by Peoples Voice Niagara Bureau
* After going back on a negotiated contract recognizing ESL Teachers, Brock University has finally ratified the agreement after a public campaign and strike action by CUPE 4207 with support from students, faculty, and community at the picket lines.
* The Lincoln County Humane Society tried to keep two-tier on the table through the backdoor by saying newer workers would have an "opportunity" to make the full wage, but the workers of CUPE 1287 are standing their ground and maintaining their strike until two-tier is completely off the table. Uptil now management had not even been talking to the union, which struck in February.
* Over 100 people protested at the local MPPs office in Ft Erie against the austerity layoffs from closing the slots at the race track, which could have a domino effect on the track itself. Meanwhile in Ft Erie the government announced it was also closing the Welcome Centre on the same day as the slots.
* Rural west Niagara residents started an online petition as a first step in fighting the province's cancellation of the reconstruction of the West Lincoln Memoiral Hospital in the austerity budget, despite the community already raising almost $14 million and Requests For Proposals being issued. Fifteen years ago mobilizations saw thousands in a candle-light vigil protesting similar cuts.
* The provincially appointed supervisor of the Niagara Health System, who took over after years of protests of closures followed by a wave of patients dying from hospital-acquired infections, has decided that since the Ontario austerity budget increases the home care budget, he will close hospital beds to move patients home instead of using the money to treat more patients overall. Meanwhile the Canada Institute for Health Information released data showing Niagara post-operative patients die at a 50% higher rate than in the rest of the country. A shortage of beds makes infections more prevalent from crowding and lack of cleaning time.
Monday, 9 April 2012
Niagara News Bulletin April 1-15, 2012
by Peoples Voice Niagara Bureau
* 210 Fort Erie slots workers will be laid off by the province as it implements Drummond Report austerity cuts, even though they make a profit. The mayor publicly rebuked the province for destroying hundreds of lives without any consultation. The slots indirectly subsidize the adjacent race track whose closure means more layoffs.
* After Brock University recognized 38 ESL teachers organized with CUPE Local 4207 and negotiated a contract at the 11th hour under a public campaign, management reneged saying they “didn’t realize” they had agreed to no contracting out. The teachers have resumed their campaign and are heading into a strike.
* Health care workers associated with the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU) rallied outside the Niagara Falls MPPs office against the coming Drummond Report austerity cuts, pointing out Syria would have more beds per person than Ontario, already the lowest in Canada. OCHU’s President told reporters “we will not allow 12,000 beds to be closed on our watch.”
* Lincoln County Human Society workers of CUPE 1287, striking against two-tier wages and benefits, are still being ignored by management who want new workers to pay for their bad decisions resulting in less revenue. Although 4 of 15 workers crossed the picket line on the first day, the rest are still holding strong.
* 210 Fort Erie slots workers will be laid off by the province as it implements Drummond Report austerity cuts, even though they make a profit. The mayor publicly rebuked the province for destroying hundreds of lives without any consultation. The slots indirectly subsidize the adjacent race track whose closure means more layoffs.
* After Brock University recognized 38 ESL teachers organized with CUPE Local 4207 and negotiated a contract at the 11th hour under a public campaign, management reneged saying they “didn’t realize” they had agreed to no contracting out. The teachers have resumed their campaign and are heading into a strike.
* Health care workers associated with the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU) rallied outside the Niagara Falls MPPs office against the coming Drummond Report austerity cuts, pointing out Syria would have more beds per person than Ontario, already the lowest in Canada. OCHU’s President told reporters “we will not allow 12,000 beds to be closed on our watch.”
* Lincoln County Human Society workers of CUPE 1287, striking against two-tier wages and benefits, are still being ignored by management who want new workers to pay for their bad decisions resulting in less revenue. Although 4 of 15 workers crossed the picket line on the first day, the rest are still holding strong.
Niagara News Bulletin March 15-31, 2012
by Peoples Voice Niagara Bureau
* Eleven members of CUPE 1287 at the Lincoln County Human Society are on strike and picketing to fight management’s attempt to bring in two-tier wages with no health care or sick time for new workers. They’ve been working without an agreement for 14 months while the Society reported a surplus in its last disclosure.
* Meat-processor New Food Classic laid off 120 workers from UFCW 175 a year after getting $1 million from the province to move from Alberta. Plant Chair Kate Jones told reporters “We feel like we were duped when we into negotiations... We made a lot of concessions.” The staff representative was left hoping on another buyer, saying “We’re going to know more as we go along”. Fifty-nine of the workers had been recalled from being laid off from the former owner of the plant.
* Twenty OPSEU (Ontario Public Service Employees Union) members picketed the provincial government in downtown St. Catharines against the privatization of ServiceOntario. They were followed by an Occupy Niagara protest against corporate tax cuts and austerity measures recommended by the Drummond Report.
* Despite earlier saying that the province’s intervention into the Niagara Health system means the Ombudsman can now investigate complaints into closures of emergency rooms and cuts in services, the Ombudsman has only referred the more than 80 complaints to the provincially-appointed supervisor who has already publicly said he won’t undo cuts.
* The Ft. Erie race track’s more than 300 workers have started a letter-writing campaign against the Drummond Report, which recommends closing the track as an austerity measure, despite the provincial revenue coming from slots at its on-site casino.
* Port Colborne’s food bank ran completely out of food, underscoring how poverty is a bigger problem than charity can solve.
* Eleven members of CUPE 1287 at the Lincoln County Human Society are on strike and picketing to fight management’s attempt to bring in two-tier wages with no health care or sick time for new workers. They’ve been working without an agreement for 14 months while the Society reported a surplus in its last disclosure.
* Meat-processor New Food Classic laid off 120 workers from UFCW 175 a year after getting $1 million from the province to move from Alberta. Plant Chair Kate Jones told reporters “We feel like we were duped when we into negotiations... We made a lot of concessions.” The staff representative was left hoping on another buyer, saying “We’re going to know more as we go along”. Fifty-nine of the workers had been recalled from being laid off from the former owner of the plant.
* Twenty OPSEU (Ontario Public Service Employees Union) members picketed the provincial government in downtown St. Catharines against the privatization of ServiceOntario. They were followed by an Occupy Niagara protest against corporate tax cuts and austerity measures recommended by the Drummond Report.
* Despite earlier saying that the province’s intervention into the Niagara Health system means the Ombudsman can now investigate complaints into closures of emergency rooms and cuts in services, the Ombudsman has only referred the more than 80 complaints to the provincially-appointed supervisor who has already publicly said he won’t undo cuts.
* The Ft. Erie race track’s more than 300 workers have started a letter-writing campaign against the Drummond Report, which recommends closing the track as an austerity measure, despite the provincial revenue coming from slots at its on-site casino.
* Port Colborne’s food bank ran completely out of food, underscoring how poverty is a bigger problem than charity can solve.
Sunday, 26 February 2012
Niagara News Bulletin March 1-15 2012
* The family of a mentally disabled worker won a Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario judgment against a wine bottler for unfairly firing all of their mentally disabled workers. The tribunal ordered back pay, but only at the illegally low $1.25/hour equivalent the workers were being paid as a training honorarium. The company had been built on the super-exploitation of mentally disabled workers over a decade, and then fired them without cause once it didn’t need them.
* Yet another virus/bacteria outbreak has been declared at a Niagara Hospital, Welland this time, after tens of deaths and infections in wave after wave despite the administration not restoring staffing, beds, and service to the pre-cuts level.
* Brock University has reached contract settlements with CUPE Local 1295, which represents maintenance and trades employees at Brock, and with CUPE 2220, which represents staff at Rodman Hall. Talks are continuing between the University and three other campus unions.
* Welland’s 78 outside workers (CAW Local 523) negotiated successfully for raises between 1 and 2 percent over several years, while including security on hours and vacations.
* Yet another virus/bacteria outbreak has been declared at a Niagara Hospital, Welland this time, after tens of deaths and infections in wave after wave despite the administration not restoring staffing, beds, and service to the pre-cuts level.
* Brock University has reached contract settlements with CUPE Local 1295, which represents maintenance and trades employees at Brock, and with CUPE 2220, which represents staff at Rodman Hall. Talks are continuing between the University and three other campus unions.
* Welland’s 78 outside workers (CAW Local 523) negotiated successfully for raises between 1 and 2 percent over several years, while including security on hours and vacations.
People's Voice Niagara Bureau
Sunday, 12 February 2012
Niagara News Bulletin February 16-28, 2012
by People's Voice Niagara Bureau
* Yet another patient at a Niagara Falls hospital died from the latest C-Difficile outbreak, with 16 more still infected there, and 19 in other Niagara hospitals. The deaths continue, after 38 died in previous outbreaks, while the administration responds with anything other than restoring services, staff, and beds which were cut earlier. Hospital workers and unions have warned that without the resources they need the root cause won’t be addressed.
* 8,000 Port Colborne residents whose land was poisoned by Inco have filed their case with the Supreme Court of Canada, after an Ontario court overturned their reparations because even though Inco is responsible it was within environmental laws.
* The Niagara Catholic District School Board is still refusing to recognize Gay-Straight Alliances and is trying to side-step the issue of homophobia by instead having “Respecting Differences” clubs, which dilute the issues of homophobia and patriarchy into bullying in general.
* Students occupied Brock University’s Schmon Tower lobby on Feb. 1 as part of a movement to reduce tuition fees.
* St. Catharines is considering reducing Sunday bus service because uploading services has not been done sufficiently to relieve the municipal budget.
* Yet another patient at a Niagara Falls hospital died from the latest C-Difficile outbreak, with 16 more still infected there, and 19 in other Niagara hospitals. The deaths continue, after 38 died in previous outbreaks, while the administration responds with anything other than restoring services, staff, and beds which were cut earlier. Hospital workers and unions have warned that without the resources they need the root cause won’t be addressed.
* 8,000 Port Colborne residents whose land was poisoned by Inco have filed their case with the Supreme Court of Canada, after an Ontario court overturned their reparations because even though Inco is responsible it was within environmental laws.
* The Niagara Catholic District School Board is still refusing to recognize Gay-Straight Alliances and is trying to side-step the issue of homophobia by instead having “Respecting Differences” clubs, which dilute the issues of homophobia and patriarchy into bullying in general.
* Students occupied Brock University’s Schmon Tower lobby on Feb. 1 as part of a movement to reduce tuition fees.
* St. Catharines is considering reducing Sunday bus service because uploading services has not been done sufficiently to relieve the municipal budget.
Niagara News Bulletin February 1-15, 2012
by People's Voice Niagara Bureau
* The Niagara Health System mysteriously announced that six top managers are no longer working for the NHS because of unspecified restructuring, despite the provincially appointed supervisor explaining he is for transparency. The supervisor was appointed after complaints about cutting local services to move them over an hour away to a P3 (public-private-partnership) hospi t a l , ove r 30 pa t i ent s dying f rom hospi t a l - acquired infections, and patients being asked to call 911 from within the hospital for care.
* The Ontario Ministry of Health is into its fifth year of not answering for why a for-profit company failed to build a nearly 100 long-term care bed facility in Welland despite granting all approvals, contributing to one of the longest waiting lists in the region.
* CAW Local 523 steelworkers at Lakeside Steel in Welland are still waiting to learn the terms of a proposed buy-out, buyer unknown because of a “confidentiality agreement”, after the union agreed to concessions earlier last year.
* 110 meat processing workers of UFCW Local 175 were laid off at the end of a shift, after the new owner decided to keep the business and machines but not the employees who had made the company successful. The press release announcing the sale to the familyowned chicken-processor said the company is committed to staying in Ontario but said nothing about the layoffs, which one worker told reporters was a “total shock” and caused tears on the last shift. The sale was approved by a producers’ organization, Chicken Farmers of Ontario, who said they expect the buyer to honour “the relationships and contractual obligations” with growers, but were silent about the workers.
* The Niagara Health System mysteriously announced that six top managers are no longer working for the NHS because of unspecified restructuring, despite the provincially appointed supervisor explaining he is for transparency. The supervisor was appointed after complaints about cutting local services to move them over an hour away to a P3 (public-private-partnership) hospi t a l , ove r 30 pa t i ent s dying f rom hospi t a l - acquired infections, and patients being asked to call 911 from within the hospital for care.
* The Ontario Ministry of Health is into its fifth year of not answering for why a for-profit company failed to build a nearly 100 long-term care bed facility in Welland despite granting all approvals, contributing to one of the longest waiting lists in the region.
* CAW Local 523 steelworkers at Lakeside Steel in Welland are still waiting to learn the terms of a proposed buy-out, buyer unknown because of a “confidentiality agreement”, after the union agreed to concessions earlier last year.
* 110 meat processing workers of UFCW Local 175 were laid off at the end of a shift, after the new owner decided to keep the business and machines but not the employees who had made the company successful. The press release announcing the sale to the familyowned chicken-processor said the company is committed to staying in Ontario but said nothing about the layoffs, which one worker told reporters was a “total shock” and caused tears on the last shift. The sale was approved by a producers’ organization, Chicken Farmers of Ontario, who said they expect the buyer to honour “the relationships and contractual obligations” with growers, but were silent about the workers.
Friday, 13 January 2012
Niagara News Bulletin January 1-31 2012
* Four migrants from Caribbean and African countries being held
indefinitely at the Niagara Regional Detention Centre launched a
rotating hunger strike to demand medical attention and due process
for their release. A phone-in and petition campaign succeeded in
getting them liberated from segregation, where they were confined for
daring to strike about their conditions.
* Three Mexican farmworkers in Niagara have sued the federal
government and their employer as well as the go-between for being
unfairly dismissed without due process. This is the first Charter rights
lawsuit of its kind in Ontario, filed after an investigation by the Niagara
Migrant Workers Interest Group, which includes the UFCW and
newcomer organizations. The farmworkers claim their travel pay was
improperly deducted twice, among other violations. The farm had
received a provincial government award of $50,000 shortly before
firing the three workers.
* Protesters marched as part of International Day to End Violence
Against Sex Workers under slogans such as “sex work shouldn’t
equal murder” and held a memorial including a roll call for “stolen
sisters”.
* A patient died from bacterial infection in the Niagara Falls hospital
as part of a new outbreak, with six patients still suffering from hospitalacquired
infections. A previous outbreak during the provincial
election killed 37 patients. Nearby Welland has also declared an
outbreak infecting eight patients and twelve workers, and two St.
Catharines patients have died. Administration has repeatedly declared
the crisis over, while workers and their unions warn the deaths will
continue because of cuts in beds, staff, and services. At the other end
of the region, at a coroner’s inquest into the death of a teenager last
winter, paramedics said that the closures of local emergency rooms
create extra stress since they have to drive further to give care to
patients.
* Port Colborne cut a Saturday bus service pilot project as part of
moves to reduce taxes by 0.5%, after the McGuinty Liberals failed to
keep a promise to reverse the downloading of services by the former
Conservative provincial government. Nearby Fort Erie is hiking bus
fares 25%, part of which will go towards private profits as the local
bus service is contracted out.
indefinitely at the Niagara Regional Detention Centre launched a
rotating hunger strike to demand medical attention and due process
for their release. A phone-in and petition campaign succeeded in
getting them liberated from segregation, where they were confined for
daring to strike about their conditions.
* Three Mexican farmworkers in Niagara have sued the federal
government and their employer as well as the go-between for being
unfairly dismissed without due process. This is the first Charter rights
lawsuit of its kind in Ontario, filed after an investigation by the Niagara
Migrant Workers Interest Group, which includes the UFCW and
newcomer organizations. The farmworkers claim their travel pay was
improperly deducted twice, among other violations. The farm had
received a provincial government award of $50,000 shortly before
firing the three workers.
* Protesters marched as part of International Day to End Violence
Against Sex Workers under slogans such as “sex work shouldn’t
equal murder” and held a memorial including a roll call for “stolen
sisters”.
* A patient died from bacterial infection in the Niagara Falls hospital
as part of a new outbreak, with six patients still suffering from hospitalacquired
infections. A previous outbreak during the provincial
election killed 37 patients. Nearby Welland has also declared an
outbreak infecting eight patients and twelve workers, and two St.
Catharines patients have died. Administration has repeatedly declared
the crisis over, while workers and their unions warn the deaths will
continue because of cuts in beds, staff, and services. At the other end
of the region, at a coroner’s inquest into the death of a teenager last
winter, paramedics said that the closures of local emergency rooms
create extra stress since they have to drive further to give care to
patients.
* Port Colborne cut a Saturday bus service pilot project as part of
moves to reduce taxes by 0.5%, after the McGuinty Liberals failed to
keep a promise to reverse the downloading of services by the former
Conservative provincial government. Nearby Fort Erie is hiking bus
fares 25%, part of which will go towards private profits as the local
bus service is contracted out.
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