KAMLOOPS THIS WEEK TUESDAY
LOCAL NEWS
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MAY 17, 2016 | Volume 29 No. 59
KAMLOOPS, TNRD IMPRESS FILMMAKERS
DOG TIRED TODAY’S WEATHER
Sun and clouds High 27 C Low 14 C
Incredible rescue of blind, deaf dog that fell from cliff
Creative BC CEO likes what she sees in the region
A11
A6
Welcome to the new normal:
CASUAL W RK CAM FORTEMS
STAFF REPORTER
cam@kamloopsthisweek.com
The fastest growing area for jobs in B.C. is temporary, casual and contract work — what an economist in called the new normal in this province. Seth Klein told a B.C. Federation of Labour conference in Kamloops Friday that 74 per cent of job growth in B.C. has come from these casual or temporary jobs. That compares to 32 per cent in the rest of the country. Millennials are bearing the brunt of the job pain because they are emerging into the new market and don’t have the seniority or tenure their parents enjoy. Klein spoke during a panel on local issues in Kamloops that focused on the increasing rise of what presenters called “precarious work.” A panelist from the post-secondary sector outlined increasing reliance at Thompson Rivers University on sessional instructors who receive less pay and benefits, no pension and little job security. The faculty association failed to gain any traction for these sessional workers in the recent contract negotiations, instead settling on a wage increase as compensation. Thompson Rivers University Faculty Association president Tom
B.C., which has the lowest minimum wage ($10.45 per hour; $9.20 per hour for liquor servers) in Canada. A number of jurisdictions, including Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York state, have adopted a phased-in $15 minimum wage. Friedman said one-third of courses at TRU are taught by sessionals. “All of them do the exact work as the tenured faculty,” Friedman said, calling growth in temporary workers “a growing and disturbing trend in the academic world.” Both Friedman and Donisa Bernardo, a member of the Hospital Employees’ Union’s provincial executive, blamed B.C. Liberal government policies that limit free bargaining and encourage contract flipping in seniors’ care. In the case of hospital support jobs, that erosion started in 2002 under Bill 29, when then-premier Gordon Campbell stripped the contract for workers and encouraged contracting out to private industry. The Supreme Court of Canada later ruled unconstitutional key parts of Bill 29, but Bernardo said the ramifications of that move have been devastating to wages and benefits on the Coast and, more recently, in the Interior. “These were good, family supporting jobs with decent benefits and pensions,” Bernardo said. See PUSH, A6
ALLEN DOUGLAS/KTW
BELLA OF THE BALL
Hazel Mudiman is delighted to meet Bella, an 11-week-old golden retriever, during Saturday’s Kamloops United Church-sponsored block party at Fourth Avenue and St. Paul Street. To see more photos from the sunny celebration, go online to kamloopsthisweek.com.
MP decries Liberal ‘stacked deck’ CAM FORTEMS
STAFF REPORTER
cam@kamloopsthisweek.com
Kamloops-ThompsonCariboo Conservative MP Cathy McLeod is referring to an all-party parliamentary committee created week to study electoral reform as “a stacked deck.” The federal Liberal government created the committee to look at alternatives to the first-past-the-post electoral sys-
tem now in use in Canada. The Liberals promised during last year’s election campaign that the Oct. 19 vote would be the last one under the first-past-the-post system. Opposition critics, including McLeod, have claimed the Liberals are “stacking the deck” with Liberal members on the committee. The all-party committee has 10 voting members — six
Liberals, three Conservatives and one New Democrat. Green Leader Elizabeth May and a Bloc Québécois MP will be permitted to participate in committee hearings, but will have no voting rights. The Liberal government has also avoided committing to a national referendum before changing the electoral system, something McLeod said is a must. See MCLEOD, A4
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