President's Reports

April 2012 President's Report (TCHC)

18 April 2012

Dear Fellow TCHC Member of Local 79:

Notice to Bargain has not been served by either TCHC or Local 79 within the required notice period of 90 days prior to the termination of the existing Collective Agreement. The effect of this is that the existing Collective Agreement has been rolled over until December 31, 2012. Local 79 will consult with members during this year as part of the preparations for the next round of bargaining.

Councillor Ana Bailão, Chair of the City’s Affordable Housing Committee, recently announced the start of housing consultations to investigate innovative solutions and new partnerships to address the repair needs of Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC) and the future of its single-family homes. The consultations are a result of Toronto City Council’s endorsement of a special working group to investigate alternatives to the sale of 619 occupied TCHC single-family homes. Toronto City Council also requested advice on innovative financial strategies to fund the social housing repair backlog and a strategy to engage the federal and provincial governments in providing long-term, sustainable funding to meet Toronto’s affordable housing needs.

I wrote to both Prime Minister Harper and Premier McGuinty expressing Local 79’s concerns regarding their recent, respective budgets. The Federal Budget once again failed to address the continued hardship suffered by significant numbers of Canadians across the country. Instead, it paves the way for deregulation, privatization, contracting out good jobs, outsourcing jobs, and foreign ownership of our resources. The proposal to delay the eligibility period for Old Age Security (OAS) until people reach 67 years of age, will only force people to work longer instead of securing the dignity that workers deserve in their retirement.

Premier McGuinty’s Budget is equally lacking. The government proposals can only result in people being thrown out of work, pensions threatened, Children’s Aid Societies experiencing funding cuts, cut backs in social housing, and the whole child care system destabilized through a lack of adequate funding. The Provincial government has failed miserably to take the necessary actions needed to get families, communities and the province back on their feet. Local 79 strongly supports NDP leader Andrea Horwath’s budget proposal to protect 4,000 existing child care spaces – 2,000 of which are in the City of Toronto. This funding could serve to offset the potential impact of the Mayor’s Task Force on Child Care agenda to reduce directly run, municipally-operated child care.

Premier McGuinty put banker Don Drummond in charge of recommending nearly 400 cuts to jobs and public services in Ontario. The Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) is working with community groups and organizations across Ontario to call on workers, retirees, students and community members to join a mass rally at Queen’s Park from 3:00 to 5:00 pm on Saturday April 21st to demand prosperity, not austerity! I urge you to join your Local 79 sisters and brothers as Ontarians must come together to tell Premier McGuinty that he cannot cut his way to economic prosperity.

April 27th is the National Day of Mourning (date changed from original post), when we pause and remember all workers who have been injured, made sick, or killed on the job. It is also a time when we rededicate ourselves to ensuring that all workers have safe, healthy workplaces. The ceremonies will be held this Friday, April 27th with the downtown Toronto ceremony moved to the Monument to Chinese Railway Workers, just south of Front and Spadina. It will be at 12:00 noon. The York Region event starts at 11:00 am, at the Woodbridge Memorial Arena, Islington + Highway 7.

Applications for the 2012 Alex Gregory Memorial Scholarship will be accepted for students who are in their final year of secondary school in Ontario, and are registered in a post-secondary institution this fall. Five scholarships for $500 each will be awarded to children of current or retired members. Please apply for an application in writing to the Education Committee, c/o the Local 79 office. Please include your name, address, home and work telephone numbers, division, and employee number.

In Solidarity,

Tim Maguire
President