December 1997 - CAW Local 4304

The Informer 1
December 1997
Kitchener Ontario
Vol. 6 Issue 6
Watch your hours!
Driver Training Survey - The
response to this survey was very
poor. Does this mean:
• No one reads The Informer.
• Our members are not
interested in learning about
changes related to our jobs.
• Most of our drivers are happy
with the trinkets the city gives
them for their hard work.
For the operators who
believe the safety award system
has merit, I would strongly
recommend talking to operator
Harold Klooster. Your
perspective of the award system
may change if you are made
aware of how his accident during
inclement weather was deemed
preventable!
Hours of Work - Do I have to
work extended service? There is
a provision in our contract that
allows the corporation to assign
work on a reverse seniority basis
if enough drivers are not
available.
There are however maximum
hours that we should not exceed
for safety reasons and also to
avoid personnel liability.
Employment Standards - The
maximum number of hours we
are allowed to work, with our
excess hours permit is; 12 hours a
day and 60 hours a week.
This act also allows our
employer to require us to stay and
work in an emergency situation,
such as an accident. (This doesn't
include a busy period such as
Christmas.)
If you are assigned work that
puts you over the maximum,
inform management that the extra
hours are a safety/regulation
issue.
The Ministry of Labour
doesn't monitor these on a regular
basis but if you are seriously
injured they will investigate and
could press charges.
Highway Traffic Act - We
provide service to Waterloo so
technically we are an intercity
bus service and we must abide by
their hours of work.
Requirements
A driver may not drive a
truck or bus after having :
- driven for 13 hours; or
- been on duty for 15 hours,
- without first taking 8
consecutive hours off duty.
A driver may not drive a
truck or bus after having been on
duty for :
- 60 hours in 7 consecutive
days; or
- 70 hours in 8
consecutive days.
A driver may exceed the on
duty time up to 2 hours due to
unexpected road conditions such
as adverse weather.
(Continued on page 2)
Trudy Mayne reports on the Social Club
Picnic. See page 10.
In this issue:
Learning from
teachers
3
Media Watch
4
Informer wins
6
Social Club Picnic
reports and more...
10
2 December z 1997
Note: These are only highlights.
Refer to the Highway Traffic Act
for the full details.
I would not to exceed these
hours. Our employer has to keep
records of our hours and they can
be audited by the Ministry of
Transportation Ontario (M.T.O.)
at any time. If you are involved in
an accident and the investigation
finds you are working excessive
hours, you could face severe
fines.
These are only the maximum
hours you should not exceed, if
you want to know what hours you
are obliged to work and how,
please read your union contract.
If you have any questions
about the contract, ask one of
your union stewards or formally
request information at a union
meeting.
Winter Driving - Can I refuse to
drive if the road conditions are
bad? Yes, but this doesn't mean
you phone in and say you can't
come to work if it's snowing.
(Unless the roads are closed.)
The first thing you must do
when you get to an unsafe section
of road is to contact a supervisor
and inform him/her of the
situation.
The weather can change fast
and our routes cover large areas,
so our supervisors may not be
aware of any problems. Give the
supervisor a chance to correct the
problem by finding a temporary
alternate route or by getting a
road crew to the area.
If road conditions deteriorate
quickly we could possibly end up
sitting for short periods until the
road crews have time to respond.
If you have concerns about
using the expressway in
Milestones
Contributors
20 Years
Local 4304 members helping out
with this issue were:
Warren Bell
January 16, 1978
Don Robinson
January 16, 1978
inclement weather ask the
supervisor for alternate routing.
This road tends to turn into a
parking lot in bad weather and
getting stuck in traffic will serve
no useful purpose.
Note: Do not go off route
without permission.
The driver does bear the
majority of the responsibility for
the operation of the bus and the
safety of the passengers. With
this in mind you will have to
decide if the conditions allow you
to continue on safely.
If you are told to continue
under conditions that you feel are
not safe, you can refuse, under
Sec:43 of the Health & Safety
Act.
This would be my last option
and then the proper procedure
must be used (posted). You must
also request that your safety/
union rep. investigate your
complaint.
Your main objective in
inclement weather should be to
deliver your passengers to their
destination SAFELY.
Warren Bell
Wayne Bell
Laszlo Bori
Jim Charters
Bo Czernewcan
Jacky Eng
Rudy Grosz
Greg Jahn
Trudy Mayne
Paul Mennie
Teresa Robertson
Jeff Summerfield
Policy Statement
The Informer is a publication of
CAW Local 4304, and is intended to
educate and inform the members. The
views expressed are those of the
writer and not necessarily those of the
CAW or Local 4304. The newsletter
committee reserves the right to edit
for clarity or fact. Material of a sexist,
racist or defamatory nature
Jim Charters
will not be printed.
http://www.golden.net/~wbell/informer.html
The Informer 3
Learning from the teachers
What makes the teachers’
strike so "political" isn’t that it’s
against the government or that it
may be "illegal", but that it’s
about the very way we think
about politics.
A government gets elected on
a promise of tax cuts to be paid
for out of reductions in social
programs and restraints on the
incomes of public sector
workers. But in the course of the
election, that government-to-be
also promises that health care
and education won’t be
negatively affected. Once in
power, it not only cuts these
services, but does it to a degree
that guarantees long term
damage. In the case of
education, it restructures the
process of decision-making so
that parents, educational
workers, teachers, and
neighbourhoods are effectively
excluded. When people say
"wait-a-second, this kind of
government-by-fast-forward is
blurring things and we want
some real input into our lives",
the government essentially tells
us that when the election ended,
so did our input.
For the Tories, the
development of our kids is
reduced to a business problem:
top-down control, bottom-line
dollar targets, assembly-line
production. Thanks to the
teachers, a province-wide debate
is taking place about resisting that
kind of common-cents revolution.
The Tories can’t win this debate,
because a shift in the public mood
has taken place. We’re no longer
arguing about deficits but about
the quality of our communities
and social services. On this kind
of terrain, the Tories have no
credibility.
The Tories are going down;
the only question is how much
damage they can do before
they’re swept away.
If the Tories are losing public
support, the teachers are gaining.
Classes may be closed, but the
teachers are passing on the most
important lesson of all: if we
wake up and take democracy
seriously, if we take risks for
democracy, we at least have a
chance of changing things.
Whatever the immediate results,
in the process we change
ourselves and future possibilities.
I don’t think any of us should
underestimate what that means.
It’s pretty clear that teachers
are, as a result of this conflict and
the support they’ve gotten,
different people than they were a
few years ago. High school kids,
often stereotyped as apathetic,
have emerged as articulate and
concerned citizens ready to take
stands and speak out.
I can’t think of any other
time - including the sixties - that
we’ve seen this kind of activism
at the high school level (listening
to them on television,
overhearing them on picket lines
or demonstrations, sharing
stories from discussions around
family kitchen tables, should
impress all of us as much as any
testing scores). Parents,
inconvenienced and frustrated,
walk picket lines and bring
coffee to the teachers they
normally only see on parents’
nights or school functions,
asserting not just a joint
solidarity but a shared
community.
Meanwhile, the strike. There
is a way to end it quickly. It
means recognizing that the issue
of education has reached a level
of controversy and debate in this
province that can’t be resolved by
the heavy-hand of governmentimposed injunctions to silence
protest. It means replacing threats
of fines with something really
radical - democracy. Why not
announce a postponement of any
action on the Bill and the cuts
until after a referendum of the
people of the province. Now
wouldn’t that be a common-sense
resolution.
Buzz Hargrove
Toronto Star
October 29, 1997
4 December z 1997
Media Watch
Embarrassing
bus system will
likely get
worse
jurisdictions.
It’s why, after years of
reports and the blather they
spawn, there is still no logical,
affordable connection between
Cambridge Transit and Kitchener
the full cost of transit on
municipalities, giving them more
reason to reduce what they have
alone than improve what they
could have together.
I’d sooner move than
commute — even at a discount.
The Record, Brian Caldwell
Column, Sept 25, 1997
I sympathize with everybody
who must commute by public
transit from Cambridge to
Kitchener-Waterloo or the other
way around.
Using our patchwork bus
system is more work than work.
Getting there in what
amounts to one large urban area
involves patronage of two
municipal services, with their
requisite transfers, plus a private
bus company.
It’s terribly convoluted and,
by public transit standards,
prohibitively expensive.
Someone commuting from
the south end of Kitchener to the
north end of Waterloo would pay
$17.50 in cash fares a week.
The same person commuting
from south Kitchener to north
Cambridge, conceivably a much
shorter distance, would have to
fork out $66.65 a week.
I defy anybody to exercise
the common sense so much in
fashion these days to justify the
wild discrepancy between those
two numbers.
It simply can’t be done.
The only explanation is the
antithesis of common sense —
overlapping government
Transit.
It’s also why the latest
proposal on the table is a sorry
excuse for the kind of useful,
efficient link bus users actually
need.
When representative of the
two municipal services and
Trentway-Wagar met Wednesday
to discuss a breakthrough, they
were really only talking about a
discount.
Instead of paying three
parties to make one trip, riders
would have to pay two. The
municipal service in the point of
destination would, in effect,
waive its fare under a transfer
system.
Big Deal. Users stuck with
the same old hassles would get a
price break of about 25 per cent.
Using the scenario above,
that commuter from south
Kitchener to north Cambridge
would still pay almost $50 a
week.
It’s better than nothing, but
it’s no solution to a gap that
should embarrass us every time
we look at a map.
The province will soon dump
Transit link
approved
The Record, Council Briefs,
October 15, 1997
Kitchener city council has
agreed to a trial link between the
Kitchener and Cambridge transit
systems.
The intent is to make public
transportation more convenient
for people travelling between
Cambridge and KitchenerWaterloo.
The next project involves the
co-operation of the two transit
systems and Trentway-Wager
Inc., a private bus line that runs
between K-W and Cambridge.
The trial program would
allow Trentway-Wagar
passengers to use their tickets as
transfers to board a bus at either
the Kitchener or Cambridge bus
terminals.
The next project is still
awaiting the approval of
Cambridge council, which is
expected to discuss the issue in
the near future.
The Informer 5
Transit has
been ignored
Bake Sale and
other monies
The Record, November 6, 1997
Letters to the Editor
In all the campaign literature
I’ve received so far, not one
candidate has made any
commitment to public transit.
There are many new areas in
Kitchener-Waterloo that have no
regular transit service and this
restricts many people as to where
they can live, work and shop.
Many of the city’s new parks and
other facilities are also out of the
way of transit routes.
Are less affluent people such
as part-time workers, students
and seniors on fixed incomes
going to have freedom to travel
around our cities in the future?
Now that the government has
reduced funding for transit, do we
have any candidates who are
committed to expanding public
transit?
Thanks to all the people who
participated, our Bake Sale was a
great success. This was the ‘Kick
Off ‘ for the Civic Contribution
Committee, formally known as
the United Way Campaign. The
Committee was debating about
having this every year. Your
input on this is appreciated,
please contact Lucy, Kathy or
myself with your ideas.
Total funds raised by the
entire committee was $332.00, of
which $100.00 was raised by
Transit and Fleet! Way to go
Jim Charters
Waterloo guys! Not only did the proceeds
go to help the Food Bank, but we
Compiled and condensed by
also donated the left over baked
Wayne Bell
goods to the teachers on their
picket lines at several local
schools.
Lucy and I give a special
Attend Your
thanks to Dave Falconer, Trudy
Mayne, Wayne Bell, Kathy
Union
Clegg, Graham Perry, and Betty
Meetings.
Warren for all your baked
Next Meetings: donations. We also want to thank
Ron Pearson for the coffee, and
December 17
all the wonderful people who
January 21
enjoyed a morning treat.
CAW
The total monies given to the
various
charities from Local 4304
Union Hall
came to $7,274.76. Each donor
8:00 p.m.
will be given a tax receipt with
your T4 slip, and the Charity of
your choice will receive their
money in January 1998 with your
name specified as the donor.
I wish to give a special thanks to
Lucy Kruse and Kathy Clegg for
all their dedicated work in
tracking you guys to find out
which charity you preferred to
donate to during your various
shifts.
Jacky Eng
50/50 Draw
September
Parking Spot
Cash
Mike Barreca
Chris Entz
October
Parking Spot
Cash
Wayne Cooper
Mike Barreca
6 December z 1997
We win again!!
talked about the importance of
local unions having a newsletter.
I would like to thank the
membership for sending me to
this conference which enabled me
to take this very informative and
worthwhile course.
I have acquired a video that
was produced for CAW National
called “Fighting Back Makes a
Difference”. It includes film
coverage of the “Days of Action”
in London, Kitchener, and
Hamilton. It can be borrowed by
contacting me.
Photo: Mike Gauthier
In addition, I have updated
Wayne Bell excepts the Division I Layout and Design award from Joss Maclennan
the library contents data file and
at the LUMA 9th Journalistic Excellence Competition at Port Elgin.
posted it at all work locations.
Wayne Bell
The recent LUMA (Local
Union Media Association)
conference that took place in Port
Elgin October 3th, 4th and 5th,
gave me an excellent opportunity
to enhance my skills with
computer knowledge. The course
I took was “Building a web
page.” I found it very
informative. It gave me tools for
building a web page and how to
get ideas from other web page
sources. We touched on the use
of graphics and photos and
scanning images. Also, we took
time to look at other web pages
that have been created by unions
world-wide. Our project at the
end of the workshop was to build
a web page containing all of the
projects from the different
workshops (photography, writing,
desk top publishing etc.) that took
place on the week-end.
There were two very
excellent speakers at the opening
plenary. Marilynne Lesperance, a
negotiator who worked out an
agreement with PC World and
Sean Griffin, editor of The
Fisherman, spoke of the fishers
frustration with the Canadian
Government. They protested by
blockading a U.S. ferry in Prince
Rupert during the summer.
The banquet on Saturday
evening was organized to honor
those publications and web pages
that excelled in several different
categories, including general
excellence, best local union news
story, best feature, best editorial/
column, best brand new
publication, and layout and
design, to name a few. I am
happy to report that our local has
won an award for layout and
design in division #1, newsletters
with a circulation of less than
1000 copies. The key-note
speaker at the banquet was Buzz
Hargrove, CAW President. He
Murphy-like
laws
•
•
•
•
Bedfellow's Rule The one
who snores will fall asleep
first.
Law of indignity No one is
so dignified that a photo
cannot make him or her look
foolish.
Witten's Law Whenever you
cut your finger nails, you'll
find a need for them an hour
later.
The Queue Principle The
longer you stand in line, the
greater the likelihood that
you're standing in the wrong
line.
CALM
The Informer 7
To a Bad Politician
You, who are the politician
regardless of colour and party.
You, who don’t want to listen
because you think it’s not worthy.
You came to the highest spot
where above is only God.
Remember, who put you on this chair,
people to whom you swear.
You, who are at the power
don’t fool people around.
Your words bitter and sour
will go back to your own mouth.
You, who are the politician
making harm to so many
don’t take your job as a mission
you are paid by our money.
All promises which you broke
all the things you twisted
in the record will go
people’s memory won’t miss it.
You, who are the politician
think once again, maybe two
about the things you have done
or more, you have failed to do.
As you took the leadership
of citizens’ lives at large
don’t act low and cheap
cause some day you’ll be judged.
If not by people than by history,
yours won’t be glory or fame
yours will be a big shame
and people will have the victory.
You, who are the politician
full of sick ambition
maybe you are satisfied and well
but, pssst; Listen to the silent scream:
burn in hell!!!
Written by Bo Czernewcan during the teacher’s
strike in Ontario, October/November 1997
Metro Magazine
This prototype of the drivers compartment has a very good layout
design. Notice that all switches and controls are within easy reach.
This drivers area is very similar to the mock-up that C.U.T.A. did in
their study of the driver’s area.
If I had my child to raise
over again
IF I had my child to raise all over again,
I'd fingerpaint more, and point the finger less.
I'd do less correcting, and more connecting.
I'd take my eyes off my watch, and I would watch
with my eyes.
I would care to know less, and know to care more.
I'd take more hikes and fly more kites.
I'd stop playing serious, and seriously play.
I'd run through more fields, and gaze at more stars.
I'd do more hugging, and less bugging.
I would be firm less often, and affirm much more.
I'd build self-esteem first, and the house later.
I'd teach less about the love of power,
And more about the power of love.
CUPW Moncton / CALM
8 December z 1997
Labour laws that come and go
Now you see them, now you
don't. That can happen to some
laws after an election, when a
new government doesn't agree
with the old one.
Many provinces have had
this experience, particularly with
labour laws. However, a recent
case in Ontario has provided a
new twist to this problem -- now
you see it, now you don't, and
now you see it again.
The case of the
disappearing law
The case involved a pay
equity law passed by a previous
government. Pay equity is
designed to make sure that
women are paid equally to men
for the kind of work they do. The
law set up a system where the
jobs of women could be
compared to those of men in the
same workplace.
But what about when there
were no men in comparable jobs?
In some cases, like nursing
homes, so few men worked there
that meaningful comparisons
weren't possible. So the previous,
NDP government added a new
part to the law.
It provided for something
called "proxy comparisons" -comparisons between the jobs of
women in one workplace and the
jobs of men in another. This
meant that 100,000 more women
were covered by pay equity.
But then a new, Tory
government came in and repealed
the proxy law. For some women,
this meant a loss of more than $6
an hour in wages.
So, their union went to court
and asked it to declare that the
government couldn't repeal the
proxy law. They argued that it
violated the Canadian Charter of
Rights, which outlaws
discrimination against women.
Laws must be fair and equal
Fortunately, the judge
agreed. He said the government
could choose whether or not it
wanted to pass a pay equity law
at all. However, once it did, the
law must apply fairly and equally
to everyone who would benefit
from it. He went on to say that
the government could not save
money by selectively removing
pay equity protection from some
of the very women who needed it
most.
As a result, the proxy law is
back in effect. This could mean
up to $484 million a year for
women working in the Ontario
public sector, a real reason to
celebrate.
Some women are holding off
on the champagne for now,
though. The government is likely
to appeal the decision to a higher
court. Women are crossing their
fingers that this bit of legal magic
doesn't disappear again on appeal.
Judith McCormack / CALM
* Judith McCormack is a former
chair of the Ontario Labour
Relations Board, and is now a
lawyer with the firm of Sack,
Goldblatt, Mitchell in Toronto.
Certificate
of Service
Recently, Greg Jahn
was recognized for his
outstanding effort, interest
and ability by the City of
Kitchener, on the Safe City
Committee for 1996.
Congratulations Greg!
Actual
country tunes
* Get Your Tongue Outta My
Mouth 'Cause I'm Kissing You
Goodbye
* She's Got Freckles On Her But
She's Pretty
* You're The Reason Our Kids
Are So Ugly
* How Can I Miss You If You
Won't Go Away?
PPWC Leaflet / CALM
The Informer
Take your
newsletter home!
Share it with
your family!
The Informer 9
Trimming trees and clearing bus stops
The meeting for Sept. 17 was
canceled, and rescheduled for
another day. Unfortunately I was
not invited, therefore I am unable
to give a full report. The other
members reported that Mr.
Anderson did not wish to do
anything about our requests, so
we will try again at the next
meeting.
The minutes of our meetings
are still not posted because there
is no room on the board. The
survey information has taken up
most of the space. My personal
interpretation of the results of the
survey:
1. More frequent service.
2. Cheaper bus fare.
3. Better connections
4. More bus shelters
5. Faster buses
6. More bus routes.
October Meeting:
The minutes of our last
meeting should be posted for all
to read. The lack of power
steering on 96 Flyers is caused by
lack of lubrication. ( Lack of
power steering pump pressure).
Vibration problems are caused by
broken valves. ( Engines running
on 2 or 3 cylinders only). By the
spring those using motorcycles
will have a new parking area in
front of the lunch room. The
Chandler Dr. gate will not be
closed due to too many
complications and
inconveniences.
We looked at new bus bays,
bus stops, upcoming road
closures, trimming of trees, traffic
lights, bus shelters, pedestrian
island refuges, Stanley Park Mall
redesign, and the redesign of
Gaukel Street from City Hall to
Victoria park. We will have the
people from Public Works at our
next meeting, so we can talk
about proper bus stop clearing
during the winter months.
Our meetings have become
quite productive, since all parties
involved are sitting at one table.
If you have any concerns about
operations, please let us know in
writing .
Laszlo Bori
!!
???
Corporate Season's Greetings
The recent announcement
that Donner and Blitzen have
elected to take the early reindeer
retirement package has triggered
a good deal of speculation about
whether they will be replaced,
and
about other restructuring
decisions at the North Pole.
Streamlining was appropriate
in view of the reality that the
North Pole no longer dominates
the season's gift distribution
business. Home shopping
channels and mail order
catalogues have diminished
Santa's market share and he could
not sit idly by and permit further
erosion of his profits.
The reindeer downsizing was
made possible by the purchase of
a late model Japanese sled for the
CEO's annual trip. Improved
productivity from Dasher and
Dancer (who attended a summer
business school) is anticipated,
and should take up the slack
with no discernible loss of
service.
I am pleased to inform you
that Rudolph's role will not be
disturbed. Tradition still counts
for something at the North
Pole. Management denies, in the
strongest possible language, the
earlier leak that Rudolph's nose
got that way from substance
abuse. Calling Rudolph "a lush
who was into the sauce and never
did pull his share of the load,"
was an unfortunate comment,
made
by one of Santa's helpers and
taken out of context.
Today's global challenges
may require the North Pole to
look for further competitive steps.
Until then, I remain faithfully
10 December z 1997
Social Club Picnic
Well, the annual Social Club
Picnic was a success, as usual. It
was held at Ross McCorriston’s
acreage in “St. Agatha,” which, I
might add, was the perfect
setting. The kids and the adults
had a great time as well as the
dogs. The salads were plentiful
and the barbecued burgers were
excellent. We had many chefs
taking turns, proving their worth.
The weather was sunny and
warm for the most part. As the
afternoon sun began to disappear,
a storm rolled in, full force. It
wasn’t enough to ruin the
evening. The die hard picnic
buffs partied on! BRAVO!
Many thanks to all who
participated. Special thanks to
Ross and Cheryl for their
generous hospitality.
Trudy Mayne
The Informer 11
Believe it or not, these appeared in various church bulletins.
1. This afternoon there will be a meeting in the south & north ends of
the church. Children will be baptized at both ends.
2. Tuesday at 4pm there will be an ice cream social. All ladies giving
milk, come early.
3. Wednesday the ladies liturgy society will meet. Mr.Smith will sing,
"Put Me In My LIttle Bed," accompanied by the pastor.
4. Thursday at 5pm there will be a meeting of the little mothers club.
All ladies wishing to be little mothers please meet with the pastor in his
study.
5. This being Easter Sunday, we will ask Mrs.Smith to come forward &
lay an egg at the altar.
6. The service will close with "Little Drops Of Water." One of the ladies
will start quietly & the rest of the congregation will join in.
7. On Sunday, a special collection will be taken to defray the expenses
of the new carpet. All those wishing to do something on the new carpet,
come forward & get a piece of paper.
8. The ladies of the church have cast off clothing of every kind & they
may be seen in the church basement on Friday afternoon.
9. A bean supper will be held on Saturday evening in the church
basement. Music will follow.
10. The rosebud on the altar this morning is to announce the birth of
David Alan Belzer, the sin of Rev. & Mrs. Julius Belzer.
11. Tonight's sermon, What is Hell? Come early & listen to our choir
practice.
12. For those of you who have children & don't know it, we have a
nursery downstairs.
13. Remember in prayer the many who are sick of our church &
community.
14. Potluck supper, prayer & medication to follow.
15. Don't let worry kill you off-- let the church help.
What the
Ontario
teachers won
Ontario teachers may not
have won any concessions from
the government after two weeks
on the picket lines. But they won
the battle for public opinion, and
focussed attention on the Harris
government's proposed changes
to education. Here's how Ontario
Public School Teacher's
Federation president Phyllis
Benedict summed things up at the
end of the two-week strike:
"The government has
denigrated the teaching
profession and education for the
last two years. With our protest,
we've won public respect.
"We've won the support of
parents and the public, and we've
rallied them to our cause.
"We've shown that you can
mount a massive protest through
civil disobedience, and do it
peacefully.
"Finally, we've exposed this
government for what it really
is: a totalitarian regime that
listens to no one but itself."
CALM
Economics 101
The way I see,
it, cutting
wages means
higher
employment. It
follows,
therefore, that
NO WAGES
means FULL
employment, ...
right?
12 December z 1997
The best school in the world
Let me tell you about our
school. It looks like an oversized
shoe box perched above the slag
dumps of the old Nipissing Mine.
The playground is barren and
drab. The school lacks a proper
sized gym. The staff room could
pass for a broom closet.
The desks don't match, there
are no lockers and there's no
money to replace the broken coat
hooks. We won't even go into the
state of the text books and the
library. Or the fact that the
children are always going doorto-door after school to help
fundraise for basic necessities.
School is centre of community
And yet, I can tell you that
our school is the best in the
world. Walk into the building and
you'll find a place brimming
with life. Parents are always in
the halls, old people come in to
help out with the music. Students
seem cheerful and motivated. In
our town of 1,500 the local
school has replaced the church as
the centre of the community. And
it's the teachers who make the
difference.
I must admit that when my
oldest daughter headed off to
Kindergarten I was worried. She
has a severe hearing loss and I
doubted that a small town school
and small town teachers would
have the skill or the time to attend
to her needs. How wrong I was.
The teachers have bent over
backwards to help her.
And yet to hear the Ontario
government talk, you get a
completely different story. The
system is broken. The students
poorly taught. We need to
squeeze out the financial fat and
beat down the powerful teachers
unions or be swamped in the new
global economy. It's time to teach
these little ones to hustle and
compete.
Find a culprit, then get mean
But let's face it, the crisis in
the schools is not about
preparing children for the nasty
nature of globalization. It's
about squeezing more money
from the system and sticking the
front-line workers with the
blame. This tactic has been the
Tory
blueprint for change since they
were elected in Ontario: identify
a culprit (bloated bureaucrats,
welfare cheats, pampered
prisoners), then once you have
the public incensed, promise a
simple, lean-and-mean solution
by cutting programs and laying
off
staff.
But the government made a
big mistake this time. If our
schools are so bad, how will
draining the system of money
make things better? If parents
have little say now in how their
children are schooled, how will it
possibly get better when all
decisions about education get
centralized behind the door of the
Premier's cabinet? Take the
teachers out of the equation and
what do you have? Poorly
maintained buildings and underfunded programs.
They’re messing with the
wrong crowd
In my community, people are
very proud of the oversized shoe
box at the centre of town. Parents
have fought hard to keep it open,
to extend programs and to defend
its reputation. Our children go to
the best school in the world.
Maybe yours do as well.
If the government thinks they
can use our shoe box and our
teachers as an example of how
badly things are being managed,
they're messing with the wrong
crowd.
Charlie Angus / CALM
* Charlie Angus is editor of
HighGrader Magazine in Cobalt,
Ontario. This piece was
originally broadcast on CBC
Radio, and is reprinted here with
permission.
The Informer 13
Bus drivers’
cancer rates
elevated
A study of bus drivers in
Copenhagen found elevated rates
of lung cancer, bladder cancer,
and changes which could result in
genetic damage. The study of
15,249 bus drivers found 473
cases of lung cancer, a rate 60%
higher than the Danish rate for
men. The bladder cancer rate
among the drivers was 40%
above the Danish average, with
177 cases reported. Compared to
postal workers who walk and ride
bicycles in the city centre, bus
drivers had 50% more
chromosomal aberrations, which
can lead to increased risk of
genetic damage linked to cancer.
Sixty per cent of all vehicles in
Copenhagen run on diesel. The
study also found bus drivers
inhale twice as much diesel
exhaust as postal workers.
Notice of
Motion
Re: Letter of Understanding
At the general meeting of
November 19, the members put
forward a “Notice of Motion”
that; the executive invoke the last
paragraph of the “Letter of
Understanding” dated February
22, 1996 regarding part time
drivers and extra work for
straight time. The notice shall
read:
We, the membership of CAW
Local 4304, request that the
letter of understanding be
cancelled as of February 22.
1998.
Motion made by Paul Hagerman
There will be a vote by
secret ballot for all Department
#1 personnel on Wednesday
December 17, 1997 on this
Work & Health: The Inside Story
Next
Sign-up:
For an
Informed
Opinion...
Read
Notice to
all drivers
December
1-3
This scheduling
period starts
December 22
(2 weeks)
&
January 5/98
(9 weeks)
Sign-ups run
If you vote yes:
•
•
•
You will receive time and one
half for any extra work that is
done.
You can count on the City to
hire part time bus operators to
do all the extra work that we
now do.
The voluntary school runs we
now do for time and one half,
will go to part time drivers for
straight time.
If you vote no:
•
•
•
You will continue to get
called for extra work at
straight time.
Nothing will change with
regards to the voluntary
school runs that we now do
each day.
The Bargaining Committee
will re-negotiate this letter
using 32.3 of the contract to
deal with the legality of this
letter.
Remember:
The only control we have at
present over the numbers of part
time operators is in this letter of
understanding, there are no other
controls in the contract at present.
Your contract - your vote your right
Rudy Grosz
14 December z 1997
Caught in medical trap?
The Workers’ Compensation
Board on November 1, changed
their system of adjudicating over
to Sector Specific. The system at
present is less user friendly than
before.
I have obtained from the
Internet, a First Quarter 1996
Report of the Workers’
Compensation board. I will put
copies up at the different work
locations. Contrary to the rumour,
WCB is not broke.
I also have a copy of a letter
regarding OMERS Pension as the
contribution that the employer
submits.
I have an appeal hearing in
Toronto Nov. 20, 1997 at 10:30
AM at the WCB office. I will be
taking a witness to this appeal.
There are some people who
think that when a workers
representative attends a Doctor
with the injured worker, that we
are babysitting. We have a two
tiered Health Care System in this
province and the injured worker
needs all the support and help that
they can get. The prime example
Quotable
Quotes
* "If a mother starves her
child, it's called child abuse. If
the Liberals starve a million
children, it's called balancing
the budget."
NDP MP Angela Vautour/CALM
is when a professional sports
person gets hurt. They are seen
immediately and do not have to
wait for 6 months or a year for
advanced medical help. A CAT
Scan can take 4 months or more,
a MRI, 6 months. To see a
specialist can take any where
from 6 months to 9 months. I am
not a babysitter. I am a
representative who is there to see
that the worker does not get
caught in the medical trap of
delayed appointments or none
referrals to a proper specialist
who is always trained in the new
and up to-date medicine. These
things are done in confidence and
are not to be discussed with
anyone else.
How many persons here have
had to see a specialist and been
told that this is the soonest that
you can be seen. Or you are told
to go home and take these drugs
that will relax you and dull the
pain . Question: is your problem
solved ?
Women
boosting
labour's ranks
Working women now
represent almost half -- 45 per
cent -- of Canada's unionized
workforce. That's 1.6 million
unionized working women out of
3.5 unionized workers in the
country. The figures were
announced recently by Statistics
Canada.
The StatsCan report also
shows that the public sector has
seen the biggest growth in the
trend towards organized labour,
as 66 per cent of working women
have joined unions in the public
sector.
However, the growth in
numbers is not reflected in
women's take-home pay. Public
sector workers have only seen an
average pay increase of one per
cent from 1993-96, while their
private sector sisters won 2.4 per
cent raises across the country.
PSAC Union Update / CALM
Paul Mennie
SANTA PARADE
A warm and grateful thanks
to everyone who worked on
making the "STUFF A BUS"
such a success for the Santa
Claus Parade. I know that
everyone worked extremely hard,
but also had a lot of fun. Please
give
your kids an extra hug for being
so great.
Jacky Eng
The Informer 15
Who holds all the cards?
“Why is it that all I hear from
the company is `management
rights, management rights'?" a
frustrated union steward asked
recently. "Where did they get all
these management rights anyway?"
That's a good question. Of
course, some employers are under
the impression that they rule by
divine right, but the fact is that
most management rights are
created by law.
And, like all creations of law,
it didn't have to be that way. In
fact, for a brief period in Canada,
it looked like there might even be
some real balance in rights
between union and management.
Dispute about
management rights
That was in the fifties, when
labour arbitration was still fairly
new. At that time, a dispute
erupted between arbitrators
about the nature of management
rights. These rights usually
include things like managing the
workplace, assigning work, and
hiring, classifying, disciplining,
firing and laying off workers.
In non-union workplaces, the
employer has almost all the legal
rights, whether they are written
down or not. But unionization
was a whole different ball game,
some arbitrators said. They
thought that the employer had
only the legal rights actually
spelled out in the collective
agreement.
In their view, unionization
meant a new kind of employment
relationship based on the
collective agreement, and both
the
union and the employer had only
what was in this document -nothing more, nothing less.
Other arbitrators disagreed.
They said that employers started
out with all the rights, and so they
protections or rights for workers,
it has to wrestle them from the
employer, either by persuasion or
by the threat of a strike.
What can the employer do
with its management rights?
Well,
our frustrated steward wanted to
tell the personnel manager
exactly what he could do with his
management rights -- but that's
another story.
Judith McCormack / CALM
Day of Action
closes Windsor
kept them, unless the union was
able to limit them through the
collective agreement. If there
were any rights that weren't
specifically given to the union in
the agreement, the employer had
them.
It didn't even matter if the
employer had a management
rights clause in the collective
agreement or not. If the
agreement was silent, the
employer won. Unfortunately,
this
second approach became the law.
Of course, this changes the
whole dynamic of collective
bargaining. Instead of the union
and the employer meeting as
equals and negotiating the details
of their legal relationship, the
employer now holds almost all
the legal cards. If the union wants
More than 170 workplaces
were closed and Windsor, Ont.
was shut down for the day in
mid-October as tens of thousands
took to the streets to protest the
policies of the Ontario
government.
Auto manufacturers, parts
plants, schools, mail delivery,
bus service, and much of the rest
of Windsor ground to a halt as
the protest against the Harris
agenda continued.
Noisy, flag-waving
protestors marched and chanted
as they
took part in two parades that
wound through city streets and
converged at Dieppe Gardens.
Close to 30,000 listened to
speaker after speaker from
labour, community, church,
seniors, and anti-poverty groups.
Organizers said the Windsor
Day of Action -- the ninth such
one-day, city-wide general strikes
in the past two years -- had
the highest per capita
participation yet.
16 December z 1997
Christmas Lights Tours
‘97’
Submitted by: ‘mother’ and Jeff
The Christmas Lights Tours will begin on December 4 and continue through to
December 18. Once again this year the Lights Tours Committee asks for your
valuable support. Thirty-three tours have been booked with seniors complexes, and
volunteers are needed to drive our seniors around the Kitchener - Waterloo area to
view the various Christmas light displays provided by residents of the twin cities.
The tours take about one and a half hours to complete, and provide enjoyment
for those seniors who would not normally have an opportunity to go out and view
the displays on their own.
Your support in the past has been greatly appreciated, and the committee
members look forward to your support again this year.
You are more than welcome to bring your spouse and children along and enjoy
the tour as a family.
Sign-up sheets will be posted at the Transit Centre on November 25. Committee
members will be approaching you for your help.
The Lights Tours Committee wish to thank all of you in advance for your
support in this very worthwhile community project.
Bushwackers Annual
Christmas Party
December 6, 1997
Mussellinis, Westmount
Plaza
Cocktails 7:00 p.m.
Dinner 8:00 p.m.
All Canoeologists welcome
No canoes or paddles
‘Lunch time on route 12.’