 | |||||
 |  |  | |||
 | |||||
 | | | | | |
 | ||
| | |
 | ||
| | |
BC FORUM AGM 2009 Resolutions Resolution #1 - Health cuts must be stopped Resolution #2 - HST and living on a pension Emeergency Resolution #1 - The crisis in ambulance paramedical services Emergency Resolution #2 - The pverty and isolation of seniors in BC
Resolution #1 The BC Federation of Retired Union Members affirms that: High quality health care must be available to all who need it, not just those who can afford it. Premier Gordon Campbell – who promised to improve health care – has betrayed the trust of seniors and our families through his decisions to: • Close, downsize or downgrade 71 public hospitals, leading to the closure of more than 1,000 acute care beds. • Allow the number of acute care beds per capita to fall 40% below the Canadian average. • Cut residential care beds by 800, driving beds per capita to second lowest in Canada. • Cut long term care and home support for seniors and persons with disabilities. • Throw open the door to rapid expansion of private, for-profit health care while degrading public health care. Public statements by the Gordon Campbell government indicate that even more cuts will be made to public health care. For these reasons, the BC Federation of Retired Union Members resolves to: Stand with all who advocate for a strong public health care system, accessible to all who need care, regardless of their financial means. Fully participate in the BC Health Care Coalition’s new campaign to defend Medicare. Work to defeat MLAs who are undermining public health care, and to elect MLAs who will strengthen it.
Resolution #2 The BC Federation of Retired Union Members affirms that: Many retired workers are struggling to make ends meet. On top of inadequate pensions, many have lost thousands of dollars in the world-wide financial turmoil caused by government deregulation and the unchecked greed of corporate executives who grasped for private rewards at the expense of the public interest. Premier Gordon Campbell – already the poster boy for deregulation privatization, and shifting public funds to the bottom line of large corporations – has announced a further massive shift of taxation away from corporations to individuals and families. He has announced a Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) will take effect July 2010. This will shift $1.9 billion in taxes from corporations to consumers. Mr. Campbell describes this as “revenue neutral.” For retired workers, it is far from neutral. It will take even more money out of their pockets. It will increase the cost of services and products including such basics as home heating fuel, telephone service, household repairs, cable TV, hair cuts, flights to visit our grandchildren, and non-prescription drugs. For these reasons, the BC Federation of Retired Union Members resolves to: Oppose the introduction of the HST in British Columbia. Pressure governments to ensure dignity and economic security for retired workers and their families.
Emergency Resolution #1 The Crisis in Ambulance Paramedical Services The BC Federation of Retired Union Members notes that: Ambulance paramedical professionals are usually the first responders to emergencies that threaten the health and well-being of retired workers and our families. BC’s ambulance paramedics have been on strike for more than five months, working under essential services legislation, to call attention to the serious deterioration in our ambulance services: In some parts of BC, the number of calls has doubled in the last ten years. • Shortages of ambulance resources and trained paramedics have grown. • Response times, often the difference between life and death, have grown longer. • Recruitment and retention of paramedics is a serious issue. Wages have stagnated, eliminating the traditional parity with other emergency workers. In rural and remote areas, paramedics are on-call and paid just $2.00 an hour. As the population of BC increases, with the number of older retired workers increasing even more rapidly, our ambulance service must keep pace with the growing demand. For these reasons, the BC Federation of Retired Union Members resolves to: Call on the Campbell government to recognize the urgent need to improve ambulance services to meet the growing need throughout British Columbia. Urge the government to negotiate a fair and just settlement with ambulance paramedics. Encourage members of BC FORUM to take personal action to support paramedics by taking lawn signs, contacting their elected representatives, and helping to inform friends and neighbours about this issue.
Emergency Resolution #2 Poverty and Isolation of Seniors in BC The BC Federation of Retired Union Members notes with dismay: The Campbell government is creating a profoundly unequal society. Large corporations and a privileged few get more and more. Workers, retired workers, and those who can least afford it are paying the price in regressive taxes and the loss of vital public services. The Sept. 1 budget continues the pattern by embracing the HST – a $1.9 billion tax shift from corporations to individuals and families. BC’s minimum wage has been frozen for eight years. Formerly tied for worst with New Brunswick, where the cost of living is one-third less, BC claimed sole possession of the last spot on Sept. 1. While Gordon Campbell has frozen the wages of the lowest paid – including retired workers who take part-time jobs to supplement inadequate pensions – he has given himself and his highest paid government insiders huge raises. In the budget, Campbell has eliminated funding for non-profit services that support the most vulnerable seniors, effective Sept. 30. This will isolate thousands of seniors, including one in seven older women who live alone in poverty. Even while Campbell ensured that the salaries of the highest paid government officials soared, BC workers have lost ground. The average income of working people after inflation was driven down 3.4 percent, wiping out the gains achieved during the 1990s. Under his leadership, BC is the only province where workers were hit with such a decline during a time of economic growth. It’s small wonder, considering his actions, that BC has recorded the worst child poverty rate in Canada for six straight years. Gordon Campbell has systematically eroded the income and earning power of their parents and grandparents. For these reasons, the BC Federation of Retired Union Members resolves to: Call on the Campbell government to restore funding for seniors’ outreach and support services to help retired workers live in dignity. Demand an immediate end to the eight year freeze in the minimum wage, and an increase to $10 an hour. | ||
| | |
| | |