Over the past twelve months, working people did something they have not done for a very long time. They changed their government’s mind.

Last year, on Labour Day, unions called action on retirement security. At the time, the economic crisis and recession had left people’s savings in tatters. Pension plans were under attack. RRSPs were exposed as inadequate for the vast of majority of working people. Everything pointed to a looming crisis- Canadians were not saving enough to avoid poverty in retirement.

The solution was simple. Almost every working person in the country already has access to the safest, most secure and guaranteed retirement savings plan in the world – the Canadian Pension Plan. Throughout the economic crisis, nobody’s CPP cheque decreased and nobody’s CPP savings disapeared. But, the CPP is capped and only allows people to save enough to cover the maximum of 25% of the average wage. That’s not enough for anyone to live on today.

The Canadian Labour Congress launched a campaign to expand the CPP and help everyone save more – enought to cover the basics when they retire. We asked union members to join our campaign and encouraged them to talk to their friends and neighbours. They did. ( Did they every!)

The BC Federation of Labour is calling on the provincial government to shut down and launch an independent investigation into Surrey-based Khaira Enterprises following allegations of widespread abuse of silviculture workers.

A Khaira Enterprises workcamp at Bluewater Creek, 40 kilometres west of Golden, was shut down on July 21st when it was discovered by a Conservation Officer and Ministry of Forests worker who were investigating reports of illegal burning.  Company owners and about 28 workers were found at the squalid camp.  The workers had no money, no transportation and were unable to leave the remote site.  The RCMP were also called in to investigate.

“We have met with about a dozen people who worked at Khaira Enterprises this spring and summer and the stories they tell are absolutely shocking,” says Jim Sinclair.  “We have pieced together a story that seems from another century.”

The former Khaira employees report:

• no safe drinking water at camp, workers told to drink from a nearby creek;
• no toilet facilities at the camp;
• daily shortage of food and malnourished workers, breakfast consisted of bread, jam and peanut butter, no lunch provided;
• improper food handling, unrefridgerated chicken served most nights;
• unsafe transportation of workers in overloaded and unsafe vehicles;
• underpayment and non-payment of wages including cheques returned by banks due to insufficient funds;
• Employment Standards violations including the misrepresentation of hours worked;
• physical and verbal abuse of workers;
• workplace racism;
• death threats to workers;
• refusal of adequate medical treatment for injured workers; and
• failure to report workplace injuries to WCB.

Most of the Khaira workers are Canadian citizens or permanent residents originally from Burundi and the Republic of Congo.

“This camp was only discovered and shut down because of reports of an illegal fire during a fire ban.  We need an independent investigation to explain how these working conditions were allowed to continue in British Columbia in this day and age so we can prevent it from happening again,” says Sinclair. ”While this investigation is underway, Khaira needs to be shut down to prevent further abuse.”

“These workers are owed thousands of dollars in salary from Khaira. They need immediate financial assistance from the government in the event that Khaira’s owners continue to refuse to pay the wages or if they are unable to pay them,” Sinclair added.

A CELEBRATION OF SOLIDARITY

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 6

11:00 am – 2:00 pm

CENTRAL PARK – BURNABY,  BC

(Kingsway between Boundary and Patterson)

Families welcome! Come join us for food, music, games for kids.

We are a paranoid bunch, who daily deal with WCB appeals.

You are probably sick of hearing your union warn you again and again that you should make sure to file with the WCB (also known as WorkSafeBC) whenever you have an injury, and to ensure that you appeal anything that you suspect should be appealed.

Paranoid or not, here’s another example of why they really are out to get us.

A trend in recent years is for the WCB is to send letters out that tell you one thing, but that also contain a “secret” decision that may cause you a lifetime of regret if you do not appeal it.

Here are a few examples:

What it says: Congratulations, you are now able to return to work without restrictions or limitations. We will be terminating your wage loss benefits as of xxx date now that you have been able to return to your job.

What it means:  We don’t think you have any permanent residual impairment and we are NOT sending you to Disability Awards to be assessed for a pension.

What you are going to miss if you do not appeal: if you continue to have any lingering symptoms such as pain, weakness, an inability to do certain aspects of your job because of your injury, you will not be assessed for a pension. What’s more, the next time your condition flares-up, the WCB will tell you that it cannot be related to your prior compensable injury since you were completely recovered when you returned to work. If you weren’t 100% at that time, you would have appealed, right?

 Another example:

What it says: The main method of calculating any permanent impairment is under s. 23(1) as a functional pension. I find that you are entitled to a functional pension of 2.5% for chronic pain (or 4% for loss of range of motion etc…). Attached you will find an LTD memo which addresses your disability. This decision addresses your functional impairment only.

What it means: The memo attached will have a section called “Administrative Data.” Item number 11 will refer to “Section 23(3), and may say something like this: Mr. Smith has returned to work and is now fully employed. He will have no loss of earnings

What you are going to miss if you don’t appeal: Although this letter expressly tells you it is only making one decision (on your loss of function pension) the WCB now takes the position that because “loss of earnings” is mentioned in item 11 in the LTD memo, you have been given a decision on BOTH kinds of WCB pension. The letter tells you that it contains only one decision, and if you don’t disagree, you won’t appeal it. But let’s say that you have had to return to work at an accommodated position which pays less, or perhaps you can no longer work overtime or extra shifts. You may be having a significant loss of earnings. If you don’t appeal this decision, buried at the end of the LTD memo, you may never be able to. You will likely be considered out of time when finally you realise that no one is going to compensate you for your loss of earnings.

One more:

What it says: (If you have recently won an appeal.) This letter implements the Workers Compensation Appeal Tribunal decision of xxx date. We are paying you retroactive wage loss benefits for the period of xxx to xxx. A cheque in the amount of $ xx.xx is enclosed. The WCAT decision has now been implemented.

What it means: We’ll pay you lost wages for this period but nothing else, and you are NOT going to be referred to Disability Awards to be assessed for a pension.

What you are going to miss if you don’t appeal: If you have any permanent residual disability as a result of your work injury, for example lingering pain or restrictions of any kind, you should be assessed for a WCB pension. This letter means that you won’t be. If you don’t appeal, you will again be considered to have been 100% recovered from your injury and any future problems will be found to be unrelated to this injury since you were fully recovered when you went back to work.

Finally: Remember this, if you get a decision of any kind that indicates that your union representative or lawyer have been copied, you have to be sure they were! Even if the letter says your rep was cc’d, if you don’t check, and then an appeal deadline is missed because he or she didn’t know about the letter, you are out of time, plain and simple.

The moral of the story? Be suspicious, trust no one when dealing with the WCB, always talk to your representative when you get correspondence to be sure there are no “embedded decisions.” If you miss one, you could be paying for it for the rest of your life.

(and just a note here: when they call it “SafeWorkBC” we’ll start to use the name, but as long as the emphasis rests on the obligations of the worker, we’ll stick to the old name)

July 29, 2010

Final wage rates for the facilities subsector Rehabilitation Assistant, Program Coordinator I (formerly Activity Worker III) and Program Coordinator II (formerly Activity Worker IV) benchmarks have been determined by classification arbitrator John Kinzie.

Language and wage rate changes were negotiated during the “Page 209” benchmark series review in 2008 and 2009 for affected members in the Facilities Bargaining Association.

These three benchmarks received an “interim” rate, retroactive to April 1, 2008, in the implementation agreement.  The unions took the issue of the final wage rates before Kinzie in classification hearings held on April 12 and 22.

Kinzie awarded the following rates:

These new wage rates will be effective July 23, 2010, the date the arbitrator published his award.

Kinzie was clear that his decision was based on classification principles: “…the current pay scale and its internal equities weighed against the significance of the change in duties and responsibilities reflected in the new or revised benchmark.” He also applied the same principles where job qualifications were changed in a benchmark.

The unions expect that employers will implement these wage adjustments as soon as possible.  Should there be problems in receiving these new rates, contact your local shop steward.

International Union of Operating Engineers is supporting CUPE in the disparance of Lyle and Marie McCann. We are urging our members to support the seach for Lyle and Marie McCann, family members of a Cupe 30 member who have been missing since July 3.

The elderly couple disappeared on the road between St. Albert, Albert and Abbotsford, British Columbia. Their burned – out motor home was abandoned near Edson, Alberta.

Residents of Prince George, British Columbia have recently spotted the McCann’s SUV, according to media reports.

You can help by circulating photos of the McCanns and information about their missing vehicle, a light green Hyundai Tucson with the license plate ZPK 289.

1600 UNITE HERE Local 40 members at the Hyatt Regency Vancouver, Renaissance Hotel, Westin Bayshore and Four Seasons are currently working without a union contract. There is little to no progress in bargaining. The hotels are refusing to even discuss key issues for Local 40 members like housekeeping workload and the devasting fake “green” program at the Westin Bayshore designed to slash housekeepers’ jobs.

Major protest at the Hyatt on July 22 at 5:00pm.

It has come to the attention of the union that some employers have not yet implemented new clerical members that resulted from the clerical benchmark review contained in the 2006-2010 agreement (“page208″).

Under the final settlement and implementation agreement reached in January, health employers to implement the new rates of pay for benchmarks covered by the review no later than April 1, 2010.

The adjustments are retroactive to April 1, 2007, and health employers were also required to provide retroactive payments by no later than May 13.

It’s important that you contact your union if work is matched to one of the affected benchmarks your employer has not adjusted your pay rate or provided you with retroactive pay.

Please review the following list of benchmarks to see if you may be affected.

Finance and Payroll

• Benchmark 10205 Clerk IV, Accounts Receivable – previously Grid 16 is now Grid 17
• Benchmark 10206 Clerk IV, Accounts Payable – previously Grid 16 is now Grid 17
• Benchmark 10209 Clerk V, Accounts Receivable (Patient Billing) – previously Grid 21 is now Grid 22
• Benchmark 10210 Clerk V, Accounts Payable – previously Grid 21 is now Grid 22
• Benchmark 10212 Accounting – previously Grid 21 is now Grid 22
• Benchmark 10703 Payroll – previously Grid 16 is now Grid 17
• Benchmark 10704 Payroll Supervisor I – previously Grid 21 is now Grid 22
• Benchmark 10705 Payroll Supervisor II – previously Grid 24 is now Grid 25
• Benchmark 10706 Payroll Supervisor III – previously Grid 26 is now Grid 27

Please raise this issue with your employer and contact you local shop steward.

Following the footsteps of our ancestors, while building a future for our children

Share the Celebration of First Nations Culture

June 18, 2010

IUOE is welcoming a decision from the province’s Labour Relations Board dismissing all raid applications submitted by the BC Nurses’ Union to represent LPNs who are members of IUOE, HEU and other unions of Facilities Bargaining Association.

“Today’s ruling confirms what the vast majority of LPNs have told us all along – they want to remain united and independent within their unions, where they can continue to advocate for their own, unique professional interests.”

“In dismissing each of BCNU’s seven separate raid applications, the Board has made it crystal clear that BCNU could not garner enough support for its raid in even a single health region, let alone on a province-wide basis.”

I want to thank LPN members for standing by their union, often under intense pressure from BCNU organizers.  I also want to thank members across the province for standing with their LPN colleagues throughout the year-long raid.

“Facilities Bargaining Association members understand the true meaning of solidarity,” says Darcy, Chair and Spokesperson for the Facilities Bargaining Association. “They know an attack on one group of members is an assault on all members. And they know our strength is forged by standing strong and united for one another.”

She says she is hopeful that today’s unequivocal decision by the LRB will give the BCNU leadership an opportunity to reconsider their direction and abandon their divisive tactics in the future.

“As colleagues in health care, Facilities Bargaining Association and BCNU members share common values and objectives that are worth preserving,” says Darcy.

“Now it’s time to focus on the work that unites our members on the health care team.”

As a result of today’s ruling, the BCNU has been barred from mounting a future raid for 22 months from the date of their original application filed on November 30, 2009.