Union – mackaycartoons

Wednesday June 22, 2016

June 21, 2016 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday June 22, 2016

‘Brexit’ Vote Will Change Europe, No Matter the Outcome

If the U.K. decides in Thursday’s referendum to leave the European Union, it would shake the continent to its political foundations. Even if it stays, the bloc may never be the same.

A decision to leave, which would be a first by a member nation, would deepen the crisis facing a continent already struggling with economic weakness, debt problems, large-scale migration and growing geopolitical instability to its south and east.

At a minimum, politicians and officials say, a British exit would transform the bloc’s balance of power. Negotiations over a new relationship would consume the EU’s energy at a time when European institutions are struggling to respond to the other problems. A U.K. exit also could disrupt financial markets and fire up anti-EU forces in other countries.

Whether or not the U.K. leaves, change is coming. In February, U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron struck a deal with the rest of the EU to restrict migrant benefits and detach Britain from the bloc’s push for an “ever closer union.” Mr. Cameron’s effort to claw back power from Brussels, coupled with the referendum at home, is an approach that other European politicians are promising to follow, potentially fragmenting the bloc further.

The referendum, at a minimum, has delivered a shock to Europe’s political classes, calling into question what some had once regarded as an inevitable march toward a federal EU.

“Obsessed with the idea of instant and total integration, we failed to notice that ordinary people, the citizens of Europe, do not share our Euro-enthusiasm,” European Council President Donald Tusk observed in a speech in late May. “The specter of a breakup is haunting Europe, and a vision of a federation doesn’t seem to me like the best answer to it.” (Continued: Wall Street Journal)

Wednesday May 6, 2015

May 5, 2015 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday May 6, 2015

Ontario elementary teachers plan job action Monday

Ontario’s 73,000 public elementary teachers will begin job action on Monday, when they are in a legal strike position.

While a strike is not anticipated — local union districts have been given details about a work-to-rule — it remains one of the options available, says Sam Hammond, president of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario.

In a statement released Tuesday morning, ETFO said its members would be taking unspecified “central strike action” in 32 school boards across the province Monday.

According to an ETFO bulletin obtained by the Star, titled “Strike Protocol: Work-to-Rule — Phase 1,” and sent out to its Toronto members late Monday night, teachers will not take part in any EQAO (standardized testing), write report cards, fill in for absent principals or “conduct any reading, writing or mathematics assessments other than those that the teacher deems necessary to report on student progress.”

Hammond has told the Star that the recent offer on the table from the government and the school boards’ association was “offensive” and contained concessions the union would not consider.

He said if the concessions remained, the union would be “looking at all the options.”

“We are hoping on, or prior to, May 10 that we get substantial movement at the table and we won’t have to move in a direction nobody wants to move in,” he has previously said.

While talks have continued with the help of a mediator, they recently broke off. A union spokesperson said Monday that “ETFO is eagerly awaiting a call from the government that it, and the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association, are ready to engage in meaningful and substantive bargaining.”

ETFO is the country’s largest teacher union. A strike or job action would affect more than 817,000 elementary school students across the province. (Source: Toronto Star)

Tuesday September 9, 2014

September 8, 2014 by Graeme MacKay

Tuesday September 9, 2014

Scotland – Vote No and get something better?

On the morning after the poll before, “Vote No and get something better” summed up George Osborne’s message. It’s a tried and trusted message which worked in the independence referendum in Quebec when a last minute poll lead for Yes was transformed into a narrow No. It is, though, a message with a difficult history in Scotland.

Thirty five years ago it was precisely what Scots were told when they were voting in a referendum on a much more modest proposal – to create a Scottish Parliament with some devolved powers.
A former prime minister, a Scot and, as it happens, a Tory, Sir Alec Douglas Home urged his countrymen to vote No and get “something better”. The referendum rejected devolution and what they got soon afterwards was 18 years of Margaret Thatcher’s government and no devolution at all (until, that is, Labour were re-elected in 1997).

That is just one reason why Osborne’s promise of a plan to transfer new powers to Holyrood – covering tax raising, spending and benefits – caused such confusion yesterday. It is why Alex Salmond felt able to attack it as a sign of “panic” on the No side.

The other reason is that the three rival Westminster parties – the Conservatives, Labour and Liberal Democrats – have not agreed a plan for which precise powers to devolve. Each party has published its own set of proposals which overlap in the areas Osborne listed.

The plan he was talking about – but which is still being argued about behind the scenes – is to give Scottish voters certainty that this time – unlike last time – they are guaranteed to get “something better” whoever forms the next government in Westminster.

The Lib Dem Scottish secretary Alastair Carmichael has long talked about the idea of setting up a Scottish Constitutional Convention bringing together representatives of all parties – including the SNP – and none (trade unionists, business groups, the churches etc). This would hammer out a new settlement which all the Westminster parties would then promise to implement whoever is elected in the 2015 general election.

Who should announce this, where and how poses its own problems since Scottish voters – like voters right across the world – are deeply mistrustful of what politicians say. If all three party leaders stood together it would simply allow Alex Salmond to say “I told you they were all the same and that Labour were in bed with the Tories.”

A striking finding of this weekend’s YouGov poll is that the leader of the Labour Party – for so long the natural party of government in Scotland – is trusted by under a quarter of Scottish voters, the same number as it happens as trust David Cameron. (Continued: BBC News)

Friday January 13, 2012

January 13, 2012 by Graeme MacKay

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator, Friday January 13, 2012

Conservatives suggest divorce law could be revised

The federal Conservative government suggested Thursday it will revisit the federal divorce law to see how to more easily dissolve the same-sex marriages of couples who married here but cannot get a divorce abroad.

Justice Minister Rob Nicholson tried to defuse a growing controversy with a potentially wide-ranging gambit.

It was unclear if the government would also ease residency requirements for divorce for all couples, or would just move to address the need of couples who can’t end their Canadian same-sex marriages abroad.

2011-2015

The move came after revelations that a senior counsel for the federal justice department had opposed a same-sex divorce by arguing firstly that same-sex marriages performed in Canada aren’t “legally valid” unless also recognized by a couple’s home country or state.

Lawyer Sean Gaudet argued secondly that the couple — who married in Toronto in December 2005 and separated two years ago — didn’t meet Canada’s one-year residency requirement (that all couples face) for a divorce. One lives in Florida, the other in the U.K.

It was his first argument that caused a firestorm of public reaction on news websites, and led to charges by opposition critics the government was moving to undo same-sex marriage “by stealth,” as Liberal interim leader Bob Rae put it.

The revelations in a Globe and Mail story blindsided the Prime Minister at a news conference in Halifax.

Stephen Harper said it was news to him and muttered he was not interested in re-opening the gay marriage debate. (Source: Toronto Star)

Letters to the editor.

Thursday August 5, 2004

August 5, 2004 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday August 5, 2004

Union Bribery Just Before Olympics Start

Hotel workers in and around this Greek capital staged a strike Wednesday to demand double wages and an Olympic bonus as has been promised to security personnel for this month’s games, Xinhua reports. It was the sixth strike in the past month by the union, which includes cleaning staff and kitchen personnel.

The hotel workers’ union is demanding that monthly minimum pay rise for workers in hotels to compensate longer working hours and shorter holidays. The government has already promised bonuses to other personnel providing security for the Aug 13-29 Olympic Games.

Despite the Olympics, tourism in Greece has dropped sharply, prompting government officials to call for an overhaul of vital services.

The government, however, is trying to keep costs down as Olympic spending has skyrocketed.

A total of 14,670 hotel workers are employed in greater Athens. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)