This is not meant to be a comprehensive analysis but an imagining of some of the features of a post capitalist world. OK lets get this over with first. The first thing we will notice is the numbers we use to measure the success of a capitalist economy, GDP, GNP
Continue readingTag: collective bargaining
Views from the Beltline: Solidarity brings success at Cargill
If there is one thing workers in today’s precariat job market need to achieve both democracy in their workplace and a shot at a middle class life style, it’s solidarity, i.e. unionization. A fine illustration of this is recent collective bargaining at the the Cargill beef-processing plant in High River,
Continue readingAlberta Politics: The strategy behind the UCP’s Public Sector Arbitration Deferral Act explained
Albertans who don’t pay much attention to labour relations may be forgiven for wondering about the harsh reaction yesterday to the Alberta Government’s introduction of legislation to delay arbitration for thousands of public employees. Many readers not directly hostile to unions nevertheless may have wondered, “What’s the big deal? The
Continue readingAlberta Politics: UCP bulls ahead with plan to ignore public employees’ collective agreements
One thing you can say for Jason Kenney’s United Conservative Party Government: they don’t even pretend to act in good faith! Early this month they mailed public sector unions a letter asking them to take part in “a consultation session” about the government’s wish to delay contractually stipulated wage arbitration
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Happy Labour Day! Despite constant propaganda, the number of workers who wish they had a union is growing
Happy Labour Day! Overall union membership may be shrinking, but the number of workers who wish they had a union and would vote to join one if they could appears to on the rise. This tells an interesting story about the state of affairs in North America as the last
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta Government and AUPE sign tentative agreement for three-year public service contract
The Alberta Government and the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees both announced yesterday they’ve signed a tentative agreement on a new collective agreement covering the union’s approximately 23,000 members who work directly for the provincial government. This is the group of public employees the union accurately calls “front-line government service
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Big changes coming to academic faculty, graduate student and postdoctoral bargaining rights in Alberta
PHOTOS: Could we someday see scenes like this one at Boston University in 1979 at an Alberta University? The late Howard Zinn, author of the People’s History of the United States (banned in Arkansas), is visible, quite naturally, I suppose, near the front on the left. (Photo from the Boston
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta finally moves, cautiously, toward reforming labour laws, more boldly to ban cash-for-blood transactions
PHOTOS: Alberta Labour Minister Christina Gray at her news conference yesterday morning. Below: Labour lawyer and respected labour relations specialist Andrew Sims and Health Minister Sarah Hoffman at her news conference yesterday afternoon (Twitter). No sooner asked than answered, Alberta’s NDP government announced a plan yesterday morning to consult with
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Sorry Wildrose, but recall legislation has no place in a representative democracy
PHOTOS: A man with a pitchfork at a protest by a group of farmers and their supporters in front of the Alberta Legislature this week. We’re going to chalk this up to over-enthusiasm, but if someone had brought a pitchfork to a labour rally, you can c…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Never mind the ‘Fuddites,’ Alberta needs Bill 6, although Bill 6 needs fixes
PHOTOS: NDP Labour Minister Lori Sigurdson chats with anti-Bill-6 protesters in front of the Legislature on Friday. Below: The crowd of protesters at its zenith and members of the Legislative Press Gallery interviewing a turkey, not for the first time,…
Continue readingParchment in the Fire: Some Charts on the Conditions of Labour in Greece
A few charts from the Eurofound website provides an insightful glimpse into the conditions of workers in Greece in the context of austerity. The first chart, taken from Eurofound, demonstrates the trajectory of labour costs and labour productivity in Greece up to and during the crisis. The data indicates a
Continue readingParchment in the Fire: The Eurozone Crisis, Collective Bargaining, Labour Market Reform and Austerity, 2010-2015
By the summer of 2010, the financial crisis initiated by overleveraged financial institutions had been transformed into a sovereign debt crisis. This was a deliberate tactic of ‘crisis management’ by neo-liberally minded European elites to protect their financial sectors. State intervention to the tune of billions of pounds and Euros
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Labour Day 2015: Analyzing Europe’s refugee crisis through the lens of labour rights
PHOTOS: The Za’atari camp for Syrian refugees in Jordan. Below: International studies scholar Vijay Prashad; former Conservative Senator Hugh Segal. On Labour Day 2015, the world’s attention is focused on the great migration of desperate human beings streaming into Europe from the economic and military catastrophes of North Africa and
Continue readingLarry Hubich's Blog: Right to Strike puts conservatives on notice
“Saskatchewan’s Labour Movement: the folks who brought you the constitutional right to strike!” said Saskatchewan Federation of Labour (SFL) president, Larry Hubich, as the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) sided with working families on January 30, 2015. The SCC ruled, in no uncertain terms, that the SFL was right –
Continue readingLarry Hubich's Blog: Right to Strike puts conservatives on notice
“Saskatchewan’s Labour Movement: the folks who brought you the constitutional right to strike!” said Saskatchewan Federation of Labour (SFL) president, Larry Hubich, as the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) sided with working families on January 30, 2015. The SCC ruled, in no uncertain terms, that the SFL was right –
Continue readingLarry Hubich's Blog: Right to Strike puts conservatives on notice
“Saskatchewan’s Labour Movement: the folks who brought you the constitutional right to strike!” said Saskatchewan Federation of Labour (SFL) president, Larry Hubich, as the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) sided with working families on January 30, 2015.
The SCC ruled, in no uncertain terms, that the SFL was right – the Saskatchewan Party government’s Public Services Essential Services Act (Bill 5) was heavy-handed, unworkable, and violated a Charter-protected right to strike.
“The decision by the Supreme Court to grant every worker in Canada a constitutional right to strike is a profound victory for our movement,” said Hubich, “the Court also delivered a strong message to conservative governments everywhere: your rigid ideology does not trump workers’ rights,” he added.The Public Services Essential Services Act (Bill 5) was introduced by the newly-elected Saskatchewan Party government in 2007. As soon as it was introduced, workers, their unions, lawyers, and academics all said the Bill was overreaching, unnecessary, and probably illegal. The Saskatchewan Party, though, continued to only listen to their corporate friends instead of Saskatchewan families. As a result, a long Charter Challenge was launched by the SFL and its affiliates against Bill 5 to protect working families.
Despite the long and expensive court process, workers and their unions were gracious in their victory – extending an invitation to the Saskatchewan Party government to work together.
“We know that a work stoppage is always the last resort, and unions always prefer a negotiated agreement that is good for both sides,” said Hubich, “our victory does not change any of that, and we want to work with the provincial government to develop labour laws that are fair, balanced, and respect the rights of workers,” he added.
However, just a few days after the SCC ruling, Brad Wall floated the option of using the notwithstanding clause so that he and his government could continue violating Charter rights.
“This is a time for reconciliation and leadership, not a time for the premier to stomp his feet and threaten to deny Saskatchewan families their Charter rights,” said Hubich, “workers and their unions continue to offer our cooperation to create good public policy, and we hope the premier will come to the table in good faith,” he added.
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Parchment in the Fire: Collective Bargaining and the Eurozone Crisis
Since the beginning of the Eurozone crisis in 2008, most attention has been focused on the recurring and persistent struggles against ‘austerity’. Austerity, in this sense, refers to the politics of cutting public spending – primarily in the areas of social programs like unemployment benefits, disability benefits, ‘public goods’ such
Continue readingAlberta Diary: The ‘research’ the Fraser Institute produces is junk – have a happy Labour Day!
An unidentified Fraser Institute “fellow” explains to a couple of young Manning Centre interns how giving workers the right to bargain collectively stunts job growth, and also how dinosaurs and men walked the earth at the same time. Actual Fraser Institute employees may not appear or act exactly as illustrated.
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Detente or Entente Cordiale? AUPE and Hancock Government reach tentative agreement
TweetAt 10:00 a.m. on April 28, 2014, Hugh McPhail, a lawyer representing the Alberta Government requested the Court of Appeal to adjourn a scheduled hearing on Bill 46, the controversial anti-labour law that had been halted by a court injection months ago. The law would have forced a regressive contract on the 22,000 government employees
Continue readingLarry Hubich's Blog: Bill 5 & 6 Charter Challenge Heads to the Supreme Court of Canada
A panel of three Supreme Court Justices has decided that the Supreme Court of Canada will hear the SFL et al case against the Government of Saskatchewan’s Bills 5 and 6 – so-called “essential services” legislation and amendments to Saskatchewan’s Trade Union Act. On May 16th in Ottawa, the Federation,
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