Company promises to hire Canadians after being caught using TFWs to replace domestic iron workers
TFWs will be moved to another project, but it remains unclear if fired Canadians will get their jobs back
Edmonton – The company involved in a TFW scandal on Imperial Oil's Kearle Lake site has admitted that it fired Canadian iron workers and replaced them with TFWs.
In a statement released to media this afternoon, the company, Pacer-Promec Joint Ventures, said it would move the TFWs to another site and commit to hiring Canadians – but stopped short of saying they would offer the jobs to the Canadians who had been fired in the first place.
"At first blush, this looked like a clear victory for the fired Canadians workers," Alberta Federation of Labour President Gil McGowan said. "But Pacer-Promec has not contacted the union or the fired workers with an offer to come back to work. Something still smells pretty fishy here."
On Tuesday, Feb. 4, 65 Canadian workers employed by Pacer-Promec Joint Ventures were given their pink slips, and they were replaced by Temporary Foreign Workers. When the firings came to light, the ensuing public outrage forced the government to announce an investigation. Late Friday afternoon, the company issued a press release that included an apology and a promise to hire Canadians.
"The news statement from the company is certainly a step in a more positive direction, but the story should not end here," McGowan said. "The Canadian workers have still not been offered their jobs back. And, even more importantly, this is not an isolated incident. This is not a case of a rogue employer breaking the rules. The real problem is with the rules themselves. Specifically, a new stream in the TFW program allows employers in Alberta's construction industry to hire TFWs without first looking for Canadians. As long as this new stream remains in place, Canadian tradespeople will continue to face the prospect of being replaced by or passed over for TFWs."
In October, more than 300 workers at Husky Energy's Sunrise Oilsands Project were let go. In some cases, they were forced to train the Temporary Foreign Workers who were replacing them. The Alberta Federation of Labour has been a leader in bringing abuses of this program to light.
"More and more Canadians are going public, and letting the country know the extent to which the Temporary Foreign Worker program is undermining job security, undermining wages, and exploiting disadvantaged workers," McGowan said.
Even with Pacer-Promec's promise to rehire Canadian workers, McGowan says many important questions remain.
"The company says they will move the TFWs to another work site. Will these TFWs fill jobs on that site that would have otherwise been available to Canadians? Will they still be paid half the wage of Canadian workers? Perhaps most importantly, will the companies involved face any consequences? Will they be fined? Will they lose their right to bring TFWs into the country? Canadians deserve answers to these questions?"
The Harper government has made such a mess of the TFW program that experts say a full investigation by an impartial third party is warranted.
"The Harper government created this monster, they can't be trusted to tame it," McGowan said. "Canadians deserve a royal commission on the economic, social and cultural impact of this program. It morally diminishes us as a country to have a program that creates a disenfranchised underclass of non-citizen workers."
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MEDIA CONTACT:
Gil McGowan, President, Alberta Federation of Labour at 780.218.9888 (cell)
Olav Rokne, Communications Director, Alberta Federation of Labour at 780.289.6528 (cell)
or via e-mail [email protected]
AFL blasts Northern Gateway decision
Conditions placed on approval won't stop pipeline from shipping high-value jobs overseas
Edmonton – Despite the evidence that the Northern Gateway will be detrimental to the interests of Canadians, the National Energy Board's Joint Review Panel has given the go-ahead for a pipeline that will transport hundreds of thousands of barrels of raw bitumen to refineries in China every day.
The approval, which places more than 200 caveats and conditions on the pipeline, was announced on Thursday. The province's labour movement, which has provided research and evidence throughout the debate over the pipeline, took aim at the decision.
"This is a decision that Canadians will come to regret, and it's a decision that ignores the evidence," Alberta Federation of Labour president Gil McGowan said. "They've placed more than 200 conditions on this approval, but none of those caveats change the fact that this pipeline will siphon jobs out of Alberta, out of Canada and out of North America. It's a monstrous bitumen superhighway which will send thousands of high-paying jobs in upgrading and refining out of the country. Instead of those jobs being created Fort McMurray or Fort Saskatchewan, they'll be created in Shanghai or Bejing."
McGowan vowed that the Alberta Federation of Labour will support First Nations and environmental groups that will almost certainly continue to fight against the pipeline.
The AFL has shown that pipeline project will only create 228 permanent jobs, and barely 1,500 short-term construction jobs. Meanwhile, more than 26,000 long-term high-value upgrading jobs will be farmed out to low-wage jurisdictions overseas.
The AFL has spent more than two years examining the Northern Gateway pipeline, sifting through evidence and participating in cross-examination on the economic benefits of the project. According to the research presented by the Federation, shipping an unrefined product overseas will be detrimental to existing upgrading in Canada, and will further undermine the pricing of Canadian natural resources. The pipeline will drive up costs for Canadian upgraders by more than $800 million dollars.
Other evidence submitted by the AFL and various experts shows that:
• Canada only captures about 35 per cent of the potential value of bitumen when it's shipped raw, compared to 75 per cent of the value when it's upgraded to Synthetic Crude (SCO) before being exported
• With the construction of new bitumen export pipelines like Northern Gateway, the Alberta government's own studies show that the per centage of bitumen upgraded in Canada will collapse to as little as 23 per cent, compared to the 65 per cent that has traditionally been upgraded in the country.
"Governments at all levels pay lip service to wanting to keep good jobs in Canada, but they always end up putting the narrow interests of big energy corporations ahead of the broader public interests of Canadians," McGowan said, adding this is this is the AFL's fourth intervention against raw bitumen exports in recent years.
McGowan said he was pleased the review panel at least acknowledged that the AFL and the Communication Energy Paperworkers union (CEP) had raised "valid public interest considerations" in the arguments they made about lost Canadian jobs. But he was "disappointed and frustrated" by panel's conclusion that private energy companies would build more upgraders and refineries in Canada if it was economic to do so.
"The panel is ignoring the fact that governments in both the U.S. and China heavily subsidize their refining industries. That's why they've decided to rip and ship our resources and send them to refineries in their home countries. Given that these are resources owned by the Canadian public, the question that Canadians should be asking themselves is this: does it make sense for us to let other countries keep the jobs for themselves and leave us with the pollution and a few economic crumbs from the table?"
McGowan said the panel report demonstrates the need for a clear national energy strategy that puts the needs and interests of the Canadian public first.
"We shouldn't expect bureaucrats like those who worked on the review panel to stand up to big oil companies," McGowan said. "They can't and they won't. What we need, instead, are politicians with courage; politicians who remember that they work for Canadians citizens, not multi-national oil companies. More specifically, we need a made-in-Canada energy strategy that puts a priority on long-term job creation for Canadians and energy security for Canada. Every other energy-producing country in the world, including the U.S., has a strategy to protect and promote their own domestic interests. It's time for our politicians to get their heads out of the oil sands, pardon the pun, and start standing up for Canadians, instead of caving in to the Exxons and Sinopecs of the world."
For a particularly thoughtful analysis of the Northern Gateway debate, please watch the video recently prepared by independent economist Robyn Allan, who appeared as an expert witness for the AFL during the joint panel hearings. The video can be found at this address: http://www.robynallan.com/2013/12/09/pipelines-and-oil-tankers/
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MEDIA CONTACT:
Gil McGowan, President, Alberta Federation of Labour at 780-218-9888 (cell)
Olav Rokne, Communications Director, Alberta Federation of Labour at 780.289.6528 (cell) or via e-mail [email protected]
Harper undermines postal service to justify eventual privatization
In Harper’s warped world, postal workers are too essential to strike, not essential enough to deliver the mail
Edmonton – The elimination of door-to-door mail delivery is the latest example of the Harper government’s attempt to undermine essential services Canadians rely on, Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour said.
McGowan’s comments came in response to the news that Canada Post will eliminate all of door-to-door regular mail service in the country over the next five years.
“All Canadians will feel the pain from these proposed changes, not just the 8,000 workers who will lose their jobs across Canada or the 1,000 here in Alberta. Seniors or people living with disabilities will be particularly hard hit,” McGowan said.
“The irony of today’s announcement is that the Harper government says that postal workers are too essential to strike, but not essential enough to actually deliver the mail.”
McGowan adds the impact will be particularly acute for smaller cities and towns that rely on postal service as a pillar of the local economy in addition to the economic impact of the loss of local employment provided by Canada Post.
“The Canada Post Corporation has already cut thousands of jobs across the country by closing post offices and eliminating rural mail delivery,” McGowan said. “What’s really frustrating is that these cuts would have been unnecessary if the Harper government allowed the Canada Post Corporation to innovate with new services, like expanding into postal banking, which has been a huge success in Germany.”
“All this has been done with the blessing of the Harper government which is deliberately undermined the postal service in order to simply create a market for full-blown privatization.”
“The Canada Post Corporation announced these sweeping changes with the blessing of the Harper government, but there’s hope. The continuing chipping away at public services and the rights of workers that deliver them increases the odds that there won’t be a Harper government after the next election.”
Members of the AFL’s Executive Council, who represent most unions in Alberta, have committed to supporting the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) in their fight to protect services for Canadians and jobs for their members.
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MEDIA CONTACT:
Gil McGowan, President, Alberta Federation of Labour at 780-218-9888 (cell) or via e-mail [email protected]
AFL calls for Albertans to stand up to the Bully
Labour leaders confront anti-democratic legislation
with advertising and legal challenges
Edmonton – Workers in Alberta need to stand up to Alison Redford’s bullying tactics says the province’s largest labour advocacy group.
At a press conference just hours after Bills 45 and 46 were passed, leaders of several unions expressed outrage that the anti-democratic legislation had been rammed through the legislature without any real consultation or analysis.
“Alison Redford has poisoned labour relations in Alberta’s public sector, perhaps for years,” Alberta Federation of Labour president Gil McGowan said at the press conference. “If she thinks that threats, bullying and intimidation will stop workers from standing up for themselves and up against her senseless agenda of cuts and rollbacks in the midst of prosperity, she has another thing coming.”
The right to freedom of speech and the right to freedom of assembly are protected under Section 2 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Supreme Court of Canada has repeatedly ruled that Section 2(d) of the Charter inherently includes the right to bargain collectively.
Bill 45 strips some workers of their right to speak freely about labour action. Bill 46 strips some workers of their right to bargain collectively. The Federation, its affiliated unions and allied unions have made no secret of their plans to launch a legal challenge to the legislation.
“It’s clear that we will be going to court and it’s clear that the Redford government will lose,” McGowan said. “The Supreme Court of Canada has been very clear in its recent rulings in labour law: Workers have the right to associate in unions; That right is meaningless without the right to collective bargaining; And governments that use legislation to impose contracts make a mockery of collective bargaining.”
The Federation of Labour also unveiled television advertisements that accuse the premier of abandoning the coalition that helped get her elected in 2012. The advertisements call out Premier Alison Redford for bullying opponents, and encourage Albertans to remember these bills during the next election.
“Alison Redford is not a progressive, she’s a fraud. Despite her history as a human rights lawyer, she is also no defender of rights in a democracy,” McGowan said. “Real democratic leaders understand that they have to respect others and work with others. Bullies use their power to impose their will. Alison Redford is a bully.”
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Olav Rokne, Communications Director, Alberta Federation of Labour at 780.289.6528 (cell)
or via e-mail [email protected]
Unions urge Redford to suspend debate on Bills 45 and 46 to avoid a “generation of poisoned labour relations”
AFL and unions next in line for bargaining say a task force on public-sector labour relations is needed to rebuild trust
Edmonton – The leaders of the Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL) and three of the unions that are next in line to negotiate with the provincial government have asked Premier Redford to suspend debate on Bills 45 and 46 in order to avoid a "generation of poisoned labour relations" in the public sector.
In a letter sent to the premier this morning, the presidents of the AFL, the United Nurses of Alberta (UNA), the Health Sciences Association of Alberta (HSAA) and the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) called on Premier Redford to reconsider Bills 45 and 46 because the unions believe they are “ill-considered, uncalled for, unnecessarily provocative and likely unconstitutional.”
The presidents suggested that, if debate on Bills 45 and 46 is suspended, a special task force on public-sector labour relations could be established to discuss issues of concerns to both sides.
“The government is concerned about controlling costs and avoiding labour disruptions,” AFL president Gil McGowan said. “We’re concerned about under-staffing, attacks on pensions and a broken revenue system that is unnecessarily impoverishing public services in an otherwise wealthy province. Surely, we can address these issues respectfully without launching a war against public sector workers.”
The presidents who signed the letter include Gil McGowan from the AFL, Heather Smith from UNA, Elisabeth Ballermann from HSAA and Marle Roberts from CUPE. They are asking for a meeting with the Premier today.
“Civilized negotiation is always preferable to confrontation,” McGowan said. “We stand ready to meet with the Premier today. But, if the government rams Bills 45 and 46 through, we’ll see that as a clear message from the premier about what kind of labour relations climate she wants to create in this province. Let’s hope that she chooses civility over confrontation.”
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Olav Rokne, Communications Director, Alberta Federation of Labour at 780.289.6528 (cell) or via e-mail [email protected]
URGENT ACTION ALERT-UPDATE: Fill the Legislature Gallery in opposition to Bill 45 and 46!
Action Request: Fill the Legislature Gallery in opposition to Bill 45 and 46!
When: TONIGHT
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
7:30 p.m.
*Seating provided on a first-come, first-serve basis
Where: Alberta Legislature Gallery
4th Floor, Legislature Building
(10800 - 97 Avenue NW, Edmonton)
Update:
Both Bill 45 and Bill 46 are up for third reading today. One of the two labour bills may pass after Question Period, before the 7:30 p.m. evening session. We expect the second bill will pass during the evening session, possibly around 10:00 p.m.
There are a number of bills on the slate to be debated today, and the government is not providing any clues on whether it will be bill 45 or 46 that is dealt with first.
Being present in the Legislature gallery this evening remains an important act of presence as government tries to bully and legislate us into silence.
For more information, please contact Ishani Weera, AFL Organizer at 780.483.3021 or [email protected]
For more information on the bills, please view our FAQ: http://www.afl.org/index.php/Reports/frequently-asked-questions-on-bills-45-and-46.html
2013 Fact Sheet 4_Breaking a Promise and Breaking the Law-Public Sector Wages
2013 Fact Sheet 4_Breaking a Promise and Breaking the Law-Public Sector Wages
4 of 6 fact sheets issued