Labour can flex its power
when it buys union first

Need some union-made shoes?
What about a ride in an organized
taxi cab? You can swing your clubs
on a union golf course or eat your
popcorn in a labour-friendly cinema.
All of these
this things are
possible to do,
along with
many, many
more options
for discerning
| workers who
prefer to sup-
| port their own
union Brothers
and Sisters in
the working
world. The latest issue of B.C.
Unionized Products and Services
has hit the street for 2003 - 2004.
Produced by the B.C. Union Trades
Label Council, it is an excellent
guide for workers and their families
searching to buy union good and
patronize unionized services.
Hundreds and hundreds of B.C.
business are listed and broken
down into categories — from accom-
modations to zoos! Addresses of all
B.C. Federation of Labour affiliates
unions are also listed.

David Tones, the IWA‘s national sec-
retary-treasurer, encourages union
members to get a hold of the direc-
tory or visit www.union-label.com

e.EMoNITED FROUTET A stINCES
DIRECTORY

NDP leader focuses message
on growing market economy
Labour’s traditional ally, appears to
be turning the corner. B.C. NDP
sq \eader Joy McPhail
told a community
'| conference on April
28 that the party
'| Must put economic
issues at the fore-
front. She endorsed
a “strong, vibrant
Joy McPhail and growing market
economy where ambition and risk
are encouraged and rewarded...and
where working people share the
rewards.” McPhail also endorsed a
working forest land base, a sustain-
able environment, and strong public
health care and education.

WHY UNDERMINE A SYSTEM
that was working, says IWA Canada
president Dave Haggard, especially
when it comes to training appren-
tices in a modern economy that
needs skilled workers?

The B.C. Liberals are messing up
the apprentice program by throwing
away the ITAC (Industry Training
and Apprenticeship Commission)
which was only created in 1997,
replacing it with a model that doesn’t
make sense and will cost workers
money and opportunities and indus-
tries skilled workers, says Haggard.

That new system, which was
rammed through the spring sitting of
the legislature, will see full trades appren-
tice programs replaced by a “credential”
system which can see apprentices get part
of a trade — but not full status. “Why
would any worker want to get part of
a trade or get partly-certified where
you could not take certified skills to

work in other parts of the industry?”
says Haggard. “That’s a scenario thatis
dumb and dumber — it doesn’t make
sense for the worker or sense in a
modern economy.

“It takes away your ability to work
in other parts of the forest industry or
other industries like mining or pulp
and paper and vice-versa,” says Local
1-425 third V.P. Mitch VanDale, a
millwright apprentice who has follow-
ing the issue. “You would be stuck with
skills that wouldn't be portable.”

Under the former system, appren-
tices signed contracts with employers
and the ITAC. The employer would
commit for four years and put work-
ers through programs, covering
wages losses and other costs.

With the Liberals’ new modular
system, the four-year commitment is
gone. In any given year, the employer
would have the option of stopping the
apprenticeship process. That would

PHOTO BY DAN KEETON

= Those currently enrolled in apprenticeship programs could be among the last to receive full trades accreditation.

Dumb and dumber

B.C. Liberals perform hatchet job on apprenticeship system

leave the worker(s) high and dry.

Says Vandale: “You would complete
the training only if the company gives
you time. And you would foot more and
more of the costs. Those currently
enrolled in apprenticeship program
may wind up being the last tradesper-
sons to receive full trades accreditation.”

“Once again the Liberals are doing
a number on workers in the province
of British Columbia,” says Haggard.
“They have given control of appren-
ticeship programs to employers and
had a hearing process that was by invi-
tation only. It’s another plan without
proper consultation.”

The IWA supported the B.C.
Federation of Labour in its campaign
to oppose the changes. By the end of
March, the Liberals had closed anoth-
er six ITAC offices, in addition to
offices that were already closed in ten
communities in the province.

So much for the B.C. Heartland!

Has tax cut mania now ended in Canada?

HAS TAX CUT MANIA NOW ENDED? We can
only hope that Premier Gary Doer's resounding win
in Manitoba signals that it is. Doer won in spite of
tempting offers of huge tax cuts dangled by his oppo-
nents. While the governing New Democrats offered
modest tax reductions in the recent provincial budget,

ABOUT THE ECONOMY
BY KIM POLLOCK

the Conservatives promised to slash taxes by $200
million in one year, while the Liberals offered $500
million over five years.

"Slasher" budgets were introduced earlier this year
in British Columbia, Ontario and other provinces.
Days after being elected in 2001, Gordon Campbell's
B.C. Liberals cut taxes by over $2.4 billion, a windfall
for corporations and the rich.

Campbell added a real touch of economic voo-doo
when he additionally promised to balance the budget,

raise no taxes and cut no services. This was impossi-
ble, but that didn't matter. Unfortunately, people in
B.C. soon learned the hard way. In place of taxes, they
have suffered massive cuts to health care, education,
family-support services, forest-management and
other programs. The government is also busy priva-
tizing BC Rail, the Coquihalla Highway, BC Hydro
and other key Crown assets. But B.C. still expects a
deficit of $3.8 billion! Ironically, the much-maligned
NDP government had balanced the books.

Similarly in Ontario, a fiscally "conservative"
Conservative government is on track for a deficit of
perhaps $4 billion. Again, the root of the problem lies
in huge tax cuts early in the Conservatives' mandate.
Now they face an election, so they're trying to balance
the budget by cutting services and dismantling
Ontario Hydro and other assets. As in B.C., this won't
work. Itnot only hurts families and communities, but
by reducing consumer demand also rips a hole in the
economy that tax cuts simply cannot fill. Particularly
hard hit are resource-based communities.

Worse yet, both governments have cynically
replaced income-tax revenue with a plague of new

taxes: user fees, service charges, licence fees, gas
taxes... What you win on the tax-cut swings, you lose
on the cuts-and-hikes roundabouts.

Doer won, indeed, in spite of the huge current hype
in the U.S. media about President George Bush's plan
to cut taxes for wealthy Americans. Instead of promis-
ing tax cuts as an economic fixall, Manitoba has
adopted a simple watchword: "you can't spend it if you
don't make it."

The government recognizes it must create jobs and
stimulate investment, creating revenue to invest in
programs: education, training, health care, child care.
Doer's ministers also understand that they must care-
fully manage the tax dollars with which Manitobans
entrust them.

When it comes down to it, Manitobans see that with
taxes, first, you get what you pay for and second, it's a pay
now — taxes for schools, health care, daycare centres — or _
pay later proposition — taxes for jails, courts and
It's not an either or proposition, as people in BJ
Ontario and other tax-cut havens are finding out.

Kim Pollock is the IWA’s Director of Public Policy and Environment

14 le THE ALLIED WORKER JUNE 2003