Presented by Marie Clarke Walker on Saturday, 1 May 2010

(Check Against Delivery)

Sisters and Brothers

It is an honour to be with you again, and to bring you greetings from President Ken Georgetti, Executive Vice-President, Barb Byers and Secretary-Treasurer Hassan Yussuff and all of your 3.2 million brothers and sisters in the Canadian Labour Congress.

I also bring you greetings from the CLC staff who work each and every day for you and with you. They are members of the Canadian Office and Professional Employees' Union and the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union. One of whom is Bertrand Bégin who is here with us this evening.

Congratulations to Donna and the new Executive, I have every confidence that you will all do a great job over the next two years.

I also want to take the time to thank you for all the work you do on the ground in the Quinte area with the United Way the Workers Help Centre and Adjustment Centre because without your work, the work of the Congress would not be possible or successful.

I know that tonight you will honour one of your health and safety activists and I want to congratulate them on the work that they do on a daily basis. Without health and safety activists, we would all be in trouble, they do much to keep us safe – not only on the job, but also in our communities.

Last week for Day of Mourning, I was in Edmonton and it was heart wrenching to hear the stories of the 110 deaths in that province – moreso because every single one of those deaths was preventable – the same can be said for the numbers in Ontario. If governments and employers would enforce the laws that all of us have worked tirelessly to lobby for and have them put in place, then we could drastically reduce the amount of deaths and injuries caused each year. Better yet, if law enforcement would enforce the Criminal Code by charging employers under C45 and making the convictions mean something, then I can almost guarantee that we would not see the amount of deaths, injuries and general health and safety infractions.

Today more than ever the Canadian Labour Congress is determined to ensure that our members and all people who work and live in Canada receive equality, dignity and justice both in the workplace and in society at large.

Collectively we are rising to that challenge by making sure that we organize ourselves in a way that is meaningful and relevant to today's workers in order to have a movement that meets the needs of our members and future generations. I am currently working on a special project in the Greater Toronto Area that does just that. Ensuring that communities understand what the movement does and that we are not just about strikes and picket lines – and on the flipside, ensuring that the movement recognizes that all our members belong to communities first and as such it is extremely important that we understand and support the needs of these communities. I truly believe that this is the way to grow the movement – when communities see that we are supportive of their needs and issues – many of which are exactly the same as our current campaigns – they are more apt to be supportive of union initiatives and positions. This is a long process, but I have seen it work and therefore, I am truly committed to ensuring that we follow through and continue to build on the Good Jobs For All Coalition that began as an initiative of the Toronto and York Region Labour Council.

It is through this Coalition and labour councils across the country that the defeat of the Stephen Harper government begins. It has to happen particularly when we look at the current economic and employment crisis that we are experiencing. We have more than 1.5 million people unemployed in this country and the numbers are growing. Meanwhile, our federal government has no comprehensive industrial, employment and training strategy that will put workers back to work. Neither is there any real protection for workers in Canada working for foreign-owned companies. We see the struggle of our brothers and sisters at Vale Inco who are pushing into a tenth month of strike, we see our sisters and brothers at Sears who have been out twice in the last year – different locations – who are struggling against a U.S. based employer. What we have instead is consecutive federal governments putting workers at risk and stealing our 57 billion dollars out of the EI system and giving tax breaks to their friends.

This is something that I could speak at length on, however, I am going to focus my remarks on our retirement security campaign and the municipal election campaign.

The financial crisis did one good thing for all of us – which was to expose something that the labour movement has been talking about for a number of years, and that is that our retirement savings system is in need of repair.

The campaign that has been mounted, like our municipal campaign, is one that I think can move the entire country forward and resonates with everyone whether you belong to a union or not. This campaign is even more important because of what it will mean for future generations and for the economic and social health of all the people in this country. It is a campaign about improving the lives of all people in Canada.

Today, far too many of our retirees are living in poverty and despair – this is extremely shameful and downright disrespectful, particularly since they have spent their entire working lives building our country, providing for their families and growing the economy in their community through a lifetime of spending.

Sadly, the prospect of retirement is scaring many, and our government's solution of Registered Retirement Savings Plans has proven to be a complete failure. Ask all your family and friends who lost their life savings when the funds bottomed out last year. That is, those who were able to afford it, because the reality is that most people cannot afford to contribute during good times, imagine now when we are experiencing this economic crisis.

Caused by the way, by those same greedy financial institutions who want you to give them your money so they can invest it – in their pockets and their friends' pockets.

It is absolutely inexcusable that 1.6 million seniors in this country – about 35 % of those receiving public pensions – live on less than $16,000 per year. And because work and our economy is changing, defined benefit pension plans are becoming harder to find.

And much harder to negotiate for unions.

What the CLC is asking for is not difficult to accomplish with political will.

Raising the Guaranteed Income Supplement immediately to the poverty line.
Doubling the Canada Pension Plan benefit over the next 7 to 10 years. And
provide pension insurance so that those who do have a private pension plan will also have some financial security with their investments. Millions of men and women would benefit from these proposals.

As we go across the country and hear the heartbreaking stories, you get a good sense of what those who do not have a union-negotiated defined benefit pension are going through.

Last month at a CLC sponsored pension forum in Windsor, we heard the story of a woman who had lost her house, her car and her life savings.

At another meeting in Atlantic Canada, we heard from a woman who had worked 16 years for the same company and contributed to the company pension plan. The company went broke, the junk bond dealers moved in and of course, retirees being low down on the list of creditors, lost out.

Can you guess, after everything, what this woman's pension ended up being? $400 – not $400 a month, not even $400 a year, $400 after 16 years of contributions.

So, not only do we need a pension system that works for all who have public pensions, but also for those who find themselves out of work because of a bankruptcy and their pension plans robbed of their assets.

Why double the CPP benefits?

Because the CPP already covers 93% of all Canadians, union or non-union.

Because CPP is portable. No matter where you work, or how many times you change jobs, CPP benefits follow you.

Because it is universal – all workers pay into it whether they are employed or self-employed.

And because it is integrated with most pension plans for those who have them.

So we truly believe improving the CPP is the simplest and most effective way to dramatically improve the retirement security of all.

As I mentioned earlier, this is about preparing for our future. This will benefit young workers like your children – the most – because they would pay higher premiums over a longer period and benefit from a much better pension.
But older workers would also benefit in retirement by not living below the poverty line.

Increasing the Guaranteed Income Supplement by 15% is also a must in order to immediately lift seniors out of poverty.

As well as a federal system of pension insurance.

We insure our lives, our homes, our vehicles, our jobs, but not our pensions – this makes absolutely no sense. Too many workers have contributed to pension plans over years, only to discover that those plans become worthless when the company goes bankrupt.

If we use the same principle that insures our bank deposits, for $2.50 a person, a year, we could have pension insurance.

Will our plan work? The simple answer is yes.

This is not just our assessment, but our plan has been assessed by the former chief actuary of the Canada Pension Plan – Bernard Dussault.

For just a small premium increase of 0.4% a year for the next seven years, we can ensure that workers who retire in the future don't have to make the same choices that woman in Windsor or others like her has to make – foodbanks or go hungry.

Convincing the government to begin doubling the CPP won't be easy – we all know the banks and financial institutions make big profits from RRSP sales and already oppose the idea.

But we know with your help we can win. Each and everyone of us must go out and convince union members and the general public that pension reform is needed.

It is the same premise with our municipal elections campaign. I know that some of you have heard me speak about this before, but I will be a broken record and say it again. I believe that our municipal elections campaign complete with training and visioning exercises is by far the best campaign that we run consistently. We can have a broad campaign, but each community needs to have their own vision complete with the way in which they will put it into action. This is not and can never be – a one size fits all campaign.

This year, in preparation for the October 25th Ontario municipal elections, the CLC is offering training in four areas in 15 different communities across the province. All of the courses are free, but you must register at least 10 days in advance so that we can have the necessary course material prepared and shipped.

The four courses being offered are:

Municipal fundamentals – This course gives you the basics as to what the city council and the school boards do.

Organizer training – All campaigns require organizers and this course equips participants with the necessary skills for organizing and coordinating campaigns.

Campaign manager – This course will teach participants how to manage a campaign for a candidate for elected office or running a campaign on a key community issue. It also teaches the fundamentals necessary for developing strategic campaigns.

Candidate training – This prepares those who are interested in becoming a candidate. From getting started, pulling together a campaign team, how to talk to the media and everything you need to know about being a candidate.

The training for Belleville will take place June 12th and 13th at Loyalist College. I am hopeful that many of you will be registering for this – so let me remind you that you need to register before June 4th.

I look forward to October 26th – not because it is my brother's birthday, but because it will be the day that we will welcome many more progressive candidates, many from this community, to the various municipal councils and school boards across the province.

I know I have gone over my alloted time, so let me thank you again for the great work you do on a daily basis and for listening attentively.