Presented by Barbara Byers on Friday, 26 March 2010

Sisters and Brothers,

It is my honour to be with you today, and to bring greetings from President Ken Georgetti, Executive Vice-President Marie Clarke Walker and Secretary-Treasurer Hassan Yussuff; and all of the 3.2 million workers who are members of the Canadian Labour Congress.

I also bring you greetings from the CLC staff who work for you, and with you, every day. They are members of the Canadian Office & Professional Employees and the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union. One of our staff members, Amber Hockin, is here today.

For those of you who don’t know her, Amber is the Regional Director for the Pacific Region. She has many talents.

However, I would suggest Amber should be one of your first contacts, should you be looking for assistance with membership education. She has many years of experience in labour education, is a wealth of knowledge and has generously shared her skills with many of us.

‘Thank You’ to your President, Brother Tom Dufresne, and to your Executive for inviting the CLC to be with you.

Tom is a valued member of our CLC Executive Council. His participation on your behalf ensures not only that the voice of the ILWU is heard loud and clear in the House of Labour, but also the issues important to your union are discussed and understood by all affiliates.

I have been asked to speak to the theme of your Convention "How Unions Need to Move Forward".

Now that is a tough challenge in the 20 minutes allotted! This requires a much longer discussion of what we are doing now that works, what we need to do in the future, our changing demographics in the workplace and many other issues.

So, although I can’t give you a single answer to the question, I will say that the labour movement is being challenged in monumental ways and we are determined to move forward; for our members and for all citizens who want lives of equality, dignity and justice.

And collectively we are rising to the challenge to defend the rights we have fought for, and to improve on those rights.

We are ‘on the move’ today; and organizing ourselves to have a better labour movement for today and for future generations.

So, in terms of your convention theme, I want to situate the question in terms of the economic and employment crisis we have been living through, our internal structural review of the CLC; and utilize one of our major campaigns to show you how we are up to the challenges before us and why we need every one of you to join in the work.

So let’s start with the economic and employment crisis.

More than 1.5 million people are unemployed; 8.2% of our workforce.

And the real unemployment rate, including discouraged workers and involuntary part-time workers, is actually 12.1%.

And as you know, before the really heavy hits of the crisis came, the federal Liberal and then Conservative governments robbed the UI system of 57 billion dollars in order to give tax breaks to their buddies.

Over 250,000 full-time jobs have been lost since October 2008.

And still the Stephen Harper government has no comprehensive industrial, employment and training strategy. They have no plan to get Canada back to work.

But the financial crisis also exposed a scary fact; something that the labour movement has been talking about for a few years now. Canada’s retirement savings system is badly broken and urgently needs repair.

Sisters and Brothers, this is truly where unions can move our entire country forward. This can be a struggle won for current and future generations and for the economic and social health of the citizens of our country.

The meeting of affiliates planned for next week on structure review of the CLC will be discussing five areas where the Commission on Structural Review believes the CLC needs to concentrate its activities.

Those areas are:

• Labour movement image enhancement.
• Research, education and policy development.
• Campaigning and coordination of activities.
• Advocacy and legislative action.
• International solidarity.

I will come back to those later, however the question of our pension campaign is a ‘case study’ of how those areas of concentration can be effective for achieving change for the retirees of today and those of tomorrow.

Our pension campaign is about improving the lives of our members and of every citizen.

Part of our credibility with our members and with the public is attached to what we are prepared to fight for – for those people whose pensions were bargained for and are now under attack, and for those people who do not enjoy a good pension or maybe have no pension at all.

We need to be doing the cooperative education and campaigning necessary to show what retirement futures hold for many people; for you, for your friends and neighbours, or your extended family.

What are the facts facing those who are retired or who plan to retire?

Far too many Canadian retirees are living in poverty and despair.

It’s absolutely inexcusable that 1.6 million seniors – about 35% of those receiving public pensions — live on less than $15,000 per year.

Many of those seniors are women, with heartbreaking stories.
Earlier this month, at a CLC pension forum in Windsor, we heard from a woman who lost her house, her car and her life savings. In what should be her golden years, she is living in a small geared-to-income apartment, on social assistance and using food banks to survive.

And things are getting worse – because existing pension plans are under attack.

The economic meltdown caused by corporate greed and lack of government regulations has drastically reduced benefits in many plans.

Unscrupulous employers are increasingly forcing workers to accept inferior defined contribution pension plans, where the income is dependent on the market and are high risk, instead of the defined benefit pension plans we have always fought for.

And the so-called “solution” to retirement worries – Registered Retirement Savings Plans – has proven to be a complete failure.

Only one Canadian taxpayer in three made any contribution to an RRSP in 2008.

And RRSPs, like the stock market, lost billions in this crisis.

That’s why the Canadian Labour Congress has launched its campaign for pension savings reform. Because we have a better way for everyone to save for retirement.

It’s very simple and has been called ‘radical’ by those opposing it; which must mean we are on the right track! We need to double the benefits of the Canada Pension Plan to a maximum of $1,635 a month.

It might sound dramatic, but in fact phasing in a doubling of Canada Pension Plan benefits on a ‘go-forward’ basis over 7 to 10 years can be achieved easily.

Why double CPP benefits?

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

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

And because it’s universal. All workers pay into it whether they are employed or self-employed.

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

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

This is about preparing for the future. This reform 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 will also benefit in retirement.

Will the CLC plan work? The simple answer is “Yes”.

It has been assessed as viable by Bernard Dussault, who is a former Chief Actuary of the Canada Pension Plan.

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 has to make – food banks or go hungry.

Convincing the government to begin doubling the Canada Pension Plan won’t be easy.

The banks and financial institutions that make big profits from RRSP sales already oppose the idea.

But we know that with your help, we can win.

Just remember – the labour movement in Canada helped create unemployment insurance and public Medicare, as well as other important social programs by convincing our members – and then the general public – that these programs would help all Canadians.

Now we’re going to do it again. Retiring with dignity and security should be a right for all, not a privilege for a few.

With your commitment and action, this can be our own “Tommy Douglas” moment; the opportunity of a lifetime to change history for the better.

Tommy Douglas and the CCF did it in Saskatchewan in the 1960s when they introduced Canada’s first public healthcare system – a system so popular, it soon spread across the country as Medicare.

Medicare changed forever the way Canadians protect their health.

And we can do it too – with pension reforms that will change forever the way Canadians protect their retirement years.

There are two other major changes the CLC believes are essential for all workers.

The Guaranteed Income Supplement must be increased by 15% to immediately lift seniors out of poverty.

And the Canadian Labour Congress wants a federal system of pension insurance.

We insure our lives, our homes, our vehicles, our jobs – but not our pensions! That doesn’t make any sense.

Too many workers who have contributed to pension plans have discovered those plans were worthless when the company goes bankrupt and the junk bond holders move in.

Take the example of the woman in New Brunswick who worked for 16 years for a paper company. It went broke. The junk bond dealers moved in.

You know what her pension payout is? Four hundred dollars! That’s not $400 a month; or even $400 a year. It is $400 total. After sixteen years of contributions to the plan!

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

So there is the Canadian Labour Congress plan for retirement security. It is simple, it is cost-effective and it can be done.

Now we have to go out and convince union members and the public that pension reform is needed – immediately.

We know we can do it – because the problems are already obvious.

And so are the answers.

By doubling the Canada Pension Plan benefits, by improving the Guaranteed Income Supplement and by protecting our workplace pensions through pension insurance, we can ensure that no Canadian retires into poverty now, and in the future!

When we talk about how unions need to move forward – as your convention theme suggests – what could be more important than having labour lead the way to the most significant social program improvement in our lifetimes?

Which brings me back to the issues of the future for labour centrals that many of us will be discussing next week.

If we put our minds and resources, human and financial, to winning retirement security for all, we will move the labour movement ahead on all of those key areas.

What better way to enhance the image of the labour movement, than to improve the retirement lives of our friends and neighbours and family, as well our own members?

We have done the research and policy development. We now need to deepen and broaden the education of our members and of the public on these issues.

How many of you will commit to getting involved in helping with this campaign which will need your help in many ways?

The first action may be taking the information from our documents available on our website and making sure you talk to every one of your members, all your family and as many friends and neighbours as you can, and letting them know about why we are working for a richer retirement security for all.

Our campaigning and coordination of activities, our advocacy and our legislative action needs all the people in this room and everyone you know in order to achieve success.

That also means that we must reach out to a much broader and diverse group. Our country’s demographics are changing. There are more women in workplaces and we have been changing those workplaces and our unions.

There are more workers of colour, new Canadians, and Aboriginal workers and openly out Gay and Lesbian workers. Our workplaces, our unions, this convention hall will look much different in 10 years. It will be – it will have to be – much more diverse, if we hope to survive into the future.

The time is now to reach out to those diverse communities with our plans to achieve retirement security for them and their families; and to ensure they know the labour movement is a welcoming place for all and wants to improve the lives of every person.

I want to close with a note about international solidarity. Obviously, if the labour movement achieves our goals on retirement security, we will assist others around the world who are also fighting for social protection.

But I want to mention a moment of international solidarity in the past, that came to prominence again just a few weeks ago, and that will continue to affect us all for the future.

I am the Canadian Worker Representative to the International Labour Organization. The day before I left for the ILO meetings in Geneva I was in St. John, New Brunswick attending a ceremony honouring the International Longshoremens Association for an action they took in 1979.

Thirty-one years ago the members of the ILA refused to load an Argentinian ship which was to be loaded with $120 million cargo of heavy water.

The trade unionists in New Brunswick refused to cross “Hot Cargo” picket lines because the repressive military regime in Argentina had crushed human rights and had jailed thousands. Sixteen of those jailed were trade unionists.

Because of the actions of our comrades in New Brunswick, 11 of those trade unionists were released immediately, 3 were sent into exile, and two were given prison sentences.

For many, the events of 1979 were forgotten until the Argentinian government decided to honour Pat Riley and the ILA for their actions.

I was privileged to be at the ceremony where Pat received the Orden de Mayo, the highest honour granted by the Argentinian government for a non-citizen; a citizen who has distinguished themselves through service and personal efforts and merit the gratitude of the nation.

We heard from the Ambassador from Argentina, and from some Argentinian Canadians who told their stories of moving to Canada because they were being persecuted by the regime and they knew Canadians were willing to stand up for justice and dignity.

It was moving and reminded me of why I love this labour movement.

The honour and recognition symbolized by the Orden de Mayo extends to the longshoremen and the railway workers, to the workers of St. John and New Brunswick, and to all others who joined the picket line; and further to the entire Canadian labour movement, church groups and environmental groups who supported the action.

And now my first event after arriving back from Geneva yesterday is here with the ILWU. And your theme is about the future.

We never know when we are organizing for change, for a better life for all, for justice and dignity no matter what country you live in, what the effect of our actions will be in the future.

As Jimmy Orr, one of the longeshoremen who refused to cross the picket line that day, said “All our members and our members in the future will be proud of it, for the actions we did take on that day.”

Let the work we are doing now for retirement security in the future speak about the kind of labour movement we are now. Let the actions you take now be celebrated in future Conventions of the ILWU. Let our children and grandchildren know that what we fought for today made a big difference in their lives of tomorrow.

Thank you. I look forward to working with you on many things in the future.

Solidarity Forever, Brothers and Sisters, for unions make Canada strong!