Stand Up for our Human Rights - SFL Labour Reporter

The following is the lead article from the May 2011 issue of the SFL Labour Reporter - the issue is dedicated to the protection of Human Rights, in Saskatchewan, Canada and abroad. 

You can download the complete issue here...

Stand up for our human rights

The provincial government’s attempts to roll back human rights are steadily mounting.

Among the first official acts of the current government, upon taking office in 2007, was to strip working people across the province of their freedom to associate and to express themselves as union members.

The “essential services” legislation has robbed tens of thousands of Saskatchewan people of their right to assemble, to raise awareness of their concerns, and to strike.

The Trade Union Act was simultaneously weakened, making it much more difficult for people to band together and to negotiate collectively with their employers.

Last year, the International Labour Organization ruled that these laws violate workers’ freedoms under international law, but the government refuses to comply with the United Nations ruling.

Inside you will read about the government’s attempt to amend the Marriage Act, to legalize discrimination against same-sex couples.

The unanimous Saskatchewan Court of Appeal decision on the duty of marriage commissioners to marry same-sex, inter-racial and inter-faith couples in our province is a human rights victory for Saskatchewan citizens.

Now the government has introduced Bill 160, which if made law, will seriously weaken the Human Rights Code.

I invite you to read selections from a very important address given by Alex Neve, Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada.

He sounds the alarm on several aspects of Bill 160, including the abolishment of our human rights tribunal and changes that will make complaints much more likely to be dismissed by the chief commissioner.

Governments are supposed to promote human rights, not lessen them. As you’ll see on p. 7, the Harper government has an equally offensive record on human rights. I encourage you all to vote for human rights and for open and transparent government on election day.

And I look forward to seeing you all at Movement for May Day on May 1 (p.8), where together we’ll tell our elected officials it’s time to respect our human rights!

In Solidarity,
Larry Hubich

Stephen Harper is an Evil Astronaut - ShitHarperDid.com

ShitHarperDid.com

Noam Chomsky on the State-Corporate Complex: A Threat to Freedom and Survival

Hey, Mr. Wall ............ Pay Attention!



Sask. Party Premier, Brad Wall

Since being elected in November 2007 the Brad Wall Sask Party government has been busy stripping away workers rights, and bringing in legislation that attacks democratic institutions and undermines the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

I suggest to you, that Mr. Wall has been following disgraced past B.C. Premier, Gordon Campbell's playbook chapter and verse.

Yesterday, the courts once again ruled that the actions of the Campbell government violate Canada's constitution.

The following is reproduced from the NUPGE web site:

BC Supreme Court rules legislation removing teachers' bargaining rights unconstitutional

“We now have four years of consistent jurisprudence that recognizes the constituional obligation of governments to respect the collective bargaining process and refrain from enacting legislation that strips away the Charter rights of their employees.” James Clancy

(14 April 2011) – In a landmark decision handed down yesterday, the BC Supreme Court ruled that laws which take away collective bargaining rights from teachers unconstitutional and in breach of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Bill 27, the Public Education Flexibility and Choice Act, prohibited the inclusion of certain items in teacher collective agreements, including staffing, class size and composition limits.

Bill 28, the Education Services Collective Agreement Act, amalgamated school districts and local bargaining units, imposing one collective agreement on teachers in the newly amalgamated districts who had previously been covered by two or three local agreements.

Madam Justice Griffin declared that Bills 27 and 28 were a substantial interference in bargaining rights and infringed on freedom of association guaranteed under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.  continue reading here......

Having Their Cake and Eating It Too: Stanford - CCPA

CAW Economist Jim Stanford exposes the Big Conservative/Corporate Lie.  The truth and the facts are that corporate tax cuts do not stimulate the economy and do not generate jobs and investment.

Corporate tax cuts economically ineffective

National Office          News Release

April 13, 2011

OTTAWA—The Conservatives’ proposed 3-point reduction in corporate tax rates would cost the public purse $6 billion per year, yet only stimulate about $600 million of new business investment annually, says a study released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).

The study, by economist Jim Stanford, examines historical data on business investment and cash flow from 1961 through 2010. Using econometric techniques, the study finds no evidence in the historical data that lower taxes have directly stimulated more investment. Moreover, the indirect impact of tax cuts on investment (experienced through corporate cash flow) has become much weaker over time.

“Business fixed capital spending has declined notably as a share of GDP and as a share of corporate cash flow since the early 1980s—despite repeated tax cuts that have reduced the combined federal-provincial corporate tax rate from 50% to just 29.5% in 2010,” says Stanford.

After adjusting for other determinants of investment spending, incremental cash flow has elicited only small amounts of business investment in recent years: about 10 cents in new investment for each dollar in extra cash flow.

“Given this statistical evidence, the federal government would have a far more powerful impact on both public and private investment by investing directly in public infrastructure, rather than providing additional tax reductions for businesses,” Stanford says.

If the federal government spent $6 billion on public infrastructure instead of corporate tax cuts, the total increase in investment would be more than ten times as great as the increase in private investment from tax cuts alone. This includes the new public investment itself ($6 billion), as well as an additional $520 million in private business investment that would be stimulated through the positive spin-off effects of the resulting economic growth.

According to the study, Canadian corporations have received $745 billion in excess, uninvested after-tax cash flow since 2001: cash flow that was not reinvested in real capital projects in Canada. This excess corporate saving reduces expenditure and purchasing power in the Canadian economy. A lack of business investment spending was the major source of Canada’s recent downturn, and the sluggish rebound in business spending is a key reason why Canada’s recovery from the recession has been uncertain, sluggish, and incomplete.

“Corporate Canada has been consistently receiving far more after-tax cash flow than it is reinvesting in Canadian capital spending—to the tune of $745 billion since 2001,” Stanford says. “Supplementing that cash flow through further tax cuts is like pushing on a string. Those tax savings would only add to the large sums of uninvested cash flow Canadian businesses already possess.”

–30–

For more information contact Kerri-Anne Finn, CCPA Senior Communications Officer, at 613-563-1341 x306.

Download the full report and analysis here.....

We get 30 cents back - People for Corporate Tax Cuts, Canada

People for Corporate Tax Cuts - Canada

Global financial crisis/recovery: What does it mean for Saskatchewan?

Global financial crisis/recovery: What does it mean for Saskatchewan?
- by Dr. Simon Enoch, Director of the Saskatchewan office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

These remarks were delivered to the Saskatchewan CED and Co-operatives Conference, April 8, 2011, Mount Royal Collegiate, Saskatoon by Dr Simon Enoch.

"This is a somewhat difficult topic to tackle because as far as the global recession is concerned, Saskatchewan has weathered it rather well. If anything, our main problem may be the management of our current prosperity and resource wealth, all of which is certainly tied to the rapidity and the resilience of a global economic recovery.

Given there are so many unknowns on this issue, I will be forced to speculate based on current trends and the likelihood of potential scenarios emerging in the future. So I am certainly not offering predictions here, but rather identifying possible challenges that may arise given the uncertainty of the current global economic situation.

First off, we should ask the question of whether we are in recovery, or perhaps, recovery for whom? It is no secret that corporate profitability has reached record levels recently, so the corporate sector is certainly “recovering.” The problem is that they are reluctant to invest, sitting on piles of cash in the billions – if not trillions – of dollars awaiting the return of profitable investment opportunities."    continue reading here.....

Moving Medicare Forward

He said What?

“Our financial and business risk outweighs our legal obligation.”

- Regina Mayor Pat Fiacco, April 6, 2011 
(Executive Committee, Regina City Council)

Ummm, Pat, wrong answer!  The United Steelworkers (USW) union has won a landmark legal decision forcing an insolvent corporation to honour pension obligations to employees.

Double standard rampant in Saskatchewan

Health Sciences Association of Saskatchewan

Stephen Harper is working hard - People for Corporate Tax Cuts Canada

People for Corporate Tax Cuts Canada

Why is a senior media personality threatening a 21 year old university student?

On March 28, 2011, the following tweet appeared on the Twitter account of a local Saskatchewan talk show host.  My question is:  Why is a senior media personality publicly threatening the newly elected president of the University of Regina Students Union?

Where's the Funding: Rural Health Care

Health Care is an important issue for everyone in Saskatchewan.

Our taxes are meant to provide everyone with REAL access to doctors, home care, hospitals and long term care services so that we can get the right level of care at the right time.

So why are people who live in Rural Saskatchewan being asked to pay an additional tax to get the same access that people in Urban areas receive?

The excuses from government are un-ending.

But there is no real plan in order to save our health care and keep it in good shape for our children.

It’s time to tell your MLA and the Health Minister of Saskatchewan that you won’t accept a two-tiered health plan.

Help put a stop to the under-funding of health care in this province.

Add your voice by sending an email now.

What is this Man's Position on Coalitions, Really?

Harper’s Hitlist: Power, Process and the Assault on Democracy - Dobbin

The following is reproduced from the Council of Canadians website:

 

Stephen Harper’s Assault on Democracy

Author and Rabble.ca columnist Murray Dobbin details the harm Prime Minister Stephen Harper is doing to the political and social fabric of Canada in a new, hard-hitting essay commissioned by the Council of Canadians titled Harper’s Hitlist: Power, Process and the Assault on Democracy.

As Dobbin explains in the opening paragraphs of the essay, “This study is intended to examine the most serious violations of democracy committed by the prime minister and his government. Some are clearly more serious than others. But taken as a whole they add up to a dangerous undermining of our democratic traditions, institutions and precedents – and politics. These violations are not accidental, they are not incidental, and they are not oversights or simply the sign of an impatient government or ‘decisive’ leadership. They are a fundamental part of Harper’s iron-fisted determination to remake Canada, whether Canadians like it or not.”

Harper’s Hitlist: Power, Process and the Assault on Democracy

Download report here 1 MB or in sections below:

-   Part 1 - Stephen Harper’s Assault on Democracy

-   Part 2 - Two Prorogations in Less Than a Year

-   Part 3 - Thwarting Democracy

-   Part 4 - Controlling Critics

-   Part 5 - Manipulating and Muzzling the Media

-   Part 6 - A Personal Agenda

-   Part 7 - Failing to Protect Canadian Citizens

-   Part 8 - Harper Attacks Rights

-   Part 9 - Political Advocacy Under Fire

-   Part 10 - Conclusion

POLL: Environics, on behalf of the Council of Canadians, polled people about their feelings about proportional representation in February. Here are the results:

-   61% of Canadians support moving to a system of proportional representation in Parliament

-   36% said they were more supportive of proportional representation as a result of Prime Minister Harper’s recent prorogations

(These results represent the findings of a telephone survey conducted among a national random sample of 1,001 adults comprising 501 males and 500 females 18 years of age and older, living in Canada. The margin of error for a sample of this size is +/- 3.10%, 19 times out of 20.)

 

How to Raise Your $500 - People for Corporate Tax Cuts Canada

The "Other Saskatchewan" - CCPA

Reproduced below is a 2011 Saskatchewan Budget Response by Dr. Simon Enoch, CCPA Saskatchewan:

The “Other Saskatchewan”

A Budget Response by CCPA Saskatchewan

by Simon Enoch

March 24, 2011

If yesterday’s budget was designed to give something to everyone in order to win over voters for the upcoming election, then it is clear where the poorest and most vulnerable in our province rank in the minds of Sask Party electoral strategists.

Despite an obvious and acute housing crisis, this budget offered a paltry $1.7 million for two new affordable housing initiatives while the immediate need for new housing in the province is approximately 3000 units. For those who cannot wait for the construction of new housing, no relief was forthcoming to prevent the regular rent increases that seem to have become the norm in our province.

Despite ranking dead last among the provinces in child-care space, the budget offered to fund the creation of only 500 new child-care spaces when the need is closer to 5000. Currently, Saskatchewan has licensed child-care spots for only 9.1 per cent of children between the ages of zero and five, compared to the 20.3 per cent national average. While we applaud the government for committing to the creation of these new spaces, our province desperately needs a much more aggressive and long-term policy to address our child-care needs.

Despite the desperate need to replace the only psychiatric hospital in the province, this budget offered absolutely nothing for those suffering from mental illness.

In contrast, business owners will reap almost $80 million in tax savings due to the reduction of the small business tax while off-sale beer vendors will enjoy a $5.1 million discount. While the government has made much of it’s low-income tax reduction policy, a tax cut on nothing is still nothing. If we were to measure what constituencies this government covets by the amount of largesse given to them in yesterday’s budget, it is obvious where the poorest in our province rank.

Finance Minister Ken Krawetz stressed that this budget represented the “New Saskatchewan” and that we are no longer “next year country” but “this year country.” Perhaps a better metaphor for the province could be borrowed from the famous American political commentator Michael Harrington; “The Other Saskatchewan.” The “Other Saskatchewan” has not shared in the prosperity that the Sask Party is so quick to claim credit for. The “Other Saskatchewan” includes people who cannot afford spiraling rent increases, food and fuel prices, utility bills and other basic necessities. The “Other Saskatchewan” is experiencing increased homelessness, growing social assistance caseloads, lack of access to quality childcare, increasing unemployment among aboriginal peoples and a woefully inadequate minimum wage.

Finance Minister Ken Krawetz also made repeated mention of the “Saskatchewan Advantage” – obviously borrowing from the oft-used “Alberta Advantage.” Let’s hope that the Sask Party is not intent on also borrowing Alberta’s record of wanton neglect for the poorest in that province as well; the “Other Saskatchewan” simply cannot afford it.

The EXACT same thing is happening in Canada - Tax Cuts for Corporations and the Rich

Canada's Colour Coded Labour Market

Open letter to Premier Brad Wall - CPP Improvements

Today I sent the following "open letter" to Saskatchewan Premier, Brad Wall respecting proposed improvements to the Canada Pension Plan (CPP).  It is self explanatory:  (PDF version here)

March 18, 2011

Honourable Brad Wall
Premier of Saskatchewan
Room 226
Legislative Building
Regina, SK
S4S 0B3

Open letter to Premier Brad Wall from SFL President, Larry Hubich

Dear Mr. Wall:

RE: Meeting regarding Canada Pension Plan improvements, etc.

Attached hereto are letters from me to you dated September 20, 2010 and November 29, 2010 respecting a meeting that we agreed to convene during a discussion we had at the Richardson farm in August 2010 while attending the meeting and events of the Council of the Federation in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

During our encounter and discussion, you committed to me, in person, that we would meet for the purposes of discussing proposals by the labour movement for improvements to the Canada Pension Plan (CPP). In fact, your exact words to me were, “I agree, we should meet to discuss that (CPP), and other things.”

I am disappointed that you have not fulfilled your commitment to me or even demonstrated the common courtesy of a response to my follow-up letters. In fact, my office has not even received an acknowledgement of receipt of the correspondence.

I know you don’t treat representatives from business this way, but I am concerned that your government deliberately marginalizes and outright ignores the voices of organizations that you view to have different priorities than your own. What other organizations and/or groups do you dismiss out of hand?

Recently, I received copies of an e-mail exchange between you and a citizen writing to you concerned about expansion of the uranium industry set against a backdrop of the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

Imagine my surprise when I noticed that your reply was dated (Tuesday) March 8, 2011, in response to the citizen’s original e-mail of Saturday, March 5, 2011. A three-day turnaround from the Premier is remarkable. Here I have been waiting patiently for you to live up to a personal commitment you made more than 7 months ago.

Now, Mr. Premier, we are not asking for special treatment, or special consideration – but we would appreciate the Federation of Labour being given the same courtesy as, say, the Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce, or other business lobby groups. After all, the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour represents approximately 100,000 taxpaying citizens in our wonderful province. Surely their thoughts, opinions and ideas are of interest to the Premier of the Province.

It’s alarming and inappropriate for you to suggest that you have had no time to hear personally from the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour in the nearly 4 years that you have been Premier.

Awaiting contact from you regarding the commitment you made, but have yet to fulfill.

Yours truly,

Larry Hubich, President
Saskatchewan Federation of Labour

cc: SFL Executive Council
enc.

UPDATE:  Today (March 22) I finally received a reply from the Premier.  You can view it here.  He has confirmed that he is reneging on the commitment to meet that he made to me in August of 2010.  Guess I should have bought one of them fancy $1,000 per year "Elite party memberships" instead of taking him at his word.