ALF V1

Background:

The Edmonton workers are seeking wage parity with employees doing similar work in Calgary, but the employer has responded by seeking concessions. The strike began June 28.

AFL's Position:

These workers deserve to be treated with respect in the workplace, but to get it they need our help. Let's join them on the lines.

Action:

The picket lines are up 24/7 at two locations in Edmonton.

• 10931 - 177 Street
• 18503 - 107 Avenue

For more information, contact:

• Don Crisall  at [email protected]; or
• Theresa McLaren at [email protected]

Background:

Would you work 40 hours a week part time at half-time pay? More than half the Park Operations workers at the Calgary Exhibition and Stampede do - and some have been doing it for 15 years. Unlike most Canadians, they never get two consecutive days off. IAM Local 99 is trying to fix these and other workplace issues with a first collective agreement.

AFL's Position:

The rights of workers are being stampeded. It's time to ride to their rescue and help them get a first collective agreement.

Action:

You can help by attending a rally at the Calgary Stampede Exhibition grounds in support of the workers - during the Calgary Stampede.

Time: 9:00 a.m., Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Location: Calgary Stampede Exhibition grounds

Southern LRT exit ramp, Erlton Station, 25th Ave. and Macleod Trail South.

For more information, contact:

• Jason Rockwell at 780-709-2204 or [email protected]; or
• Kevin Clark at 780-235-5019 or [email protected].

Complete Service Alberta survey and submit by Friday, April 30, 2010

Apr 21, 2010

Issue: Service Alberta's survey on employment agencies (primarily for temporary foreign workers)

Action Requested: Complete Service Alberta's survey and submit

When: All surveys must be submitted by Friday, April 30, 2010

Background:

• "Employment agencies," better known as recruiters, often illegally charge large fees to desperate temporary foreign workers in exchange for job placement. The Alberta Federation of Labour Temporary Foreign Worker Advocate has found that the majority of foreign workers have been charged fees ranging anywhere from $3,000 to $20,000.

• The agencies are getting around the law by calling the fees settlement services or by charging for "arranging visas." The government has failed to prosecute any of these recruiters (unless they forget to pay the $200 licensing fee) by saying that the legislation was never designed for that kind of situation.

• Recently, the federal government has been forcing employers to fire foreign workers, breaching many collective agreements in the process and exacerbating the situation. It has become virtually impossible for foreign workers who have been working in Canada to get government permission to work here. A number of recruiters have been feeding on this desperation to turn a profit.

AFL's Position:

If employers need employees, then it is the employer that should pay the cost of recruiting, whether they are foreign or domestic.

Government should close loopholes in the law that allows employment agencies to charge workers for recruitment including related services.

When an employment agency is found to have broken the law by charging a worker fees, there should be a provision that the worker can sue for damages based on the finding (the Personal Information Protection Act provides this for breaches of privacy.)

Action:

Download Service Alberta's survey (http://www.servicealberta.ca/pdf/Employment_agencies_DP.pdf). You can submit your answers online by filling out the form and clicking on the "Submit by Email" button at the end of the form, or you may print it out and fax it or mail it in. If you plan to mail it, please get in posted very quickly so that it is received by next Friday, April 30, 2010.

The survey asks if you think the definition of Employment Agency should be broadened to include things like arranging visas, settlement services, etc. We think it should. Recruiters have been managing to avoid prosecution by saying that they are charging $10,000 for things like "settlement services" (arranging visas, arranging Alberta Health, opening bank accounts, etc.) not for "recruitment."

Issue 3 reflects actual common situations that foreign workers have, and continue to face. All such activities should be illegal and recruiters, who threaten, etc., should be prosecuted and sued.

Issue 4 asks whether agencies should have to provide security (like posting a bond) to protect job-seekers from financial harm. The Manitoba government has successfully implemented a program such as this and we believe that Alberta should also. Please answer "yes" to these questions.

Section 2 deals with the "settlement services" issue. We believe the suggested definition should also be expanded to include all services relating to accommodation, which would include buying furniture, etc. We are opposed to the "more than 30 days" clause - all costs of arranging accommodation should be covered by the employer. They should also be responsible for all services related to food and clothing. Most importantly, we believe that it is the employer who should pay for all such services, not the foreign worker. So, it is our position that agencies should be prohibited from charging temporary foreign workers fees for any settlement services (Issue 7, Question 7)

Contact information:

Employment Agencies Discussion Paper
Service Alberta, Consumer Programs
3rd floor Commerce Place
10155 - 102 Street
Edmonton, AB T5J 4L4
Fax: (780) 427-3033

If you have further questions or need more information, please contact Yessy Byl at [email protected] or call 780-474-8101.

Write Employment and Immigration Minister and the Premier!

Apr 15, 2010

Issue: Report of the Alberta Auditor General (April 2010) - Occupationa Health and Safety

Action Requested: Write the Minister of Employment and Immigration (the Honourable Thomas Lukaszuk) and the Premier

When: Immediately

Background:

Many of you will be aware that Alberta's Auditor General released a report this week that was highly critical of the Alberta Employment and Immigration's implementation and enforcement of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

His report identified "serious weaknesses in the (government's) system for dealing with persistent non-compliance." In particular, the report said the government doesn't have a clear "decision ladder for escalating compliance action from promotion and education to enforcement."

In addition, the AG's report found:

• Over 60 companies have persistently failed to comply with OHS orders.

• Half of those employers continue to hold a valid Certificate of Recognition (COR) that helps them win contracts and qualifies them for reduced WCB rates while stats show that their workers are much more likely to get hurt on the job than the provincial average.

• In a number of cases, the government simply suspended compliance orders even though the company in question had done little or nothing to address the issues.

AFL's Position:

This is a landmark document for the AFL's struggle for stronger occupational health and safety standards and enforcement in Alberta. We have been lobbying for years for better standards and enforcement for occupational health and safety in our province and this document gives empirical evidence that what we have been calling for is necessary.

The Auditor General has made five recommendations including: a call for greater enforcement of the Occupational Health and Safety Act; improvements to planning and reporting for health and safety; improving proactive inspections; and ensuring that companies with Certificates of Recognition are addressing any safety issues they have been cited for.

The entire report can be found at: http://www.oag.ab.ca/files/oag/OAGPubRepApr2010.pdf.

The AFL has requested an urgent meeting with Minister Lukaszuk, who has committed to address all of the issues brought up by the Auditor General "in one way or another," to discuss timelines for the implementation of all of the recommendations made in the report.

Action:

We urge each of you to also write to the Premier and the Minister and insist they take immediate action to implement the Auditor General's recommendations.

We would also encourage you to join us in calling on the government to publish the names of companies that are repeat offenders of the Occupational Health and Safety Act as it should be a worker's right to know whether their workplace is safe or not.

We are also calling on the government to bring in legislation that would make joint health and safety committees mandatory on every work site, which the Auditor General has recognized as being a helpful tool in other provinces where it has been implemented.

This is a window of opportunity for us that we must not allow to slip by without taking action.

Contact information:

The Honourable Thomas Lukaszuk

Legislature Offices

Legislature Office
#418 Legislature Building
10800 97 Avenue
Edmonton, AB
Canada T5K 2B6
Phone: (780) 415-4800
Fax: (780) 422-9556

The Honourable Ed Stelmach

Legislature Offices

Legislature Office
307 Legislature Building
10800 97 Avenue
Edmonton, AB
Canada T5K 2B6
Phone: (780) 427-2251
Fax: (780) 427-1349

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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.

When: May 9, 2009 @ 1:30pm

Where: Alberta Legislature, Edmonton

Join David Eggen and his special guests for this important event!

This is shaping up to be a big event, and Friends of Medicare needs you to help! Your job is to make sure you bring at least 4 people with you!

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!

Issue: Old Dutch Chips Locks Out 170 Workers

Action: Don't Purchase Old Dutch Chips

When: Until the Workers Get a Fair Deal

Background:

On March 30^th, Old Dutch Foods locked out 170 workers at its Calgary potato chip plant. Old Dutch is trying to use the lock out to put the squeeze on its workers, despite its continued high profits.

The union has indicated its ongoing willingness to negotiate a settlement. The two sides are not far apart on wages, but the employer refuses to budget on other important issues, including paid sick leave. The union is concerned that sick workers are coming to work because they cannot afford the lost wages. The union is also looking for stronger food safety language to protect consumers.

The employer also refuses to require all employees in the bargaining unit to pay union dues, which is a standard provision in most collective agreements.

How You Can Help:

UFCW is asking Albertans to not purchase Old Dutch products until they bargain a fair deal with their workers.

Old Dutch chips include Superstore and Safeway generic (no name) brands. The following brands are made in the Calgary plant:

• Old Dutch
• President's Choice
• No Name
• Great Value
• Compliments
• Safeway Blue Bags

On June 18, 2006, Kevan Chandler went to work, as usual, as a farmworker at the local feedmill. He never made it home again that day. While cleaning out a silo, he was buried by falling grain.

Because he was a farmworker, government safety officers didn't investigate, and the employer could not be held accountable for the accident. His wife couldn't get WCB benefits, and his kids were left without a father.

This is because under Alberta law, farmworkers are not covered by the Occupational Health and Safety Act, or any other labour law. They are denied the basic rights the rest of us take for granted.

Judge Calls for Safety Inclusion

In 2008, a fatality inquiry was called to explore the causes of Kevan's death and to examine ways to prevent similar deaths in the future. In January 2009, Judge Peter Barley released his findings.

Judge Barley states that Kevan's death could have been prevented if farmworkers had been included in occupational safety legislation. He recommends changing the law:

"It is recommended that paid employees on farms should be covered by the Occupational Health and Safety Ac, RSA 2000 Ch. O-2, with teh same exemption for family members and other non-paid workers that apply to non-farm employers." (p. 7)

Join the Campaign for Farmworkers

UFCW Canada has launched a campaign to pressure the Alberta government to include farmworkers in safety legislation. UFCW represents farmworkers in B.C., Ontario and Manitoba, and are now extending their campaign for farmworker rights to Alberta.

They have set up a website, and launched a letter writing campaign.

Help farmworkers achieve basic safety protections. Here is what you can do:

1. Tell the Alberta government to start taking farm safety seriously by sending a quick e-mail to Premier Ed Stelmach that calls for the immediate implementation of Justice Barley's recommendations.
2. Encourage your family members, friends, co-workers and neighbours to help make a difference by joining the End the Harvest of Death campaign.

Together we can make sure that Kevan Chandler's death was not in vain.

The Canadian Labour Congress has called a National Consumer Boycott of Robin Hood flour, oatmeal, and baking products. The boycott is at the request of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) and is in support of 61 locked-out members of UFCW Canada Local 416P in Ontario who are waiting for Horizon Milling to negotiate a fair collective agreement. Your support can help these workers win their struggle.