[BC_Labour_E-NEWS] September 16, 2005
bc_labour_enews at bcfed.net
bc_labour_enews at bcfed.net
Fri Sep 16 17:00:55 PDT 2005
E-NEWS
ISSUE #42 - September 16, 2005
In this issue:
1.> Entwistle remains intransigent; union targets Telus allies
2.> Telus security contractor hires former Canada Post spy boss
3. Health support workers begin job action against French corporation
4. Airport Authority cancels contract with Worldwide Flight Services,
CAW members lose jobs
5. Steelworkers on strike against Teck-Cominco's Trail operations
protest rising exports of hydro-electric power to US
6. Community Elections
7. Throne Speech and mini-budget prove BC Liberals still out of touch
with reality
8. BC Teachers prepare to take strike vote
9. Printing company refuses business from Telus
++++|++++
1.> Entwistle remains intransigent; union targets Telus allies
Speaking on Bill Good's CKNW radio program in Vancouver
on September 15, business analyst Michael Levy said that senior Telus
management have contacted him to express their willingness to enter into
non-binding arbitration with the union. But they also told him that "the
big guy on top" has his sight on breaking the union.
Responding to Levy's statement, Telecommunications Workers'
Union Vice-President Peter Massy said, "This confirms what we already
knew. There is one insurmountable barrier to settlement - the
intractable position of Telus CEO Darren Entwistle. Mr. Entwistle
appears determined to win at any cost. He is oblivious to the damage he
is doing to the morale of the workforce. Somebody should remind him that
once this dispute is over, people will have to work together."
"Entwistle's intransigence is forcing us to escalate," Massy
continued. "This weekend we are initiating a combination of leafletting
and picketing, asking customers not to purchase Telus services from the
company's dealer-allies. "For the time being, this activity will be
limited to the Lower Mainland in BC Picket lines will be mounted outside
entrances to London Drugs and Future Shop. In addition, there will be
pickets at Telus dealers located outside of malls in Burnaby, New
Westminster, Surrey and Coquitlam."
"At Guildford, Metrotown, Lougheed, Surrey Place, Royal City
Centre, Haney Place Mall, Willowbrook, Scottsdale, Coquitlam Centre and
Brentwood our activity will be limited to leafletting. The plan is to
leaflet inside the malls, with no picket lines being mounted inside
malls except outside the Telus Phone Mart in Eaton Centre," he
continued. "All this will take place between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and
9:00 p.m. Thursday and Friday, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Saturday, and
from 12:00 noon to 4:00 p.m. Sunday this weekend and next," he
explained.
+++|+++
2.> TELUS SECURITY CONTRACTOR HIRES FORMER CANADA POST SPY BOSS
Ottawa, August 29, 2005-A former Canada Post Corporation
Security Chief, implicated in spying and illegal covert activities
against Canadian Union of Postal Workers leaders in the 1990's, may be
poised to do the same to locked-out TWU members in the bitter Telus
dispute.
Accufax Investigations has hired Michael Thompson in a
high-level position at the same time as major client, Telus, initiated
lock-out action against its own workers. "We don't think this is a
coincidence", said CUPW National President Deborah Bourque.
"AFI is a notorious strikebreaking firm and we are worried the
hiring of Thompson may have ugly consequences for TWU activists," added
Bourque.
"Any corporation allowing covert actions such as these utterly
disrespects its workers and their union," said Bourque. "If Telus,
either on its own or through AFI, contemplates a similar course of
action, it will reap the same response Canada Post did in the 1990s -
poisoned labour relations, a state of war between workers and their
employer, and a sullied reputation in the minds of the public and
potential customers."
AFI International Group announced on August 8, 2005, the
appointment of Michael Thompson as Executive Vice-President, citing his
'esteemed career' and describing his investigative service as "revered
for its preventive programs designed for the corporate sector."
+++|+++
3.> health support workers begin job action against French
corporation
More than 1,100 members of the Hospital Employees' Union
(HEU-CUPE) who work as support staff in BC health care facilities began
taking job action September 15 against French corporation Sodexho.
The Hospital Employees' Union says wages are the main
issue in the dispute. Sodexho pays 90 percent of its workers just $10.15
an hour to provide critical health services such as meeting the special
dietary needs of frail seniors and patients and cleaning special care
nurseries and operating rooms.
Those wages rank among the lowest for hospital support work in
Canada and are lower than those paid by their competitors Aramark and
Compass Group, which also provide contract support services to BC's
health authorities.
"Staff turnover is approaching 50 percent annually
because these women and men cannot support their families on $10.15 an
hour," says HEU secretary-business manager Judy Darcy.
Darcy says that while HEU has not heard from the company since
strike notice was served on Monday, the union is prepared to return to
the bargaining table if Sodexho is willing to table a reasonable wage
proposal.
The union says its members will rotate and escalate its job
action over the next few days.
Two-hour study sessions will be held today beginning at 11:45 am
at UBC, Mission Memorial, Eagle Ridge and MSA hospitals and limited job
action will take place at German-Canadian, Foyer Maillard and Rosewood
care homes in the Lower Mainland and at Central Care in Victoria.
Sodexho's largest contract in BC is a massive ten-year food
services deal inked with VCHA in 2003 worth $330 million. The company's
five-year cleaning contract with the Fraser Health Authority is worth
more than $70 million.
Sodexho took in more than $17 billion in global revenues last
year. And its Paris-based CEO, Michel Landel, pocketed $1.4 million in
salary and benefits.
In the two years since Sodexho won major privatization contracts
in BC's health care system, the company's performance has been the
centre of a number of critical media stories. In a recent cleaning
audit, the company failed to achieve a passing grade at half of the
hospitals it cleans for the Fraser Health Authority.
+++|+++
4.> Airport Authority cancels contract with Worldwide Flight
Services, CANADIAN AUTO WORKERS' (CAW) members lose jobs
Members of CAW Local 2002 who work for Worldwide Flight Services
(WFS) performing baggage handling, aircraft loading and grooming for
nine different airlines could lose their jobs on December 1 if the
Vancouver Airport Authority (YVR) proceeds with a plan to cancel the
company's contract.
Most of the nine airlines using WFS are happy with the service
they have received and Worldwide was on the verge of expansion to take
on other airlines' businesses when they learned their licence was in
jeopardy.
The news is a devastating blow for the 400 workers, who have
been doing the work for the past six years. YVR has granted the license
to a new operator, which has no obligation to Worldwide employees.
The CAW has launched a postcard campaign to urge the Airport
Authority to re-consider its decision. For more information, please
visit:
< http://www.caw2002tca.ca/e/index.htm
<http://www.caw2002tca.ca/e/index.htm> >
+++|+++
5.> Steelworkers on strike against Teck-Cominco's Trail
operations protest rising exports of hydro-electric power to AMERICANS
B.C. Federation of Labour Secretary-Treasurer Angela Schira
today joined Steelworkers in Vancouver to call for a halt to
Teck-Cominco's exports of hydroelectric power from their operation in
Trail.
The BC Utilities Commission and the provincial government are
allowing the company to reap record profits from a hydro licence granted
to Teck Cominco for the production of metals in British Columbia.
About 100 union members joined the rally at 9:30 am at the BC
Utilities Commission, then marched to Teck Cominco Headquarters on
Burrard.
The union is fighting for a fair salary increase to help offset
years of concessions.
"Remember what the company said to you in the 80's and 90's -
when times get good we'll remember that you stepped up to the plate when
we needed it," said Schira, addressing the crowd in front of
Teck-Cominco headquarters. "Well today commodity prices are soaring,
times are good and apparently Teck-Cominco has amnesia."
+++|+++
6.> Unions gearing up for Community Elections
One of the biggest opportunities for working people to make a
political difference is coming up on Saturday, November 19. That's the
day we go to the polls to elect our municipal politicians and School
Boards, and the B.C. Federation of Labour has a campaign underway to get
as many unionized members as possible to the polling stations.
"Union workers were incredibly successful during the community
elections in 2002 and during the provincial election last May," said
BCFL President Jim Sinclair. "Our goal is to build an even better
campaign on the ground for this next election so that we can ensure
elected officials are accountable to local communities."
Since 2002, progressive Councillors, Mayors and School Trustees
have passed several resolutions in support of job security and social
justice, including many on privatization and poverty and support for
public education.
"As governments download costs and responsibility onto the
shoulders of community politicians, it's more important than ever to
make sure those who are elected will stand up and fight for the
communities we live in," Sinclair explained. "A strong union turnout can
really make a difference in these elections, especially given that most
people don't bother to vote."
Unions will be conducting an initial canvass of their members
beginning in October to encourage members to get out to the polls. Local
Labour Councils are currently recruiting and scrutinizing local
candidates and will release a list of endorsed candidates near the end
of October.
+++|+++
7.> Throne Speech and mini-budget prove BC Liberals still out of
touch with reality
Working families saw nothing in this week's provincial budget to
help them with tuition, pharmacare costs, higher energy costs and the
growing challenge of supporting a family.
"I'm disappointed the Gordon Campbell government found money to
hand out tax giveaways to their corporate backers," said Sinclair, "but
did nothing to take the pressure off working families who are still
paying more for services and getting less."
Sinclair also criticized the Throne Speech, delivered September
12, which normally sets the tone for year.
"I was hopeful we would see some signs on the part of the BC
Liberals to build a new relationship with the labour movement, but that
wasn't there today."
Finance Minister Carole Taylor chopped the corporate income tax
rate from 13.5 percent to 12.0 percent and directed a smaller portion of
the budget surplus to aboriginals and seniors.
Sinclair says the BC Liberals are still a long way off from
repairing the damage and pain caused to seniors during the last four
years.
+++|+++
8.> BC Teachers prepare to take strike vote
BC's Teachers will be taking a strike vote across the province
September 20-22, with results of the vote to be announced September 23
and have launched an ad campaign in support of quality education.
Teachers are looking for a negotiated agreement which includes
the right to bargain all terms and conditions of employment, the right
to strike, a return to the teaching and learning conditions that existed
prior to 2002 (when the BC Liberals stripped the contract and imposed a
new contract) and a fair and reasonable salary increase.
The union has lauched Kids Matter-Teachers Care, an ad campaign
in support of bargaining and hopes parents will get involved in efforts
to improve learning conditions for students.
"In our fight to improve the quality of education, we think it's
really important for parents to talk about what's really going on in
schools," says BCTF President Jinny Simms. "Get out and talk to your
neighbours, write letters and support us at the local PAC meetings."
For more information:
< http://www.bctf.ca <http://www.bctf.ca/> >
+++|+++
10. Printing company refuses telus business
PrintCraft of BC Ltd., a small Burnaby-based printing company, used to
do work for the TELUS graphics department, but not any longer. When
TELUS decided to lock out its employees, PrintCraft owner Dave Schindel
in consultation with PrintCraft employees made a decision not to accept
TELUS work while the lockout continued.
The action took place well in advance of hot edicts being declared
against TELUS.
Schindel, along with PrintCraft employees, belongs to the
Communications, Energy and Paperworkers' Union of Canada (CEP), Local
525G. He estimates that for many years his company has regularly done
between $50,000 - $100,000 worth of annual business with TELUS, so the
lock out has had a significant impact on his revenues. According to
Schindel, the decision to turn down TELUS business was based on
principles of trade unionism and not for any kind of recognition, but
this tremendous act of solidarity should be considered whenever any of
us has a print job to do.
PrintCraft is located at 5283 Imperial Street, near the TWU's Burnaby
office.
+++|+++
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