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More Firings, Health Workers Claim
Top court ruling hasn't slowed layoffs says union.
Senior home 'disruption'
The Supreme Court decision against tearing up health worker contracts under Bill 29 hasn't put the brakes to layoffs, say angry union officials.
Thirty health workers in Abbotsford were told this week they will be fired before summer is out, according to some in their ranks.
Their union is demanding the BC Liberal government block any further layoffs in the health sector while figuring out how to comply with the Supreme Court ruling. The union has fresh polling data it says proves the B.C. public supports its stand (see sidebar).
B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell has said his government will likely take the full year allowed to match its policies to the decision.
In the meantime, health workers in B.C. face business -- and firings -- as usual, according to the Hospital Employees Union (HEU), which launched the legal challenge to Bill 29 that resulted in the Supreme Court affirming collective bargaining as a Charter right.
The claimed layoff this week of 30 care aids and licensed practical nurses at MSA Manor in Abbotsford would bring the number of Bill 29-related layoffs in the past six weeks to nearly 700 in six senior homes, according to HEU figures.
Management denies layoff
Workers at MSA Manor told the Tyee they were told on June 18 their jobs would be terminated as of August 13. The workers joined the Hospital Employees Union only weeks before they were laid off, according to union sources.
Harry Schmidt, board chairman for MSA Manor, denied that any layoffs have been issued, although he did confirm that the Manor's service contract with Abby Therapeutic Services expires June 30.
"We are still operating as usual," he told the Tyee. "No one has been laid off at all. I can't predict what we might do in August, but as of today, no one is laid off. Lots of people have been calling in sick, though."
Punished for unionizing?
Halt health layoffs: poll
Four out of five polled in B.C. say health care layoffs should stop after Bill 29 was struck down by the Supreme Court. Five per cent believe Bill 29 improved patient care while 56 per cent said it made it worse. More findings by Viewpoints Research, who did the survey for the HEU, are here.
Naomi Bishop is a care aid who has worked at the MSA Manor for a decade. She thinks the layoffs may have been a response to her co-workers' decision to join the union.
"There's really no other way to see it, I think. Our wages are well below union wages here, and we lost a lot when we were privatized under Bill 29. With privatization, there's no equality. They pay everyone at different rates and try to keep us divided," Bishop said, adding that the churn in workers at her facility will harm residents as well staff.
"It's the disruption for them and for us that gets to me," she told the Tyee.
Mike Old, communications officer for the HEU, said union members were told at the June 18 meeting that a new subcontractor would be running care services at the Manor.
Whoever was employed at that time would have to begin again from zero, Old said, in their efforts to be represented by the union.
8,000 laid off
HEU assistant secretary-business manager Zorica Bosancic said the premier's refusal to establish a moratorium on Bill 29-related layoffs is sending the wrong message to health employers who continue to flip contracts, fire staff and disrupt care, despite the ruling by the nation's highest court.
B.C.'s Health Minister, George Abbott, denied the layoffs are related to Bill 29, telling the Tyee in an e-mail interview on June 20:
"The current layoffs taking place due to facility operators changing their contracted service providers are not occurring under the Health and Social Services Delivery Improvement Act. These matters are between two private companies. If either party has concerns, it can bring the matter to the Labour Relations Board or the Employment Standards Branch."
The Hospital Employees Union says Bill 29, the Health and Social Services Delivery Improvement Act, passed by the Campbell Liberals early in their first term in office, allowed health care employers to unilaterally change contracts negotiated with unionized workers and opened the door to extensive privatization and contracting out of hospital support services.
Union spokespeople and other critics of Bill 29 say the law, soon after passage, led to layoffs of 8,000 health care workers, most of them women.
The critics say contractors and subcontractors continue to be shuffled in and out of facilities, disrupting service to patients and driving down wages and benefits for workers.
"The whole tangled mess is a result of Bill 29," said the HEU's Old. "In 2003/2004 Bill 29 was used to set up three different subcontractors at the MSA Manor. That means three different for-profit companies trying to squeeze money out of the per diems for residents there."
Revolving subcontractors
A new, as yet unidentified, subcontractor will take over care services from Abby Therapeutics on August 13, sources told the Tyee.
Abby Therapeutics, meanwhile, is reported to be in line to take over the contract for care services at Nanaimo Seniors Village in September. The 168 care staff at the facility recently received layoff notices from the current subcontractor. It's the third time the workers have been terminated since 2004, as recently reported in The Tyee.
Health employers plan another 500 terminations in the coming year, claims the HEU, though they have not announced where or when they will take place.
Joe Arvay, one of the lawyers who won the Supreme Court challenge to Bill 29 earlier this month, told the Globe and Mail on June 19 that "For the government to pretend, as it seems to be, that the Supreme Court of Canada hasn't rendered its judgment and to almost vindictively continue to fire workers is an act of bad faith."
Related Tyee stories:
- Players Sift Through Ruling's Fallout
Looking for answers one week after the overturn of Bill 29. - Campbell Government Violated Charter Rights: Supreme Court
Tearing up health union contracts ruled unconstitutional. - 'Our Parents Aren't Widgets'
Anger and anxiety as layoff trend hits senior care.
![[Tyee]](http://thetyee.cachefly.net/ui/img/ico_fishie.png){kind=small}
- The Gem of Canadian Science that Harper Killed
- Who Mowed Down the Premier?
- Canada's Economy, Deconstructed (by a 12 year-old)
- Death in Remand: a Tyee Inquiry
- Now Is the Time to Talk up Big Ideas
- Bill C-38: the Environmental Destruction Act
- 'A Gut Feeling'
- Sexism Tinges Criticism of Teachers' Job Action
- Bias in BC's Pesticide Decision? Follow the Bouncing Verbs
- Why Blackberry's Embrace of HTML5 Is Good Karma
- The Gem of Canadian Science that Harper Killed
- Sexism Tinges Criticism of Teachers' Job Action
- Now Is the Time to Talk up Big Ideas
- The Ethics of Addiction Studies
- Bill C-38: the Environmental Destruction Act
- Alberta Fills Pipes with Corrosive Denial
- Does BC Stand for Ban Clotheslines?
- BC biotech company seeks approval for GM apple
- Bias in BC's Pesticide Decision? Follow the Bouncing Verbs
- What's Behind BC's Doors?
- Tyee Builders Tally: Amazing!
- From Financial Advisor to Occupier
- 'Storage Wars'
- How Our Immune Systems Exaggerate Fear
- Does Simon Fraser University Need a Men's Centre?
- Now Is the Time to Talk up Big Ideas
- Why Blackberry's Embrace of HTML5 Is Good Karma
- Bias in BC's Pesticide Decision? Follow the Bouncing Verbs
- Death in Remand: A Jail Crammed with Risk
- The Ethics of Addiction Studies
56
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munroe
4 years ago
There is another aspect of
There is another aspect of the contracting out outrage that has not been commented on to the best of my knowledge. Not only has there been the consistent and ongoing displacements to hold down wages and deny collective bargaining rights, there has also been the facilitation of the growth of the Christian Labour Association of Canada (CLAC). CLAC has been identified to contracting agencies as a useful tool. It has popped up in Nelson, Penticton, Kelowna and, interestingly, it lost out to a real union after being invited in by Simpe "Q"; one of those involved in the current layoffs.
The Employers introduce CLAC in various ways. Through voluntary "collective agreements", some now shown to have never been ratified by workers in breach of the Labour Code. In other cases, employers have simply opened the doors to CLAC and allowed it access, while concurrently barring access by union organizers.
The CLAC agenda is hidden, but not secret. Ray Penning, a past CLAC Rep (and past losing candidate for both the Canadian Alliance and Christian Heritage Parties), wrote a long article defending "collective representation" for the Work Research Foundation, a sister organisation of CLAC. Workers' rights are not discussed. Rather "collective representation (read CLAC) is touted s a way to decrease benefit, training and recruitment costs. Not said in the same words, but clear from the article is a sales point that the "right" organization can act as a safety valve and agent of social control in the workplace.
One future that can be predicted is that the rights, wages and benefits will never advance anywhere close to what they were before the contract stripping by the Liberals so long as CLAC is the "bargaining agent".
This insidious intrusion is another, less discussed, impact of Bill 29 and the consequent actions of health care owners.
relayer
4 years ago
walking the talk
"Health employers plan another 500 terminations in the coming year, claims the HEU, though they have not announced where or when they will take place."
And will the Fed or it's member unions take any job action to forestall this? Don't hold your breath.....
Adamwest
4 years ago
Obviously the unions will
Obviously the unions will continue to try to make this story bigger than it really is, but the reality is that the gov't did not break any laws and the Supreme Court can't rule on their actions retroactively. Besides, all they've said is that if contracts are going to be altered it must be done with consultation and for the public good. The left has conveniently forgotten that the HEU turned down a contract that would have saved their jobs in exchange for a small salary reduction, even though Chris Allnut and the executive strongly recommended acceptance.
Percy
4 years ago
Read Court Decision Carefully...
Although the Court struck down the legislation, its decision states clearly that the freedom of expression overridden by the statutes is a process right only. The Court states that there is no right to the outcome of union "voice" i.e. the right does not embrace the right to strike, and does not touch legislated outcomes or contracting out. And, according to the earlier Hislop decision, the courts will not necessarily award damages for a Charter breach. So, it is difficult to see how the Charter decsion would nullify past layoffs or contracting out.
G West
4 years ago
Obviously
If the "public good" is the test - and I'd suggest it ought to be in matters of public service, especially in the health care field, then this is simply another example of the Campbell government 'failing' that test.
For anyone who knows a thing about what actually goes on in the Premier's Office, I'd suggest they look to another case that was withdrawn from the Court Docket earlier this year.
Behind that action and a new salary award to certain 'professional' public servants there exists even clearer evidence of what the Premier thinks of 'contracts', law and binding arbitration. Not to mention the status of legal advice within His government.
The public good is NOT being served by this administration and the fact that it has now been embarrassed by the Supreme Court of this land cannot be ignored.
The question really is, how long can the Attorney General stay silent about what really went on in the days when this legislation (which clearly victimizes both the 'people' and public servants who are/were no different from the individuals who received all the verbal encomiums from the Finance Minister and the Premier last spring) was written.
We are dealing with a one man government.
And it is a disaster. He should resign before the Province is further embarrassed.
Grumpy
4 years ago
Above the law
The whole thing is so, so simple, Gordon Campbell and his fellow Quisling Liberals think they are above the law. They will use taxpayers dollars and a compliant Asper press, CORUS Radio, and a wierd court, to fool the public that we are not.
There is no more rule of law in BC and it is 'might' is right!
Fiat lux
4 years ago
In my 51 years as a BC
In my 51 years as a BC voter, I've never seen more morally corrupt governments both at the provincial and federal levels.
Yet, people keep swallowing their propaganda of "wealth creation" and keep voting for them.
This is the most amazing fact!
Ed Deak.
relayer
4 years ago
retroactivity?
Adamwest, why can't the Supreme Court rule retroactively? Campbell retroactively reduced the HEU's contract, and clawed back legally binding contractual wages...
munroe
4 years ago
"Red" Herring
Our friend, Adamwest, has attempted to take this discussion off-track. The SCC decision directs good faith consultation and negotiation to "fix" the problem of the rash actions taken by the Liberals. While I'm certain "retroactivity" and remedy will form a part of those discussions, it is far too early to speculate on what the courts may or may not do in the future.
The really significant issue here is the apparent BAD FAITH of the Liberals in their initial approach to the issue. Rather then accept the decision and mitigate any potential damages, it has chosen to turn a blind eye to the ongoing damage.
If one sets aside the narrow legal issues, the questions that remain are both moral and political. The moral question is what kind of arrogance does it take to allow a large number of workers and residents of long term care facilities to continue to be buffetted by such greed and game-playing by private operators and their contractors? The political issue is how can British Columbians trust a Liberal Government that fails a group of citizens, workers and the elderly alike, simply because they are piqued at being found to be wrong and to have acted improperly?
I guess there is only one final question. Is it necessary to lobby to have all hospitals and long term care homes declared olympic venues before they will receive proper attention?
Adamwest
4 years ago
'In my 51 years as a BC
'In my 51 years as a BC voter, I've never seen more morally corrupt governments both at the provincial and federal levels.' Fiat Lux must have slept through the Nanaimo Bingo Scandal, the Fudgit-Budget, the Fast Ferry fiasco, which saw the original Board of Trustees fired for speaking the truth publicly, and Casinogate. A little stretched for time or I'd continue.
BC Dude
4 years ago
"UNIONS FOR ALL WORKING
"UNIONS FOR ALL WORKING PEOPLE"
As far as I'm seeing and hearing G Campbell is thumbing his nose at OUR SCC as more lives are being totally disrupted and a huge psychological impact on all HEU members and the general public as well "TILMA"! The terrorists are our own home grown BC Fiberals gov!
Adamwest 9hr ago, I suppose that you are in agreement that all hard working LAW ABIDING citizens be paid the same amount ($4-8hr) as the poor slaves (from 3rd world countries to break the Unions) brought in to build RAV, 2010 WO secret money mongers dream money hole, Whistler "private" Sea-Sky billion dollar boondoggle, The Convention Center $800,000,000+ over budget all secretive, but it is OUR money not theirs! We pay their obscene salaries; We should all be backing OUR brothers and sisters 100%!
They've busted our social network, now they're going for OUR Unions, who's next?
A huge thank you to SCC for giving Democracy and Freedom of Speech back to the people of BC and Canada!
A wakeup call to G Campbell and his goons.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Labour_Association_of_Canada
munroe
4 years ago
Thanks, BC Dude
Thanks for posting the CLAC link, but be very careful with the information. You'll find the primary introduction in this entry is almost word for word from the CLAC website. In other words, it is for the most part how CLAC wishes to be perceived and is not objective. I acknowledge there is some critique, but again it is incomplete.
As this thread addresses the issue of the ongoing calamities faced by health care workers and care home residents, I'll refrain from a fuller critique. My remarks above were only introduce the CLAC problem as it relates to negative impact of Bill 29.
I will say this. CLAC is an autocratic organization that has demonstrated a tremendous willingness to assist employers in resisting unionisation. Although officially "non-political" one can trace through connections to neocon social conservative tendencies.
I believe it is fair to say that no one in B.C.'s legitimate labour movement considers CLAC to be a union.
Burgess
4 years ago
retroactive???
If the Campbell run "Gong Show" can make their own salaries retroactive along with the gold/platinum pension plan can the next change in Victoria mean the new folks can tear up all the lousy dehumanizing legislation this bunch has passed? After all Campbell himself has set the president after all. Maybe start with BCR,Tilma, etc. etc.
G West
4 years ago
more red herrings
Adamwest - you can't be serious. The NDP has been in power precisely 13 years in the last 107 - The mess this province is in is not, by any stretch of anyone's fevered imagination, their fault.
Furthermore, the only cabinet minister (so far) who ever ended up in gaol was...or have you forgotten that too?
We live in hope.
Fiat lux
4 years ago
Adamwest, The fast ferries
Adamwest,
The fast ferries were big mistake, and I've been saying and writing so from the beginning, but not the result of any form moral corruption, and the money lost in them was chickenfeed in comparison to what these screwballers have wasted, and gave and are giving away to their friends. The Olympics will be a prime example.
BC Hydro, BC Rail etc. are excellent examples, where they gave away public properties without any permission, or even records of what they have done.
The bingogate was not a government action, but an idiocy by a few misguided fools.
There was no "fudgit budget". It was dragged through the courts twice that I know of, and cleared both times.
The tried to crucify Clark, not one of my favourite people, and failed.
Of course, there's no point in arguing with the ideologically, or religiously brainwashed faithful.
Ed Deak,
Adamwest
4 years ago
'There was no "fudgit
'There was no "fudgit budget". It was dragged through the courts twice that I know of, and cleared both times.' Wrong again Fiat. You need to get your facts straight or you'll be accused of writing revisionist history like your buddy GWest.
Fiat lux
4 years ago
Very well, prove me wrong,
Very well, prove me wrong, instead of making wild, ideologically inspired statements.
Was Ms.Cull, or any NDP minister convicted?
If not, what the hell are you talking about?
Ed Deak.
G West
4 years ago
What history Adamwest
You have forgotten Robert Sommers haven't you?
And every point Ed made is absolutely correct.
Without the additional bailout from the Feds and the bump in commodity prices this place would be on life support for everyone but Campbell's rich friends.
Wait till the Olympic hangover has hit and we'll talk then.
But in the meantime, you haven't got a clue about the actual history of this province.
Dare I mention BCRIC? And while you're at it, talk to someone who has a relative in a chronic care facility - preferably go there at mid-day so you can join the 'inmates' for their lunch. Or talk to someone on permanent disability; or to a student who doesn't have 'wealthy' parents.
You actually sound a lot like a poster here called Elliot - strange.
G West
4 years ago
Speaking of health care
Did you notice Ed that BC attracted the largest federal fine for violating the Canada Health Act?
Again this year, as has been the case for the last several (Campbell Liberal years), BC toped the list (often it's a list of one) of provinces fined for extra billing and user fees.
As a matter of fact - despite the usual whining of Campbell spokesperson George Abbott - 19 of 22 for profit diagnostic facilities in the country were in this province in the latest report from Health Canada.
Lovely to know we have such respect for the laws here in BC, isn't it?
Not to mention such a strong commitment to equality of access despite a person's or a family's finances.
Lovely - and adamwest likes it?
Strange!
Fiat lux
4 years ago
G West, Never try to figure
G West,
Never try to figure out the public's taste and the depth of its ignorance.
If there had been elections with the nazis and Hitler running for office immediately after WW2, they would have been elected wikth a landslide both in Germany and Austria.
This is what propaganda does to human minds.
Ed Deak.
Adamwest
4 years ago
What does BCRIC have to do
What does BCRIC have to do with the 'wriggle-room' of the fudgit-budget? Glen Clark was one of the worst premiers this province has ever had AND he was terribly unethical. Bill Bennett Jr. and Sr. were amongst the best premiers, according to historians. BCRIC failed, as stock ventures are apt to do. Big deal. It was free to British Columbians and the Socreds weren't threatened in that election anyway. Elliot who?
BC Dude
4 years ago
Here's one big reason Our
Here's one big reason Our Health Care system is sick along with with G Campbell!
http://canadianactionparty.ca/cgi/page.cgi?zine=show&aid=343&_id=27
Canadian Action Party isn't afraid of big biz and so we should for our future and our kids and our Planet Earth!
Green Party leader May is usless.
G West
4 years ago
ethical?
Give us a break adamwest.
Do you know the meaning of the term 'ethical'?
BCRIC didn't just fail - it burned up bushels of money and thousands of jobs and resources that should have been the birthright of every British Columbian ended up being wasted and frittered away because Bill Bennett believed in the same garbage that his successor Gordon Campbell does.
13 years out of 107 and during those years much of what makes BC still (despite the Campbell betrayals and broken promises) a decent and fair place to live.
We live in hope that Robert Sommers won't be the only rightwing cabinet minister to end up being tried for his crimes. The budget was balanced bud - as much as you hate to admit it - everything that Campbell and the media based their campaign on was fudged. Just like little georgie Abbott's weasling about Bill 29.
These guys have no respect for the law, for the courts nor for the people.
Go check out a seniors' home. Then we'll talk.
The point is, you haven't got a leg to stand on or any evidence to support your prejudice - so you just sit there and mumble and accuse people who do know the facts of knowing nothing. Like I said, you remind me a lot of Elliot.
But, in the end, Ed's right. My time is too important. Welcome to the list of people I'll just ignore.
munroe
4 years ago
Not so fast, gwest
In many ways, adamwest does progressives a favour. We can learn from how he (and the Liberals) approach the flaws and failures of the Campbell government.
There is the ever popular, "what about the NDP" misdirection. Reaching back to one person's foibles with the so-called "bingogate" is always in vogue. Resurrecting the corporate media campaign against the ever popular "fudge-it budget" is a must (even though it was nothing more then choosing one set of projections over another). Then there is the "fast ferry fiasco". A centre of attraction for months, whereas the convention centre financial nightmare is reported, but never a subject of a corporate media campaign and the undermining of an entire industry by outsourcing ferry construction is only a passing thought.
A second Adamwest teaching is never comment on the central issues. The mistreatment of workers and residents continues, and he as with his Liberal friends want to talk about retroactivity. We have seen this as well with a Cabinent Minister avoiding the substance of the SCC decision to complain about activist judges.
The lesson? Keep them on point. They can't justify the future firings and their impacts.
G West
4 years ago
munroe
Granted!
It's just so much of the same all the time.
Never a thought out defence of the Campbell government; never an admission that things really are getting worse - I just get tired of it all – that’s the kind of ethics that would mean something in an interlocutor.
On the other hand, it does, as you point out, illustrate how utterly devoid of value the Campbell government actually is and how bankrupt its defenders really are.
If I only thought that the majority of British Columbians were getting the facts on the TV news and in the unconscionably bad papers in this province I'd be more sanguine. In fact, some of the smaller independent papers in the interior and on the Island are doing a better job of pointing out Campbell's agenda.
But not the big boys.
Not on your life
Cheers though - keep up the good work.
SharingIsGood
4 years ago
keep your spirits up, gwest
It's great to have you back, GWest. Kind-hearted, knowledgeable and deft of pen people such as Fiat Lux, Munroe and yourself are necessary to keep the lies at bay.
The neoconservative cheerleaders seem not to need a shred of evidence nor a hint of true intelligence - they need only believe and cheer. You know they have been brainwashed to believe that their team is best. It doesn't matter to them that their players are dirty, overpaid and have been bought-off through backroom deals, nor if their coach/general manager is more interested schmoozing with bad actors, nor if that the provincial referee stonewalls everything, nor even if the entire general admission audience gets its pocket picked while watching the game. As long as the Neocons win, they are on the winning side; and that is all that really matters - to them! So let's hear it for the neocon cheerleaders! Get on out here and shake your booties for the team! "Hey, hey! hey! hustle! hustle!" What you say doesn't have to make sense, as long as you keep yelling the same, tired, untruthful cliche's really loudly, you won't have to think, and you won't be able to hear the other team!
BC Dude
4 years ago
Just boycott CanWest and
Just boycott CanWest and Global TV and all of their advertisers especially the full-page ads like Future Shop, I've not entered one of their stores for at least 18 months, also a few others businesses.
I'm only one, but I'm sure there are others and I've passed this on to my friends!
Soon we will be a wave as I've felt a great weight lifted off my chest with the SCCverdict!
Why couldn't the BCSC find the same conclusion?
BC Dude
4 years ago
Campbell is on record (BC
Campbell is on record (BC Rail scandal) for paying shills on radio call-ins so why not here as they can't think for themselves.
munroe
4 years ago
BC Dude
Beleive me, I take your point. The problem is on the media side its not whether you or I read or watch these corporate media outlets - many others do and it becomes the source of their "truths". Even old gray hair like me is finding though that the is an internet alternative to promote. In part its here where we are now. Then there are other places and people to see on B.C. On the top of my list is Tielmann.
I thought I'd miss the Sun when I cancelled. Now I find I can read what I need far more efficiently on-line and still have time for the Globe, the Guardian, the Independent and the NY Times.
Ridding ourselves of the control of the neocons and their cheerleaders (as dubbed by Sharingisgood) comes in part from educating ourselves, but also from reaching out. This becomes not only political, but a moral imperative.
I'm not directly impacted in any way by the plight of those again faced with Bill 29 impacts, but I like to take the time to counter the right's "justifications". That can be in person, on blogs, or through letters to the various newspapers. A slow process, yes, but a moral and political responsibility.
I would still like to see work done to pressure these private owners and contractors where it really would hurt. They all have bank accounts and, I would expect, loans and lines of credit. I wonder if the bank customers would like to know to whom these financial institutions are lending their savings?
tricia58
4 years ago
More layoffs
Lets be honest Bill 29 has nothing to do with saving money and everything to do with breaking unions.
I work in health care and there has been no improvements in patient care since Bill 29 has passed. If anything it has even further deteriorated.
If privitization is such a money saving then why is the cost of it hidden? Why is no one allowed to see the cost of those contracts? If Gordon really has realized a big saving from all this why is he not bragging and showing off the the numbers?
If money is so tight maybe 54% raises and pension plans should have went into health care.
With Gordon it all about take from the lowly peons and give to the almighty rich.
Keep the lowly people so worn down from struggling to make a living and hopefully they have no time to fight back.
Well a message to Gordon he is shown many who used to wonder if unions were really necessary why they originally came to be.
I am a member who used to belong to a union and just expected that unit to get me good wages and benefits. Since Gordon I have learnt a union is only as strong as it members. I am now a very active union member. Thank Gordon you gave me a fight to focus on.
munroe
4 years ago
G'Day Tricia
As we can see Sandborn here has yet again done a remarkable job of exposing and laying out the facts. Not surprisingly, the correspondents' reaction (save adamwest, but that's another issue) have been expressions of solidarity with you and your sisters and brothers.
The storm is brewing, but has not yet made land. This said, the layoffs will soon be effective and this government has indicated it is not ours, but rather a government by and for the employers. No change there.
The question then is what can good people do when faced with indifference and intrangience. Its a good place to focus debate, in my humble opinion.
As a person who has been a worker or worked for workers all of my life, I've learned on thing to be very true. As you've found, class conscious is knowing which side of the fence you're on. Now comes class analysis - finding out who is there with you. One thing I can say is that I have yet to meet a working B.C.er who can't place him or herself in the shoes of those who are facing layoff and are on their side.
DPL
4 years ago
tricia58 is saying the same
tricia58 is saying the same thin a health economist was saying on Voice of BC this week chaired by Palmer. Privatizing health care has never been found cheaper that the public system. So why privatize? Get rid of unions ius Gordos plan. he cares little about the fall out.
tricia58
4 years ago
DPL
Well DPL I missed Voice Of BC last night. Hope to catch it tomorrow morning. I say what I say because I am one of the workers in the middle of it all and call it as I see it from the inside. Good to hear those on outside looking in can see the same.
Burgess
4 years ago
Right wing chicanery
Anyone remember the Westcoast Transmission fiasco? The Howe Street Brokers sold mega shares and then an announcement was made that 'the government of the day was having second thoughts' about the pipeline. The stock dropped, and the 'little guy' shareholders got the shaft. The cheap stock was picked up by the 'ones in the know' and BINGO the Socreds gave the OK. The Rich got rich and the rest paid the price. Fast forward to BCric. Same thing. Socreds put assets in a "private company" sold shares to the 'suckers',(mostly the gray hair crowd) assets are sold off over a period and BINGO a shell of a company with no value. And here we have the Campbell Socreds 'disguised as "Liberals" literally pulling the same stunt again with taxpayer paid for assests. And we have Adamwest thinking this is legal, moral and acceptable?
Sheesh! History repeats and repeats and repeats and the voters re-elect these guys time and time again. Follow the money, I woder what Adamwest gets paid for his postings?
Frank
4 years ago
Bill Bennett a great
Bill Bennett a great premier? Hohoho. According to a Socred historian, sure. Batman must have missed his favourite premier being caught in that little insider trading thingy with his brother. And he was probably living in another province when that same premier drove the province into recession. And he must have loved the cost overruns on the Coquihalla.
But of course that was ages ago. The new right-wing premier has served time in a drunk tank and everything he touches becomes a cost overrun nightmare. The rest of his waking hours are spent telling lies about the provincial finances (see Will McMartin's articles for that nuggest).
And Michael Keaton was a better Batman.
tricia58
4 years ago
Action
Today I was talking with a neighbour. She was asking me about the ruling on Bill 29. She went on to ask me how we could get rid of Gordo. Also in same conversation she told she does not vote. Therein lies the problem. Inaction. Everyone wants to sit back and let others do the work. Best advice I can give all is turn out on voting day.
Fiat lux
4 years ago
BC had a pretty poor
BC had a pretty poor collection of premiers in my 52 years in the province.
Campbell is definitely, by far, the worst, with a long string of secret and highly illegal deals, with lies upon lies to the public, to please his corporate owners and earn a string of directorships. He should be charged for a number of shady actions.
Zalm was a bit of nut and hopelessly out of touch with realities, but he couldn't help it. He privatized the road services and sent the roads to hell with atrocious conditions and higher costs. Then he fired his highways minister Alex Fraser, when he protested and predicted the real costs and damage of privatization.
Bill Bennett was a slimy nobody, reelected in '83 on the promise of no public service firings, but then he fired 10,000. as a "cost cutting measure". Grown adults were crying in the streets. Then, he hired them back as "private contractors" with double the monies they were getting as employees. So much for "savings".
Wacky Bennett was an unpredictable screwballer, with ridiculous ideas, like his partnership with the Swedish billionaire Wenner Gren, to "develop" the interior, and his string of badly conceived dams, but he did do some good things for the public. Like the 5% SS&MA tax to pay for hospital treatments for everybody, way ahead of medicare and all other provinces. Also his nationalization of BC Electric as BC Hydro and the setting up of BC Ferries, as part of the highways system.
We can also be thankful to Dave Barrett for ICBC, kicking out the biggest and dirtiest racketeers, the vehicle insurance companies, and for the ALR, now being killed by Campbell on the advice of his dear Fraser Inst.
According to their insane thinking, we don't need farmland, when we can import our foods from California and Mexico.
Ed Deak.
alive
4 years ago
Let us get angry!
Please read: "Gordon Campbell makes me - and health care workers - so angry "
Bill Tieleman’s 24 Hours Column
Tuesday June 19, 2007
- Father Bede Jarrett
read and like Tricia said VOTE!
munroe
4 years ago
Let's Get Angry
Tieleman's column is on his website.
Adamwest
4 years ago
Fiat Lux; All I can say
Fiat Lux; All I can say about your assessment of premiers is thank God most British Columbians [POTENTIALLY OFFENSIVE COMMENT REMOVED -TYEE EDITOR] don't think the way you and your union brothers do because there would be the prospect of even more disastrous years with NDP'ers at the helm.
Fiat lux
4 years ago
If you could get out from
[POTENTIALLY OFFENSIVE COMMENT REMOVED. -TYEE EDITOR.]
I'm a dedicated private enterpriser, property and independent business owner in BC since 1957, never been a member of a union, or ran a union shop when I had employees.
At the same time, I have seen Hitler's nazi and Stalin's communist empires and can now watch the same fascist dictatorships developing under the same predators, with the same colonizing and colletivizing intentions, now waving a different coloured flag.
Wake up man, before it is too late.
Could you explain why the public shouldn't know what Campbell sold with BC Rail, or what billions of dollars worth of public properties Harper is now selling off, without disclosing the details to the owners?
If these actions are not criminal, what are they?
Ed Deak.
munroe
4 years ago
My dear Adamwest
I'm a trade unionist and have been all my life. This fact does not inform my opinion of B.C. Preniers which is generally the same as Fiat Lux (although I think MiniWac perhaps should be awarded the worst label, with the Zalm and Campbell tied as a close second.
Of this cast of devils, Campbell has perhaps the least appreciation of civil society. He is the one with the least "people" concern; he is most thoroughly "corporate" in his ideology.
I say these things as an observer of and participant in B.C. for many decades. I'm proud not only of my trade union "hat", but the many other "hats" I wear as a citizen. Your dismissal of a large part of this society as merely trade unionists is an insult to tens of thousands of exemplary citizens. These citizens are the one's who actually create much of the wealth. Position and stock options do not.
As I noted above, those with your political tendency dismiss or misdirect discussion, because they cannot find reasoned arguments for indefensible positions. You have again simply proven my point.
Thank you.
munroe
4 years ago
Oh yes, adamwest
If you can find a rationale and defence for the ongoing dislocation in these long term care homes, please set it out so we can stay on topic.
Adamwest
4 years ago
Dear Fiat Lux; How
Dear Fiat Lux; How contradictory are your following two statements:
"If you could get out from under your ideological cloud, perhaps you could begin to start thinking objectively and logically"
"At the same time, I have seen Hitler's nazi and Stalin's communist empires and can now watch the same fascist dictatorships developing under the same predators, with the same colonizing and colletivizing intentions, now waving a different coloured"
[POTENTIALLY OFFENSIVE COMMENT REMOVED -TYEE EDITOR.]
Adamwest
4 years ago
"those with your political
"those with your political tendency dismiss or misdirect discussion, because they cannot find reasoned arguments for indefensible positions". Did you just look into Fiat's mirror munroe?
Adamwest
4 years ago
Burgess asked; "I woder what
Burgess asked; "I woder what Adamwest gets paid for his postings?"
Considering the fact that there has never been a government in Canada that is as far left as most on this site, how can it be so hard for you to believe that there are citizens who sincerely have a much different world view than you, especially since those citizens are, and have always been, the majority in Canada?
tricia58
4 years ago
Adam West
I am beginning to think you just love to stir the pot. I am really hoping there can be no one around who is so ignorant of the facts.
Why would you read this site if you did not want to see another view from mainstream media?
Do you remember Gordon Campbell ran a campaign on government accountable to the people and also told everyone he would honour contracts and not tear them up?
So now we are in a position if your thinking carries through with a new government we can tear up the contract giving new raises and pensions to the MLAs? When Gordon is out of power we can tear up the contract for his $10,000 a month pension? Surely we can show the province can not carry that expense. You see wining Bill 29 is about protection for all contracts.
alive
4 years ago
Challenge to You A W
Adam W:
You are entitled to have a different opinion about which Premier was good or bad for this province.
If you disagree with Fiat Lux, then state your reasons why!
Merely to label him as a union man explains nothing!
(Besides if you ever have read any of his posts, you would know that he is more of a free enterpriser than most posters here.)
Maybe you do like to stir the pot, maybe you simply are a sh*t disturber period?
However my feeling is that you can read, but are unable to comprehend what you read!
Given that assumption it sort of makes sense that you strike out at everybody who seem to have their language skills under control.
To prove my wrong, please take the time to write your own reasons why you think that certain premiers are so great!
If that is too much bother, then simply quit writing!
Fiat lux
4 years ago
Slight correction, Alive,
Slight correction, Alive, I'm a private, not a "free" enterpriser, as I believe that enterprise can not be a licence to steal and destroy and must be fully responsible for its actions.
An economic system must have the same rules as a road system, where all, big or small vehicles are welcome and free to travel anywhere provided they abide by and follow strict laws for the protection of property and life, enforced by an independent police force and court system.
Our present economic system, disguised as "free enterprise" is nothing more than licence to search, rob and destroy and then get praised by governments, elected to protect people, as being "competitive".
It is just another, gilded version of Soviet style "internationalization" and collectivization into the hands of a self appointed, ideologically pure ruling class.
Campbell's actions, including his laughing dismissal of the orders of the Supreme Court, so he can ruin more lives to please his big business controllers, are totally unacceptable and disgusting.
Anybody who excuses such behavior has serious problems. Like the previous ideological implants on this list, writing under a variety of names.
Ed Deak, Big Lake.
tricia58
4 years ago
Fiat
I like your description of private vs free enterprise. I am glad to hear you try to separate yourself from "free" enterprise. I am all for initiative in this country. I think one should also be rewarded for that initiative. One can show initiative working for others as well as in running a business. Where would business be without the workers?
Class system is too stongly developing here. A class system where it is becoming increasingly difficult to move out of your class. Such as when I lose my wage. Not just the 15% but have been many years in the last 10 where I got 0% meaning I have to absorb the COLA. With my income decreasing yearly how can I put my kids into a education system that is increasingly costing more? How can my kids move from the class I get locked into?
It is time all get respect for the effort they make to build this society. Be it the workers or the employers.
Bailey
4 years ago
Duty calls
I feel I must also stand with Mr. Deak's assessment of the recent premiers of BC. I would like to add a small observation.
WAC Bennet was a man with odd beliefs, to be sure, and a master of the system of public corruption or networking sometimes called "jobs for the boys".
But under his leadership, the dams built and the roads built were built by British Columbian working people. Local communities, local businesses by and large got these contracts, local workers got these jobs and their families, neighbourhoods and communities prospered. Sure, we still were subject to the natural boom and bust economic cycles, and the work tended to show up in Socred ridings, but the duty to serve the people was pretty much evident in everything he did.
By vander Zalm those duties were no longer so evident, if not yet discarded, and this Campbell seems to deny the existence of society itself much less any duty to it. Our work is now done elsewhere, by others. Our money and prosperity go with it. Even the fixed infrastructure is now being built by imported labour while homelessness explodes twenty blocks away.
The man seems to hate ordinary British Columbians, and he treats working families as though they are public enemies, rather than the backbone of an industrial province and the source of it's wealth.
Without these duties, civic, public and legal, Capitalism is not an economic system at all. It's another name for piracy.
With them, it is resilient and workable, and a proper vehicle to advance prosperity in a resource rich community.
BC Dude
4 years ago
I agree the Fraser Institute
I agree the Fraser Institute and this bunch of dictator/gangsters in OUR BC Legislature Buildings are in the process of bankrupting OUR once Financially strong (with BC Rail, BC Hydro, next) province with all these secret cost overruns like the Gateway Project, estimated cost overruns secret (I believe ext to Super Hwy for NAU) 2010 Five Ring Circus, at least $1,000,000,000. over, not including Security, Convention center ($800,000,000.+ overruns and no conventions booked?) Follow the Money! If it's secret then it's not good for US the taxpayer!
Is there any legal way we can refuse to pay OUR provincial taxes or have a “No Confidence" vote to oust this moron?
BC Dude
4 years ago
Bring back the Bank of
Bring back the Bank of Canada as loans for infrastructure and communities at 1% and that 1% came back to the people of Canada! Google history of Bank of Canada,
Thanks to Brian Mulroney as the big 6's best friend at $19 billion (blood money) a year profits! People's dreams, like mortgage foreclosures, biz loan foreclosures, Credit Card massive debts and Personal bankruptcies it's a type of terrorizum.
http://www.cancrc.org/english/relDec1406en.html
http://www.moneyasdebt.net/
Now this all leads to the push for more Gateway Projects, more venues like 2010 WO we didn't ask for, and much bigger debts for our future generations and I’m going to fight this money grab now for our and their future!
BC Dude
4 years ago
Thank God we still have SCC!
Thank God we still have SCC!
Campbell still busting the Unions by dising the SCC!
http://bettysearlyedition.blogspot.com/2007/02/bettys-final-submissions-to-madam.html
Remember the dangerous Ecoterrorist Betty Krawczyk and her words to Madam Justice Brown The Supreme Court of BC Feb. 19, 2007
"The quest for justice in BC is not cheap. Not when a citizen is up against large corporations and government bodies such as Kietwit and Sons and Gordon Campbell, through the Minister of Transportation of BC"
Shameful and dispicable by putting Betty Krawczyk in prison for 10 months, this is our future with TILMA? Time for a peaceful F.I.S.T!
Olivia
4 years ago
contempt of court
Is Campbell in contempt of court by continuing to fire workers?
morechatter
4 years ago
Its A Real Heartbreaker
Campbells a [EDITED FOR LIBEL CONCERN. PLEASE REVIEW OUR GUIDELINES. THANKS -TYEE EDITOR], Double
Deal Maker and don't you dare mess around with him because he's the Rule maker and thats sad real sad and whats even more of a heartbreaker is our Canadian Culture is going down the drain.