UNHAPPY LABOR DAY USA

35 Million Americans Are Losing Unemployment Income Today

Pandemic unemployment benefits expire today, leaving 10 percent of the US population with dramatically less household income.

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President Joe Biden delivers remarks about the jobs report on July 02, 2021.

 (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)

BY MATT BRUENIG

JACOBIN

09.06.2021

The Department of Labor released its weekly unemployment insurance (UI) report on Friday. This is the last report before pandemic unemployment benefits are eliminated across the entire country today, September 6, and thus gives us the best indicator of how many people will be affected by the cuts.

In the report, we learn that 9.2 million people are currently receiving benefits from either the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) program or the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program. Another 0.1 million filed an initial claim for PUA in the last week.

According to the Census Household Pulse Survey, the average household that is receiving UI benefits has 3.8 members in it. This means that around 35 million people (10 percent of the US population) live in households that are scheduled to lose unemployment income today.

These are not small cuts either. Based on what happened in the states that already cut these benefits, we know that around half of those on UI will see their benefits drop to $0, while the remaining half will see their benefits cut by $300 per week, which is equivalent to $15,200 per year. Those formerly on UI will also cut their spending by about $145 per week ($7,540 annually), which will have negative effects on the revenue and employment of the businesses they patronize.

The extent of the carnage we are about to see is far greater than had previously been predicted. I did some simple math about a month ago that suggested that, in a best case scenario, 20 million people live in households that would be hit by these cuts. The actual number now appears to be 75 percent higher, at 35 million.

These UI cuts are happening at the same time that the Delta variant of COVID is rampaging through the country, causing a massive spike in COVID cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. Indeed, the COVID situation is far worse right now than it was a year ago, when the severity of the pandemic was thought to justify the pandemic unemployment benefits.

On top of all of this, the economy still has 5.7 million fewer jobs than it had before the pandemic, a gap that it would take five to six months to close even in good times, let alone in the middle of a raging pandemic. Cutting the benefits will not close that gap any faster. It will just push 35 million people off a financial cliff for no reason at all.

Hidden in Conservative platform: An attack on public pensions and EI

Conservatives would relegate gig workers to second-class citizens in Canada’s workforce

OTTAWA – Hidden in Erin O’Toole’s Conservative policy platform is a kick in the teeth for the retirement and job security of gig workers.

“Conservatives have a policy plan that includes a blatant attack on public pensions. They would permanently relegate gig workers to second-class status in Canada’s workforce,” said Bea Bruske, President of the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC).

The Conservative platform proposes a new private retirement and wage-loss scheme for gig workers that would replace the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and Employment Insurance (EI) program. It’s called the portable Employee Savings Account, and it forces workers to depend on a private fund at the mercy of bank fees and subject to unpredictable stock markets.

“The Conservatives’ plan denies over a million gig economy workers access to not only the protections of basic labour standards, but to the Canada Pension Plan and Employment Insurance as well,” said Bruske. “These workers kept Canada going during the darkest days of the pandemic, yet Erin O’Toole and the Conservatives would deny them retirement security, EI benefits and even basic legal protections. That is reprehensible.”

The policy, as outlined in the Conservative election platform, would exclude gig economy workers from vital social programs that provide employees cost-effective retirement and unemployment benefits and force them into a riskier private plan.

“If Erin O’Toole forms government he would create two tiers of Canadian workers. One with basic workplace protections and hard-fought benefits, built by generations of Canadians – the other left to the whims of the market,” said Bruske. “Mr. O’Toole has made quite a show of claiming he is pro-union and pro-worker, but his platform amounts to a hypocritical attack on workers,” concluded Bruske.

“Canada’s unions will fight this unfair scheme and stand up for gig economy workers.”

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September 03, 2021 

Union members and Alberta workers should not be fooled by Conservative leader Erin O’Toole’s feel-good words on unions. He only wants your votes. A closer look at where the Conservatives stand show they are even more anti-union than Jason Kenney’s UCP government.

O’Toole recently said some soothing words on unions: “It may surprise you to hear a Conservative bemoan the decline of private-sector union membership. But this was an essential part of the balance between what was good for business and what was good for employees. Today, that balance is dangerously disappearing.”

In October last year, O’Toole said, “Organized labour helps build strong communities.”

And the Conservative Platform has some nice things to say about unions, such as “Give workers a seat at the table by requiring federally regulated employers with over 1,000 employees or $100 million in annual revenue to include worker representation on their boards of directors.”

That sounds nice, right? Do not be fooled. O’Toole’s campaign promises on unions are designed to fool workers into voting Conservative, but the Conservative soul is anti-union.

Alberta workers should look beyond O’Toole’s platitudes. The Conservative Party of Canada is anti-union. If they form government, the Conservatives will weaken the labour movement, which will mean lower wages, worse benefits, and lower safety standards for all workers.

O’Toole can’t outrun his own record with the Harper government. He supported federal anti-union legislation, like Bill C-377, which would have required unions to disclose financial information (including strike funds) in painful detail, and Bill C-525, which would have made it more difficult for workers to unionize.

O’Toole has so far refused to explain his support of these anti-union Conservative bills. (Spoiler: he can’t explain because Erin O’Toole still supports anti-union laws!)

A quick dive into the Conservative Party of Canada’s 2018 policy book shows policies on unions are more in line with Alabama, than the Canadian mainstream.

In fact, the Conservative Party’s policies on “workers’ rights” are pretty much identical as the policies of anti-union Jason Kenney.

According to their policy book, the Conservative Party “supports right to work legislation to allow optional union membership including student unions.”

Right-to-work laws are prevalent in the States and allow a worker to enjoy the benefits of a union – like better wages and working conditions – without paying union dues.

The goal of right-to-work laws are to “make it more difficult for unions to collect revenues, and thereby to weaken the labour movement.”

Unions are the main counterbalance to corporate power in our society. Unions fight for better wages, working conditions, and benefits not only for their members, but for all workers. Without unions, Canadian workers would be less prosperous; workplaces would be less safe.

Right-to-work laws increase income inequality: the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Is that what Erin O’Toole and the Conservatives mean when they talk about “economic freedom”?

Far-right Jason Kenney doesn’t go as far to promise right-to-work laws, even though he is a proud member of the federal Conservatives and endorsed Erin O’Toole as Conservative leader.

Federal Conservatives also want “the requirement that unions be subject to full, transparent annual financial reporting” and “allow members to opt out of the portion of their dues that are allocated” to “political donations, donations to media organizations, and to political activism and campaigns”.

This is straight out of Jason Kenney’s playbook with his notoriously anti-union Bill 32, which brings government interference into unions’ internal affairs.

The goal of Jason Kenney’s Bill 32 is to use the power of big government to intrude into unions’ internal affairs by disrupting how unions choose to allocate dues.

Erin O’Toole and Jason Kenney see eye-to-eye on government interference in unions’ internal affairs when it comes to dues.

Erin O’Toole and the Conservative Party of Canada go even more hard-right than Jason Kenney when it comes to right-to-work laws. O’Toole and his party would bring this in federally, but Jason Kenney has (so far) not promised the same anti-union laws in Alberta.

Union members and anyone in the labour movement shouldn’t be fooled by Erin O’Toole’s aw-shucks demeanor and few kind words about unions. The party he leads is deeply and irrevocably anti-union.

In the words of national union Unifor, The 2021 O'Toole: New Name, Same Old Conservative.

Celebrate Labour Day by Demanding Jason Kenney Resign

The UCP has failed Albertans and lost the moral authority to govern. Time for action.

Gil McGowan 3 Sep 2021 | TheTyee.ca
Gil McGowan is president of the Alberta Federation of Labour, Alberta’s largest worker advocacy group, which represents 175,000 unionized workers in both the public and private sectors.

Alberta health-care workers protesting cuts under the Kenney government. 

Photo via Northern Currents.

Labour Day is supposed to be a holiday to recognize and celebrate the contributions that workers make to the life of our country. But this Labour Day, it’s clear that the people running Alberta don’t give a crap about ordinary working folks..

The signs were there right from the start.

When Jason Kenney was running for election in 2019, he knew working Albertans were anxious about the economy, so he famously promised jobs, pipelines and economic growth. What has he delivered instead? No jobs. No pipelines. No economic growth.

But it’s not just that the Kenney government has failed to deliver on its election promises — they’ve deliberately made things worse for working Albertans, not better.

They cut the minimum wage for young workers.

They created a mechanism for employers to avoid paying overtime.

They gutted the right to refuse unsafe work.

They stripped public-sector workers of control over their own pension investments.

They made it harder for workers to join unions and bargain collectively with their employers.

They limited the rights of workers to protest.

They refused to participate in a national child-care program that would save working families in our province thousands of dollars each year.

They continued to give billions in tax giveaways to corporations that don’t use the money to create jobs, while at the same time saying there’s no more money for vital public services.

They offered anxious workers nothing but false hope about the future of oil and gas and they’ve demonstrated that they have no plan to help Albertans find their way in a world that’s clearly moving away from fossil fuels.

Finally, they hatched a plan to defund unions so they could no longer be an effective counterbalance to the power of the UCP’s wealthy benefactors.

These are all deliberate choices made by the Kenney government, not the result of circumstances outside of their control.

And it doesn’t end there.

In addition to curtailing many rights and protections for working Albertans, the UCP has also gone after the public services we value and need to get ahead.

Health care, education, municipal services, universities and colleges: you name it, they’ve cut it or teed it up for privatization.

Of course, these are the actions you’d expect from a conservative government, especially one led by an ideological warrior like Jason Kenney. His 2019 election platform basically laid out a plan to transform Alberta in the image of a Republican American state, and that’s what he’s been doing.

But now Kenney has gone too far. He’s not just a conservative politician doing what conservative politicians do. Now he’s threatening the health — and even the lives — of our kids. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the Kenney government’s approach to public health has been dangerously incompetent and willfully negligent. Whether it was the first, second or third wave of the pandemic, they either acted too slowly, relaxed public health measures too quickly, or ignored the best evidence from experts entirely.

They sat on their hands while COVID spread through meatpacking plants, warehouses, oilsands work camps and schools. They drove health-care workers out of their professions — and sometimes out of the province — by denigrating and disrespecting them.

Albertans got used to having the highest infection rates in the country; the biggest workplace outbreaks; and the lowest vaccination rates. We also got used to excuses (It’s the federal government’s fault!), misinformation (It’s a form of influenza! Kids don’t get it! Hospitalizations have decoupled from case numbers!), failures of leadership (Aloha from Hawaii!) and wishful thinking (It’s endemic, not pandemic! Best summer ever!).

Perhaps most significantly, we got used to a government putting its own political interests — especially the interests of the vocal anti-mask and anti-vax minority who happen to form a part of the UCP base — ahead of the broader public interest.

But what’s happening now in the midst of the fourth wave has reached a new level of outrageous and unacceptable.

Given the high transmissibility of the now-dominant Delta variant; the fact that 670,000 Alberta kids under 12 years of age are not eligible for vaccination; the fact that experts now agree that the virus is spread by tiny particles that can hang in the air in indoor environments for hours; and the fact that hospitals and ICUs are nearing capacity, the UCP should have postponed sending Alberta kids back to classrooms.

In addition, they should have reinstituted a provincewide mask mandate. They should have created a vaccine passport system to spur vaccinations. They should have required schools — and other employers — to move aggressively on ventilation and indoor air filtration. They should have acknowledged the real threat of Long COVID and focused on reducing infections especially in kids. They should have communicated the new risks to Albertans and provided funding to address those risks. Finally, they should have acknowledged what the evidence from around the world now clearly shows — that the Zero-COVID strategies employed in places like New Zealand, Taiwan and Canada’s own Atlantic provinces are the only real way to save lives, save the economy and get things back to normal.

But the Kenney government did none of those things.

Instead, they denied that the fourth wave is here; that COVID is airborne; that we still need testing and contact tracing to deal with the pandemic; and that staff shortages in health care are making us more vulnerable than ever.

They also dismissed evidence that Zero-COVID policies work better than “too little, too late” approaches and downloaded responsibility for keeping Albertans safe to school boards, municipalities and businesses.

Perhaps the UCP’s two most outrageous failures of the fourth wave are to cancel contact tracing in schools just as kids head back to the classroom and to casually admit they want to see an “accelerated case rate” as COVID “finishe[s] going through the unvaccinated population” — which necessarily includes kids under 12 — so that they can “safely keep businesses open” and avoid bringing in any further restrictions. UCP Caucus Chair Nathan Neudorf let this bombshell slip in an unscripted TV interview while Kenney and the chief medical officer of health had disappeared from the public stage for almost the whole month of August.

To say that the UCP approach to the raging Delta wave of the pandemic is shocking and unacceptable would be an understatement. And it’s certainly not what Albertans voted for two and a half years ago.

This Labour Day, it’s time for working Albertans to say “enough is enough.” It’s time to acknowledge that our government has abandoned us. And it’s time for us to act.


Governments Won’t Stop COVID. It’s Up to Us

READ MORE

What does action look like?

First, we need to demand not just the resignation of Jason Kenney, but the resignation of the entire UCP government. By abdicating their responsibility to protect the lives of Alberta citizens — especially our vulnerable, unvaccinated children — they have lost the moral authority to govern.

Second, we need to back up our demand with collective action. Student strikes? Mass refusal to send our kids to schools? Work stoppages? I honestly don’t know what would be the best option. But we urgently need to start talking about it. We simply can’t continue to allow the UCP to lead us by the nose into disaster.

The Kenney government has been failing working Albertans from the start. Now they’re failing our kids. We need to stand up and push back. If not now, when?

GENERAL STRIKE!

 

JACOBIN Here's the latest...

From fighting contract concessions to making common-good demands like postal banking and public broadband, Canadian postal workers’ fighting unionism should be an inspiration to USPS workers. As they come to resemble corporations, universities increasingly wield the kind of power and influence that were hallmarks of ruthless employers in isolated company towns. Historian Davarian Baldwin calls this ominous trend the “rise of the UniverCity.” The Supreme Court has chosen to side with landlords over the millions of renters on the edge of eviction. The tidal wave of pain that will soon descend on the nation is hard to comprehend.

 

Haitian opposition platform might join forces with government

Port-au-Prince, Sept 6 (Prensa Latina) The spokesman for the Democratic and Popular Sector (SDP), Andre Michel, said on Monday that he is holding talks with Prime Minister Ariel Henry about a national agreement.

Michel, a fervent critic of former President Jovenel Moïse, said that the talks are in a very advanced stage, and they received a draft of the agreement, in reference to the document recently presented by the government to more than 200 Haitian sociopolitical organizations in order to reach consensus.

The announcement is a 180-degree turn with respect to last month's statements, when Michel said that Henry did not have the legal and constitutional provisions to form a government, and criticized the international community's recognition.

The new position of the opposition platform, which in 2019 boosted mass demonstrations against the government and called Moise illegitimate and authoritarian, might be a hard setback for the agreement formulated by civil society and supported by 200 sociopolitical organizations, including the renowned Fanmi Lavalas party, founded by former President Jean Bertrand Aristide.

Under the August 30 agreement, social organizations are proposing a two-year transitional administration, which will take into account demands such as the prosecution of treasure embezzlers and the restructuring of state institutions.

jg/aph/mem/ane

An 'Internet apocalypse' could ride to Earth with the next solar storm, new research warns

By Brandon Specktor about 6 hours ago

The underwater cables that connect nations could go offline for months, the study warns.

A solar storm, or coronal mass ejection (CME), erupts from the sun in August 2012. (Image credit: NASA Goddard)

The sun is always showering Earth with a mist of magnetized particles known as solar wind. For the most part, our planet's magnetic shield blocks this electric wind from doing any real damage to Earth or its inhabitants, instead sending those particles skittering toward the poles and leaving behind a pleasant aurora in their wake.

But sometimes, every century or so, that wind escalates into a full-blown solar storm — and, as new research presented at the SIGCOMM 2021 data communication conference warns, the results of such extreme space weather could be catastrophic to our modern way of life.

In short, a severe solar storm could plunge the world into an "internet apocalypse" that keeps large swaths of society offline for weeks or months at a time, Sangeetha Abdu Jyothi, an assistant professor at the University of California, Irvine, wrote in the new research paper. (The paper has yet to appear in a peer-reviewed journal).

"What really got me thinking about this is that with the pandemic we saw how unprepared the world was. There was no protocol to deal with it effectively, and it's the same with internet resilience," Abdu Jyothi told WIRED. "Our infrastructure is not prepared for a large-scale solar event."

Part of the problem is that extreme solar storms (also called coronal mass ejections) are relatively rare; scientists estimate the probability of an extreme space weather directly impacting Earth to be between 1.6% to 12% per decade, according to Abdu Jyothi's paper.

In recent history, only two such storms have been recorded — one in 1859 and the other in 1921. The earlier incident, known as the Carrington Event, created such a severe geomagnetic disturbance on Earth that telegraph wires burst into flame, and auroras — usually only visible near the planet's poles — were spotted near equatorial Colombia. Smaller storms can also pack a punch; one in March 1989 blacked out the entire Canadian province of Quebec for nine hours.

Since then, human civilization has become much more reliant on the global internet, and the potential impacts of a massive geomagnetic storm on that new infrastructure remain largely unstudied, Abdu Jyothi said. In her new paper, she tried to pinpoint the greatest vulnerabilities in that infrastructure.

The good news is, local and regional internet connections are likely at low risk of being damaged because fiber-optic cables themselves aren't affected by geomagnetically induced currents, according to the paper. 

However, the long undersea internet cables that connect continents are a different story. These cables are equipped with repeaters to boost the optical signal, spaced at intervals of roughly 30 to 90 miles (50 to 150 kilometers). These repeaters are vulnerable to geomagnetic currents, and entire cables could be made useless if even one repeater goes offline, according to the paper.

If enough undersea cables fail in a particular region, then entire continents could be cut off from one another, Abdu Jyothi wrote. What's more, nations at high latitudes — such as the U.S. and the U.K. — are far more susceptible to solar weather than nations at lower latitudes. In the event of a catastrophic geomagnetic storm, it's those high-latitude nations that are most likely to be cut off from the network first. It's hard to predict how long it would take to repair underwater infrastructure, but Abdu Jyothi suggests that large-scale internet outages that last weeks or months are possible.

In the meantime, millions of people could lose their livelihoods.

"The economic impact of an Internet disruption for a day in the US is estimated to be over $7 billion," Abdu Jyothi wrote in her paper. "What if the network remains non-functional for days or even months?"

When the next big solar storm does blast out of our star, people on Earth will have about 13 hours to prepare for its arrival, she added. Let's hope we're ready to make the most of that time when it inevitably arrives.If we don't want to find out, then grid operators need to start taking the threat of extreme solar weather seriously as global internet infrastructure inevitably expands. Laying more cables at lower latitudes is a good start, Abdu Jyothi said, as is developing resilience tests that focus on the effects of large-scale network failures. 

Russian segment of International Space Station causes concern

Moscow, Aug 31 (Prensa Latina) The flight director of the Russian segment of the International Space Station, Vladimir Soloviov, considered it worrying that the national module of the ISS is in a state of obsolescence, the local press reported.

Some of the equipment reached the end of its shelf life, Soloviov, who is also the general designer of the main group of Operational Control of the Space and Rocket Energy Corporation told the RIA-Novosti news agency.

He said that around 80 percent of the flight systems in the Russian part of the station are in this situation, 'which means that irreparable failures could occur at any time.'

Soloviov reported on Monday on the detection of cracks in the Zarya cargo module, dating from 1998, while there were air leaks reported on the Zvezda modules several occasions in 2019 and 2021.

The spokesman for the Russian Space Agency (RosCosmos), Vladimir Ustímenko, issued statements to the TASS news agency assuring that the security and functionality situation aboard the ISS is under control.

However, in April, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov declared that the status of the ISS left much to be desired, so Russia would focus on building its own orbital station.

The Rocket and Space Corporation Energia is tasked with ensuring that the first base module for the new Russian orbital station is ready by 2025.

The shelf life of the ISS expires in 2024. Roscosmos assured that the decision on its future would be made based on its actual technical conditions.

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AFTER ALL THEY ORIGINATED IN SPACE

Viruses may exist ‘elsewhere in the universe’, warns scientist

#PANSPERMIA

Prof Paul Davies suggests viruses may form vital part of ecosystems on other planets

A range of microbes and other microscopic agents may be needed to support life on other planets, including viruses. 

Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo


Nicola Davis Science correspondent
@NicolaKSDavis
Mon 6 Sep 2021 11.55 BST


The Covid pandemic has already turned life as we know it upside down – and no doubt prompted some people to want to leave the planet.

Now a leading scientist has warned that viruses may not only be found on Earth, but might occur – should life exist – elsewhere in the universe.

Prof Paul Davies, an astrobiologist, cosmologist and director of the Beyond Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science at Arizona State University, said that the idea of aliens ranges from microbial life to super advanced civilisations that might be signalling to us.

But Davies backed the idea that a wide range of microbes and other microscopic agents would probably be needed to support life as a whole, whatever form it takes. And it seems viruses – or something that performs a similar role – could be part of the equation.

“Viruses actually form part of the web of life,” said Davies. “I would expect that if you’ve got microbial life on another planet, you’re bound to have – if it’s going to be sustainable and sustained – the full complexity and robustness that will go with being able to exchange genetic information.”

Viruses, said Davies, can be thought of as mobile, genetic elements. Indeed, a number of studies have suggested genetic material from viruses has been incorporated into the genomes of humans and other animals by a process known as horizontal gene transfer.

“A friend of mine thinks most, but certainly a significant fraction, of the human genome is actually of viral origin,” said Davies, whose new book, What’s Eating the Universe?, was published last week.

According to Davies, while the importance of microbes to life is well known, the role of viruses is less widely appreciated. But he said if there is cellular life on other worlds, viruses or something similar, would probably exist to transfer genetic information between them.

What’s more, he said, it is unlikely alien life would be homogenous.

“I don’t think it’s a matter that you go to some other planet, and there will just be you one type of microbe and it’s perfectly happy. I think it’s got to be a whole ecosystem,” he added.

While the thought of extraterrestrial viruses may seem alarming, Davies suggests there is no need for humans to panic.

“The dangerous viruses are those that are very closely adapted to their hosts,” he said. “If there is a truly alien virus, then chances are it wouldn’t be remotely dangerous.”

Davies’ comments come after a study, published in late August, suggested that signs of life may be detected beyond our solar system within two to three years.

But the need to consider entire ecosystems does not only apply when considering alien life.

Davies – whose conversation is peppered with nods to former colleagues and associates from Stephen Hawking to Fred Hoyle, the great if unconventional former director of the Institute of Astronomy at Cambridge University – said it is also important should humans attempt to colonise another planet.

“Most people think about, well, we would need to have very large spacecraft, and then sort of recycle things for the very long journey, and then all the technology you’d need to take,” he said.

“Actually, the toughest part of this problem is what would be the microbiology that you’d have to take – it’s no good just taking a few pigs and potatoes and things like that and hoping when you get to the other end it’ll all be wonderful and self sustainable.”


Safe space: the cosmic importance of planetary quarantine – podcast

While Covid has left most of us with a dim view of viruses, Davies said they are not all bad. “In fact, mostly, they’re good,” he said.

Among their positive roles, viruses that infect bacteria – known as phages – can help keep bacterial populations in check, while viruses have also been linked to a host of other important processes, from helping plants survive in extremely hot soils to influencing biogeochemical cycles. And, as Davies notes, a significant fraction of the human genome may be remnants of ancient viruses.

“We hear about the microbiome inside us, and there’s a planetary microbiome,” said Davies. But, he argues there is also a human and planetaryvirome, with viruses playing a fundamental role in nature.

“I think without viruses, there may be no sustained life on planet Earth,” he said.

 

Operational considerations for commercial nuclear propulsion

 September 6, 2021

Known to most as a senior London arbitrator, Michael Allen’s first career before becoming a lawyer was as an engineer officer on British nuclear submarines. Below, he poses plenty of questions about crew onboard the next generation of nuclear-powered ships.

There is increasing activity towards the advent of commercial nuclear propulsion, focussing on the molten salt reactor (MSR) instead of the pressurised water reactor (PWR).

Seagoing experience for the past 70 years or so, commencing with USS Nautilus, has been with PWRs. As a result of the close co-operation between Lord Mountbatten and Admiral Rickover, the Royal Navy’s first nuclear submarine, HMS Dreadnought, was launched on Trafalgar day, October 21 1960. Dreadnought was in fact an American Skipjack class design with a British front end and a US reactor and machinery configuration. Going aft, there was a sign “Checkpoint Charlie, you are now entering the American sector”.

The design and build of full size MSRs may prove to be easier than providing fully trained operators

Thereafter, the Royal Navy built nuclear submarines to a national design but RN/USN exchanges, not only technical but also operational, had been an essential part of gaining PWR experience.

At its very simplest, the reactor is the heat source which boils the water which generates the steam which propels the turbines which drive the vessel and the generators which provide electrical power. Of course, it is very much more complex than that and, for commercial shipping, revolutionary, not evolutionary. It is therefore essential that the watchkeepers fully understand the plant they are looking after but they will have no previous experience to draw on.

There are advantages of MSRs over PWRs, lower pressure, higher temperature, primary pump flow rate control, less risk of meltdown but the training of PWR operators gives some insight into what may be required for MSRs. This has been broadly divided between the theoretical and the practical.

The theoretical has generally taken place by way of post graduate academic study of nuclear physics for officers and similar courses for senior ratings. Whilst the MSR differs from the PWR, presumably such theoretical nuclear physics education will have to be provided. For example, will operators need a thorough understanding of molten salt treatment similar to that required for reactor water chemistry in a PWR?

The practical training may be a more difficult issue to address.

There are numerous operating issues which simply cannot be rehearsed and practiced at sea. Accordingly, simulator training plays a major role in, as far as possible, ensuring safety, very much in the same way as it does in the aircraft industry. It is important for effective simulator training that the participants feel that they are sitting in the real thing, such as a cockpit or a submarine manoeuvring room, even though they are firmly on the ground.

Whilst the theoretical study will most likely be a one off, simulator training should continue ashore for as long as the watchkeepers are employed. This is particularly important given the potential monotony of watchkeeping when the vessel is on passage at a steady speed with very little happening. The unexpected will occur and watchkeepers have to react instantly and correctly. Emergency operating procedures have to be second nature.

Nuclear propulsion training and operation is a different matter for armed services than for commercial operators but safety is fundamental for both. Not only would shipowners be entering a new era, so would their insurers, both H&M and P&I, as well as classification societies and flag states. Every party needs to be confident that crews have been trained as thoroughly as possible. This raises more issues; where will the first crews be recruited from and who will have the necessary operational experience to train them? Will they seek a higher rate of pay than currently on offer? Will the operational training have to take place on the first vessel built and how long will that take? Will commercial operators invest in simulator training? Will it be required by their insurers as a condition precedent for cover? Will there be a requirement for regular third party (flag, class) inspection of watchkeepers to ensure that they are and remain fully trained? Will it be necessary to have a modified form of training for the Master and bridge watchkeepers to fully understand what is going on below?

The design and build of full size MSRs may prove to be easier than providing fully trained operators.

Singh touts universal child care, $20 min wage for federally regulated workers

By Staff The Canadian Press
Posted September 6, 2021 

WATCH: NDP’s Singh slams Trudeau’s response to paid sick leave

NDP leader Jagmeet Singh says he will push through more support for workers if elected on Sept. 20 and encourage provinces to do the same.

Singh used a Labour Day campaign stop in the traditional NDP stronghold of Hamilton to highlight the party’s commitment to $10 universal child care, as well as a $20 minimum wage and 10 days of paid sick leave for federally regulated workers.

Flanked by supporters including members of United Steelworkers union, he says the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed shortcomings in the worker support system and the need for change.

Singh says that while the Liberals have also made promises on a childcare program and paid sick leave, the party didn’t pass these measures when they had the opportunity.

NDP pledges dental coverage for families earning less than $90K/year

Singh touts increased worker supports from childcare to higher minimum wage.

He says that while the majority of workers fall under provincial jurisdiction, it’s important for the federal government to show leadership on the issue.

The NDP have also committed to make more people eligible for Employment Insurance and to increase protection for pensions.