Wage subsidies for strikebreakers and no premium pay at the LCBO -- Dispatches from the bailouts

Locked out co-op workers picket in January

In yet more evidence that the coronavirus bailouts in Canada are being constructed to heavily favour the interests of big business and the corporations, Unifor is calling out the federal government for a loophole in the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) that allows it to be used to subsidize scab labour. 

There is apparently nothing in the legislation (Bill C-14) that prevents companies from using the wage subsidy of up to $847 per week per employee to hire or contract out for strikebreakers. Using scabs during strikes -- which should be made illegal at all times -- undermines collective bargaining and the power of workers. When profitable corporations can continue to operate during a strike, they have little incentive to bargain in good faith.

Jerry Dias, Unifor National President, said "Companies that have chosen to use scabs to prolong labour disputes should not benefit from the scarce emergency funds designed to help legitimately struggling businesses and organizations. COVID-19 financial support should not be used to weaken workers' bargaining power."

This should be perfectly obvious, but governments are much more interested in keeping the economy going than they are in treating workers fairly.

In its press release Unifor points to:

...the example of Federated Co-operatives Limited (FCL) in Saskatchewan, where the company has locked out refinery workers for 144 days and has flown in scab labourers and housed them in cramped conditions. The local community has expressed concern that the scab camp is a health risk during the COVID-19 pandemic.
FCL recently rejected recommendations to end the dispute from independent mediators appointed by the provincial government. Unifor says employers like these can't be rewarded with federal CEWS funds.
"Co-op's repeated refusal to compromise has been made possible by its use of scabs," said Dias. "If those scabs are subsidized with federal CEWS cash, the government will further tip the balance in favour of a company that saw over $2 billion in profits between 2018 and 2019."

Meanwhile in Ontario, despite the publicly owned alcohol retailer the LCBO having been deemed an "essential service" thereby forcing its workers to work under dangerous conditions, LCBO management is refusing calls for a pandemic pay premium.

It was recently announced that frontline healthcare workers would receive a $4.00 an hour wage increase -- long overdue though likely only temporary -- but LCBO workers are not getting any extra pay even though the LCBO is bringing in "record sales" according to the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) that represents them.

In an OPSEU press release:

First Vice-President/Treasurer Eduardo (Eddy) Almeida says the rot at the LCBO starts at the top, pointing out that LCBO President and CEO, Dr. George Soleas, takes home a reported annual salary of $560K plus benefits.
"Mr. Soleas is sitting comfortably in his ivory tower, making record profits off the backs of hardworking employees who are risking their lives," says Almeida. "Since the LCBO has seen a windfall in profits during this pandemic, Soleas and all the other LCBO managers are anticipating hefty bonuses, while all the essential workers get is a sneering brush off."

This is clearly wrong, especially given that the LCBO is public.

Always remember that "We are all in this together" is more rhetoric than reality.

 

OPSEU President Thomas calls on businesses to "send workers home for the next two weeks with full pay"

Yesterday we reported on calls by European left and workers' parties that governments intervene to ensure that any emergency measures taken to fight the coronavirus are not at the expense of or on the backs of working people. These included demands that workers not lose pay when being quarantined or if their businesses are forced to shut down. They further included such demands as ending foreclosures and utility disconnections during the crisis.

These calls in Europe were joined  by the  World Federation of Trade Unions, "on behalf of its 100 million members all over the world", in a statement that also said that no worker should lose their job in the coming days and weeks.

Today Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) President Warren (Smokey) Thomas called on "the province's business leaders to send workers home for the next two weeks with full pay." He said further that this needs to include part-time and precarious workers. "We must do this to help stop the spread of this disease. This is not the time to be thinking about bottom lines; this is a call to arms in a battle of a generation."

He noted that this "is a global epidemic, and everyone has to do their part to ensure public safety. Government and the taxpayer can't be the only ones making sacrifices."

Thomas is completely correct here. Millions of Canadians are a couple of paychecks away from being in serious financial trouble and it is possible that millions of workers will have to stay home from work at some point during this crisis. Allowing workers to do this now without fear of losing their jobs or incomes could both greatly aid in stopping the spread of the virus and prevent catastrophic personal consequences for hundreds of thousands of people facing bankruptcy and even homelessness.

If businesses won't step up to the plate and do this voluntarily, they should be compelled to do so by our elected officials and governments at all levels. This needs to happen not just in Ontario but across the country.

See also: We need disciplined, socialist solutions to the coming capitalist coronavirus crisis

We need to keep "kicking" the Ford government now that it is down despite what OPSEU President says

In an almost unbelievable press release today Ontario Public Service Employees Union President Warren Thomas said the union would "stand down" from picketing Ford Fest this weekend.

Why?  According to Thomas "Ford Fest is a chance for real people to have a hamburger and a conversation with Ford – we think the people might even talk some sense into him." Thomas states further “It’s never good when the premier of your province is so unpopular that he gets booed out of a celebration. I’m not at all surprised; a lot of Ford’s policies have hurt a lot of people. But I’m not one to kick him while he’s down, either.”

While Thomas is certainly correct that Ford's vicious, silver spoon, anti-worker austerity agenda has "hurt a lot of people", now as the Ford government reels from backlash to its brutality and ugliness and as Ford's popularity plummets is exactly when we need to keep "kicking" him and his government on all fronts.

This silly notion that somehow people are going to "talk sense" into Ford over a hamburger -- or at a meeting at Queen's Park for that matter --  is beyond farcical. The idea that we should somehow feel bad for Ford or give him a break because he is "down" is entirely wrong-headed. Both these ideas are based on the false fantasy that Ford and his ilk can be reasoned with and made to see the harm they doing.

They know the harm they are doing. Their agenda is completely based around doing harm in the interests of corporations and the wealthy. The only thing that is going to stop them is an unrelenting mass mobilization and protests in the streets that will work to destabilize and demoralize their government and force them to retreat.

Let's make sure that the Ford government keeps going down until there is nowhere further for them to fall. Their total defeat and making it as hard as possible for them to govern should be the only goal. They are waging class war against the people of Ontario. We need to be waging a class war against them as well.

What you need to know about the Molson Coors boycott

320 Molson Coors workers at the Carlingview Drive brewery in Toronto are on strike. The company is calling for significant concessions from workers in terms of wages, pensions and benefits to offset an apparent, and likely temporary, downturn in sales.

These concessions are unacceptable and part of the broader push to punish workers for the mistakes of management and to drive down wages, pensions and benefits whenever possible to maximize profits and CEO salaries.

Molson Coors workers have rejected the concessions and are on strike. They need our solidarity and support.

OPSEU and others have issued a call to boycott Molson Coors products during the strike. This is a boycott that we should absolutely embrace. Historically consumer boycotts have aided in pressuring corporations to back down in such circumstances before and it is one of the few tools available to people broadly to show solidarity with workers and take action.

But while you might think it is easy to identify and boycott Molson Coors products, their line is much bigger than the ones we would all immediately think of like Molson Canadian or Coors Light.

As a large, international corporation Molson Coors has a wide number of brand names under its umbrella that do not actually use the names Molson or Coors.

To aid in the cause of a successful boycott, here is a complete list of their products taken from their website. Please boycott them all until the strike has been resolved.

Signature Brews:

Apatinsko

Bergenbier

Borsodi

Blue Moon

Carling

Cobra

Coors Banquet

Coors Light

Doom Bar

Jelen

Kamenitza

Keystone Light

Miller Genuine Draft

Miller High Life

Miller Lite

Molson Canadian

Molson Export

Nikšićko

Ožujsko

Rickard’s Red

Staropramen

Specialty Brews:

Astika

Astika Dark

Barmen

Batch 19

Bergenbier Fresh Grapefruit

Bergenbier Fresh Lemon

Bergenbier Non-Alcoholic

Bergenbier Unfiltered

Black Horse

Black Ice

Bohemian

Borsodi Bivaly

Borsodi Fresh Apple

Borsodi Fresh Blackcurrant-Lime

Borsodi Fresh Elderflower

Borsodi Fresh Elderflower Zero

Borsodi Fresh Grapefruit

Borsodi Fresh Grapefruit Zero

Borsodi Fresh Lemon

Borsodi Fresh Lemon Zero

Borsodi Fresh Raspberry

Borsodi Póló

Borsodi Super Dry

Braník 11

Braník Lager

Braník Light

Burgasko

Caffrey’s

Carling Cherry Cider

Carling Cider

Carling Cider Lime & Mint

Carling Orchard Fruits Cider

Carling Zest Citrus

Carling Zest Red Berries

Chalky’s Bark

Chalky’s Bite

Cobra King

Cobra Zero

Colorado Native

Coors Non-Alcoholic

Crispin Original Cider

Crispin Pacific Pear Cider

Creemore Springs Kellerbier

Creemore Springs Lot 9

Creemore Springs Premium Lager

Creemore Springs urBock

Easy Tea Co. Hard Iced Tea

Extra Gold Lager

Franciscan Well Blarney Blonde

Franciscan Well Friar Weisse

Franciscan Well Rebel Lager

Franciscan Well Rebel Red

Franciscan Well Shandon Stout

Granville Island Brewing Cypress Honey Lager

Granville Island Brewing English Bay Ale

Granville Island Brewing Island Lager

Henry Weinhard's

Henry's Hard Soda

Herman Joseph's Private Reserve

Hop Valley

India Beer

Jelen Cool

Jelen Fresh Blackcurrant & Lime

Jelen Fresh Grapefruit

Jelen Fresh Lemon

Kamenitza Dark

Kamenitza Dark Cherry

Kamenitza Fresh Elderflower & Lemon

Kamenitza Fresh Grapefruit

Kamenitza Fresh Lemon

Kamenitza Non-Alcoholic

Keystone Ice

Keystone Lager

Keystone V9

Laurentide

Leinenkugel's

Leinenkugel's Light

Leinenkugel's Shandy

Mad & Noisy Hops and Bolts

Mad Jack

Mickey's

Miller64

Milwaukee's Best

Molson Canadian 67

Molson Canadian Cider

Molson Canadian Stone Fruit Cider

Molson Canadian Cold Shots

Molson Canadian Light

Molson Dry

Molson Exel

Molson Golden

Molson Ice

Molson Stock Ale

Molson XXX

Nikšićko Cool Grapefruit

Nikšićko Cool Lemon

Nikšićko Dark

Nikšićko Gold

Noroc

Noroc Strong

Old Style Pilsner

Old Vienna

Ostravar

Ostravar Premium

Ostravar Unfiltered

Ožujsko Cool

Ožujsko Dark Cherry

Ožujsko Grapefruit

Ožujsko Lemon

Ožujsko Super Dry

Revolver Brewing

Saint Archer

Sharp’s Atlantic

Sharp’s Cornish Coaster

Sharp’s Cornish Pilsner

Sharp’s Orchard

Sharp’s Own

Sharp’s Special

Sharp’s Wolf Rock

Standard Lager

Staropramen 11

Staropramen Cool Cherry

Staropramen Cool Lemon

Staropramen Dark

Staropramen Déčko

Staropramen Granát

Staropramen Ležák

Staropramen Non-Alcoholic

Staropramen Sládkova Limonáda Apple

Staropramen Sládkova Limonáda

Staropramen Unfiltered

Terrapin

Third Shift Amber Lager

Tomislav

Vratislav

Winterfest

Worthington’s Creamflow

Worthington’s White Shield

Zima

Zumbida Mango

Just what is going on with Canada's labour movement leadership?

The last few weeks have seen a series of what are seemingly truly perplexing moves and actions by some of the country's most important labour leaders.

Among these are:

• The Toronto & York Region District Labour Council inviting the Liberal federal Labour Minister to march in a place of pride and prominence at Toronto's Labour Day Parade.
• The CLC inviting Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to speak at their Young Workers Summit just days after his Finance Minister said that young workers need to get used to the 'reality' of precarious work. CLC leader Hassan Yussuff and the CLC both then made statements belittling young workers who protested this talk and Q&A at the summit. 
• It was revealed that UNIFOR leader Jerry Dias gave a $300 donation to Kellie Leitch's campaign for the leadership of the Conservative Party for "personal reasons" despite not just her terrible views regarding labour and union rights but also the fact that her campaign is centred around racist dog-whistle style policies relating to immigration and being 'Canadian'
• It was revealed that OPSEU hired a 'union avoidance' lawyer whose slogan was “At Vella Labour Law we fight unions hard. We fight to win.” to combat the union representing its own internal workers! 

Each and every one of these actions are awful and reprehensible in their own right, though the final one -- coming especially as it does from the union led by the pseudo-sanctimonious Warren 'Smokey' Thomas whose highlights include an outrageous attack on left-wing "white wine swilling elitists" during the 2014 provincial election and a de facto endorsement of Tim Hudak over Kathleen Wynne for Premier -- takes hypocrisy to a new level. 

Hopefully Smokey was cracking a good old-fashioned crappy Bud as his union called a management lawyer to try to attack its own workers who are now taking legal action over allegations of:

“bullying,” “intimidation,” “retaliation,” “threats,” “surveillance,” unjustified suspensions, firings, disciplinary actions and investigations intended to harass members, after 12 staff were suspended and four terminated in the wake of contract negotiations last summer.

I think Smokey's days of lecturing anyone about anything related to worker's rights or 'elitism' can be officially said to be at an end.

What connects all of these incidents and leaders, however, is an obvious detachment from the principles they allege to support -- such as living wages or a serious restructuring of the economy --and their actual actions.

There is nothing new about this. It becomes apparent in almost all elections on every level.

That same Toronto & York District Labour Council who invited the Liberal minister, for example, released a meaningless municipal political platform in Toronto in 2014 that was not worth the paper it was printed on as they went on to endorse a series of candidates who were often liberals and none of whom actually seriously committed to the platform in anyway.

In fact, everyone of the candidates they endorsed who subsequently got elected voted for right-wing Mayor John Tory's first budget! 

One of their endorsements for council, Shelley Carroll, is now getting ready to run for the profoundly corrupt and anti-labour Liberal government in Ontario. John Cartwright, the council's leader, is very comfortable with a liberal political agenda and has proven this time and again, regardless of what other campaigns and policies he and the council purport to support.

The juxtaposition of alleged principle with craven practice really does seem to both flow from a desire to preserve personal positions of power while putting the very narrow interests of specific and already existing union members ahead of the broader agenda for workers and those living in poverty that Canadian labour claims to advocate for.

It is a contradiction that -- along with the often vicious infighting among all of these leaders -- is coming into sharp focus and that deeply undermines the overall struggle for a real worker's rights agenda and politics.

See also: The CLC and the Liberals - Pandering to power

See also: 42-2: John Tory, Toronto City Council and the austerity consensus