Bidding Wars, backrooms and labour unity (The following article is from the March 1-15/2005 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) By Sam Hammond The government of Ontario has thrown a wild card into the continuing farce at Stelco in Hamilton, by cancelling the company's pension "holiday". To get a handle on this, we must go back to the NDP government of Bob Rae and their corporate appeasement policies. The NDP introduced pension funding legislation based on the concept that some companies were too big to ever fail and therefore should be allowed to underfund pensions. (Perhaps Bob Rae served his apprenticeship in the Titanic shipyards.) This allowed Stelco, General Motors and many others to stop contributing to contingency funds that companies build up to pay their pensioners. The legislation was eliminated three years ago, but good old Stelco was "grandfathered" so it could continue to rob its pensioners and pocket their future income. In January 2004, Stelco went into bankruptcy protection with a $1.3 billion pension deficit. There are currently 17,000 pensioners, of whom 4000 were salaried. The 13,000 production workers were, and are, represented by locals of the United Steelworkers. In the past year, while under bankruptcy protection Stelco has by and large refused to deal with the local unions on pension and contract matters. The company invited financial suitors to woo them, manipulated the bidding in cahoots with Deutsche Bank, and made record profits while not paying creditors or shareholders. Sounds like a robber baron's fantasy, but it is very real and a workers nightmare. Fast forward to mid-February 2005. Stelco is on the eve of opening bids from Severstal (Russia), a joint offering from the Ontario Teacher's Pension Plan and Sherritt International (Canada), Toronto Dominion Bank, US Steel, (United States), Mittal (headquartered in Holland), and Algoma Steel (Canada). The Ontario government jumps into the fray, announcing that the grandfather clause is cancelled and Stelco will have to pay their pension deficit within several years (although the government is willing to negotiate). You could hear the screams of betrayal and the gnashing of teeth from Bay Street in Toronto to the industrial bayshore in Hamilton. Since then the spindoctors of the media have been dropping bits of "reliable source" corporate info from the secret bidders and Stelco itself. The word is that Mittal is out and Algoma has also pulled its bid. Jim Arnett, the province's advisor on the steel industry, was quoted in the Hamilton Spectator as saying that the floor bid from Deutsche Bank, "did not indicate any intention to address the pension funding issue and, indeed contained a condition that there would be no change in the government's regulatory regime regarding Stelco pensions." In street language this means, "don't think you're going to walk away and leave this mess in our lap". This is a very interesting situation for a little political detective work. All through the bidding process, where Deutsche Bank set the floor level, there have been claims of confidentiality, secrecy and security. This stands out in a corporate world of the oblique thrust, backroom conspiracies, manipulation and sudden death like a ray of purity and sunshine fighting its way out of a cesspool. Hogwash. The concerns of the Ontario government, its apparent knowledge of the content and intent of the Deutsche Bank floor setting offer, and its public justification for moving on the pension funding, proves that there have been constant discussions and negotiations going on behind closed doors. The government is aware of the other offers, knows their content, and is alarmed at the political pension bomb about to drop into their laps. The union has not been allowed to see the bids, but the Lake Erie Local 8782 has been meeting with the bidders and has publicly stated their preference for Severstal. Bill Ferguson, Local 8782 president, said he plans to sign an agreement with Severstal shortly. The local has been without a renewed contract since last summer and could be a player because it holds a strike mandate that could be used against any new owners who fail to address major issues. Local 1005, the largest local in Hamilton, has a year to go until contract renewal and is in an entirely different position. The president of the Hamilton local, Rolph Gerstenberger, has refused to enter the bidding/bargaining fray, maintaining that the union has always opposed the bankruptcy protection, has a legal collective agreement which is not negotiable and expects it to be honoured, including the obligation to pensioners. The Steelworkers' locals concerned have maintained an admirable militancy and so far have not taken any backward steps or concessions. Their members are much better represented and secure than many of their American counterparts who lost benefits and pension income during the several years that the US steelmakers used bankruptcy protection to consolidate, refinance and re-organize. Some media assassins and some elements within labour are whispering about a split between Hamilton and Lake Erie. The two locals are part of a very complex drama that requires a lot of maturity and a good set of nerves. The Hamilton local has an existing collective agreement, and unlike the tendency in the United Food and Commercial Workers to open agreements and negotiate downward, seems determined to fight for it and insist their hard won conditions. The Lake Erie local has been working under the same bankrupt protection with an expired agreement since the summer of 2004. The locals shared the same lawyer during their fight against the courts. Now that the bidding game is on, the Lake Erie local probably feels that they have to negotiate to represent their members and look for the most compatible negotiating partner. The result is that Local 1005 in Hamilton has hired their own lawyer. They feel that one lawyer cannot represent two tactics. Life is very complex and unity is not always as easy as gluing two pieces of wood together. It is also very dangerous to view life and struggle in absolute terms of "either-or." This is not the corporate "with me or against me" world of George Bush, but rather the living, breathing world of working people in struggle, where the state and its machinery are specifically designed to exploit, divide and control. Everything in life comes in degrees, and perfection is a rarity or a dream. The steelworkers in southern Ontario have done an excellent job so far during the Stelco fiasco, and the maturity of their local leadership has been impressive viewed from the sidelines. There is a canyon of difference between solidarity, support and interference. This writer has no inside knowledge of the relations or stresses and strains in these union locals. I do know from a lifetime of experience that they are there and they are a factor in the struggle. The only moral position for any trade unionist at this time is full and unqualified support for the steelworkers of both locals. Those who look for division, or those that profit from it, are going to be very disappointed. (Back) (Home) IWD 2005: Towards true liberation (The following article is from the March 1-15/2005 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) Statement of the Central Executive Committee CPC On this year's International Women's Day, the Communist Party of Canada extends our solidarity with women's resistance against all forms of exploitation, violence, and oppression. Ever since the first IWD was marked by socialist women's groups in 1911, this day has been an important occasion to mobilize for advances towards equality: the right to vote, reproductive choice, trade unions, protections against violence, social programs to provide a measure of equality, opposition to homophobia, racism and xenophobia. Today, every gain for social justice is threatened by profit-hungry corporations, fundamentalist groups, and right-wing governments. Working women need a united fightback to defend our rights, and a strategy to achieve a world truly liberated from exploitation, oppression, poverty, war and environmental catastrophe. The "war on terror" is a war against equality On a global scale, women face rising unemployment, ecological crises and regional conflicts. Many of the political and economic leaders who impose neoliberal policies also seek to strengthen the institutions of patriarchy, to widen social inequalities and to divide working people. US imperialism and its allies are the worst enemies of women's rights. The so-called "war on terror," which was supposed to liberate women from tyranny, has meant the opposite. Women and children are the majority of the over 100,000 Iraqi civilians who have died as a result of the illegal invasion and occupation. Many Afghan women were killed by US bombs when the Taliban was overthrown, and they still face threats and violence for working outside the home. The "elections" just held in Saudi Arabia - a key U.S. ally - excluded women. The women of Palestine still live under brutal occupation, even while the US provides billions of dollars in aid and arms to Israel. The Bush White House has lined up with patriarchal religious forces in a global offensive against women's rights. The U.S. ban against aid to health care providers which give information on reproductive rights condemns hundreds of thousands of women and girls to unsafe abortions and even death. In the former European socialist countries, women had achieved great progress towards equality. Now, they face a stark choice between unemployment, ghettoized low-wage jobs, or entry into the global capitalist sex trade. Here in Canada, more than 25 years after the adoption of the Canadian Human Rights Act, women working full-time still earn just 72.5% of the average male salary, regardless of age, occupation, or education. Last May, the federal Pay Equity Task Force made a recommendations to help achieve equal pay for work of equal value, but nothing has been done to implement these proposals. Ottawa's much-trumpeted funding for expanded child care comes nowhere near meeting the needs of families, and even this feeble attempt may be sabotaged by right-wing provincial governments. At the same time, the shift towards "home care" for the sick and elderly is forcing women to leave their jobs to care for relatives. Violence against women remains widespread, yet funding is being eliminated for women's shelters and rape crisis centres. Women's organizations have been virtually destroyed by funding cuts. The very concept of feminism is ridiculed by right-wing forces, and any gains by young women are twisted by the mass media to spread the lie that "male inequality" is the "new reality." Despite Canada's reputation as a world leader on human rights, the federal government is increasingly using the "war on terror" and other forms of racial profiling, for example to deport women back to Iran where they face imprisonment and torture for opposing laws against equality. Here at home, despite strong evidence that young girls are often forced into "marriages" with much older men at the fundamentalist commune in Bountiful, B.C., governments have taken no legal action against those who commit statutory rape and other crimes. The problem is the system What's behind the backlash against women's rights? The underlying problem is the economic system based on private ownership of most wealth: capitalism. Only capitalists benefit from the systematic oppression of women and minority groups. The transnational corporations super-exploit women as workers, reaping extra profits by paying them lower wages. Women of colour and Aboriginal women face even higher unemployment rates and lower incomes, as well as racist discrimination by the legal system and police. Millions of women are caught in part-time and temporary jobs, low-wage ghettos in the service industry, or home-based jobs difficult to organize into unions. Some male workers think they benefit from this pattern, but their wages and working conditions are also dragged down by the oppression of female co-workers. Women still also do the bulk of domestic labour. While such unpaid labour is not directly part of the cycle of capitalist exploitation, it is essential in the process of raising each new generation of workers. This double burden is a key form of oppression of women under capitalism. Step up the struggle for equality The Communist Party of Canada believes that the entire working class movement must step up the struggle to defend and expand women's rights. We must all combat the sexist, racist, homophobic, anti-immigrant and militarist views promoted by the corporate media and culture. Above all, the trade union movement must build on its historic record of defending the social and workplace rights of women. That means more efforts to organize part-time, temporary and contract workers, and the unemployed, so that these workers can raise their living standards and expand their political and economic action. By consistently combating scape-goating, the labour movement can help unite all sections of the working class. The women's movement itself remains a vital force in the battles for pay equity, affirmative action, fully paid parental leave, reproductive choice, universally accessible child care, social assistance, and housing for all. The Communist Party believes that our daily struggles must be integrated into a long-term strategy. We call for stronger unity of all progressive forces, during elections and in our communities, schools and workplaces, to help build a People's Coalition. Full women's equality must be a crucial element of the policies which unite such a coalition. This strategy could open the way towards a socialist Canada, where the principal means of producing and distributing wealth will the common property of all, and the exploitation of labour will be abolished. Ecological degradation will be replaced by measures to reduce the impact of human life on the natural environment. Poverty, insecurity and discrimination will be ended. Socialism will finally realize a new society based on solidarity, equality and emancipation. What we stand for The Communist Party of Canada demands: * end all Canadian participation in the phony "war on terrorism." * solidarity with the women of Iraq, Afghanistan, Haiti, Palestine, Colombia, Venezuela, Cuba, the Philippines, Korea and other countries facing imperialist occupation and violence. * reject the Free Trade Area of the Americas and other forms of capitalist globalization; cancel the external debts of the Third World. * full funding for quality, public healthcare, education and social welfare systems. * a universal minimum liveable income. * a universal, affordable, non-profit childcare system with Canada-wide standards. * a shorter work week with no loss in pay and no reduction in public services; full benefits for part-time workers. * intensify efforts to organize part-time workers and female dominated workplaces. * restore and extend employment and pay equity legislation; expand job creation programs, especially for disadvantaged young women; remove barriers to EI coverage; expand parental leave benefits to 52 weeks. * emergency federal action to save working farm families. * reinstate and expand core funding for equality-seeking women's organizations, including NAC; full funding for grassroots, feminist services to deal with violence against women. * enshrine within the constitution the rights of Aboriginal peoples, Quebec, and Acadians to self-determination and self-government, and guarantee the full economic, social and political equality of Aboriginal women. * safe, public, accessible abortion clinics in all parts of Canada. * allocate 1% of the federal budget to the creation of social, affordable and subsidized housing. * establish a fair and just immigration and refugee policy. * extend marriage rights and other same-sex public benefits to all provinces and territories; end discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people. * replace the student loans program by student grants; phase out post-secondary tuition fees. * take legal action against religious groups and leaders who use their doctrines to justify statutory rape of young girls and to deny children access to a full education. (Back) (Home) Act for peace and global justice (The following editorial is from the March 1-15/2005 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) People's Voice Editorial Thousands of Canadians will participate in anti-war protests on March 19-20, the second anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. They will be joining people in countries around the world in one of the larger global protests in recent years. In Canada, more than fifteen communities have plans for large protests (visit the Canadian Peace Alliance website for details, http://www.acp-cpa.ca. Trade unions, student and religious groups are involved, some at the cross-Canada or national level. This is a truly massive mobilization in support of peace and global justice, the theme adopted for the days of action by the Canadian Peace Alliance, the World Social Forum and participants at international meetings of peace movements. It reflects growing and broad anti-imperialist sentiment among wide sections of the people. Mass anti-war mobilizations helped to keep Canada and several other imperialist countries out of direct involvement in the brutal U.S. occupation of Iraq. The Liberal Party's official policy of non-participation in that war was a major reason why it won re-election as a minority government in 2004. Canadians are deepening their opposition to U.S. foreign policy, and have a growing awareness of U.S. militarism. The visit last year by U.S. president George Bush to Ottawa and Halifax backfired when he tried to involve Canada in Missile Defense and future military adventures throughout the world. But the growing war danger, attacks on democratic rights, and growing inequalities are a challenge for everyone with a vision of a better world to build an even stronger peace movement. This is the task of our moment in history, just as the struggle to block fascist aggression was the critical goal of the 1930s. Faced with growing crises and problems, capitalist imperialism is the source of the growing war danger. It issues threats and builds the most dangerous weapons so that it can plunder the oppressed nations and workers of the world. Unable to solve its problems by peaceful means, imperialism relies more and more on militarism. Trade unions and peoples movements around the world must meet this historic challenge, to unite against war and imperialist plunder, and inspire the world's peoples with a better future. It is especially important to build solidarity and unity against imperialism in the international labour movement. In Canada, the central labour bodies should work together against involvement in U.S. Missile Defense and other military schemes. They should work together to build the global movement against war and imperialism. Only stronger international peoples' movements against war will be able to challenge and eventually prevail over imperialism and the threat it poses to humanity. (Back) (Home) New divisions threaten COPE (The following article is from the March 1-15/2005 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) By Kimball Cariou More fractures have emerged in Vancouver's Coalition of Progressive Electors, just nine months before the November 2005 civic election. Several members of COPE's executive resigned from that body on Feb. 15, just as a new website publicising the "Friends of Larry Campbell" appeared, fuelling speculation that the Mayor and his group intend to run their own group of candidates this fall. That theory got another boost a couple of days later, when Vancouver & District Labour Council President Bill Saunders was quoted extensively in the media along similar lines. The latest developments began on Feb. 5, when the Vancouver Sun reported that the Friends of Larry Campbell had hired Strategic Communications at an estimated cost of $6000-$8000 to conduct a survey of about 500 local voters. Questions asked included: "Would you be more likely to vote for Mayor Larry Campbell if he were in a new moderate party? Do you think some councillors from the city's centre-left party are too idealistic and `pie in the sky?' Who would you support for mayor: Larry Campbell, Sam Sullivan [a right-wing NPA councillor] or Tim Louis [COPE councillor with strong left policies]? Are you more likely to support candidates endorsed by Larry Campbell, by COPE or by the NPA?" The poll was clearly intended to test the waters for a separate campaign by the mayor and his "independent COPE caucus" on city council. With the publication of the article, any doubts that Campbell's group were preparing a formal split in COPE were erased. But matters took another twist the very next day, at a stormy COPE membership meeting at the Maritime Labour Centre. Over 300 members turned out, and it was obvious that most were deeply upset at the news of the survey and other recent signs of internal division. The meeting began with an executive review of COPE's first two years in office, detailing progress on fulfilling most of the 2002 platform. During a time when politicians are under constant fire for ignoring their campaign promises, COPE's overall record has been outstanding. On a wide range of issues - housing, the environment, the addiction crisis, defence of public schools, access to recreation facilities, ethical purchasing policy, and much more - the election of progressive majorities to City Council, School Board and Park Board has brought important benefits to working people in Vancouver. That was the good news. But many COPE members, including those in leadership positions, also felt that the review should have dealt more directly with certain problem areas. Most controversial was the decision by the Mayor and Councillor Raymond Louie to vote at the TransLink Board level for the recent transit fare increases. For most members, this was a complete reversal of a fundamental and historic COPE policy, including the pledge in 2002 to oppose any fare hikes. With this contradiction hanging in the air, COPE Councillor Fred Bass, an advocate of lower fares and a staunch opponent of the expensive RAV line which has skewed the region's transit policies, rose to speak. Bass had announced several weeks earlier that he would present his opinions at the meeting. That led to much anticipation, since he has said little over the past two years about the frequent angry tirades launched against him by the mayor. Bass began by urging Campbell to return to the full COPE city council caucus, which he has rarely attended since the election. This call for unity was warmly applauded by COPE members, most of whom hold Bass in high regard for his principled approach to civic issues. Bass went on to present a "Trojan horse" analogy, comparing the mayor and his supporters to "bands of armed men" destroying the unity of COPE. Although Bass later regretted his choice of words, his intemperate phrase was seized upon by the Friends of Campbell to justify their exit from the COPE executive. In the mass media, the story immediately became twisted into the "mainstream" mayor and his friends, "hurt and betrayed" by Councillor Bass and the "hardline leftists" trying to seize control of COPE. The bigger story - that Bass was simply responding to serious reversals of COPE policy and a clear strategy to divide the organization - was ignored. The rest of the membership meeting went largely unreported, including a near-unanimous resolution calling upon the two groups of COPE councillors to meet together. Another resolution directed that COPE fundraising go towards paying off debts from past campaigns. That resolution reflected, in part, the concerns of many members that fundraising efforts should be directed to COPE's needs, not to benefit the "independent" caucus. So what happens next? There are no easy answers for COPE members who remain determined to save the longest-standing progressive civic coalition in Canada. Debates are already emerging over different scenarios, such as the possibility of an agreement on numbers of candidates to be nominated by COPE and by the mayor's group. COPE's annual general meeting is scheduled for June (after the May 17 provincial election), and nominations for September. But clear leadership is badly needed this spring as preparations begin for the municipal campaign. (Back) (Home) Patience "wearing thin" for child care supporters (The following article is from the March 1-15/2005 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) By Kimball Cariou Politicians met in Vancouver on Feb. 10-11 to discuss proposals for a long-awaited cross-Canada plan for child care. Several previous federal governments have pledged to implement such a plan, but nothing has been done. On the eve of these talks, federal Social Development minister Ken Dryden made it clear that Ottawa will provide public funds to for-profit daycare providers. The Vancouver meeting was marked by disputes between Ottawa and the provinces over accountability and funding. At the conclusion, Dryden and his provincial and territorial counterparts agreed to meet again after the Feb. 23 federal budget. Child care advocates monitoring the ministerial talks urged the federal government to insist on quality conditions for its offer of $5 billion towards child care funding, and demanded that the provinces quit stonewalling and begin to upgrade substandard services into quality child care. "The federal government has a responsibility to Canadians to ensure public funding produces good quality care. The provinces should not get money with no strings attached," said Debra Mayer, Chair of the Child Care Advocacy Association of Canada. "If waiting means good quality child care then the wait is worthwhile. However there are thousands of families lined up for child care across Canada. They are not prepared to wait forever. Minister Dryden needs to jump start the national program with those provinces that are prepared to move." Mayer said that calls for accountability, quality and non-profit services had an impact on the Vancouver meeting. Lobbying efforts during the Vancouver meeting included a news conference, a march and rally, and face-to-face discussions with politicians. Before flying to Vancouver, Dryden told the media that for-profit child care centres will be eligible for public funds. His comments alarmed advocates who say federal money should go to non-profit centres that consistently out-perform commercial agencies. "As the studies suggest, on average, the not-for-profits score higher than the for-profits," Dryden conceded. "That doesn't mean that there aren't some very good for-profits." At this point, the extent of for-profit child care centres in Canada is small, according to the Canadian Child Care Federation, an umbrella group representing more than 11,000 members, including workers in the non-profit and commercial sectors. But in countries such as the US and Australia, corporate intrusion into the child care industry is expanding rapidly, bringing big profits to shareholders at the expense of taxpayers and parents. Alberta's Conservative government says it will refuse to sign any deal that doesn't provide funding to for-profit centres. Advocacy groups strongly oppose such a shift, arguing that government funding should go to build more daycares, and to provide better training and higher wages. Child care workers typically take home under $20,000 a year, one of the lowest-paid occupations in Canada. Dryden says that Ottawa's $5 billion will be available to any regulated centre that meets federal quality standards, but these standards have yet to be clarified. Dryden and the provincial ministers agreed last November to begin building a cross-Canada early learning and child care system based on the QUAD principles of quality, universality, accessibility and developmental focus. Such principles, especially when they're not backed by legislation, can get watered down when big business gets involved, said Debra Mayer. "We believe it's up to the federal government to take the leadership on this issue," said Mayer. "Keeping the focus on the not-for-profit sector means that the community is in charge of their child care service. Decisions aren't being made by some corporate office in another part of the country or even another part of the world." With an election possible in 2005 or 2006, the federal Liberals are under pressure to deliver on a promise first made in the early 1990s. Action on child care was a key plank in Prime Minister Martin's 2004 election campaign. On their part, the provinces know that if talks fail before an election, Ottawa's funding may disappear, leaving many angry voters without child care services. More than 70 per cent of Canadian mothers with pre-school children are in the workforce. A recent Statistics Canada report found that 53 per cent of children under five are now in some form of non-parental care while parents work or study. As journalist Laurie Monsebraaten pointed out in the Toronto Star (Feb. 14), "The vast majority of this care is not regulated. And a recent OECD study warned that the lack of quality, affordable child care in Canada is both a social and economic problem that is putting the country's future competitiveness at risk." The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) was one of the first organizations to voice disappointment that the ministers have not yet finalized the details of a child care program. "We're disappointed there wasn't a breakthrough," James Clancy, president of the 340,000-member union said in the wake of the Vancouver talks. "Parents, children and child care workers need a national program, but they want their governments to get it right. Waiting a little longer for a good deal, one that ensures federal funding produces a national, affordable, high quality system of child care, is better than getting a bad deal right now." Clancy said NUPGE will continue working with other child care advocates for an agreement that guarantees adequate federal funding with clear federal legislation. The deal must also enshrine key principles and provisions to ensure concrete accountability and expand non-profit services, he said. "We'll continue urging the federal government to live-up to its election promise of a national program with legislated conditions on federal funding," said Clancy. "At the same time the provinces must set aside jurisdictional power struggles and get on with presenting a concrete plan to recruit and retain child care workers." The door is still open to build a high-quality system, said Paul Moist, President of CUPE. The union has been a key player in coalitions of child care advocates, pushing federal and provincial officials to build the best child care program possible. "Our concerns about accountability, quality and for-profit care have had an impact. The federal government's clearly not prepared to hand over $5 billion without strings," said Moist. "The upcoming federal budget will include child care funding, and that money can start flowing at once. Then there are no more excuses. We will push Minister Dryden to use his spending power and negotiate with those provinces that come to the table with plans to deliver high-quality, affordable, universal care through a public, not-for-profit system." But Moist says CUPE also wants other provinces to stop being roadblocks to child care. "Starting today, the pressure on any holdout provinces will only get stronger. Canadian parents don't want to wait any longer before they get quality care. The room is there now to build the right kind of child care system, and get it right from the start. No more delays. No more disappointments. Working parents have been waiting a long time, and our patience is wearing thin." (Back) (Home) Justice by Visa in Sudbury (The following article is from the March 1-15/2005 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) By Cate Burns, Sudbury I was arrested in April 2004 at a public presentation on graffiti in Sudbury put on by a downtown business group. Now let's get something straight. I'm a 50-year-old single mother on Ontario Works and employed part-time, who has never had the urge or talent to do graffiti. Nor is there an overwhelming problem in Sudbury with - gasp - graffiti. So it was interesting to note a group of teens and a university professor outside the building were barred from attending this public and advertised event. I was more surprised to get past a large police presence and TV crews, and seated in a mainly business-type crowd, to hear that it was a presentation from Toronto. Someone was paying a lot of overtime for the Toronto Police Graffiti Eradication Unit to do a power point presentation. It began with an American film called "Graffiti Hurts," with some stars from, well, cop shows, testifying that they were "hurt" after shots panned pictures of graffiti in urban areas. The Toronto Police Graffiti Eradication Unit officer then started his spiel, that graffiti is done by the category of those under 22 years of age. In recent history the Reichstag Fire in Nazi Germany was preceded by graffitists, homeless deaths in Toronto are often found in high-graffiti areas, and gang murders are preceded by code language graffiti. Whoa! Isn't hate speech demonizing a targeted group? Wasn't that the group outside, barred from participating in this public presentation? Why wasn't this police academic mentioning that the 25-and-under crowd in Canada are among the most incarcerated in the Western world? You heard me - phone any crown attorney in your neighbourhood and ask about Canada's shame of jailing youth for property crimes. It's an industry. Ask Anne McLellan, MP (Edmonton Centre) doing her photo op, paint roller in hand, whitewashing graffiti. Ask the young brownshirts they're training in your local community college in the "law and security" programs. Find out who is filling the new concentration camps renamed "superjails." It's poor young people. Back to my story. My friend and I were snickering at this outrageous, self-serving, quasi-scientific presentation, when the police presence, sensing we weren't pandering to this nonsense, grabbed us. It took two police apiece to drag us out. I blew my self-defense whistle and yelled, "this is a waste of taxpayers' money." I regret I didn't have time to say more. Resistance got me handcuffed, thrown in jail and charged with trespassing and causing a disturbance under the Criminal Code. The police at the station were taunting me, "you're going to need a lawyer." How right they were. But I was denied legal aid upon appeal (only cases getting jail are granted). I cannot have a criminal record with my job as inventory auditor. I had to avoid criminalization, or face further poverty. This brings me to our plea bargain system, better known as "what colour is your VISA?" Here's how it works. No VISA (no lawyer) means you are guilty, a criminal. Green VISA (lawyer and an arm-twist guilty plea) - fine and no criminal record. Gold VISA (good lawyer) and you're not guilty. I had a green VISA, and was sentenced to six months probation and a conditional discharge, which means I have a criminal record for three years. Wait, that's not the end of my story. I accepted funds for my defence, which I did not declare under Ontario Works. I am a welfare fraud for even thinking a poor person can defend themselves. Now if I were smart, and wished to avoid further persecution as a single mother, I'd not tell this true tale. But the jails are full. And I think that's a crime. (Back) (Home) Groups meet to "Build Unity for a Just Chile" (The following article is from the March 1-15/2005 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) By Alfonso Alvarez (translation from Spanish by Ardis Harriman) On January 30, a broad-based meeting of the extra- parliamentary left took place in Santiago, Chile. It was called by progressives who want to join with others to form a large, anti-neoliberal front, to work on a pre-election pact and program, and to select a sole candidate for the Presidential elections at the end of 2005. "Let's Build Unity for a Just Chile," developed over several months by progressive leaders of the political and social sectors, could be one of the most important documents to come out of the Chilean left in the last 20 years. It states that the moment has arrived to pick up the flags of hope and rebuild confidence, to lay the foundations for the collective construction of a common space for action and debate which will give birth to a concrete, viable political alternative to the neoliberal model which is being sustained by the two political blocs currently in power in Chile. Chile is currently dominated by an agreement of parties called the Concertacion, which is headed by the Christian Democrats and includes various social democratic parties. The Concertacion, along with the reactionary Right, maintain the electoral law which excludes left forces from the national parliament. However, in the recent municipal elections, a Communist-led alliance of the extra-parliamentary left (PODEMOS - Democratic and Social Power) got almost 10% of the vote, electing four mayors and thirty city councillors throughout Chile. If this 10% is achieved in a Parliamentary election, the left would have enough votes to elect between 8 and 10 deputies and a couple of senators. However, the current fascist Constitution, still in force from the days of former dictator Augusto Pinochet, prevents the left from winning any seats in Parliament. The left document proposes a Chile governed by "a political and social ethic based on the participation of large majorities in defence of sovereignty that would be expressed in a new political Constitution, whose contents and development are democratic and guaranteed by the formation of a Constituent Assembly with the broad participation of all citizens." The document also states that "Chile must be on the side of the people in the struggle against foreign intervention, and war; it must oppose the building of a unipolar world in the field of economics, politics and military policy and defend culture and national heritage." The call went out to all Chileans in social and political organizations, as well as to well known personalities to join in "this new road to unity and future achievements." Discussing the situation, Tomas Moulian, the Communist Party's pre-candidate for the presidential elections, confirmed the Concertacion, which has been in power since the end of the dictatorship in 1990, is perpetuating the neoliberal agenda. At the meeting "For a Just Chile," representatives from the Communist Party, the Humanist Party (Chile's Green party), the Christian Left, the Social and Democratic Force, the Manual Rodriguez Patriotic Movement and the Revolutionary Left participated along with representatives form the Central Union of Workers (CUT). There were also lawyers, members of human rights groups, student leaders, actors' union members, writers, musicians and many more who form part of a broad extra-parliamentary front. According to Communist Party General Secretary Guillermo Teillier, "for the first time, all left and progressive forces are working together, a fact that opens up enormous possibilities for the presidential and parliamentary elections." At the meeting, it was agreed to hold a planning conference on March 26-27, in which a sole candidate could be chosen to represent this new political bloc in the December 2005 elections. As a result of the experience of PODEMOS, the extra-parliamentary left has created a broader constituency. Guillermo Teillier noted that this alliance completes the circle of anti-neoliberal forces; with this new unity, it is possible to surpass the vote obtained in the municipal elections. If it should go as high as 12-15%, someone will need to explain "why a group of this size is not represented in the Congress." (Back) (Home) PV Drive starts (The following item is from the March 1-15/2005 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) This issue officially kicks off the 2005 People's Voice Fund Drive for $50,000, and as we go to press, nearly $400 has arrived already. We'll start carrying the results by province in our next issue. One fundraiser to help get things going in Toronto is set for Sunday, March 13, from 10:30 am until the afternoon. Join your friends and fellow readers at 209 Oakwood Ave. for a PV Breakfast, featuring a delicious hot buffet with desserts and select coffees and teas. Don't miss it! Call 416-469-2446 for more information. Remember that our May Day greeting ads count towards the fund appeal targets. Last year we carried about 60 greetings, with a value of almost $2000, our best yet. We encourage every reader active in a union local, a peace and solidarity group, or a cultural organization to suggest placing a greeting. It's a great way to make May Day a truly working class occasion! In the meantime, we urge all our supporters to help mobilize for this year's International Women's Day events, and for the March 19-20 global peace actions. And make sure to take a bundle of PV's with you! (Back) (Home) MAY DAY 2005 GREETING ADS (The following item is from the March 1-15/2005 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) To mark May Day 2005, People's Voice will print greetings from a wide range of labour and people's organizations in our May 1-15 issue, which will be distributed at events across Canada. The deadline for camera-ready ads is April 22; if PV is preparing the layout, the deadline is April 20. Please check with us about the format if your ad is being sent electronically. Ad rates (based on 5 column page): One column-inch........................ $10 One column x 2 inches............... $20 Two columns x 2 inches............. $35 Two columns x 3 inches............. $50 Two columns x 5 inches............. $75 Three columns x 4 inches........... $90 Two columns x 7 inches..............$100 Three columns x 7 inches............$150 Send greetings to People's Voice at: 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, V5L 3J1 Fax 1-604-254-9803 E-mail: pvoice@telus.net (Back) (Home) Bread & roses, childcare & equity (The following editorial is from the March 1-15/2005 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1. The way Canadian right-wing politicians talk, it's difficult to believe we're in the 21st century. Almost 100 years after the first International Women's Day, Canadian women still earn just 72 cents on the dollar compared to average male wages. Ottawa and the provinces are still squabbling over a Canada-wide childcare program, with the feds caving in to demands that for-profit McDaycares be allowed to guzzle taxpayers' dollars. Our home-grown fundamentalist fanatics and many MPs are still determined to take away women's reproductive rights, and to deny lesbian and gay Canadians the right to marry their freely-chosen partners. On IWD 2005, we urge massive turnouts to rallies and marches, to demand bread and roses, childcare and equity, and peace and freedom for women everywhere! (Back) (Home) Lenin on International Women's Day (The following article is from the March 1-15/2005 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1. The Soviet Union was the first country to declare March 8, International Women's Day, as an official state holiday. V.I. Lenin, the leader of the October Revolution which put political power in the hands of the workers and peasants of that country, wrote the following article on IWD, published in the newspaper Pravda on March 4, 1920. Capitalism combines formal equality with economic and, consequently, social inequality. This is one of the principal distinguishing features of capitalism, one that is mendaciously screened by the supporters of the bourgeoisie, the liberals, and that is not understood by the petty-bourgeois democrats. Out of this distinguishing feature of capitalism, by the way, the necessity arises, while fighting resolutely for economic equality, openly to recognise capitalist inequality and, under certain conditions, even to include this open recognition of inequality as a basis for the proletarian state organisation (the Soviet Constitution). But capitalism cannot be consistent even with regard to formal equality (equality before the law, “equality”between the well-fed and the hungry, between the property-owner and the property-less). And one the the most flagrant manifestations of this inconsistency is the inferior position of woman compared with man. Not a single bourgeois state, not even the most progressive, republican democratic state, has brought about complete equality of rights. But the Soviet Republic of Russia promptly wiped out, without any exception, every trace of inequality in the legal status of women, and secured her complete equality in its laws. It is said that the level of culture is best characterised by the legal status of woman. There is a grain of profound truth in this saying. From this point of view, only the dictatorship of the proletariat, only the socialist state, could achieve and did achieve a higher level of culture. Therefore, the foundation (and consolidation) of the first Soviet Republic – and alongside and in connection with this, the Communist International – inevitably lends a new, unparalleled, powerful impetus to the working women's movement. For, when we speak of those who, under capitalism, were directly or indirectly, wholly or partially oppressed, it is precisely the Soviet system, and the Soviet system only, that secures democracy. This is clearly demonstrated by the position of the working class and the poor peasants. It is clearly demonstrated by the position of women. But the Soviet system represents the final decisive conflict for the abolition of classes, for economic and social equality. For us, democracy, even democracy for those who were oppressed under capitalism, including democracy for the oppressed sex, is inadequate. The working women's movement has for its objective the fight for the economic and social, and not merely formal, equality of woman. The main task is to draw the women into socially productive labour, extricate them from “domestic slavery”, free them of their stultifying and humiliating resignation to the perpetual and exclusive atmosphere of the kitchen and nursery. It is a long struggle, requiring a radical remaking both of social technique and of customs. But this struggle will end with the complete triumph of communism. (Back) (Home) British union claims record equal pay win (The following article is from the March 1-15/2005 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1. Women working for a National Health Service trust are to share a multi-million pound settlement following the “biggest equal pay awards” in UK history, reported the BBC on Feb. 15. Unison, one of Britain's largest unions, said on Feb. 15 that women employees of North Cubria Acute NHS Trust would get between £35,000 and £200,000 each. The women, including nurses and clerical officers, complained they were paid less than men in equivalent posts. Equal value claims were lodged in August 1997 for 14 different working categories, comparing women's salaries against those of men. The women compared their pay with that of craftsmen and joiners, building labourers and all washers, works officers and maintenance assistants. Unison said pay rates, hours of work, pensions, weekend working rates and sick pay were all included in the comparisons. Two years ago, a panel of experts found in favour of the union's claim. Unison said around 1,500 workers could now claim back pay for up to six years, with some receiving 14 years pay. Interest of between 50% and 60% will also be paid, the union claims. Unison general secretary Dave Prentis hailed a “fantastic result” after a “long, hard struggle”. “This demonstrates what we have always argued, that there has been historic, widespread pay discrimination in the health service against women,” said Prentis. “This decision means that we will now press our claim for back pay for other health service staff, who may have suffered from an unfair pay system.” (Back) (Home) Union demands menstrual leave for women autoworkers (The following article is from the March 1-15/2005 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1. Twelve days paid menstrual leave a year for women workers is among demands lodged with the Australian operations of Japanese car giant Toyota as part of upcoming contract talks. Negotiations are underway for a new collective agreement covering 3,000 workers. Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) national secretary Doug Cameron said production line jobs were tough on some women during their monthly cycle and their problems should be recognised with a day's leave every month. He said the women were standing on a production line for most of the day, doing the same jobs as the men including welding, paining, grinding and bolting cars together - “very tough work.” 'We have spoken to our male members who are 90 percent of the workforce at Toyota and they have said that they understand the issue and they are prepared to support this claim for the women, so it is a high priority claim for us,” Cameron said. The union's other demands include a 10 percent pay rise each year for three years, child care and improved superannuation benefits. (Back) (Home) Minority women excluded in Britain (The following article is from the March 1-15/2005 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1. The corridors of power in Britain are still closed to black and minority ethnic women and their exclusion shows at every level of society. A new report by the Fawcett Society, which promotes and supports women in public life, revealed the extent to which black and minority ethnic women are almost entirely absent from the ranks of decision-makers in the UK. There have only ever been two black female MPs, there has never been an Asian female MP, there are no black and minority ethnic women police chief constables or judges in the House of Lords or Court of Appeal. The report concludes that these women are struggling against multiple discrimination on grounds of their sex, race and/or religion. It highlights massive inequalities in education, health, employment and pay, financial security, levels of political involvement and treatment by the criminal justice system. Babies born to immigrant Pakistani mothers are more than twice as likely to die in their first week as the babies of British-born mothers, and rates of suicide among young South Asian women are double that of the general population. Two-fifths of Asian and black women live in poverty, twice the proportion of white women and on average, Pakistani and Bangladeshi women earn only 56% of the average hourly wage of white men. The report did find that many ethnic-minority women are active members of local community and voluntary groups, and they have the same level of trade union membership as white women. (Back) (Home) More pregnant workers report discrimination (The following article is from the March 1-15/2005 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1. USA Today reports that the number of women claiming discrimination on the job because they're pregnant is soaring even as the birth rate declines. Pregnancy discrimination complaints filed with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) jumped 39% from fiscal year 1992 to 2003, according to a recent analysis by the Washington-based national Partnership for Women & Families. During that same time, the U.S. Birthrate dropped 9%. Pregnancy complaints are one of the fastest-growing types of employment discrimination charges filed with the EEOC – outpacing the rise in sexual harassment and sex discrimination claims. The charges are coming from a range of women, from those in entry-level jobs as well as those in executive suites. Well-known employers that have faced pregnancy-discrimination lawsuits include Wal-Mart, Hooters and Cincinnati Bell. The rise in pregnancy discrimination cases is important now because more women of child-bearing age are in the labor force. Women make up about 47% of the total labor force, and they're projected to account for more than half of the increase in total labor force growth from 2002 until 2012, according to the Department of Labor. (Back) (Home) Gladys Marín: "Women were the first" (The following article is from the March 1-15/2005 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1. By Gladys Marín, excerpts from “Chile Rising: Women Fighting Globalization,” Political Affairs, July 2003 When the bloody coup d'état occurred [Sept. 11, 1973], women were the first to go into the streets to look for their arrested comrades. Women were the first ones to denounce the murders, the first to organize themselves to go out an protest, conquering fear and often risking their very lives, because it was necessary to lift the people's spirits and to confront those who were sowing terror. They have been uncompromising in the struggle for full truth and justice, and against letting the crimes of the coup-makers go unpunished. The long night of the dictatorship was lit by thousands of initiatives by women to confront unemployment, misery and impunity that the tyranny brought with it. Communal soup kitchens, buying clubs, hunger marches, ironing-board protests, barricades, chaining themselves up to demand freedom for political prisoners and the reappearance of the “disappeared” - women participated in every form of struggle against the dictator, from graffiti to armed struggle. Neoliberal globalization incorporates masses of women into the workforce precisely at the moment when job instability and uncertainty has reached previously unheard of levels, along with workplace injustice and unfairness. During the 17 years of tyranny, each International Women's Day meant a confrontation with the dictatorship, which prohibited any kind of demonstrations. March 8th became a red-letter day of battles in the streets against repressive forces. The role of women as defenders of freedom, democracy and life became clear in the minds of the people.... Women's conditions of life and work have also changed with globalization. Historically, the work done by women has not been very visible, and often has been unpaid. However, it is undeniable that such work has permanently increased profits. Neoliberal globalization incorporates masses of women into the workforce precisely at the moment when job instability and uncertainty has reached previously unheard of levels, along with workplace injustice and unfairness. Today the new mode of capitalist accumulation leads to the deregulation of the job market and promotes minimal state intervention in terms of establishing a minimum wage. Thus, the conditions under which workers are hired are determined by the autonomous demands of the marketplace and the persistent destabilization of working conditions: less permanent workers, more subcontracting, salary cuts, less qualified workers, etc. The present neoliberal model cites as its ideological centerpiece the concept of “family” in order to maintain an authoritarian and conservative system. Its reference point is the bourgeois family, with its patriarchal, male-dominated and authoritarian norms, something that is very far from the way the overwhelming majority of Chilean families live today. The reality is that there is not a single type of woman, just as there is no one type of family. This notion hides class differences, the civic, political and working faces of women. Neoliberal ideology defends women as housewives, confined to the home, a situation that no longer exists in the great majority of households. It does not speak to the rights of women as citizens. It incorporates women into the workforce, but it does not bother to reform the Labor Code to assure them the right to an eight-hour workday, a decent wage, the right to join a union or to strike. On the contrary, labor reforms pushed by the Concertación governments have worsened the working conditions of Chilean workers even more. This is demonstrated, for example, by the lack of legislation protecting women farmworkers from exposure to pesticides, chemicals that not only damage their health but also affect their reproductive capacity, endangering the very continuity of the human species. (Back) (Home) Australian childcare workers score historic pay advances (The following article is from the March 1-15/2005 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1. From The Guardian, weekly newspaper of the Communist Party of Australia Low-paid workers in Australia's child care sector have had a tremendous victory after a long and arduous community campaign. On January 13, the AIRC (Australian Industrial Relations Commission) announced wage increases that will deliver a minimum increase of $64.50 per week for a qualified child care worker and a minimum of $82.20/week for a diploma certified child care professional in Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). (Editor's note: the Australian and Canadian dollars are almost at par.) The Commission noted that “the quality of care, and hence outcomes for children, is positively related to the level of the qualifications of the staff working with children”. Commenting on the crisis in attracting people to this important industry, the decision stated: “We have found that limited career path options and low pay have contributed to the current recruitment and retention problems ... the shortage of qualified staff has the potential to jeopardize the future of quality child care in Australia. Child care work is demanding, stressful and intrinsically important to the public interest.” There are more than 80,000 people working in childcare across Australia. This decision will be a first step in winning pay justice for all workers in this important industry. For the 18,000 childcare workers in Victoria and the ACT this is long overdue said LHMU Childcare Union National Secretary, Jeff Lawrence. He said the union has similar pay claims in other states. “We sill be pursuing organising campaigns with our union members in these states.” LHMU Childcare Union members in Victoria and the ACT have been waiting for more than two years for this historic announcement. “This is a credit to the childcare union members who have organised centre-by-centre, worker-by-worker, parent-by-parent, to get widespread community support for his pay increase,” said Lawrence.”We know the community recognises the professional standards, high skills and dedication our members bring to their work – now they will be rewarded appropriately for their commitment.” He warned that the Howard government will have to help fund the pay increase so as to ensure parents don't pay for it out of their own pockets. The union says parents should not have to shoulder the burden of paying these historic child care wage increases and that child care centres should not be priced out of the reach of hard-working Australian families. The Howard Government can ensure that childcare places are accessible by putting in the funding for these wage increases. “However, any new funding should be tightly regulated to ensure that the spreading corporate sector does not misuse these funds”, Lawrence said. “The community does not believe that funds for childcare workers should end up in the 'profits' column of the childcare corporates' annual accounts, rather than the accountant's column reading 'child care workers wages'” When Dianne Terrance first got behind the campaign she didn't think it would take this long. Terrance, who works at the Spence Children's Cottage child care centre in Canberra, said she first became involved (in the) campaign nearly three years ago because she wanted the public to better understand the job of child care workers. “I didn't believe then it would take us more than two years to get a result. We had to convince a lot of people to join the union and get behind this campaign,” she said. “Childcare centres across Canberra have been complaining for a long while about the shortages of qualified workers in this important industry. No wonder there were shortages when we expected good people to work for about $15 an hour taking care of our children. This pay win will allow us to attract back to the industry qualified child care workers who can set our kids onto the right education path. “At the time when our campaign started I found it hard to believe we could eventually win. It was difficult to get people enthusiastic and keep their motivation up – many were concerned that a push for a wage increase might hurt the children and the parents.” Most childcare professionals have been paid as low as $13-$15 an hour, and will now get paid around $15-$18 an hour. The AIRC proposals say that the concept of children's services has changed from “child minding” to one of early childhood development, learning, care and education. “The provision of quality child care is directly related to better intellectual/cognitive and social/behavioural outcomes in children ...” (Back) (Home) Pay equity network demands action (The following article is from the March 1-15/2005 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1. With the support of over 150 women's groups, unions, and equality-seeking organizations, the Pay Equity Network has launched a campaign to make equal pay for work of equal value a reality. On Feb. 14, the Network has launched a campaign to make equal pay for work of equal value a reality. On Feb. 14, the Network sent a Valentine's Day message to all members of parliament, demanding to “show us you care” about women's economic equality. “More than 25 years after the adoption of the Canadian Human Rights Act (CHRA), women still face wage discrimination,” said Canadian Labour Congress Executive Vice-President Marie Clarke Walker. “A Pay Equity Task Force, appointed by the federal government, confirmed in its 2004 report that women are earning 71% of the wages paid to men for comparable jobs. The situation is even worse for racially visible women, who earn 64%, and Aboriginal women who earn a mere 46%.” According to Clarke Walker, existing pay equity legislation, contained in the CHRA, is not eliminating the discrimination. “The current law forces individual women or their unions to file complaints in order to achieve pay equity. A law that was intended to end pay discrimination has produced a long, tortuous process that too often ends up in court. The process is so expensive to pursue that it is beyond the reach h of most of the women it was designed to benefit.” An example of how unwieldy the process has become is the complaint filed by the Communications, Energy and Paperworker's Union against Bell Canada which the union has pursued for 15 years and continues in spite of repeated legal challenges. A complaint by the Public Service Alliance of Canada against Canada Post is still unresolved after over 20 years. And these are just two examples. Even more disturbing, women without unions don't have the resources to challenge their employers' pay practices. The Pay Equity Network isn't the only group that has recognized that there is a problem. In spite of Canada's domestic and international obligations to provide equal pay for work of equal value, the problem is so serious that a United Nations Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination (CEDAW) Committee has taken Canada to task for its failure to do so. “The federal government appointed the Task Force in 2001 to review the current situation,” said Andrée Coté, Director of Legislation and Law Reform with the National Association of Women and the Law. “They conducted a thorough review and issued a comprehensive report last year. The Task Force recognized pay equity as a fundamental human right and recommended that the government enact proactive pay equity legislation. Yet women are still waiting for the government to act.” For a list of Pay Equity Network supporters, see www.nawl.ca (Back) (Home) Pay Equity: Information and Action (The following article is from the March 1-15/2005 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1. Source: Pay Equity Network What is pay equity? Pay equity is the right to equal pay for work of equal value. A woman has the right to be paid just as much as a man for work that requires a similar level of skill, effort and responsibility and is performed in similar working conditions. Is pay equity still necessary? On average, women still earn less than men regardless of their occupation, age or education. Today, a women earns 72.5 cents for every dollar that a man earns. For Aboriginal women, women of colour and racialized or new immigrant women, the wage gap between their earnings and the earning of white men is even greater than the wage gap between white men and white women. Historically, work that women have traditionally done has not been considered as valuable as “men's work”. Taking care of children and elders, performing clerical tasks, cleaning houses and offices and teaching are examples of work that is undervalued and underpaid. This devaluing of “women's work” can be explained by many factors including systemic discrimination, racism, the lack of women in political positions and occupational segregation. Pay inequity hurts women and their families. It makes women and children more vulnerable to poverty. In Canada, more women than men live in poverty and the majority of single-parent households are headed by a woman living on a low income. Since pay inequity contributes to poverty, it can have devastating health and social consequences: poor nutrition, inadequate housing, poor concentration and performance at school, social isolation. Pay inequity is also related to economic dependence, which affects a woman's ability to leave an abusive relationship. Women bringing home lower paycheques also receive lower retirement incomes. Too often, senior women live hand-to-mouth until the end of their lives. Pay equity legislation helps to compensate women for this historic and systemic discrimination. Effective pay equity laws are a critical tool in advancing equality rights for all women and other historically-disadvantaged groups. Along with anti-discrimination and employment equity laws, increased minimum wages and community advocacy, pay equity can help achieve real equality for all women in Canada. Pay equity is a human right Pay equity is a human right protected by the Canadian Human Rights Act. The current law prohibits differences in wages between female and male employees who work in the same establishment and perform work of “equal value”. The law applies to employees in the federal public sector and businesses under the federal jurisdiction, such as banks, CN Rail, Bell and Canada Post. Skill, effort, responsibility and working conditions are the factors which are examined to determine the value of a particular type of work. Pay equity is also constitutionally protected by the equality provisions of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Several provinces have specific laws on pay equity which apply only to the provincial public sector, like Manitoba and PEI. Some, like British Columbia and Saskatchewan remain without any specific pay equity laws. Ontario and Quebec are the leaders in proactive pay equity laws which cover almost all public and private sector employees. Women's groups and unions in provinces such as New Brunswick, Saskatchewan and Alberta continue to demand that their governments introduce proactive pay equity laws to cover all workers. Pay equity has been recognized internationally as a fundamental human right through a number of international conventions ratified by Canada, including the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. Problems with the current equity law. The federal pay equity law does not work. It is only activated if someone complains. Proactive laws require the employer to take action to ensure that all employees receive equal pay for work of equal value. Currently, to win equal pay an employee must bring forward a pay equity complaint to the Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC). The Commission investigates and if it cannot solve the problem, decides whether or not to refer the file to the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal for adjudication. This all takes an enormous amount of time and resources – which individual women do not have. The entire process is too long, too costly and extremely frustrating, especially for non-unionized women. Unions have tried to use this process to win pay equity and have faced employers who are prepared to spend years in court fighting about unclear terms in the legislation, such as “establishment” or “occupational group” rather than focusing on the merits of the case. One of the many examples of the shortfalls of the pay equity system is the case of unionized clerical workers at Canada Post. These employees have now waited over 21 years to have their complaint settled by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal. The responsibility to make pay equity work effectively is unfairly placed on the shoulders of the more vulnerable party – individual women workers rather than on employers or independent agencies. The current legislation is not clear about the nature of employers' obligations and consequences of non-compliance with the pay equity obligations, It does not provide enough guidance on acceptable standards and methods for achieving pay equity. Instead, vague legislation encourages and prolongs costly litigation which women, especially non-unionized women, women of colour and poor women simply cannot afford. Consequently, the model fails to ensure that the average woman worker will see her pay equity complaint resolved and actually be paid equal pay for work of equal value. In fact, our current pay equity system is so weak that the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women has called on the Canadian government to take appropriate action and accelerate the implementation of equal pay for work of equal value. The task force on pay equity Women's groups and trade unions have pushed for years for the government to improve the federal pay equity system. The Canadian Women's March 2000, led by twenty-three national women's organizations demanded that the federal government adopt proactive pay equity legislation as part of a comprehensive strategy to end poverty and violence against women. The federal government finally recognized the need to take action. In June 2001, the Task Force on Pay Equity under the direction of the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Labour was appointed. The Task Force was to review the current pay equity framework and make recommendations to improve the system. The Task Force consulted stakeholders including employees, employers, trade unions, researchers and pay equity experts. Extensive consultations took place across the country to collect information about what pay equity initiatives are needed and to identify new approaches. Recommendations for change In a thorough Report, the Task Force presented the government with over one hundred recommendations to improve pay equity. The key recommendation was that the federal government should develop a new proactive stand-alone pay equity law, meeting all domestic and international obligations and framing pay equity as a fundamental human right. The proactive components of the legislation would include an employer's obligation to review pay practices and identify gender-based wage discrimination gaps. Employers would also have a duty to develop a pay equity plan to eliminate pay inequities within a specific time frame. For more information on the rest of the Task Force recommendations, see www.justice.gc.ca/payeqsal.html. Briefs submitted to the Task Force are also available at this site. (Back) (Home)

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