ALF V1

Putting money in the pockets of unemployed Albertans is the most powerful economic stimulus.

Aid must cover lost wages as well as damaged property

HIGH RIVER, AB – As flood rebuilding gets under way in earnest, and property owners begin to apply for compensation, Southern Alberta’s small businesses and employees are on the outside looking in. Many businesses have been forced to close, leaving some employees without an income for the foreseeable future.

“A loss of livelihood, even a temporary loss, can multiply the damage of a disaster like this, and make it more difficult for employees and employers to recover even long after the waters have receded,” Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL) President Gil McGowan said. “The Alberta government has responded quickly to help many touched by the flood, but so far workers have fallen through the cracks because the federal government is not doing its part.”

The AFL is asking the federal government to modify Employment Insurance (EI) to better serve working people in this and future disasters. EI must be flexible in times of crisis if it is to be an effective safety net. The federal government should:

• Waive the EI waiting period for all workers who have lost income during the flood
• Streamline the EI Work-Sharing program to work for employers and employees as they slowly ramp up production to pre-flood levels

Small businesses across the flood-hit regions are struggling with an EI program too rigid to respond in a disaster. “I had to take our employees to the EI offices yesterday and I worry about how they’ll pay their bills since we’ve had to shut down. That’s been the hardest part for us,” local business owner Jane Miller said.

The AFL is also asking the Alberta government to expand the flood-relief debit card program to workers who have lost income due to business closures.

“Workers are worrying about buying groceries, and employers are worried about losing qualified staff who are forced to find another job,” McGowan said. “Expanding the debit card program to employees who’ve lost income will help both employees and employers get through this difficult time and focus on getting back to work as soon as possible.”

Workers at large and small businesses alike are hurting in the pocketbook from flood-related closures. A lack of potable water has kept Cargill’s High River meat-processing facility offline since the flood, leaving 2,000 employees without an income. “Cargill wants to hold on to its employees and we want to stay, but some workers may need to look for other sources of income if the plant doesn’t get back to full capacity soon,” said Albert Johnson, President of United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 1118, the union that represents 1,500 workers at the Cargill plant.

“Workers in flood-affected areas have been instrumental in stemming the losses and beginning to repair the damage,” McGowan said. “Government at all levels must make sure they receive the support they need.”

MEDIA CONTACT:
Gil McGowan, President, Alberta Federation of Labour at 780.218.9888 (cell)

The Alberta Federation of Labour's Gil McGowan is calling on the federal government to extend EI coverage to all those affected by floods in Southern Alberta.

Only about 22% of unemployed Albertans are eligible for EI and the waiting period is 2 weeks.

McGowan is asking Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development Diane Finley to undertake a number of changes immediately including waiving all the waiting periods for those who qualify for benefits.

McGowan is also asking that EI benefits to small business owners affected by the flood be extended. He says many of the establishments under water in Calgary and surrounding communities, including High River, are in fact small businesses, therefore a special benefits class for small business owners whose businesses are not operational for up to four weeks should be created and all waiting periods should be waived.

McGowan says EI coverage to workers on commission and others, such as those who work for tips, who rarely qualify for EI, should be extended. Many of the workers affected by the floods are employed by small business and work on commission or for tips.

"The economic impact of this flood will be felt across Canada. The federal government should ensure no workers or small business owners are left out of reconstruction efforts," says McGowan.

"Almost all of Alberta's first responders are unions members and they're working hard in health care and emergency services delivery, remediation and restoration to help deal with the aftermath of the flood," says McGowan.

"We're hoping the federal government recognizes that not all workers have access to EI benefits. Extending them in these circumstances is the right thing to do for the people of Southern Alberta."

Okotos online, Wednesday, 26 June 2013
Byline: Dan Bascombe

Edmonton – Alberta Federation of Labour President Gil McGowan has called on the federal government to extend EI coverage for all those affected by floods in Southern Alberta.

Only about 22% of unemployed Albertans are eligible for EI and the waiting period is 2 weeks.

McGowan wrote to Minister Diane Finley today and asked her to immediately undertake the following:

• Waive all waiting periods for those who qualify for benefits.
• Extend EI benefits to small business owners affected by the flood. Many of the establishments under water in Inglewood/Mission, downtown Calgary, Bragg Creek, Medicine Hat, Banff/Canmore, Kananaskis and High River are in fact small businesses. Establish a special benefits class for small business owners whose businesses are not operational for up to (at least) four weeks and waive all waiting periods.
• Extend EI coverage to workers on commission and others – such as those who work for tips – who rarely qualify for EI. Many of the workers affected by the floods are employed by small business and work on commission or for tips. Extend EI coverage to those workers for their commission/tips income as reported to the CRA for the 2012 tax year.

"Almost all of Alberta's first responders are union members and they're working hard in health care and emergency services delivery, remediation and restoration to help deal with the aftermath of the flood," says McGowan.

"We're hoping the federal government recognizes that not all workers have access to EI benefits. Extending them in these circumstances is the right thing to do for the people of Southern Alberta."

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Read letter to Minister Finley

MEDIA CONTACT:

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

The province is investigating claims by nine former employees of a Whyte Avenue tattoo and bodypiercing shop that they didn't receive severance pay and T4 slips after they were laid off last month.

"It was shocking for us, really," said Sarai Jorgenson, former manager of Strange City Body Modification. "On Tuesday, we had a job and on Wednesday we didn't."

Jorgenson says Revenue Canada froze the company bank account in March.

After employees became concerned, the owner agreed to lay them off.

Former manager Sarai Jorgenson said that everyone is devastated because they loved their jobs and their clients. Former manager Sarai Jorgenson said that everyone is devastated because they loved their jobs and their clients. (CBC)

Instead, workers say their records of employment indicate that they quit, meaning that they can't qualify for Employment Insurance.

Some were able to find new jobs. But others are struggling without EI.

"It's really been devastating for all of us," Jorgenson said. "We loved our jobs, we loved the studio, we loved our clients."

The owner of Strange City, Richard Blaskievich, declined an interview with CBC News, but said he has met with his former employees and is trying to work things out.

CBC News has learned Blaskievich has filed for bankruptcy twice before. His last claim in 2010 lists a debt to Canada Revenue worth more than $430,000.

The former workers have spread word about their plight through social media.

The case has caught the attention of the province's largest labour group, the Alberta Federation of Labour.

"This story frankly smells pretty bad and I think it definitely warrants a pretty serious investigation by the provincial government's employment standards officials," said AFL president Gil McGowan.

The Alberta Employment Standards branch has received a formal complaint and will investigate.

CBC News, Friday, Apr 12 2013

It has become clear that the federal government, supported by a number of employer organizations, has a plan for transforming Canada's labour market in ways that will profoundly hurt Canadians.

It's a four-prong strategy which includes the dramatic expansion of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP), the erosion of Employment Insurance, raising the country's retirement age, as well as a systematic effort to undermine the ability of unions to stand up for the rights of working people and improve their standard of living.

Taken together, these policies will suppress the wages and incomes of Canadians, rather than address the real problems in Canada's job market.

As provincial and territorial federation of labour leaders, representing over three million workers from coast to coast to coast, we are calling on the premiers to stand with the workers of Canada against this cheap labour strategy.

Canada's premiers touched on some of these issues when they met in Halifax last week at the Council of the Federation. We think it is critical that the following issues be front and centre when they come together this fall to talk about the economy.

Foreign Workers: The TFWP is not immigration. It's exploitation. These workers, many of whom are desperately seeking a better life, are being used to create an underclass to drive down the wages and working conditions of Canadians. It's not fair or just to them, or to their Canadian co-workers. The recent decision by the Harper Conservatives to allow employers to pay temporary foreign workers 15 per cent less than their Canadian co-workers is a blatant example of their low-wage strategy.

With 1.3 million unemployed, and several hundred thousand more discouraged or underemployed Canadians, our focus should be on providing opportunities for Canada's unemployed and underemployed.

Employment Insurance: Instead of tackling unemployment in many regions of our country, the Harper plan has been to attack the unemployed. The Conservative government's changes to EI are clearly designed to force workers to take low-paying jobs or have their unemployment benefits cut off. This is not about helping the unemployed find jobs — rather, it is about serving them up to low-wage employers.

Old Age Security: Increasing the country's retirement age to 67 has nothing to do with the sustainability of our social programs or with retirement security. It is about forcing older workers who have struggled with low and medium wages throughout their working lives to work two more years. It is about expanding the pool of desperate workers who have no choice but to work for less.

Attacks on unions: Unions are one of the few mechanisms to protect the rights of working people and improve their standard of living. What unions achieve at the collective bargaining table lifts the floor and improves living standards for all workers. Unions also fight for and are instrumental in making gains for all society, like the establishment of medicare, health and safety laws, and fair minimum wages.

But the Harper government has a clear plan to attack unions. The government has undermined collective bargaining in the federal sector, and emboldened employers to drive down wages and attack pensions in the private sector. In addition, through legislation like Bill 377, the Harper Conservatives are attempting to rob unions of the ability to use their resources to defend their members and civil society.

So, what is the solution? Canadians need our country's premiers to denounce this low-wage agenda and stand up for what is in the best interest of working people.

When the premiers meet this fall to discuss the economy, we believe the labour market ought to be front and centre in that discussion. They must denounce the exploitive expansion of the TFWP. They must collectively demand that Ottawa invest more in training to bridge the skills gap, so that unemployed Canadians can fill available jobs.

Premiers should also call for improvements to Canada's EI program, as fewer than 40 per cent of unemployed Canadians are currently eligible for benefits. We need our premiers to challenge the notion that Canada must increase its retirement age to 67. What's really needed is pension reform that will allow all Canadians to retire in dignity, such as improving and enhancing CPP. And finally, the premiers should recognize and defend the important role unions play in our society and our economy.

The provinces have power. Our premiers understand that Canada is more than the sum of its parts.

Canadians need our premiers to push back. And when they do, Canadians, the vast majority of us, will be with them.

Halifax Chronical Herald, 2012 July 26

Submitted by the presidents of the provincial and territorial Federations of Labour: Rick Clarke, Nova Scotia; Lana Payne, Newfoundland and Labrador; Michel Boudreau, New Brunswick; Carl Pursey, Prince Edward Island; Sid Ryan, Ontario; Kevin Rebeck, Manitoba; Larry Hubich, Saskatchewan; Gil McGowan, Alberta; Jim Sinclair, British Columbia; MaryLou Cherwaty, Northern Territories.

Construction leaders in Canada have mixed views about what impact federal government Employment Insurance reforms will have on seasonal workers and the industry as a whole.

"It's hard to make an informed decision if the impact of these Employment Insurance reforms will be positive, negative or neutral," said Canadian Construction Association president Michael Atkinson.

"The measures are not nearly as negative for seasonal workers as people had speculated. So, the reforms are not anywhere near the type of draconian measures that some expected. The big fear was that these measures would force people to move to a different region of the country."

Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development Diane Finley announced on May 24 that the federal government is making changes to the Employment Insurance (EI) system that will help connect Canadians with available jobs.

Under new regulations expected to be in place by early 2013, the new definition of suitable employment will be based on six criteria: personal circumstances, working conditions, hours of work, commuting time, type of work and hourly wage.

In terms of commuting time the workplace should be within a one hour commute.

But, this could be higher depending on the applicant's previous commuting history and the community's average commuting time.

"When you look at the frequent user category and seasonal workers, the biggest fear employers have is that workers will go away and not come back in the spring," said Atkinson. >

"The only thing that is impacted is that they may have to take a salary at a reduced rate. But, even if they do accept a job at a reduced salary, why wouldn't they come back to their employer?"

The government is creating three different types of EI recipients including frequent users, occasional claimants and long-tenured workers.

Seasonal workers, which includes people in the construction industry, will fall into the frequent-user category. This is defined as those people who used EI at least three times for a total of 60 weeks in five years.

These people will be given six weeks to look for work in their field.

After this period, these applicants will be expected to find another job they are qualified for which pays at least 70 per cent of their last salary.

Christopher Smillie, spokesperson for the Building and Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO, Canadian Office, agrees that the federal government needs to provide a clear explanation about how EI reforms will impact the unionized construction industry.

"Union members have different rules that apply to them as far as eligibility. We have inquired with the minister's office and are waiting to find out what impact this will have on hiring halls across the country."

According to Smillie, union members are currently exempt from showing they are looking for work, because the hiring hall is responsible for finding them employment.

"It is not clear where our members fit into these categories," he said. "We will have to see how it all shakes out. Everyone is waiting for clarification."

The president of the Alberta Federation of Labour said the changes to EI are part of the Harper government's low-wage agenda, "These changes radically alter labour market pressures in favour of employers offering low wage jobs to Canadians," said Gill McGowan.

"When the labour market functions as it should, employers strengthen and increase wages to attract workers. These new changes allow employers to simply sit back, wait, and keep wages low for Canadians. Eventually, an unemployed worker will be bullied into a low paying job.

The 2012 federal budget outlines measures to strengthen work incentives, which includes clarifying the definition of suitable employment and what is a reasonable job search.

Journal of Commerce, Wed Jun 6 2012
Byline: Richard Gilbert

It's not a good time to be organized labour, or most types of labour, in Canada.

And I'd define "time" as the period when Stephen Harper is Prime Minister of Canada. It began as a minor concern back in 1996 and seems likely to continue at least until the Tories' year-old majority in Parliament faces an election in or around 2015.

A booming economy in the West has unemployment at 7.3 per cent nationally, so it's not the dark days of labour strife in the 1970s and early '80s. Regardless, unions are battling the Harper government over their right to strike while the Conservatives legislate changes that raise the retirement age and restrict employment insurance benefits.

Ottawa also just repealed - deep within the omnibus, and/or ominous, 452-page 2012 budget - a relatively obscure but significant piece of legislation called the Fair Wages and Hours of Labour Act. Depending on your personal politics, it's either music to your ears or a funeral dirge.

"Connect the dots," says Gil McGowan, the president of the Alberta Federation of Labour.

"This is not just a war on unions. It's an attack on all working people in Canada to fundamentally change the labour market in ways that benefit employers.''

Others, like Canadian Chamber of Commerce president Perrin Beatty, applaud the fact Ottawa is moving to address the persistent labour shortages in the western provinces and he urges more action to resolve "the No. 1 issue" for business in the country.

A number of events have pushed labour issues to the forefront of the policy agenda.

On Monday, Labour Minister Lisa Raitt introduced back-to-work legislation to bring an end to a strike by 4,800 workers at Calgary-based Canadian Pacific Railway.

Earlier, Human Resources Minister Diane Finley announced Employment Insurance benefits would be scaled back and the provisions to qualify for payments under the program that is funded by employers and workers would be stricter.

A story this week by The Canadian Press on the unexplained repeal of the Fair Wages and Hours of Labour Act simply asked: "Is the Harper government fundamentally anti-labour?"

Most observers would describe Harper's Tories as ideologically strongly pro-business, highly opposed to unions and collective bargaining, and steadfast about reducing Ottawa's $23.5-billion budget deficit. In that respect their actions hardly come as a surprise.

Canadian Pacific wouldn't be the first time Harper used back-to-work legislation. In the year since winning his first majority in Parliament last May, his government used it three times - once with Canada Post and twice with Air Canada.

To be fair, the Tories aren't the only Canadian government to override collectively bargained rights of workers.

In 1997, Liberal prime minister Jean Chretien ended a two-week postal strike by imposing a settlement and current Liberal Leader Bob Rae's "social contract" with Ontario's public sector unions when he was NDP premier in the early 1990s arbitrarily rewrote contracts to address budget woes.

The federal NDP has allowed back-to-work legislation to pass.

For the first five years of Confederation, union activity was a criminal act in Canada. It was 1872, near the end of the Industrial Revolution, when Parliament passed the Trade Unions Act.

Labour leaders would contend it's not simply a coincidence growth of the union movement in the 20th century corresponded with improvements in public health care, public education and the overall working conditions for employees in Canada.

The percentage of working Canadians represented by unions peaked in the 1980s at 38 per cent. It's now about 30 per cent.

Now, Canada's biggest unions are looking at a possible merger. The Canadian Auto Workers and the Communication, Energy and Paperworkers also acknowledged they're looking to the unemployed and the retired as potential new members.

Critics, mostly union leaders and academics, contend Harper's government is abusing labour laws.

One issue in the CP strike centres on a provision Canadian Labour Code that allows Ottawa to force employees to continue to provide services "to prevent an immediate and danger to the safety or health of the public."

Raitt has said she's considering changing the code so "the economy" is deemed essential service for the country.

While the unions fight on, it's uncertain how much clout organized labour carries these days.

The movement isn't what it once was and the report on the CAW/CEP merger acknowledged a goal is to change a perception unions aren't relevant in today's society.

Given their challenges, and common foe in Ottawa, teaming up likely makes sense.

Harper famously said in 1997 "Canada is a Northern European welfare state in the worst sense of the term," so you can pretty much see how public policy in Ottawa is going over the rest of his mandate.

Perhaps the best hope for labour leaders might just be that for all of Harper's neo-conservative zeal, the politician in him knows it's smart to get the heavy lifting done in year one of the mandate and hope that voters forget, or at least accept, it.

It means 2012 is shaping up to be a historic year in labour relations in Canada, historically bad.

canada.com, Mon May 28 2012
Byline: Stephen Ewart

New changes will tilt labour market in favour of low-wage employers

Changes to EI announced today pull back the curtain on Harper's low-wage agenda says the Alberta Federation of Labour.

"These changes will drive down wages eventually and inevitably force people into jobs they don't want at wages lower than their previous job" says AFL President Gil McGowan.

The Federation, which represents over 140,000 workers across the province, warns that this morning's announcement by Human Resources Minister Diane Finley will inevitably hurt all working families in the country, including here in Alberta.

"To add insult to injury, rather than talking to Canadians about his sweeping changes to EI, the government of Stephen Harper buried the new measures in the omnibus budget bill," says McGowan.

"The way these announcements were made shows the depth of secrecy and anti-labour sentiment espoused by the Conservative Government of Stephen Harper."

Under the new regulations – planned for early 2013 – there will be three new categories for unemployed workers. Each class of worker will be forced, by varying degrees, to consider jobs with lower and lower wages than they previously earned. For example, an Albertan who is a "frequent EI user,"' working in industrial construction and facing regular layoffs and contract work, would be forced to accept any work for which they are qualified for and take a pay cut up to 30 per cent less than their previous hourly wage.

McGowan underscores that new EI measures mark a drastic shift in how the labour market will operate in Canada. "These changes radically alter labour market pressures in favour of employers offering low wage jobs to Canadians."

"When the labour market functions as it should, employers strengthen and increase wages to attract workers. These new changes allow employers to simply sit back, wait, and keep wages low for Canadians. Eventually, an unemployed worker will be bullied into a low paying job," says Gil McGowan.

"These changes coupled with plans by the Federal Conservatives to get rid of the Fair Wages and Labour Act, and a ramping up of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, show that Canada is on a crash course towards labour austerity and conditions that are clearly in favour of employers, not workers."

-30-

AFL President Gil McGowan will be available to the media at 1:30 pm at the CUPE Western Municipal Convention located at the Coast Edmonton Plaza Hotel located at 10155 105 Street in Edmonton. He can be reached by phone at 780-218-9888.

Backgrounder

With the Conservative government's changes to the Employment Insurance (EI) system, unemployed workers will be pressured into taking jobs with lower wages than they had when they were employed. This pressure increases the longer a worker is unemployed and will increase faster based on workers' history of EI claims.

The Conservatives now place claimants into three categories:

• Long-tenured workers: workers who received 35 or fewer weeks of regular or fishing EI over the last five years. These workers will be allowed to restrict their job searching to positions that pay 90 per cent of their previous earnings and are in their "usual" occupation.
• Frequent claimants: workers who had three or more regular and/or fishing claims and received over 60 weeks of regular and/or fishing benefits in the past five years.
• Occasional claimants: workers not captured under the two above definitions.

All workers will be forced to accept wages lower than those they earned while working the longer they receive EI benefits.

Studies show that workers with high levels of education take longer to look for and find a job when they are unemployed.

Under the Conservatives' changes to the EI system, workers with high levels of education could be forced into jobs that are below their skill set or usual wage range the longer they spend looking for suitable employment.

These changes will have major consequences to Canada's labour market. Employers now do not have to increase wages to attract workers. They can simply sit back and wait for unemployed workers to accept low-wage jobs.

The new Employment Insurance rules from the federal government have the Alberta Federation of Labour fuming.

The AFL says the changes will push wages down, and force workers to take less than what they're worth.

AFL President Gil McGowan says the Harper government is turning the system into the opposite of what it was designed to be.

"This is really fundamentally insulting to me as a representative for working people, because I know that the vast majority of those people on the system are there against their will, they've lost their jobs and just need some help. And that's what the system is supposed to be there for."

The changes are promising to be tough on those who have utilized it more than once.

inews880, Thurs May 24 2012