E-NEWSLETTER ARCHIVES

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May 14, 2010

Casino employees to hold strike vote

Employees with Casino Regina will be holding a strike vote next week, following months of negotiations with their employer to reach a new contract.

According to Robyn Benson, REVP for the Prairies, the existing collective agreement expired in May 2009, and negotiations to reach a new one have been ongoing since September.

Benson said wages are one of the issues at hand, but could not disclose any more details about the concerns of more than 450 Casino Regina union members, who will cast their strike vote on Tuesday.

"We don't want to take strike action. We would rather this employer bargain in good faith," said Benson. "I think negotiations have been somewhat civilized, but we don't believe the employer has put enough on the table."

If the workers vote in favour of a strike to back contract demands, Benson said the union would first consider further talks with the employer, the Saskatchewan Gaming Corp., before any employees hit the picket line.

*For more articles and stories from this edition view the entire e-newsletter.

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May 7, 2010

Winnipeg City Hall may soon be “open to everyone”

Former NDP MP Judy Wasylycia-Leis has formally announced her campaign to run for mayor of Winnipeg.

At a news conference held at The Forks Market Tuesday, Wasylycia-Leis said she wants City Hall to be open to everyone, not just business. It was a shot at current Mayor Sam Katz, a businessman who has been seen to be a pro-business politician.

"I've heard so many people tell me that they are proud — proud to live here — but they do not feel that their values and ideas are being represented at City Hall," Wasylycia-Leis said.

She said the city needs to be more open to charities, social groups and the marginalized, but did not elaborate on what that means.

"All Winnipeggers have a stake in the business of City Hall," she said.

Wasylycia-Leis, 58, has been talking to many Winnipeggers over the past few weeks, wanting to hear what they are looking for in their civic leaders and plans to continue that dialogue leading to the municipal election on Oct. 27.

*For more articles and stories from this edition view the entire e-newsletter.

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April 30, 2010

Is today the day you die at work?

April 28 marked the National Day of Mourning for workers who have been killed or injured on the job. PSAC joins with union activists across Canada and Quebec to remember the fallen and fight for change. Pictured above is Sister Ellen Olfert at the Candlelight Service in Winnipeg, MB.

This year, the Canadian Labour Congress asks, “Is today the day you die at work?” If current trends continue, this question could prove to be more than rhetorical.

Last year was the 25th anniversary of the National Day of Mourning, and labour activists revealed that 25,000 workers had died from injuries and work-related diseases in Canada since the day’s inception.

The statistics on workplace fatalities have changed very little over the last decade. In 2007 there were 1,055 workplace fatalities in Canada, and in 2008 there were 1,038.

But we know these numbers are inaccurate, and that’s what is frightening. Many diseases contracted in the workplace are not recognized as workplace injuries.

Most employers do not place a high priority on health and safety. When they do, they often place the blame on workers, establishing “behavioural-based” health and safety programs.

*For more articles and stories from this edition view the entire e-newsletter.

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April 23, 2010

Rally to Save our Public Post Office

Members belonging to the Union of Postal Communication Employees, working for Canada Post in Winnipeg, are directly affected with the recent announcement that Canada Post will out source its Contact Centres and the National Philatelic Centre. This announcement results in the elimination of more than 300 jobs across the country and eliminating one of the oldest public services.

Now, Canada Post wants to close our community post office located at 208 Provencher. This is a bilingual office that serves the entire community. It is owned by the public and works for the public. By franchising out postal operations community needs are neglected. We can stop this!

Please join our allies with the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) and members from PSAC in the fight back against Canada Post and its road to privatization!

Rally to Save our Public Post Office

Thurs April 29th 4:00 pm

Post Office located at 208 Provencher (Winnipeg, MB)

*For more articles and stories from this edition view the entire e-newsletter.

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April 16, 2010

Fightback!

The Harper Conservatives have decided to make the public sector pay for the financial crisis. The spending freeze announced in the 2010 federal budget will result in job and service cuts if we do not mobilize powerful and effective opposition on the ground. PSAC is moving quickly to equip our local unions and

activists with tools, strategies and resources to stop the attack on public services. We are organizing to galvanize public and political support.

Managers are already announcing job cuts and other measures to cope with the

spending freeze. We can expect a swift and widespread attack. We are taking

Immediate steps to help our Components, local unions, branches, shop stewards and other activists respond.

The first step is to organize meetings of local/branch executives and shop stewards, Regional Executive Vice-Presidents and other activists. These meetings, will be organized with support from the PSAC Regional Offices.

We are asking locals/branches to monitor their workplaces and report any actions that would impact the delivery of quality public services, such as release of casuals and terms and not filling vacant positions.

What began as our pension campaign is now being expanded. We will continue signing the pension petition. And, we’ll expand our conversation about retirement security to talk about mobilizing to fight cuts to programs and services. We need to make sure as many people as possible are hearing our message of quality public services and the impact budget freezes and cuts will have on communities across the country.

To request your PSAC Local Fightback Kit, contact Jeffrey Vallis, Regional Political Communications Officer – Prairies, vallisj@psac.com.

*For more articles and stories from this edition view the entire e-newsletter.

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April 6, 2010

Canada Post to privatize 300 contact centre jobs across Canada

Canada Post announced last week that it would outsource its contact centres and the National Philatelic Centre, resulting in the elimination of more than 300 jobs across the country. Affected locations include: Edmonton, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Antigonish, Fredericton

“This obsession with privatization will badly damage the quality of the Canadian postal service as well as the communities it serves,” said Robyn Benson, the PSAC Regional Executive Vice-President for the Prairies. “Many regions in the country will lose local contact with Canada Post as well as jobs that are important for the local economy,” she added.

For Benson, the privatization of Canada Post’s answering services also raises the question of protection of confidential information provided by Canadians.

“I’m not sure that Canadians are ready to see their postal service become an information collection agency for the American government,’ Benson said. “If an American company answers calls for Canada Post, then the U.S. Patriot Act gives the government access to all information the company collects. Is that what Canadians want?”

Richard Deslauriers, the National President of PSAC component, the Union of Postal and Communications Employees (UPCE) said this type of economic reasoning will bring Canada Post closer to a complete privatization.

“The privatization of Canada Post has always been an objective of the current management and the conservative federal government,” Deslauriers said. “The slippery slope of partial privatization of services will end up with Canada Post in the hands of private companies and Canadians will be deprived of a service they have relied on for decades”.

The PSAC represents more than 165,000 members across the country including 2,000 at Canada Post. Read more… http://bit.ly/cIbggt

*For more articles and stories from this edition view the entire e-newsletter.

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March 26, 2010

PSAC Pride

The national Pride conference is being held this weekend in Toronto, including a variety of workshops and panel discussions. Check next week’s e-newsletter for photos and updates from the conference.

In the meantime, here are some GLBT related issues in the news currently that show the importance of such conferences.

Homophobia in the workplace

Homophobic slurs, crude e-mails and constant invective created a “poisonous” working atmosphere for a gay guard at an Ottawa jail, Ontario’s Grievance Settlement Board has found.

The Jan. 18 decision upheld a complaint filed against the corrections ministry that it allowed harassment against Robert Ranger to continue unchecked for four years, leaving him suicidal and diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

The Ontario Public Service Employees Union lawyer who represented Ranger says the decision appears to be the first case of its kind to hinge on discrimination based on sexual orientation.

“You really wouldn’t expect this sort of conduct from a modern public sector employer,” Don Eady said. Read more…http://bit.ly/b5bOl8

Gay rights? Not on my watch

Earlier this month, Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney blocked any reference to gay rights in a new study guide for immigrants applying for Canadian citizenship, The Canadian Press has learned.

Internal documents show an early draft of the guide contained sections noting that homosexuality was decriminalized in 1969; that the Charter of Rights and Freedoms forbids discrimination based on sexual orientation; and that same-sex marriage was legalized nationally in 2005.

But Kenney, who fought same-sex marriage when it was debated in Parliament, ordered those key sections removed. Read more… http://bit.ly/ajhT01

Out MPs such as Bill Siksay, Libby Davies and Scott Brison spoke out against Kenney. Read more… http://bit.ly/dsgtBb

Now, Kenney continues to dodge questions about the issue. Read more… http://bit.ly/ci5gLr

Show your support by joining the Facebook group “Canadians Calling for the Resignation of Jason Kenney” http://bit.ly/9H0xAJ

And on a lighter note, check out Scott Feschuck’s “plot summary" of the movie Philadelphia, as edited by Jason Kenney: http://bit.ly/anIlAn

Ann Coulter chased out of Ottawa

Right-wing antagonist Ann Coulter cancelled a University of Ottawa address last night after organizers decided it wasn’t safe to speak. The move followed boisterous demonstrations outside, with more than 2,000 protestors in attendance, that sponsors of the appearance feared could turn violent.

Ms. Coulter’s detractors cheered the departure of the sharp-tongued Ms. Coulter, who’s been accused of vilifying minority groups from gays to Muslims. The conservative provocateur most recently mocked gay men, saying there are two things they can’t do – “get married to each other” (they can in Canada and some American states) and “throw a baseball without looking like a girl.” Ms. Coulter also told an audience in London, Ont., she thinks feminists, gays and illegal aliens all want to be black, as they complain their rights are being attacked in the same way the rights of African-Americans once were. Read more... http://bit.ly/9bDHEY

*For more articles and stories from this edition view the entire e-newsletter.

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March 19, 2010

Results of the “Hands Off! Our pensions” campaign

During this short campaign, we collected more than 61,000 signatures of public service workers. With your help we were able to stave off pension rollbacks that Treasury Board had contemplated for this year.However we're not out of the woods yet.

Treasury Board has told us they want to put pensions on the table in the next year. And there was nothing in the budget to improve retirement security, so even as the Harper government declares the recession 'over' and the deficit as our new 'enemy' people heading into retirement do so with even less security knowing that government spending is to be frozen and the services they need will be cut back.

Take action now:

- Go to psac-afpc.com/federal-budget and sign up to receive updated information on the impact of the budget or contact the Winnipeg Regional Office at (204) 947-1601 for local actions.

- Sign the pension petition and help collect more signatures. Our actions may have stopped the government for now, but the fight is far from over.

- Report to your local executive any cuts or proposed reduction in workforce by management in your workplace.

- Get involved in PSAC’s campaign to protect quality public services. Stay posted for future workplace and community actions.

- Write letters to the editor and participate in online forums – help us send the message that this economic crisis wasn’t caused by workers and won’t be solved on our backs.

*For more articles and stories from this edition view the entire e-newsletter.

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For more national news items visit the PSAC national website.