The Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour ELECTION 2011 LABOUR S PLATFORM

Transcription

1 The Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour ELECTION 2011 LABOUR S PLATFORM

2 I m voting for... EARLY LEARNING and CHILD CARE Our province needs an early learning and childcare strategy. Our kids and working parents deserve it, our labour market demands it. It s good for women s equality and our economy will suffer without it. Do we need any other reasons? What we currently have is a patchwork of mostly private, expensive, for-profit child care. We have fewer available spaces per population, and the highest fees of all the Atlantic provinces. If we want Newfoundlanders and Labradorians to return to this province or to stay and raise their families here our future work force we need a strategy. The provincial government has promised one for the last 3 years, and we still haven t seen it. It s time to demand action. WHAT WE HAVE: NOT ENOUGH SPACES. There are about 6,700 regulated child care spaces in the province. That s 10% coverage for children 0-12 years. The other Atlantic provinces have 15% coverage. Quebec has 38%. In a budget of nearly $8 billion, a mere $25 million is spent on early learning and child care. That means young working parents are paying the entire shot. NOT ENOUGH FUNDING. The provincial government currently provides benefits for parents in the child s first year ($1000 per baby and $100 monthly), but that barely scratches the surface of parental expenses. The cost of regulated child care is $30-$38 a day per child (approximately $600-$700 monthly) and $50 or more for infant care ($1000 monthly). The total cost for two children in regulated child care can range from $15,000 - $20,800 annually. Who can afford that? EXPENSIVE FEES. This province has among the highest child care fees in the country, while annual incomes in this province are still below the national average. At the same time, wages for our child care workers are among the lowest in the country. REGIONAL DISPARITY. The bulk of child care spaces are located in urban centres; it is extremely difficult to find accessible child care in our many rural communities. FOR-PROFIT CHILD CARE. As of 2008, 84% of full-time spaces (70% of all spaces) were in the for-profit sector. Raising, educating and caring for our children should be about quality, not profit. The provincial government has actually passed legislation which provides an unfair advantage to for-profit centres by preventing employer-run centres from offering services to the community. Research shows that for-profit centres provide a lower quality experience than public, non-profit centres. Researchers reported that: There are statistically significant differences in quality between for-profit and non-profit child care in the Atlantic provinces. The Atlantic Day Care Study (Lyon and Canning, 1995) found that non-profit centres consistently scored higher on the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (ECERS) than for-profit centres across all four Atlantic provinces. The findings were significant for all provinces.

3 WHAT WE NEED: INCREASED FUNDING. It s time for a commitment to invest in an Early Learning and Child Care initiative that will expand public and non-profit spaces throughout the province. LOWER FEES. More spaces won t solve the problem unless fees are reduced and public subsidies improved to make childcare accessible for our families. ACCESSIBILITY. More affordable spaces for all areas of the province, both urban and rural. QUALITY. Ensuring quality means ensuring decent wages, training and support for child care workers, and adequate staffing levels at all child care facilities in the province. SUPPORT FOR THE PUBLIC NON-PROFIT SECTOR. It s time for the provincial government to recognize the higher standards and quality provided by public, non-profit child care centres. Our accessible, low-cost, high-quality, public post-secondary education system is among the best in the country. If we can do it for our post-secondary students, why can t we do it for our young children as well? WE NEED A MADE-IN NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR EARLY LEARNING AND CHILD CARE SYSTEM. We need to learn from other jurisdictions, but ultimately we need to create a system that works for us, reflects the reality of our urban and rural populations, and addresses the needs of Newfoundland and Labrador parents. WHY SHOULD CHILDCARE BE A PRIORITY? DO IT FOR THE CHILDREN. Studies overwhelmingly demonstrate that high-quality learning and child care is vital for children s growth and development. DO IT FOR THE PARENTS. Parents are unable to afford adequate child care. They often wind up facing choices between staying in the workforce, or staying home. Those who can afford it find their incomes eaten up by expensive, for-profit child care costs. DO IT FOR THE PROVINCE. In order to face the growing workforce challenges in our province, child care is critically important in encouraging labour market participation and in recruiting and retaining the workers we need to grow our economy. Availability of affordable, high-quality child care is an important consideration in the decisions being made by Newfoundlanders and Labradorians about whether to stay here and contribute to the growth of our society and our economy. ASK YOUR CANDIDATE: Will they support a major investment in a public and not-for-profit child care and early learning system? Will they push for a made-in Newfoundland and Labrador child care strategy, a plan that gets us there and includes publicly funded spaces, lower fees and high-quality early learning? Will they make child care a real priority? FED@NLFL.CA THE NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR FEDERATION OF LABOUR PROUDLY REPRESENTS OVER 65,000 WORKING WOMEN AND MEN FROM EVERY SECTOR OF OUR ECONOMY AND EVERY COMMUNITY OF THE PROVINCE. Our Federation is committed to promoting good jobs and a civil society where no one gets left behind. We re fighting for a fair sharing of our economic wealth, improved workplace rights, stronger occupational health and safety laws, fairer workers compensation and EI programs. We re working to build strong and accessible public services. Our struggle is based on a vision of equality, equity and social justice, in which our province s prosperity is fairly shared.

4 I m voting for... FAIR and JUST LABOUR LAWS DO YOU WORK? Then here s why you should be concerned about Newfoundland and Labrador s labour laws. I m not a union member. Maybe I don t even want to be in a union. Why should labour laws matter to me? You don t have to be a member of a union to benefit from the economic and social advantages that unions bring. Unions help raise the economic and social wage floor for everyone. We are an important part of building a healthy economy and a healthy society; of creating a middle class. Unions are critical to sharing the wealth from our economy and improving living standards and working conditions for all workers. Studies show that unions in addition to increasing wages and benefits also play a vital role in reducing gender inequality, advancing occupational health and safety standards, and keeping corporations and government publicly accountable. Unions are the people who fought to create many of the benefits that even non-unionized workers enjoy: health and dental plans, pensions, parental leave, anti-harassment and anti- bullying policies, annual leave and holidays, and much, much more. IT S ABOUT UPHOLDING LONGSTANDING CANADIAN AND NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR LABOUR VALUES, AND KEEPING OUR WEALTH RIGHT HERE IN NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR Globalization and the growth of corporate power dictate that we update labour laws in order to protect citizens rights in this new economic reality. The growing presence of Trans National Corporations (TNCs) in this province has changed our economy and means we must be extra vigilant in protecting the rights of workers. Too often TNCs do not respect the rights and values we have worked hard to build up in this country. These multinationals, like VALE, have the massive spending power to weaken the rights of Canadian citizens. The Roil Report commissioned by Premier Danny Williams as part of the Industrial Inquiry into the 19-month Voisey s Bay strike made concrete recommendations for improving labour laws in order to balance out the unequal power between Newfoundland and Labrador workers and massive TNCs looking to profit off our resources, our skilled workers and our hard work. The independent inquiry developed recommendations in an effort to create an equal, level playing field so that workers in our province can negotiate agreements with foreign TNCs on fair terms. It recommended in cases where collective bargaining completely fails and as a last resort that an arbitration board be used to settle outstanding issues. It also recommended reasonable timelines for negotiations, and that our government take a long hard look at the use of replacement workers (scabs) who drag out labour disputes, erode labour rights including the right to free collective bargaining.

5 PROUD HISTORY IT S TIME FOR GOVERNMENT TO IMPLEMENT THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE INDUSTRIAL INQUIRY Outdated labour laws that do not take into account today s globalized economy prevent the workers of our province from exercising their democratic rights. Many workers in this province have chosen to form unions to improve working conditions, wages and the quality of life for their families. Yet government policies introduced by the Wells administration, and maintained by the current PC government, have made it more difficult for workers to join a union if a majority of workers decide that is their choice. In several provinces like Quebec, New Brunswick, Manitoba, PEI when a majority of workers sign a union card, the employer is required to recognize the workers decision to join a union. In this province, workers who say they want to form a union are required to vote twice: once when they sign a card and again during a mandatory certification vote. This allows hostile employers the opportunity to intimidate and pressure workers from exercising their right to freedom of association as defined by our Charter of Rights. It s time to remove the barriers in our province that prevent or make it tougher for workers to exercise their Charter rights. The labour movement in Newfoundland and Labrador is a proud and vital part of our culture and our way of life. Proud unions like the Shipwrights Union (1851) and Sealskinners Union (1854) were active fighting for justice in our communities against the cruel merchant system 100 years before Confederation. The Retail Clerks Union in 1868 signed up the province s first women union members. The famous Fishermen s Protective Union created North America s only union-built town: Port Union. When the head of the Canadian Congress of Labour arrived in Newfoundland during the Confederation debates, he declared that St. John s was the most highly organized [unionized] city that I have ever visited. Unions have always been a vital part of the struggle to survive in Newfoundland and Labrador, to preserve the life of our communities and to earn a fair living without being exploited and ill-treated. That struggle is more important now than ever as more and more of our economic wealth is soaked up in corporate profits. ASK YOUR CANDIDATE: Will they support fair labour laws, including a law banning the use of scab labour during legal strikes or lockouts? Will they support a law that ensures that workers only have to vote once for the right to belong to a union, by signing a union card? After all, citizens do not have to vote twice in elections. Will they agree to implement the recommendations of the Roil Report so we have a more balanced labour relations playing field? FED@NLFL.CA THE NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR FEDERATION OF LABOUR PROUDLY REPRESENTS OVER 65,000 WORKING WOMEN AND MEN FROM EVERY SECTOR OF OUR ECONOMY AND EVERY COMMUNITY OF THE PROVINCE. Our Federation is committed to promoting good jobs and a civil society where no one gets left behind. We re fighting for a fair sharing of our economic wealth, improved workplace rights, stronger occupational health and safety laws, fairer workers compensation and EI programs. We re working to build strong and accessible public services. Our struggle is based on a vision of equality, equity and social justice, in which our province s prosperity is fairly shared.

6 I m voting for... SHARE the WEALTH! BACKGROUND Since 2004, Newfoundland and Labrador s economy has improved dramatically. While the rest of Canada is still struggling to recover from the recession of , Newfoundland and Labrador s economic outlook has been the envy of the nation. Provincial debt has been rapidly reduced by over 30%. Economic activity and GDP have increased substantially. Unemployment has declined. But not everyone is benefitting from these improved conditions. Inequality is on the rise in our province, and there is a real economic divide between urban and rural Newfoundland and Labrador. A stunning amount of our wealth is going to corporate profits rather than being shared among Newfoundlanders and Labradorians or used to build a stronger and better society. This needs to change. PROSPERITY FOR PEOPLE NOT JUST CORPORATIONS A FAIR SHARE Our wealth, or GDP, is not being shared fairly. In fact, more of our economic wealth more than any other province goes into corporate profits. We need to fix the imbalance. We need to do a better job of sharing the wealth. Yes we are seeing some benefits from prosperity, but the truth is corporations (especially those involved in the oil and gas and mining industries) are the big, big winners. And sadly, much of this profit is not staying in our province or being reinvested here. At the same time, we have the lowest share of GDP - of any province - going into our workers wages and salaries. And while our province has the third highest per capita GDP, we have the second lowest personal income per capita. This needs to change. WHAT ABOUT THE DEBT? Paying down on the provincial debt is important, but it s not the crisis it s made out to be. In the past five years, the Newfoundland and Labrador government has paid down a whopping $4 billion on the provincial debt - or about 30% of our total debt. Our provincial debt-to-gdp ratio has been rapidly declining since the 1990s - from a high of 70% in to 27.6% last year. We have the lowest debt-to-gdp ratio in the country east of Manitoba. Paying off the debt faster shouldn t be done at the expense of much needed public services, our economy, or our people. We need a balanced approach. And we need to capture more of our GDP wealth for Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

7 STRONG INCOMES, STRONG ECONOMY Personal incomes are still lower than the national average. When corporate profits are the highest in the country, it is unfair for our salaries to be below-average. Divsion of GDP: NFLD., 2008 That s unacceptable. WHAT WE NEED Good Jobs. Not just growth. More and more of our young people are graduating with university degrees and diplomas in the professional and skilled trades. More and more workers from downsized industries are being retrained to meet new skills shortages. Yet thousands must still commute to Alberta to work. Divsion of GDP: Canada, 2008 We need a good jobs economic strategy. We need to diversify our economy and support industries like the fishery so fishing communities can also prosper. We must invest now in the green economy and fight to have our natural resources processed right here in our province. For example, sending fish to China or the United States for processing is not the answer. Better wages and salaries. Recent increases to minimum wage were a good start, but by next May six provinces/territories will match or exceed our minimum wage. We need to do better. MORE MONEY IN WORKERS POCKETS MEANS MORE MONEY IN THE LOCAL ECONOMY. By continuing to increase minimum wage, government will ensure the lowest paid in our society do not fall further behind. It is one way of sharing our wealth. Supporting free collective bargaining is another as is investing in strong public services that benefit everyone. BOOSTING SOCIAL WAGES. Making early learning and child care affordable and accessible in our province will help young families. Pushing Ottawa to enhance CPP, OAS and GIS will keep seniors out of poverty. There are plenty of ways to share the wealth. A REAL STRATEGY. BARGAIN HARD. We need our provincial government to bargain hard with oil companies and mining corporations. Multinationals are making a bundle off our non-renewable resources. We must get our fair share before it is too late and invest some of these profits into diversifying our economy. We have resources the world wants. We must live up to our commitment to no more giveaways. We have the bargaining power. Just as we created a super-energy corporation to work towards getting a fairer deal from oil developments, Newfoundland and Labrador should also create a Crown Corporation to oversee our mining sector and ensure we get a fair share of the wealth created from future mining developments. ASK YOUR CANDIDATE: What will they do to help share our wealth more fairly? Will they support investing in a public early learning and child care strategy? What will they do to ensure a fair share for working people through decent wages, salaries and benefits? Will they support labour law changes that protect the rights of people to join unions and bargain fairly with their employers? Will they support annual increases to the province s minimum wage? What will they do to ensure every part of the province benefits from economic growth and development, including the fishing industry? What will they do to balance the outrageous and growing imbalance between corporate profits and salaries for working people? What will they do to capture a fairer share of our GDP wealth for Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. FED@NLFL.CA THE NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR FEDERATION OF LABOUR PROUDLY REPRESENTS OVER 65,000 WORKING WOMEN AND MEN FROM EVERY SECTOR OF OUR ECONOMY AND EVERY COMMUNITY OF THE PROVINCE. Our Federation is committed to promoting good jobs and a civil society where no one gets left behind. We re fighting for a fair sharing of our economic wealth, improved workplace rights, stronger occupational health and safety laws, fairer workers compensation and EI programs. We re working to build strong and accessible public services. Our struggle is based on a vision of equality, equity and social justice, in which our province s prosperity is fairly shared.

8 I m voting for... FAIR, JUST and EQUITABLE PENSION REFORM FEDERAL RESPONSIBILITY, PROVINCIAL PRIORITY RETIREMENT SECURITY Pension reform may be a federal responsibility, but it s the provinces that have been leading and must lead the fight for fair, just and equitable pension reform. It s vital for the future of our young workers, our families, and our retirees and seniors that we elect representatives who are willing to carry on this fight. So it s important for you to talk pension reform with provincial politicians as well as federal ones, and let all of the provincial parties and their candidates know how important the issue is for all of us. AN ISSUE FOR ALL OF US It s easy to get overwhelmed when people talk about pensions. It s easy for younger workers to think pensions are an issue that won t affect them for years or decades to come, especially when they face immediate issues like finding a decent job, paying off student loans, and buying a house and raising a family. PENSIONS: AT THE HEART OF OUR DECENT SOCIETY Our pension system is supposed to provide us a decent retirement income. Not some of us, but all of us. Experts say a decent retirement income is equal to 70% of a person s working income. But the Canada Pension Plan (CPP), as currently structured, only provides about 25% of a person s pre-retirement earnings. When the CPP was created (back in 1966), the thought was that most employers would eventually offer workplace pension plans to make up the difference. But that hasn t happened. Employers have not held up their end. Only 38% of Canadians (mostly unionized) have a workplace pension plan (and many of these are under attack by employers who want to reduce or eliminate them). Over 11 million Canadians have no workplace plan. So we ve been left with an inadequate pension system. We need to improve on that: for our parents, our seniors, ourselves, and our children. We know the CPP, combined with private workplace pensions, the old age security system (OAS) and the guaranteed income system (GIS) worked to almost eliminate poverty among Canadian seniors between 1967 and However, in 2008, for the first time in decades, the poverty rate among seniors increased! As of May 2011, 95,593 citizens of our province were entitled to CPP benefits. 81,238 citizens were entitled to OAS benefits. Of that number, 47,123 (or 58% - the highest in the country) had incomes so low that they were also entitled to GIS benefits. WHAT ABOUT SAVINGS? Governments and employers who don t want to face up to their responsibility to protect Canadians with a decent retirement income have argued it s the individual s responsibility to save for retirement throughout their working life by stuffing enough savings away in RRSPs. This argument is as unrealistic as it is impossible. With rapidly rising costs in childcare, housing, home heating, post-secondary education, and even basic food products, saving for retirement is beyond the reach of far too many working Canadians. This province in particular is characterized by seasonal work and underemployment, which further reduces the capacity of hard-working people in our rural communities to save for retirement.

9 VOLUNTARY SAVINGS PLANS DON T WORK Only 34% of Canadians who filed taxes in 2008 contributed to an RRSP, and total contributions represented only 6% of the room available. It s not because Canadians are choosing not to contribute to their future: it s because they can t afford to. The recession, coupled with employers who are intent on reducing wages and benefits, mean the majority of Canadian families are just scraping by, without the flexibility to invest in RRSPs. A great deal of our public tax dollars is spent subsidizing these savings plans for wealthy Canadians: $12 billion for RRSPs. A small percentage of this money, about $1 billion, could be used to eliminate senior poverty in Canada. PENSIONS IMPORTANT FOR THE ECONOMY The growing pension crisis also threatens our economy. Pensions are not just money into the hands of Canadians they re money out into the local economy as those pensioners spend their pensions in their community. Workplace pension funds play important roles too: they re one of the largest pools of working capital in the world, and are important in fueling economic growth (pension plans often buy things like government bonds and that money is often used by governments to build schools, hospitals, pave roads, and improve infrastructure). A GROWING CRISIS WHAT CAN BE DONE? A lot can be done. It just requires political will. We need to: increase OAS and GIS immediately by 15%. This would raise every senior out of poverty at a cost of about $1 billion (compared to the $12 billion in RRSP tax breaks the government provides to the rich every year, or the $6 billion handed out in tax cuts to Canada s wealthiest corporations this year). In our province, this would mean an immediate increase in benefits for thousands of seniors. gradually double CPP benefits by phased in contribution increases for employers and employees (including the self-employed) to ensure all future retirees receive a minimum 50% replacement income. When combined with OAS, this would provide seniors with less than 65% replacement income: still below the 70% they require for a decent standard of living, but much better than what s provided under the current system. WHAT CAN YOU DO? Speak to your candidate. Find out their position on pension reform. Educate them on the issues. Get a commitment for pension reform before you give them your vote. Let them know you want a safe and secure future when you retire, and that you want our seniors to be able to live in decency, dignity, health and security. We re heading toward a crisis as private pension coverage is trending downwards and the CPP is just not replacing enough of a person s pre-retirement earnings to ensure dignity and security in retirement. SHARE OF TOTAL INCOME, Persons 65 and Over, Newfoundland and Labrador, Percent OAS, GIS and Allowance Workplace Pensions Canada Pension Plan RRSPs ASK YOUR CANDIDATE: If they support doubling CPP and increasing OAS/GIS benefits and if they will make this issue a priority with the federal government? Source: Statistics Canada CANSIN Table FED@NLFL.CA THE NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR FEDERATION OF LABOUR PROUDLY REPRESENTS OVER 65,000 WORKING WOMEN AND MEN FROM EVERY SECTOR OF OUR ECONOMY AND EVERY COMMUNITY OF THE PROVINCE. Our Federation is committed to promoting good jobs and a civil society where no one gets left behind. We re fighting for a fair sharing of our economic wealth, improved workplace rights, stronger occupational health and safety laws, fairer workers compensation and EI programs. We re working to build strong and accessible public services. Our struggle is based on a vision of equality, equity and social justice, in which our province s prosperity is fairly shared.