Friday Jan 18, 2008 No deal: Fate of Fête sealed In the wake of the cancellation yesterday of this year's Fête des Neiges, the city of Montreal says ...

Tuesday 15 January 2008 OTTAWA: LABOUR SHORTAGE PREVENTING ECONOMIC GROWTH
A shortage of labour is the main reason that is preventing Canada's economy from growing, according to executives of 100 Canadian businesses who were questioned in the latest quarterly poll by the Bank of Canada. Four out of ten businesses said that their inability to find qualified workers was making it difficult to meet demands. Labour shortages were most acute in western Canada, particularly in British Columbia. The survey was conducted within the past two months when Canadian businesses were starting to become worried about an economic slowdown in the United States, the major market for Canadian goods. Those questioned also expressed concern about volatility in the value of the Canadian dollar, which gained more than 20 per cent in relation to the U.S. dollar in 2007. But during the survey period, Canadian businesses remained positive overall about the country's immediate economic future

Stephen S. Poloz VP EDC Economics Weekly Commentary
Labour Shortages are Global - December 12, 2007
We hear about labour shortages a lot – there are not enough doctors, carpenters, plumbers, or skilled workers in general (except, perhaps, economists). This is becoming a global problem.
Economists will tell you that labour shortages are not supposed to happen. When something is in short supply, excess demand pushes the price up. This reduces demand and increases supply. When it comes to skilled labour, the supply response is by necessity gradual, and may be very difficult, since it requires education and, perhaps re-education of transitioning workers. Past issues | his WN page

Commentary podcast.

CEOs of companies in the S&P 500 received a median year-on year increase of more than 23%. (Corporate Library)

2007

Sunday 09 December 2007 OTTAWA: ECONOMY CHURNS OUT JOBS
The Canadian economy created 43,000 jobs in November, an achievement which exceeds economists' predictions by four times. However, Statistics Canada says that the unemployment rate rose by .1 per cent to 5.9 per cent because of the arrival on the market of 68,000 new job seekers. The jobless percentage of 5.8 percent in October was the country's lowest in 33 years. Job creation was strongest in transportation, teaching and natural resources, but the manufacturing sector in Ontario and Quebec continued to decline. StatsCan also reports that the jobless rate in Canada is lower than in the U.S. or most European nations.

Saturday Dec 8, 2007 Forestry could lose 12,000 jobs: ex-minister
The forest industry in Quebec could lose another 12,000 jobs in 2008, as a general slowdown of the economy...

Friday 02 November 2007 DETROIT: CHRYSLER LAYS OFF CANADIANS
A major North American auto manufacturer, Chrysler, has announced plans to lay off as many as 12,000 people. The plans include making fewer cars and even cutting the production of four slow-selling models. That will mean the elimination of shifts at five assembly plants in both the United States and Canada. The president of the Canadian Auto Workers union says 1,100 people will lose their jobs at the Brampton assembly plant west of Toronto. Buzz Hargrove also says that thousands more Canadians will lose their jobs as the cuts begin to have a ripple effect elsewhere in the economy.

Sunday Oct 28, 2007 TORONTO: LABOUR LEADER SAYS NEW CHRYSLER CONTRACT IS NO SOLUTION
The head of the Canadian Auto Workers, Buzz Hargrove, on Saturday rebuked industry analysts who are describing a new four-year contract for forty-five thousand workers at Chrysler plants in the United States as a solution to the company's problems. Production workers approved the contract by a slim margin of 56 per cent, while the approval margin by skilled workers was even slimmer at 51 per cent. The contract allows Chrysler to hire new workers at half the wage salary of veteran employees. Some industry analysts say that the contract will make Chrysler more competitive with Japanese automakers. But Mr. Hargrove says that labour costs are not the problem. He blames Japan and South Korea for profiting from the sale of millions of their cars in North America, while preventing the sale of North American-built cars in their countries. Mr. Hargrove warns that the Canadian Auto Workers will not accept a similar contract when labour negotiations begin next year with Chrysler and two other major companies, Ford and General Motors.

Saturday 22 September 2007 TORONTO: LABOUR WANTS CENTRAL BANK TO RESCUE MANUFACTURERS
The Canadian Labour Congress, the country's biggest labour organization, has called on the Bank of Canada to lower its trend-setting lending rate to protect the manufacturing sector from the effects of the rising Canadian dollar, which has had a disastrous effect on exports to the U.S. The dollar reached parity with its U.S. counterpart on Thursday, and did so again on Friday before closing up slightly at US99.91. CLC President Ken Georgetti has asked the central bank to lower its lending rate by one-half a percentage point to follow the lead of the U.S. Federal Reserve which took that same step earlier in the week. Mr. Georgetti says the Bank of Canada ought to be as intent on reacting to the country's crisis in the manufacturing sector as it has been recently in responding to the credit crisis that originated in the U.S. He added that Canadian exporters of softwood lumber are especially affected by the high dollar at a time when their customers in the U.S. housing market have suffered collapse.

Thursday 13 September 2007 Economy pumps out 23,000 jobs
Average hourly wages in Canada shot up 4 per cent in August from a year earlier as the economy pumped out more than 23,000 new jobs.

Monday 03 September 2007 TORONTO: RECENT JOB LOSSES MAR LABOUR DAY
As Canadian workers prepared to mark the Labour Day holiday on Monday, Canada's finance minister gave a mixed assessment of the state of the country's labour force. Jim Flaherty said that national unemployment was at its lowest rate in a generation, but the imminent loss of 1,200 jobs at the General Motors auto plant in Oshawa was regrettable. A Canadian Auto Workers economist, Jim Stanford, expressed deeper worry, saying that 'very important industries... are going through the ringer.' He said that people who lost their jobs in manufacturing were finding jobs in lower-paying service industries. Mr. Stanford urged workers who were concerned about losing their jobs to raise objections to politicians who are promoting free-trade agreements. A national labour group, the Canadian Labour Congress, bluntly blamed the government for the loss of 300,000 jobs in the past few years, warning that fewer well-paid workers means less tax dollars for municipal projects.

Monday 03 September 2007 No celebration for working poor
Labour Day, which is marked across Canada today, was originally set aside to honour the millions of Canadians who work long and hard to support themselves and their families. But in recent years it has become a time when media outlets are filled with stories about the decline of organized labour, the rapid loss of manufacturing jobs in Ontario and the struggles of the working poor who are not covered by union contracts or are sometimes exploited in low-wage jobs.

Sunday 02 September 2007 TORONTO: GM CHOPS 1,200 JOBS
General Motors of Canada Ltd. has announced it will eliminate one of the three work shifts at its truck-making plant in Oshawa, ON, thereby eliminating 1,200 jobs in the latest blow to the province's manufacturing sector. The plant makes the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickup truck models. GM had already cut several thousand jobs in Oshawa. The job losses will eventually affect thousands of other workers in industries that supply GM, such as steel and auto parts, tires and aluminum. GM attributes the decision to the need to keep inventory in line with the markets. Canadian Auto Workers union President Buzz Hargrove says he was "shocked" to learn of the impending cuts on Wednesday at the union's regular meeting with GM in Detroit. Mr. Hargrove says GM cited problems in the U.S. housing industry and credit markets. The slump in the housing industry has led to a corresponding slump in the construction industry which is a customer for the pickup trucks. The credit squeeze has made it harder for American consumers to finance truck purchases

Stephen S. Poloz VP EDC Economics Weekly Commentary
Tackling High European Labour Costs - August 15, 2007
High labour costs are a prominent feature of Europe’s economic landscape. To outsiders, generous wage, vacation and sick-leave provisions, together with a tight social safety net, are the stuff of dreams. Globalisation has put continental Europe’s labour costs under the microscope, and Germany’s collaborative response has helped it to emerge as a regional growth leader.
. Past issues | his WN page

Commentary podcast.

Tuesday 14 August 2007 VANCOUVER: NO END TO STRIKE IN SIGHT
The garbage continues to pile up as the strike by city workers continues in its fourth week. Contract talks between the two parties broke off last week and no date has set for a resumption. A city spokesman noted on Monday that previous municipal strikes have lasted between six and eight weeks and that it seems the present conflict will last as least that long. The Canadian Union of Public Employee represents blue and white collars workers and library employees.

OTTAWA: JOBLESSNESS LOWEST IN DECADES
The jobless rate sank by one-tenth of a point in July to six per cent, the lowest rate since 1974. About 11,300 jobs were created. However, only Alberta showed a significant increase in employment, with 14,000 more people at work. Twenty-seven-thousand new manufacturing jobs were created in Ontario, where such jobs have been steadily lost in the past several years.

ST. JOHN'S: CAW WANTS FM UNSEATED
The head of the Canadian Autoworkers union, Buzz Hargrove, says the union will work to see defeated federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty in the next election. Mr. Hargrove is angered by the program offered in the minister's March budget that offers rebates for purchasers of fuel-efficient vehicles, a program which also imposes a tax of $4,000 on the least fuel-efficient. Mr. Hargrove claims that the measures encourage Canadians to buy foreign cars and will worsen the situation of the Canadian auto industry. The CAW chief told 1,000 delegates in St. John's, NL, on Friday that the union will put resources into a campaign to ensure that Mr. Flaherty isn't re-elected. The minister represents Whitby-Oshawa, where the country's biggest General Motors plant is located.

Friday 10 August 2007 Unemployment plunges to 33-year low
Economy generates 11,300 new jobs, well below the 20,000 economists had forecast
Canada's economy added a modest 11,300 jobs last month, about one-third of the startling 34,800 generated in June and well below the 20,000 or so that Bay Street economists had forecast, Statistics Canada said Friday.

However, the unemployment rate for July dropped to 6 per cent, the lowest level in 33 years, compared with both the forecast and June level of 6.1 per cent, the agency said.

Wages pushed up again, according to Statscan, with the average Canadian employee being paid 3.7 per cent more an hour than in July of last year. This marked the third consecutive monthly gain about 3 per cent.

Wednesday 25 July 2007 EDMONTON: PARAMEDICS POISED TO STRIKE
The government of Alberta in western Canada is considering declaring a public emergency to prevent paramedics in Calgary from going on strike. The union representing 400 paramedics could walk off the job on Thursday. Their contract expired last June. Meanwhile in Atlantic Canada, hundreds of people lined up in Gander, NL, on Tuesday to put their names on a list of patients for a family doctor who has yet to arrive. A shortage of doctors has left 4,000 people in central Newfoundland without a physician.

VANCOUVER: GARBAGE PILING UP
A strike by 6,000 unionized municipal workers in Canada's west coast city of Vancouver continues.The city's outside workers, including garbage collectors, have been off the job for five days. Inside municipal workers have been out for two. Residents are trying to deal with problems such as garbage piling up on city streets and finding alternative day care for their children. The main issue is wages. The city also is demanding a contract that will keep the municipal workers on the job through the 2010 Winter Olympic games.

Tuesday 24 July 2007 VANCOUVER: LABOUR DISPUTES KNOCKING BC FOR A LOOP
Residents in British Columbia are dealing with two major labour disputes. In the West Coast province's largest city, Vancouver, residents have no garbage pickup and city facilities are closed due to a walkout by municipal employees. The strike began Friday and has affected such services as day care and building inspections. More municipal workers are expected to join the walkout on Monday. On Saturday, provincial forestry workers went on strike. That labour dispute affects more than 30 forest companies, whose employees belong to the United Steelworkers Union. The workers walked off the job over veto rights involving shift changes that the companies say they need to become more productive.

VANCOUVER: RESIDENTS WARNED OF LONG STRIKE
The city government has warned residents that the current strike by municipal employees is likely to be lengthy and that they'll have to do without garbage collection and other services. Six-hundred-thousand city residents will be affected, as well as 80,000 North Vancouver residents, by the strike by the Canadian Union of Public Employees. Negotiations between the two sides broke off last month and none are planned.

Friday 13 July 2007 VANCOUVER: FORESTRY FIRMS WANT UNION VOTE
The group which represents 31 coastal forestry firms in B.C., Forest Industrial Relations, has called on the United Steelworkers union to let its 4,500 coastal workers vote on the offer which the employers tabled last week. The employers' group says the offer is the best the companies can present. The 4,500 workers have been in a strike position since Saturday but the union hasn't ordered job action while separate negotiations continue with two of the companies. The key issues are salaries, contracting out, hours of work and severance pay for partial closures.

Sunday 08 July 2007 OTTAWA: ECONOMY ADDS JOBS
More Canadians were working in June as the Canadian economy revived from a two-month downturn to create 35,000 new jobs. But the employment rate held steady for the fifth straight month at 6.1 per cent, as there were also more Canadians actively looking for work. Statistics Canada says all the new jobs were full-time and mostly among adult women. The biggest gains came in retail and wholesale trade. Statistics Canada says the economy added 197,000 new jobs in the first six months of the year, a 1.2 -per cent gain from a year earlier.

TORONTO: PROVINCE CONTINUES TO BLEED MANUFACTURING JOBS
Although the Canadian economy created 35,000 new positions in June, 31,000 manufacturing jobs were lost, more than one-half of them in Ontario. Opposition New Democratic Party leader Howard Hampton says Ontario has lost 200,000 manufacturing and resource-sector jobs in the last several years, yet Liberal Party Premier Dalton McGuinty refuses to do anything to stop the hemmorhage. Mr. McGuinty responded as he has before that the loss of manufacturing jobs is a North American trend. The premier acknowledged that his government's $650-million innovation fund for manufacturers may not suffice to offset a rising Canadian dollar and higher interest rates. However, Mr. McGuinty added that although manufacturing jobs continue to disappear, overall employment is up.

Sat 07/07/2007 OTTAWA: ECONOMY ADDS JOBS
More Canadians were working in June as the Canadian economy revived from a two-month downturn to create 35,000 new jobs. But the employment rate held steady for the fifth straight month at 6.1 per cent, as there were also more Canadians actively looking for work. Statistics Canada says all the new jobs were full-time and mostly among adult women. The biggest gains came in retail and wholesale trade. Statistics Canada says the economy added 197,000 new jobs in the first six months of the year, a 1.2 -per cent gain from a year earlier.

TORONTO: PROVINCE CONTINUES TO BLEED MANUFACTURING JOBS
Although the Canadian economy created 35,000 new positions in June, 31,000 manufacturing jobs were lost, more than one-half of them in Ontario. Opposition New Democratic Party leader Howard Hampton says Ontario has lost 200,000 manufacturing and resource-sector jobs in the last several years, yet Liberal Party Premier Dalton McGuinty refuses to do anything to stop the hemmorhage. Mr. McGuinty responded as he has before that the loss of manufacturing jobs is a North American trend. The premier acknowledged that his government's $650-million innovation fund for manufacturers may not suffice to offset a rising Canadian dollar and higher interest rates. However, Mr. McGuinty added that although manufacturing jobs continue to disappear, overall employment is up.

Friday 06 July 2007 rci OTTAWA: LABOUR PROTESTS ON PARLIAMENT HILL
Several hundred workers took part in a protest against job losses on Wednesday in front of Parliament. The demonstrators were protesting against the loss of manufacturing jobs in recent years, particularly in Ontario and Quebec. Labour groups blame the federal government for the situation by allowing interest rates to rise and by negotiating international trade deals that kill high-paying jobs by letting them migrate elsewhere.

8 june 2007 rci MONTREAL: RAIL STRIKE OVER A tentative deal has been reached in the strike by maintenance workers at Canadian Pacific Rail. The 3,200 CP employees have been off the job since May 15. Union officials say a three-year contract will be presented to the membership for ratification and that the workers will be back on the job within the next few days. No details of the proposed three-year contract are being released before the ratification process is completed. more

Friday 08 June 2007 Jobless rate remains at 33-year low Economy creates 9,300 jobs, a bit short of forecasts, though central bank still seen raising rates; British Columbia leads growth

Monday 28 May 2007 TORONTO: LABOUR WARNS OF HOT SUMMER
Labour leaders warn that worker discontent over the loss of manufacturing jobs could lead to huge protests this summer. They say that this week's plant occupations, rallies planned for Sunday and a rally scheduled for Parliament Hill at the end of the month could be a mere foretaste. Union leaders say that one-quarter of a million jobs in the country's industrial heartland have disappeared in the last five years to the great harm of both families and entire communities. The country's unemployment rate is at a 33-year low of 6.1 per cent, but the unions say most new jobs are part-time or temporary and offer low pay, few benefits and no security. The president of the Canadian Auto Workers union, Buzz Hargrove, says he hopes the demonstrations will draw attention to the crisis. Mr. Hargrove says the auto industry alone has shed 17,000 jobs in the past two years. He blames the high Canadian dollar which he says is caused by soaring oil and natural gas prices. For his part, Wayne Samuelson, the president of the Ontario Federation of Labour, blames Ontario Premier McGuinty, who he claims doesn't even recognize there's a problem. The premier responds that although jobs have been lost, others have been gained and that there's a favourable balance of 320,000 new jobs. He also points out that his government has put up nearly $1 billion to help the forestry industry and another $500,000 for the manufacturing sector.

Monday 28 May 2007 Montreal mayor warns union he's no pushover
Montreal's mayor said Saturday he hopes the quick end to his city's most recent public transit strike has sent a message to unionized workers that his administration won't be bullied into giving more than taxpayers or transit users can afford.

Saturday 26 May 2007 Tentative deal reached in Montreal transit strike
The Montreal Transit Corporation and the union representing more than 2,100 striking maintenance workers have reached an agreement in principle to end the four-day conflict.

MONTREAL -- The Montreal Transit Corporation and the union representing more than 2,100 striking maintenance workers have reached an agreement in principle to end the four-day conflict.

Union members are meeting Friday afternoon and were expected to vote on the offer.

The head of the MTC, Claude Trudel, was expected to hold a news conference Friday afternoon.

"The final decision rests with both parties," said Quebec Labour Minister David Whissell.

Whissell had given both sides 48 hours to settle the strike. He had suggested that if both sides didn't reach an agreement that the government would have to legislate an end to it.

Strike over
Normal service returns this morning, but workers warn nothing is resolved

Union in talks

Negotiators for the striking transit workers meet again today with conciliator

The commute this morning, Day 3 of the strike, was relatively smooth, an MTC spokesperson said.

Sick of strikes? Take away clout

Transit workers control monopoly. For a strike to be fair, both sides must have something to lose

JAY BRYAN, The Gazette

Published: Thursday, May 24, 2007

It was a relief to see the Charest government awaken from its slumber yesterday to announce that Montreal's painful and destructive transit strike must be ended within 48 hours.

It would be a much bigger relief, of course, if it were to understand that such strikes should never be permitted in the first place.

Even as Mayor Gerald Tremblay daydreams about spending billions on elaborate new additions to the transit system, the predictable strikes every few years have helped to destroy an already good system's ability to attract new riders.

Getting to work on time is important. If you can't count on the transit system to keep running, you won't be attracted by the promise of an even bigger unreliable system.

This is not to say that transit workers shouldn't be allowed to bargain collectively. Of course they should have the same rights as any other workers.

It's merely to point out the obvious: that a strike against the public is not a legitimate bargaining tactic. It doesn't hurt the employer, but imposes severe hardships on those who live in this city.

First, there are the 600,000 or so Montrealers who depend on the transit system each day. Second, many companies suffer substantial losses because some customers stay home.

Third, taxpayers will inevitably wind up paying for this strike. They'll pay through higher taxes or poorer city services to make up for the revenue lost during the strike.

So how do we let transit workers bargain collectively without risking a strike against the public? We take away the big club we've given them. As long as we leave it in their hands, we can hardly blame them for using it.

What's the club?

It's the fact that transit workers, unlike those at other transportation companies, control a monopoly public service, giving them a chokehold on the whole city.

If the guys who maintain cars at the Acme Taxi Company go on strike, you simply take another company's taxi.

If mechanics at a private intercity bus company go on strike, you take the train.

For a strike to be fair, both sides must have something to lose.

But at the MTC, workers know very well that the transit system won't be allowed to fail. Only the public suffers.

If the Quebec government cared about ending the ability of about 2,000 workers to shut down a city that produces the bulk of all Quebec's economic output, it must either outlaw public transit strikes or create competition in the system.

This might seem crazily utopian in a province where power is always centralized and unions win every debate on public policy, but it's not so far-fetched.

Montreal has suffered 15 transit strikes over the past 40 years. Just down the road in another big, heavily unionized city, New York has had two transit strikes in that period.

What's the secret?

After a particularly destructive transit strike in1966, New York State passed the Taylor Law, which outlaws strikes in public services.

This law isn't anti-union and in fact guarantees the right to unionization. It simply replaces strikes with a process of mediation and, if necessary, compulsory arbitration.

Under the Taylor Law, New York City transit workers still earn far more than private sector workers in the same kinds of jobs, which suggests that they haven't lost much - except the right to hold the public hostage.

They can still strike, of course, if they're willing to pay the price.

In 2005, they closed the city transit system for two days. But the union president went to jail for a week and a half, the union was fined $2.5 million and had its right to dues checkoff suspended for several months. Every union member lost four days' pay.

And the pay settlement was imposed by arbitration, just as it would have been with no strike.

A better cure would be to create competition though privatization of transit lines.

Canada is a laggard here, falling behind much of the industrialized world, even though this offers big cost savings and, of course, an end to the monopoly power of transit unions.

Some form of privatization has been done through much of western Europe, with Britain and Sweden going the farthest, and Germany and the Netherlands increasing the contracting-out of transit services.

In Britain, every major city outside London has totally private transit. In London, bus lines are contracted out by competitive bid.

In the U.S, a study by the National Research Council found that hundreds of transit systems, especially big ones, relied on contracting out of some operations.

About 80 per cent of transit managers who tried contracting-out said they'd do it again, with the biggest gains being cost and efficiency.

jbryan@thegazette.canwest.com

© The Gazette (Montreal) 2007

rci 25 may TORONTO: CANADIAN EXECS SAID LESS EDUCATED
A study by researchers at the University of Toronto concludes that Canada lags behind the U.S. in productivity and innovation because the heads of Canadian enterprises are less educated than their American counterparts. The researchers found that about 30 per cent of Canadian managers have earned a university degree compared with almost 50 per cent south of the border. The study attributes to gap to the fact that Canada doesn't provide adequate management training courses. The researchers conclude that the more executives are educated, the more they'll promote research and innovation and therefore necessarily increase productivity and innovation at their companies.

Monday 21 May 2007 REGINA: MANDATORY RETIREMENT RETIRED
The Saskatchewan legislature has approved a law which abolishes mandatory retirement. The legislation prevents employers from forcing employees to retire at age 65. However, it doesn't apply to occupations in which age can affect performance, such as police officers or firefighters. The government says the law will go into effect on Nov. 17 to give employers and labour unions time to revise policies or to negotiate new collective agreements.

Tuesday Jan 9, 2007 np Actors' strike threatens Hollywood North
Canada's main actors' union went on strike yesterday and, if the labour disruption isn't resolved promptly...
Canada's main actors' union went on strike yesterday and, if the labour disruption isn't resolved promptly, it could cost the country hundreds of millions of dollars in lost production.
....The current minimum wage for actors is $565 a day

Tuesday Jan 9, 2007 np Climate action would be suicidal
There used to be an old joke that "Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody ever does anything about it." The heart of the joke used to be that .....The first is that Canada could not meet its obligations under the Kyoto Accord without decimating the economy. The second is that if it were to achieve this suicidal goal, the impact on global climate would be zero. Finally, even if all the signatories to Kyoto were to meet their targets (which they won't), the impact on global temperatures would be minimal. Kyoto was just one draconian step towards a much more draconian future

Monday 08 January 2007 Canadian actors poised to strike
21,000 members across Canada, [but not all will be involved in a strike] ACTRA members voted last month 97.6 per cent in favour of a strike
The actors' union is also seeking to have salaries increased by 5 per cent for each year of the three-year contract. Pruner noted that Canadian actors are paid 32 per cent less than their American colleagues, who are members of the Screen Actors Guild. The average ACTRA member earns between $14,000 and $16,000 each year, Pruner said.

2006

Fri 22/12/2006 REGINA: CIVIL SERVANTS END CONTRACT TALKS
The union representing 13,000 provincial civil servants in Saskatchewan says it has broken off contract talks with the government. The Saskatchewan Government and General Employees Union says progress in the negotiations has been too slow to make it worthwhile continuing them. The union has been in a legal strike position since last weekend. Earlier in the week, 800 corrections workers walked off the job. The union says it doesn't plan to escalate the strike but hasn't said what steps it will now take, except to say that snow plow operators will stay on the roads over the holidays. The union has been without a contract since September. It's demanding a 27-per cent raise over three years, the government offering 9.5 per cent.

nyt Real Wages Fail to Match a Rise in Productivity Wages and salaries now make up the lowest share of the nation's economy since the U.S. began recording the data in 1947.

Sunday Feb 12, 2006 ts NDP kicks Hargrove out of party
The NDP has expelled Buzz Hargrove, the country's most prominent labour leader, for promoting strategic voting and Grit candidates in the election, writes Tony Van Alphen.

Monday Feb 13, 2006 maisonneuve.org

NDP BUZZ CUT
All of the Big Seven, except La Presse, go inside with the Ontario wing of the NDP’s decision to revoke Buzz Hargrove’s forty-year membership in the party because he urged Canadians to vote strategically: the Canadian Auto Workers Union president appeared publicly with Paul Martin during the election campaign and called on Canadians to vote Liberal in ridings the NDP had little chance of winning. Now he appears to have “paid the price,” CTV News notes. The Globe quotes Hargrove’s “unrepentant” attitude toward the actions that precipitated the party’s decision: “I thought it was in the best interests of our members, their families, our communities and our country.” He expressed his surprise in interviews on both televised newscasts, for which he wore a bright NDP-orange sweater. The Post and the Citizen (in the same article by Carly Weeks) focus on the divisive nature of the decision within the ranks of the NDP: MP Pat Martin calls it “harsh justice” and “regrettable.” It seems Jack Layton may feel similarly. Several articles mention a phone message Layton left on Hargrove’s cell phone thanking him for the support from some of the CAW’s member unions during the election. Hargrove could get reinstated if he agreed to refrain from backing other parties in the future. The defiant leader says that’s out of the question, although he may appeal the decision within the party.

2005

Tuesday Dec 20, 2005 rci Fifteen-hundred employees at a popular year-round resort north of Montreal continued on Monday. The conflict began on Saturday. The main issue in the strike is salaries, with the workers demanding a 15-per cent increase over an hourly average wage of $13.90 an hour. The strike coincides with the busy winter holiday period, the resort offering excellent skiing facilities.

Sunday Dec 4, 2005 ts Canada's jobless rate falls to 6.4%
Another burst of full-time hiring drove Canada's unemployment rate down to 6.4 per cent in November, from 6.6 per cent in October, a pace so strong it may force the Bank of Canada to get more aggressive in hiking interest rates.

Sunday Dec 4, 2005 rci The president of the Canadian Auto Workers union, Buzz Hargrove, says the best outcome of the current national election would be a minority Liberal Party government with a strong minority of New Democratic Party Members of Parliament. Mr. Hargrove says that it's of course important to elect as many NDP MPs as possible, but that it's also vital to prevent a minority or even majority government of the Conservative Party and their leader Stephen Harper. Organized labour in Canada traditionally supports the left-leaning NDP. Mr. Hargrove told 900 members of the CAW's national council that the 17-month outgoing government was one of the best in Canadian history. He claimed that the need for the Liberals to maintain NDP support to avoid being overthrown led to such developments as an injection of $30 billion more in the health-care system, the remittance to cities of revenue from the federal gasoline tax and recognition of same-sex marriages, none of which would otherwise have happened. Mr. Hargrove also urged CAW members to vote Liberal in ridings were the NDP candidate has no chance of winning.

Thursday Dec 1, 2005 rci Canadian forestry firm Domtar Inc. has announced 1,800 layoffs and the closure or sale of three paper mills in Quebec and Ontario and the sale of a fourth in Vancouver. The cuts are the latest in Canada's troubled forestry sector. Domtar's CEO, Raymond Royer, says the measures are needed to position his company for a forthcoming consolidation of North America's paper business. Domtar is the continent's third-biggest producer of the paper used for photocopying and a producer of business papers as well. Before the announced layoffs, the company had 10,000 workers in North America.

Tuesday Oct 18, 2005 ts Economy needs workers past 65
Getting people to work longer — not subsidizing more babies or bringing in more immigrants — is the best way to boost the labour force as the population ages, the Conference Board of Canada says.

Sunday Oct 2, 2005 rci MONTREAL: QUEBEC LABOUR URGES NEW TARIFFS ON CHINESE IMPORTS Faced with a huge influx of Chinese imports, the largest labour union in the province of Quebec is urging federal and provincial governments to impose measures to lessen the impact of imports on local competing manufacturers. The president of the Quebec Federation of Labour, Henri Masse, says that quotas and duties must be re-introduced quickly in several sectors---textile, clothing and manufacturing. The sale of Chinese products in Quebec has hurt Quebec-made products ranging from furniture to sporting goods, he says. Speaking to members attending a meeting of his federation's solidarity fund in Montreal, Mr. Masse said that the World Trade Organization permits countries to impose temporary protectionist measures.

Tuesday Sep 13, 2005 ts CBC lockout has gone on long enough
Some things reach the end of their useful life, run out and get thrown away. The manufacturers of the Bic pen, for example, announced last week that they had manufactured their 100 billionth pen, meaning an unimaginably huge pile of thrown-away pens somewhere.

Monday Sep 12, 2005 ts Auto workers, Ford `close' to deal
Negotiators for struggling Ford Motor Co. of Canada Ltd. and the union representing about 11,600 workers are heading toward a tentative contract settlement today that will contain special employee benefits to reduce the impact of looming major job cuts.

Monday Sep 12, 2005 rci TORONTO: AUTO WORKERS UNION BRACING FOR LABOUR CUTS
The Canadian Auto Workers Union is in some tough negotiations with Ford Canada over a new contract for about 11,600 Ontario workers. Union president Buzz Hargrove expected a formal offer to be made on Sunday evening. The offer could include improvements to wages, benefits and pensions. But Mr. Hargrove said that despite "tough bargaining" there would still be unavoidable layoffs. Ford is planning a major restructuring that Hargrove said would inevitably touch its Ontario facilities. Hundreds of Canadian jobs are at risk. But Mr. Hargrove is hoping to get new investments that would reduce the number of needed layoffs. There is speculation that Ford might move one of its American plants in Michigan to St. Thomas, Ontario. The plant in St. Thomas needs new investment or it could close within five years, according to some car industry observers. Mr. Hargrove also hopes to confirm Ford's plan to invest CDN$1 billion to expand its plant in Oakville, Ontario.

Sunday Jul 24, 2005 rci VANCOUVER: COURT FORBIDS ILLEGAL PICKETING BY TELUS STRIKERS
The Supreme Court of British Columbia has ruled in favour of a request by the national communications giant, Telus, to prevent striking workers from blocking entrances to the company's offices. "This is a very broad and positive ruling that gives Telus the ability we need to ensure our team members can safely come to work and serve our customers," said a company statement. The company had charged that strikers had blocked service employees who tried to repair a phone line on Thursday in the town of Prichard. A workers' representative charged in turn that a contractor's vehicle had injured a picketing striker. The strike by thousands of Telus workers in British Columbia and Alberta entered its third day on Saturday. The atmosphere between workers and employer is described as tense.

Friday Jun 10, 2005 rci The Canadian Press news agency reports that the funding by the provincial and federal governments for General Motors auto plants in Ontario could be reduced if the layoffs which GM announced for its U.S. operations affect the Canadian plants. Earlier this week, GM announced it would lay off 25,000 hourly workers, almost one-fourth of its U.S. workforce in a restructuring. In March, the two governments committed $435 million to GM's $2.5- billion project to upgrade plants in Oshawa, St. Catharines and Ingersoll, the latter being a joint venture with Suzuki. GM now employs 20,000 workers in Canada. The government funding would be reduced if the figures falls below 16,000

Wednesday Jun 8, 2005 rci TORONTO: AUTO UNION FEARS REPERCUSSIONS OF GM U.S. LAYOFFS
The Canadian Auto Workers union says it's afraid that the thousands of layoffs announced by the General Motors automaker in the U.S. will spill over into Canada. The CAW was reacting to the announcement earlier by GM that it would lay off 25,000 hourly workers in the U.S., almost one-quarter of the corporation's workforce there. Plant closures also were announced. The CAW says the announced layoffs could lead to others at GM facilities in St. Catherines, On., where 3,250 workers are employed. The union says that one facility which makes engines is thriving but that a second that employs 1,600 workers and which manufactures parts for transmissions is doing the opposite and has received little new investment from GM. GM Canada says there are no current plans for layoffs but that in the company's current business environment none of its Canadian operations enjoy immunity.

Tuesday May 10, 2005 rci The Canadian Labour Congress organized marches in cities across Canada on Saturday to protest against what they perceived to be Wal-Mart's resistance to labour unions. Among the cities where marches took place were Calgary and Winnipeg. The marches came one day after hundreds of people in the town of Jonquiere, Quebec, made an outdoor protest statement against Wal-Mart. The demonstrators formed a giant mosaic that changed the company's trademark smile logo into a sneer. The local Wal-Mart store was closed without notice last week, one week before schedule. Two hundred employees lost their jobs. Wal-Mart claimed that the store was losing money, but labour activists say that the company took that action after the Jonquiere store became the only Wal-Mart location in North America to form a union. A recent opinion poll showed that 80 per cent of Canadians did not believe the company's claim. Labour activists say that two other Wal-Mart stores in Quebec have since formed unions and twelve other stores across Canada have applied for union accreditation.

Friday May 6, 2005 globe
Canada adds more jobs than expected Canadian economy created 29,300 jobs in April, almost twice forecasts; rate falls to 6.8%

Friday May 6, 2005 mw
U.S. adds 274,000 jobs in April -- more than forecast

Friday Mar 11, 2005 ts
British lead the pack in boosting cities
Tenerife, canary islands—Countries that want strong economies with good jobs need competitive cities because that is where most innovation and wealth creation takes place. But what can cities do to make themselves more competitive?

Friday Mar 11, 2005 ts
CAW woos Toyota`s Cambridge workers The Canadian Auto Workers union says it will likely seek a vote to represent more than 4,000 employees at Toyota`s two assembly plants in Cambridge within the next month.

Thursday Mar 10, 2005 nyt