April 24, 2009

At a campaign stop in Burnaby, today employees who work in housekeeping for Sodexo, Aramark and Compass (the Big 3) – presented Gordon Campbell with 15,000 signatures calling on government and its health authorities to take responsibility for the wages and working conditions provided by their contractors.

As Campbell approached the crowd, TV and newspaper reporters zeroed in on the workers and their banners that read “work should lift you out of poverty, not keep you there” and “Mr. Premier, we have 15,000 signatures for government action on living wages and clean, safe hospitals.”

Juvelita Dacpano, a housekeeper working for Aramark at UBC hospital, then made her way through the throng of people, placed herself in Campbell’s path, and presented him with a box of more than 15,000 petition signatures.

When told that the petitions called on government to be accountable for the wages and working conditions needed for clean, safe hospitals, Campbell said, “I agree with you.”

The petitions are part of an ongoing campaign, supported by allies from community, labour and faith-based organizations.  Signatures were gathered during many hours of work by those employed by the Big 3 and in the facilities subsector.

Negotiations continue between employees working in housekeeping and dietary services with Sodexo, Aramark and Compass.  The majority of workers in this sector earn $13.05 an hour, with no pension plan, between six and 10 sick days per year, and few benefits.  At the same time, Sodexo, Aramark and Compass receive hundreds of millions of dollars in government contracts.

Over the past year, surveys of contractor-employed support services workers in five hospitals found that 30 to 50 percent hold more than one job, while others face the stress of choosing between food and heat, or struggling to affort basics for their kids like school field trips.

April 24, 2009

Vancouver City Council passed a motion yesterday afternoon calling for a $10 per hour minimum wage, indexing of the minimum wage to inflation and the elimination of the $6 per hour training wage.

Speaking in support of the motion, Mayor Gregor Robertson said the provincial government has effectively downloaded poverty onto local government by freezing the minimum wage.  In his remarks, Coucillor David Cadman said the current minimum wage is an impediment to the Livable Region Strategy because it increases demand on the region’s public transit system from thousands of low paid workers who cannot afford to live near their workplaces.

Also supporting the motion were Councillor Geoff Meggs, who put the motion before Council, as well as Councillors George Chow, Heather Deal, Kerry Jang, Raymond Louie, Tim Stevenson and Ellen Woodsworth.

Councillor Susan Anton called the $6 per hour training wage “reprehensible”, but was the lone vote against the motion.

Vancouver now joins 34 other municipal councils which have already passed motions calling for a $10 minimum wage.  The Union of BC Municipalities has also endorsed the increase.

BC’s minimum wage was the highest in Canada when Gordon Campbell was first elected Premier in 2001.  Frozen for eight years, it is now tied for lowest in the country with New Brunswick and PEI, both of which have planned increases for later this year.

Because of the high cost of living, BC has long had the lowest minimum wage in terms of buying power.  Approximately 293,000 workers in BC earn $10 per hour or less.  In 2007, Gordon Campbell voted himself a 54 percent pay raise which took his annual salary to $186,000.

April 23, 2009

A public opinion poll shows Metro Vancouver residents overwhelming support an increase to the provincial minimum wage.

The poll, conducted by McAllister Opinion Research, found that 77 percent of Metro Vancouver residents support a $10 minimum wage, with 54 percent strongly in favour of the increase.

This afternoon, Vancouver City Council’s Standing Committee on Planning and the Environment will consider a motion put forward by Councillor Geoff Meggs to: endorse an increase to the minimum wage to $10 per hour, eliminate the $6 per hour training wage and index the minimum wage to inflation.  Similar resolutions have already been passed by more than 30 municipal councils all across the province, as well as the Union of BC Municipalities.

Provincially, the polling found a $10 per hour minimum wage is supported by 78 percent of British Columbians, with 55 percent strongly in favour.  Support for the increase is high regardless of age (77-78 percent), education (75-85 percent) and household income (71-82 percent).

“These results show British Columbians overwhelming support a $10 minimum wage regardless of where they live, their age, income or education,” said BC Federation of Labour President, Jim Sinclair.  “It’s hard to understand why Premier Campbell remains determined to keep the minimum wage frozen when public support for the increase is so strong and broad based.”

BC’s minimum wage was the highest in Canada when Gordon Campbell was first elected Premier in 2001.  Frozen for eight years, it is now tied for lowest in the country with New Brunswick and PEI, both of which have planned increases for later this year.  Because of the high cost of living, BC has long had the lowest minimum wage in terms of buying power.  Approximately 293,000 workers in BC earn $10 per hour or less.  In 2007, Gordon Campbell voted himself a 54 percent pay raise which took his annual salary to $186,000.

The telephone poll interviewed a random sample of 1,207 British Columbians, including 507 Metro Vancouver residents, from March 30 to April 9, 2009.  The weighted sample has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.9 percent, 19 times out of 20.

April 22, 2009

Bargaining committees set to present revised monetary proposals

Just a few weeks after members returned strong strike votes, Aramark and Sodexo have returned to the bargaining table, with several days of talks scheduled in the next two weeks.

Meetings with Sodexo are set for April 23 and 24, with the possibility of additional dates in the following days.  Meetings with Aramark are scheduled for April 28 and 29.  The committee has asked for additional dates, and is waiting for confirmation from Aramark.

The Sodexo and Aramark bargaining committees will table revised monetary proposals, which will include wage and benefits improvements.  The committees will also press to resolve outstanding occupational health and safety issues that had been put aside in previuos meetings.

The Compass/ PHSA bargaining committee has been able to resolve the majority of non-monetary and OH&S issues in the most recent round of meetings with the employer.  Dates are set for April 27 and 28, and it’s possible that the committee will be able to put forward the union’s revised monetary proposal at that time.

The Compass/ VIHA bargaining committee is meeting on April 21, 22 and 23.  Although the most recent set of negotiations have been at the Compass/ PHSA table, the union expects that the Compass/ VIHA committee will be able to reach a similar set of agreements.

Local events and news stories build public support

Recent events and rallies with members and supporters have increased public awareness about the issues at stake in these negotiations – such as workload, health and safety training, wages, and sick days.

Last week’s news stories about another round of WCB work orders at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital have also bolstered public support for improved working conditions for housekeeping staff in the region.

On April 9, more than 200 members and allies turned out for a rally at Vancouver General Hospital and marched to the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority offices.

At the rally, Health Sciences Association president Reid Johnson spoke of the importance of supporting the entire health care team, while BC Federation of Labour president Jim Sinclair underscored the importance of the labour movement sticking together.

“When workers like you stand up to their employer in order to be treated fairly, we all win,” said Sinclair.

April 16, 2009

The BC Liberal government failed to live up to its promise to build 5,000 new, non-profit long-term care beds, according to a new study released by the Canadian Center for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).

Despite the fact that the government claimed to have met its target last year (two years later than they had originally promised), health authorities’ numbers obtained by CCPA show that BC actually lost more than 800 long-term residential care beds between 2001 and 2008.

As a result, BC now has the second worst access to residential care in the country, after New Brunswick.

And the number of individuals who die in residential care increased 60 percent between 2001 and 2006.  That’s because access to limited beds is often restricted to those in very poor health and with more complex care needs.

A lack of beds means that residents are more frail and their needs are more complex than ever but staffing levels haven’t kept up.

The long-term care bed shortage also puts additional pressure on our hospitals where seniors often find themselves in a holding pattern, waiting for placement in a more appropriate care setting.

The CCPA study, An Uncertain Future for Seniors: BC’s Restructuring of Home and Community Health Care 2001 – 2008, points out that the BC Liberals padded the numbers on their promise to provide 5,000 long-term care spaces by including assisted living units, supportive housing and a number of other forms of housing that involve little or no care.

April 16, 2009

WorkSafeBC (WCB) has re-issued five orders against Compass Group, after follow-up inspections at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital (NRGH) revealed the British corporation failed to comply with earlier citations.

According to the WCB report, Compass continues to perform incomplete accident investigations, has failed to offer necessary health and safety training, and is not providing adequate personal protective equipment for workers exposed to corrosive cleaning chemicals or other hazards.

These latest citations present irrefutable evidence that the health authority needs to take active responsibility for their contractor’s health and safety record.

The WCB orders were issued on April 8 for violations at NRGH.  The findings include:

• Failure to provide health and safety training to members of the occupational health and safety committee, as well as at least one manager who had been in the position for close to a year.
• Failure to include worker representatives in accident investigations.  The inspector also noted in one case that the manager did not investigate the cause of  a chemical accident.
• Failure to provide appropriate protective equipment such as respirators, goggles, chemical gloves and boots, and/ or failure to ensure that this equipment is correctly used, cleaned, inspected, maintained and repaired.
• Failure to ensure that portable eyewash stations are available on cleaning carts in an environment where housekeepers regularly use high-risk corrosive chemicals.
• Failure to investigate ongoing concerns related to the safe use of Virox 5 and other cleaning chemicals, including the effectiveness of personal protective equipment and appropriate ventilation.

WCB had issued 16 separate orders against VIHA’s contractor over six months in 2008, for contravening health and safety laws.

April 9, 2009

Approximately 2,400 hospital housekeepers and dietary workers, employed in the Fraser Health and Vancouver Coastal Health authorities, sent a clear message to Aramark and Sodexho by returning strong strike votes during the past two weeks.

Workers in the three major Aramark and Sodexho certifications in VCHA and FHA voted between 95 and 98 percent in favour of job action, should it become necessary.  Workers in four certifications in long-term care facilities voted between 78 and 96 percent in favour.

The goal is to get a negotiated settlement that not only provides the working conditions for quality services, but also provides living wages that allow workers to support their families with dignity and respect.

Currently, most hospital workers employed by Sodexho and Aramark earn $13.05 an hour, with only six sick days per year, and no pension plan.  Many also have no benefits because they are either ineligible or unable to afford the 50 percent premium cost-sharing.

In March, both contractors presented what they called settlement offers that rejected the union’s proposals related to living wages, sick days, workload, training and staffing levels – issues that are essential for clean and safe hospitals.

Those involved are hopeful that a strong strike mandate from workers will bring both contractors back to the table, and will encourage government to take responsibility for the crisis in contracted-out health care services.

Essential services levels are currently being negotiated through the Labour Relations Board and no decision has been made about possible strike action.

A survey of contractor-employed housekeepers and dietary workers in five hospitals found that 30 to 40 percent hold more than one job to make ends meet, while others face the stress of choosing between food and heat, or being unable to afford basics for their kids like school field trips.

Some of the proposals the contractors rejected include: improved training requirements, regional health and safety coordination to reduce injuries, new floater positions to ensure manageable workloads, and the regularization of casuals to encourage recruitment and retention.

April 8, 2009

We encourage everyone to take a look at HEU’s TV ad that takes aim at the state of seniors’ care in BC.

The Hospital Employees’ Union launched a new TV ad today to draw attention to the crisis facing seniors’ care in BC.

The ad recounts the barriers facing families as they struggle to obtain quality long-term care for a loved one, including bed shortages, low-staffing, and extra costs and fees.

The government’s broken 2001 election promise to provide 5,000 new, non-profit, long-term care beds has put immense strain on seniors’ health services and on acute care hospitals.

The truth is the BC Liberal government has closed more long-term care beds than it has opened.

There are a growing number of groups who are recognizing the severity of the crisis facing senior care.

• The BC Medical Association concluded last May that: “the current system is fragmented and uncoordinated, which translates to costly and inefficient care,” and that “when compared to the rest of the country, BC comes in last in terms of residential care funding and provides the fewest number of residential care beds per capita.”
• The BC Care Providers Association said last November: “by refusing to pay the real costs of delivering increasingly complex care services to our seniors in need, government and health authorities are forcing long-term care providers to lower their quality of care by reducing services and staffing to unacceptable levels.”
• BC Auditor General reported last October that: “the Ministry of Health Services is not adequately fulfilling its stewardship role in helping to ensure that the home and community care system has the capacity to meet the needs of the population.”

This ad can be viewed at www.standupforseniors.ca

April 7, 2009

One of the largest federal unions is challenging the constitutionality of the Harper government’s budget legislation for taking away collective bargaining for federal workers.

The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada filed its lawsuit in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Toronto, arguing the budget legislation’s “regressive and illegal provisions” violate federal workers’ rights under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, said acting president Gary Corbett.

“The government is totally unjustified in imposing these ideologically driven unconstitutional and regressive measures on its employees and it shouldn’t be allowed to get away with it,” he said.

The union which represents 57,000 professionals working in the public service, from auditors to scientists, is the latest to take the government to court over the controversial law, which imposed wage controls and rollbacks, suspended collective bargaining and hollowed out pay equity in the public service.

The Mounties were the first to take the government to court.  In January, they asked the Federal Court to quash the government’s decision to roll back a three-year contract the RCMP negotiated last June.  However, Ron Cochrane, co-chair of the National Joint Council that represents management and labour, said he expects the other 17 unions will follow PIPSC’s lead with similar challenges.

Like the Mounties, PIPSC is relying on a Supreme Court ruling that decided Canadians have a constitutional right to collective bargaining.  In June 2007, the Supreme Court ruled a British Columbia labour law that allowed the government to effectively tear up union contracts and lay off workers was unconstitutional.  The court decided the law was a “significant interference in the right to bargain collectively.”

But PIPSC is also taking aim at the government’s radical overhaul of pay equity, which critics have argued effectively kills workers’ rights for equal pay for work of equal value.  “This turns the clock back 20 years and it will lead to the death of pay equity,” said Corbett.  The omnibus Budget Implementation Act, which passed last month, included the Expenditure Restraint Act, which imposed wage controls and suspended collective bargaining until 2010 – 2011.  Also buried in the bill is the Public Service Equitable Compensation Act, which takes pay equity out of the Canadian Human Rights Act for workers in the broader federal public sector – including departments, Crown corporations, agencies and commissions.

The legislation requires problems with pay equity into a “bargaining chip” that is supposed to be traded off in contract negotiations violates the fundamental “equal pay for work for equal value” that’s guraranteed in the human rights act and equality rights that are enshrined in the Charter.

Paul Durber, a well-known pay equity consultant, agreed the law is a radical overhaul of pay equity that will essentially kill it for federal workers.  “With the act, pay equity is no longer a human right.  It will kill pay equity deader than a doornail, ” he said.

The law also stops wage comparisons between men and women, striking at the heart of pay equity, which is aimed at eliminating the wage gap between men and women.  Durber argued that without such comparisons, how can unions even make a pay equity case at the bargaining table.

It also introduces a new threshold workers have to meet to be considered for a pay-equity settlement.  It now requires that employees in an occupational group have 70 percent females before it is considered a “female-dominated” group.  This threshold is higher than the previous formula and will deny pay equity to groups of workers that would qualify if they had remained under the CHRA.

Pay equity complaints are highly complex, costly and until now have been led by unions for their members.  The biggest was the Public Service Alliance of Canada’s historic $3.6 billion settlement that a Canadian Human Rights Tribunal awarded in 1999 to thousands of “female-dominated” groups such as secretaries, clerks, data processors, librarians, hospital and educational workers.

Under the new law, unions are probhibited from helping their members mount a pay-equity case or even encourage them to do so without facing a fine of up $50,000.

Durber said the government was able to ram through the pay equity changes by burying it in the budget legislation at a time when MPs and Canadians were obsessed with getting the stimulus package in place to jolt the sagging economy.

WHAT IS COUNT ME IN:  THE CAMPAIGN FOR CHANGE?

COUNT ME IN is a campaign cooridnated by the BC Federation of Labour.  It’s union members talking to union members about issues that matter to them.

Think of it as a massive organizing drive, reaching out to over half a million union members in every community across the province.  Working people who are involved, informed and mobilized can make the change we need in British Columbia.

You can access a COUNT ME IN calendar of events at www.bcfed.com/countmein