ALF V1

2000 May Proposal General Safety Regulation Task Force: Working Alone Proposal

2000 May Discussion Paper Response Joint Worksite Health and Safety Committee Regulations

The amount of oilsands bitumen being upgraded in Alberta continues to sink -- leaving the government well short of its target -- with Syncrude the latest in a growing number of companies to cancel upgrader projects and send the lucrative product stateside.

Natural market drivers and a glut of oilsands processing capacity in the U.S. mean Premier Ed Stelmach is finding it difficult to hold to his three-year-old promise to upgrade more bitumen in Alberta.

Indeed, the continued loss of billions of investment dollars and thousands of jobs to the U.S. is leaving his Tory government in a predicament as sticky as the gooey product, with energy economists expecting the situation will only worsen.

Calgary Herald, Wed Mar 3 2010
Byline: Jason Fekete

The Minister of Employment and Immigration Thomas Lukaszuk announced recently that minimum wage in the province would remain at $8.80 per hour, dismantling a system of wage increase less than two years after it was implemented.

The minister cited the decision as instrumental in insuring the recovery and competitiveness of small businesses as the province bounces back from the recesssion.
"It wasn't a given that minimum wage would increase, it was only in the past two years that the government introduced a reasonably fair system of making regular adjustments to minimum wage," said Alberta Federation of Labour President Gil McGowan. "Between the late 80's and late 90's there were long periods of years where minimum wage did not change at all."

McGowan said that during that period, the actual purchasing power of the minimum wage dropped by as much as 60 percent in light of inflation rates.

"We feel we've taken a huge step backward," said McGowan. "It's only recently they did what they should have done 30 years ago by introducing a system to index the minimum wage, and we're incredibly disappointed they are dropping the system barely a year after it was introduced."

The provincial government only started linking the minimum wage increases to the Alberta weekly earning index in June 2007, leading to an increase from $8.00 to $8.40 in April 2008, and to the current 8.80 in April of last year. The minimum wage in Alberta ranks sixth in the country.

"Indexing minimum wage was applauded by the vast majority of Albertans," said McGowan. "The inevitable result is that the value of the minimum wage will erode as inflation continues it's upward march."

McGowan said the real worry is the economic and social impacts the decision will have on the provinces lowest paid workers.

"Without a system for adjustments the minimum wage went from being a subsistence wage to being a real poverty wage when there were no increases," said McGowan. "Our most vulnerable workers will pay the price."

McGowan said if they had stood by the weekly indexing system, the minimum wage would have risen only 12 cents in 2010--an amount he said would have little impact on small businesses.
"I find it hard to believe such a small increase would have had any significant impact on employment," said McGowan. "I don't believe for a minute that this freeze will create jobs or maintain jobs, all it will do is pick the pockets of our vulnerable workers.

McGowan said studies indicate modest increases in minimum wage don't result in job losses during recessions, in fact, wage increases can have the opposite effect.

"Increasing the minimum wage modestly can actually create more jobs because low wage workers tend to spend all their money in local communities instead of saving or investing it, or buying luxury imported goods," said McGowan. "The wages paid to the lowest workers tends to be recycled in their community."

Whitecourt Star, Tues Mar 2 2010
Byline: Mike Constable

The construction industry had the highest number of workplace fatalities of any sector in Alberta in 2009, but this figure is the lowest in the last five years.

Alberta's Ministry of Employment and Immigration reported at total of 110 workplace-related deaths in 2009.

They are broken down into nine industry sectors, with construction responsible for 34 deaths, or 31 per cent of all fatalities.

"The construction industry has more inherent risk and more opportunity for injury than other industries," said Employment and Immigration spokesman Chris Chodan.

These numbers represent the first decline in the number of total and construction fatalities in the province since 2006.

In Alberta, there were 124, 143, 124, 154 and 166 workplace fatalities each year between 2004 and 2008.

For the construction industry there were 47, 55, 42, 50 and 59 deaths over the same five-year period.

"The only thing we can think of that might have caused the fall in the number of fatalities is the economic downturn, because we don't have all the data," said Chodan.

"What we really need is the injury rate, which is a better indicator because fatalities are included in the total number of injuries. The bigger number gives us a much more accurate indication of where things are tracking."

A provincial analysis of fatalities in 2009 won't be completed until April.

Others in the industry agreed.

"This doesn't mean that the Alberta workplace is a safer place than last year. It just means that there was an economic slowdown," said Alberta Federation of Labour president Gil McGowan.

"We still have an unacceptable level of fatalities and accidents, especially in construction, oil and gas, and forestry. So, the numbers don't reflect an improvement in the safety situation."

During the recession, thousands of workers were squeezed out of the labour market.

About two million Albertans were employed in 2009, which is 25,200 fewer people than in the previous year.

McGowan said the most dangerous sectors were the ones that slowed down the most during the recession.

He maintained that the decline in fatalities isn't due to anything that the government or employers have done to make things safer.

The preliminary report included several examples of 2009 Alberta construction fatalities including:

• In May, 27-year-old Lance James Orr died after concrete forms slipped out of a crane sling and crushed him to death at a downtown Calgary building construction site. The forms weighed about 1800 lbs. Orr worked for Paganotta Industries assisting the crane operator with the movement of material on site.
• In June, a cement slab crushed and killed a 23-year-old construction worker on the south side of Edmonton. He was cutting a door through a six-inch thick pre-cast concrete wall, when the slab let loose and crushed him against the rear of a truck.

The man, who worked for Derrick Concrete, was rescued from under the slab and later died of his injuries.

• In July, 37 year-old foreman Daryl Binder was on a 16 foot high wall, when he fell and was impaled on a piece of rebar at Athabasca University. The foreman worked for Chandos Construction.
• Michael Shannahan, 45, was killed at a Suncor oilsands project near Fort McMurray in August, while he was repairing a tire on a heavy hauler. He was in the process of inflating the tire, when the steel components became detached and struck him. Shannahan, who was an employee of Cow Harbour Construction L

Journal of Commerce, Mon Mar 1 2010
Byline: Richard Gilbert

It's tough enough running a public sector union in a province like Alberta, where fat cats get a pass and working stiffs the straight-arm.

So when the provincial government's latest budget yanks the carpet out from under your fear and loathing campaign, what do you do?

You claim victory - sort of.

Organized labour and its allies crafted a coalition dubbed Join Together Alberta and took it across the province, holding public hearings to pre-emptively protest what was expected to be a slash and burn blueprint.

It could be the biggest such group to take on the status quo in Alberta history.

The coalition insists it is ecstatic with the turnout in Tory or possibly Wildrose heartlands.

"We were bringing in extra tables and chairs," said Alberta Federation of Labour president Gil McGowan.

That was before the Feb. 9 budget was handed down prior to the final few townhalls, which took the wind out of the campaign's sails.

"Attendance was down a little bit because the cuts were not as deep as we expected," said McGowan.

While the JTA attracted 200 people in Lethbridge prior to Feb. 9, it managed no more than that in Calgary and Edmonton following budget day, said the unionist.

The coalition had fully expected the government to placate the surging Wildrose by slicing deeply into programs.

But while there were cuts to 14 departments, the savings were transferred to health care and education.

"The budget is something of a victory for the coalition - I'd like to think it had something to do with the position of people like us," said McGowan.

I'm not so sure about that, but there is a certain irony in seeing government minds focused by an insurgency on the right delivering spending to the partial satisfaction of the left.

Ideological purity pales against peoples' desire for accessible health care, hockey rinks, passable roads and decent schools.

McGowan says as much himself, almost sounding like the unlikeliest ally Danielle Smith ever had.

"There's nothing like nervous politicians to get them to listen," he says.

Some Wildrosers even showed up at the JTA townhalls, says McGowan, and left uncertain about their political loyalties.

But that was before the budget.

And now, isn't there a complacency - and a renewal of the time honoured-cynicism regarding union motivations?

"We're involved in the coalition partly because union jobs are at stake," admits McGowan.

The presence of so much labour in such activism could well detract from its credibility, he concedes.

"Would it be more effective if citizens rose up and organized their own groups? Sure, but we're the only ones with the wherewithall," said McGowan.

"If we weren't involved, there probably wouldn't be a campaign at all."

He's right - it's Alberta.

As it is, the AFL's membership base won't be hugely affected by the budget, he notes, but the JTA's efforts will continue.

Appearances must be upheld.

But this group has been mostly reduced to warning of budget axe time bombs down the road.

The spectre is raised of a repeat of the People with Developmental Disabilities blindsiding in this year's third quarter.

One of their arguments - that the sustainability fund should preclude spending cuts - actually compliments the government they hold in such suspicion.

McGowan says the JTA will offer a punchline to all this, sometime.

But inevitable, he says, is the need, even the realistic prospect of a "viable left-wing alternative" to replicate the success of the right's Wildrose Alliance.

In Alberta, that smacks of owning a podium too far.

Calgary Sun, Thurs Feb 25 2010
Byline: Bill Kaufmann

Alberta's progressives should stop defending the status quo and start defining their own visions for provincial policy, the head of the left-wing Parkland Institute said Saturday.

In a fiery address at the end of a conference on economic and social policy, Ricardo Acuna urged Alberta's left to lay out what it wants in health care and education, rather than just organizing to battle against periodic cuts.

"It's time to stop fighting back and start moving forward," Acuna told the audience of about 80.

"It's time to stop being embarrassed or apologizing for our political positions. It's time to stop defending a status quo we find inadequate and start fighting for radical proposals."
Acuna was speaking after two days of sessions organized by the Parkland Institute and the Alberta Federation of Labour.

In one talk earlier Saturday, economist Greg Flanagan told the crowd that despite ballooning deficits, Alberta's budget problems are about revenue, not spending.
Adjusted for population, Alberta takes in billions less in tax revenue than any other province, said Flanagan, who recently retired from the University of Lethbridge. Even minor boosts to consumption or income taxes could easily eliminate the province's nearly $5-billion deficit, he added.

Flanagan's talk hit on a number of recurring themes at the conference, most notably that Alberta's tax system is unfair and that, during a recession, more public spending, not less, is needed.

Acuna, though, urged the attendees to move away from talk about balance sheets. Progressives should lay out explicit plans for the systems they want and only then ask people to pay more for them, he said.

"How did we get here?" Acuna asked. "How did we start talking about the bottom line, not people?"

Answering his own question, he laid part of the blame on the news media.
"Twenty years ago, we had labour reporters in this province," he said.
He also called on progressives to make their voices heard.

"Can you imagine if we had commentators as far to the left as (radio host Dave) Rutherford is to the right?" he asked.

"Can you imagine if we had columnists as far to the left as ( Edmonton Journal columnist) Lorne Gunter is to the right?"

The weekend conference, which took place at the University of Alberta, featured panels on alternatives to tax and spending cuts, lessons learned from the Klein-era cuts and public policy solutions, among others.

The Parkland Institute is a nonpartisan research centre at the university.

Edmonton Journal, Sun Feb 14 2010
Byline: Richard Warnica

With the new provincial budget freshly on the table, and budget cuts expected once the details are unveiled later this month, the University of Alberta's Parkland Institute, in conjunction with the Alberta Federation of Labour, will be hosting a conference entitled Re-Making Alberta: Recession Alternatives for an Alberta that Works. Diana Gibson, research director for the institute, points out how the Stelmach government has been taking "the low road" to economic recovery by introducing budget cuts to social services.

In response, the conference has invited keynote speaker Asbjorn Wahl, Norwegian labour leader, to discuss recovery alternatives based on other models from outside Alberta.

"The Alberta government is taking such a different path from what other governments have done in this recession. So many mainstream economic organizations were saying, 'step up the stimulus, and don't talk about belt tightening' as the recession spiraled down," notes Gibson. "And our government talked about belt-tightening, and with the new budget, are already talking about reducing the deficit.

"Other governments are still focusing on stimulus spending, so we felt it was important to have a look at what's happening in, say, Nordic countries and in other provinces, and say, 'There's a different way to steward an economy, and the Alberta government is making poor choices.'"

While global economies begin a cautious recovery from the recession, Gibson sites the current government's lack of long-term vision as one of the habits that continues to plague Alberta's vulnerable economy in times of economic fluctuation.

'This government is very shortsighted; it's shown a consistent lack of desire to manage the economy to mitigate booms and busts. In fact, they've done the opposite: they've spent at the top of the boom and cut at the bottom of a recession, making the booms and busts worse, and they've consistently shown that mentality rather than showing a long-term management plan for investment, so that the employment is there over a longer period of time. They seem to think that the only way Alberta can compete is to give away our resources raw for the lowest dollar."

Among the many possible solutions to be discussed at the conference, Gibson hopes to address weaknesses in the Alberta economy, while Wahl's keynote address will highlight successful European case studies.

"One of the big things is to acknowledge is that we can't rely on natural gas revenues to run our economy. We need to restructure our economy into having a higher tax base, because we have the lowest tax base of any provinces. We could raise it by $10.7 billion and still be the lowest in the country.

"But we shouldn't have to be the lowest either. We can compete by having strong healthy infrastructure, healthy educated workers, great resource access and becoming a more sophisticated economy where we compete in more sophisticated ways. And in the throne speech yesterday, they've made it really clear they're not going to. We need to value our public services, and recognize that in paying for them through taxes it's the most efficient way to pay for them."

It's too easy to look south to the American model for recovery, Gibson adds, as opposed to similar economies of scale that don't immediately come to mind, but that have more to offer in terms of realistic alternatives.

"The U.S. has shown that they're not the best path; they were the epicenter of the recession," Gibson points out. "The big thing that motivated this conference is to see people discuss the differences between the American-style rugged individualism versus the European dream of collective productivity and equal access to resources.

"We're at a crossroads in Alberta. We should be debating which model we want to have, one that's based on exclusivity, or one that's universal? The Nordic countries provide an example of a place where they still have a strong, competitive economy, but they have an approach based on universality, equity and inclusiveness.

"That's the high road," Gibson hints, "and Alberta can pick it. We have the resource bounty, the ability and we have the moment. What we need to do is choose the high road."

Vue Weekly, Week of February 11, 2010
Bline: Mike Angus

The theory that new Alberta finance minister Ted Morton was put in place to placate the fiscal hawks and play the cold-eyed budget-slasher-a zombie Steve West-was always dubious. I'm not saying Morton wouldn't suit the role, and he may still be called upon to wield the scalpel. But the Stelmach government has one obsessive, overriding imperative: to announce a budgetary surplus for the fiscal year 2012-13, immediately before calling an election. And Alberta's revenues depend to a fantastical degree on world prices for commodities, chiefly natural gas (though the end-products of the tarsands are catching up fast).

So either the Tories will pull it off or they won't. Morton's job is to keep the fiscal plan on track for the 2012 "Mission Accomplished" announcement and pacify various interest groups in the meantime-if possible, without exhausting the rainy-day Sustainability Fund established in 2003 to address temporary revenue downturns resulting from the volatility of Alberta's petro revenues.

As of today, the master plan is still pretty much on target. Revenues were slightly stronger than expected for 2009-10, limiting the deficit to $3.6 billion. Today's 2010-11 budget allows for another deficit of $4.7 billion with a 4% overall increase in spending. After that, the government expects gas prices to rise slowly from the present trough and pull Alberta out of the red. The futures markets expect pretty much the same thing. (Alberta finance ministers could conceivably play dirty with oil-and-gas pricing projections, since they ultimately get to pick which forecasters they listen to; but while the temptation must be strong, as a rule they refrain. International lenders and rating agencies are watching, and they expect stern realism. From governments, anyway.) That's not to say that Morton and his predecessors haven't cut things close. The projected 2012-13 surplus is tiny and the amount expected to be left in the Sustainability Fund account is less than $3 billion. One unexpectedly warm global winter or other economic shock could eat into both quantities fast, as could a simple continuation of the methane glut. And that would mean scalpel time. The Finance Minister is already screwing a tight lid on spending in some areas that are, considered from a non-Machiavellian moral standpoint, particularly recession-sensitive: child-welfare interventions, employment retraining for adults, anti-homelessness measures and social housing (whose relevant ministry's 2010-11 budget takes a 19% boot in the shorts).

But, like the political scientist he is, he's taking care of the electorally armed-and-dangerous departments: seniors, health, and education-the S.H.E. Who Must Be Obeyed when governing a province. Anybody who still thinks of Morton as a whip-cracking Wyoming cowboy bent on Goldwaterizing Alberta should contemplate the astonishing reactions to this budget. The president of the Alberta Federation of Labour called it "clearly a victory" for public services (by which they mean, "for the union"). The Friends of Medicare (i.e., the Most Holy Order of Nurses Militant) agreed. The President of the Alberta Teachers' Association, still amicably disposed after its pension bailout, declared with satisfaction that "The government listened to Albertans." These are the dogs who have barked loudest and most persistently during the past 17 years of Conservative government. Ted Morton sure makes for a funny-looking pack leader.

MacLeans, Wed Feb 10 2010
Byline: Colby Cash

Public programs are already stretched to the limit - do not make more cuts

EDMONTON - Representatives of Join Together Alberta today related stories of how the services Albertans desperately need are already stretched to the breaking point. Further cuts that are expected as a result of next week's budget will make a bad situation much worse.

Join Together Alberta has held meetings in 16 communities across the province over the past two weeks and will have visited 22 by the middle of February. At each town hall meeting, the stories have been the same.

"In Brooks, the hospital no longer offers maternity services and nurses have heard stories of babies being delivered on the side of the road while the mother is en route to Medicine Hat," said Gil McGowan, President of the Alberta Federation of Labour.

"In Pincher Creek, health-care workers told us their hospital is still using IV pumps that were purchased when the hospital was built - 27 years ago. In Hinton, we heard about a man suffering from MS who was left hanging in a lift over his bed at a local assisted-living facility for an hour because of staff shortages. In Mayerthorpe and Swan Hills, local citizens raised thousands of dollars for new medical equipment , but after the money was handed over to Alberta Health Services for purchasing, it simply disappeared."

"Cuts in one area are impacting on services in another," said Bill Moore-Kilgannon, Executive Director of Public Interest Alberta. "For example, the $40-million cut to post-secondary education this year lead to the decision by Red Deer College to close the program that educates people to work with children and adults with disabilities. These short-sighted decisions will decrease the ability of agencies and families to find qualified staff over the longer term."

It is clear from the town hall meeting s that Albertans feel that core programs are already being squeezed far too tightly - with real human consequences - and that they do not want further cuts.

Join Together Alberta is sharing these stories because the Alberta government has not been listening to ordinary Albertans. The people of this province are saying that public services are the fabric that keeps their communities together.

Today, Join Together Alberta is releasing a report that paints a compelling vision of the importance of our public sector, alternative to the picture that the Alberta government paints. Produced by the AFL, the report is titled "Public Works! Alberta's public services work ... for all of us."

"An attack on the public sector is an attack on the whole economy and on the well-being of all Albertans. In a time of global economic crisis, renewed attacks on the public sector threaten to derail our economy even further," says McGowan.

Join Together Alberta is a new coalition that includes representatives from community social service organizations, teachers, parent groups, health professionals, students, faculty and labour organizations.

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Media contacts:

Gil McGowan, President, Alberta Federation of Labour (780) 218-9888

Bill Moore-Kilgannon, Executive Director, Public Interest Alberta (780) 993-3736