He goes on to state that organizations should not offer pension plans or, at most, a defined contribution (DC) rather than defined benefit (DB) plan, because this places the entire risk of retirement income security squarely on the shoulders of individuals, most of whom are laypersons at determining how much money to put aside and how to invest it. Many retirees are finding DC plans grossly inadequate. DB plans offer the advantage of risk averaging over the entire group.

Many of the Officers from the First District will be familiar with International Representative Jim Voye from the Washington Office. It is a pleasure to hear the announcement that Jim has just been assigned Director of Research and Education in the Washington Office. Jim has been very helpful to the First District over the years.

An unprecedented Decision on January 15th , 2004 by Justice Keast in a Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario court, detailed the plight of workers who are injured and killed on the job while working for a non-union contractor.

The case involved a 19 year-old who received catastrophic injuries in 2001 when a broken hydro line fell on him causing him to lose three limbs. In the Sault Ste. Marie court, the Ministry of Labour dropped all charges against the Directors of Great Lakes Power Corporation and instead charged the company a tax deductible fine. OFL President, Wayne Samuelson states that Justice Keast’s Decision is clear that rules have little practical effect for non-union workers. The Decision notes that Unionized workers in larger industrial companies, because of a more formal and structured approach to safety are better protected. Non-union co-workers of the injured stated that in a company with an organized union structure, the victim would not have stepped onto the job site without an intensive training and safety program. This story is reason enough to organize the non-union.

Along the same lines, in Ontario, the Construction Safety Association of Ontario sends out an alert titled Fatalities are Killing Us. In 2003 the death toll in Ontario construction was 30. There haven’t been that many deaths since 1990, when 36 workers were killed and during that period until now, the average number of fatalities per year was 20. The Association sites some ideas about what is wrong - lack of strong site supervision, lack of accident prevention training and an underground economy that gets bigger every day.

In a letter dated January 28th, 2004, President Hill writes to IVP Flemming reaffirming the IBEW policy and procedure on affiliations of local unions with local councils of the AFL-CIO and provincial and local councils of the CLC. President Hill quotes the IBEW Constitution, Article XV, Sec. 4: L.U.’s shall affiliate, or shall not affiliate, with state, provincial, central or trades councils or bodies, as decided by the I.P.

It is the decision of President Hill that all local unions shall affiliate with state and local AFL-CIO bodies in the United States and CLC-chartered provincial federations and labour councils in Canada. Pleading not financially able to pay the per capita, generally, will not be accepted as an excuse. Objecting to affiliation because of jurisdiction differences with other unions is unacceptable.

As of January 1, 2004 federal legislation has come into effect that seriously limits contributions to federal political parties by unions and other organizations. According to Bill C 24, federal political contributions are limited to each union to $1000.00 per year. Therefore, if a local union was to contribute $500.00 to a political party and a second local union from the same union contributed another $500.00, that would be the quota for that year, for that particular union. Tom Sigurdson, from the Canadian Building Trades has been and will be traveling to Provincial Building Trades Council meetings to explain the legislation. All Business Managers should be aware of the contents of the legislation.

There are errors being made by trial boards in a number of locals across the country. This is to make you aware, that if your Trial Board is uncertain of procedures and they would like assistance from the First District Office, there is a brief training available on how to run a trial. Simply contact your International Representative or the First District Office for more information.

An example of an error is when the results of the trial are forwarded to the charged member, they must be under the signature of the Recording Secretary of the local and not the Business Manager.

The first letter regarding the Progress Meeting scheduled to be held from August 24th to the 26th was sent to all locals in the month of February 2004, and there will be regular mailers from now on as information is finalized. The First District will be having a staff meeting during the first week in April and after that all course information will be forwarded pertaining to the two days of training prior to the Progress Meeting.

Many thanks to the Canadian Locals who contribute articles to the IBEW Journal. It is always valuable for your members and other locals to read the current events in your local. For the most recent IBEW Journal, appreciation goes out to Locals 37, 254, 424, 530, 625 and 804 for their great articles.

We are very sad to have received the news on Friday, February 27th, 2004, that three members of Local 424 were killed in a car accident the night before while returning from work in Fort McMurray. Our sympathy is extended to the families of these members over this loss.

Another retired International Representative has passed away. On February 24th , 2004, retired International Representative Med LeBlanc passed away. Brother LeBlanc serviced Locals on the east coast and had been retired since May of 1976. Fortunately he was able to enjoy many years of retirement.

Comet Train the Trainer – Edmonton
March 30, 31, and April 1,2

Comet Train the Trainer – Saskatchewan
April 19, 20, 21, 22

Comet Train the Trainer – Winnipeg
May 17, 18, 19, 20

Organizing Conference – Ottawa
June 14 - 17

Organizing Conference – Kelowna
June 1, 2, 3, 4

VDV – Las Vegas
March 10 – 12

Construction and Maintenance Conference
Washington, D.C., March 25 – 27

Utility Conference – California
Last week of April

Manufacturing Conference – Las Vegas
First week of May

Telecommunications – Hawaii
Third week in May

IBEW MS Golf Tournament – May 27

Canadian Apprenticeship Forum
Apprenticeship Conference, Halifax
First week in June

First District Progress Meeting, Calgary
August 24 – 26

Legislative Conference, Ottawa,
September 20 - 21

These Coast to Coast Updates are now on the web site at www.ibew1st.org. You are encouraged to put this information in your newsletter so that your members can access the Coast to Coast on the web and be privy to a lot of the current events across Canada.

It is nice to end on a positive note. Recently at a National Maintenance Association Policy Committee (NMAPC) meeting in the United States, the management delegate from Bechtel Corporation made some complimentary comments about the Canadian Electricians that come to the U.S. for employment opportunities.

He stated “Canadians who were dispatched to Bechtel were a credit to the IBEW, because of their training and work ethic and doing the job right the first time”. Keep up the good work.