WOMAN’S COMMITTEE BC/YT CONFERENCE

“DEALING WITH THE INJUSTICES”

 

July 9-11, 2004

 

 

The Woman’s Committee of BC/YT met in July to tackle some very important issues.

 

DISABILITY

 

We had Colleen Malinosky do a presentation on the issues surrounding members who are on disability and off work for illness reasons. The members are experiencing many problems. The first issue is the employer forcing the member to take medical retirement, quit or be fired after they have been off work more than 2 years. In some of these cases the members have not been approved for long term disability by Sunlife prior to the medical retirement. If they do not get approved for long term disability this creates an adverse affect on their income. Other problems are the doctors do not approve the medical retirement, leaving the member with the option to quit or be fired. While their disability payment from Sunlife would continue they would no longer have benefits. As an ill person usually requires medication without extended health benefits, again this member is affected financially. Also they lose dental coverage and survivor benefits. One other issue is the disability insurance is  paid at 70% of a persons wage and then it is taxed. The following is the action plans taken by the Woman’s Committee on these issues:

 

1. A prepared package with details will be presented to the Political Action committee with PSAC to have Patti Ducharme to take to the NBOD to implement a National Campaign in every region. Request that this be a primary campaign within PSAC.  We also will request that PSAC develop a strategy with all of our information as well as other information obtained from James Infantino to prepare and present a brief to Paul Martin and Sheila Fraser. An information package will be given to Pat Wakefield to put on the agenda of the National Executive Meeting in September with a request that CEIU National support and work with PSAC on this campaign.

 

2. Send a letter to Nycole Turmel seeking her assistance in getting the Treasury Board policy  changed. Send all the information to Nycole to take to NBOD to have this policy changed.

 

3. Pat Wakefield was asked to speak to the employer about these issues:

 

a) When the member is contacted to discuss the possibility of Medical Retirement, before the letter is sent out, the member is to be advised to contact the union. It is difficult to correct the situation after the fact.

 

b) Ask to have no member be forced to take Medical Retirement until they have their 2 yr review by Sunlife for long term disability and have been accepted.

 

 

 

 

Pat Wakefield has done this and sends this information:

 

I attended a meeting with  Bob McMorine and Judith Walton on 12 July 2004 the results were:

           

a) Judith will send Pat an e-mail, after getting permission from the member, with the        member's name, telephone number and what is happening regarding Sunlife, Medical          Retirement etc. 

 

            b) They have agreed to ensure Sunlife has accepted beyond the 2 yrs. before having      Medical Retirement done whenever possible. For example, there are two in the system     right now who   have already signed the forms and have been accepted by Health Canada          but Sunlife has not made a final decision. They have however told Judith that from the        medical it appears as though there will be no problem. Another situation would be if the             member does not file for Sunlife when they leave on medical leave. 

 

            As an aside, I did mention the Human Rights case that was to be heard on 15 July in      Vancouver and asked what they would be doing once the decision comes down that their    actions are against the Human Rights and therefore the Charter. Pat was told, everything     will be as before, no contact, no help etc. If this is what happens then we will have to be        even more aggressive in making sure all members know about the union and will contact            us for help.

 

4. Letters will be drafted outlining the violation of our members Human Rights on this issue and sent to all MP’s.

 

5. In 1996 a package was made up outlining how the government was treating(poorly) it’s employees. It was an overview of the disability program where it allowed the government to  continue to terminate employees. Colleen has been tasked to update this information in regards to Leave without pay and the additional costs to Treasury Board upon medical retirement and the savings that Sunlife realizes.      

 

6. The following resolutions were drafted and will be sent forth to PSAC Regional Conventions and CEIU Conventions to have the membership agree to change the percentage that they pay on the disability insurance to put these payments, both for short term and long term disability, into a non tax situation.

 

RESOLUTION 1

 

            Whereas: The percentage of members who will experience a disability, whether it be long                           term or short term, in their working career is increasing.

 

            Whereas: The current disability insurance policy premium formula, with member paying                              less than 50% of these premiums results in benefits being taxable.

 

                                               

Whereas: The current premium is $ 0.44 per $1000.00 with  the employee paying $0.09                                       per $1000.00 and the employer paying $0.35 per $1000.00, a change would                                result in the employee paying $0.23 and the employer paying $0.21(51% to                                49%).

 

            Whereas: Those members will require disability benefits, which are currently taxed.

 

            Be It Resolved: That a change be made to the ratio of premiums paid where a member                                       will not be taxed.

 

 

 

RESOLUTION 2

 

Whereas: There currently is no provision in the collective agreement for members who        on leave without pay for disability.

 

            Whereas: Numbers of members on disability are increasing and being adversely affect by                           the structure of the payment of premiums.

 

            Be It Resolved: That PSAC fight to adopt language in our collective agreement to address                                   this issue.

 

6. Many individuals at the conference felt that they were not aware of these issues and thought that the members do not have a good understanding of these disability issues and generally are scrambling after the fact to find out this program can cause them grief. We developed a newsletter that will be distributed to each member. A sample of the newsletter:

 

SHOCK WAVES/REALITY CHECK

 

DID YOU KNOW?

 

1. Without Long Term Disability from Sunlife on medical retirement you do not receive a top up.
2. Long Term and Short Term Disability is paid at 70% and then taxed.
3. If a member is on Long Term Disability more than 2 years your employment may be terminated.
4. Managers have a better deal than us.
5. A person can wait up to a year to have your claim to Sunlife approved, which could have financial implications.
6. Arrears you owe for pensionable service, Leave Without Pay, do not have to be paid with your severance, it can be paid in monthly non interest payment from your pension.
7. Benefits are taxable but no tax is deducted at source, so you are required to make quarterly payments. You also have to make your own MSP and survivor benefit payments.

                                               

 

As always Colleen did a very passionate presentation and certainly has this Woman’s Committee on board; equally appalled and indignant of the treatment of our members on disability.

 

 

 

BOUNTIFUL-WOMEN AND CHILDREN RIGHTS VIOLATED

           

 In the spring of this year the BC/YT Woman’s Committee brought this issue forth to the Western Woman’s Conference. At that time a letter for both the Attorney General, Geoff Plant and the Minister of Education, Tom Christiansen were prepared asking them to be responsible for their Ministries. We outlined the law violations and the education violations. The letters were sent by registered mail. Needless to say, the responses, considering past action, were not surprising. Geoff Plante made the effort to reply, certainly feeling that the law on polygamy should not be upheld, but perhaps changed. Gee, I guess he feels that any law that might just be a problem for him, should be changed! What an attitude. As well he did not even deal with the issues of underage brides, incest and child abuse.( I guess that’s not important to him) According to his letter he felt that all our information came from the media and according to him you can’t believe everything they say. Tom Christiansen could not even be bothered to respond. This was after several phone calls.

 

However a piece of brighter news was that the chatelaine magazine editor at large, Sally Armstrong, contacted myself and is preparing an article of the situation in Bountiful. I am told the article should be in Septembers Issue.

 

Carol Anderson was again invited to speak on this issue and update us. Carol gave us some additional background and spoke about what is currently happening.

 

It could not be stressed enough that this issue is ALL about Power and Money.

 

 Carol spoke about how this faction split from the original Mormon Church and gave us the lineage as to how the “prophets” (Winston Blackmore)and “saviours” (Warren Jeffs) came to be in charge of there prospective areas. Winston in Bountiful, BC and Warren in Colorado City. Carol spoke about the lives of the women and children in Bountiful. They are taught from a very young age that polygamy is the way and that the more wives and children a man has brings him closer to the prophet. Part of this creates men in their 50’s taking wives under the age of sixteen. These women are taught from a child that this is the way. The child abuse and incest to very prevalent.

 

They generally do not finish school and is many cases do not go past grade 6. For the young men, they as well do not graduate usually not going past grade 10. The stricter of the factions does not allow any type of media(TV, Radio and newspapers) as they do not want any outside influences. The faction under Winston Blackmore is now actually allowing some media and further education. However this is only because he wishes to have these people bring money into the cult.

 

 Carol told of many stories of how when women start to cut their hair, it is the first sign of rebellion, how they don’t believe that man was on the moon because one of the prophets said it was not true(they could have landed on any other planet). There are now younger people leaving the cult and moving into Creston and while this is a good sign they have no social skills at all. They end up caught in the drug and alcohol saga, as they are used to being directed by someone else. As well the US government has tightened up the trafficking of young brides to be coming from Canada to the US. Unfortunately our Immigration laws still have many loop holes still allowing young girls to come into Canada from Colorado City.

 

We also learned that there are 6 women formerly from Bountiful who have filed a Human Right Complaint. This hopefully will make our government stand up and listen.

 

We reviewed what we had done and where we wanted to go with this issue and at this time we invited Stephen Howard from PSAC (media specialist-guru) to speak to us and give us some tips on how we can get our messages to the public. He provided us with an Editorial and Design Stylebook, checklists of questions we need to ask, spoke to us about making our message clear and a list of the media outlets and ownership in BC. Stephen then facilitated a workshop on writing letters to the editors on the Bountiful issue.

 

We decided that all our information will be posted on our website http://ceiu.org and we will have Bob Aplin set up a link that anyone can access to have their view set up on a petition format. It will be called: www.bountiful.petitiononline.org. This information will be complied and sent to the government as well to any media we can get to listen.

 

 The following letters were just a start of what we have come up with.

 

1. I am outraged with the injustices and inequities that are occurring in this province. On one hand we have a government that is slashing out health care and education. While on the other hand we have a polygamist community of over 1000 people who are putting a drain on our tax base and violating the human rights of the women and children of this community.

This community, near Creston BC called Bountiful, collects Child Tax Credits in many thousands of dollars each month for children of multiple unions as many as 60+ children fathered by one man, as well as over $750000.00 annually to fund it’s private school where the children are taught to continue in this type of life. They operate a non profit organization which is tax exempt from paying taxes.

The politicians and persons in positions of authority are turning a blind eye to this issue. Please exercise your rights and demand action against this gross misuse of your tax dollars by sending a message to your MLA by going to  ceiu.org   

 

2. Did you know that you can support your family quite nicely with no other  identified income other than Child Tax Credit?

 

The multiple wives of Bountiful, British Columbia, know how.

 

I find it incredible that one “family” in Bountiful consisting of one husband, one legal wife and twenty or so others, and somewhere in excess of  75 biological children are allowed to claim individual Child Tax Benefits under each wife’s name, without declaring the income of their mutual husband. Taxpayers are being bilked for hundreds of thousands of dollars each year to support one family and their illegal life style.

 

Don’t want your tax dollars spent to support a polygamist cult?

 

Add your voice to www.bountiful.petitiononline.org

 

3. Campbell disenfranchises Women & Children:

 

Gordon Campbell has proven yet again his incompetence in dealing with the issue of Women’s and Children’s rights in Bountiful, BC.

 

Both Geoff Plant and Tom Christianson have become very adapt at avoiding this issue.  In Mr. Plants case he appears to be afraid to uphold the laws, which is his job, regarding statutory rape, age of consent and child abuse.

 

In the case of Mr. Christianson, he has not bothered to respond to letters from his constituents.  The concern of many British Columbians is that this tax payers funded school has not had a grade 12 graduate in ten years, teaches that people of colour and different sexual orientation are inferior and that in order for the children to go to heaven they must participate in plural marriages.

 

Is Mr. Campbell purposely ignoring these issues or is he oblivious to the actions of these two ministers?

 

Do we want to re-elect an administration that does not value the rights of its women and children in BC?

 

4. I am outraged that Tom Christensen and the Ministry of Children have taken a passive role in monitoring and enforcing the controls of the Independent School Act, specifically in Bountiful BC.  His lack of action creates situations where abuses occur.

 

An independent school, in a closed community, has the opportunity to control the curriculum.  Offering a narrow view and fostering brainwashing, as they are in a position of authority and can place a low priority on education and socialization skills.  The children in these communities are taught that outsiders are evil, ignorant and trying to bring hardship to their life.

 

The social implications of trying to integrate these Canadians into the general population are serious.  Most people who leave the community of Bountiful BC cannot function in a society, turning to drugs and crime.

 

The Ministry of Children needs to stop thinking of independent schools as a money saving venture and start integrating some of the authorities they have under the Independent School Act.  Appoint and independent superintendent, hire a teacher that doesn’t live in the community or include support staff that have not been raised in the closed community.  By allowing an outsider into the community it may allow for the fundamental right of freedom of thought.

 

I would hope that the Ministry of Children would not allow the rights of these children to continue to be suppressed.

 

 

5. Letter to the Editor:

 

As a taxpayer, I am appalled at the Provincial Government’s unwillingness to address the blatant injustices against women and children in the polygamous community of Bountiful, BC.

 

Notwithstanding the obvious illegality of polygamy itself, the Government has failed to take action under Articles 14 and 28 of United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, ratified in Canada on October 18, 2002. 

 

In this quiet and peaceful little community, women and their children are still being treated like chattel by being forced to quit school, get married as fourteen years old and subsequently bear children.

 

Winston Blackmore, their community leader and self proclaimed prophet is exercising his control by going forth and multiplying; at last count he had 26 wives and 80 children supported by the Child Tax Credit.  If you are born as a female in this community, your life choices will be limited no less than if you lived in a dictatorship.

 

Under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms women are supposed to have complete equality with men.  Why should that equality not exist in this community?

 

Help our members support these women and children’s rights by signing our on line petition at www.bountiful.petitiononline.org

 

 

As you can see from the letters Stephen showed us that being concise and to the point in less than 200 to 300 words give the best chance that it will be published. The whole day was a great learning experience and we thank both Carol and Stephen for a very energizing day.

 

PENSIONS AND PART TIME

 

At our conference last year it was identified that the issue surrounding pensions and part time members seemed to be in a very grey area. Since then some of our members have had the opportunity to attend a retirement seminar, which had good reviews. Janet Letwinka did a presentation giving us the information which shows that when a member has worked part time this does affect their pension amount. For years everyone thought that their pension was based on their 5 best years and it was a shock to find that this is not true. Again we are faced with an up hill battle on this one and we identified items and solutions that need to be brought forth.

 

1. There should be equality and fairness
2. This formula shows a lack of respect
3. A high percentage of this affects women, as there are very few men who have worked part time
4. Is the employer really aware of the huge impact this has on part time staff
5. Members are being punished for working part time to raise families
6. Employer has in the past hired staff at part time levels i.e. hired 4 people to work half time instead of hiring 2 people to work full time
7. A good portion of the members hired in call centres are part time
8. We have a difficulty in getting the same answer or consistent information from the Pension Directorate
9. Our Compensation and Benefits group need training on this issue

 

 

Currently the formula to calculate the amount of pension appears to be convoluted and not easily understood. We propose a change to this calculation that would make this equitable for both part time and full time members.

 

Credit should be given for every hour worked and then converted to full time work. In the case of a member who has worked part time the number of years that a member would work would be decreased. The advantage of this is that the pension calculation would then still be done on there best 5 years of service, without factoring the part time work the member has done. This would increase the pension amount per month that a member would receive, as opposed to the current formula.

 

Janet provided us with excellent background information and a commitment to help us resolve this issue.

 

I would like to thank everyone for their participation at this training/conference. It show that this Woman’s Committee is committed to all our members and strive to correct the many injustices that we all face.

 

In Solidarity

Jennifer Leenhouts

Chairperson Woman’s Committee BC/YT