CALM Newsbriefs

NEWSBRIEFS

* No jobs, no growth, higher profits
* Union deal avoids a government-imposed vote
* Postal workers fight huge firing
* Bloody Caesar -- watch the clamato juice

No jobs, no growth, higher profits

CALM -- Canada's highly unequal economic recovery continues. And never were the differences so sharply drawn as they were in various economic reports issued in November. Profits were up, especially at the big six chartered banks. But unemployment remains in the double-digits -- at an average of 10 per cent across Canada.

Corporate profits sets records for the 1990s in the third quarter of 1996. Earnings of 147 companies rose seven per cent to $5.9 billion from a year earlier. And the chartered banks, which end their fiscal year in the fall, posted record profits. In fact the Royal Bank (the country's largest), reported the largest profit ever by a Canadian corporation -- $1.4 billion. Four banks earned more than $1 billion, with a total profit of $6.3 billion for the largest six banks.

Meanwhile, unemployment is again in the double digits. So despite a slow economic recovery, and galloping profits, Canadian workers are no better off than they were two or three years ago. Some analysts now think that the two trends are related -- that is, companies are boosting their profits by laying-off workers. "Big companies like Canadian Pacific and Bell Canada Enterprises have chopped thousands of jobs," says Peter Jackson, a mutual fund manager. "That same cost-cutting has contributed to the job insecurity many Canadians feel and has depressed their spending."

Union deal avoids government-imposed vote

CALM -- The deal reached between Canadian Airlines and the Canadian Auto Workers union in early December avoided a dangerous precedent -- a government-ordered vote on a contract not approved by the union. That prospect raised the ire of many Canadian union leaders. Here's why.

The airline workers were in the middle of a contract negotiated between their unions and the airline. In November, the airline unilaterally demanded a 10 per cent wage cut -- in other words, a change in the contract. But the unions didn't just accept the ultimatum. They tried to bargain over the size and terms of the cuts.

When one union, the CAW, couldn't reach an agreement with Canadian, the federal government threatened to sideline its leaders by forcing the members to vote on Canadian's offer. Such a precedent could have been used in the future, in any strike, as a way of subverting the bargaining power of any union.

In the end, all the airline workers did vote on the cuts -- but on the deals won by their elected leadership, not on the terms dictated by Canadian.

Postal workers fight huge firing

CUPW-CALM -- The Canadian Union of Postal Workers is fighting the proposed layoff of 10,000-20,000 of its members. Postal workers have occupied MPs' offices across the country, they've picketed Jean Chretien's home, and they're considering a one-day work stoppage during the Christmas mail season.

Their actions are in response to a federal government move in early October, when it directed Canada Post (a crown corporation) to get out of the business of delivering unaddressed admail (or junk mail, as it's commonly known).

Canada Post uses about 10,000 part-time workers to deliver the admail on weekends and other odd times. The workers are not regular letter carriers, and earn wages that begin at $7 per hour. However, in the last round of bargaining the Canadian Union of Postal Workers won the right to represent the admail workers, and have been trying to improve their hours, pay, and working conditions.

Now the government wants Canada Post to fire all the admail workers by the end of this year. The work they do will go to private delivery services. The union has already spotted ads from these companies, asking for any workers "old enough to read" their notices.

The union points out that admail is a profit-maker for Canada Post, and losing the service will no doubt result in other postal service cuts. But there's a larger concern as well. A consultant is looking at the impact of the post office getting out of Priority Courier, premium admail (the junk mail delivered by regular letter carriers), and parcel post. The union fears that another 10,000 jobs may be on the block -- this time the jobs of full-time postal employees.

CUPW president Darrell Tingley says postal workers are in the fight of their lives. The union is proposing a workable alternative: extending full postal service to all Canadians (new urban areas no longer get letter delivery, but are served by community mailboxes instead). The cost to the post office would be comparable to ditching its profitable admail, courier, and parcel services. But the postal workers' proposal would create about 1,700 jobs and improve service to the public, rather than destroying 15,000 jobs and cutting service.

Bloody caesar, watch the clamato

UFCW / CALM -- The next time you make a bloody caesar, choose your clamato juice carefully. Mott's, the company that makes most of the juice sold in Canada, wants to move production to the U.S., cutting 165 jobs in St. Catharines, Ont. The United Food and Commercial Workers union is fighting the move, and calling for a boycott of Mott's Clamato juice.

The Bloody Caesar is probably Canada's best-known, home-grown cocktail. It's a mixture of vodka, clamato juice, and spices. But if Mott's has its way, the main ingredient of the popular drink will be made in New York and exported back to Canada by the new year.

The UFCW-led boycott of Mott's was recently endorsed by the Canadian workers, and by the Ontario and B.C. Federations of Labour. The union claims that clamato juice is a very profitable product for Mott's. Production is simply being shifted to a larger U.S. plant, even though almost all of the juice is sold in Canada.

There are several Canadian-made alternatives to Mott's clamato juice: President's Choice Tomato Clam Cocktail (which is union-made), SunPac Hail Caesar, and Campbell Caesar's Choice.

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