Canada gov’t targets unions with,financial disclosure law

Subject: Re: Canada gov't targets unions with,financial disclosure law

When are the workers of the world going to come to their senses and realize that we are at war with the Corporate Empire, the Ruling Class?  In America the corporations are given first class citizenship, and in return they give us a boot on the back of the neck. 

It is the logical thing for the International Empire to do in order to maximize their profit, be rid of all organized labor. 

 

Carl Jarvis

 

----- Original Message -----

From: Roger Loran Bailey

To: Blind Democracy Discussion List

Sent: Saturday, January 26, 2013 6:31 PM

Subject: Canada gov't targets unions with,financial disclosure law

http://www.themilitant.com/2013/7704/770453.html
The Militant - February 4, 2013 -- Canada gov't targets unions with
financial disclosure law
The Militant (logo)

Vol. 77/No. 4      February 4, 2013


Canada gov't targets unions with
financial disclosure law

BY JOE YOUNG
MONTREAL—In a new attack on unions, Canada's House of Commons has
adopted a bill requiring them to make detailed annual financial filings.
The bill represents
a direct government interference in the functioning of the unions.

Bill C-377 was adopted Dec. 12 in a 147-135 vote. This was largely split
along party lines, with the governing Conservative Party in favor and
the Liberal
and New Democratic parties opposed. The bill now goes to the Senate.

The financial reports would be made to the Canada Revenue Agency, which
would make the information public. It would include salaries over
$100,000 and
expenses over $5,000. Unions already make records of their finances
available to their members. Brent Rathgeber, a Conservative member of
parliament who
voted against the bill, said during the debate, "I do not see that
nonmembers of unions such as myself have any interest in how the unions
spend those
dues."

"This bill is nothing more than an attack on the 4 million hard-working
Canadian union members," Ken Georgetti, president of the Canadian Labour
Congress,
wrote in a letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

The Social Alliance, a coalition of major unions and student
associations in Quebec, said in a Dec. 10 statement that the bill
"expresses the desire to
paralyze union activities and to make the population believe that union
organizations are involved in shady activities."

Before a House of Commons committee, the Canadian Bar Association said
the bill could be interpreted as an infringement on union business and
therefore
the right to association.

Conservative member of parliament Russ Hiebert, who submitted the bill,
argued that "there is a genuine public purpose served by requiring
financial transparency
in all institutions which receive a substantial public benefit." The
benefit has tax-exempt status.

In a column entitled "Transparency Benefits Labour" in the Dec. 19 Globe
and Mail, author Lysiane Gagnon supported "more transparency from the
labour movement."
She ended her piece with examples of things she doesn't like unions
spending money on.

"Last spring, the three major Quebec labour federations allocated
thousands of dollars to support the often-violent student protests
against tuition fees,
in a crude attempt to topple the [Premier Jean] Charest government, even
though two-thirds of Quebeckers, including countless unionized workers,
strongly
disapproved of the 'red square' movement," she wrote.

In a related development, the New Democratic Party was ordered by
Elections Canada, the agency overseeing federal elections, to return
about $344,000 it
had received from unions and a few other organizations for advertising
at three different NDP conventions. In Canada, unions are prohibited
from contributing
funds to political parties. Elections Canada acted after a complaint by
the Conservative Party.


Related articles:
NYC school bus workers stand up to union busting
'Our wages, benefits, jobs are at stake'
On the Picket Line
Canada gov't targets unions with financial disclosure law



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