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Thomas Olenuk, a well-known union activist who was most recently president of the Edmonton and District Labour Council, has died at the age of 57.

Thomas Olenuk, 57, was a fixture in the labour movement in Edmonton for decades. He died Nov. 19. (CBC)"He had been battling some health issues," said Perri Garvin, a close friend and vice-president of the Edmonton District Labour Council. "Unfortunately, he was taken from us much too early."

Olenuk came to Edmonton in the early 1970s as a university student, Garvin said, seeking a Masters degree in English.

"He got a job with Canada Post to pay the bills, and they went on strike shortly thereafter and he just became a social activist out of that, and fighting for workers' rights."

Olenuk spent 11 years with the Postal Workers' Union, becoming president of the Edmonton local.

In his career, he also served on the executive of the Alberta Federation of Labour, the AFL's environment committee, as director of the Alberta Environment Network, with the Alberta Capital Region United Way campaign, the Leadership Council of Vibrant Communities Edmonton and the governance committee of the Edmonton Community Foundation.

"He was there when I first got active and he's been a fixture, frankly, in the labour movement especially here in Edmonton, for more than 20 years, pushing 30 years," said Gil McGowan, AFL president.

The annual Labout Day barbecue for the unemployed is a legacy of Thomas Olenuk's passion for helping the underdog, says Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour. (CBC)"He was the first to be on the picket line when there was a crisis, to show support for workers who were either locked out or on strike," said McGowan.

Olenuk was also instrumental in turning Labour Day celebrations from a parade into a barbecue for the unemployed, McGowan said. The event celebrated its 20th anniversary this year.

"It's a legacy for him," McGowan said.

"We'll all admit that sometimes he was a little bit gruff. He was a little bit rough around the edges. He called things as he saw them and sometimes that rubbed people the wrong way, but his heart was always in the right place and he made a difference in this community."

A celebration of Olenuk's life is scheduled for Saturday at 1 p.m. at NorQuest College, at 10215 108 St. in Edmonton.

CBC News, Fri Nov 27 2009

The president of Alberta's largest union advocacy organization is baffled as to why the Stelmach government seems determined to cut public sector jobs and services even though the province's fiscal outlook has improved dramatically.

"The $6.9 billion deficit that the government announced over the summer has shrunken down to a $4.2 billion deficit today and may melt away almost entirely by the end of the fiscal year," says Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour.

"And yet, the government is still talking about hiring freezes, wage freezes and outright cuts to core services. Given that our schools, hospitals and municipalities are still recovering from the damage caused by a decade or more of austerity under Ralph Klein, it simply doesn't make sense to impose deep cuts when they're not really necessary."

McGowan says the government is irresponsibly overstating the seriousness of Alberta's financial situation by using the same kind of rhetoric they used during the so-called Klein Revolution of the mid 1990s.

"Albertans have been conditioned by successive generations of Tory politicians to panic whenever the word 'deficit' is mentioned," says McGowan. "But the truth is that the sky is not falling. Alberta still has no debt and we won't be taking any on. All that's happening is that we're dipping into a rainy day fund that was set aside for exactly this purpose. There is no crisis."

McGowan says the government shouldn't hesitate to draw significant amounts from its $17 billion sustainability fund for the one or two years it might take for the province to ride out the global recession.

"Basically the whole world agrees that governments should be spending more, not less to help their citizens weather the recession," says McGowan.

"But unfortunately, it seems the Conservatives didn't get the memo - or they're allowing themselves to be unduly influenced by Danielle Smith and her fellow privatizers in the Wildrose Alliance party. This is all very troubling, because if the Tories don't wake up, the cuts that they're planning will jeopardize our province's fragile recovery and inflict further pain on an Alberta families who are already hurting as a result of job losses and pay cuts."

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For more information call: Gil McGowan, AFL President @ (780) 218-9888

As the next round of international climate change talks in Copenhagen approaches, the Canadian and Alberta governments are both doing everything they can to reinforce their long-standing position that doing something meaningful and effective about climate change would be impossible without destroying the economy.

At the same time, many of Canada's environmental and activist organizations are working hard to show Canadians, and Albertans in particular, that we can indeed have it all-we can have a real impact on climate change, create jobs and re-stimulate the economy and secure economic growth and prosperity in perpetuity.

The literature supporting the concepts of "green jobs" or a "green economy" has been around for some time now, but it really took off last year after the bottom fell out of the global economy and governments world-wide began engaging in stimulus spending. The theory was that, by directing their stimulus spending intelligently, governments could accomplish the dual goals of kick-starting the economy and beginning the transition toward a green economy.

In Alberta, for example, the Alberta Federation of Labour, Greenpeace and the Sierra Club collaborated on a report which showed how many Albertans could be put back to work through government support for things like home energy retrofits and public transit. The Parkland Institute followed this up with a report outlining how much more effective government stimulus would be if it was directed toward public services and renewables instead of toward royalty breaks and oil patch incentives.

It wasn't long before the focus of the message became economic growth itself-green policies were soon touted not only as the key to economic recovery, but also long-term economic growth. In the last two months alone, for example, we have seen a major report by the Pembina Institute and the David Suzuki Foundation showing how Canada could meet scientific-based emissions targets while continuing to grow our economy at nearly the same rate as if we did nothing. We have also seen a book by an Alberta consultant suggesting that we could continue to grow Alberta's energy-intense economy, and continue exploiting the tar sands, while being entirely carbon-neutral.

There is no question that all of this research is important and valuable-the evidence is now incontrovertible that we can meet short term environmental goals while promoting economic recovery and growth. The danger is that these short-term goals have become confused with the long term picture of what a "green economy" could and should be.

Anyone who has read Dr. Seuss's The Lorax understands fundamentally that a green economy is incompatible with one based on perpetual growth. In fact, it was exactly as the book's Onceler was in the middle of a rant defending his need and right to keep growing that the last Truffula Tree gets cut down, killing the forest forever.

So while it might be true that, in the short term, we can reduce our impact on the environment while continuing to grow the economy, in the long term it is not enough to simply reduce our negative impact-We have to eliminate it. And that is incompatible with economic growth. At some point we will need to come to terms with the reality that capitalism as a system depends on perpetual growth, and that if we want a truly green and sustainable economy, then we need to come up with a different system. "Greening" capitalism may buy us a bit of time, but in the end its growth imperative will still completely consume our limited resources.

We must also keep in mind that neither Alberta's economy nor environment exist in a vacuum. By focusing our energies on finding ways to make capitalism greener, we ignore the many environmental, social and global injustices inherent in capitalism. Where will the factories for solar panels, wind turbines, high-speed trains and buses be built? Whose labour will they exploit and whose rivers will they pollute? Will green capitalism still result in five percent of the population accumulating 95 percent of the wealth? Will those indigenous populations around the world who are currently the victims of uncontrolled economic expansion be victimized any less by "green" economic expansion?

Van Jones, the US based green jobs guru, has suggested that because climate change is putting our very survival in jeopardy, it is necessary for us to focus first on greening our existing economy. Once that has been accomplished, he argues, we can then turn our efforts to building a new economy which will be just and sustainable.

History tells us a different story however. Once we make advances, our energies are turned out of necessity toward protecting those same advances, not making new ones. Consider, for example, the extent to which our social programs and health care have been under attack since the day they were implemented. Have we been able to fight for more justice, or have we been too busy fighting to keep what little we've got?
We have an opportunity today to push and fight for the creation of an economy that is truly green, sustainable and just. Yes, it is critical that we take immediate steps to deal with climate change, but if we don't also work to deal with the long-standing social, environmental and global injustices wrought by our economy, then we will truly be no further ahead. We can't bring a green and just economy to be by simply making capitalism greener and kinder. We need a total overhaul. If we lose sight of that, we will never get there.

Vue Weekly, Week of November 19, 2009
Byline: Ricardo Acuña

Premier Ed Stelmach is in hot water after suggesting some of those who lost their jobs in this recession need to change their attitudes.

The comments came as the premier was making an address at the St. Albert Chamber of Commerce yesterday.

He was discussing the economy and said Alberta stands to benefit from the deep labour pool when we see an economic recovery. Then he chatted about the outlook of workers in our province.

"The A and B Crews are working and the C Crew is at home until they change their attitude," Stelmach said, according to the Calgary Sun.

The Alberta Federation of Labour is now up in arms. President Gil McGowan says workers who were laid off in these tough times don't deserve to have their attitudes questioned.

A spokesperson for the premier is clarifying Stelmach's comments. Tom Olsen says the premier was talking specifically about workers who got well-paying jobs in the boom, even though they had no proper training.

660News, Fri Nov 13 2009

Ten years ago, David MacDonald felt completely lost at a seminar on mutual funds.

"There was just this sea of grey hair, with two 20-year-olds at the back," he recalls. "We sat there, just trying to figure out where we fit in."

Now, as the group vice-president of financial services at Environics Canada, a research and marketing consultant firm, Macdonald is concerned not much has changed.

"It's only when Canadians are in their 30s and 40s do they get an inkling of what investments to make," he says. And that includes saving towards retirement.

"In a big city like Toronto, there's barely enough off the (Canadian Pension Plan) to go around, especially after property taxes. Many don't have pension coverage at all," says MacDonald.

Dale Powell, an institutional investment consultant for Morningstar Research Inc., agrees. "According to a 2006 StatsCan report, only 38 per cent have a retirement plan where they work. Most are on their own."

Powell specializes in investment research and analysis. This past summer, Morningstar partnered up with Desjardins Financial Security to create a group retirement savings product.

"Foresight is a turnkey solution for small to medium businesses," says Gil McGowan, Desjardins' regional vice-president of group retirement sales and development.

It offers 12 funds - including global equity and EAFs - six life cycle portfolios, and three retirement paths: growth, balanced or prudent. Most of it's age-based, explains McGowan.

The profiles are monitored by Morningstar, who produces quarterly reports to Desjardins at no cost to the employer or employee.

An employee benefit plan of this calibre shows a major shift in group retirement savings not just in Canada but globally, from defined benefit to defined contribution pension.

The first guarantees a certain income upon retirement, but it's up to the company to pay it. A defined contribution plan doesn't guarantee pension but puts a part of paycheques into a retirement account for the employee. The investment can go into a mutual or stock market fund, for example, and the returns, depending on market volatility, would go back to the account.

"The defined benefit plan is easy for calculating pension but something employers are not always willing to sustain," says SunLife Financial's Thomas Reid, the senior vice-president of group retirement services.

He notes 75 to 80 per cent of workers in the public sphere are covered under a defined benefit plan, but those in the private sector have dropped down to 20 to 25 per cent.

A defined contribution pension plan shouldn't be considered second rate, argues Mark Ross, national sales manager at TD Investment Services

The TD Future Builder is a group retirement savings product that also offers life cycle funds monitored by financial planners.

"There's an equal benefit here," he points out. "Say a business owner observes a turnover rate of two years. We'll design it so that after two years, if the employee is still around, they will match their contribution dollars."

The `disciplined savings strategy' is another plus.

"The contribution comes out of your pay before you even see it, and in that way you pay yourself first," says Ross. With such competition behind group retirement savings, life cycle - or target date funds - are fast becoming the market driving force, says Reid.

In October, SunLife launched SunAdvantage, a "plug and play" plan for smaller, entrepreneurial businesses. Its Milestone Fund function operates under target funds, which makes automatic adjustments as the fund's maturity date approaches.

"We haven't seen a slowdown in companies setting up GSPs even during the market downturn," says David Richardson, vice-president of RBC Asset Management. He says in almost every case, the employer chooses to match the employee's contribution, dollar for dollar.

"It's important to have loyal employees in good or bad economies."

Toronto Star, Thurs Nov 12 2009
Byline: Olivia Li

Premier Ed Stelmach speaks during an evening rally at the Capri Hotel in Red Deer, AB on November 6, 2009 during the Alberta PC party convention. (Jordan Verlage/Sun Media) The president of Alberta's largest labour union is blasting Premier Ed Stelmach's suggestion that some victims of the recession need to change their attitudes.

During a lunch time address to the St. Albert Chamber of Commerce today, Stelmach said Alberta is poised to rebound from the economic turmoil and will benefit from a deep labour pool, but only for those with the right outlook.

"The A and B Crews are working and the C Crew is at home until they change their attitude," he said, during prepared remarks.

"This is the new reality in a time of recession."

But Alberta Federation of Labour President Gil McGowan said workers who found themselves unemployed through no fault of their own deserve a better fate than to have their attitudes questioned by their leader.

"This is a disturbing comment coming from the premier in a time of recession - he seems to be blaming the unemployed for being unemployed," he said.

"To suggest these people are unemployed because they've chosen to be or are lazy is frankly ridiculous and disrespectful."

The AFL represents 29 different Alberta unions and McGowan said the construction industry, in particular, has been hard hit in the recession, leaving many skilled workers on the hunt for only a handful of jobs.

Tom Olsen, a spokesman for the premier's office, clarified Stelmach's remarks, noting he was referring to an overabundance of unskilled workers who benefited from the boom a few years earlier, securing high paying jobs without any real training.

He said the premier's suggestion was aimed at those who lost their jobs because they didn't have the appropriate training, and believes they need to take the time to boost their skills while the economy has cooled.

"Basically, what (Stelmach) was saying was you need skills to get work and if your attitude is you don't want to go out and get those skills and get trained, then you're going to be out of luck," Olsen said.

"There have been many people laid off through no fault of their own but there are others who sit back when they were making $80,000 a year with no training and are grousing about the fact that they're out of work."

According to the latest numbers from Statistics Canada, Alberta's employment has fallen 3.3% or 68,000 workers since October 2008, the sharpest decline in Canada.

Last month alone, 15,000 jobs were lost, pushing the current unemployment rate to 7.5%.

Edmonton Sun, Thurs Nov 12 2009
Byline: Shawn Logan

EPCOR CEO Don Lowry is living in fantasy world if he thinks his dramatically diminished corporation will ever generate $130 million in dividends for the citizens of Edmonton again, says AFL president

Financial results showing that EPCOR lost $56 million in the third quarter of 2009 should be a wake-up call for members Edmonton City Council who voted six months ago to relinquish control over $5 billion worth of electrical power generation assets previously owned by the citizens of Edmonton through EPCOR.

"In 2008, before the City spun off EPCOR's power generation assets, EPCOR was so profitable that it generated a $130 million dividend for the City of Edmonton which allowed them to keep municipal taxes 25 per cent lower than they would have been otherwise," said Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour, one of three union groups that took the City of Edmonton to court in a bid to stop the spin off.

"Without the power generation assets, which were responsible for something like 70 or 80 per cent of EPCOR's profits, EPCOR will never be the cash cow that it was for the citizens of Edmonton. And that means the City will either have to increase taxes dramatically or consider deep cuts to basic services. Obviously, neither of these options is particularly appealing."

McGowan says the 3rd quarter results are illuminating not only because they show that EPCOR lost $56 million (compared to a profit of $76 million for the same three months last year) but also because they show that EPCOR has been dramatically diminished as a corporation.

"With the spin-off of power assets to Capital power and the privatization of 30 per cent of those assets, EPCOR has been transformed from a corporation with nearly a billion dollars worth of revenue each quarter to a corporation with only about $350 million of revenue each quarter," says McGowan.

"EPCOR CEO Don Lowry called a news conference today to reassure Edmontonians that the new EPCOR, minus its most valuable assets, will somehow continue to generate similar level s of income for the City. But he's living in a fantasy world if he thinks his dramatically diminished corporation will ever generate $130 million in dividends for the citizens of Edmonton. You can't give away the assets responsible for 80 per cent of your profits and expect to continue making the same kind of money. The numbers just don't add up."

McGowan says he hopes EPCOR's dismal results will convince members of City Council to admit a mistake was made and stop the anticipated sale of the 70 per cent of power generation assets that have not yet been privatized by Capital Power.

"The good news is that there's still a chance for City Council to do the right thing and reassert their control over our city's remaining power assets. But that will require strong leadership and political will. Let's hope that members of Council have the internal fortitude to do the right thing."

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For more information call: Gil McGowan, AFL President @ (780) 218-9888

More than half of Canadians fear they aren't saving enough money for their retirement. Unfortunately, their fears are justified. Statistics show one in five Canadian working households have no retirement savings.

Only about one-third of workers in Alberta belong to workplace pension plans. Many of those who do may still not be socking away enough money for their retirement years.

People are living longer and costs are rising. Financial advisers have long suggested that retirees will require 60 to 70 per cent of preretirement income to live on after they leave their jobs, but the latest research suggests that range may still be too low. Many Canadians are likely only going to be able to muster 50 per cent of the pre-retirement income and in Alberta it is expected to be even less than that.

The governments of Alberta and British Columbia have seen the shocking predictions and are wisely making efforts to do something about it. In October 2007, they created a joint expert panel to look at the problem and come up with a program to bolster the Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Security income many of their residents will have to rely on for their existence when they retire. The Alberta Federation of Labour says those two federal programs will only provide about 14 per cent of the pre-retirement income of workers, leaving a huge gap between what they have and what they will need.

The obvious solution would be to dramatically bolster the federal programs-- a move called for by the federal NDP just two weeks ago.

NDP Leader Jack Layton says Canada is in a pension crisis and CPP benefits need to be boosted from about $900 monthly to $1,800. That, he says, would require a payroll deduction of about another 2.5 per cent. CPP was initially designed to provide replacement income of only 25 per cent of the average industrial wage, or about $11,000 annually.

Even the head of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board has called for creation of a supplementary CPP benefit to top up the existing plan, noting that 11 million Canadians have no access to a pension.

But Ottawa has seen no urgency.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper told Parliament the government is still consulting with Canadians and the provinces on pension reform. Alberta MP Ted Menzies, the federal finance minister's point man on pensions, has promised to submit proposed recommendations for changes for the country's finance minister's to consider at their next meeting in December.

Alberta and British Columbia are holding Harper's feet to the fire by saying they will press on with their own ABC plan if the federal government fails to deliver meaningful proposals for reform.

Alberta Finance Minister Iris Evans told Canwest News Service this week that there are "frightening" gaps in the retirement plans of Canadians and Alberta and B.C. will push on alone if they have to. "It's not going to slow our horses out here," she said, in true Alberta fashion.

Albertans and all Canadians need action on this file now, but there is value in a national plan that is portable. How well will we be served if every region of the country has its own plan? Already we're hearing that the Wildrose Alliance wants to pull the province out of CPP in favour of an Alberta-only plan.

Critics have also raised some serious concerns about the ABC plan, which is proposed to be voluntary. That means employers, who currently don't have their own plans, won't have to participate in this one either or contribute to their employee's pensions. There are also concerns that the ABC plan is to be a defined contribution plan rather than a defined benefit plan that guarantees retirees a specific monthly amount when they retire. Under a defined contribution plan, benefits could be reduced if the economy sagged.

While the ABC proposal is better than what Albertans have today-- since some of them have nothing-- let's hope Ottawa answers the bell with something that's more than a Band-Aid. Canadians need pension reform now if they are to be spared a retirement into poverty.

Edmonton Journal, Fri Nov 6 2009

Thanks to the H1N1 virus, society is finally coming to understand how critical it is to prevent the spread of viral infections.
It's unfortunate that it took a real global threat to finally bring home the message. But the message should now be clear: if you are sick, stay home for the protection of those around you in the workplace and at school.

For generations, children have been sent to school with fevers, running noses, sneezing and coughing. These are the symptoms of a very sick child. Why aren't they kept at home? Put them in a crowded classroom environment and the potential to spread that virus to other children is immense.

From there, some of those classmates bring the virus home and pass it on to their parents and siblings. In turn, parents report to their workplace displaying the same symptoms and pose the same potential to spread the virus to co-workers. And the cycle continues.

Some employees are afraid to call in sick for fear of lost wages -- or worse, their employers believe it's not true.

But finally, with this recent virus scare, we have realized that a sick child in a classroom, or a sick person in the workplace, poses a serious hazard to others. It's amazing this has taken so long to sink in.

Adults missing work due to illness, for example, have been penalized by reduced wages, or no wages at all -- penalized by a public health problem in great part created by those refusing to stay home and nurse their illness.

According to Alberta Federation of Labour president Gil McGowan, Albertans need better protection under the Employment Standards Code.

"The employment standards codes in six other Canadian jurisdictions give workers the protections they need," McGowan said. "All of those codes say that workers cannot be disciplined, demoted or dismissed for taking time off work because of short-term illness. The Alberta code, on the other hand, doesn't say anything at all about sick leave. As a result, workers whose employers don't independently provide paid or unpaid sick leave -- and we think that's a majority of workers in Alberta -- face the prospect of being punished for doing the right thing."

McGowan has asked that the provincial code be changed quickly.

Certainly the problem also requires some measure of understanding among employers, particularly for those employees with children. If a child is too sick to go to school and child care is not available, what are the options for parents? Send the child to school anyway or stay home to care for your child, regardless of the consequences. Often parents in such circumstances are penalized by lost wages or worse.

It is time we got over the archaic mindset that praised employees who reported for duties while ill. They were applauded by the bosses as being "real troopers" because, apparently, showing up for work under such dire physical circumstances was a reflection on their devotion to the job.

Little, if any, regard was afforded to co-workers expected to perform their duties beside an ill co-worker. Then, if a concerned worker refused to work under such unhealthy conditions and walked out, his pay was in jeopardy.

But now the message is clear, thanks in part to the medical community that has emphasized a sick child does not belong in the classroom and a sick worker does not belong on the job.

In Ontario, doctors have urged employers to dump the mandatory doctor's note if someone calls in sick. Obtaining such a note is counter-productive, forcing sick people to venture out when they should be in bed, not bringing the virus into public places.

Schools and workplaces can expect higher-than-normal absenteeism this year. But by staying home, those who are ill are preventing a far more serious outbreak.

Winnipeg Free Press, Wed Nov 4 2009

 

2000 September Submission House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance 2001 Pre-Budget Consult