ALF V1

The Alberta Federation of Labor sees the Kearl oil sands project as a pipeline for shipping jobs to the United States.

Construction of the mega project northeast of Fort McMurray will create a temporary job boom in Alberta but once the bitumen begins flowing in 2012 the AFL claims Americans will get the biggest share of long-term upgrader jobs.

AFL President Gil McGowan asks: "When will the Stelmach government stop energy companies from shipping Alberta jobs down the pipeline?"

McGowan adds if the Kearl project represents the future of the oil sands, then Albertans should be very concerned.

Imperial Oil spokesman Gordon Wong confirms turning bitumen into useable products will be done at existing Imperial and Mobil facilities in Canada and the U-S.

Wong won't comment on the possibility of additional jobs at Imperial's big Strathcona Refinery here.

iNews880, Tues May 26, 2009

In recent years, Canada's Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) has been opened up to make it easier for Canadian employers to hire foreign workers to fill labour shortages in their growing businesses.  As a result, the annual number of foreign workers coming to Canada has skyrocketed over the past few years, and a growing proportion of them are unskilled.  Foreign worker advocates are now calling for a review of the program to better protect foreign worker rights and to explore avenues to allow them to transition to Canadian Permanent Residents.

Both federal and provincial governments have recognized the need for reforms to Canada's Temporary Foreign Worker Program.  Reports of recommendations have been published and are currently being reviewed by program coordinators.

In Alberta, where the number of foreign workers ballooned in the province to nearly 60,000 in December 2008 up from just under 40,000 a year earlier, the Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL) has been taking measures to better protect foreign worker rights.  In December 2007, the AFL established an advisory office and helpline for temporary foreign worker complaints and concerns.  It also conducts worksite audits to ensure that Alberta employers are compliant with provincial labour standards.

The AFL recently released a report calling for "the immediate end to the TFWP in its current form" and for the creation of mechanisms to offer Canadian Permanent Residency to all temporary foreign workers currently in Canada.

Additionally, a Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee report on illegal and temporary foreign workers has recently been tabled in the House of Commons, offering dozens of recommendations to improve the TFWP.

The recommendations include getting rid of a current rule that ties work permits to a specific Canadian employer along with improved measures to protect workers from unscrupulous recruitment agencies and employers.

"I rather suspect that a goodly number of their recommendations will find their way into law when the government implements changes to the program," stated a spokesperson for Canada's Immigration Minister, Jason Kenney.  "The Minister is currently consulting with cultural communities and employers on how to improve the temporary foreign worker program as well as the live-in caregiver program to better protect foreign workers, with a view to implementing tougher regulations in the upcoming months."

Last month, Manitoba introduced a new Worker Recruitment and Protection Act to address certain issues faced by temporary foreign workers in the province.  The Act requires that all foreign worker recruitment agencies be registered and licensed by the province and prohibits recruitment agencies from charging fees to foreign workers.  Manitoba has also implemented an improved regulatory system, requiring both employers and recruitment agencies to submit detailed records about the place of employment, the workers' duties and wages, and up-to-date contact information for the temporary foreign workers.

Foreign worker advocates are calling for similar legislation across the country.

While these reports and recommendations are being reviewed, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) is currently running an awareness campaign to inform temporary foreign workers and potential Canadian immigrants about how to protect themselves from dishonest and unethical immigration consultants and representatives.

Canadian Immigration Newsletter, Tues May 26 2009

CALGARY - Waiting nearly a year to announce formal approval of the Kearl oilsands mining project saved Imperial Oil Ltd. between $500 million and $1 billion in capital costs, chairman and chief executive Bruce March told investors Tuesday.

The $8-billion, 110.000-barrel-per-day first phase of the long-anticipated project, announced Monday but contemplated since 2002, dominated questions at a shareholder presentation in Toronto that was broadcast on the Internet.

"We could have endorsed Kearl and moved along six to nine months ago," said March, adding that Imperial was discouraged by labour and material cost escalation in northern Alberta due to billions of dollars in proposed competing projects and expansions.

The subsequent collapse in crude oil prices from $147 US per barrel last July and deferral of those projects resulted in huge cost savings.

"I think if you went back to a year earlier, early summer last year, you would be looking at somewhere between a half to a billion dollars more in investment (to build Kearl)," March said.

Imperial executives also tackled the thorny question of where the raw bitumen will be upgraded, noting that most of the early production expected starting in late 2012 will be going to Imperial's two Ontario refineries with a smaller portion to the Strathcona refinery on the east side of Edmonton.

"We will look first to run Kearl at our own refining assets," said March. "We can't get Kearl to Dartmouth (N.S.), so it's limited to Strathcona and our two Ontario refineries. Kearl is a heavy, low API gravity crude and I think you'll see us concentrate most of that upgrading at our two Ontario sites, rather than our Strathcona site which is less leveraged towards conversion capability.

"We'll also look to market Kearl to other upgraders in the Alberta area to minimize transportation costs. . . . and then last but not least we look at all the other third-party opportunities in the upper Midwest and eventually, shortly after 2012, you'll be able to get Kearl into the Gulf Coast."

Kearl's proprietary mining technology will produce a bitumen that can be mixed with diluent chemicals and shipped by pipeline.

In a news release early Tuesday, Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour, echoed opposition politicians in Alberta who took the province to task over the negatives of exporting raw bitumen.

"Over the longer term, this project is deeply troubling because it's focused exclusively on the extraction and export of raw bitumen," McGowan said. "The real money - and the real jobs - in this business are in upgrading and refining.

"Unfortunately Kearl will be sending all of those benefits down the pipeline to Exxon refineries in the US Midwest and Gulf Coast."

Premier Ed Stelmach said Monday the government has a plan in place to add value to bitumen, noting value is being added to about 700,000 barrels of the roughly 1.2 million barrels per day currently produced.

The premier said the province must address several issues before more upgrading can occur, including a cumulative environmental assessment to determine the level of emissions acceptable for Alberta's refining, upgrading and petrochemicals sector and ensuring adequate pipeline access for shipment.

"I feel very confident that we'll not only increase the amount of bitumen upgraded, but we're going to add thousands of jobs in the petrochemical industry," Stelmach said.

Calgary Herald, Tues May 26 2009
Byline: Dan Healing

If Imperial Oil's Kearl Lake project represents the future of the oil sands, then Albertans should be very concerned, says the president of the Alberta Federation of Labour.

"Kearl Lake will create a couple of thousand short- to medium-term construction jobs - and in the current economic climate, that's a welcome thing," says Gil McGowan.

"But over the longer term, this project is deeply troubling because it's focused exclusively on the extraction and export of raw bitumen. The real money - and the real jobs - in this business are in upgrading and refining. Unfortunately Kearl will be sending all of those benefits down the pipeline to Exxon refineries in the US Midwest and Gulf Coast."

McGowan points to a study released by the AFL in March of this year - entitled Lost Down the Pipeline - which shows that energy companies are expanding U.S.-based bitumen refining capacity at a furious pace.

In the report, the AFL identifies ten refineries in eight American states that are currently being re-tooled to process bitumen from Alberta. Once completed, these refineries will have the combined capacity to handle 2.8 million barrels per day - more than double the total current output from the oil sands.

"Given what's happening south of the border, it's starting to look like Kearl is a sign of things to come for Albertans," says McGowan. "We'll get the environmental consequences and the penny-on-the-dollar royalties, while the Americans will get the long-term jobs and revenue that come with value-added production."

McGowan says the big question that Albertans should be asking now is "when will the Stelmach government start using its legislative power to stop energy companies from shipping Alberta jobs down the pipeline?"

McGowan is currently in Ottawa with other provincial and national union leaders attending a meeting of the Canadian Labour Congress executive council. Print and radio reporters interested in talking to McGowan about the Kearl project can reach him by phone. McGowan will also make himself available for television interviews for any station that has affiliates in Ottawa.

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For more information, call:

Gil McGowan, AFL President (780) 218-9888 (cell)

In the face of steep job losses and a battering recession, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Friday his government won't ease eligibility rules for unemployment benefits.

Harper, who was in Calgary to announce $100 million in funding for the southeast ring road project, called demands from opposition parties to reduce the work period required for employment insurance(EI) aid to 360 hours absurd.

The Alberta government is also seeking reduced qualifying hours for the province's growing pool of laid-off workers. Alberta's jobless rate rose to six per cent last month, its highest level in seven years.

Harper, however, suggested he's not willing to make further changes to the federal program, noting benefits have been extended by five weeks and Ottawa has invested significant dollars in training.

"They(opposition parties) are suggesting that what we should do is bring in an EI system where any Canadian in anywhere in the country in perpetuity could work 45 days and collect EI benefits for a period up to a year.This is an absurdity. It is not responsible," the prime minister said.

"This has nothing to do with the real problems of this recession. This is just a recipe to raise payroll taxes."

The number of work hours needed to qualify for EI varies across the country, from 420 hours to 700 hours, depending on the health of a region's employment.

Albertans require the most hours to qualify, based in part on a jobless rate that was once the lowest in the country.

The Stelmach government has been lobbying Ottawa for equity in EI rules. Along with easing eligibility rules, it wants the Harper government to further extend how long Canadians can collect unemployment benefits.

"We're just saying that as conditions may change . . . we (should) get equal or close to equal recognition of some of the EI program," Stelmach said.

Federal opposition parties have threatened to force an election over the EI issue.

In an opinion piece written for publication in newspapers, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff contends Canada's employment insurance system "wasn't built for a national crisis of this scope."

"More than 40 per cent of the unemployed in this country aren't eligible for EI, even though they have paid into the system. As a result, Canadians aren't getting the help they need when they need it," he wrote.

The Liberals want the Harper minority government to introduce a national 360-hour standard for EI eligibility during the recession. The party proposes to cover the added cost of benefits through general revenues and keep payroll taxes frozen.

"The distortions produced by the current EI rules are striking," Ignatieff added in his open letter.

"Unemployment is up 83 per cent in Alberta and 68 per cent in British Columbia --but it's still twice as hard to qualify for EI in Western Canada as it is elsewhere in the country."

Pressure to change the insurance program is also coming from union groups.

Alberta Federation of Labour president Gil McGowan accused Harper of using EI as a wedge issue in the run-up to a possible federal election.

"What's being lost in this approach is the fact that the unemployment insurance system is simply not up to the task of helping Canadians through this recession," McGowan said.

"The employment insurance system should be there for workers when they lose their jobs no matter where they live, whether it's Calgary or Cape Breton."

Calgary Herald, Sat May 23 2009
Byline: Renata d'Aliesio

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A new Alberta safety code is coming into effect in July after a lengthy public consultation process.

"Our members are supportive of the changes to legislation that improve safety, but they must be reasonable and practical to implement," said Ken Gibson, executive director of the Alberta Construction Association.

"Our biggest concern right now is that the timeframe to implement the changes is only three months. There is a lot of burden being put on employers because they have to change their training materials and courses, labeling on equipment and processes on the worksite."

OHS Code updates that will impact the construction industry include:

• New requirements for lift calculations, tag lines and personnel baskets;
• Distinguishing between 'confined' and 'restricted' spaces for entry permit systems;
• Requirements applicable to respiratory protection against airborne biohazardous material;
• Mobile equipment requirements specifically for concrete pump trucks;
• New, specific safety factors for rigging components.

Alberta is the only jurisdiction in Canada to update its workplace safety rules through public consultation rather legislation.

"The process we follow in Alberta is different," explained Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour.

"We are the only province in the country that has adopted this approach to updating and reviewing the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Code."

The code has been updated three times in six years, but employers are still operating under the 2006 version of the code until July 1, when the new code comes into effect.

"The rules are significantly different than they were before, because there are exact specifications now," said Chris Chodan, public affairs officer with the Ministry of Employment and Immigration.

"In 2004 the OHS Act was revamped so updates could be made by changing technical requirements, rather than being specified through new legislation."

Under the new system, the code is updated and reviewed by a government minister in consultation with industry representatives.

"We took recommendations from various members of the public and put them in front of our technical specialists, who in turn made recommendations of what changes could be made," said Chodan.

"The changes were put up on a website for comment. The changes went back to the OHS council, who determined which ones were appropriate. Finally, the OHS council makes recommendations to the minister responsible."

The consultation process uses a model that gives industry 15 representatives and labour and government four representatives each.

"The big difference is that Alberta has essentially pulled the OHS rules outside of the legislative process," said McGowan.

"This is fundamentally undemocratic and dangerous. Legislative scrutiny is at the heart of our democracy. The public should be worried when any laws are taken out of the hands of the legislature and put into the hands of individual politicians or cabinet ministers."

Gibson said that he agrees with most of the changes in the new code, but has some concerns about the process.

He also expressed concern that frequent change to the entire safety code is putting an undue burden on employers.

"Moving things into the safety code and leaving legislation intact is more responsive and flexible in practice," he said.

"But, now we see annual changes to the whole code, so it is way too responsive. We were never supposed to change huge parts of the code or the entire code at once."

According to Gibson, the consultation process, which includes attending meetings and pouring over the changes to give a reasoned response, is very time consuming.

He added that when changes are made every couple of years, there is not enough time to see if the industry has significant concerns.

The ministry spokesman sees things in a different light.

Chodan said that since the code has been changed several times in the last few years, there my not be a need for frequent changes.

"We are reviewing the code every two to three years, but it may not be that frequent in the future," he said

"It will depend on how many recommendations we get from stakeholders and industry, as well as how fast the industry changes."

The 2009 OHS Code can be found online at: http://employment.alberta.ca/whs-ohs.

Journal of Commerce, Wed May 13 2009
Byline: Richard Gilbert

Alberta has the capacity to create over 20,000 jobs in the short run, and tens of thousands more long term by shifting its focus to a green economy, according to a new report from Albertan environmental groups and the Federation of Labour.
Greenpeace, Sierra Club Prairie and the Alberta Federation of Labour teamed up to release Green Jobs: It's time to build Alberta's future on April 22. The report suggests three areas where the Alberta government can immediately create jobs while beginning a green economy: retrofitting homes towards greater energy efficiency, building a high-speed light-rail transit corridor between Edmonton and Calgary and encouraging solar and wind power production by providing a feed-in tariff for green energy inputted to the grid.
"There's a different future for Alberta, one able to diversify and expand the economy while protecting our environment," said Mike Hudema, Greenpeace's tar sands campaigner. "The old ideology, of environment vs. economy, is dead. The ideology of the future says you have to have a strong environment to create a strong economy."
The Green Jobs report says a $2 billion government investment in home retrofitting would make 600,000 homes across the province more energy efficient while immediately creating 6,500-14,000 jobs over two years. Those new jobs would be focused on the construction industry, and timely given the fact that unemployment in the Alberta construction industry has increased 14 per cent over the past year, putting 22,000 construction workers out of work.
Alberta's Department of Employment and Immigration has not released a specific response to the report, but spokesperson Terry Jordan said the idea of building a green economy fits with Alberta's objectives.
"A green economy addresses environmental health and sustainability issues," Jordan said. "With advances in science and technology, a green economy uses cleaner and more renewable resources, decreases reliance on hydrocarbons, reduces energy consumption and increases efficiency. The next generation of environmental careers will help shape Alberta's future opportunities."
For the feed-in tariff idea, the report's authors took a cue from Ontario. In March 2009, Ontario became the first North American jurisdiction to attempt a feed-in tariff on renewable energy. Ontario's proposed plan involves implementing a guaranteed price of over 80 cents/kwh for individual rooftop solar production and roughly 44 cents/kwh for large-scale solar production, to encourage the development of renewable energy from a wide range of sources.
Although the Green Jobs report did not provide specific numbers about the cost of an Alberta feed-in tariff, Hudema suggested it would be similar to the Ontario rates.
Bob McManus, spokesperson for Alberta Energy, said the government does not subsidize any fuel source and has no plans to do so.
"If you look at what they're paying as a subsidy in Ontario, around 42 cents per kilowatt hour, that's a huge subsidy," he said. "When something's in its infancy, it might work, but if it gets popular there's a huge cost associated with that."
Hudema, however, believes an investment in renewable energy would be good for the future of Alberta, especially small northern communities like Fort Chipewyan.
"If we develop heavily in renewables through a feed-in tariff, there are huge benefits for small communities to control where they're getting energy," Hudema said. "There's tremendous potential for lifting communities off the grid, especially around the Fort McMurray area."

Slave Lake Journal, Tues May 12 2009
Byline: Shawn Bell

The Telecommunications Workers Union (TWU) is sponsoring a campaign to pressure provincial and federal governments to do more to help save Canadian jobs in the recession. They are concerned that unemployment in Canada is unacceptably high, corporations are moving jobs offshore and Canadian governments are doing nothing about it. They have launched a cross-Canada campaign to raise awareness about the growing problem of unemployment and to hopefully motivate Canadians to demand their politicians do something to keep jobs in Canada.

The campaign consists of two components:

1.    National Unemployment Clock. A truck-mounted real-time calculator of the total jobs lost in Canada is working its way across the country, hitting all the major cities along the way. It began in Ottawa on May 6 and will reach "home base" in Vancouver on June 8. It will be in Alberta on these days:

• May 24 - Calgary
• May 25 - Red Deer
• May 26 - Edmonton

2.   Online Petition. The campaign is asking Canadians to sign an online petition in support of action to keep jobs in Canada.

How You Can Help

1. Attend the local event for the unemployment clock when it reaches your town.
2. Go to http://www.keepjobsincanada.ca/ and sign the online petition.

Read more

Say No to Old Dutch Chips

• Rather than bargain fairly, Old Dutch Chips on March 30 locked out 170 workers at its Calgary plant. The workers are simply looking for provisions that most workers take for granted: sick pay, minimum hour guarantees, stronger food safety standards and a requirement that all workers pay union dues. The workers, members of UFCW 401, are asking Albertans to not purchase Old Dutch products until the company agrees to a fair deal. Old Dutch chips include the generic brands made for Safeway and Superstore. Take a bite out of Old Dutch profits ...

How To Keep Energy Jobs in Alberta

• Alberta's boom has started to bust with the global economic recession, and thanks to the Alberta government's insistence on a "hands off" policy in the oil sands, thousands of future jobs in upgrading and refining will be located in the U.S. instead of Alberta. The AFL has released a new report, "Lost Down the Pipeline," examining the problem and offering solutions on how we can retain these high quality jobs in Alberta when the downturn ends. Read Lost Down the Pipeline ...

Getting Some Green...Jobs That Is

• The old claim that we have to choose between jobs and the environment is a myth. It is possible to take action to protect the environment AND create good jobs at the same time. To prove it, the AFL has partnered with the Sierra Club and Greenpeace to craft a groundbreaking report on the potential for green jobs in Alberta. Called "Green Jobs: It's time to Build Alberta's Future," it defines a "green job" and looks at concrete ways we can put Albertans to work improving the environment and strengthening our economy at the same time. Read the Green Jobs Report ...

See It On YouTube

• You read our reports. You surf our website. You check out Labourbytes. Now you can see the video version of AFL activities. The AFL has begun producing short videos of our report releases and other events and posting them on YouTube, just like all the cool kids do. Also, for ease of reference, we are linking them to a single page in our website. So, next time you are looking for the AFL's position on an issue, try checking out our YouTube video. http://www.afl.org/pressroom/youtube.cfm?pageId=434&action=preview

AFL Officers Re-elected

• At the AFL Biennial Convention at the end of April, both AFL President Gil McGowan and Secretary-Treasurer Nancy Furlong were re-elected . The Convention also selected a new Executive Council to guide AFL activities for the next two years.

Urgent Action

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Stand Up for Public Healthcare!
Friends of Medicare Rally

Saturday May 9, 2009 @ 1:30pm
Alberta Legislature, Edmonton

We are standing up to tell our Health Minister that we do not agree with the attack on seniors, the threats to our services, closures of hospitals, along with the rest of the dismantling that has been occurring.

Let's give the Health Minister a strong message that we want positive improvement to our public Healthcare system!

We are organizing buses and car pools from around the province!
If you are wanting to get on one of these buses, call the Friends of Medicare: (780)423-4581. Stand up for Medicare ...

Public Interest Alberta's 5th Anniversary Celebration
Friday, June 5, 2009

Grand Ballroom
Chateau Louis Conference Centre
11727 Kingsway, Edmonton

This evening will give us an opportunity to come together to socialize and reflect on the important work we have undertaken over the past five years. We will also be presenting our annual Public Interest Award to this year's recipients.

Tickets - Individual $65.00 / Table of 8 - $500.00

6:00 pm - Cocktails
7:00 pm - Dinner
8:00 pm - Celebration & Entertainment

http://www.pialberta.org/events

Did you know ...

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Green Job Creation in Alberta

Short Term: 53,000 to 65,000
Medium Term: 85,000 to 140,000

Possible Green Jobs:

• Retrofitting buildings
• Building and operating public transit
• Manufacturing Green Products
• Building High Speed Rail
• Creating Green Energy Infrastructure