Jumat, 04 Oktober 2019

Without a deal, Saskatchewan's Crown workers hit the picket lines - News Talk 980 CJME

Employees represented by Unifor at seven of Saskatchewan’s Crown corporations, including SaskTel, SaskPower and SaskEnergy, are officially on strike.

According to the union, negotiations between the Crowns and workers had reached an impasse.

Without a deal, workers walked off the job at 12:01 a.m. on Friday, starting with those at SaskTel, who were gathered outside of the telecom’s downtown Regina office on Lorne Street, wearing signs, waving flags and marching around.

On Friday morning at about 7 a.m., at least 100 workers started picketing along Saskatchewan Drive in front of the SaskTel headquarters.

Members are prepared to strike for as long as it takes to get the Sask. Party government back to the table, said Dave Kuntz, president of Unifor Local 1S, which represents workers at SaskTel, SecurTek and DirectWest.

“We’re going to put extreme pressure on them and we’re going to point the finger directly at where the problem is,” Kuntz said.

“We’d like to think everything we’re doing is going to work and that they’re going to come to their senses and bring fairness back to the table.”

Among its demands, the union is seeking a raise of two per cent a year — something MLAs got in a 2.3-per-cent cost-of-living increase.

However, Unifor says the offer it got instead was a two-year wage freeze followed by a one-per-cent raise in 2021 and a two-per-cent increase the year after.

Kuntz said the union’s grievance is not with the Crowns, which he said are willing to settle and have “tried multiple times.”

“They understand the impacts to the business, they understand the impact to the customers and they understand the impacts to their employees,” he said.

“The government is not letting them settle so they’re holding back the money.”

Job action has taken place since Sept. 30, when workers started a work to rule campaign, refusing overtime and disregarding company performance targets.

Since then, the two sides haven’t even met, Kuntz said.

“We’ve told them, ‘We’re ready to go, we’re available 24-7 to talk.’ They haven’t even approached us,” he said. “Quite honestly, we’re baffled. Why not?”

The union representing the Crown workers posted videos on its Twitter feed showing the start of the strike.

SaskTel posted a statement on its Facebook page on Friday morning, saying: “We’re currently experiencing a labour disruption. During this time, we’re making every effort to minimize the impact to our customers by having our management team maintain services.”

The company’s statement said “delays may be experienced.”

Meili offers his take on Unifor strike

Speaking to reporters on Friday, NDP Leader Ryan Meili blamed Premier Scott Moe and the Sask. Party government for the labour disruption.

Meili said from what he has heard from union leaders around the bargaining table, the government has refused to budge on its offer to workers, which includes no pay increases for the first two years.

“The Crown leadership has been willing to come up with a deal but it’s really Scott Moe who said, ‘No, we don’t want to deal.’ He’s the one who has insisted on zeroes and forced this strike to happen,” Meili said.

“(This is happening) in a time when this government has been drawing hundreds of millions of dollars out of the Crowns in recent years, using them as their personal piggy bank to plug the holes in their budgets.”

A statement from Minister of Finance Donna Harpauer on Friday afternoon thanked the crown employers and workers still on the job to provide essential services.

It reiterated the government’s stance that a strike is “not in the best interests of crown corporations, employees, or the people of Saskatchewan.”

“We believe that the employer offer of five per cent over five years respects the hard work of crown employees while balancing the fiscal reality of our province, and we remain hopeful that an agreement can be reached at the bargaining table in good faith,” Harpauer said.



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October 04, 2019 at 08:03PM
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PayPal withdraws from Facebook's Libra cryptocurrency - CBC.ca

U.S. payments processor PayPal announced Friday it was withdrawing from the Libra Association, a Facebook-led effort to build a global digital currency.

In a statement, PayPal said it would forgo any further participation in the group, saying instead it would focus on its own core businesses. "We remain supportive of Libra's aspirations and look forward to continued dialogue on ways to work together in the future," the company said in a statement.

With PayPal's departure, Facebook has partnerships with 27 other companies to create the cryptocurrency.

Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal reported that both Mastercard and Visa were considering leaving the project over money laundering concerns.

In July, U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said that Facebook's plan to build a digital currency "cannot go forward" until serious concerns are addressed — comments that pressured the project and dented the price of the original cryptocurrency bitcoin.

He noted how Facebook's massive user base could spell problems in terms of smoothly implementing the cryptocurrency. 



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October 05, 2019 at 04:48AM
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US unemployment rate falls to 50-year low of 3.5% - BBC News

Ford workersImage copyright Getty Images

The US unemployment rate has fallen to a 50-year low, possibly easing recession worries after recent weak economic data.

The Labor Department figures showed that the rate fell to 3.5% in September from 3.7%, with the economy adding 136,000 jobs last month.

In addition, August data was revised up to 168,000 jobs created instead of the previously reported 130,000.

However, wage growth was unchanged and manufacturing jobs fell in September.

The report came on the heels of a string of weak economic reports, including a plunge in manufacturing activity to more than a 10-year low in September and a sharp slowdown in services industry growth to levels last seen in 2016.

There are fears that the Trump administration's 15-month trade war with China is spilling over to the rest of the US economy, which has been one of the few bright spots in a world where many other countries are experiencing marked slowdown.

The US-China trade dispute has eroded business confidence, hitting investment and manufacturing.

Despite the continued moderate employment growth and sharp drop in the jobless rate, many economists still expect the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates at least one more time this year.

Image copyright EPA
Image caption The positive jobs data is unlikely to ease pressure on Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell to cut interest rates

The US central bank cut rates in July for the first time since 2008 and cut them again last month. It is trying to keep the longest economic expansion in US history, now in its 11th year, on track.

September's job gains were below the monthly average of 161,000 this year, but still above the roughly 100,000 needed each month to keep up with growth in the working-age population, according to economists.

Manufacturing shed 2,000 jobs last month, the first decline since March, after hiring 2,000 workers in August. The sector is seen as having borne the brunt of the trade wars.

This week, Washington announced tariffs on aircraft, other industrial products and agricultural products from the European Union as part of a dispute over aircraft subsidies given to Boeing's rival Airbus.

What's been worrying the markets?

Shares were hit earlier this week by some disappointing economic surveys.

While the manufacturing sector has been the weak point of the US economy, the services sector had been performing more strongly.

"You've had this dichotomy, manufacturing extremely weak, service sector holding up and looking fairly resilient," said Neil Shearing, group chief economist at Capital Economics.

However, he said that on Wednesday, the non-manufacturing purchasing managers' index - which tests the mood of businesses - showed its slowest rate of growth for three years.

"The key question has been, OK, manufacturing's weak but so long as the service sector holds up and continues to be resilient, the US economy can avoid recession," Mr Shearing said.

Jim Reid, a strategist at Deutsche Bank in London, said that the US has been the "bright spot in a pretty moribund" western world, growing at about 2% to 2.5% a year, while Europe slips towards 0.5% or even 0% growth.

It is just a US problem?

Mr Shearing said that the manufacturing sector is weak globally.

"The essence of the issue is that since May this year, the manufacturing data both in the US and globally has been pretty horrific," he said.

But economies are less reliant on manufacturing than in the past. In the US, for instance, it makes up about 12% of the economy.

"We tend to think of the economy being about making things, but actually in the modern era it's more about services - health, retail, leisure," he said.

Image copyright Getty Images

Why does the American economy matter?

The US is still the world's biggest economy - despite the growth of China - and if it slows down the rest of the world can be expected to do so too. It is almost impossible to have a US recession without the rest of world suffering too.

Mr Shearing said it is not just about its size. "It's the consumer of last resort," he said, describing the US trade deficit which President Donald Trump has complained about.

"What the trade deficit is telling you is that the US consumes more than it produces," he said. "If it slows, there's repercussions".

What does it mean for US interest rates?

Federal Reserve chairman Jay Powell has been under pressure from President Trump to cut rates.

Last month, the Fed cut rates for the second time this year, lowering its key target rate by 25 basis points to between 1.75% and 2%. The markets are expecting another cut before the end of the year.



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October 04, 2019 at 08:00PM
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Hot tips from Match may burn you, says watchdog - Toronto Sun

Got a hot lead from your dating app? Tempted to upgrade to a paid account so you can see who’s got the “likes” for you?

Not so fast.

If you’re looking for love or a hook-up on an app like Tinder, you may want to consider why its parent company is being sued by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission for fraud.

Match Group, the owner of Tinder, OkCupid, Match.com, Plenty of Fish and a few others, has dating sites in 42 languages across 190 countries. That’s pretty much everywhere – the United Nations only has 193 countries.

There are usually free registrations to its products, but often paid subscriptions are required to see messages from potential suitors. The FTC contends that Match sent fake messages to trick people into buying subscriptions.

Over two years from mid-2016 to May 2018, the FTC says almost half a million people were suckered into subscriptions within 24 hours of receiving notifications of alleged love interest.

Dating apps frequently email users to tell them potential suitors are waiting. But are they real?

“Consumers reasonably believe, based upon these advertisements, that other Match.com users are interested in establishing a possible dating relationship with them,” the FTC complaint says. “Hundreds of thousands of consumers subscribed to Match.com shortly after receiving a fraudulent communication.”

Match intends to fight the case vigorously, claiming that the FTC “misrepresented internal emails” and “cherry-picked data” to make its case.

“Fraud is never good for business, which is why we spend so much time, money and emotional capital to fight it,” Match says on its website. “The vast majority of the users that the FTC characterizes as fraudulent are not romance scams or similar types of fraudsters, but spam, bots and other users attempting to use the service for their own commercial purposes.”

There is no equivalent of the FTC in Canada, where Tinder is the number one dating site, according to the website Business of Apps.

But there are several Canadian consumer protection laws and agencies such as the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre and the federal Competition Bureau, which undertakes enforcement. The bureau acts confidentially so it couldn’t confirm whether it’s investigating dating sites, a spokeswoman told The Sun. But it did publish a consumer alert in 2017 about them.

The Beatles sang “money can’t buy me love,” but longing for love can sure beget money: Match reported 2018 revenue of US$1.73 billion and says Tinder is the number two grossing app in the world.



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October 04, 2019 at 06:00PM
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Husky finds buyer for Prince George, B.C., oil refinery - CBC.ca

Husky Energy Inc. has found a buyer for it's Prince George, B.C., oil refinery.

The company reached a deal to sell the 12,000 barrel-a-day refinery to Calgary-based Tidewater Midstream and Infrastructure for $215 million up front, followed by up to $60 million over the next two years.

Tidewater says it will retain all staff at the refinery as part of the deal.

The sale is part of Husky's move to get out of retailing fuels altogether, instead focusing on core upstream assets in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Atlantic Canada and the Asia Pacific region.

The Prince George refinery processes light oil into gasoline, diesel and other products for nearby regions of B.C.

In a release announcing the deal, Tidewater said it expects demand for fuel refined in Prince George to grow as large-scale forestry, mining and oil and gas projects are developed in the region.

Husky and Tidwater say they expect the deal to be finalized in the fourth quarter of 2019, assuming it passes regulatory approval.

Tidewater shares fall sharply after deal announced

Shares in Tidewater Midstream and Infrastructure Ltd. fell sharply following the news, dropping as low as $1.00 on the Toronto Stock Exchange, while Husky's shares rose slightly.

"We attribute the reaction to it being an unexpected acquisition for the company in a somewhat new business line," analyst Trevor Reynolds of Acumen Capital wrote in an email, adding there is also concern about its plan to fund the purchase entirely with debt.

Tidewater's core business is processing natural gas and upgrading, transporting and storing petroleum products produced in northern Alberta and B.C.

It has scheduled a conference call for Monday to discuss the deal.

Subscribe to Daybreak North on CBC Listen or your favourite podcast app, and connect with CBC Northern British Columbia on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. 



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October 04, 2019 at 11:28PM
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About 5,000 workers from 7 Sask. Crown corporations on strike as of Friday morning - CBC.ca

Workers at six Saskatchewan Crown corporations and a Crown agency were on strike as of Friday morning.

Roughly 5,000 Unifor members working with SaskTel, SaskPower, SaskEnergy, SaskWater, the Water Security Agency and two SaskTel subsidiaries were officially on strike as of 12:01 a.m. Friday, in one of the largest public sector strikes in years affects around 5,000

Some workers in Regina hit the picket line at around 7 a.m. CST.

"You can't help but feel a little defeated some days," said Amber Bast, who has worked with SaskPower for 12 years.

"I have got a lot of mixed emotions, so I'm out here supporting my co-workers," who added both her mother and grandmother also worked with SaskPower.

"I'm a single mom of two girls, so I'm not getting a paycheque, right? So it's not going to be easy," Bast said. "We are holding each other up during this time and we will continue to do that until, well, forever."

Unifor has been in contract negotiations with the provincial government for months.

Job action began earlier this week with a "work to rule" campaign after the union and the province were unable to reach a deal.

SaskTel worker Reid Henry was among those on a picket line early Friday morning.

"I'd like to keep up hope, but the rumours going around is that this might be a long one," Henry said. "So we're bracing for the worst and hopefully we can get through it all."

It's a stressful situation, he added.

"I've got a family I need to feed, and not having my paycheque is quite scary."

Workers strike outside of SaskPower's head office on Victoria Avenue in Regina on Friday. (Heidi Atter/CBC)
Different signs were on display outside of SaskPower on Oct. 4. (Heidi Atter/CBC)
Jody Baseden, Amber Bast and Kim Watts were all on the picket line in front of SaskPower on Friday. (Heidi Atter/CBC)

Jody Baseden and Kim Watts were surprised it came to a strike. They have 80 years of experience working at SaskPower between them. 

"Everybody's very anxious. Nobody wants to be here," Baseden said. "It's devastating — we just hope we can get this settled because it affects a lot of lives." 

Essential services agreements mean some unionized members will remain available during the strike to protect the public from potentially dangerous situations. (Trevor Bothorel/Radio-Canada)

Essential services agreements with the Crowns mean some unionized members will remain available during the strike, in order to protect the public from potentially dangerous situations and respond to emergencies. Examples include SaskPower's outage centre and SaskTel's 911 service. 

SaskPower spokesman Joel Cherry said the Crown utility has designated 14 staff to operate the outage centre for the entire province in the event of a strike.

SaskTel issued a statement saying that all of its stores will be closed during the labour disruption. 

Customers can access some services on SaskTel's website or at authorized dealers. SaskTel isn't able to transfer services or activate new home services, the statement said. Customers can pay their bills online, by mail or at a bank or credit union. 

Union upset over wages 

Unifor and the provincial government have so far been unable to come to an agreement on wage increases in a new contract.

The union previously said the province's offer included a wage freeze for employees. In an email sent last Saturday, a government spokesperson said its offer is a five per cent raise over five years, not a wage freeze.

The government is offering a deal that would include two years of zero per cent increases, followed by a one per cent increase, a two per cent increase and in some cases, another two per cent increase. 

Unifor national president Jerry Dias has said the union wants a two per cent increase each year to match inflation. 

"All management negotiating committees are available to return to the bargaining tables whenever the union is ready to come back to the table," Blair Swystun, president and CEO of the Crown Investments Corporation said on Friday.

"No one wins in a strike, we want to see agreements reached as soon as possible," Swystun said. 

Unifor representative Chris MacDonald said Thursday the union hasn't had communication with the government since last Friday, adding it is highly unusual to not hear from the other bargaining party for that long.



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October 05, 2019 at 12:15AM
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HP Inc. to cut as much as 16% of workforce amid print unit woes - BNNBloomberg.ca

HP Inc. will slash as much as 16 per cent of its workforce as part of a broad restructuring meant to cut costs and boost sales growth amid the company’s first change in top leadership in four years.

The personal computer giant said it will cut 7,000 to 9,000 positions through firings and voluntary early retirement. The job reductions will help save about US$1 billion by the end of fiscal 2022, the Palo Alto, California-based company said Thursday in a statement. HP had 55,000 employees as of a year ago, the last time it disclosed the figure.

HP also announced it expects profit, excluding restructuring costs and other items, to be US$2.22 to US$2.32 a share in fiscal 2020. Analysts, on average, estimated US$2.23 a share, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

HP shares were down 4.1 per cent at 7:10 a.m. in New York during pre-market trading.

The company released the projections as it faces a number of uncertainties. Dion Weisler, the chief executive officer who has shepherded the company since its 2015 split with Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co., is stepping down Nov. 1 due to family health reasons. The incoming CEO, Enrique Lores, is a longtime HP executive. The company’s printing business, a major source of profit, has seen falling sales and recently was dubbed a “melting ice cube” by analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein. And an activist investor may be building a stake in the company, a Gordon Haskett analyst speculated Wednesday.

“We see ourselves starting a new chapter for HP and we will be announcing bold moves to support that statement,” Lores said in an interview. “We have spent a lot of time building this plan. We can embrace the changes we see happening in the market and that can help us position the company for the future.”

HP’s reorganization will cost US$1 billion, resulting in charges of US$100 million in the fiscal fourth quarter, US$500 million in fiscal 2020 and the rest split between fiscal 2021 and 2022, the company said.

“The bulk of the savings will be in corporate functions, back-office support,” Chief Financial Officer Steve Fieler said about the job cuts in an interview.

HP’s board boosted the company’s share repurchasing plan by an additional US$5 billion. The company had US$1.7 billion remaining on its existing plan. HP said it will also boost its stock dividend by 10 per cent. The company’s shares have declined 10 per cent this year, closing at US$18.40 on Thursday in New York.

The company said it expects at least US$3 billion of free cash flow in fiscal 2020, and will return 75 per cent or more of that money to investors.

Along with financial metrics, the company said it would make changes to its printing unit to focus on providing more services. HP will raise prices for printers that can be used with non-HP ink cartridges, so that the hardware is more profitable. Currently, printers are sold cheaply and the unit’s operating profit margin is padded by the ink supplies. HP will offer some lower-priced printers, but employ new technologies to ensure they are only compatible with HP ink.

HP will also start selling the underlying technology of its ink jet printing, known as microfluidics, to the health-care and cosmetics industries, among others.

“We are really confident about the future of the company,” Lores said.



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October 04, 2019 at 06:13AM
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