[Community_Media] Labour Day message

[Bev Pausche]

The following is a commentary piece for Labour Day, issued by Jim Sinclair,
President of the BC Federation of Labour.
 <<...OLE_Obj...>> 
Labour Day Message

Tax cuts are a failure
but there are practical ways
to generate jobs, investment
by Jim Sinclair, President

Remember the election pledge of "higher pay cheques?"
On Labour Day 2001, British Columbians were basking in the glow of a $ 2.2
billion dollar tax cut their new Premier promised would drive BC to number
one on Canada's economic charts. It hasn't happened.  Tax cuts are a
failure.
Tens of thousands of British Columbians are spending the holiday weekend
preparing for a long, tough, jobless winter.  The provincial government has
acknowledged that our province tipped into recession last year.
A single mother of two girls who wrote to a Victoria paper last month put a
human face on the crisis. 
Social assistance cuts mean that "after living in my house for 14 years we
are being evicted because I couldn't pay my rent last month.  I have been
looking for a job since September.  Last week I was hired for two days a
week. It's a start, but half of it will go to day care.  We'll be on the
street just in time for winter."
Our province's manufacturing sector saw employment shrink by 47,000 jobs
last year.  Very modest gains in other private sector part-time employment
were more than 
wiped out by the elimination of thousands of vital public sector jobs in
health care, environmental protection, social services and education.
Despite some job growth this summer, the unemployment rate is well above the
level experienced a year ago.
BC's forest sector is being hammered by the softwood lumber crisis.  Four
thousand jobs are already gone and 14,000 to 20,000 more will follow this
year if a resolution is not found. 
Resource communities, facing lay-offs, hospital closures, school closures
and service cuts, fear they are heading into a death spiral.
BC's union movement appealed to Premier Gordon Campbell last year to convene
an economic summit of business, government and labour leaders to develop
positive strategies for jobs and investment.  Mr. Campbell laughed and
challenged doubters to return their tax breaks.
But one year later, most British Columbians have long since seen their tax
cut clawed back in Medical Services Plan increases, tuition hikes, user
fees, minimum wage cuts and lay-off notices.  (You can calculate how much of
your tax cut is left, if any, at ahttp://www.bcpolicyalternatives.org/
costshift/). 
Now, more than ever, we have to focus on protecting and creating jobs in
this province.  In fact, the Premier Campbell announced in July that would
be his new priority.
But his actions are taking us in the opposite direction.  Just this summer
his government has:
*	Approved the privatization of core BC Hydro services to Accenture, a
Bermuda-based multinational, as the first phase of privatization of BC
Hydro, with all that means for price hikes, brown-outs and lost jobs;
*	Authorized BC Ferries to contract with overseas shipyards to repair
our ferry fleet, putting at risk the jobs of 1,500 skilled shipyard workers
despite compelling evidence the savings will be slim to non-existent; and
*	Sat silently as Telus Corp., its debt reduced to junk bond status
slashed 6,000 jobs in BC and Alberta while CEO Darren Entwhistle pocketed a
110 percent pay increase to almost $1.3 million.
This is no time for cheap politics.  Working families are looking for a
positive plan to generate investment and jobs while protecting vital public
services.
There are some simple things Premier Campbell can do today to assure BC's
working families he's serious about protecting our economy:
*	Roll back his government's efforts to break-up, privatize and
deregulate BC Hydro so consumers and businesses can be assured of steady
supplies of affordable, sustainable-produced electricity;
*	Impose a moratorium on log exports and step up assistance to
resource communities;
*	Maintain health and education funding at last year's levels and
impose a moratorium on privatization to protect vital community services;
*	Roll back tuition fees to last year's levels and provide the
necessary funding to the K-12 and post-secondary education systems to give
our kids the education they need to find economic opportunity;
*	Make the investment in skills and training our economy needs to
prosper;
*	Pledge to respect contracts, including collective agreements, to
restore investor confidence in dealing with our province;
*	Sit down with aboriginal leaders in a serious way to overcome the
negative effects of the referendum on land claims, which postponed
resolution of one of the largest barriers to new investment in this
province; and
*	Re-instate a policy that directs all ministries and crown
corporations to give preference to BC businesses and suppliers for all
purchases.
These are practical and affordable steps to rebuild our economy.
Finally, he should take up our challenge to sit down for a frank discussion
with business, community and political leaders around the province to chart
a new plan for the province that seeks growth and social equity.
Will the Premier respond?  He must.
The good news in a difficult time is that British Columbians are working
from one end of the province to the other -- through marches, rallies,
petitions, protests, letters to the editor and every other democratic tool
-- to make sure the government listens to the people.
And that's worth celebrating.

opeiu 15

Bev Pausche
Communications Assistant
BC Federation of Labour

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