Category Archives: CWA Canada

Lacroix: Public broadcasters ‘risk being boiled to death’

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Source: cwa-scacanada.ca

President acknowledges for first time that CBC’s very existence at risk due to funding cuts

Eight years into overseeing a massive and unprecedented downsizing of the CBC — the most ruthless in the public broadcaster’s 80-year history, with more than 2,000 or 25 per cent of staff laid off in five years and no end in sight — President Hubert Lacroix now says he should have sounded the alarm earlier.

Lacroix’s sudden admission and defence of the public broadcaster he has made a career of shredding comes not in his own backyard, where CBC supporters have been sounding the alarm for years, but at an international conference on public broadcasting in Germany.

In a prepared speech, Lacroix admitted that public broadcasters “are at fault for not speaking loudly enough about the threats we face” and “like the proverbial frog put in cold water that is slowly heated, we’ve resisted telling people that we risk being boiled to death.”

CBC employees would certainly agree, says Carmel Smyth, president of the Canadian Media Guild (CMG), the largest union at the public broadcaster.

“While we welcome his sudden candour, the temperature is still rising and the boiling continues,” says Smyth. “Instead of lamenting his years silently wielding the knife, why isn’t Mr. Lacroix speaking out in Canada, rather than trying to stop CMG members from publicly seeking stable funding for the CBC? Lacroix could himself be speaking out in support of a public dialogue on this issue.”

2015.09.10|  CBC President’s speech to Public Broadcasters International Conference

2015 Election|  Federal parties’ positions on CBC/Radio-Canada

Canadian Media Guild|  Champion Public Broadcasting campaign

“The timing is perfect, during an election campaign when Canadians need to know that an institution they cherish is being vapourized,” says Smyth. “Sharing more details now could possibly move voters and ensure the next government will see improved CBC funding as a priority.”

However, “over the past weeks, many of our members have experienced resistance from CBC management to their participation in our campaign to defend public broadcasting during this election,” says Smyth. “To protect the privacy of our members, we will not go into specific cases. Suffice it to say that we have made it clear to management that we support our members’ ability to express their views and participate in a debate about the very existence of our public broadcaster.”

The NDP and Liberals have already vowed to reverse the Conservatives’ $115-million budget cut and restore the independence of the largest news organization in the country. It was undermined two years ago when the Harper government exerted control over collective bargaining, salaries and other budgetary issues at the Crown corporation.

Isabelle Montpetit, president of Syndicat des communications de Radio-Canada, wonders whether Lacroix’s silence in Canada is a reflection of his “careful” relationship with the Prime Minister’s Office since, much like senators, the “CBC president is hand-picked by the prime minister for the coveted job.”

Smyth says that, while both unions welcome Lacroix’s sudden candour and hearing him speak on behalf of the country’s largest news organization, “we ask for more honest talk.”

“Given that three out of four federal political parties are pledging to reverse recent budget cuts to the CBC, if that happens will Lacroix commit now to use the money to restore jobs and a proud tradition of producing award-winning documentaries and original programming? Without such a commitment, we must assume he will continue down his current path, which will reduce the public broadcaster to a glorified distributor of purchased commercial (much of it non-Canadian) content,” says Smyth.

(This is an edited version of an article that first appeared on the CMG website.)

– See more at: http://www.cwa-scacanada.ca/EN/news/2015/150921_cbc_boil.shtml#sthash.BigRRmZW.dpuf

Vote the Issues that Affect You!

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Dear fellow CWA Canada members,

We’re less than a month away from the federal election – an election that will be pivotal to us and to our families as working people and as Canadians. It is vital that we all understand the issues in this campaign so that we can make informed choices.

Do we want a government that supports workers, decent pay, good pensions, fair working conditions, and public broadcasting? Or do we want legislation and policies that drive down wages, delay old-age pension, hurt workers, and threaten the very existence of the CBC?

Do we want a Canada where we work for the common good, build each other up, and respect democracy?

As a leader who represents thousands of journalists, I cannot support one political party over another. But that doesn’t mean I must sit idly back when a government, political party or any group threatens journalism, the democratic process, or the economic interest of our members.

Please take a minute to look at the four key issues below of special interest to us all.

Please also take a minute to share with your friends, through social media or otherwise, the importance of electing a government that will strengthen Canada by supporting decent wages, stronger pensions, fair working conditions – and public broadcasting.

All the best,

Martin

Martin O’Hanlon

President, CWA/SCA Canada

ELECTION ISSUES

1) Save the CBC

We have lost 2,000 jobs at the CBC in the last five years. Unless we get a government that will provide adequate funding, the survival of our public broadcaster is in doubt.

That unthinkable prospect would be a huge blow to Canadian culture and it would mean the loss of CBC News, with far fewer journalists to keep an eye on government, politicians and corporate power brokers, and to tell the stories of Canadians. Does anyone think that’s good for democracy? For society? For the economy?

Even the president of the CBC is finally admitting that he should have sounded the alarm earlier. In a speech last week, Hubert Lacroix admitted that “like the proverbial frog put in cold water that is slowly heated, we’ve resisted telling people that we risk being boiled to death.”

Each of the three opposition parties has promised to reverse the $115 million the Conservative government cut from the CBC budget. The Conservatives have not responded to our request for their position.

Here is a link listing each party’s commitment on the CBC:

http://www.cmg.ca/en/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Final-2-Federal-Parties-Commitments-Funding-an-independent-CBC-2014-2015-CMG_jdu.pdf

And here is a link to our Save the CBC campaign webpage:

http://www.cmg.ca/en/champion-public-broadcasting/

2) Anti-union Bill C-377

It took two years for the Conservative government to force this fundamentally flawed bill through Parliament. It’s so bad that it was originally defeated in the Senate last year – with the help of some Conservative senators.

The Harper PMO was finally able to ram it through this year, but only after having Tory senators overrule longtime Senate rules.

The Conservatives say Bill C-377, which is a copy of anti-union Republican legislation in the U.S., is about making union finances more transparent. That is a lie. Union finances are already transparent. Our books are audited and any member can see them. But union financial information is for members – not for the public. It’s telling that the bill does not apply to any other member organizations like lawyers and doctors groups.

The bill’s real intent is to tie up unions with red tape and make suck out financial and other information for right-wing propaganda.

It is an intrusive, unfair, unnecessary and ideologically motivated piece of rubbish that will cost taxpayers millions of dollars a year to administer and yield no benefit to society. It is unconstitutional and we will challenge it in court if the Conservatives are re-elected.

The opposition parties have said they will repeal the bill.

For more information:

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2014/11/04/an_open_pmo_door_for_a_private_antiunion_bill_tim_harper.html

3) Secret police Bill C-51

Bill C-51 gives the government unprecedented and intrusive new powers, which, in the words of Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE) “presents disturbing implications for free speech, privacy, the powers of government, including CSIS, and the protection of civil liberties in Canada.”

We strongly support a Charter challenge against Bill C-51 which has been launched by CJFE and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA).

The NDP has said they will repeal the bill; the Liberals have said they will change it.

For more information:

http://cjfe.org/resources/media_releases/ccla-and-cjfe-mount-charter-challenge-against-bill-c-51

4) Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)

The TPP is a huge international trade deal being negotiated by the federal government – in secret – with plenty of input from multinational corporations, but nothing from labour leaders, environmentalists and other experts. Even our MPs don’t know what’s in it.

It’s actually far more than a trade deal. It’s a corporate rights deal that would give multinational corporations the power to override Canadian sovereignty by suing governments under secretive trade tribunals — rather than through the courts — if they feel our labour, environmental, health or other standards contravene the TPP and could lead to a loss of profits.

Canada would lose thousands more jobs under the TPP as companies move manufacturing and other jobs to low-wage countries such as Vietnam.

The TPP would have a major impact on Canada, yet almost no one is talking about it. How can there be so little debate – and information – in a democracy about such a huge deal?

Please educate yourself. For more information:

On Facebook, check out: Trade Justice Network

On Twitter, follow: @TradeJusticeNet

CWA Canada forges coalition to take on TPP

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Source: cwa-scacanada.ca

CWA Canada is moving aggressively to open up a second front in North America in an all-out battle to stop the secretive Trans-Pacific Partnership from being adopted in this country.

The union has hired former CBC foreign correspondent Bill Gillespie to help co-ordinate a campaign that will see the Trade Justice Network — a coalition of progressive groups concerned about fair trade — to combat the TPP, the largest economic treaty in history.

CWA Canada President Martin O’Hanlon said the whole process surrounding the TPP negotiation is “deeply disturbing.”

“Most Canadians have no idea that this deal is being negotiated in secret under the guidance of multinational corporations with no input from labour leaders, environmental experts or even MPs,” O’Hanlon said.

“It’s frightening that this can happen in a democracy.”

One of the most troubling things about the TPP, O’Hanlon said, is the fact that multinational corporations would have the power to override Canadian sovereignty by suing governments under secret tribunals and nullify labour, environmental and other laws.

He also noted that the deal will result in the loss of thousands of Canadian jobs as manufacturers and others move work to low-wage countries like Vietnam.

“The issue here isn’t free trade,” O’Hanlon said. “We support free trade. But it must be a level playing field. How can you have a fair trade deal with countries like Vietnam that pay workers 65 cents an hour and have no real health, safety, labour or environmental regulations?”

“That should be common sense, even for conservatives.”

DOWNLOAD|  The TPP and Canada: Factsheet

CWA Canada is being supported in the campaign by its international partner, the 500,000-strong Communications Workers of America, which has been spearheading opposition to the TPP in the United States. (See StopTheTPP.org)

The mainstream media has been paying scant attention to the TPP, which has been likened to “NAFTA on steroids,” said Gillespie.

As the largest media union in North America, he said, “our objective is to help journalists cover the story. Newsrooms are understaffed and overworked” so we need to supply basic information and contacts. WikiLeaks has been the only source of information so far.

“As professional journalists, we are concerned that the TPP is virtually unknown to the public” even though Canada joined the talks in 2012, said Gillespie. “No one knows anything about it. (Prime Minister Stephen) Harper has said zero about it.

“No politician will actually say what’s in it. Details won’t be known until it comes up for a vote” and even when that might happen is uncertain.

Gillespie said materials have already been produced for the anti-TPP campaign, which will roll out in a few weeks. Everything from social media to face-to-face meetings with journalists will be used to educate the public in advance of this fall’s federal election.

This will be a second major campaign for Gillespie, who produced a documentary about so-called right-to-work laws for the Ontario Public Service Employees Union in 2013. Made in the USA: Tim Hudak’s Plan to Cut Your Wages contributed to the downfall of the leader of the Ontario Conservatives.

– See more at: http://www.cwa-scacanada.ca/EN/CWeh/2015/1505_tpp.shtml#sthash.NxwUawyQ.dpuf

O’Hanlon, Kirkup returned as top officers

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Nominations for president and vice-president of CWA/SCA Canada closed Thursday, April 16, with only two nominations received by the National Elections Committee.

As a result, we declare Martin O’Hanlon returned as President and Lois Kirkup as Vice-president, by acclamation.

National Election Committee, CWA/SCA Canada

Save the CBC, Stop the TPP: A Call to Action in 2015

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By Martin O’Hanlon

President, CWA/SCA Canada

Making New Year’s predictions is risky business.

Last January, I predicted the worst would be over for newspapers in 2014 and things would start to improve.

Well, I may have been half right.

The last year, like the last decade, was not kind to the media industry. We saw more deep and damaging cuts at a number of employers, with the CBC and Halifax Chronicle Herald hardest hit.

In Halifax, a proud and vibrant newsroom was stunned and battered by deep cuts that came with no warning, empathy or delicacy.

At the CBC, we are losing hundreds of colleagues and unless we get a government that will provide adequate funding, the survival of our public broadcaster is in doubt.

As we begin 2015, I remain confident that things will improve, but we can’t just sit back and hope. We must stand up for jobs and journalism, and we must build a movement for social and economic justice. After all, if we don’t, who will?

Each of us has a part to play and once again, I am asking every member of CWA Canada to do something – even just one small thing – to help as we launch two new campaigns.

The first, the “Save the CBC” campaign, is already gearing up under the direction of our biggest local, the Canadian Media Guild.

The goal is to make quality public broadcasting a ballot box issue in this year’s federal election.

For years now, the CBC has been starved of the funds it needs to fulfill its federally legislated mandate.

The Harper Conservatives, while scared to kill the CBC outright, have not been shy about showing their disdain for public broadcasting. Unless they change their position, or unless we have a new government committed to public broadcasting, the CBC will fade away.

That unthinkable prospect would be a huge blow to Canadian culture and it would mean the loss of CBC News, with far fewer journalists to keep an eye on government, politicians and corporate power brokers.

That’s bad for society and democracy and we can’t let it happen.

So what can we do?

Over the coming weeks and months, we will use email, Twitter, Facebook and workplace posters to let you know how you can help.

It could be:

•    Attending a Save the CBC rally

•    Signing an online petition

•    Joining our Facebook page

•    Retweeting Twitter posts

•    Telling your local MP that the CBC matters to you

Our second campaign is to stop Canada from signing the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a secretive “trade” deal being negotiated behind closed doors.

The TPP isn’t really a trade agreement at all – it’s a cozy arrangement that would give corporations unprecedented new international powers and it’s being negotiated with plenty of input from corporations and almost no involvement from elected officials, never mind labour leaders or environmental experts.

The TPP would have a major impact on Canada, yet almost no one is talking about it. We must change that.

Under the TPP:

·       Foreign corporations would be able to challenge Canadian laws (environment, safety, etc.) bypassing Canadian courts and going directly to closed-door international tribunals that could override Canadian sovereignty.

·       Canada would lose thousands more jobs as companies move production overseas, particularly to Vietnam where garment workers earn just 50 cents an hour.

With both the CBC and TPP campaigns, we have to build a movement, working with other progressives, including community organizations, social groups, student activists, environmentalists, religious leaders – anyone with whom we can find a common interest.

Again, over the coming months, we will use email and social media to let you know how you can help.

One person and one act at a time, working together, we can make a difference.

Let’s each do our part in 2015 to protect quality jobs, defend quality journalism – and make Canada a better place.

Winning the Fight for Fairness: What Will You Do in 2014?

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110520_ohanlon_200x270By Martin O’Hanlon

CWA Canada Director

I’m going to make a bold prediction for 2014: the tide will finally begin to turn.

It will turn for newspapers, which have been through the worst and will begin to see revenues climb again.

It will turn for the Harper government (it already has really) which has been attacking labour, the CBC, and many other progressive voices in Canada.

And most importantly, it will turn for economic inequality, which has become the biggest threat to this country’s future.

By noon on Jan. 2, each of Canada’s top-paid CEO’s had earned as much money in 2014 as the average Canadian worker will make all year.

I don’t begrudge a CEO, or anyone else, a big paycheque. But it is fundamentally unfair – not to mention bad for the economy and society – for companies to pay those big salaries and rake in huge profits when they don’t pay their workers a decent wage.

It angers me when Postmedia cuts hundreds of jobs and insists that it can’t give workers a raise, and then increases its CEO pay by a whopping 50%, to $1.7 million.

More importantly, it angers the majority of Canadians, who have an innate sense of what’s fair.

As 2014 dawns, ordinary people are finally realizing that there are fewer and fewer decent-paying jobs out there – the jobs that built this country.

Many young people are realizing that they may never be able to have that white picket fence. And many parents realize that their children don’t have the opportunity they had.

People are realizing that our political and financial system overwhelmingly favours big companies and the rich, and they see it for what it is: injustice.

It’s vital now that we in the labour movement show Canadians that we all share the same core values and that we are the only ones standing up for the Middle Class.

We have to build a movement, and that means working with other progressives, whether it’s community organizations, social groups, student activists, environmentalists, religious leaders – anyone with whom we can find a common interest.

The Canadian Labour Congress, to which we at CWA Canada belong, is attempting to do just that with its “Fairness Works” campaign. (Please visit:fairnessworks.ca)

The campaign aims to engage millions of union members in conversations about how unions have improved their lives – and share their stories with Canadians to help build a united movement for social justice.

And that’s where each of us has to play a part in 2014.

I am asking each of you – every member of CWA Canada – to commit to doing just one thing this year for the common good.

It could be talking to a fellow worker, especially a younger one, about getting involved in the union. It might be posting about social/economic justice issues on Facebook, volunteering to do something for your Local, telling friends about the good the union does, donating to a cause – whatever.

One person and one act at a time, working together, we can make a difference.

Let’s each do our part to protect quality jobs, defend quality journalism, improve wages, grow our union – and make Canada a better place.

Fairness works. Let’s fight the good fight together!

Members ratify new contract at Times Colonist

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Here are the voting results from the  Victoria Joint Council of Newspaper Unions:

TNG-CWA Guild              96% in favour of tentative agreement.
TNG-CWA Mailers          92% in favour of tentative agreement.
CEP Compositors             86% in favour of tentative agreement.
CEP Pressmen                   73% in favour of tentative agreement.

Conservatives launch new attack on unions with ‘grossly unfair’ public disclosure bill

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CWA Canada is calling on members to help fight passage through Parliament of a private member’s bill that would introduce onerous reporting rules for unions that are not required of other dues-deducting organizations.

The Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) says Bill C-377 in its current form would be the “most costly and discriminatory bill faced by the labour movement” in this country.

Every labour organization and all unions, including locals, branches, councils, lodges, etc., would have to disclose detailed financial information, salaries, supplier contracts, loans, accounts receivables, investments, spending on organizing, collective bargaining, education, training, lobbying and all political activities. The information would be made public on a Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) website.

“This bill is grossly unfair and hypocritical,” says CWA Canada Director Martin O’Hanlon. “It’s just plain wrong to single out labour groups for special scrutiny, especially when even taxpayer-funded MPs don’t disclose full details of their spending.

“This is nothing but yet another ideological Conservative attack on unions that comes right out of the Republican party playbook in the United States. No fair-minded Canadian should stand for this, regardless of what party they support.”

The CLC points out the bill is backed by such anti-union groups as the Fraser Institute, the Merit Shop Contractors and the Canadian Federation of Independent Business because they would have access to detailed information about everything a union spends money on and allow them to assess a union’s strength. The information, provided at taxpayer and union expense, can be used to threaten collective bargaining rights and organizing drives.

CWA Canada is urging its members to contact their MPs as soon as possible to let the government know that it’s wrong to single out labour groups for such scrutiny. The bill is currently at an early stage of proceedings in the House, with debate scheduled for today, March 13. A vote would likely occur next week; if passed, it would be referred to the Finance Committee for consideration and potentially public hearings.

The bill’s sponsor, Conservative MP Russ Hiebert, conforms to his party’s now standard practise of introducing legislation to deal with non-existent problems. A slick website that has been created in support of the bill (almost certainly at taxpayer expense) contains misleading and incorrect information, which the MP apparently hopes will be believed if it’s repeated often enough.

Although he acknowledges that unions already disclose financial information to their members in accordance with their own bylaws and provincial regulations, he seeks public disclosure because of “tax benefits these institutions receive” which he has pegged at $400 million a year.

There is not a shred of truth to that claim: Unions do not receive any public subsidy. It is workers and their families, not unions, who receive an income tax deduction related to their dues. The tax treatment of these workers is exactly the same as that for dues-paying members of the law societies, medical associations or employers who belong to industry associations.

Opposition House leader Joe Comartin called the proposed legislation “a frontal attack on the labour movement” when the bill was given second reading in February. The NDP MP said it would, in fact, threaten rights to privacy, association and freedom of speech.

The strategy behind similar, but less onerous, legislation in the U.S. was that “every dollar spent on disclosure and reporting” was a dollar not spent on other union activities, said Comartin.

While the website dismisses as negligible the expense to unions to assemble and report such information, the CLC estimates it would take the average local union — most of which are run by volunteers — 200 to 400 hours annually at a significant cost to their treasuries. Some estimates say it would add 20 per cent to the current costs, and for some of the pension funds, it would require them to file returns “the size of a large city’s phone book.”

Hiebert also glosses over the cost to taxpayers, which will amount to millions of dollars to create a massive database, related materials and hundreds of CRA staff to administer it all.