Par Ken Georgetti on mercredi, 25 novembre 2009

(Check Against Delivery)

Sisters and Brothers, it is my honour to bring you greetings of solidarity from the Officers and the 3.2 million workers who are members of the Canadian Labour Congress.

And it is my pleasure to be back in British Columbia – my home province – and to escape from Ottawa.

Do you have any idea of just how absolutely freezing Ottawa gets?

How cold is Ottawa? It’s so cold, one of the warmest things you can find in Ottawa is Stephen Harper’s smile!

Now that’s cold!

I want to thank my friends Jim Sinclair and Angie Schira and all your affiliates for the invitation to speak to you today.

But I have to say that I don’t envy the job they have ahead of them because of the unbelievably bad Gordon Campbell BC Liberal government.

Sisters and Brothers, as a British Columbian it is totally unacceptable that our wealthy province has for six straight years had the worst child poverty levels in all of Canada!

Premier Campbell – you should be ashamed.

And it is absolutely disgusting that British Columbia has the lowest minimum wage in Canada!

Premier – you should be embarrassed.

We can – and we will – force this government to listen to working people when they say minimum wages must be raised – and our children must be raised out of child poverty!

While I’m happy to be back in BC – I am also deeply saddened by recent events in our labour movement.

The raid by the BC Nurses Union on Licensed Practical Nurses represented by the Hospital Employees’ Union and the BCGEU is wrong in every way.

I speak more in sorrow than in anger – because the BC Nurses Union has had a proud history of working in solidarity with all unions.

But today, that solidarity is badly broken.

The BCNU is not organizing workers who need representation – it is trying to take existing members away from other unions – unions that pride themselves on organizing so many unorganized workers in health care, particularly women and immigrant workers.

I say to the Executive of the BC Nurses Union – this is dividing our movement and this is eroding our solidarity.

The CLC has imposed tough sanctions on the BCNU – it is now isolated from the rest of labour, banned from participating in the CLC Winter School, our labour councils and other activities.

And their members cannot be seated at this Convention.

The only beneficiaries of this raid are the right-wing BC Liberal government and employers – not union members, not unorganized workers and definitely not our labour movement.

It is still not too late to restore solidarity.

There is always time to do the right thing and stop and be welcomed back into the house of labour. 

We will never deliver the union advantage to the millions of women and men who need us now more than ever, by being divided.

We also need to change how we do things in the labour movement to be able to grow our movement in these changing and fast-paced times.

Delegates at the last CLC convention took a step in that direction by voting in favour of a resolution to restructure central labour bodies.

The task is large, but the reward could be great.

In the internet age of instant news and information, Facebook, Twitter, iphones, ipods and youtube, we need to embrace new ways of delivering campaigns, of organizing, of bringing the message of the union advantage to a broader audience.

With so much competing for the attention and time of our activists, we need to look at different ways to engage more people in our activities.
So I look forward to the continued work of the Commission on Structure – and encourage your affiliates to participate in that work.

I also want to express our solidarity with some union locals here in BC.

Handy Dart drivers who provide transportation to people with disabilities are not behind the wheel but on the picket line – because an American employer is demanding major concessions and because TransLink created a situation where the lowest bid is more important than the best service to citizens of this province.

Members of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1724 have all of our support in this strike for a fair contract.

The Ambulance Paramedics of BC, CUPE Local 873, have been treated disgracefully by the Campbell government.

The government may be able to impose a contract – but it cannot fix the problems of the Ambulance Service without dealing fairly with paramedics – so do it immediately!

On an even more somber note, in just days we mark the 20th anniversary of the terrible Montreal massacre of 14 young women students at École Polytechnique on December 6, 1989.

Prior to this sad anniversary, the CLC has launched a postcard campaign – “20 days, 20 ways” – calling on Stephen Harper to take action now to end violence against women – please go to the CLC web site – canadianlabour.ca – to join.

It is an even more important campaign now in light of a recent vote in the House of Commons to dismantle the gun registry, a vital tool that helps reduce violence against women.

I have to say, for a Prime Minister who is so in favour of law and order, it is unbelievable that he has allowed a backbencher to put forward a private members bill with the full support of his caucus, that would dismantle a tool that police use over 10,000 times a day to help keep our communities safe.

So we’re working to change that when this bill comes up for a final vote.

We can’t let public safety lose out.

Well, as you all know, these are troubled economic times.

That’s why it pays to listen to good working class investment advice – not the high-falutin advice you get from guys in $4,000 suits with red suspenders.

Here’s why – if you had invested $1,000 in Lear Corporation at the beginning of 2008, it would now be worth just $18.04.

The same $1,000 invested in the AIG Group in 2008 would only be worth $11.82.

Put that $1,000 into Nortel Networks and your shares would now be valued at only $8.40 – you would have lost $991 dollars and 60 cents!
 
But the working person’s advice is simple and effective – buy and drink $1,000 worth of Molson's Canadian beer.

You’ll feel better about tough times for weeks – and after that – the deposit on all those empty beer bottles is still worth more than any of those other shares – a massive $60!

So my advice to you is keep your assets liquid – and always recycle!

But while it’s amusing to think about investments this way, there is a very serious problem when empty beer bottles are worth more than what were once blue-chip stocks.

I want to talk to you today about what is becoming one of the most important and the most troubling issue in Canada – the fate of our pensions.

It’s about whether workers will be able to retire with dignity, respect and security in their old age or whether they will face poverty, uncertainty and humiliation.

Sisters and Brothers, the sad truth is that our economy is rewarding greed and incompetence, and ignoring need. 

So who do the big media blame for the crisis?

Not the bankers. Not the CEOs. Not the wealthy – who all created this mess.

No – the big media blame – surprise! – unions!

Here’s what right-wing newspapers like the National Post say about public sector pensions – and I quote: 

“Why do these giant public pension plans exist? They are, essentially, wealth confiscated by governments.”

“Hydro workers, police, municipal employees, teachers. All are set to receive relatively lavish pensions paid for by Canadian taxpayers.”

Ah yes, to be a retired unionized worker – flying to Monaco for the winter, washing and waxing the red Ferrari, golf at the exclusive country club, daily manicure and pedicure – and all thanks to the lavish pension provided by taxpayers!

What a bad joke!

It’s outrageous that the media attack the hard-working people who built this country and deserve every last penny of their pensions.

But let me say, that when this crisis is over and after all the bailout money is gone, workers get ready.

Because we will be the ones they’ll want to make pay for it.

And they’ll want public sector workers to pay even more – with their jobs and their hard-won benefits.

But the greedy, incompetent CEOs who are robbing our economy and who are stealing the future from retiring workers can’t do it alone – they have to have help.

So who’s driving the getaway car?

Right-wing governments that won’t regulate the financial markets, that won’t stop corporate executives from being grossly overpaid.

Right-wing governments who make taxpayers bail out companies that slash pension plans that workers had thought were safe for their retirement.

It’s time we sent those right-wing governments a clear message – you work for us – for ordinary Canadians – not for big business!

And if they don’t get that message – we have to make them pay – at the ballot box!

That’s why the Canadian Labour Congress is working with federations of labour, affiliates and labour councils to do exactly that – use the ballot box to make sure local, provincial and the federal government pay more attention to the needs of working people.

And it’s working.

In the past few years the CLC and our labour councils helped elect more than 800 labour-endorsed mayors, city councillors and school trustees across the country.

Right here in BC we have mayors like Gregor Robertson of Vancouver, Derek Corrigan of Burnaby, Darrell Mussatto of North Vancouver, Dean Fortin of Victoria, Dan Rogers of Prince George and dozens more elected with the strong support of labour councils. 

Federally, we still have more work to do but through carefully targeting ridings with large numbers of union workers, the CLC and affiliates helped our ally – the New Democratic Party – win its second highest number of Members of Parliament ever.

And in New Westminster-Coquitlam we can add Fin Donnelly to the NDP ranks after this month’s by-election win!

And believe me, we need more elected officials standing up for working people than ever before with this economic crisis.

Because we haven’t spent all of our working lives as union members building job security, earning a decent pension to retire on and fighting for labour rights to make our workplaces fair and safe – we haven’t done all that to see it just thrown away in a moment.

The financial disaster and the unprecedented rip-off of workers by corporations are why the CLC is demanding action by the federal government on three key points:

First - Fix the broken employment insurance program.

Working with the NDP federal caucus and our affiliates, we’ve forced the Harper government to take a big first step – by extending benefits for about 190,000 long-term workers who have lost their jobs – but much more is needed. 

Second – Get serious about creating and supporting Canadian jobs with industrial strategies, social infrastructure investment, and procurement policies that support industries and jobs in Canada.

Third – and this is a big priority for the CLC – it’s time to radically improve the Canada Pension Plan – which really is our country’s largest defined benefit plan and covers 93% of working Canadians.

The Canadian Labour Congress proposes doubling CPP benefits over seven years – so that it can gradually replace the underperforming RRSP industry.

We won’t get there overnight, to be sure.

But we will get there if we persevere and if we can change public opinion – from the current attitude that your retirement income is your own personal responsibility – to one where – just like with public health care – Canadians believe that retiring with dignity and security is a right in a society as wealthy as ours. 

We have had some early successes – the changes federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced recently to reduce pension contribution “holidays” in federally-regulated plans are positive – but not nearly enough to help most Canadians.

And we are pleased there will be a pension summit between the federal and provincial governments in December in Whitehorse – we will be pushing them for immediate action – not more talk.

But most Canadians don’t have a pension plan that’s in trouble – because most Canadians don’t even have a pension!

That’s why we need to move quickly to improve the Canada Pension Plan.

And because so many workplace pensions, including public sector pension plans, are integrated with CPP benefits, a better CPP means more money could be available at the bargaining table to improve overall pension benefits. 

Or improve other benefits for members.

And we know we can do this.

Because we did it before – back in the 1960s.

The Canadian Labour Congress and unions across the country worked for a national public health care system that guaranteed every citizen access to basic medical services.

Even though many unions had won good health insurance plans for their members, they understood the advantage that comes from a good safety net for everyone.

We can do the same with pensions so that people can live the last years in dignity after a lifetime of work.

Let me tell you a short story about how important the pension issue has become.

I recently spoke at a protest held by Nortel workers who are facing terrible cuts of up to 30% of their existing pensions because their plan was underfunded and the company was allowed to get away with it.

But what’s even worse is that over 400 Nortel workers who are literally sick – those on long-term disability– may be completely cut off from any disability benefits at all.

To meet women with disabilities crying because they will be driven into poverty on top of suffering from chronic illness is heartbreaking – and it is infuriating.

It makes me incredibly angry – but it also makes me more determined than ever that our labour movement must fight for pension changes – fight until we are successful and fight until no one faces such a terrible future!

Sisters and Brothers, these are just some of the steps that we must take to begin our economic recovery.

Because we must begin transforming our economy – from one based on greed to one based on need.

So please join us as our labour movement fights for a new and fair economy – an economy where everyone benefits, not just the wealthy.

Thank you for listening and have a great convention!