GM to declare bankruptcy - The Real News

"GM bankruptcy restructuring puts risk on to workers; no vision for a green transportation system

Frank Hammer is a retired General Motors employee and former President and Chairman of Local 909 in Warren, MIchigan. He now organizes with the Auto Worker Caravan, an association of active and retired auto workers who advocate for workers demands in Washington." - The REAL News

Wage Theft in Saskatchewan

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Coming up to 2 years ago, I posted a blog article entitled: Regina Restaurant Rips Off Workers.

It's a sorry tale of about how the owners of a restaurant called Poverino's Pasta Grill in Regina, Saskatchewan closed up their doors unannounced and left approximately 135 (most young and student) workers holding the bag and cheated out of over $62,000.00 in unpaid wages.

In other words, the owners of Poverino's Pasta Grill stole over $62,000 from a bunch of unsuspecting, trusting, and obviously vulnerable young workers.

So, in the 2 years since Poverino's closed the doors, and the nearly 2 years since they were found by the Department/Ministry of Labour to be guilty of violating the Saskatchewan Labour Standards Act and cheating the workers out of their wages. And since Poverino's has been ordered to pay the 62 grand to the workers, how much money do you think those 135 have received?

Well, according to my information, NOT A SINGLE NICKEL.

At a recent meeting with officials of the Ministry of Labour, I raised this matter again. I was attending a consultation meeting regarding the governments plans to reduce the minimum age of work to 15, in sectors including the notoriously bad "restaurant industry". I said I was skeptical and concerned that young workers would be protected because they aren't being adequately protected now. I questioned why individual workers should have the responsibility for enforcing the governments laws. Why is it necessary for a student to take an employer to court, in order for the employer to comply with the laws of the land? That's the government's job.

This past week, I received the response linked here. It confirms that employers can get away with theft by "positioning themselves in a 'judgment proof' environment".

What do you think would happen if one of those workers took $62,000 out of the cash register and high-tailed it out of town? Do think the cops would be on the look-out? Do you think if they found the crook, that they'd arrest him and toss him in the slammer? You bet!

What we are witnessing in Saskatchewan is government sanctioned corporate theft. When is somebody in the government going to do something about it?

Canadians talk to Americans about health care - The Real News

"Canadians talk to Americans about health care

People from Toronto respond to a US advertising campaign about the Canadian health-care system.

While the debate over changes to the US health-care system continues, lobby groups are investing advertising dollars to get their point across. One such group, Conservatives for Patient's Rights has released an advertisement outlining Canadian dissatisfaction with government run health care. The Real News Network invited Torontonians to respond.

Join the health care conversation by clicking here..."

Olbermann: Limbaugh objecting to attention? WTF!?!

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Wall government labour policy opens the door to corporate bullies

Photo of protest by Greg Pender, StarPhoenix

You can thank the labour legislative policies of the Brad Wall Sask Party government for creating a climate where workers and their rights are treated with contempt.

More and more employers are flexing their new found muscles, and acting like thugs and bullies, since Wall and his 'business at any cost' team tilted the power balance even further against workers and in favour of the bosses.

In the meantime, the part-time minister in charge of the labour portfolio, Rob Norris, is luke warm when asked whether he would intervene to assist workers. This particular minister never seems to have any problem making excuses for the boss, or going to bat for corporations.

Maybe he can convince his boss to change the name of his portfolio to "The Ministry of Management".

From the Leader-Post:

.....The cab drivers allege one of the company's managers has verbally abused many of the Pakistani and other South Asian employees with racial slurs.

The company said the comments resulted from a misunderstanding from one manager.

Norris declined to say if the department will get involved if the dispute with United Cabs goes unresolved, but said the department will be available for questions.

"I made sure officials will be on hand," he said.

Department officials have already met with some drivers to discuss labour standards, added Norris.

The investigation will include input from United Cabs.

Check out the coverage in the Saskatoon StarPhoenix and Regina Leader-Post:

Cab drivers suspended following protest - StarPhoenix

Gov't investigating taxi driver suspensions - Leader-Post

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While you're at it check out this posting over on libcom.org: Cab drivers wildcat against management racism

Artists for Free Choice

These artists all oppose Brad Wall's vision of what Labour Laws should be:

www.artists4workerschoice.org

Could union ownership reshape auto? - The Real News

"Richard Wolff: Unions should convert their position as owners into active participation in making decisions."

Brad Wall government: puppets of Big Oil, Big Business

Check out the new posting over on the "Owls and Roosters Blog" entitled: Saskatchewan Party: Energy industry donations top $142,000 in 2008; $1.178 million since 1998.

Then read the April 20, 2009 Hansard from the Intergovernmental Affairs and Justice Committee when the Justice Minister (out of the blue), in defending the government's new Trespass Law, refers to protecting oil companies and oil well drilling. The full Hansard is linked here, and the specific Minister's comments appear at page 340 (PDF 34). Excerpted below:

Hon. Mr. Morgan: — I wasn’t privy to the discussions that were had within the municipalities when they put the . . . And I don’t think anything came out of the consultations that dealt specifically with that.

But if your question is would we as a government be willing to use that if there was a sit-in on private property where there was oil drilling taking place, I think the answer is yes. If there was a piece of property that was owned or leased by an oil company or an exploration company that had a lawful right to do that, and they asked people to leave, then it may well be something that might be used in that — subject of course to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and subject to the jurisprudence from the Supreme Court.

Mr. Nilson: — So is this an enhancement of the law then so that after this law is passed, then it will give more rights to oil companies and provincial government to deal with these particular kinds of protests that might arise?

Hon. Mr. Morgan: — I don’t look at it in terms of rights. I look at it in terms of we want to ensure that property owners or people that are in lawful use of their property continue to have that, and it’s an enforcement mechanism to ensure that those rights are protected..........

Olbermann: Is Colbert laughing with you or at you?

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Agri-biz at root of swine flu? - The Real News

Read more here....

While you're at it, check out this article on Wired Science: Swine Flu Ancestor Born on U.S. Factory Farms

Sask. Party government continues their reckless assault on Charter Rights

The Sask. Party government under the leadership of Brad Wall continues their reckless assault on the constitutional rights of the citizens of our province. Now they are trying to silence dissent. (see Bill 43)

Reminds me of the actions of some "tin-pot" dictatorship.

COPE 397 President, Garry Hamblin's letter to the editor about it (reproduced below) appears in the April 29, 2009 edition of the Regina Leader-Post:

Trespass law erodes rights

It was with rising concern that I read of the Saskatchewan Party's rejection of the amendment to Bill 43, The Trespass to Property Act, that recently passed in the legislature.

The Trespass Act (the first of its kind in Saskatchewan) will make it illegal for anyone to be on public property without the consent of the government. This will include persons who engage in demonstrations, protests and marches. Other provinces have similar laws, but Saskatchewan will be the only province where no exemption for peaceful demonstration or protest exists. This exemption was the subject of the amendment that the NDP opposition was trying to get accepted.

Justice Minister Don Morgan says the right to demonstrate exists whether spelled out in the Trespass Act or not, so no exemption is needed. If this is true, then why not simply spell these rights out as per the Manitoba legislation that the law is modeled on? The Manitoba law clearly sets out an exemption for peaceful demonstration, picketing and so on.

Saskatchewan's legislation tramples on the rights of every resident by curtailing their ability to gather in peaceful protest or demonstration if they so choose, without the permission of the prevailing government.

When governments take away the rights of citizens to peacefully demonstrate, one can only wonder what future legislation they are contemplating that they think residents won't like.

With issues such as nuclear power, changes in services offered by Crown corporations, privatization of public services and others looming, one doesn't have to speculate too hard.

Garry Hamblin, President, Canadian Office and Professional Employees Local 397.

Mesothelioma: The human face of an asbestos epidemic

"Mesothelioma is an incurable asbestos cancer. This short film was produced to raise awareness of the issues around mesothelioma. It includes interviews with people who have the disease. It was produced for Action Mesothelioma day on belhalf of Forum of Asbestos Victim Support Groups." - calderdaletv

http://www.asbestosforum.org/

No Transparency = No Accountability = No Democracy

I've been following citizen blogger Joe Kuchta over on the Owls and Roosters Blog, and it's starting to become alarming that the Brad Wall Sask. Party government continues to reject legitimate requests by Mr. Kuchta under the The Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIP).

It appears that anything Mr. Kuchta requests which has anything to do with labour laws, gets the same response. Rejection.

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His most recent posting in this regard brings the total rejections he has received for information requested in the past year from the Ministry of Advanced Education Employment and Labour (previously the Department of Labour) to nine (9).

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The posting is entitled: AEEL refusing to release Construction Industry Labour Relations Act records; secrecy rampant as freedom of information denials continue

What is so sensitive and secret that the government finds it necessary to hide what it is doing, under the direction of Minister Rob Norris, on the labour file? Does anybody in the mainstream media care about this?

The continued refusal by the government to provide access to information in the area of labour legislation, as requested by Mr. Kuchta, stinks to high heaven.

Don't blame CAW for a crisis it didn't create

The open letter below is reproduced from the rabble.ca website.

Don't blame CAW for a crisis it didn't create

Government pressure to cut wages will increase the risk of deflation. It is now abundantly clear that Canada and the world is facing its worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.

However, a sense of premature Hoover-type optimism seems to have settled in to Ottawa's thinking, breeding a dangerous complacency that the government has done all that is required to combat the recession. The federal government appears to be hiding behind the proposition that with strong banks and strong fundamentals, the Canadian economy will automatically recover as U.S. demand picks up.

The Bank of Canada has lowered its interest rate to a near-zero level and has provided banks with billions of dollars of liquid assets to counter the recession and potential deflationary expectations. It is concerned that deflation, or falling prices, will become generalized throughout the economy. And once the cycle becomes entrenched, as it did during the 1930s, it will be extremely difficult to reverse.

The federal government's fiscal stimulus package is beginning to inject demand into the economy to counteract the contraction of private sector demand, although many economists argue that a federal deficit of about 2 per cent of GDP is too little given the powerful headwinds the nation faces. Unemployment insurance, though greatly weakened by previous governments (most recently the self-financing rule imposed by the 2008 Budget) will also help somewhat cushion the fall in demand.

Government is the player responsible for the overall management of the economy. At a time like this it is the only player that is capable of overriding destructive contractionary impulses of private businesses and households.

The federal government is undermining the effectiveness of its own stimulus efforts by freezing wages of its own employees and by forcing massive auto sector wage concessions (which incidentally will not solve the auto crisis) as a condition of providing financial support to the industry.

It also sends a contradictory signal to business that somehow this “belt-tightening” is good for the economy as a whole. On the contrary, it will only make matters worse.

While it may be rational for an individual firm trying to stay afloat, to lay off workers, reduce working hours, and/or push for wage reductions; if this becomes an economy-wide phenomenon the resulting downward wage-price purchasing power spiral, if unchecked, will deepen and prolong the recession.

This is what happened during the Great Depression. The deflationary cycle became entrenched. Massive price declines in both the US and Canada were matched by a similar drop in average wages. Keynes argued for nominal wage anchors to stem the downward spiral.

One of the things Roosevelt did when he came to power in 1933 was to support the Wagner Act, which strengthened unions, setting a floor on wages and initiating a process of rising wages, prices and production.

The current economic crisis was caused by the meltdown of the bloated US financial sector, not by “exorbitant” auto or public service sector wages. Forced wage rollbacks will cascade through the economy reducing purchasing power and demand, offsetting the very thing the government is trying to reverse with its stimulus policies. The collapse of the auto sector (just like the collapse of the financial sector) will most certainly turn the current recession into a deep depression.

Rather than scapegoating the CAW for a crisis it did not cause, the federal government should focus its efforts on combating the pressures of wage-driven deflation, maintaining income and employment, and using public dollars to buy transformation of the auto industry away from gas-guzzlers to the low emission vehicles of the future. Industrial policies like this have been an important part of the development of the auto industry and are needed once again.

Signatories:

Armine Yalnizyan, Senior Economist, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
Arthur Donner PhD, Economic Consultant
Bruce Campbell, Executive Director, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
Charlotte Yates, Labour Studies and Political Science, McMaster University
Diane-Gabrielle Tremblay, Télé-université de l'Université du Québec a Montreal
Frédéric Hanin, Département des relations industrielles, Université Laval
Harold Chorney, Political Economy, Concordia University
Jean-Noël Grenier, Département des relations industrielles, Faculté des sciences sociales, Université Laval
Gordon Laxer, Political Economist and Director of the Parkland Institute at the University of Alberta
Louis Gill, Department of Economics, Université du Québec à Montréal
Louis-Philippe Rochon, Department of Economics, Laurentian University
Marc Lavoie, Department of Economics, University of Ottawa
Margie Mendell, School of Community and Public Affairs, Concordia University
Mario Seccarreccia, Department of Economics, University of Ottawa
Marjorie Griffin Cohen, Department of Political Science/Women's Studies, Simon Fraser University
Mel Watkins, Department of Economics (emeritus), University of Toronto
Myron J. Frankman, Department of Economics, McGill University
Pierre-Antoine Harvey, Économiste, Chercheur à l’Institut de recherche et d’informations socio-économiques (IRIS)
Ricardo Grinspun, Department of Economics, York University
Robert Chernomas, Department of Economics, University of Manitoba
Ruth Rose, Sciences économiques, Université du Québec à Montréal
Sylvie Morel, Département des relations industrielles, Université Laval
Trevor Harrison, Political Economist and Political Sociology, University of Lethbridge

Walmart's War on Workers

Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall said he'd go to "war with unions" too!

WalmartWorkersForChange.org

The trouble with CEO pay in Canada: CCPA

More at: GrowingGap.ca

Public services a bargain for Canadians: Study CCPA

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives has released a report showing that public spending in Canada is an incredible bargain and a huge positive benefit for Canadian citizens.

From the CCPA Web-Site:

Public services a bargain for Canadians: Study

April 15, 2009

TORONTO – The majority of Canadian households enjoy a higher quality of life because the public services their taxes fund come at a solid bargain, according to a new study by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).

Canada’s Quiet Bargain: The Benefits of Public Spending responds to incessant calls for tax cuts and concludes public services make a significant contribution to the majority of Canadians’ standard of living – worth at least 50% of their income.

“What passes for a tax cut debate in Canada is really only half a debate,” says economist Hugh Mackenzie, the study’s co-author and CCPA research associate.

“Our taxes pay for services that are extremely valuable to Canadians. The suggestion we often hear, that taxes are a burden, hides the reality that our taxes fund public services that make Canada’s standard of living among the very best.”

The study shows middle-income Canadian families enjoy public services worth about $41,000 – or 63% of their income. Even households earning $80,000-$90,000 a year enjoy public services benefits equivalent to about half of their income.

The study also shows 80% of Canadians would be better off if the federal government hadn’t cut the GST; 75% would be better off if their provincial governments invested in public services instead of broad-based income tax cuts; and 88% would be better off without federal cuts to capital gains taxes.

“Tax cuts are always made to sound like they’re free money to middle-income Canadians – they are anything but,” says Mackenzie. “We’re far better off with the public services our taxes fund than we are with tax cuts.”

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For more information please contact: Kerri-Anne Finn (613) 563-1341 x 306. Visit http://www.policyalternatives.ca/ or http://www.growinggap.ca/ to download the report and calculate the value of your family’s public services.

Download the Report/Study:
Canada's Quiet Bargain: The Benefits of Public Spending - PDF File, 1343 Kb
Fact Sheet: Public services...a quiet bargain - PDF File, 198 Kb

Tax Shell Game: The Taxpayer Cost of Offshore Corporate Havens

You should read this report!: The Tax Shell Game. It's short and concise and has just been released by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group. No wonder the world's economy and the global financial system is in a state of collapse. No wonder governments are reeling under the burden of corporate bailout driven deficits.

The largest corporations on the planet have, for too long, been engaged in a massive tax shell game consisting of tax avoidance, flight of capital, asset manipulation, ponzi schemes, and the like.

Too many huge corporations offload paying their fair share for maintaining a civil society onto the backs of working men and women world wide. Then these same corrupt and greedy corporate gougers drive those same companies into the ground and we pay to keep them afloat. Keep them afloat for what reason? So they can continue to avoid any responsibility whatsover, and continue to ride along for free?

It's time they paid their fair share!

There's a great quote by Howard Zinn that fits this situation to a tee:

"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience. Our problem is that people are obedient all over the world in the face of poverty and starvation and stupidity, and war, and cruelty. Our problem is that people are obedient while the jails are full of petty thieves, and all the while the grand thieves are running and robbing the country. That's our problem."

Olbermann: Corporate greed needs tea parties too?

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Olbermann: Future of U.S. depends on torture accountability

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To read the full transcript, please see this page.