Environment, human rights, democracy activists meet to ‘counter’ Conservatives
CALGARY – Unions and social groups will gather today in Calgary, where they say they plan to use the federal Conservative policy convention as a rallying point to defend democracy, the environment and human rights.
The so-called “counter-summit” to the Conservative event is being organized by Common Causes, an assembly of social movements dedicated to defending democracy, the environment and human rights.
Maude Barlow, the chairperson of the Council of Canadians, said she is concerned about the policies and the agenda that are being put forward by the Conservative party.
“We think this is an extreme agenda and this government doesn’t have the mandate for it,” Barlow said in an interview.
“We will be there to speak out against these policies and to put forward more progressive policies forward.”
The summit includes an event called, “Pros & Cons: Policies for People and the Planet,” billed by Barlow as an opportunity to learn about the potential impacts of proposed Conservative policies and present an alternative vision.
Participants include a number of prominent Tory nemeses: environmentalist David Suzuki, Chief Theresa Spence of the Attawapiskat First Nation and Paul Moist, the president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees.
Barlow accused the Harper government of gutting environmental legislation, giving tax breaks to the energy sector and signing long-term trade deals she considers dangerous. She also accuses the government of lacking accountability, attacking unions and undermining universal health care.
“Canadians should be really concerned both with what’s happened and with what they’re looking at,” she said.
“I believe we’re looking at an extreme Conservative agenda that’s intended to put in place the Harper vision long after Stephen Harper is gone.”
Barlow also accused Harper and the Conservatives of misplacing their “moral compass” and predicted they won’t bounce back from the public outrage surrounding the Senate expenses scandal.
“It has compromised his reputation with his base and I think it’s done. I think the damage is too great and he won’t be able to climb out of it.”
A protest is also scheduled to take place Saturday outside the Conservative convention, she added.
The Harper Conservative government is once again taking away our members rights and placing their lives in jeopardy.
This time they are using the Budget Implementation Bill C-4 to enact drastic changes to:
Our Collective Bargaining Rights
The Arbitration System
Fewer Rights for Laid Off Workers
Restrictions to our Grievance Process
Weakening Health and Safety Legislation
Access to filing a Human Rights Complaint
Please visit the PSAC page to see the full analysis of how these systems will be changed: http://psacunion.ca/psacs-analysis-budget-implementation-act
The Bill will also affect a workers right to refuse dangerous work, end the role of federal Health and Safety Officers in the investigation process and give employers the power to discipline workers when they invoke the right to refuse dangerous work.
Please take the time to send a message stating you are against this change through the Canadian Labour Congress online action here:
http://www.canadianlabour.ca/right-to-refuse-unsafe-work
In Solidarity,
Sharon DeSousa,
PSAC Regional Executive Vice-President – Ontario
Right to Refuse Unsafe Work
http://www.canadianlabour.ca/right-to-refuse-unsafe-work
The lives of almost one million Canadian workers will be placed in danger as a result of cynical amendments that the Conservative government is making to the Canada Labour Code. Buried deep in the government’s latest budget bill tabled on October 22 are amendments to the health and safety provisions of the Code that have nothing to do with balancing the budget, and everything to do with putting workers’ lives at risk.
The government wants to water down the right to refuse dangerous work, end the role of federal Health and Safety Officers in the investigation process and give employers the power to discipline workers when they invoke the right to refuse dangerous work. All together, these changes would make the Canada Labour Code provisions on the right to refuse dangerous work the weakest in the country, and put workers’ lives at risk. These proposals have no business being put in a budget bill.
Send this email now to your MP urging them to fight to remove the provisions relating to the health and safety of workers from the budget bill! A copy of your letter will go to Labour Minister Kellie Leitch and to the Minister of Employment and Social Development Jason Kenney.
The following message will be sent with your signature and personal message below:
I am writing to you today about Bill C-4, the Budget Implementation Act 2013 which hides a number of very serious changes to legislation relating to the health and safety protections of working Canadians.
This bill would water down the definition of “danger” in Part II of the Canada Labour Code to the point it will become the weakest law in the country regulating the right of workers to refuse dangerous work without reprisals from their employers. It will lead to more workplace deaths and injuries in federally regulated industries.
Bill C-4 proposes to limit the right to refuse dangerous work to imminent or serious threat to the life or health of a person. It would eliminate exposure to hazardous substances likely to result in a chronic illness, in disease, or in damage to the reproductive system, as a reason to invoke the right to refuse dangerous work.
Imagine, knowing what we know about asbestos exposure, that a federal worker would now be unable to refuse dangerous work if his employer told him to remove asbestos from a workplace without proper safety gear?
Imagine, knowing what we know today about the impact of certain chemicals on women’s reproductive health, that a federal worker would no longer have the right to refuse dangerous work if her employer gave her work that exposed her to those chemicals?
The bill would further weaken the regulatory regime by removing the very important role of Health and Safety Officers in the work refusal process. The bill replaces every reference to Health and Safety Officers with “the Minister.” Am I really expected to believe that the Minister will now take the time to field all phone calls and investigations related to these matters across all workplaces in Canada?
No credible stakeholder has promoted these changes and it is outrageous for this government to hide its intention to put the health and safety of workers at risk inside a budget implementation bill.
These amendments will turn the clock back on worker health and safety and endanger lives. I strongly urge you, as my MP, to oppose these amendments, and to insist these provisions be removed from Bill C-4. These proposed changes will inevitably lead to a higher number of deaths and injuries of Canadian workers.
PSAC calls on government to introduce a new modern public service labour law
(Ottawa) October 25, 2013 – The Public Service Alliance of Canada called today on the Conservative government to withdraw changes to federal labour legislation from the Budget Implementation Act. What is needed instead is a new and genuinely modern labour law modeled on labour legislation that already exists for other workers across Canada, such as the Canada Labour Code.
• See also: PSAC’s analysis of budget implementation act
• Audio transcript of PSAC news conference
This proposal was to be presented to Minister Tony Clement, President of Treasury Board, in a meeting yesterday along with concerns about the gutting of democratic and labour rights being proposed in the Budget Implementation Act. The meeting was cancelled at the last minute by the Minister.
“We want federal public sector workers to have the same rights and obligations when it comes to collective bargaining as those in the private sector”, said Robyn Benson. “Minister Clement has stated publicly on numerous occasions that the government wants a closer alignment between federal public sector workers and the private sector and that he wants a modern and more efficient system of labour relations. We believe that placing federal public service employees within the same legal framework as private sector workers is the best step forward. This reasonable proposal would be in the interests of both public sector workers and the Canadians whom they serve.”
Benson called for a speedy open and transparent consultation process to develop a new federal public service labour law designed to foster positive labour relations and protect employees’ constitutional right to freedom of association and collective bargaining.
“As we’ve seen in recent weeks with new contracts for border services employees and technical service workers represented by the PSAC, collective bargaining works,” said Benson. “When we sit down and negotiate, it leads to a better result for both our members and the public.”
The Budget Implementation Act, Bill C-4, proposes drastic changes to collective bargaining rights, health and safety and human rights protections that will irreparably damage the relationship between the government and its employees. If passed, the Bill would give the employer the unilateral right to designate employees as essential, severely undermining the right to collective bargaining. Far from modernizing labour relations, this Bill takes labour relations back decades.
Previous reforms of federal labour legislation, including the Fryer Commission and the Public Service Modernization Act, were done in consultation with bargaining agents. This government has ignored prior recommendations and legislative reviews and is planning to ram through a suite of cherry-picked items in an omnibus budget bill without transparency in order to stack the deck in their favour.
Rather than create a modern and effective public service, the government’s proposed changes, and the way in which they are proceeding with these changes, is fundamentally undemocratic. They will erode the rights of public sector workers, and will upset the balance of labour relations in the federal government. None of these things are good for the Canadian public.
For more information, please contact:
• Shelina Merani, PSAC Communications, 613-293-9324 or meranis@psac.com
Federal Budget Bill Proposes to Amend Health & Safety Law
A Publication of the Workers Health & Safety Centre – October 24, 2013
Federal Budget Bill Proposes to
Amend Health & Safety Law
Bill C-4, the federal government’s 302-page budget implementation bill contains several proposed amendments to Canadian occupational health and safety law. Tabled October 22, 2013, the proposed amendments:
• change the definition of “danger;”
• remove mention of health and safety officers and give their power to the Minister (who may delegate this power);
• change the process for the right to refuse unsafe work.
Federal health and safety law includes Part 2 of the Canada Labour Code and the Canada Occupational Health and Safety Regulations and apply to workplaces in sectors with national scope—generally those crossing provincial and/or national boundaries. Examples of these sectors include: air, water and rail transport, banking, broadcasting, energy and mining, grain elevators and federal public service.
Clearly the budget Bill will significantly alter law designed to safeguard federal workers. WHSC is reviewing the Bill and will provide detailed analysis in short order.
Want more information?
Current Canada Labour Code (Part 2 Occupational Health & Safety)
Specific changes in Bill C-4 that will impact the Canada Labour Code (Part 2 Occupational Health and Safety)
Bill C-4 (in its entirety)
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Published by:
Workers Health & Safety Centre
802 – 15 Gervais Drive
Toronto, ON M3C 1Y8
Tel: (416) 441-1939
Toll Free: 1-888-869-7950
http://www.whsc.on.ca
Executive Director: Dave Killham
Director, Information Services: Loretta Michaud
Editor: Marty White
Submissions are encouraged. Reproduction is permitted, provided the source
is acknowledged and a copy sent to the Director, Information Services.
Please send comments and suggestions to mwhite@whsc.on.ca.
Right to Work or Union Busting? You decide!
For those of you that came out to the meeting last night, we asked that you sign a card to show your support for our right to be part of a union. Check out this video to see what could happen if they take away that right.
http://london.ctvnews.ca/right-to-work-impact-on-michigan-s-unemployment-rate-1.1511578
ceiu581.com 