News News
UFCW: Here we go again?
A jaw-dropping report which sheds light on what appears to be (another) party time for UFCW and it's retail partners, and back to the future for UFCW's Southern California retail members.
Flanagan: Harper Advisor wants Assange Dead
It was a moment of "manly"_ness he says, that prompted "University of Calgary Prof and Harper Advisor Tom Flanagan" to call for the assassination of WikiLeak creator Julian Assange. And, referencing the leaked memoirs of war, here's Flanagan's defense: "...there's stuff in there that could cause a war!".
Warning: the following scene contains violence.
CCWIPP Trustees "Totally Failed" Judge Rules
Trustees of the Canadian Commercial Workers Industry Pension plan were convicted today of violating the Pension Benefits Act of Ontario. Multiple charges were laid against the trustees in 2006 after an investigation by the Financial Services Commission of Ontario found numerous apparent breaches of pension laws.
The judgment: R. v Christophe et al
CCWIPP Trustees' Bahamas Resort Deal in the Toilet
More bad news for the trustees of the troubled Canadian Commercial Workers Industry Pension plan. Since 2005, when the Financial Services Commission of Ontario started breathing down their necks about a $50 million investment in a mothballed Bahamas resort, the trustees have been working hard to offload the South Ocean Golf and Beach Resort - or at least, trying to make it look that way.
CCWIPP Financial Statement for 2008 Now Online
uncharted has obtained a copy of the 2008 financial statement for the Canadian Commercial Workers Industry Pension Plan (CCWIPP). The news is devastating. Highlights for 2008 include:
- Losses from investments: $9.4 million
- Decrease in net assets: $356 million
- Total return: -19.6%
- Total actuarial liability: $2 billion
- Funded status: 42%
Wal-Mart v. UFCW: What Goes Around
When it comes to shameless hypocrisy the leaders of the Canadian UFCW are always trying to push out the boundaries of the known universe. Last week they took things to a whole new level. In a whiny media release, they advised the world that they are being dragged up the courthouse steps by their arch enemies at Wal-Mart Corporation on account of their use of Wal-Mart logos, slogans, color schemes and other "indicia" on www.walmartworkersofcanada.ca, a UFCW-operated web site. Should we be outraged? Not a chance.
On Strike Against Who? Labor Relations Drama Pits Workers Against Communities
As Toronto finds itself in the second week of a strike by 30,000 municipal workers, members of CUPE Locals 79 and 416, a disturbing scene is unfolding. Although the workers' dispute is with the City, the optics of the strike - what the citizens see both in the media and with their own eyes - paint an ugly picture of strikers pitted against their community.
Pension Restructuring Looms for CCWIPP Members
More bad news for members of UFCW Canada's beleaguered CCWIPP pension plan: A notice from the pension plan's trustees this past week announced a -19.6% rate of return for 2008 and warned that "without significant new capital, benefit restructuring will be necessary".
The notice comes as members await the verdict, expected in next month, into dozens of charges under the Ontario Pension Benefits Act that were filed against the trustees in 2006.
Workplace Democracy: The Time is Right
Workplace democracy advocate Rune Olsen is back with a new piece, The DemoCratic Workplace in which he takes a more pragmatic look at how we might go about implementing this new workplace paradigm.
To further explore this subject, how it might work, the changes it might bring and why the time for a change of this magnitude could be more right, check out the Workplace Democracy Q & A.
Is Economic Helter Skelter Looming?
Will the economic meltdown spawn civil unrest in North America - maybe even domestic terrorism? Writing in Truthdig.com Chris Hedges paints a scary picture in an article titled Bad News From America's Top Spy.
We have a remarkable ability to create our own monsters. A few decades of meddling in the Middle East with our Israeli doppelgänger and we get Hezbollah, Hamas, al-Qaida, the Iraqi resistance movement and a resurgent Taliban. Now we trash the world economy and destroy the ecosystem and sit back to watch our handiwork. The rest.