July 2009October 2011 Labour Day kicks off CUPE election campaign

A cool, dry morning was near‐perfect weather for this year’s Labour Day. CUPE members marched and enjoyed picnics in cities across . In , more than a thousand members marched in the annual parade, which was dedicated to the memory of Jack Layton and was led by federal NDP leader Nycole Turmel and Ontario NDP leader .

But Labour Day isn’t just a celebration. It’s a time to stand together as brothers and sisters to make a statement about the kind of society we want. This year, CUPE Ontario called on governments to stop cutting public services while giving handouts to big corporations and letting the rich get away without paying their fair share.

Specifically, we called on the province to increase income taxes by two per cent for people making more than $500,000 a year, to close the executive stock option loophole and to reverse recent corporate tax cuts handed out by Dalton McGuinty. Together, that would inject well over $2.5 billion into Ontario’s economy.

“We need to invest in good, stable jobs and stop handing over our hard‐earned cash to CEOs who just pocket it and, as so often happens, shut their plants and kill jobs in communities,” CUPE Ontario President Fred Hahn said at the Labour Day Parade in Toronto. “We need a strong, diverse economy and right now more and more average families need immediate help from the kinds of services delivered by CUPE members across the province.”

Our announcement set the stage for an election fight that included debate over good jobs and the economy, corporate handouts and public service funding. While Labour took the day to mourn the death of Jack Layton, it also took the opportunity to kick into high gear for the election.

A very CUPE election Page 2 Stop the Cuts! Page 4 Women’s canvasses Page 2 Fighting for our Pensions Page 5 Seniors pushed out of hospitals Page 3 Walk for Justice Page 5 Horror stories Page 3 Child care in crisis Page 5 P3 biosolids plan stinks Page 3 The Occupy movement Page 6 Keep Peterborough public! Page 4 Upcoming events Page 6

Page 2 October 2011 A very CUPE election

The provincial election on October 6 followed one of All this, plus the hard work of so many CUPE the most active campaigns in CUPE history, and the volunteers, helped make historic breakthroughs, work of CUPE members made a visible difference to the including the NDP’s first win in Peel with Jagmeet outcome. Singh, and Taras Natyshak’s victory in Essex. A special hat‐tip goes out to five CUPE candidates who all CUPE Ontario focused its efforts in several ridings, increased their party’s vote share in their ridings: Henri providing support to campaigns and providing member Giroux, Gerti Dervishi, David Hynes, Ric Dagenais and book‐offs to help with organizing. As part of the Action Don Abel. Plan passed by members at convention, we held our first‐ever election training weekend, a campaign skills Across Ontario, hundreds of CUPE members school for members. CUPE Ontario also worked with volunteered thousands of hours to election campaigns, District Council Presidents to organize area leadership helping keep the Liberals to a minority, avoiding a meetings. At these, we invited local NDP candidates, Conservative government and sending the most New helped get locals involved in campaigns and Democrats to Queen’s Park in a generation. participated in several media events that brought attention to local issues ranging from public transit cuts in Toronto to the loss of the Bombardier Women’s canvasses maintenance contract in North Bay and the Sudbury biosolids P3 project. CUPE Ontario’s Women’s Committee organized five women’s canvasses as a way to make sure women’s The campaign provided many firsts for CUPE Ontario. In issues were central to the campaign. addition to using email lists and automated phone systems, we communicated with members using a These events took place in Parkdale/High Park (Cheri bilingual CUPEvotes.ca website and through Facebook DiNovo), Hamilton Mountain (Monique Taylor), and Twitter. Welland (Cindy Forster), Davenport (Jonah Schein) and Nickel Belt (France Gélinas). The largest was the We responded to Conservative attacks on unions with a Hamilton event, with 60 women participating. fun online video of our own, called Truthshifting. CUPE Ontario produced a video to open the election that Similar events were organized by several Toronto many members said inspired them to get involved, and ridings by their campaigns, often organized CUPE held its first‐ever telephone town hall in Northern members. Ontario.

Page 3 October 2011

Seniors pushed out of hospitals Ontario is pushing seniors out of hospital beds whether they’re healthy or not, and has reduced the number of acute care beds by 18,500 over the last 15 years. Currently, the province has the smallest number of available beds in the developed world, says Michael Hurley, President of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU).

“One way the ministry has coped is to suggest elderly patients could just move to homes,” he said. “There are cases where people are being pushed out of hospitals while still acutely ill.”

Throughout the summer and fall, OCHU has been touring the province to raise awareness about seniors being pushed into unregulated, for‐profit retirement homes. During the election, hundreds of protesters including dozens of CUPE members, rallied at Queen’s Park to protest hospital closures and service cuts.

Horror stories Nothing highlights the underfunding crisis in health care like the horror stories seniors themselves tell about being pressured to leave hospitals early while not receiving access to the care they need. As part of OCHU’s tour patients, staff and family members are being encouraged to call a hotline at 1‐877‐599‐0770 to share their stories. Check out the video about the need for a minimum of 3.5 hours of nursing and personal care in long‐term care facilities at www.ochu.on.ca, and sign on to the long‐term care CUPE Campaign at www.cupe.on.ca/timetocare.

P3 biosolids plan stinks

CUPE Ontario and Local 4705 in Sudbury continue the fight against a proposed public‐private partnership (P3) biosolids project for Kelley Lake. The issue received a boost of attention in September when CUPE Ontario President Fred Hahn visited Sudbury to help raise the issue during the election at a community BBQ.

At the community event and march to City Hall with Nickel Belt MPP France Gélinas, Hahn and 4705 President Fred Posadowski detailed that P3s cost more money and put the public at risk because corporations cut corners on safety and environmental standards in order to increase profits.

Hamilton had privatized its water system, but brought it back in‐house after discovering that making it public again would save more than $1.2 million. Prince Edward County put the brakes on a P3 wastewater treatment plant after bids came in at $1.2‐$1.45 million, compared to $625,468 a year to have the plant run publicly.

For more information on the campaign and to send the City Council a letter, visit www.cupe.on.ca/nop3sudbury. Page 4 October 2011 Keep Peterborough public! Municipal workers in Peterborough have banded household went down by $164 during the same period. together to fight privatization of city services. City “All over the province, mayors and councils are council began its budget process this summer in secret, quoting newspaper headlines calling for an ‘austerity and workers had to use agenda’ to justify Access to Information eroding the quality of legislation to find out public services. what was being proposed. It turns out that service At the same time, other reductions and levels of government are contracting out to private also failing to fulfill their companies are on the responsibilities to local table. governments in terms of adequate support and In Peterborough, public‐ resources,” said CUPE sector labour costs only Ontario Secretary‐ went up 1.6 percent Treasurer Candace between 2005 and 2008 and account for less than 40 Rennick at a joint meeting of CUPE locals in percent of operating expenditures. The city’s debt per Peterborough.

Stop the Cuts!

Toronto has become ground zero in the fight against municipal service cuts. The threat of closures, privatization, service reductions and job losses came to a head in July, when the city released a report from KPMG on which services and assets could be cut, reduced, outsourced or sold off. Hundreds of Torontonians, including at least 40 CUPE members, made deputations in two all‐night consultation sessions and made clear to council that the public does not support the proposed cuts.

Almost every city service is at risk. The transit system already saw more than 200 layoffs during the discussion period, and locals have been given notice that cleaning services in police stations, community housing, daycare centres and other city buildings will be contracted out. More recently, the City began seeking bids for garbage collection, announced plans to sell off three city theatres and started soliciting interest from companies that would take over the zoo.

Stopping the cuts and privatization has been a massive undertaking involving CUPE Ontario and Toronto locals. The campaign has included flyer drops, phoning thousands of members and the public to mobilize them, organizing several rallies involving thousands of Torontonians, transit ads and a high‐profile contest that emerged after Margaret Atwood joined the fight against library closures. What’s happening in Toronto is happening or is going to happen in municipalities all over the province. It’s a fight we cannot afford to lose. Page 5 October 2011 Fighting for our Pensions Municipal, school board and CAS workers are in danger of seeing unfair increases in their OMERS pension contributions in coming years, and CUPE Ontario is fighting to make sure our members are treated equitably. Our members knew there would be an increase in rates to make up for losses during the 2008 economic crisis and the effect of a contribution holiday during the Harris years. Together, we decided increased contributions were preferable to a cut in pension benefits.

But OMERS has also decided, against our vigorous opposition, to change the differential between what is paid by different groups within the fund. The effect is that our members, most of whom have a normal retirement age of 65, will be subsidizing the pensions of the workers in a group that retires at 60 and who, on average, have much higher incomes. CUPE Ontario has fought this decision within OMERS, and at an OMERS stakeholder meeting in October, President Fred Hahn made it clear that our members will be reviewing all options to ensure they are treated fairly within their pension plan. Walk for Justice As classes resumed at Ryerson University in Toronto, students were greeted with an unusual sight: a crowd of people in white masks suddenly appeared on campus. CUPE Ontario members joined in a flashmob and rally on campus to raise awareness about the Walk 4 Justice, which arrived in the city that day.

The walkers left Vancouver in June, and are calling on all levels of government to recognize and acknowledge the issues around the disappearance and murder of aboriginal women across Canada. For more information, visit fnbc.info/walk4justice. Child care in crisis In Ontario, child care centres have long struggled with decrease its vacancy rate. In rural Ontario, 52 centres inadequate funding and a lack of financial stability have already closed in the past two years and 200 caused by the way in which they are funded. But the centres with 600 employees are at immediate risk, recent introduction of full‐day kindergarten without an according to the Ontario Municipal Social Service injection of cash to daycares that are losing their 4‐ and Association. A further 150 home care providers are also 5‐ year‐olds, has put the sector in crisis. at risk. Together, this means 8,100 children, including more than 500 with special needs, will lose their care in CUPE Ontario is working together with the Ontario rural Ontario alone, leaving more than 90 towns and Coalition for Better Child Care and other community villages with no local, licensed childcare. partners in a campaign to get immediate emergency funding from the provincial government. These funds The situation is no better in cities. Because subsidies go will prevent mass closures of child care centres before to children and not centres, when vacancy rates go up more stable funding can be provided through the next many centres cannot cover fixed expenses such as rent. provincial budget. In lower‐income neighbourhoods, centres cannot attract full‐fee paying children to cover the shortfalls. Although child care was an issue in the election, the When cities cap or freeze subsidies, vacancy rates go situation is dire enough that hundreds of centres could up, compounding the problems they face from full‐day close between now and the spring budget. Progress kindergarten and making it impossible to overcome Childcare Centre, located in a low‐income Scarborough challenges like those faced by Progress. neighbourhood, is in danger of closing within weeks if Visit www.4outof5.ca to learn more. funding cannot be found to pay off an old debt and Page 6 October 2011 The Occupy movement It began with a small group of protesters rallying on Wall Street in New York and camping out in a city park. Then more people came. And more. And still more. Then labour unions joined in and the grassroots Occupy Wall Street phenomenon began to spread.

The Occupy movement came to Canada on October 15, with rallies and campouts in most major cities. In Ottawa and Toronto, thousands of people joined the initial marches. Hundreds began camping out in city parks, holding consensus‐based assemblies to make decisions. While mainstream media denounce the movement as unfocused, the participants, many of whom are rarely seen at rallies and protests, have very specific complaints about the way in which our society and economy are run.

These are completely grassroots movements. However, we do support the movement in its fight for a more equitable society. CUPE members are all part of the 99 percent of the world that does not control our financial and political systems. But together, we can force change upon the elite 1 percent. The Executive of CUPE Ontario did pass a resolution on Friday, October 14 declaring their support for the movement, and many CUPE members, members of the executive and local leaders have been at the camps and rallies to show their support, and many have provided supplies to camps.

In Toronto, the CUPE Local 966 Flying Squad’s pink bus brought Air Canada workers to the initial rally in their ongoing struggle for a satisfactory contract. The bus remained at the request of organizers to help with support and security.

Upcoming Events OSBCC Bargaining Conference Nov. 18 ‐ Doubletree Hotel, Toronto SSWCC Conference Mar. 22‐25, Crowne Plaza Niagara Falls Human Rights Conference Dec. 1‐3, Toronto Hyatt Regency Library Workers Conference Mar. 26‐27, London Hilton OSBCC Conference Jan. 31‐Feb. 4, Toronto Sheraton Parkway North OMECC Conference Mar. 27‐30, London Hilton Spring School Feb. 14‐19, Toronto Sheraton Centre CUPE Ontario Convention May 23‐26, Caesars Windsor OUWCC Conference Feb. 23‐26, London Hilton

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