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Free Trade Steals Work from Canadian Families!

Courtesy: http://www.operationmaple.com

We Applaud NDP Leader Adrian Dix As He Presses the BC Liberals to Join Forces and Lobby the Harper Conservatives to Preserve Jobs at AVEOS.

Five weeks ago, IAMAW Members at Aveos found themselves suddenly out of work. This came when the Company ceased operations without any notice to the Union or our members.

There are now over 2600 highly-skilled workers on the unemployment books, and the federal government has yet to take any action. As Canadian GVP Dave Ritchie has pointed out: “The Layoff of 2,600 aircraft maintenance workers at Aveos Fleet Performance is a direct violation of the Air Canada Public Participation Act.” The Act requires Air Canada to maintain heavy maintenance facilities in Canada. For more info see my previous post here.

Here in BC, the IAMAW has over 350 members out of work, and we have been working with the Local Lodge to see if we can help with placement of some of these members. We organized a meeting between the Local and Finning HR to discuss holding a job fair in early May to asssit with this process. Hopefully a win-win situation that gets our members good jobs and provides Finning with skilled workers.

I commend Adrian Dix for his work with members of Lodge 764, most recently in yesterday’s sitting of the legislature. Adrian has invited Premier Christy Clark to join him and workers of Lodge 764 in a lobby to Ottawa. Transcript of the exchange in Legislature is reprinted below:

DEBATES OF THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY

(HANSARD)

GOVERNMENT SUPPORT FOR AVEOS WORKERS

Tuesday, April 17, 2012 (Afternoon Session)

[1355] A. Dix: Today is actually something of an anniversary for me. A year ago I was elected leader of the B.C. NDP, and what I’ve learned in that time…. [Applause.]

I know I share this with the Premier, who was elected around the same time. It’s that, you know, in these jobs as leaders, you have good moments and other moments, sometimes good quarter-hours and other quarter-hours. So in that light, I wanted to say that I received a call from the member for Burnaby-Lougheed today. He spoke with great sincerity, I think, in apology. I wanted to say that for me the matter is closed. I accept his apology.

I want to say to all members of the House — and certainly to him — that we’ll continue to work together. We’re going to disagree all the time. That is part of democracy, and it is a good thing. But we can work together to do what we want to do, which is serve our constituents and serve the people of B.C. So I thank him for his apology.

My question to the Premier. The Premier will know that 356 skilled workers have lost their jobs at Aveos. The Legislature came together just before the break and passed unanimously a motion to work together and to support those workers — to work to save those jobs, to work together as a province.

Of course, there have been other events that have occurred since then. The government of Canada has yet to take favourable position, in the sense of the jobs. Although, they’ve made some offers to the province.

I wanted to ask the Premier today if she’ll join me, if the government will join with the opposition, in a joint delegation to Ottawa to advocate for those workers — a delegation with those workers and with the aerospace industry — so that we can work to save those jobs in British Columbia.

Hon. P. Bell: Fortunately, this issue was canvassed yesterday by the critic in the estimates period as well, so it is top of mind and fresh. We have drafted and prepared a letter to go back to Ottawa, reinforcing the position that I believe the opposition and the government took in the resolution that was passed. As the member knows, right now we’re in the midst of session, so travel would be difficult to go to Ottawa.

But I continue to be in discussions with Minister Lebel on this issue, and I don’t believe that the government’s view has changed at all. It is aligned with opposition’s in an attempt to make sure those 356 workers have all the protection they could possibly have.

Mr. Speaker: Leader of the Official Opposition has a supplemental.

A. Dix: I thank the minister for his answer. I just want to say that I think we can put the pressure on more, and I think we need to. There is a lot at stake for our industry, for our workers and for future workers in the industry. The government itself, as you know, has programs to train future aerospace workers. This is major blow to those programs. So I wanted to ask the minister, because it seems to me what the workers are asking for is a renewed effort here — an effort to get the attention of the government.

I’m sure that, given the session is on here, we could pair and make that trip happen together. Whether the Premier and I go or the minister and the critic go or he and I go, it doesn’t matter. It will be one and one. It will all work out. So I want to ask the minister….

Interjection.

A. Dix: That would be a great flight. I would enjoy that flight.

I think the important question, though, is those jobs — making the advocacy for those jobs. The government of Quebec is going to court today, as the minister will know. The government of Canada is taking that the act doesn’t apply, and therefore those jobs are gone everywhere.

So I wanted to ask the minister if he would take the next step. Join with us. Let’s go to Ottawa. Let’s make the case for British Columbia, as a united delegation could, and make a difference for those workers.

Hon. P. Bell: Thanks very much to the Leader of the Opposition for his generous offer to pair and find a way to make something like this happen. I would be happy to continue to work, whether it be with the critic or with the Leader of the Official Opposition — as they see fit — in the discussions that we have had with Minister Lebel.

In fact, I would be happy to have either or both sit in on the conference calls that we’re doing with Minister Lebel. If at some point in time it is appropriate for a delegation to go, certainly I would be happy to do that in a joint way.

Mr. Speaker: Leader of the Official Opposition has a further supplemental.

A. Dix: Hon. Speaker, I feel like we are making progress here.

Interjection.

[1400] A. Dix: The Government House Leader seems to think I’m pushing my luck, but I don’t think so. I think that everybody knows — and I think the minister will know, having met with those workers — how important those jobs are, how important the sector is to our economy. It’s really at the centre of it.

Those jobs, in many respects, are irreplaceable here. They have been here a very long time. They are at the centre of a broader industry.

I appreciate the minister’s offer to keep us apprised, to keep us involved, but I think we need to take an additional step, so what I’d ask him to do is to meet with us today — and we’ll find a way to do it — have those meetings and plan those efforts so that we can have a joint effort that uses all the resources of British Columbians to save those jobs and to ensure that sector continues to thrive in British Columbia.

Hon. P. Bell: I am always happy to meet with the critic, or any member of this House in fact, on this or any issue. Fortunately, I think the critic and I will be spending a blissful four hours together today in the estimates period in the small House. But certainly the offer to continue to work together is one, I believe, that we’ve extended, as well, and support the initiative.

I think not only is it important from the 356 workers’ perspective, but it’s also important from the travelling public’s perspective. I think people are comforted by the notion that they have highly skilled and professional workers that are maintaining these aircraft and looking after, particularly, the heavy-duty maintenance, as is associated with the Aveos workers. I think all of us would like to see those people go back to work.

So we’ll continue to work together with the critic, with the Leader of the Opposition, to see this file through to the end.

IAMAW Lodge 764 Lobbied at the BC Legislature to Save Jobs in Aveos Closure. The RockSolid Trade Unionists Met With Opposition Leader Adrian Dix, and Minister of Jobs, Tourism and Innovation Pat Bell.

March 30, 2012 – In British Columbia, more than 350 former employees of Air Canada’s primary aircraft overhaul supplier Aveos Fleet Performance recently learned their company was declaring insolvency. This closure impacts upon over 2,600 IAMAW members across Canada.

Earlier this week, a delegation of 70 of the dismissed workers, led by IAMAW Local Lodge 764 President Chris Hiscock and members of his Executive, along with B.C. Federation of Labour President Jim Sinclair, presented their case to Dix and Bell. The Union is seeking support from Provincial Government to pressure the Federal Conservatives to intervene and uphold the law by keeping the work in Canada.

Both Dix and Bell committed to a non-partisan approach on the issue – agreeing that politics were secondary to protecting more than 350 family-supporting jobs.

FACTS ABOUT AVEOS AND AIR CANADA

• Air Canada has operated heavy maintenance divisions in Canada since its formation as an airline.
• Primary maintenance facilities for Air Canada until last year were divisions of Air Canada in Montreal, Mississauga, Winnipeg and Vancouver.
• The Air Canada Public Participation Act requires the airline to maintain heavy maintenance operations in Canada, and specifically in Montreal, Mississauga and Winnipeg.  It is the union’s position that YVR is also covered by the Act, despite not being specified.
• The YVR operation was subsequently acquired by Air Canada in the merger with Canadian Airlines.  The workers at YVR have more than 3,000 years of experience between them and are recognized as one of the premier maintenance teams in the world.
• Heavy maintenance operations were contracted out to Aveos Fleet Performance in July 2011.  Employees were assured of the viability of Aveos and Air Canada’s long term commitment to conducting maintenance at the existing facilities.
• On the basis of those assurances, senior workers took positions with Aveos instead of transferring to other positions within the Air Canada system.
• Approximately 8 months after the ink had dried on the transfer of operations from Air Canada to Aveos, Aveos filed for protection from creditors and immediately dismissed all employees.
• Heavy maintenance is highly-skilled, highly-specialized work that is not easily transferable.  Many former Aveos employees have between 25 and 35 years of experience.

Source: BC Federationist – Online Newspaper

Angry Workers Rallied at Vancouver Airport to Support Machinists at Air Canada and Aveos - March 19, 2012

 March 19, 2012: Toronto, ON – “The layoff of 2,600 aircraft maintenance workers at Aveos Fleet Performance Incorporated is a direct vilation of the Air Canada Public Participation Act,” explained an angry Dave Ritchie – Canadian Vice President of the IAMAW.

“The act stipulates that Air Canada must maintain aircraft heavy maintenance facilities or have such work performed at facilities in Winnipeg, Mississauga and Montreal,” said Ritchie. Air Canada complied by having Aveos Fleet Performance conduct its aircraft maintenance in these centers.

“Since Air Canada is pulling this work from these facilities and seeking alternative suppliers, AVEOS has subsequently ceased operations affecting 1,785 highly skilled workers in Montreal, 412 in Winnipeg and 356 in Vancouver,” explained Ritchie. “This is exactly why we took Air Canada to court when it sold its maintenance unit to Aveos. We knew this could happen and now it has. Air Canada has an obligation to these workers, their families and the Air Canada Public Participation Act.”

“We want the federal government to intervene otherwise a viable industry and its highly skilled workers will vanish forever.”

BC teachers are in contract negotiations asking for a fair deal.

Source: BC Federationist – March 6, 2012

What do we mean by fair exactly?

Teachers would like improvements in three areas: class size/composition, salary and benefits, and changes to the bargaining structure.

For class size—we want only what was taken away in 2002. These discussions have been occuring directly with government. We want the government to go back to the class sizes in place at that time and restore the funding so boards can achieve this.

At the provincial bargaining table proper, we are focusing on a few areas:

For bargaining—we want to negotiate more items locally with our elected boards. This facilitates diversity, community involvement, and local programs and solutions. It is not a cost item and it is how teachers used to negotiate in the 1990s—very successfully.

For salary and benefits—teachers want to “keep up” and “catch up.” What do we mean by that? We want to keep up with inflation, and we want to catch up with teachers in other provinces. Teachers in BC now rank 8th in salaries across Canada, despite the fact that our cost of living is one of the highest and that BC weathered the recession better than many other provinces. BC’s gross domestic product growth was 3% for 2010, and is projected at 2.7% for 2011 and 3% for 2012.

Teachers have asked for cost-of-living increases of 3% in each year, plus a 3% market adjustment in each of years two and three. This would go some way to shrinking the gap between our wage rates and teachers in other provinces, and western Canada in particular. It would still leave us behind, however.

Unfortunately, the government’s position has and continues to be “net zero.” The government claims that taxpayers cannot afford increases to public sector wages and that wages must remain flat because the government is running a deficit.

Do these arguments make sense? Are they justified? Or should teachers receive a wage increase?

Myth 1: Teachers should not get a wage increase because of the government deficit.

Reality: There was no deficit when the Liberals took power in 2001. Through a series of income tax cuts and corporate tax cuts, the Liberals went from a surplus to a deficit. Yes, the recession of 2009 impacted government revenues—but not as much as tax cuts have. Moreover, the government has found plenty of money for spending when it feels the spending is a priority. There was money for the BC Place roof. There was money for the Olympics. There was money for smart meters. There seems to be plenty of money for the CEOs of crown corporations like BC Ferries and BC Rail. The fact is that the government is using the deficit that it created as an excuse to take money away from public services and the people who provide them. The money is there. It is a matter of priorities.

It is simply unfair to make one group of workers pay for a deficit created by tax cuts to other people and corporations. Private sector workers are seeing increases. Other public sector workers are seeing increases. For example, Vancouver police negotiated 8.8% over 3 years. Why should municipal employees be treated any differently than other public employees? Moreover how is it fair to make middle income earners pay for tax cuts that disproportionately benefited the wealthy and corporations?

It just isn’t.

Myth 2: Net zero isn’t a pay cut, so it is fair.

Reality: In September, when the new school year began, Canadian year-over-year inflation was at 3.2%. When teachers got their first paycheque of the year, they had 3.2% less buying power. This is what matters. This January, teachers, along with other workers, have increases to their CPP payments, their EI premiums, and their MSP premiums. Many contracts have automatic cost-of-living increases, but ours does not. Without any increase, teachers will fall behind.

Myth 3: BC teachers already have high salaries.

Reality: After five years of university training, BC teachers begin with a wage in the low $40,000s, if they are full time. Many teachers only get part-time work for the first three to five years of their career. It takes 10 years of full-time work to reach the maximum salary, which is about $75,000 for most teachers. BC teachers rank 8th in Canada compared to teachers in other provinces. A teacher in BC earns, on average, $20,000 less than a comparably experienced teacher in Alberta and $15,000 less than one in Ontario. Yet BC has the highest cost of living and the highest housing prices in the country. A recent report ranks Vancouver as the second most expensive housing market in the English-speaking world.

Myth 4: The net-zero wage freeze is fair because it impacts all public sector workers.

Reality: Only those workers covered by the Public Sector Employer’s Council are impacted, and that does not include all public sector workers. Firefighters are not under net zero. Police are not under net zero. Even school superintendents are not under net zero. Nurses are not under net zero because they negotiated in 2009, supposedly before the net-zero mandate was implemented, but certainly at the height of the recession. How is it fair that these workers can negotiate increases and other workers can’t?

Here are some recent examples:

• BC Nurses (3% for 2009, 3% for 2010, and 3% for 2011)
• Treasury Board of Canada (PSA) (1.75% for 2011, 1.5% for 2012, 2% for 2013)
• CN Railway–Teamsters (2.4% for 2010, 3% for 2011, 3% for 2012)
• Kamloops Municipal Employees– CUPE (2% for 2011, 2% for 2012, 2% for 2013)
• Surrey Firefighters (3% for 2010, 2.5% for 2011)
• North Cowichan Municipal Employees–CUPE (2% for 2010, 2.5% for 2011, 2.5% for 2012, 3% for 2013)
• CN Railway–CAW (2.4% for 2011, 2.6% for 2012, 3% for 2013, 3% for 2014)
• Comox District Municipal Employees–CUPE (2% for 2010, 2% for 2011, 3% for 2012, 2% for 2013)
• Vancouver Police (2.95% for 2010, 2.95% for 2011, 1.25% for 2012, 1.3% for 2013)
• Quesnel Municipal Employees– CUPE (0% for 2010, 1.5% for 2011, 2%for 2012)
• BC Rapid Transit (3% for 2010)
• Canada Revenue Agency–PSA (1.5% for 2010, 1.5% for 2011)
• Courtenay Municipal Employees– CUPE (2% f0r 2011, 2% for 2012, 2.75% for 2013, 2.25% for 2014)
• BC Paramedics (3% for 2010)
• Revelstoke Municipal Employees (1.25% for 2010, 1.25% for 2011, 1.5% for 2012, 1.5% for 2013)

Myth 5: Teachers are asking for too much

Reality: Teachers want to keep up with inflation. Teachers want to catch up with their colleagues in other provinces. Teachers took four years of zero increases since 1998. Teachers traded salary for smaller class sizes and those class-size provisions were later eliminated. It is perfectly reasonable to ask for cost-of-living increases and wage adjustments to catch up with our Canadian colleagues.

Myth 6: Teachers are asking for $2 billion.

Reality: The true number is many times less—the BCTF’s estimate is $305 million for our revised package. BCPSEA (the employer) made many erroneous assumptions in order to come up with a hyper-inflated costing number. For example, they assumed every teacher would take extra sick days if they were available. However, we know from Statistics Canada that teachers take an average of 7.3 days per year, which is already considerably less than their entitlement, so increased entitlement would only be used by a small percentage of teachers who become very ill. The assumptions used by BCPSEA were unrealistic and result in highly inflated costing estimates. They are not justified and do not reflect the true cost of the proposals teachers have put forward.

Reaching a fair deal

A fair deal is achieved in the usual course of bargaining through give and take on both sides. Each side starts with an opening “position” and then shifts and moves and counters in an effort to reach a settlement. But with a net- zero mandate, BCPSEA is unable to bargain. To date, the only proposals BCPSEA has made are actually concessions—proposals that would remove due process and job security rights from the collective agreement. They are unable to make a counter proposal on any matter that has a cost, improves workload, or enhances rights for teachers—all due to the mandate. Rather than the usual back and forth of negotiations, there has been only movement from the BCTF. Without any shift from BCPSEA, there is no way to reach a compromise and a settlement.

A fair deal is attainable. It can be done within the current financial climate of moderate growth. But the next step needs to come from government. Government needs to revisit the mandate that it has imposed on BCPSEA and allow BCPSEA to bargain. Then, the bargaining can begin.

Bill 22 Violates BC Teachers’ Bargaining Rights

February 28, 2012 – Statement from B.C. Federation of Labour Executive Officers on Bill 22:

Today the BC Liberal Government has introduced Bill 22, imposing 2 years of no wage increases and seeking significant concession from teachers regarding learning conditions and professional development. At the same time, the BC Liberals eliminate teachers’ right to job action. After three terms this tired government has not learned anything when it comes to respecting workers’ democratic rights.

The BC Liberal government still has the ability to prevent a crisis in our public education system; withdraw Bill 22 and return to the bargaining table without condition and with the help of a professional mediator. The BC Teachers Federation has already called for the appointment of Stephen Kelleher as a mediator in this dispute. The B.C. Federation of Labour supports this call, and encourages the provincial government to accept this request.

School trustees have called for mediation, the employer BC PSEA has agreed to mediation, and the public overwhelmingly supports real mediation.

Today’s legislation has nothing to do with improving public education, it’s about a provincial government, beyond its expiry date, with no new ideas and no commitment to public education. In fact, Bill 22 will create larger class sizes and offers no support for students with special needs. Far from restoring teachers’ rights to bargain their working conditions, class size and composition, Bill 22 plans to make those rights obsolete. Teachers deserve better; and most importantly, so do our kids.

The government’s actions today extend beyond teachers and impact all provincial public sector negotiations. Imposing a mandate when other public sector workers have only begun bargaining is a serious breach of the principle of free collective bargaining. This legislative hammer comes from a government that has lost a number of Supreme Court challenges resulting from their trampling of labour rights.

If the BC Liberal government was truly interested in mediation, they would use the tools at their disposal via the Labour Relations Board and the Labour Code, no other legislation is necessary. Mediation involves an impartial third party able to hear the concerns of both parties. Mediation cannot be limited to only the issues the BC Liberals choose. Bill 22 is not mediation it’s the beginning of an imposed collective agreement.

BC’s public and private sector unions and our more than 450,000 members stand in solidarity with BC’s teachers and their desire for a fair negotiated deal. Labour leaders will be meeting to discuss how they continue to support BC teachers.