“Good Jobs, Services, Dignity” is the theme of the 2012 Annual Toronto International Women’s Day Rally and March.

International Women’s Day began more than 100 years ago when women marched through the streets of New York, calling for shorter working hours, better pay and voting rights.

Both Local 416 and the City have now ratified the contract settlement that was reached on February 5^th. Local 416 beat back many of the worst concessions in the face of an all-out attack by the Ford Administration.

The City’s bargaining focus will soon turn to Local 79. It remains to be seen whether the City will now consider that the key features of the Local 416 settlement have created an iron framework to be forced upon Local 79 in the same way the City did to Local 416. We will continue to emphasize that bargaining between the City and Local 79 requires a different approach. We reiterate that Local 79, unlike Local 416, has four bargaining units – three of them encompass thousands of part-time workers. We have more than 400 job classifications, covering a variety of important City services. Your bargaining committee continues to work hard on your behalf, in the midst of an extremely tough negotiating environment. We will not be deterred from endeavouring to obtain the best possible settlements for our members.

Bargaining dates have been scheduled until the end of February, and a “no board” report has not yet been requested. We strongly urge you not to listen to rumours. We are not interested in bargaining through the media. Local 79 is committed to keeping members informed: We continue to post regular Bargaining Bulletins on the members’ Portal, and we will host further telephone town halls meetings.

At City Council’s January vote on the 2012 Budget, an Omnibus motion by Councillor Josh Colle reversed many major proposed budget cuts, such as:  child care centre programming; Priority Centre Youth programs; ice rink funding; pool funding; funding of shelters; proposed user fees for children, youth and older adults in priority centres.  

However, the 2012 budget still cuts $59 million from the City finances, resulting in the loss of more than 500 full-time equivalents (FTE’s) for Local 79, affecting most City Divisions. Cuts to the Youth Outreach Program will be re-evaluated as part of the Recreation Service Review with a report going to City Council. Unfortunately, by a narrow vote, Council failed to reverse the contracting out of cleaning jobs in City facilities.

Local 79 is also very concerned about the degree to which some members will have their wages reduced as a result of the Part-Time Recreation Worker Harmonization Award. While a majority of members of the Part-Time Recreation Unit will have their wages increased, we are disappointed that the Local 79 arguments in favour of red-circling were rejected at arbitration. The Local is supportive of the concerns expressed by employees negatively affected by the Award. Concerns gathered through the Job Evaluation office will be raised directly with the City in an attempt to find solutions, understanding that this is the decision of an arbitrator. Local 79 will take whatever steps we can to address wage rates of members that were reduced by Mr. Kaplan’s award. 

The sale of over 700 social housing units at TCHC is still being debated. The controversial sale of hundreds of family homes will be on the agenda of the Executive Committee on February 17^th. Local 79 has argued that if these ‘stand-alone’ units are sold, it will devastate hundreds of family units. The selling off of these homes will only serve to marginalize and isolate people further.

At Bridgepoint Hospital, Local 79 representatives continue to meet with management monthly to ensure fair treatment of Local 79 members as the process of transition to the new hospital unfolds. We will continue to seek additional dates for conciliation in the Nurses and Paramedical contract negotiations.

Join us March ^3rd for the 2012 Annual Toronto International Women’s Day Rally and March. This year’s theme is “Good Jobs, Services, Dignity: Reclaim Our City”. The rally starts at 11 am at OISE, 252 Bloor Street West. A march – to support City workers and the public services they provide – will leave from OISE and proceed to Nathan Phillips Square at City Hall, and end at Ryerson University.

*There are new features to access in the Members’ Portal*

In Solidarity,

Tim Maguire
President

The Telly Awards is the premier award honoring the finest film and video productions, groundbreaking web commercials, videos and films, and outstanding local, regional, and cable TV commercials and programs.

Here’s what we won:

• 2012 Bronze Award – CUPE 79 Watercolour (Local TV & Local Cable – Public Service)
• 2012 Bronze Award – CUPE 79 Watercolour (Regional TV & Multi-Market Cable – Use of Animation)

Congratulations to the Local 79 Executive, who worked closely with Scout Marketing to come up with the concept of the advertisements.

Click here to view the ads.

Dear Mayor Ford,

And Members of the Executive Committee,

Re: Item #EX15.1 – Securing Funding to Repair Toronto Community Housing’s Multi-Residential Portfolio: Sale of Toronto Community Housing Stand-Alone Units

I am writing on behalf of Local 79, who represents more than 350 full-time, part-time and seasonal staff working at TCHC. Our members are the front-line workers in the provision of affordable housing.

I applaud the recent decision by City Council to allow the Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC) to keep the property tax savings they realized for 2011 and include it in their TCHC budget, rather than counting it as part of the City’s general revenue. The resulting approximately $6 million increase in the TCHC budget is indeed good news!

We received, with cautious optimism, news of the referral of the sale of 18 supportive houses under legal agreements with supportive housing agencies, back to the TCHC. It is welcome news that the City Manager and the General Manager of the Shelter, Support and Housing Administration are not recommending the sale of these properties. Providing shelter, support and services for the homeless should remain a priority for our City.

However, the recommendation before you from the City Manager and the General Manager, Shelter, Support and Housing Administration to approve the sale by TCHC of more than 700 homes is far from being good news. This proposal runs counter to TCHC’s own policies of avoiding the creation of social housing ghettos by integrating tenants into mixed neighbourhoods. These ‘stand-alone units’ or ‘scattered housing’ as they are being called – are a vital part of TCHC’s commitment to ‘city building’ and the growth of healthy, sustainable communities across Toronto.

Toronto put in place housing policies that are intended to fight poverty, promote equity, and provide support for seniors, new Canadians, students, and people with disabilities. The sale of these homes displaces people, takes individuals and families out of neighbourhoods, and breaks up communities.

Selling off community housing is a step backward when all the studies, consultations and evidence have proved that mixed-income communities benefit everyone. These are not just buildings or real estate assets to be sold – these are homes. This drastic change in policy direction will impact thousands of tenants and neighbourhoods all across the City.

If these ‘stand-alone units’ are sold, it will devastate hundreds of families. Evicting tenants, and trying to squeeze larger families into apartments that are too small to accommodate them, is not the direction that the Executive Committee should be taking social housing. This shift in policy will only serve to marginalize and isolate people.

When TCHC already has a current waiting list of close to 70,000 individuals and families, it begs the question of where all the displaced tenants in scattered housing are supposed to go, especially when there are no plans for additional housing. In this housing crisis, selling off hundreds of stand-alone homes doesn’t make sense.

The City is creating its own financial predicament, whereby many ousted tenants will need to avail themselves of additional support services. This inevitability is just further proof that this plan is simply illogical.

Ironically, at the same time that City staff is recommending approving the sale by TCHC of these homes and dooming tenants to vertical poverty, TCHC is being lauded for the revitalization of Regent Park based on the concept of mixed-income housing. Is this a deliberate policy change by the City, and TCHC, to be in the real estate business, rather than social housing?

The discussion at the Executive Committee meeting today should be about the value of helping house the people of Toronto, and sustaining strong neighbourhoods and communities, not real estate values.

I want to also question TCHC’s intention to contract out 2,500 Units, effective April 1, 2012. In addition to vigorously opposing this proposal, Local 79 needs to know how this decision came about. TCHC has a responsibility to provide the rationale behind the decision to contract out, particularly when the very negative experience of the contracted out 200 Wellesley Street is still uppermost in everyone’s minds.

Yours truly,

Tim Maguire
President

Members of the Toronto Civic Employees Union (TCEU), Local 416 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE 416) today ratified a four-year collective agreement with the City of Toronto.

Highlights of the new four-year agreement include six per cent in wage improvements, an interest arbitration mechanism for EMS workers and the retention of employment security provisions for permanent employees with 15 years or more of service.

Local 79 continues to negotiate with the City in order to seek a fair contract for our members. Bargaining dates have already been made between the City and Local 79 until the end of February.

We will continue to keep Local 79 members updated on the latest developments in the Members’ Portal. 

Equity and accessibility are important to Local 79, but official translation services for our members aren’t always available on a last-minute or emergency basis.

If you have the ability to translate using ASL, please contact Local 79 Recording Secretary, Sofia Reno, at recordingsecretary@cupelocal79.org.

torontotogether.ca explains who we are by listing the CUPE Locals that make up Toronto’s public workforce and the services that we provide.

The site also features a video that highlights the importance of CUPE members and the need for the City to reach a fair contract with them.

It also dispels myths about employment security that some pundits have falsely labelled “jobs for life”.

New posts are regularly being added, so make sure to check in on the site often!

Follow torontotogether.ca @TdotWorks on Twitter.

During the meeting, you will be able to ask questions and make comments, just like in a radio call-in show.

The meeting will last about 45 minutes. All you have to do to participate is answer the phone when we call this Thursday evening at 6:30 p.m.

If you want to submit questions by email in advance of the meeting, you can do so. Send your questions to tsandberg@cupelocal79.org  (not all questions can be answered due to time restrictions).

Electro-Motive Diesel is demanding that workers accept a 55 per cent pay cut, elimination of benefits, and significantly reduced pensions. These demands, despite the company’s record profits, show how brazen employers have become in taking from the people who produce their products or provide their services.

Solidarity between workers has never been more important, so we were happy to be in London supporting CAW Local 27 members.

Take a look at some of the photos taken at this event:

Legend has it that in ancient times, Buddha asked all the animals to meet him on Chinese New Year. Twelve came, and Buddha named a year after each one. He announced that the people born in each animal’s year would have some of that animal’s personality. Known for his boldness and short temper, the dragon has long been a representation of the Chinese Emperors. The Water Dragon, by contrast, exudes calm and empathy.

People born in the Year of the Dragon usually share certain characteristics: Innovative, enterprising, self-assured, brave, passionate. Some renowned people born in the Year of the Dragon include: Calista Flockhart, Colin Farrell, Courtney Cox, Courtney Love, Dinah Shore, Isabella Rossellini, Julia Ormond, Juliette Binoche, Reese Witherspoon, Roseanne Barr, Sandra Bullock, and Wynonna Judd.

Celebrated internationally in areas with large populations of ethnic Chinese, Lunar New Year is considered to be a major holiday for the Chinese as well as ethnic groups such as the Mongolians, Koreans, the Miao (Chinese Hmong) and the Vietnamese, who were influenced by Chinese culture in terms of religious and philosophical worldview, language and culture in general. Lunar New Year is also the time when the largest human migration takes place when Chinese all around the world return home on Lunar New Year’s eve to have a reunion dinner with their family.

Other Asian communities that celebrate the Lunar New Year come from Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Thailand, Burma and Laos. There are also Chinese-speaking communities from the Philippines, Indonesia, India, Singapore, Malaysia and others.

Shooting off firecrackers on New Year’s Eve was the traditional way of sending out the old year and welcoming in the New Year. On the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve, every door in the house, and even windows, was to be opened to allow the old year to go out.

Lunar New Year starts with the New Moon on the first day of the New Year and ends on the full moon 15 days later. The 15th day of the New Year is called the Lantern Festival, which is celebrated at night with lantern displays and children carrying lanterns in a parade.

According to the 2006 Census, almost 1.2 million people of Asian origin live in Toronto. 486,325 of that group are of Chinese origin. With the large Chinese population in Toronto, events grow every year. One of the most accessible ways to celebrate is to attend the Dragon Dance Parade, which winds through the Dundas St. Chinatown area. Colourful dragons, over 20 ft. long and supported by 12 or more people, dance through the streets to bless the shops and restaurants. Drummers, whose constant beat drives away evil spirits, accompany the dragons. As the communities celebrating Lunar New Year have migrated to the suburban areas of Toronto, celebrations also take place in many of the suburban malls.

Local 79 would like to extend our best wishes to all our members celebrating Lunar New Year.

Gùng Héi Faat Chōi! Gōngxǐ Fācái!