Presented by Ken Georgetti on Thursday, 8 October 2009

Sisters and Brothers, it is my honour to bring you greetings of solidarity from the Officers and the 3.2 million workers who are members of the Canadian Labour Congress.

Chers consoeurs et confrères, c’est un honneur pour moi de vous transmettre les voeux de solidarité des dirigeants et des 3,2 millions de travailleuses et de travailleurs membres du Congrès du travail du Canada.

I want to congratulate Brother Paul Moist and Brother Claude Généreux on their re-election yesterday to lead your union.

Thank you Paul for the invitation to speak to this convention today.

Paul Moist is an extremely valuable member of the CLC Executive Council.

His strong support for the Congress’ program is greatly appreciated by all our affiliates.

As a builder, Paul knows that you don’t grow the labour movement by raiding each other for workers already in unions.

As a builder, your President knows we’ll never deliver the union advantage to the millions of women and men who need us now more than ever, by being divided.
CUPE’s leaders and members show that commitment to building the movement with demonstration of solidarity with their Sisters and Brothers in other unions who are facing their toughest bargaining challenges in recent memory.

I was proud to be with your president and CUPE members stand with Steelworkers last month in Sudbury – Steelworkers on strike against Vale Inco – a once proud Canadian company but now owned by a Brazilian multinational – that is demanding huge cuts in pension benefits and pay from its workers even as it made over four billion dollars in profits the last two years alone.

It is a reminder to all of us that our greatest strength in the union movement is our solidarity – both within your union and across the entire labour movement.

Solidarity is how we built this movement, solidarity is how we run this movement and solidarity is the only way that we will grow this movement.

Sisters and Brothers, in these very gloomy times, with the economy still in deep recession, let me try and cheer you up.

Conrad Black is in jail – and he’s not getting out anytime soon!

This corporate criminal, this convicted fraud artist, this felon who obstructed justice – this union-buster – well Black lost his last chance at getting bail before an appeal hearing on his six-year sentence.

Now – don’t you feel better already?

But you know Sisters and Brothers – corporate criminals like Conrad Black are simply a sign of what workers across Canada already know – that the values in our economy today are simply all wrong.

Our economy is rewarding greed and ignoring need.

Our economy is punishing workers who have spent their lives building Canada... and it’s benefiting corporate CEOs and bankers and hedge-fund managers, some of whom don’t even live in this country.

And as every delegate here knows – too many of our governments – federal, provincial and municipal – are punishing public sector workers for a private sector economic crisis they had absolutely nothing to do with.

That’s just not right.

Was it a CUPE city worker in Halifax who swept Lehman Brothers into bankruptcy in New York? I don’t think so.

Was it a CUPE school bus driver in Oshawa who drove Merrill Lynch into the ground on Wall Street? Not likely.

No, what has happened is that greedy, incompetent CEOs robbed our economy – and right-wing governments were driving the getaway car.

And now those same governments are trying to make CUPE members and other public sector workers pay for these corporate crimes!

Well we have to send right-wing governments a clear message – corporate crime does not pay!

And if they think it does – we need to make them pay – at the ballot box!

The Canadian Labour Congress is working with CUPE and other affiliates through our labour councils across Canada to do exactly that – use the ballot box to make sure local governments are more receptive to the needs of working people.

In the past few years the CLC and our labour councils helped elect more than 800 labour-endorsed mayors, city councillors and school trustees across the country.

Those elected officials are supporting the goals of ordinary working people, including hiring unionized workers and using local procurement policies.
Just last week in municipal elections in Newfoundland, with CUPE’s help, three new labour-endorsed city councillors were elected.

And the elected mayor of St. John’s was also a labour-endorsed candidate.

CUPE members play a big role in our Municipalities Matter campaign work.

Members like Terry Bennett – running as candidates.

Members like Karl Edwards, working as organizers in the campaigns.

And members like Bill Wakely – from CUPE Local 1860 – who is now the new mayor of Lewin’s Cove, Newfoundland.

Congratulations Brother, and thank you to all the CUPE members who helped us make a difference in the Newfoundland and Labrador municipal elections.

Federally we still have more work to do but by carefully targeting ridings with large numbers of union workers, the CLC and affiliates helped our ally, the New Democratic Party, win its second highest number of Members of Parliament ever.

And we do the same work in the provinces and territories with our federations of labour.

Because the need to fight back against corporate and right-wing attacks is enormous.

CUPE members and indeed all workers across this country are getting hammered by employers.

Your members in the public sector, at Air Canada and in other workplaces are being forced to take pay cuts, to take pension reductions, to take benefit cuts, to take unpaid holidays, to take fewer hours of work, all to pay for the outrageous greed and incompetence of corporate bosses.

So who do the big media blame for this economic crisis?

Not the bankers. Not the wealthy. Not corporate crooks like Conrad Black.

No – the big media blame – surprise! – unions!

Here’s what right-wing columnist Terence Corcoran of the National Post – Black’s old newspaper – said about pension plans like CUPE’s – and I quote:

“Why do these giant public pension plans exist? They are, essentially, wealth confiscated by governments.”

Gee, Terry – and I had always thought pensions were the deferred earnings of workers set aside so they could retire with dignity and security!

Corcoran continues:

“Hydro workers, police, municipal employees, teachers. All are set to receive relatively lavish pensions paid for by Canadian taxpayers.”

Ah yes, to be a retired CUPE worker – flying to Monaco for the winter, washing and waxing the red Ferrari, golf at the exclusive country club – reserved only for retired public sector members to keep out the corporate riff-raff, daily manicure and pedicure – and all thanks to the lavish pension provided by taxpayers!

What a bad joke! CEOs nearly ruin our country but unions are the bad guys?

That’s why we need to take on people like Terence Corcoran, and our good friends at the Canadian Federation of Independent Business who only want to drive down wages and pensions that give retired workers dignity after a lifetime of work, even if doing so works against their own members’ business interests.

Les membres des syndicats ont payé des impôts toute leur vie pour financer les services publics. Nous ne laisserons pas les chefs d’entreprises prendre cet argent – nécessaire aux soins de santé, à l’éducation et aux services sociaux – pour le donner aux multimillionnaires qui ont presque détruit notre économie.

Je ne voudrais pas simplement me plaindre que les choses vont mal – ce serait trop facile.

Je voudrais aussi vous dire que nous pouvons obtenir des résultats positifs pour les travailleurs et les travailleuses – même en temps difficiles – en changeant l’opinion publique.

Parce que lorsque l’opinion publique est en faveur des travailleurs, des travailleuses et de leurs syndicats, les politiciens doivent écouter.

Let’s take a couple of concrete examples – one directly relevant to CUPE and another which is vital to 190,000 workers across Canada who have lost their jobs.

Last month I met with Prime Minister Stephen Harper at the G-20 meetings in Pittsburgh.

It was the culmination of months of work – and months of frustration – by the Canadian Labour Congress to persuade the federal Conservative government to help unemployed workers.

It’s not easy even getting a meeting with the Prime Minister, let alone convincing him that Employment Insurance reforms he announced are welcome but more needs to be done.

But it’s critically important – workers’ lives are on the line, their families and their communities are in dire straits.

And so what we have done – with the considerable help of affiliates like CUPE – is to influence public opinion about Employment Insurance.

We’ve seen the polls change. We’ve seen media commentators and editorials change.

Gradually, step by step, we’ve convinced more and more Canadians that EI changes are needed to extend the social safety net for innocent workers who have held their jobs for long periods of time – and now that’s exactly what’s going to happen.

It isn’t enough – not nearly enough.

It doesn’t help those workers who are unemployed but did not hold long-term jobs.

But for 190,000 workers and their families, an extra 20 weeks of Employment Insurance announced by the government is literally a lifeline they desperately need.

And that’s how as a labour movement we make progress.

Sometimes slowly, sometimes by centimetres, not by kilometres, and sometimes only after enormous frustration.

And we do it with the invaluable assistance of our allies in Parliament – with Jack Layton and the NDP caucus holding the balance of power and forcing the Conservatives to do the right thing.

Et avec le Bloc Québécois qui apporte un appui solide à un grand nombre de nos demandes législatives – comme le projet de loi anti-briseurs de grève.

Cela prouve que notre action politique est essentielle à notre succès – et lorsque notre représentation est faible au Parlement, nos résultats sont faibles.

Mais notre but est – et doit être – d’obtenir ce dont nos membres ont besoin de toute urgence – pour faire face à cette crise économique.

Et nous soutenons nos efforts.

Nous demandons au gouvernement fédéral d’agir :

D’abord – pour finir de réparer l’assurance-emploi qui fait défaut. Accroître de vingt semaines les prestations des travailleurs et travailleuses de longue date serait un début.

Second – Get serious about creating and supporting Canadian jobs with industrial strategies, social infrastructure investment like child care, and local procurement policies that support jobs in Canada in both the public and private sector.

Third – and this is a big priority for the CLC – it’s time to radically improve the Canada Pension Plan – which really is our country’s largest defined benefit plan and covers 93% of working Canadians.

The Canadian Labour Congress proposes doubling CPP benefits over seven years – so that it can gradually replace the underperforming RRSP industry.

We won’t get there overnight, to be sure.

But we will get there if we persevere and if we can change public opinion from the current attitude that your retirement income is your own personal responsibility to one where – just like with public health care – Canadians believe that retiring with dignity and security is a right in a society as wealthy as ours.

And because so many workplace pensions, including public sector pension plans, are integrated with CPP benefits, a better CPP means more money could be available at the bargaining table to improve overall pension benefits.

Or improve other benefits for members.

Back in the 1960s, the Canadian Labour Congress and unions across the country worked for a national health care system that guaranteed every citizen access to basic medical services.

Even though many unions had won good health insurance plans for their members, they understood the advantage that comes from a good safety net for everyone.

We can do the same with pensions so that people can live the last years of their lives in dignity after a lifetime of work.

These are just some of the steps that we must take to begin our economic recovery.

Because we must begin transforming our economy – from one based on greed to one based on need.

And I invite you to join with me, to join with the CLC’s members and affiliates, in fighting for a new and fair economy where everyone benefits, not just the wealthy.

Thank you for listening and have a great convention!