Democracy of Hypocrisy

On Monday night, city council voted in favor of closing all nine of the city run day care facilities. In a debate that lasted well past 11:30 it came down to the vote, and with 3 councilors abstaining from the vote due to a conflict of interest, the motion passed. 118 workers will now either be bumped into other positions within the city or lose their jobs outright. Just what Windsor needs, more unemployed. The speakers were passionate, most were there objecting to the proposal and pleaded their case to what was obviously deaf ears.

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The Windsor Star seems unable to change. In what has become almost a daily ritual, stories will be printed that pertain to the blue collar workers, particularly those in union jobs and the woes that these workers face as the economy continues to tank. In a twist of irony, they also print stories misleading the people telling them that the economy in Windsor is turning around. What a slap in the face that is, I mean come on. Not only that, they have the nerve to print a story about the Toyota recall, but low and behold, commenting on that story is turned off. I find myself asking why that is but the answer is pretty clear. It doesn't involve union workers thus negating a chance for the Star to once again push their anti union vitriol through readers comments.

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I have finally gotten around to writing a new post and it's about time. Let's just say that the economy has got me down and I've been feeling some self loathing and a general feeling of "whatever". But it is a new year and I feel that what I have been seeing happening in Windsor and in the world in general,it is time to get my thoughts out there. But where to begin? Why right here at home of course.

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I participated in the annual Labour Day parade, marching from the CAW Local hall to the Fogolar Furlan Club;a good 45 minute walk or so. With the many different unions and other participants, it was a decent turnout, but could have been better. This year especially was an important day due to the hit that workers in Canada have endured throughout the year. The false idea that it is the workers to blame for this mess was a recurring theme, as well as the recent city strike,which culminated in the Windsor District Labour Council president Gary Parent( who retires tomorrow) telling Mayor Eddie Francis to go to hell.

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Once again the people of Windsor are told that more consulting must be done in order for the stimulus projects to see the light of day. Consulting, consulting, consulting, it is the word that flows out of the mayors mouth almost daily. Windsor has earmarked $133 million for so called shovel ready projects waiting to get underway but none of these projects have gone to tender and no construction jobs have been created. In a city hard hit by job loss and unemployment, one would think that getting the shovels in the ground would be a top priority, but it is status quo at city hall with the mayor and council playing games.

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...and with good reason, the government is screwing them out of vacation and stat holiday pay. Why? Because they don't have to pay them according to the Employment Standards Act, even though it has been past practise to do so. Basically the government has broken it's own contract with these student workers. The students signed a contract before starting employment at the parks that they would receive vacation and holiday pay, as they have done so in the past, but the government recently "discovered" that they do not qualify for them as the Crown is exempt from provisions under the Act.

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Link: http://www.windsorstar.com/business/Ontario+press+automakers+executive+compensation/1846036/story.html

Ontario won't press automakers on executive compensation

WINDSOR — Ontario will not use its shareholder status to press taxpayer-funded General Motors and Chrysler Group LLC to release details on compensation paid to its board members and executives, Sandra Pupatello, the province's minister of economic development and trade, said Thursday.

"If I were in charge of their PR department I think I might have chosen to do this a little differently because the perception is often as impactful as the reality," she said. "So, they may choose to do this because just in the spirit of being thankful that we've all been helping. But they're not obligated to."

Pupatello was responding Thursday to growing calls on GM and Chrysler — recipients of more than $14 billion in federal and Ontario government loans — to disclose salaries of their top executives. Although GM has released details of compensation for its board members, Chrysler has refused to follow suit, calling the information "confidential."

Pupatello also defended the base payment of $200,000 to Carol Stephenson, board appointee of Canada and Ontario.

"I think it's probably what is very typical at that level for this size of a corporation," she said.

"And, right now, there's a lot riding on these board members doing a very good job and due diligence. And the governments are going to rely on these people and they've been selected because of the kind of expertise they bring. Carol has very good reputation and we're going to be exacting that reputation in this position."

But NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said taxpayers have the right to know full details of how the auto companies are spending their dollars.

"The bottom line is we now own parts of these companies — whether we own one per cent, two per cent or 30 per cent — is irrelevant," said Horwath.

"The bottom line is it's taxpayer dollars that are shoring up these companies and by virtue of our participation in those companies we have a right to know what the executive compensation packages are and what the perks are members of the board are receiving."

The federal and Ontario governments have provided U.S.-based parents of GM and Chrysler with loans to help keep the auto companies from going under. The governments own two per cent of Chrysler and almost 12 per cent of GM.

GM Canada has said it cut executive salaries by 10 per cent, reduced pay for salaried staff and trimmed benefits and pension plans as part of its restructuring.

It also said that "due diligence conducted by all governments in advance of their support and investment in GM, appropriately included a comprehensive review and careful scrutiny of compensation for hourly and regular salaried employees, and in particular compensation for GM's executives.

"In the case of GM Canada executives and board members, the compensation is not at a level which would require public disclosure based on the agreed terms and conditions between GM and all the governments," it added.

Excuse me? We the taxpayers are basically being told that it is none of our business and leading the way is Sandra "photo op" Pupatello. What in the blue hell is going on here? We funded this bail out, as in we the taxpayers and you'd think that we would have a right to know what exactly our money is being spent on. I guess we only get a sneak peak as it was revealed that Carole Stephenson, dean of the Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario sits on the GM board and earns $200,000 and a company vehicle all the while retaining her post as Dean at the university. However, Chrysler has refused to reveal compensation for its board of directors. As well, both companies have refused news media requests to release details of salaries of their Canadian CEO's.

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The city of Windsor and CUPE locals 543 and 82 have settled an historic 101 day strike. Details of the settlement include a 6.3% (edit, it is now being reported as 5.7%) wage increase over four years of the contract, with 1.5, 1.8, and 2% annually, a $2,000 signing bonus, and all possible disciplinary actions against transgressions the strikers have done during the strike will be dropped. However, this settlement comes at a cost to Windsor taxpayers of $17.2 million over 4 years. Post retirement benefits for new hires, the sticking point of the strike have been dropped. It is unclear whether the unfair labour practises suit against the city will continue.

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CUPE locals 543 and 82 rejected the city's counter offer on Thursday, an offer that many were hoping would end this 14 week strike. In what has been a day filled with drama, CUPE flat out said "NO" to the mayor and to city council. It all started with the city asking CUPE leadership to take the offer to its members and let them vote on it.

The vote occurred Thursday morning, but not before city managers showed up to hand out back to work protocols to the workers, who in disgust, threw the papers in the air. Rumours abound that CUPE leadership was instilling fear into the membership by stating that the city was not going to include a back to work protocol and that members may lose their jobs or face disciplinary actions upon settling the strike for any actions the mayor deemed worthy of dismissal or discipline.

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Windsor is stuck in a trend that no one would ever want to be in and that trend is the unemployment rate, which now sits at 14.4%. This once booming town now holds the distinction of having the highest unemployment rate in Canada. There were more than 25,000 local residents out of Work in the Windsor area at the beginning of the summer, however with the Chrysler Windsor Assembly Plant reopening at the end of June, 3500 workers are now back on the job and with news that the midnight shift will remain at least until next summer, it may mean that the local economy may now begin to recover. Lets keep our fingers crossed.

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The strike by the municipal workers in Windsor that is. 12 weeks now without garbage collection, parking tickets, daycare etc. I've been able to go about my life without being affected by this to be honest. I don't have a habit of strolling through back alleyways to see the mountains of garbage that are piled up, but I see them in pictures nonetheless in the local news rag and on the many blogs I happen to come across. There doesn't seem to be any talks scheduled that I know of and so we continue to live in a garbage town.

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Unions at Canwest Global Communications (TSX:CGS) newspapers say they are being asked to enter concession talks with the company, which faces a major restructuring effort as it tries to deal with a crushing $3.9 billion debt load.

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I attended the CUPE rally today which started out front of the University of Windsor and ended at city hall square. I must say that I was very impressed with the turnout. CUPE members from out of town arrived in bus loads; as well other locals from the Windsor area stood by their union brothers and sisters as we marched to city hall down Riverside drive. Chants of "hey hey, ho ho, Eddie has got to go" and other songs were plentiful as we walked past the red bull air racers practising in their sweet planes. The 9 week old strike has no end in site and it was awesome that the different locals came out to show support.

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The citizens of Windsor made good on their promise to clean up the Ford Test Track today. As organizers and crews converged on the park, so did pro union citizens, many from different unions that are not on strike; I being one of them. Mike Morency, the organizer of this event, had some words to speak to the people before the clean up was to commence. They were planning to cut the grass, however, the police informed them that they would not be allowed due to safety reasons and for fear of confrontation. Mr. Morency was called out on only doing this for publicity as speculation arises that he wishes to run for city council in the election next year. A question which he quickly shrugged aside. Mr. Morency says that he supports the union and had only planned on cleaning this one park, yet on his facebook group it has come to light that they are planning to clean more city parks. Over all, there were no physical fights, just angry words exchanged between both sides and when I finally left, a small crowd of people were left, along with the police.

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In your seemingly heart felt gesture to organize and clean up the parks of the city, you are also performing work that is done by workers who are on strike.I don't know what has happened to this town; historically, we have been a union city and people seemed to care about one another back in the day. Nowadays, we have the ME generation, those only concerned about themselves, the same people whose fathers, mothers, uncles, grand fathers etc worked in one of the automotive plants or other unionized trade shops in town. But something has changed, suddenly we unionized workers are the enemy and are the endless targets for people to blame. With the strike by the city workers going into its seventh week, the anger and frustration has made many organize an event for Saturday to "take back our parks". Ordinary citizens of Windsor are heading out to the city's baseball diamonds, the soccer pitches and other parks to cut the grass that has grown as some would say, waist high. They will be picking up the garbage and making sure that things will be safe for the kids.

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Link: http://www.windsorstar.com/Business/Operations+risk+without+concessions+Ford/1636703/story.html

First they came after the Chrysler workers, renegotiated the contracts to lower costs,filed bankruptcy, then they went after GM workers, lowered costs, probably filing for bankruptcy, and now, Ford has lined up to the trough to syphon off costs. Ford, of all companies, the one who said they didn't need any government loans. But now, a company spokesperson has said that operations are at risk unless the automaker can secure further concessions from the workers.

“In order to maintain our automotive manufacturing presence in Canada we need to take action to improve our competitiveness and we can’t wait until 2012 when it could be too late to close that gap

said Kerri Stoakley.

Interesting turn of events,for a company that said it was still viable, it seems that what the others got was too good to pass up.

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Link: http://www.windsorstar.com/Mediator+leaves+town+sight+city+strike/1588833/story.html

Negotiations between the city of Windsor and the outside workers broke off Tuesday leaving no end in sight for the strike which has dragged on for five weeks now. The mediator, who was brought in on Monday has left town and the residents of Windsor are showing increased frustration and a total lack of decency by continuing to dump garbage and other household junk along the streets and fields of the city. There are no new talks scheduled and Mayor "Fast" Eddie Francis said the city will contemplate new plans to deal with the mounting refuse but couldn't offer a time frame of when those plans would be available.

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The UAW is fighting for it's members future in North America as GM plans to outsource and shut down plants in its bid to restructure. GM wants to outsource production to Mexico and Asia and it has caused a stir within the UAW who believes that

"This is really about the shape of GM in the US and its foot print in North America in the future," a senior UAW official who asked not to be identified told AFP

The UAW strongly objects to GM's plans because it basically means that GM's manufacturing will shift from North America to places like China, Mexico, Korea and Japan. The UAW also believes that if GM will be given government money, that they should keep plants open in North America.

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Windsor's outside municipal workers went on strike Wednesday morning after negotiations failed. The heart of the issue seems to be how the city wants to eliminate benefits for new hires and of course the supposed wage increase for current workers that the city claims is on the table. The city negotiating team so far does not seem willing to bargain fairly and they are only interested in concessions, which CUPE local 82 will not bargain concessions.

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Even during these harsh economic times, the Dalton McGuinty government still manages to slap the Canadian workers in the face by making a deal to purchase Ontario flags that are made in China. If this isn't further evidence to support my claim that he is a terrible Premier then stay tuned because in a short while I am sure that he will once again do something incredibly stupid.

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Of course I could only be referring to Canadian universities, make that "poor" Canadian universities. The cash strapped institutions of higher learning are handing out ridiculous severance packages when it comes time for the big shots to take a hike while at the same time sobbing to the students, staff and general public about the lack of funds. I don't know about everyone else out there but I for one am sick of seeing these types of deals being tossed around. Dr. Ross Paul would be envious, but I am sure he is enjoying his golden handshake, wherever he may be.

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Premier Dalton McGuinty called a special session of the legislature, Sunday, to introduce back-to-work legislation to end a strike at York University.

But eight NDP members voted against the bill, which means it will not pass immediately. As a result, it's expected to be a few more days before it can be passed and, in turn, end the almost 12-week long strike at York.

NDP leader Howard Hampton said he wanted to ensure the bill was properly debated.

Hampton added there are some important issues at stake, like the fact some workers get salaries below the poverty line and do the work of full-time professors.

Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory said he respects the right of Hampton to put his objections on the record. But Tory also said he hopes one day is enough for Hampton to make his point and for the NDP to vote in favour of the bill. If that happens, Tory said, all 45,000 students could be back in class by Tuesday.

Meanwhile hundreds of York TA's and contract faculty rallied outside the legislature, like this TA who pointed fingers at the university. "The appropriate reaction isn't to blame the union, but it's actually to put it back on the employer who hasn't been bargaining in good faith," she said.

A spokesman for York University said classes will likely resume 24 hours after the legislation passes.

A second reading of the bill is set for Monday at 10:30 am.

source

I'm sure the die hard conservatives and liberals alike are no doubt bitching and moaning about how unions are redundant and the NDP are useless. Although this move by the NDP is the right thing to do in my book, the inevitable will come and all will be well, at least in Dalton's mind. I just know that when it comes time for my union to negotiate our contract in 2010, the University of Windsor will attempt to pull off the same feat.

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Dalton McGuinty, the ever so targeted premier of Ontario has once again shown himself to be an inept leader, this time concerning his order to bring back to work legislation against the striking York University faculty. I believe it is an issue of saving face rather than caring about education. Yes thats right, I used the word education when talking about McGuinty,you know, the guy who wants to stick it to students any way he can.

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Yes he should as he has once again opened his big mouth and has called for a ban on Israeli academics from teaching in Ontario universities unless they openly renounce the current military operation occurring in the Gaza strip. Sources say that the Ontario division of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE)will be introducing the proposal at a meeting in the near future.

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This is a hot issue right now and as I am writing this, a decision has still not been made in the US and in Canada as to whether the government will loan the BIG 3 money to stave of bankruptcy and closure. As I read the opinions in various newspapers, it seems the majority are against using tax payer money to help out the big 3. I myself was at odds with them helping because after all, they are a private company, and governments usually don't interfere with private companies. The big 3 have made their beds and in theory, they should now lay in them.

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As if things weren't tight already dumdum. How much more can we tighten our belts? Dalton McGuinty has set the stage for tomorrows fall economic statement by basically telling the public sector to lower their expectations. Translated that means less money for hospitals, teachers etc. Even though he made a promise in his 2007 campaign to put money into fighting poverty, it seems yet again he will be breaking a promise.

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Wal-Mart Canada has closed a unionized tire and lube shop in Gatineau, Quebec, 2 months after the employees were granted their first ever collective agreement. This past August, an arbitrator imposed the contract which Wal-Mart says it is unable to operate under due to a 33 percent wage increase which they say would lead to rising costs for the customer. The 33 percent wage increase would bring the employees pay up to $13.76/hour.

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Stephen Harper finally decided to unveil his party's platform and it is a modest one at that compared to the lavish ones of the NDP and the Liberals. The $8.7 Billion platform includes such things as a $200 million investment over four years to the struggling automotive industry and $200 million over four years to the aerospace industry. It also reaffirms Harper's intention of cutting in half the diesel tax over four years, a $566 million initiative.

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I really feel bad that I haven't been able to blog about my usual cynicism of Canadian politics but what is going on here at the U has taken most of my energy. Day 8 of the strike and it is starting to get ugly.

On September 23, Dr. Wildeman, president of the University of Windsor decided to bargain in bad faith by reporting to the media the University's latest offer to the striking faculty. A full page ad was taken in the Windsor Star and stated that this strike is about money. (emphases on the period)The ad can also be viewed here

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Negotiations broke down well beyond the 12:01 strike deadline set by the faculty, leaving WUFA no choice but to declare a strike. By 2 am, it was clear that they were getting nowhere with the University administration so negotiations were called off. Faculty, including professors, part time professors, and librarians will set up picket lines by 7:30 am Wednesday morning and continue to picket into the evening. This is the first strike in 26 years;the last one lasting just 6 days and some are saying that it is leaving students in the crossfire. Some 16,000 students are left in limbo but Brian Brown, president of WUFA, hopes that students will continue their support of the union.

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Negotiations continue to fail at the University of Windsor as the Faculty (WUFA) prepare for a possible strike 12:01 Wednesday. As mentioned earlier in my No Maquiladora U post, the University wants to pay sessional workers well below the standard and to increase the workload. Both issues are the main issues for WUFA. Their contract expired on June 30th and have been negotiating with the help of a provincial mediator.

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Link: http://mollymew.blogspot.com/

Originally posted on http://mollymew.blogspot.com/

CUPE 1281 fights firings at CKLN-FM:
Management at CKLN-FM, Ryerson University’s student supported campus/community radio station has fired two CUPE 1281 members.

The small group of paid staff at the mostly volunteer station voted to join CUPE 1281 almost a year ago.

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A satirical look at the real and potential corporatization of the university of Windsor, and the tragic decisions made by a small number of misguided administrators who want to turn the campus into "Maquiladora U."

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Canada, typically a top 10 finisher in the United Nation's top 10 best places to live, is lagging in workers benefits. So says a study by Mc Gill University. The study uncovers the truth that Canada basically sucks when it comes to basic worker benefits.

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Link: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080717.wprems0717/BNStory/National/home?cid=al_gam_mostview

All 13 Provinces have signed an agreement which will allow skilled workers such as nurses, doctors, welders,tool and die technicians etc, to work in any province. In the past, workers had to receive additional licenses to work in other provinces.

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On Friday, June 13,2008, a judge ordered the workers of General Motors Oshawa truck plant to dismantle the blockade they had set up. This injunction comes as the workers were protesting GM's planned closure of the truck plant. Now this closure comes as a a shock, considering the union and management had only signed the collective agreement a month earlier. In the union's eyes, GM has now violated said agreement.

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