honour all Albertans who gave their lives or suffered injuries while on the job. The monument is slated for completion in 2012, coinciding with the 100th anniversary of the Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL).
HSAA staff around the province paid tribute to O'Mahony with a moment of silence at 11 a.m. Monday morning.
NUPGE Newsletter, Tues Dec 14 2010
Minister 'disgusted' by safety inspection results
"The results have been nothing but disappointing, and frankly, I have to tell you, I'm quite disgusted by the numbers that I have seen," Thomas Lukaszuk said Tuesday.
Safety officers issued 39 stop-work orders during a six-week inspection blitz of the province's construction sites.
Officers carried out 298 initial and followup inspections of 146 construction employers on 70 sites across the province from Oct. 8 to Nov. 22.
A total of 214 orders were issued. Fifty-seven orders were issued for worksites that lacked a plan or proper equipment to prevent workers from suffering injury or death if they fall.
Another 49 orders were issued for worksites that lacked proper safeguards, like coverings for openings and guardrails.
Lukaszuk vowed to continue unannounced inspections until the industry gets the message.
"The hammer is coming down in Alberta and if we continue seeing numbers like these, the hammer simply will be getting bigger and bigger," he said. "I take this very seriously and I expect that this will be a wakeup call."
But Gil McGowan from the Alberta Federation of Labour said Lukaszuk has to do more than just talk tough.
"If he really wants to bring that hammer down, he has to put his money where his mouth is," McGowan said. "He has to hire more inspectors, give them tools and resources to do their jobs and he has to prosecute employers who put their workers at risk."
Alberta has the lowest per-capita number of safety inspectors of any province in Canada, McGowan said.
CBC News, Tues Dec 14 2010
Long term, shortsighted
Earlier this year, every provincial finance minister except Morton endorsed a proposal to phase in CPP enhancements.
"Expanding the Canada Pension Plan is not the answer," sniffed Morton after the last federal-provincial finance ministers' meeting in June.
"Alberta believes the solution is not to rely on future taxpayers to fund public income support systems, but to instead find ways to encourage Canadians to save for their retirement."
The problem with that approach is it doesn't take human behaviour into account. Yes, people should sock away more for their post-working lives - but they don't. Even financial planning courses and projects designed to encourage people to save can have lacklustre results, according to a new report by the Institute for Research on Public Policy (IRPP).
"Surprisingly, financial education programs have not been shown to increase financial knowledge," the report points out. "The challenge is that financial decisions such as saving for retirement or buying a house have little relevance for elementary and secondary school students."
More unsettling is the report's finding that matched savings programs with financial training classes haven't been particularly successful in getting the poor to save.
The study points to the Learn$ave program, in which each dollar deposited into an account for adult education was matched by a $2 contribution from the federal government.
Several thousand volunteers participated in the Learn$ave experiment and were divided into three groups. The control group received no services. The second group was offered the matched savings program and was required to attend financial training sessions. The third group was offered the matched savings program but was not allowed to take the finance classes.
In the end, the amount saved by the group that attended the classes was the same as the amount saved by those who didn't sit in on the seminars. "The effect of financial education was negligible," says the IRPP report.
What this suggests is that expecting ordinary Canadians to make savvy financial decisions about money issues - never mind the complexities of retirement planning - is unrealistic.
Yet Morton seems to think Albertans will be just fine figuring out retirement planning on their own. Financial institutions will offer an array of services and citizens will graze at the buffet, selecting the appropriate ingredients for their retirement years.
This comes from a cabinet minister who will receive a whopping transition allowance when he leaves politics.
Next Monday, the federal and provincial finance ministers are scheduled to meet in Kananaskis to discuss pension reform, among other issues.
And the Alberta Federation of Labour has released an open letter to the ministers to expand CPP. It is not an unreasonable plea. Two-thirds of Canadian workers don't have a company pension plan.
But don't expect any substantial promises on pension reform out of the Kananaskis meeting, warns Jack Mintz, head of the school of public policy at the University of Calgary.
"If there's any change, it'll be just a modest change," he says. Politicians, of course, don't have to worry about their retirement.
Edmonton Sun, Tues Dec 14 2010
Byline: Mindelle Jacobs
Government Audit Reveals Shocking Number of Safety Violations on Alberta Construction Sites: Commercial construction sector clearly under-regulated; workers at continuous risk of injury o...
Edmonton - Alberta Federation of Labour President Gil McGowan reacted to a special government health and safety audit of commercial construction sites today, calling the results a "shocking wake-up call," and the "clearest evidence yet of the Alberta government's neglect of worker safety."
The special audits - which involved 298 occupational health and safety inspections of 146 commercial construction employers - resulted in a stunning 214 orders being issued for safety violations.
A quarter of the orders (39) were stop-work orders: meaning the site was too unsafe for work to continue. A full quarter of the orders were for fall hazards.
"The violations uncovered in these audits are obviously just the tip of the iceberg and they demonstrate why Alberta continues to be the most dangerous place in Canada to be a worker," says McGowan, adding that the government is learning all the wrong lessons from the special audits.
"Sadly, the results of the audit are no big surprise to those of us who have been calling for a crackdown on safety violations in construction," says McGowan. "What is a surprise is that the government isn't pledging to provide any more resources to deal with what is obviously a very big and very pervasive problem."
McGowan says that the Department of Employment is trying to spin the audit as a good news story - on the grounds that the audit proves the government is taking safety seriously.
"But this is the opposite of good news. The government has documented a huge problem, but now they say they're going to move on to do audits in other sectors instead of conducting even more random inspections in construction. They've demonstrated that we're facing an epidemic of unsafe work on construction sites around the province - but they don't seem to have a plan to deal with that epidemic.
"These audit results are a wake-up call. But the government seems determined to keep sleepwalking past the problem."
Alberta's workplace fatality rates are consistently among the highest in Canada. In 2008 - the last year for which comprehensive national statistics are available - there were 5.9 deaths per hundred thousand workers in Alberta. In the rest of Canada, the 2008 national average was 4.2 deaths per hundred thousand workers.
AFL research also shows Alberta cut OH&S programs sharply in the 1990s - and that spending on things like worksite inspections has never fully recovered. In 1991, the Government of Alberta spent $11.14 per worker on Occupational Health and Safety programs; in 2009, we spent $10.13 per worker. Alberta also spends less on workplace safety than most other Canadian jurisdictions. For example, in 2009, Ontario spent $10.80/worker, Nova Scotia $13.61, and Manitoba $11.73.
The fact that Alberta spends less on workplace safety is particularly alarming when you consider that, as a proportion of our workforce, Alberta has far more people working in construction and other dangerous industries than other provinces.
"Given the fact that so many Albertans work in dangerous industries, we should be spending more on safety and doing more in terms of inspections and enforcement than other provinces: but we don't. As the economy picks up, especially in the oil patch and construction sectors, the government of Alberta needs to take immediate action to improve health and safety," says McGowan.
"The recession gave us a short reprieve, but if simple and common-sense changes - like hiring more inspectors - aren't made today, Alberta will, once again, regain its title as the province with the highest number of workplace fatalities in Canada," concludes McGowan.
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Media Contact:
Gil McGowan, President, Alberta Federation of Labour - @ cell 780-218-9888 or office 780-483-3021An open letter to Canada's finance ministers: “Ted Morton does not speak for Albertans on CPP expansion!” Alberta Federation of Labour President urges fellow Canadians to move forward...
Edmonton - Alberta Federation of Labour President Gil McGowan released an open letter to Canada's provincial and federal finance ministers today, urging them to move ahead with reform to the Canada Pension Plan despite continued opposition from Alberta Finance Minister Ted Morton.
"Alberta Finance Minister Ted Morton does not speak for Albertans on the issue of retirement security," says McGowan, President of the AFL, which represents 140,000 Alberta workers.
Federal and provincial finance ministers will meet on December 20th in Kananaskis, Alberta. In recent months, a rare consensus in favour of CPP expansion has emerged among the provinces and the federal government, with the exception of Alberta.
"The rest of the country needs to know that two-thirds of Albertans disagree with Ted Morton, along with experts across the political spectrum, and ordinary Albertans from all walks of life," continues McGowan, adding that it appears some members of Morton's own Conservative caucus also disagree with his position.
The open letter to Canada's finance ministers argues that a recent Environics poll found that 66-per-cent of Albertans support an increase in CPP benefits and only 19-per-cent are opposed. On November 26th, Edmonton City Council passed a unanimous motion in favour of expanding CPP. The same week, the Calgary Herald editorial board endorsed CPP expansion without reservations.
McGowan adds that none of Alberta Finance Minister Ted Morton's claims about the negative effects of CPP expansion are supported by evidence. Rather, Albertans need CPP reform more than other Canadians - Albertans have lower workplace pension coverage than other Canadians and are able to save no more than other Canadians in RRSPs.
"Finance Minister Ted Morton has only suggested one alternative to CPP expansion - a voluntary scheme managed by the big banks and insurance companies. Polls show Albertans don't support those ideas, either," says McGowan, indicating that private, voluntary pension schemes come with extremely high fees and much more risk than the CPP.
"We urge Canadian finance ministers to do the right thing - and expand the Canada Pension Plan - as a way to ensure retirement security for all of us," concludes McGowan.
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Open letter to Finance Ministers...
Media Contact:
Gil McGowan, President, Alberta Federation of Labour -cell 780-218-9888 or 780-483-3021 or [email protected]
December 2010: Leaks reveal Tory Plan to privatize health care; Farm deaths prove safety laws are absurb; Brace for more cuts to vital services; Time for action on domestic violence
- Documents leaked to opposition parties show that the government has a hidden agenda to allow more privatization of health care after the next election. NDP leader Brian Mason said the documents show that Health Minister has misled Albertans. "It's more proof that the Stelmach Tories can't be trusted on health care," he said. Join Friends of Medicare in the fight to save our health-care system. To see the leaked documents ...
Farm deaths prove safety laws are absurd
- Two people were electrocuted while working on an Edmonton area farm - but health and safety inspectors called to the site were powerless to investigate (Dec 3 press release). They had to abandon inquiries when the discovered the tragedy took place on a farm, because agricultural operations are exempt from workplace health and safety laws. "This is clear evidence that the government's recent decision to focus on education and training to improve farm and ranch safety is completely inadequate," says AFL president Gil McGowan.
For more information ...
Brace for more cuts to vital services
- While private-sector forecasters predicted robust economic growth for Alberta in 2011, the provincial government painted a grim picture of our financial future. "Clearly, the agenda for Conservative Finance Minister Ted Morton is to find ways to justify cuts to health care, education, and social services," says Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour. For more information ...
Time for action on domestic violence
- In a recent Alberta study, more than 20 per cent of respondents reported they had experienced the impact of domestic violence in the workplace. However, employers, supervisors, workers, professional associations and unions can take joint action to prevent it. The Alberta Council of Women's Shelters and Health Sciences Association of Alberta developed a toolkit, Everyone's Business, that helps everyone do their part to prevent domestic violence. For more information ...
Urgent Action
One more push for REAL pension reform
Canada's finance ministers meet in Kananaskis on December 19 and 20 to discuss pension reform. The best option for all Canadians is the expansion of the Canada Pension Plans proposed by the Alberta Federation of Labour and the Canadian Labour Congress. Alberta Finance Minister Ted Morton alone is fighting to stop this. Let him and the other finance ministers know he does not speak for Albertans on this issue. To join the fight ...Events
December 18 - International Migrants Day
December 20 - International Human Rights Solidarity Day
January 14-16, 2011 - CUPE AB Anti-Racism Conference, Calgary
January 17-22 & January 23-28, 2011 - AFL/CLC Annual School, Jasper
Did you know ...
• Only 38 per cent of Albertans contributed to an RRSP in 2008 and the median contribution was only $3,200.
• Average management fees in the mutual fund industry are 2.6 per cent, among the highest in the industrial world and about five times that of CPP.
• In 2007, half of Alberta seniors had no investment income.
• Half of Alberta seniors have no employer pension income.
• Half of Alberta seniors without and employer-sponsored pension have no retirement assets.
• Half of Alberta seniors have no RRSP or RRIF savings.
For more information ...
Alberta's earnings gap between women and men largest in Canada: Women participating in the workforce at higher rates than ever; inequality persists
Edmonton - As women's workforce participation in Alberta has increased, so too has earnings inequality, according to the Alberta Federation of Labour.
While today's Statistics Canada report on Women and Work showed women's participation in the labour force increased substantially over the past three decades, it also remains true that women who work full-year, full-time earn just 66 per cent of what men earn. The Canadian average earnings gap is 72 per cent.
The Statistics Canada study found that more women than ever are working in finance and business, but the earnings gap in Alberta is astounding, says Nancy Furlong, Secretary Treasurer of the Alberta Federation of Labour.
Statistics Canada shows dramatic differences in average yearly earnings in various occupations, such as:
• Alberta men in management occupations earned an average of $101,000 in 2008 - for women, the average earnings in management were $55,500;
• Alberta men in business, finance, and administrative occupations earned an average of $68,500 in 2008 - for women, the average earnings in business, finance, and administration were $40,300.
Earnings data are critical to understanding women's advances in the workforce, given that so many women are employed in part-time, precarious, contract, and low-wage work with few benefits or pension. Today's Statistics Canada release showed that 70% of the Canadian part-time workforce is female.
Part of the explanation for so much part-time work lies in Alberta's - and Canada's - dismal early learning and child care policies.
Alberta allocates the lowest number of dollars per child in regulated child care, and has some of the fewest regulated child -care spaces in Canada. On the international scene, Canada scarcely fares better. A recent OECD study found Canada tied with Turkey and Mexico - among the bottom of the entire industrialized world - in spending on family benefits.
The silver lining for women in Canada, during the recession, was the relative stability of public-sector jobs.
"We see a lower earnings gap - and we saw fewer layoffs during the recession - in public-sector jobs in health and education," adds Furlong.
"This is because all Canadian women experience a significant union advantage when they work in the public sector. The union advantage is about more than wages - it is about a better work-life balance, pay equity, and other workplace gains that women have won through unionization," concludes Furlong.
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Media Contact:
Nancy Furlong, Secretary Treasurer, Alberta Federation of Labour - 780-483-3021; cell 780-720-8945
Action on violence against women must include the workplace – AFL: Toolkit for workers and employers provides extensive support for better violence education
Edmonton - The Alberta Federation of Labour marked December 6th with a call for employers, supervisors, workers, professional associations and unions to take joint action on domestic violence and its impact in the workplace.
"The basis for action should be the extensive toolkit developed by the Health Sciences Association of Alberta and Alberta Council of Women's Shelters," says Nancy Furlong, Secretary-Treasurer of the Alberta Federation of Labour, representing 140,000 workers across the province.
The issue of domestic violence and its impact upon the workplace has come to light in recent years.
In a recent Alberta study, more than 20 per cent of respondents reported they had experienced the impact of domestic violence in the workplace. In an Ontario study, 38 per cent of nurses reported a history of domestic violence. Another U.S. study of Fortune 500 companies found 18 per cent of women employees had experienced domestic violence.
The Alberta Council of Women's Shelters and Health Sciences Association of Alberta developed a toolkit, Everyone's Business, as a result of a five-year partnership that saw them consult with businesses and labour leaders across the province.
The toolkit provides a guide for employers, pamphlets aimed at workers and supervisors, and information cards. The guide for employers provides protocols, draft team member functions, a model workplace policy and a sample safety checklist for the worksite.
The toolkit recognizes that domestic violence has a range of impacts on the workplace, from absenteeism and productivity losses to a domestic partner actually perpetrating violence against an employee at work.
Alberta's Occupational Health and Safety (OS&S) code (Part 27, section 390) requires employers to develop policy and procedures respecting potential workplace violence. Section 391 of the Code requires employers to provide instruction on recognizing, response and reporting of violence.
"It is unclear if the province actually enforces this section of the code and how many employers in Alberta actually take domestic violence and its effect on the workplace seriously," says Furlong.
"This is why Alberta's unions are exercising leadership on violence prevention in the workplace. On December 6th, we must remember that violence against women affects us all, and in every aspect of our lives - including our workplaces," concludes Furlong.
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Media Contact:
Nancy Furlong, Secretary Treasurer, Alberta Federation of Labour - 780-483-3021; cell 780-720-8945
Rising from deep unpopularity
There are few topics more entertaining to watch politicians squirm over than the distribution of seats in a legislature. Inequities that work against their perceived interests are a "shocking" departure from the concept of one person one vote, while ones that suit them are perfectly reasonable arrangements to guarantee that groups and regions with smaller populations are properly looked after.
A marvellous example of this can be found in a bill to redress the current under-representation of Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta by changing the formula for deciding how many MPs there are. The new scheme would effectively share 30 new seats among those three growing provinces.
Make no mistake, for constitutional and historical reasons too complicated to explain, the current arrangement is very unfair, and tends to bias the system in favour of Quebec and the Maritime provinces. The new plan would make things better.
But the new bill does nothing to change how seats are distributed within provinces, which means the current bias in favour of rural areas, and against urban suburbs - a bias even more vivid in Alberta's legislature, as it happens - remains a matter of no apparent concern.
Albertans, Ontarians and British Columbians are entitled to the extra representation. But what really needs to happen is a decision to embrace the notion that everyone needs to be equal when choosing a government.
Still under water, but not quite so deep
The good news for Premier Ed Stelmach is that his approval rating has climbed to 21 per cent. The bad news, of course, is that this is good news.
Alberta's premier is at the opposite end of the spectrum from outgoing Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams, the colourful and scrappy politician who stepped down Friday.
Williams was the most popular provincial leader in the country with a 67-per-cent approval rating. By comparison, an Angus Reid poll found that 56 per cent of Albertans disapprove of Alberta's premier.
The positive for Stelmach is that he's up 50 per cent from November 2009, when he polled only 14 per cent. Imagine! An Alberta Conservative premier down in Jean Charest, Gordon Campbell and Dalton McGuinty territory!
Williams was guest speaker at the March 2006 Alberta Tory Convention when members gave Ralph Klein the push he couldn't ignore. After a vote that saw Klein garner a measly 55 per cent support from Conservative party members, Williams went up to his hotel room and rewrote his speech. He used his keynote address to chastise his audience for their despicable treatment of Klein, whom he called "the rock star of Canadian politics."
Williams saw what lies ahead for even the most popular premiers when they overstay their offices. Alas, Stelmach can only dream about going out on a Williams-style high.
Pension planning not very conservative
According to the Alberta Federation of Labour, 67 per cent of Albertans will not have enough money for retirement 20 years from now. It claims that 31 per cent of Alberta seniors currently live on less than $16,000 per year. That's not what most working Albertans picture for their own retirement.
The AFL says pension reforms are badly needed because Albertans have the lowest retirement savings in Canada and most do not have an employer pension plan. Most don't have Registered Retirement Savings Plans either; the AFL says only 38 per cent of Albertans contributed to an RRSP in 2008.
Nevertheless, Alberta's Finance Minister Ted Morton says the current pension system is good and reforms would do more harm than good. Morton is concerned that increasing Canada Pension Plan contributions would be harmful to employers and would slow down job creation.
He says some Albertans are saving enough to retire comfortably. We hope he is one of them, and assume he'll be willing to take in some former supporters who aren't. When do you serve breakfast, Ted? And can we have our eggs over easy?
Delegation to minister wisely parked
Kudos to the Alberta Conservatives for shelving controversial parks legislation that would have shifted arbitrary authority over development in parks from cabinet to the parks minister. Alberta conservation groups raised a ruckus and Parks Minister Cindy Ady listened. She withdrew Bill 29 and announced a public consultation on the proposed new legislation for the parks network.
The Sierra Club may have been overstating the point a bit when it proclaimed that the minister had pulled "our parks back from the brink of disaster," but its clear Albertans of all political stripes are passionate about their parks. It's now Ady's job to follow up with the promised dialogue, and then come up with something more satisfactory.
Attending sitting not Premier priority
The fall sitting of the Alberta legislature is ended, and to mark the occasion the provincial Liberals have helpfully come up with some interesting statistics - from Hansard, the official record of the Alberta Legislative Assembly - about such things as the attendance of Alberta's apparently shy premier, Ed Stelmach.
Following are excerpts:
Number of days the Alberta Legislature could be bothered to meet on the public's business: 18
Total number of hours the house sat: 174
Approximate number of hours the premier was in the Legislature personally: 7
Number of minutes spent in emergency debate on health care: 75
Number of seconds the premier squeezed into his schedule to attend this emergency debate: 0
Edmonton Journal, Sun Dec 5 2010