{ V-

AROUND THE LABOUR MOVEMENT

@  Arffiliate trade unions of the

_®@ used May 1, International
FTQ Workers’ Day, to protest
against the provincial Liberal
government of Jean Charet. Over

Montreal to protest against Charet’s
attack on public health care services,
cuts to education budgets, other
social services and public-private
partnerships. Also present at the

Carbonneau.

AFL hold two days of panel
presentations in Calgary
On May 7 and 8 activists from the
Alberta Federation of labour attend-
ed two days of panel presentations
entitled The Betrayal of Labour's
Peace Accord in Canada, in Calgary.
Author and academic Bryan Palmer,
the United Nurses’ Labour Relations
officer Kris Farkas, the CEP’s Don
MacNeil, CUPE’s Peter Peter
Marsden, labour lawyers Yessy Byl
and Athabasca

tors. In addition to
forums on the growing issue of
“labour legitimacy” as governments
attack collective bargaining rights.
Federation representatives hosted a
forum on the Fed’s programs.

IWA demonstrates support
for striking health workers

Then national IWA president Dave

the province in late
April and early May. On April 30 two
IWA Local 1-424 sawmills in Quesnel
walked off in protest. Most coastal IWA
operations were scheduled to join the
protest on May 3. Haggard noted the
union's support of health care workers
was shown with on-the-ground actions.

The Saskatchewan Federation of
Labour held its Spring School at the

Old Ft. San, near Ft. Qu’Appelle
between May 2-7. Courses offered
included Basic Steward Training,
Popular Education
Skills for Trainers,
Becoming an Ally
#1 (Working Together to

& Build the Labour
Movement), Labour
History: Culture and
Song, Organizing for Social Change,
Communicating the Message,
Collective Bargaining, Resisting the
Corporate Squeeze, Unionism on

workers about Aboriginal issues, and
bour Law (in affiliation with the
College of Canada.

May Day rally against Charet

Quebec Federation of Labour

100,000 workers took to the streets in

protest was CSN president Claudette

University’s Winston
Gereluk were presen-

Haggard said that the B.C. provincial
government “went too
far with its return to
work legislation”
which provoked esca-

BCFED lating protest across

Echo Valley Conference Centre in The

Turtle Island (teaching non-aboriginal

TO DEAL WITH growing

skill shortages now and in

~ the future, the Canadian

Labour Congress is

adamant that the country

needs to retrain the existing workforce

and pour more resources into learning
strategies for workers.

The CLC notes that, at both the
workplace and sectoral level, trade
unions are pushing for new and innov-
ative programs to reskill the Canadian
workforce for the challenging work
world that lays ahead. Skill shortages
are present and are on the horizon, in
the industrial workforce and in skilled
technical and professional occupations.

It makes sense to get a training strat-

PHOTO BY NORMAN GARCIA

= Across the country the skilled industrial workforce is diminishing due to
the lack of commitment of employers and government.

National training strategy needed

egy in place. Many in today’s aging
workforce have limited literacy skills.
Others leave school before they pick up
job skills relevant to today’s job market.
Many times women, who are society's
primary caregivers, leave and re-enter
the job market, and are faced with what
many older workers face - workplace
restructuring and dislocation. New
Canadians, many with skills and cre-
dentials that are not recognized in the
country, also have considerable job
training requirements.

Although, among OECD nations,
Canada has a relatively high percentage
of 25-29 year-olds who graduate from
college or university (about one-quar-
ter), some forty per cent of working age

Canadians have limited literacy skills.
In the skilled industrial area, the CLC
notes that there has to be a doubling of
apprentices per year, over the next ten
years. Businesses have to increase
investment in employee training. All
students should be computer and inter-
net literate by the end of grade school.
Barriers to participation have to be
eliminated for persons with disabilities
and there must be guaranteed access
for all those who want to continue with
their post-secondary education.

There must be increases in post-sec-
ondary funding to community colleges,
increased technical and vocational pro-
grams, and lower tuition costs.

The congress says that federal gov-
ernment’s current strategy of corporate 5
tax cuts and credits for corporations is
no guarantee for training opportuni-
ties. Only two per cent of Canadian
Federation of Independent Business
members offer on-the-job or in class-
room training. About two-thirds of the
members say they can’t afford to give
people time off work for training.

The CLC is lobbying the feds to get the
Employment Insurance (EI) program to
help out on workplace-based training.
The EI fund, which is running a surplus
of over $45 billion, can well-afford pre-
mium reductions or rebates for employ-
ers who invest in training their workers.
Currently EI spends about $190 million
per year on apprenticeship training - a
mere drop in the bucket!

To get at the looming shortage of
skilled health care sector workers

(nurses, therapists, medical technolo-
gists, nurses aides, etc.) the CLC sug-
gests that 5 per cent of the 500,000
member workforce be trained for twen-
ty-five weeks a year, utilizing the EI
fund. At an average EI premium cost of
$400 per week, the bill would be about
$250 million per year.

Part of its National Training Strategy
calls for increased usage of the Work-
Sharing While Learning (WSWL) pro-
gram first introduced by EI in 2002,
into areas where there is ro per cent
official unemployment or higher. The
CLC points out that simple work shar-
ing schemes don’t allow for training
opportunities. Under WSWL you can
get EI for “off work hours” if 30 per
cent of those hours are put to training.

Federation holds spring school

Feds call for more El relief for
seasonal workers in province
The New Brunswick Federation of Labour
says the federal Liberal government of Paul
Martin recently tried to
buy votes in Atlantic
Canada by extending the
\-1 Employment Insurance
=A 2) Program before a federal
ES election. In some pilot
projects workers will be
able to qualify for five more weeks of bene-
fits. There has also been an extension to a
pilot program for workers over 55 years of
age. The Federation says that workers in
the north of the province run into a “black
hole” of having 8-10 weeks between the
expiry of their benefits and the resumption
of seasonal employment. With a five week
extension provided, that still leaves season-
al workers without proper benefits fora
three to five week period.

Labour gets a deal on floodway
Manitoba Federation of Labour affili-
ates, including the IWA, were solidly
behind pressuring the provincial gov-
ernment to protect
() the interests of con-
struction workers on
Pte the upcoming $660
yf million Winnipeg
— Floodway expansion
project. Local 830
president Jack Alexander says a new
labour agreement will prevent work
stoppages and controls costs. Under
the Employment Standards Act, con-
struction workers only get paid over-
time if they work over 50 hours. Those
and other abuses have to stop, says
Local 830 president Chris T. Parlow,
whose local has also been lobbying
for fair wage policies and proper
health and safety procedures.

Ontario workers observe June
4st as Injured Workers’ Day
Ontario Federation of Labour president
Wayne Samuelson, provincial NDP
labour critic Peter
Kormos, NDP MPP
Marilyn Churley and
Toronto City
Councillor Sandra
Bussin were among
the speakers who gathered with fed
affiliates and members of the public to
mark June 1st as Injured Workers’ Day
in the province. The event, sponsored
by a coalition of disabled workers’
advocates, included calls for a workers
compensation system that provides a
decent standard of living for all those
injured, the recogition of all occupation-
al diseases, including stress, and the
enforcement of stronger health and
safety laws.

Ostsaag ae

JUNE 2004 THE ALLIED WORKER, 7 19