Alberta’s Unconstitutional Labour Laws

Alberta Federation of Labour, Director of Projects - Tom Fuller has recently written an article in the AFL's new magazine "Union" (see pages 26 - 27) which takes a look Labour Laws in that western Canadian province.

"Alberta’s Unconstitutional labour laws

An invitiation to union-busting - tom fuller, AFL

When labour relations experts look at Alberta, the first thing they notice is the low rate of unionization in the province’s workforce.

At last count (in 2006) just 22.3% of workers in Alberta were union members – by far the lowest rate in Canada. Journalists and academics have noted this fact and discussed possible reasons for it. Much of the discussion centers around Alberta’s conservative political culture, “entrepreneurial values” and “cowboy spirit.” Rugged individuals like us, apparently, just don’t like the idea of joining together with others in an attempt to better ourselves; we’d rather go it alone.

To anybody with on-the-ground experience doing union work in Alberta, that explanation is ludicrous. The fact is: workers in Alberta, at least a significant number of them, want to unionize; but that our province’s anti-union labour laws make it very difficult for them to exercise their right to do so. “Give us some halfway balanced labour legislation,” say the organizers, “and we’ll see if the “cowboy spirit” still keeps workers away from unions!” (read more....)

Striking N.B. professors reject final offer from St. Thomas University

Sound familiar? From The Chronicle Herald:

"Striking N.B. professors reject final offer from St. Thomas University

By THE CANADIAN PRESS
Tue. Jan 29 - 2:02 PM

FREDERICTON — Striking professors at St. Thomas University in Fredericton have voted to reject a final contract offer from the university.

The vote, conducted by the province's Labour and Employment Board, saw the offer rejected by 72 per cent of full-time faculty and 63 per cent of the part-time staff.

The faculty association had recommended the offer be rejected.

Union president Suzanne Dudziak says she's confident a collective agreement can be reached if the two sides can resume negotiations.

The labour dispute began Dec. 27 when the university locked out the professors, who are asking for higher wages. The school recently lifted the lockout, but faculty had already voted to strike." (read more....)

Olbermann: Obama - Kennedy seal of approval

Political Firings in Saskatchewan - Another Analysis

Wander on over to the "Owls and Roosters Blog" and read a new entry entitled:

"Deputy Premier Ken Krawetz says firings about towing the party line, more to come; Premier Brad Wall betrays own words from Aug. 2007 letter"

Its an analysis and commentary about the recent Political Firings carried out by the new Sask. Party Government including the full text of Brad Wall's pre-election (Aug. 30, 2007), letter to the editor respecting the topic of firings in the civil service following elections.

It can be argued that there are some serious contradictions between what was said, and what's been done.

If you were President ...

"If you were President . . .
Leo Panitch: Democratizing economy is the fundamental change needed to deal with recession." (read more...)

Drinking? - You decide!

U.S. Military Spending has maxed out the country's credit card

There's a very interesting article on military spending on the MIT Centre for International Studies Web-Site.

"At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the United States is in a position of military preponderance, both in terms of its ability to project power abroad and wage conventional war. To maintain this military advantage, the U.S. has spent annually between $332 and $513 billion annually since the end of the Cold War. The end of the communist military threat gave rise to hope of a “peace dividend” and to political efforts both to reduce the defense budget and redirect spending from the military to domestic social programs, but the American defense budget never fell below 85% of the highest Cold War levels achieved during the Reagan buildup in the late 1980s. The U.S. accounts for nearly half the world’s military expenditure, outspending on defense the next fourteen largest military powers combined." (read more....)

SFL to submit names for board membership

Regina Leader-Post reporter Neil Scott has an article in the Friday, January 25, 2008 edition of the paper entitled: SFL to submit names for board membership.

The article reports on the SFL's intention to submit the names of nominees to represent Labour on the Board of Enterprise Saskatchewan.

Excerpt:

"The Saskatchewan Federation of Labour has decided to play ball with the provincial government, by nominating candidates to be on the board of Enterprise Saskatchewan.

Larry Hubich, the president of the SFL, said the decision to accept an invitation from the government to nominate candidates was made despite the serious concerns the SFL has about the role and structure of Enterprise Saskatchewan." (read more....)

70 Sask. civil servants being dismissed, minister says

If you don't share the same philosophy as the new Premier - YOU'RE FIRED!

CBC Saskatchewan Website runs the following story:

70 Sask. civil servants being dismissed, minister says

The story reads (emphasis added):

"Krawetz said people were being evaluated individually, on their ability to do the job, and on whether they share the same philosophy as the new premier."

Regina Leader-Post coverage.

US recession fueled by low wages and consumer debt

From "The Real News":

"US recession fueled by low wages and consumer debt

Leo Panitch: Weakening of unions and global pressures on US wages a major factor

Thursday January 24th, 2008

Leo Panitch is the Canada Research Chair in Comparative Political Economy and a Distinguished Research Professor of Political Science at York University in Toronto. Panitch is also the author of Global Capitalism and American Empire."

You can read the transcript of the Panitch interview here.

Open Letter to Hon. Lyle Stewart respecting Enterprise Saskatchewan

On January 22, 2008 I sent the following open letter to Honourable Lyle Stewart, Minister of Enterprise and Innovation respecting "Enterprise Saskatchewan":

The full letter is available for download in Adobe PDF format here: Open Letter to Minister Stewart.

Honourable Lyle Stewart
Minister of Enterprise and Innovation
Government of Saskatchewan

Re: Enterprise Saskatchewan

Dear Minister Stewart:

By now you will have received correspondence from the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour (SFL) dated January 10th, 2008, responding to your invitation to put forward nominees for the Board of Enterprise Saskatchewan. In it, we ask a number of questions, including:

• Are we correct in assuming that the SFL will be a prescribed organization as contemplated in Bill 2?

• Can all other labour organizations who have been asked for nominees assume they are considered prescribed organizations?

• Why did some unions receive an invitation to put forward nominees and not others? (read more....)

Computer 101

Olbermann: More Lies from Bush Administration

935 Lies = 1 Illegal War

Study: Bush led U.S. to war on 'false pretenses'
Hundreds of false statements on WMDs, al-Qaida used to justify Iraq war

"Associated Press - updated 1:30 a.m. CT, Wed., Jan. 23, 2008

WASHINGTON - A study by two nonprofit journalism organizations found that President Bush and top administration officials issued hundreds of false statements about the national security threat from Iraq in the two years following the 2001 terrorist attacks.

The study concluded that the statements "were part of an orchestrated campaign that effectively galvanized public opinion and, in the process, led the nation to war under decidedly false pretenses." (read more....)

Saskatchewan Rejects TILMA ... Again

Erin Weir over at the Progressive Economics Forum Blog has just posted an article on contradictory stories about the Sask. Party's position regarding the B.C./Alberta Trade Investment and Labour Mobility Agreement (TILMA):

"Saskatchewan’s new Premier, Brad Wall, addressed the Petroleum Club in Calgary on Monday to emphasize his willingness to continue giving away his province’s oil reserves for scandalously low royalties. Several media outlets reported that he also expressed interest in joining TILMA, which he had previously rejected. For example, The Globe and Mail reported, “He mentioned his desire to become part of a pact that now includes Alberta and British Columbia that is aimed at removing interprovincial trade barriers.”

In the following story, “New gov’t turfs TILMA,” Wall’s Minister of Enterprise and Innovation set the record straight. Fittingly, this article was printed in The Meridian Booster of Lloydminster, which straddles the Saskatchewan-Alberta border." (read more....)

Sean Penn on Bill Maher

I know that this is a bit "dated", BUT.....

Latin America Banks on Independence

In These Times web-site has posted an article by Mark Engler about the creation of a new Bank of the South:

"Latin America Banks on Independence

The new Bank of the South shatters neoliberal economics

By Mark Engler

In the closing weeks of 2007, a region in revolt against the economics of corporate globalization issued its most unified declaration of independence to date.

On Dec. 9, standing before the flags of their countries, the presidents of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Paraguay and Venezuela, along with a representative from Uruguay, gathered in Buenos Aires and signed the founding charter of the Banco del Sur, or the Bank of the South." (read more....)

50 Years in Three Minutes

I friend of mine sent me this link a while back. It's very good. Just turn up the volume, sit back and enjoy it. It's 50 years of history in approximately 3 minutes.

According to the message that came with the e-mail link, this was created by some guy at the University of Chicago.

A whole bunch of photos cycled through while the Billy Joel tune "We didn't start the fire" plays in the background.

Click here to view it. (It should open up in a separate page)

Olbermann: White House e-mails really missing?

A Supreme Decision: Collective Bargaining as a Constitutional Right

In September 2007, Our Times Magazine published an article by Dr. Elaine Bernard, Executive Director of the Harvard Trade Union Program - Harvard Law School.

The article is entitled: Collective Bargaining as a Constitutional Right

There are a couple of quotes from Elaine's article that bear repeating:

"the right to bargain collectively with an employer enhances the human dignity, liberty and autonomy of workers by giving them the opportunity to influence the establishment of workplace rules and thereby gain some control over a major aspect of their lives, namely their work." - Supreme Court of Canada

and

"THE RIGHT TO STRIKE IS NEXT?
Put in proper historic context, legislation did not create collective bargaining, but rather legislation eventually came to protect collective bargaining because of its fundamental importance" to society. One might also make the same case for the right to strike. Unfortunately, this case did not involve the right to strike and so it remains an open question whether the Supreme Court, in a future case, will recognize "the right to strike" as a constitutional right. Like collective bargaining, the right to strike "is consistent with, and indeed, promotes other Charter rights, freedoms and values" and therefore deserves to be recognized and protected by the Charter." - Dr. Elaine Bernard