MFL President Talks Politics

Darlene Dziewit's opening speech to the MFL Convention stressed the importance of politics to working men and women.

During her speech to delegates during the first morning of the MFL convention, President Darlene Dziewit touched on many topics. Politics at all three levels - municipal, provincial and federal - was one of the key issues she discussed.

She stressed that, "There are few things that affect working people across the board as much as politics and the decisions made by governments, be they worker friendly or nestled in the corporate pocket."

Dealing first with municipal politics and the recent re-election of Winnipeg mayor Sam Katz, Dziewit made it clear that she's sure that the mayor will resurrect his plan to contract out and privatize valuable public services.

She reminded delegates that, "It was only a year ago when Katz and his allies on city council targeted the remainder the city's solid waste collection for privatization. And what happened?

"A month after Katz and his supporters rammed it through city council, the newspapers were reporting that the city's trash collection costs skyrocketed. The contract scheduled to be handed over to BFI was at a price 24.3 per cent higher than the cost before contracting out.

"And what did the pro contracting out supporters have to say about the higher cost of privatized garbage pick up? Well, Adrienne Batra of the Canadian Taxpayers Association said this was only the case of the market dictating the price. She said, and I quote:"

"I don't see this as a cause for alarm. Those who are against free enterprise use this as a scare tactic to make sure that a government monopoly is maintained."

"Well, Adrienne, let me clue you in. Protecting taxpayers from the 'market dictating the price' is the whole point of using public sector workers to perform public services. We don't need 'the market' to drive down salaries and take away benefits from our hard working members. We don't need 'the market' to drive up costs for what often turns out to be less service."

Turning her attention to provincial politics, Dziewit reminded delegates that the New Democrats have been elected to form government Manitoba six times. It's anticipated that a seventh Manitoba NDP government can be elected early as next year.

Dwiewit then listed a few of the things that Gary Doer and his caucus colleagues have accomplished since 1999 that benefit working people and improve their quality of life.

• They have increased the minimum wage every year that they have been in power.
• They brought a measure of balance back to the Labour Relations Act.
• They are working through the review and amendment of the Employment Standards Code.
• They have reviewed and amended the Construction Industry Wages Act
• They have made important improvements to the Workplace Safety and Health and Workers' Compensation Acts
• They led the country by passing legislation to protect health care workers by requiring the use of retractable needles in medical workplaces.
• They amended the Pension Benefits Act to make it more effective for working people trying to build financial security in retirement.

From words of praise about the provincial government, Dziewit then switched to comments about the federal government. Her words on that topic were considerably briefer - and harsher.

"We need to get rid of Harper and his sexist, homophobic, war loving, freedom hating bunch of mean spirited, nasty, religious-right nut bars. Period."

At all levels of government, taxation is an issue - and another topic on which President Dziewit made it clear where she stands.

"Taxation is not a pretty word. We should stop using that word. We should say investment instead of taxation because that's what it is.

"We are using our personal and corporate financial resources to build the kind of country, province, city and society that we both want and need. We are investing in the things that are important to us as individuals and a society.

"During my lifetime, we have gone from a situation where government income tax revenue was equally paid by corporations and businesses. Now, less than 10 per cent of government income tax revenue comes from profitable corporations. It's been shifted to us."

One of the non-political issues she touched on was the Teamsters' raid on MGEU members at the two Winnipeg casinos.

"Raiding is one of the ugliest words in the labour dictionary. It pits brother against brother and sister against sister in a battle that does nothing to improve the lives of working people. It wastes hard-to-come-by union resources and the energy of our staff and activists."

She went on to point out that some good has come out of that unfortunate incident.

"The MFL has developed a protocol that has been signed by most law firms that represent unions and their members. At our request they have committed to not representing unions that engage in raiding. This sends a clear message to everyone that actions have consequences, and that the labour movement is not without influence outside of the House of Labour."