Presented by Marie Clarke Walker on Wednesday, 27 October 2010

(Check against delivery)

Sisters and Brothers, it’s my pleasure to bring you greetings of solidarity from Canadian Labour Congress President Ken Georgetti, our other Officers and our 3.2 million members.

Thank you to President Larry Hubich and your SFL Executive Council for inviting me to speak to you today.

It’s great to be back here in Saskatchewan and western Canada and out of Ontario.

And what a month it’s been in municipal politics.

In Calgary, which is somewhat known for – let’s be honest – its right-wing views, the good voters there elected a person of colour, who is considered progressive by Alberta standards, as their new mayor!

Naheed Nenshi not only won, he defeated both a veteran city councillor and a local TV news anchor to do it. Wow!

Meanwhile, in my home town of Toronto, the choice we faced for mayor in elections this week was between a right-wing city councillor who wants to privatize transit and other public services or a former Ontario Liberal cabinet minister whose nickname is “Furious George” or a veteran progressive city councillor.

Well, the right-wing city councillor - Rob Ford - won.

I think I may just move to Calgary!

I want to talk to you today about the most important campaign the Canadian Labour Congress has launched in decades – the fight for retirement security for all Canadian workers.

And I also want to talk about the CLC’s political action work, which includes municipal, provincial and federal elections in coordination with your Federation, CLC affiliates and local labour councils.

But first I have to add my voice and that of the CLC to those opposed to the potential sale of Potash Corporation to BHP Billiton.

This foreign takeover could have a hugely detrimental effect on Saskatchewan – a loss of $2 billion to the provincial government.

And leave it to the Conference Board of Canada to sum up the issue as only big business could see it.

The Board said in a report – and I quote – “With the exception of significant government revenue impacts, we found few negative takeover effects.”

In other words, unless you have the silly idea that cutting $2 billion in needed public services for the province is a bad idea, a foreign takeover of Potash Corp. will be just fine.

Well Sisters and Brothers, we know that when even Saskatchewan’s right-wing premier Brad Wall says he’s opposed to the takeover – because it will cost the province jobs and revenue and Canadian control over a key resource – you can be sure it’s a really, really bad idea.

When Premier Wall starts to sound like Brother Wall at microphone 3 at a Saskatchewan Federation of Labour convention, we know we have a huge problem.

And who do we have to thank for this?

Your old friend Grant Devine, who back in 1989 thought it was a great idea to privatize Potash Corp. - a former crown corporation.

Thank you Grant Devine for selling off Saskatchewan's crown jewels!

You know, foreign control of Canadian resources isn’t just a Saskatchewan issue – it’s a national concern.

Just ask the Steelworkers who were on strike for a year in Sudbury what it’s like to negotiate against a giant foreign-owned corporation called Vale-Inco that couldn’t care less about your province or your country!

It was a bitter year-long labour dispute – the longest ever in 100 years – that devastated workers’ lives and their community.

That strike is a warning to Saskatchewan and a warning to the CEP and the Steelworkers members who work for Potash Corp. about what could happen here.

Vale-Inco demanded significant concessions and used replacement workers – scabs – to run parts of the mine.

It demanded that new workers go on a defined contribution pension plan instead of the existing defined benefits pension plan.

But perhaps the strongest reason to oppose foreign multinational takeovers of our resource companies comes from the vicious way they operate.

In just the first 2 years of the new Brazilian-based Vale-Inco ownership, the company had made more profits from Sudbury than in the previous 10 years under the former Inco management.

Yet they forced workers to strike for a year to get a contract that will increase their profits at workers’ expense.

Don’t think the same thing can’t happen with BHP Billiton at Potash Corp. – workers in Sudbury already know that.

That’s why the CLC is telling federal Conservative Industry Minister Tony Clement to just say “No” to BHP Billiton and “No More” foreign takeovers.

Sisters and Brothers, two other things strike me as very important when it comes to the Potash Corp. situation.

Number one - isn’t this the first time Brad Wall has ever stood up for Saskatchewan workers?

I thought so.

This is the premier who has attacked the right to strike of public sector workers with his Bill 5, who has made it harder for workers to exercise their democratic right to join a union with his Bill 6 and who opened the door to the pro-employer Christian Labour Association of Canada to come to Saskatchewan with its substandard contracts to undercut legitimate unions.

Thank goodness the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour is defending workers’ rights by fighting back.

I salute the SFL for taking on union busting and exposing CLAC for what it is – an employers’ best friend – and no friend to workers.

The second thing about the Potash Corp. foreign takeover bid that’s important is directly connected to the CLC’s campaign for retirement security.

I mentioned earlier that in the Vale-Inco strike one of the demands of the employer was to force workers from a superior defined benefits pension to an inferior defined contributions pension.

The short version is simple – it’s good for employers’ profits and it’s bad for workers retirement income.

That’s what Potash Corp. workers should be worried about if this takeover succeeds and that’s what workers all over Canada are fighting today.

It’s part of a larger picture that has prompted the Canadian Labour Congress to demand a fair solution to the retirement security crisis in this country.

Our campaign is about protecting workers’ pension plans...and about making sure that every Canadian can retire with dignity and respect.

Unfortunately, the prospect of retirement actually scares most Canadians – they see ahead of them not their golden years...but poverty fears.

And even more sadly, they are right to be afraid.

Today more than 1.6 million Canadian seniors are living in poverty, with income below $16,000 a year.

What a shameful situation for the people who built this great country!

So what is the answer?

Well it’s definitely not RRSPs!

Billions of dollars were lost in the financial meltdown caused by corporate greed and the failure of governments to regulate banks, financial institutions and corporations.

Do Canadians really want to gamble with their retirement security that way?

No they don't.

Only 25% of Saskatchewan residents bought RRSPs in 2008 - the same as the Canadian average.

Of those in Saskatchewan who bought RRSPs in 2008, over half earned more than $80,000 a year - people who can afford to fend for themselves.

And one-third of Canadian workers between the ages of 24 and 64 have absolutely no personal retirement savings. None.

Even those with an RRSP don't have enough.

The median RRSP value for a worker between 55 and 65 years old in 2005 was just $60,000 - and that was before the stock market roller coaster ride.

That was enough to buy a monthly pension of just $250.

Meanwhile, the 38.5% of the workers who actually have pensions – like people in this room – are under the same attack faced by Vale-Inco workers.

Employers are scrapping defined benefits pension plans and replacing them with defined contribution plans or RRSPs – which both have the same high risks as the markets.

It’s a grim picture.

Fortunately, the CLC has a better plan – we want to double Canada Pension Plan benefits for all workers.

If we phase in a small premium increase over 7 years, it would result in a doubling of future maximum benefits – to $1635 a month.

That would raise the basic pension floor for all workers from a poverty level of $12,000 a year to a far more liveable $20,000.

The reasons why improving the Canada Pension Plan is the best solution are clear – the CPP is universal, it’s portable – it goes with you, not your job – and it covers 93% of workers.

Given the fact that in this new and precarious economy many workers will likely have several different employers in multiple locations during their career, the CLC proposal is the way to go.

It not only meets the needs of workers who don’t have a pension plan or RRSPs, but it also provides a better retirement base for those of us who do have pensions.

With the CLC plan, a worker who is 28 today and works full-time from now until retirement at age 65 – that means 37 years of expanded contributions – would earn a monthly CPP payment of about $1,772.

But under the existing CPP without any improvements, the same worker's monthly CPP payment would only be about $886.

That’s a huge difference – our proposal literally doubles the income.

Is it too expensive for workers? No.

For a worker earning $47,200 or more per year, the cost of doubling future CPP benefits works out to about just 9 cents an hour, or only $3.60 a week in the first year of our phased-in plan.

That's less than the cost of a newspaper subscription – and worth a whole lot more.

And the CLC plan still helps older workers who are approaching retirement age.

With our plan, a worker who is 58 today and works full-time from now until retirement at age 65 would get an extra $160 a month in CPP – that will make a real difference.

Best of all – we are already achieving significant progress in convincing governments to accept a CPP expansion plan.

Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty and a majority of provincial finance ministers have said they support expanding the Canada Pension Plan.

They have not yet signed on to the CLC plan to double CPP benefits, but it is a welcome start.

We also have the strong backing of Canadian mayors and councillors, who passed a resolution calling for pension reform nearly identical to the CLC plan at this year’s Federation of Canadian Municipalities convention.

Our plan has been endorsed by Monica Townson, one of Canada’s leading pension experts.

And the CLC plan has been costed-out by Bernard Dussault, Chief Actuary of the CPP and Old Age Security program from 1992 to 1997, who says it is entirely do-able.

But we are not there yet – not by far.

We need your help to convince Brad Wall and his finance minister Ken Krawetz that this is simply the right thing to do and a minor increase in the CPP is not enough to protect Canadians' retirement income.

We need to implement the CLC plan and double the benefits to succeed.

And there is much more we must achieve.

Those 1.6 million seniors currently trapped in poverty need an immediate 15% increase to the Guaranteed Income Supplement benefits.

That would give them a liveable income.

We also need federal pension insurance – to protect our workplace plans.

We insure our lives, our homes, our vehicles and our jobs – but not our pensions!

That just doesn’t make sense – and it’s time for the federal government to act.

So sisters and brothers - this is our time – our moment to make the most sweeping positive change seen in Canada since Tommy Douglas introduced Medicare in Saskatchewan and transformed the nation.

It’s time to protect every worker in Canada so they can retire with dignity and security.

And I know that with your strong support – we can do it – we can win!

Lastly, I want to talk briefly about our political action work – in particular the CLC’s successful efforts to elect labour-friendly candidates in municipal elections all across Canada.

The Canadian Labour Congress is dedicated to ensuring that all our affiliated members are told who the labour-friendly candidates are for mayor, councillor and school board trustees in every election – like the one we just had this week in Ontario – and the next one in Saskatchewan.

I am very pleased to tell you that we have been increasingly successful at electing those candidates – with the help of the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour, with our affiliates and through the hard work of our local Labour Councils.

Here’s how our municipal political action campaigns work:

We start with local Labour Councils analyzing the previous municipal election results.

We determine who they can support, what they know on the ground about who is likely running for councils and school boards, who isn’t and then strategize about where labour could make inroads.

With our affiliates, we then brainstorm for the names of candidates who share our values.

It’s a process that has been an excellent outreach tool for the labour movement in every community.

Then we go to election school.

Most recently in the Ontario local election this year, the CLC held over 15 weekend training sessions from April through June where we trained candidates, campaign managers and organizers and taught municipal fundamentals.

This gives our candidates and campaigns a huge advantage – so big that now the federal Conservative Party has caught on and is starting to hold its own training sessions for right-wing municipal candidates.

But we’re way ahead of them – and better at it.

The same CLC training happens in every province in the year when municipal elections are being held.

All this work leads up to creating a list of labour-endorsed municipal mayors, councillors and school board trustees.

Endorsement cards are then produced for distribution to voters during the campaign period.

The results? Excellent.

In just the past few years the CLC helped elect more than 800 Labour Council-endorsed mayors, city councilors and school trustees, nationally.

In Ontario this Monday, 71% of the labour endorsed candidates were elected - a message I'd like to reinforce because you might have heard it was a right-wing tide across Ontario.

Of 288 mayors, councillors and trustees endorsed by labour councils, 191 were elected.

The CLC, does the same kind of political action work in provincial and federal elections, working with Federations of Labour and local Labour Councils to assist those candidates and parties that support unions.

Federally, we still have more work to do but through 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 working with the SFL and our affiliates here in Saskatchewan, the CLC will do all we can to throw the Brad Wall government out the door in the provincial election of 2011!

So in conclusion Sisters and Brothers, we have a lot of work ahead of us.

From fighting foreign takeovers to protecting jobs to succeeding in our campaign for retirement security to taking the political action needed on behalf of workers, we have much to do – and together, we will win!

Thank you for inviting me and have a great convention.