Winning the Fight for Fairness: What Will You Do in 2014?

 head-martinBy Martin O’Hanlon

CWA Canada Director

I’m going to make a bold prediction for 2014: the tide will finally begin to turn.

It will turn for newspapers, which have been through the worst and will begin to see revenues climb again.

It will turn for the Harper government (it already has really) which has been attacking labour, the CBC, and many other progressive voices in Canada.

And most importantly, it will turn for economic inequality, which has become the biggest threat to this country’s future.

By noon on Jan. 2, each of Canada’s top-paid CEO’s had earned as much money in 2014 as the average Canadian worker will make all year.

I don’t begrudge a CEO, or anyone else, a big paycheque. But it is fundamentally unfair – not to mention bad for the economy and society – for companies to pay those big salaries and rake in huge profits when they don’t pay their workers a decent wage.

It angers me when Postmedia cuts hundreds of jobs and insists that it can’t give workers a raise, and then increases its CEO pay by a whopping 50%, to $1.7 million.

More importantly, it angers the majority of Canadians, who have an innate sense of what’s fair.

As 2014 dawns, ordinary people are finally realizing that there are fewer and fewer decent-paying jobs out there – the jobs that built this country.

Many young people are realizing that they may never be able to have that white picket fence. And many parents realize that their children don’t have the opportunity they had.

People are realizing that our political and financial system overwhelmingly favours big companies and the rich, and they see it for what it is: injustice.

It’s vital now that we in the labour movement show Canadians that we all share the same core values and that we are the only ones standing up for the Middle Class.

We have to build a movement, and that means working with other progressives, whether it’s community organizations, social groups, student activists, environmentalists, religious leaders – anyone with whom we can find a common interest.

The Canadian Labour Congress, to which we at CWA Canada belong, is attempting to do just that with its “Fairness Works” campaign. (Please visit:fairnessworks.ca)

The campaign aims to engage millions of union members in conversations about how unions have improved their lives – and share their stories with Canadians to help build a united movement for social justice.

And that’s where each of us has to play a part in 2014.

I am asking each of you – every member of CWA Canada – to commit to doing just one thing this year for the common good.

It could be talking to a fellow worker, especially a younger one, about getting involved in the union. It might be posting about social/economic justice issues on Facebook, volunteering to do something for your Local, telling friends about the good the union does, donating to a cause – whatever.

One person and one act at a time, working together, we can make a difference.

Let’s each do our part to protect quality jobs, defend quality journalism, improve wages, grow our union – and make Canada a better place.

Fairness works. Let’s fight the good fight together! 

$500 training grant for jobless members now an ongoing program

A popular program that provides a grant of up to $500 in skills training or education to laid-off members of CWA Canada has been extended indefinitely.

In early 2009, as the media industry reeled from the effects of the recession, the union introduced the grants program to minimize the impact of job cuts. More than $25,000 was paid out from CWA Canada’s Defence Fund that year.

The program was extended through 2010 and then 2011. The union executive has now voted to continue it on an ongoing basis.

Any member of CWA Canada who becomes jobless due to layoff, buyout or early retirement is eligible for reimbursement of up to $500 upon proof of payment for an education course or any type of training.

Members can also choose from among hundreds of online courses in the fields of either digital media, telecommunications or software offered by the CWA/NETT Academy through an arrangement with Lynda.com.

Digital media courses include video production and editing, web design, Flash and basic HTML. Telecom courses include DC/AC circuits analysis, fibre optics, basic networking, VOIP and data communications.

Claims for the grant must be submitted within one year of the actual layoff. Proof of payment for a course or training is to be sent to Marj Botsford at the national office.

 

Joe Beirne Scholarship Application Reminder

This is a reminder that applications are now being accepted through April 30, 2014, for the CWA Joe Beirne Foundation’s annual scholarship offerings for the 2014-2015 school year.

The Foundation’s Board of Directors has approved the awarding of fifteen (15) partial college scholarships of up to $3,000 each, and the winners also will receive second-year scholarships for the same amount, contingent upon satisfactory academic achievement.

Eligible for the scholarships are CWA members, their spouses, children and grandchildren, including the dependents of retired, laid-off, or deceased members.  Applicants must be high school graduates or high school students who will graduate during the year in which they apply.  Undergraduate and graduate students returning to school may also apply.

Applications will be available solely online for completion and submission to the Foundation’s website: http://www.cwa-union.org/pages/beirne_scholarship_application

Below is a downloadable poster that you can distribute to members and post on local websites to encourage participation.  The winners will be chosen by lottery drawing.  Further information about the program can be found at the website.

This valuable scholarship program is made possible by the funding of CWA locals.  For those locals not yet participating in funding the Beirne scholarships, I urge you to do so.  Financial arrangements can be made to accommodate your local’s needs.  For more information and assistance, please call 202.434.1187.

In Unity,

Larry Cohen
President

Postmedia and union talks break down over contracting out of printing

Source: thetyee.ca

Talks between the company that publishes the Vancouver Sun and Province and the union that represents their workers broke down after two days of negotiations earlier this month over contracting out of the printing of both newspapers.

That increases the likelihood of a labour dispute in a year’s time over Pacific Newspaper Group’s plan to have outside companies handle the printing.

“They can lock us out or we can go on strike,” said Unifor Local 2000 vice-president Gary Engler. “Of course, we have the right to picket and all of those sorts of things.”

Postmedia Network recently announced it will sell the Surrey property where its printing plant is located and either contract out the printing or build a new plant that would require fewer workers. The company imposed a Nov. 18 deadline for an agreement to be reached on staffing levels for a new plant, but a Unifor release called the company’s demands “too extreme” for the union to accept.

“Among other conditions, the company insists on the right to choose from among our current members as to who would be able to work at a new plant,” it stated. “It was estimated that only about one-quarter of our current Kennedy Heights members would be asked to work at the new facility.”

The union also claims the company offered far less severance pay for displaced press operators than it has offered its editorial and business staff under a Voluntary Staff Reduction Plan.

The collective agreement between Unifor and Postmedia’s subsidiary Pacific Newspaper Group expires on Nov. 30, 2014. Engler said the company suggested more talks in January, but the Unifor release called agreement “highly unlikely.” PNG announced it has already contracted with Transcontinental Printing to handle printing in the event that agreement cannot be reached with Unifor on staffing levels for a new plant.

Engler said the recent talks revealed that only the Sun would be printed at Transcontinental’s plant on Annacis Island, however, with another printing company handling the Province. The current collective agreement prevents contracting out, and its provisions would be extended under the B.C. Labour Code in the event of a strike or lockout.

“We know where the printing is going,” noted Engler. “Transcontinental is unionized as well. Where the Province is going is a non-union plant.”

Meanwhile, another large U.S. hedge fund has acquired a major ownership interest in Postmedia. Silver Point Capital recently bought a 19 per cent stake in the company, which makes it the second largest owner of Postmedia behind New York-based GoldenTree Asset Management, which owns about 35 per cent.

Canada’s largest chain of dailies, which was founded in the 19 century by the Southam family, was bought out of the bankruptcy of Canwest Global Communications in 2010 by a group of its creditors, with financial backing from several U.S. hedge funds.

Vancouver journalist Marc Edge is a frequent contributor to The Tyee.

– See more at: http://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/2013/11/26/Postmedia-Union-Talks/#sthash.4D7Zafpj.dpuf