News Views 433unifor433.org/content/uploads/2016/04/UniforNewsletter.pdf · Page 2 Business...

Local 433

NewsViews

&433Volume 18 Issue 1 Summer 2014

Think National, Act Local

Dates of upcoming General Meetings include Thursday, August 21st and Thursday, September 18th. Sessions will

start, as always, at eight pm. See you there!

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:Page 2 Business Agent’s ReportPage 4 President’s ReportPage 6 Crown Packaging ReportPage 7 Norampac ReportPage 8 LeftHand CBA Comic 2 The Good News PagePage 16 Summer Picnic Photos

Volume 18 Issue 1 Summer 2014

2

Local 433| Canada

NewsViews

&433

Production:

James MonksOtto WittenbergRay MorganDarien [email protected]

Publisher:

Unifor Local 433#102 - 8988 Fraserton Court,Burnaby, B.C.V5J 5H8(604) 321-3471 (phone)(604) 321-6249 (fax)[email protected]

Article Source:

The MonitorThe Canadian Centre For Policy Alternatives

Printer:

G.A. Roedde#3 - 12840 Bathgate Way,Richmond, B.C.

Greetings. On top of all the challenges that we face in our workplaces, the Conservative agenda is moving forward full steam. We have seen - to name but a few recent attacks - a new election bill, changes to environmental assessments, and amendments to the refusal of unsafe work legislation. Unifor, thankfully, is fighting back on a national level. There has, of late, been a great deal happening on the provincial labour front as well. Notable is the year-long strike at IKEA in Richmond. Richmond is one of the two IKEA sites that are unionized. It is important to look at the way this highly-profitable organization is handling the situation and examine the assault they have launched on basic working conditions. Many British Columbians believe that, since IKEA is Swedish, it conforms in some way to a socialist ideology. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Please help these workers by honouring their picket lines and by talking to your friends and neighbours about the dispute. Ask them to shop at outlets where workers are respected.Unifor Local 433 and Unifor Local 601 hosted a Grievance Handling course on April 26th, and will make every effort to offer more workshops on a variety of topics going forward. The Local will be putting on a retirement seminar in the early fall so, if that’s a subject relevant to your situation, you’ll want to watch for notices about that over the course of the next couple of months.

In Solidarity,

~ Brent Reid

Business Agent’s Report


3

Local 433| Canada

NewsViews

&433

President Otto WittenbergVice President Greg Duff Recording Secretary James MonksFinancial Secretary Brent ReidTreasurer Murray Fee

Trustee Brian LeskoTrustee Mike NobleTrustee Jordan AsherInner Guard Ken NegrinOuter Guard Shawn Canil

Organizing IncentiveDon’t forget that Local 433 offers a finder’s fee for tips leading to a new certification: $1,000 for a bargaining unit containing 50 to 99 members, and

$2,500 for a bargaining unit containing 100 members or more. Please call the office for more details!

Articles appearing in

News & Views reflect the

opinions of their authors. These

opinions are not necessarily shared by the editors of this

newsletter, the staff and

officers of Local 433, or the staff and officers of

Unifor.

Attachments Anyone?Would you like to receive this and future editions of our newsletter as a PDF file? You can subscribe to the electronic version of News & Views by sending your e-mail address to [email protected].

The Executive of Unifor Local 433

ACR Group Inc.Catalyst SurreyCovanta EnergyCrown PackagingCustom PaperIntertape Polymer Group

Iron MountainLeftHand Media Co-opNorampacSonoco CanadaSulzer PumpsUnisource Canada

Local 433 Bargaining Units

Disclaimer


4

Local 433| Canada

NewsViews

&433

We are very fortunate that most members of our Local have never been on strike. Job action is an absolute last resort, as strikes and lockouts are hard for workers to endure and difficult for bargaining parties to resolve. The rotating strikes and lockouts of the teachers are currently in the mainstream news. This dispute harms the school children, their parents, and the education system itself. We hear about this on every radio and TV news broadcast. What we hear about less often is the effect it has on the teachers themselves and their families. It is very, very difficult.The same dynamic plays itself out with other workers who find themselves involved in job actions, whether it’s the striking Unifor workers in Abbotsford, the striking municipal employees in White Rock, or the IKEA workers who have been out for over a year now. It is a sad and hurtful business. And - to succeed - it takes courage, strength of character, commitment, and solidarity. This is why any picket line should be respected. During the White Rock strike many businesses and strata associations hired private companies to take away their refuse. Reports suggest, meanwhile, that people have been brought in to work behind the picket line in Abbotsford. And let’s be honest: there must be some unionized workers that still shop at IKEA. These actions serve to exacerbate the conflicts and do further harm to already-hurting

workers. It is disgusting.We live in a very complicated world today and many people seem to have adopted a ME FIRST attitude. We need to think about the broader WE. When workers disrespect a strike line they should expect the same uncaring attitude to be directed at them when they find themselves in need of support.I so hope that every member of our Local and our union ensures they do not undermine any other worker’s struggle and also take the opportunity to discuss with their family members what strikes are all about. Our news media will not do this for you.Stop and talk to the striking workers when you encounter a picket line. Bring them a coffee. Offer an ear and attempt to understand their issues. They can certainly use the backing. And who knows, in the future it could be you holding that sign.

In Solidarity,

~ Otto Wittenberg

President’s Report

We are busy at Crown. It was nice to see minimal layoffs during the winter. We are welcoming new members into our operation with the company hiring five more full-time employees, with the possibility of another five to follow. Add the summer students into the mix and there are lots of new faces around the plant. As a reminder: the Local 433 General Meetings are a great time for our new members to swear in. These sessions take place on the third Thursday of the month (excluding July and December), and start at eight pm. Safety has been a concern with four lost-time accidents occurring early in the year. Frustratingly, the company continues to appeal accepted claims, thus delaying payments we need to support our families and making it difficult for injured workers to concentrate on getting

better. We are busy on the grievance front as the company continues its discipline to succeed campaign. Last year production, this year quality. We are looking for remedial solutions to the company’s punitive reactions, as it feels like management has created a Catch-22 situation. It seems like a blanket of discipline is being handed out to everyone when maybe there is a bigger-picture issue.I hope to see all of you at the Local 433 picnic on July 12th so we can beat Norampac in the tug of war competition. Have a safe summer, everyone!

In Solidarity,

~ Mike Noble

Crown Packaging ReportBargaining Units


5

Local 433| Canada

NewsViews

&433

It’s been a while since we’ve submitted to the newsletter, and we offer our apologies for that! We’ll be making an effort to contribute more regularly from now on.So, what’s been going on at Covanta Burnaby, you ask? Well, we went through a few brutal years as we suffered under a difficult supervisor with an aggressive management style. He moved on about a year ago, however, and Covanta has replaced him with a more accommodating facility manager. Although there’s still some work to be done to address past wrongs, we have been able to move forward in some areas (especially employee morale).This spring should bring another level of renewed optimism for the employees of Covanta thanks in large part to the signing of a new three-year contract. This agreement is the result of hard work by our Plant Committee, our Business Agent (Brent Reid), and our Unifor National Rep (Sandie McManus). Negotiations

were anything but simple as talks did break down and a strike vote was required. Fortunately, a solid show of support (a 100% result) put us in a very good position as the company moved forward and applied for mediation.Physical improvements to the plant continue as government-regulated emission standards become tighter. We are also still struggling with management on the issue of training related to changes in our safety policies and procedures. To date there has been very little consultation with employees on these matters. Our safety committee needs some work.On a happier note, the company will be hosting a golf tournament on June 7th and we expect a high level of participation from both management and employees.

In Solidarity,

~ Your Brothers And Sister At Covanta Burnaby

Covanta Energy ReportBargaining Units

The Social Progress Index is a new way of measuring how successfully a country is meeting the needs of its people. It goes well beyond GDP to look at social progress, defined as “the capacity of a society to meet the basic human needs of its citizens, establish the building blocks that allow citizens and communities to enhance and sustain the quality of their lives, and create the conditions for all individuals to reach their full potential”.Canada ranks 7th in the world in

the 2014 Social Progress Index. That puts us behind countries like Switzerland, Iceland, and Sweden but ahead of Germany, the United States, France, and Denmark. While Canada did well overall, we did slightly worse on meeting basic human needs (11th) and establishing the foundations of wellbeing (17th). But Canada took second place in the opportunity category, which includes personal rights, tolerance and inclusion, personal freedom and choice, and access to higher education.

“It took many years for GDP to be adopted globally as the de facto measure of economic prosperity, so it will take time for the Social Progress Index to gain recognition as what I hope will be the de facto measure of social progress,” wrote Michael Green, Executive Director of the Social Progress Imperative, in an April 2nd Toronto Star column. “Economic issues might continue to dominate the news headlines, but other factors determine most people’s daily experiences.”

Canada Ranks 7th On Social Progress IndexTHE MONITOR


6

Local 433| Canada

NewsViews

&433

It’s been an interesting few months. At the time of writing this, we’ve just completed the second week of six-day running on the New Flexo. Although the machine has been functioning well, the crews are being run ragged. The supporting departments are less affected and therefore are not having as difficult a time of it. There is hope that, by the time you read this, we’ll have been successful in changing the schedule to one that is more conducive to the lives of the members impacted by the six-day running agreement.We have five new full-time members this year and a couple more on the way. There are also 11 students in the plant to provide summer relief. With that many fresh faces, it’s not surprising that there have been issues along the way. We have had to file grievances over the way the company has decided to approach training of the new members as they have trained students in higher seniority positions than the new full-time members. While the company has agreed to pay rates where appropriate, this incorrect training has given some students the opportunity to work overtime in areas where, had the training been done properly, a full-time member would have had the work. Training and respect for seniority have, in fact, been constant sources of conflict between the company and the members of the union for the better part of the past year.We have two new union standing committee members. I’d like to welcome brothers Bob Morris and Scott Hampton to the committee and thank brothers Mike Beniach and Marco Corcionne for their time on it. The union standing committee continues to be concerned with conversations that supervisors and management have with our members without union representation. I will take this opportunity to remind all of our members

that, if a supervisor or manager wants to see you to talk about something work-related, it is in your best interest to have union representation. You need to ensure that your rights are protected and that you don’t wind up saying or doing something that is going to come back to haunt you.We’ve said farewell to a number of members in the past six months. Tom Fulton, Rick Hainz, Rick Rogers, Steve Johnstone, Bob Cooper, Ray Martel, and Mike Beniach have all retired and Jim Thibideau has found work at another facility covered by Unifor Local 525¬G. We wish them all a safe and healthy life free from the stress of box making!I would like to send a note of special appreciation from all the members here at Norampac to brother Mike Beniach, who served as plant chair for the union committee for many years. He led us through some very trying times and has left an indelible mark on life here at Norampac and on our CBA. Mike was a valued, longtime member of the executive board at the Local where he served as Vice President for a decade (or more) and was a mentor to me. I’ve learned innumerable things from Mike and, if it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be the union activist that I am today.I hope to see many of you at the Local 433 picnic where we have been challenged by Crown Packaging to defend our tug of war title! This rematch between box makers has been brewing for the last five years, and we look forward to the action on July 12th.

In Solidarity,

~ James Monks

Norampac ReportBargaining Units

Custom Paper is steady, with one member off on WI. Our contract is up the end of August. We are hoping to get at it early, hopefully in June.Hope everyone has a great and safe summer.

In Solidarity,

~ Brian McDonald

Custom Paper ReportBargaining Units


7

Local 433| Canada

NewsViews

&433

LHMC continues to flourish. We've just added two new members: Vanessa Haentjens Dekker, an ace photographer, and Tobi Elliott, a film specialist. Now all we need is someone to fly the helicopter. Oh wait...drat...pretend you didn't hear that, all right? I keep forgetting that the strike team component of our operation is supposed to be strictly top-secret. (I of course joke. I josh. I jest. I'm such a card. I really should be dealt with. Maybe decked.} In all seriousness: we recently finished up a website for Alberni-Pacific Rim MLA Scott Fraser {which you can check out by visiting scottfrasermla.com}, and our pirate-themed comic about Collective Bargaining Agreements is now complete as well. I'll include a taste of that publication elsewhere on this page. You know, just for fun. While geographical obstacles prevent most members of our team from attending Local meetings, we are trying to contribute from afar. Last month we provided some training to John Rondeau, who has taken over as WebMaster at unifor433.org, and we're helping out as well with the 433 Welcome Package and this newsletter.

Sol Is All,

~ Darien Edgeler

LeftHand Media Co-op ReportBargaining Units


8

Local 433| Canada

NewsViews

&433

A banner 2013 crop year and some rail delays due to cold weather doesn’t account for all our grain transportation woes. Coordination of rail to ships is out of synch: a study by Quoram Corporation found that rail shipments to the West Coast are down 2% from last year, but there are excess ships waiting in port. In the east, grain shipments were down 20% at Thunder Bay as of March with some ships turning away empty.There is a direct correlation between the loss of the farmer-elected Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) and the current rail transportation boondoggle which will cost prairie farmers over $5 billion in sales.The CWB did more than sell wheat and barley for the benefit of prairie farmers. It oversaw orderly marketing and grain logistics. If premium 14% high-protein wheat was required by a buyer in Asia or Europe, it would be sourced from across the prairies,

Grain, Trains, And Autocrats: Farmers Pay The Price Of Dismantling The Wheat Board

THE MONITOR

There is little question that economic power has shifted from Europe and North America to Asia. But it does not follow that the neoliberal philosophy embedded in NAFTA-style trade and investment agreements such as the Canada-Korea Free Trade Agreement (CKFTA) will serve Canadians well in the coming Asian century.The CKFTA is Canada’s first with an Asian country. It is being widely

Korea Free Trade Agreement: What’s In It For Canada?

THE MONITOR

~ continue on page 15


touted as a necessary foothold in the Asia-Pacific region, and as a stepping stone to future pacts with Japan, the 11 nations in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and - ultimately - China. Yet the rapid breakthrough in the long-stalled talks appears to be driven more by political rather than trade policy factors.Canada’s trade deficit with South Korea actually increased last year to almost $4 billion. If the swelling

U.S. trade deficit following their bilateral deal with South Korea is any guide, the CKFTA will only widen that gap.Just as troubling as the trade imbalance is the makeup of our trade with South Korea. Canada

placed in railcars, shipped to the designated grain terminals at the ports, and placed on grain ships in a reasonable timeframe. Even if there were rail delays, the single desk would sequence shipments through multiple terminals until a ship of 14% wheat was full. The funds made from early dispatch would go back to farmers.Fast forward to 2014. Every extra day a ship sits waiting to get filled costs $15,000 to $25,000 per ship. This demurrage is wasteful on all fronts. Moreover, coordination of port shipments are not being managed effectively.The former CWB was mandated by law to act as sole sales agent for wheat and barley for export and domestic human consumption. About 70% of the prairie crop was exported overseas, another 20% was consumed domestically, and about 10% went to the United States. Wheat and barley amounted to over half the grain handled by the railways and elevator companies.

If rail companies were not moving grain, the CWB was able to allocate cars and sue companies unwilling to fulfill the commercial obligations they made, to make that movement


9

Local 433| Canada

NewsViews

&433

The National Geographic Society has called Sarnia, Ontario’s “Chemical Valley”, the most polluted place on Earth. Approximately 40% of Canada’s petrochemical industry is located there. At the centre of that “valley” is the Aamjiwnaang First Nation reserve, where some 800 members live. There are 62 industrial complexes found within a 25-kilometre radius of Aamjiwnaang lands, including Nova Chemicals’ ethane cracker and polyethylene plants, other chemical and manufacturing plants, and companies refining more than 250,000 barrels per day of tarsands dilbit. In 2011, the World Health Organization found that Sarnia had the worst air quality in Canada.On November 24, 2013, the Canadian Press filed a report entitled “Study Says First Nation Being Exposed To Pollutants in Ontario’s ‘Chemical Valley’”. The study, based on tests performed by McGill University professor Niladri Basu, suggests that “mothers and children (living on the Aamjiwnaang reserve) are being exposed to higher-than-average levels of harmful hormone-blocking pollutants”.Using blood, urine, and hair samples taken from participants,

Basu tested 43 mother-child pairs for environmental pollutants and found higher-than-average levels of cadmium, mercury, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), among other pollutants.The most shocking part of the news coverage: Basu told CP that “it’s the first study to really show that mothers and children in the area are exposed to a number of pollutants”. Residents of the Aamjiwnaang First Nation reserve have been calling for health studies (and stricter environmental controls) in their community for years, but have been ignored by Ontario and federal governments.The Idle No More website includes an August 2013 article by VICE News providing an overview of pollution in Chemical Valley, where community members are

exposed to a range of harmful pollutants, including cancer-causing benzene, as well as sulphur dioxide, particulate matter, and oxides of nitrogen - chemicals known to cause respiratory and cardiovascular health effects.Ecojustice is representing two members of Aamjiwnaang - Ron Plain and Ada Lockridge - in a lawsuit against Ontario’s Minister of Environment (MOE) over cumulative impacts of Chemical Valley pollution. The lawsuit argues that the MOE’s approval of pollution levels in the area is a violation of their basic human rights to life, liberty, equality, and security of the person under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.A court hearing is expected later in 2014.

Canada’s Chemical ValleyTHE MONITOR


10

Local 433| Canada

NewsViews

&433

Twenty-five years ago, when I first scrutinized the text of the Canada - U.S. Free Trade Agreement (FTA), I warned that the proportionality clause in the energy chapter posed a grave danger to Canadian energy sovereignty. When invoked, it would require Canada to make available to U.S. importers the same proportion of our total oil or gas supply as we sold them over the previous three years. That same clause was later incorporated into NAFTA.Mexico, unlike Canada, wisely negotiated an exemption from this clause.In 2008, I decided to test my concern that the proportionality obligation could actually lead to energy shortages in Canada. In a study entitled “Over A Barrel”, co- published by the CCPA and the Parkland Institute, Gordon Laxer and I explored three scenarios concerning what would happen if the clause were invoked.Using data from Statistics Canada for the years 2004 to 2006, I calculated that our oil exports to the U.S. over that period were equivalent to 47.5% of total supply (defined as production plus imports). These exports were equivalent to 64.2% of Canadian oil production over that period.One scenario we explored involved what would happen if Canada decided to cut oil production by 10% for conservation purposes, as

U.S. Guaranteed Share Of Our Oil Growing:

THE MONITOR

NAFTA Oil/Gas-Sharing Clause Threatens Our Energy Security

then advocated by the David Suzuki Foundation. I calculated that, if the U.S. were to insist on taking 47.5% of the remaining supply, there would be an eight-million-barrel shortfall in oil available to meet domestic demand in 2007. This would be equivalent to four days of Canadian needs.Each year since then, as new data become available, I update the numbers first published in “Over A Barrel”. On the recent 25th anniversary of the FTA, I found that the proportional sharing obligation has risen from 30.8% of total supply in 1989 to 57.3% in 2013 - by an average of 1.1% each year since the FTA came into effect.Recalibrated in terms of Canadian oil production rather than total supply, the proportional sharing obligation has soared from 38.3% in 1989 to 74.5% in 2013, an average increase of 1.5% each year.Repeating the hypothetical scenario explored in “Over A Barrel”, I find that, had we attempted to put aside 10% of our oil production in 2013 and had U.S. importers invoked the proportionality clause to demand 57.3% of the remaining supply, the shortfall for Canadians would have been 83 million barrels, equivalent to 48 days of domestic demand.For natural gas, the situation is somewhat different given the boom in shale gas production in the United States. Canadian natural gas

exports to the U.S. fell after 2007 while imports rose. As a result, the proportional sharing obligation also fell after 2007. In 1989, the sharing obligation for gas was 32.7% of total supply. It peaked at 51.6% in 2008 before falling back to 44.7% in 2013.But this is only part of the story. When I worked through our second scenario involving a decision to set aside 10% of Canadian gas production for use as a feedstock for the petrochemical industry, I found that the potential shortfall in 2013 was the same as it was in 2007 – equivalent to 37 days of domestic demand. The explanation appears to be that, while gas exports to the U.S. have fallen, imports of shale gas into Canada have risen even more. Meanwhile, domestic production has also fallen. These changes in effect cancel each



11

Local 433| Canada

NewsViews

&433

A federal court declared last month that the federal Minister of Environment and Minister of Fisheries & Oceans acted unlawfully in delaying for several years the production of recovery strategies for four at-risk species threatened by

industrial development, including the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline and tanker route.“We’re pleased that the court has agreed that it’s unacceptable for the federal government to continue missing the mandatory deadlines set out in the Species At Risk Act,”

said Sean Nixon, a staff lawyer for Ecojustice. “That said, it is disappointing that we had to resort to litigation yet again to force this government to follow its own legislation.”

"The U.S. financial system, like its participatory democracy, is a mirage. Each month the Federal Reserve purchases $85 billion in U.S. Treasury bonds, much of it worthless sub-prime mortgages. It has been artificially propping up the government and Wall Street like this for the past five years. It has loaned trillions of dollars at virtually no interest to banks that make money (because wages are kept low) by loaning it to us at staggering interest rates. Estimates put the looting by banks and investment firms of the U.S. Treasury at between $15 trillion and $20 trillion. But none of us know because the figures are not made public. And the reason this systematic looting will continue until collapse is that our economy would go into a tailspin without this giddy infusion of free cash.At the same time, the ecosphere is disintegrating. Scientists recently warned that the oceans are

increasingly becoming inhospitable to life, having absorbed much of the excess CO2 and heat from the atmosphere. They warned that global warming now cannot be stopped, but at best slowed, and that over the next 50 years Earth will heat up to levels that will make large parts of the planet (including coastal cities like New York) uninhabitable.Yet we rationalize our collective madness. All calls for halting the march towards economic, environmental, and political catastrophe, for sane limits on carbon emissions, are ignored or ridiculed. Even with the flashing red lights before us, the increased droughts, rapid melting of glaciers and Arctic ice, monster tornadoes, vast hurricanes, crop failures, floods, raging wildfires and soaring temperatures, we bow slavishly before hedonism and greed and the enticing illusion of limitless power and prowess.

The corporate assault on culture, journalism, education, the arts, and critical thinking has left those of us (like Ralph Nader and Noam Chomsky) who speak this truth marginalized and ignored, frantic Cassandras who are viewed as unhinged and depressingly apocalyptic. We are consumed by a mania for hope, which our corporate masters lavishly provide - at the expense of truth. They peddle the fantasy of eternal material progress. They feed the human addiction for illusion, happiness, and hope.I do not know if we can build a better society. I do not even know if we will survive as a species. But I know these corporate forces have us by the throat. And they have our children and grandchildren by the throat. I do not fight fascists because I will win. I fight fascists because they are fascists."

Endangered Species Helped

The Myth Of Human Progress: A Speech Excerpt

THE MONITOR

THE MONITOR


12

NewsViews

&433Local 433| Canada

The Good News Page

Open-Pit Mine BlockedTHE MONITOR

The Tsilhqot’in Nation has been successful in its efforts to protect Fish Lake against a twice-proposed open-pit gold and copper mine.Responding to its protests, the federal government last month announced that the Minister of the Environment has decided that “the New Prosperity Mine project is

likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects that cannot be mitigated...the Governor in Council has determined that those effects are not justified in the circumstances, and therefore the project may not proceed”.Keith Monroe, an activist with the Williams Lake chapter of

the Council of Canadians (which helped the Tsilhqot’in people stop the open-pit mine) said, “we are relieved by this government decision to disallow a mine project that would have so terribly impacted the First Nations people and their environment”.

Greenpeace has issued its annual report on the energy efficiency of internet companies, praising Apple, Facebook, and other major providers of online services for improved use of energy resources.Apple, which was given a low score by the environmental group two years ago, made the most gains in transparency, internal conservation efforts, and the use and advocacy of renewable energy, Greenpeace said in a report.Box, Google, Rackspace Hosting, and Salesforce.com were also praised for their efforts to run their

data centres entirely on renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power.Amazon.com was singled out in the note, titled “Clicking Clean: How Companies Are Creating the Green Internet”, as the only technology company not moving in the right direction.The group looked at how technology providers are managing their energy needs as they build data centres for delivering software, music, movies, and information to customers via the internet. The servers handling the

data not only consume electricity but require air conditioning to keep them from overheating.

Bad Apple Turns GreenTHE MONITOR

A rare cultural artifact has been returned to a remote British Columbia First Nation. The Chilkat ceremonial blanket was recently put up for auction in Paris, and purchased by the Kwakwaka’wakw nations with a $27,000 grant from Canadian Heritage. The blanket is now on display at

the U’mista Cultural Society in Alert Bay, on the northern tip of Vancouver Island.The blanket was woven by Anisalaga, also known as Mary Ebbets, a Tlingit woman who brought the art of Chilkat weaving to the Island nations in the mid-19th century.

Made of cedar bark and wool, Chilkat blankets take up to a year to complete before they are worn in ceremonial dances.Sarah Holland, head of U’mista, says the blanket’s return ensures the art form can be passed on to future generations.

Rare Artifact Comes HomeTHE MONITOR


13

Local 433| Canada

The More Good News Page

NewsViews

&433

other out, leaving the calculation of a potential domestic shortfall unchanged.Given the increase in U.S. oil and gas production from fracking, the U.S. has reduced its dependence on petroleum imports while remaining the world’s largest net importer of oil. Indeed, the International Energy Agency (IEA) projects that the U.S. will remain dependent on imported oil through to 2035.There are also good reasons to be skeptical that the fracking boom will continue. Geoscientist David Hughes has convincingly documented the falling productivity of fracked wells, and citizens in many states are mobilizing to

prevent fracking operations from contaminating the water they drink and the air they breathe.In the short run, it appears there is little danger that the proportional sharing clause will be invoked, since neither the federal government nor the producing provinces are inclined to undertake aggressive conservation measures, let alone meaningful action to halt climate change. But what would happen if a petroleum shortage were to develop in Eastern Canada, which imports two-thirds of its oil? In the event of a global supply disruption as occurred during the OPEC embargo of 1973, and in the absence of a Canadian strategic

oil reserve, Canada would need to redirect Western crude from export markets to meet Eastern Canadian needs. This would undoubtedly cause the U.S. to invoke the proportional sharing obligation, especially if its imports from overseas were also threatened.In the event of another global crisis, the slow but steady increase in our obligation under the proportionality clause could suddenly become a grave threat to our security. The clause remains a hidden danger to Canadian energy sovereignty, and the case for eliminating it is as urgent as ever.

~ continued from page 10

U.S. Guaranteed Share Of Our Oil Growing:THE MONITOR

Renewable Electricity Generation On Rise In UKTHE MONITOR

United Kingdom renewable power generation rose 28% last year as more wind farms and solar plants came online, the Department of Energy & Climate Change said.Wind, solar, hydro, and biomass plants generated 52.8 terawatt-hours of power last year, taking the

share of renewables in the total power mix to 14.8% from 11.3% in 2012.The surge was mainly due to higher wind capacity. That’s bringing Britain closer to meeting its European Union target of getting 15% of all energy, including

heating and transportation fuels, from renewables by 2020. The government is targeting about 30% of electricity from renewables because of slower progress in heat and transport.

San Francisco Bans Plastic BottlesSan Francisco became the first major city to ban the sale of plastic water bottles on public property, building on a nationwide effort to curb the billion-dollar industry.The proposal navigated through a number of challenging issues, from the city’s drinking water infrastructure to the impacts on

events like the Folsom Street Fair or lower-key nonprofit events that often rely on the sales of the plastic water bottles for revenue. Even as the American Beverage Association opposed the restrictions, staunch environmentalists were calling for a tougher crackdown.During the next four years, the ban

will phase out sales of 21-ounce (or smaller) plastic water bottles on city property, indoor or outdoor, which will impact park vendors, food truck operators, street fairs, and places like the Moscone Center convention facility.

THE MONITOR


14

Local 433| Canada

NewsViews

&433

sells mostly unprocessed, low value-added, carbon-intensive resources to South Korea (coal, copper, pulp, and aluminum), and in return buys high-tech, manufactured goods (cars, electronics, and appliances). Consequently, the deal is likely to further entrench Canada’s global role as a natural resource supplier, to the detriment of high value-added sectors such as automobiles.South Korea is a remarkable economic success story. Following the Korean War, it was one of the poorest countries in the world. Today it stands as one of the few underdeveloped economies to have broken into the ranks of high-income countries.South Korea’s economic development success stemmed from its active use of “industrial policy”. Successive South Korean governments deliberately targeted, supported, and protected key manufacturing industries. Having achieved their goal of spurring export-led growth in high-value manufactured products, more recent South Korean governments have embraced neoliberal trade and investment agreements. The continuing close ties between South Korean political and economic elites and the persistence of non-tariff barriers, however, still keep strategic domestic sectors largely closed to foreign competition.Canada is a high-income country, but its over-reliance on natural resource exports is cause for concern. While South Korea has been moving up the global value chain, Canada has been slipping down. NAFTA-style

trade and investment treaties deny governments the industrial policy tools which earlier South Korean governments employed so successfully to encourage manufacturing-led growth and which, in future, might help Canada correct its economic course.The longer-term impacts of trade and investment treaties are as much about what does not happen, or is not even considered as a viable policy option, as about the shorter-term impacts such as tariff elimination. The biggest legacy of the Conservatives’ intensified free trade agenda could be to deny future governments the policy tools that might wean Canada off its economically and environmentally costly dependence on natural resource exports.Ingraining Canada’s current trading patterns with Korea is not only detrimental for the Canadian economy; it is unhealthy for the planet. The environmental costs of Canada’s resource dependency are clear. Coal, for example, is Canada’s single largest export to South Korea. In 2013, Canada exported 7.5 million metric tonnes of coal to South Korea, most of it through B.C. ports. This totals over 82,000 fully loaded rail cars. When burned in South Korea, this Canadian coal will release over 19 million metric tonnes of CO2 into the global atmosphere, the equivalent of putting 4 million passenger cars on the road for a year.Don’t look for any mention of this in the federal government’s Environmental Impact Assessment of the South Korea deal. And don’t

worry about blowing the roof off Canada’s GHG emission targets. Canadian exports don’t count towards our GHG emissions. Despite the potential consequences, there has been almost no media attention to the fact that the CKFTA contains a NAFTA-style investor-state dispute settlement mechanism that will further empower foreign investors to challenge environmental protection and public interest regulations in both countries. Korean industrialists are eyeing major investments in LNG terminals in British Columbia. As Marc Lee, Senior Economist with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives - BC, noted in a 2012 study: “Increased development of fracking and LNG exports will make it virtually impossible for the province to reach its legislated GHG targets.” But if future B.C. or Canadian governments have second thoughts about fracking and massive LNG developments, they could see investor-state dispute settlement claims from South Korean investors. Korean citizens will face the same dilemma if Canadian investors are aggrieved by laws or regulations in their country. Canadians are becoming used to the Harper government bragging about its growing number of trade and investment deals. Unfortunately, the negative economic and environmental impacts of these agreements leave the Canadian public little to cheer about.


Korea Free Trade Agreement:THE MONITOR


15

Local 433| Canada

NewsViews

&433

happen. After a winter of poor rail performance in 1997, the CWB sued both of Canada’s largest railways. CN settled out of court and CP lost, paying $15 million to farmers in damages. Railways had to pay up for their poor grain handling that year. They didn’t mess with the CWB after this event.Today, there is no regulatory body with this mandate or ability. The grain companies would not dare to fight the railroads since their elevators are largely captive to one or other of the railways and extra costs incurred are passed back to farmers in the form of lower farm gate prices. But do they need to? In the past, farmers could expect to get 85% of the pie. Today that share has been as low as 45%. Now, there is great uncertainty as to what the new norm will be. Meanwhile, grain companies are raking it in. An estimate calculated by the Canadian Wheat Board Alliance puts the total corporate bonus at $168.93 per metric tonne or $4.60 per bushel.This catastrophe could have been prevented. On November 2nd of 2011 during a Special Committee in Parliament to discuss Bill C-18, the act to remove the single-desk CWB, former CWB Director, Ian McCreary warned the government against removing CWB grain rail logistics operations without an adequate replacement. He referenced a 1980 example from

the Soviet embargo in the U.S. to expose the potential for a major difference between the price at port to the price at the elevator of $100/mt ($2.72/bushel), if grain on the prairies became overly abundant.The federal government paid no attention to warnings by farmers like McCreary but they should have. The real cost from elevator to port in February got as shockingly high as $246/mt ($6.69/ bushel) for wheat, a Canadian record. Normal levels would be around $77.07/mt ($2.10/bushel) which accounts for standard transportation, cleaning, and storage fees. Even if the cost from elevator to port were reduced in half over the next few months it would still be extreme. The weather, the record crop year and the railways do not completely account for such a large shipping cost increase.It is concerning that the Canadian Minister of Agriculture, Gerry Ritz, continues to defend his prior actions. Recently, when confronted about not setting up a grain logistics oversight organization as part of dismantling the single-desk CWB, his response was: “We saw this coming - that’s why we put together the Crop Logistics Working Group.”Study groups are not systems. And in this case Ritz’s team advocated for laissez faire economics to allow the market to correct itself. The CWB would have seen this coming

in August of 2013. Ritz only took action in March of 2014. He has bet the family farm on an ideological belief, which has turned into a $5 billion exchange of wealth from prairie pockets to grain merchant coffers. Reality is showing us how disastrous the dismantlement of the CWB is for the rural Canadian economy.Even as Bill C-30 (“Fair Rail for Grain Farmers Act”) works its way through Parliament, the Minister has ignored cries for a real arms-length oversight body. It includes very little to address the part that grain companies play in exploiting the current market structure.To address this situation, the farmer elected single-desk CWB should be reinstated. We need grain logistics oversight that benefits farmers. Railways should be penalized significant amounts for lack of movement. The current $100,000/day is not enough. Level the playing field by placing a cap onto oligopolistic grain company revenues, just as a cap exists for the railroads, which has proven essential in fighting exploitation by CN and CP.Today, the temptation for grain companies to manipulate the market from inland to port has become far too lucrative to resist. We now exist in a system that allows grain robbery to be legal.


Grain, Trains, And Autocrats: THE MONITOR


16

Local 433| Canada

NewsViews

&433

Unifor Local 433 Annual Summer Picnic

A good time was had by all!

News Views 433unifor433.org/content/uploads/2016/04/UniforNewsletter.pdf · Page 2 Business...

Documents

Transcript of News Views 433unifor433.org/content/uploads/2016/04/UniforNewsletter.pdf · Page 2 Business...