THAR'S GOLD UP IN THEM THAR HILLS

Visualizing the economic impact of British Columbia’s Golden Triangle

Visual Capitalist | September 17, 2021 |

The Economic Impact of British Columbia’s Golden Triangle

At the heart of British Columbia’s mining industry lies the Golden Triangle. This region has helped transform the province’s mining industry into a significant source of revenue and investment.


In 2020, the Golden Triangle accounted for roughly 44% of the $422 million in mineral exploration expenditures in British Columbia. In 2019, the Red Chris and Brucejack mines contributed around $1 billion to the province’s estimated annual gross mining revenues.

This is infographic is sponsored by the B.C. Regional Mining Alliance (BCRMA) which brings the best of this region to the world through a partnership between indigenous groups, industry, and provincial government representatives.

Here is how the Golden Triangle began.

The Golden Triangle’s Unique Geology

Between 220 and 175 million years ago, the Golden Triangle’s wealth was forming deep in the Earth for the world to discover. Most metal deposits form from superheated water that cycle over many kilometers, collecting metal atoms as they rise to the surface of the Earth’s crust and settle into deposits.

Industry, government, and university geologists have worked for over a century to understand the Golden Triangle’s unique geology to uncover its mineral wealth. This unique geology cradles the world-class deposits that define the legendary “Golden Triangle” of British Columbia.
A History of Discovery and Mining in the Golden Triangle

Historical gold rushes brought mining to the area, but the region’s vast copper deposits will deliver the key mineral for B.C.’s green future. More than 150 mines have operated in the area since prospectors first arrived at the end of the 19th century.

1861: Alexander Choquette kicked off the Stikine Gold Rush after finding gold at the confluence of the Stikine and Anuk Rivers.

1918 – 1952: The first big discovery in the Golden Triangle was at the Premier Gold Mine, which started operations in 1918. It produced 2 million ounces of gold and 45 million ounces of silver. Today, Ascot Resources is re-starting processing from this gold mine.

1964: The Snip Mine was discovered by Cominco but the deposit stayed dormant until 1986. The mine produced approximately 1 million ounces of gold from 1991 until 1999. Today, Skeena Resources is advancing the Snip Project.

1994: Eskay became Canada’s highest-grade gold mine and the world’s fifth largest silver producer, with production above 3 million ounces of gold and 160 million ounces of silver. Skeena Resources is also bringing the Eskay mining back into production.

2009: The discovery of the Brucejack gold and silver deposit led to the development of an underground mine. The mine has produced 1,230,644 ounces of gold since it began operations in 2017.

2013: The KSM Project is one of the largest undeveloped gold projects in the world. A Preliminary Feasibility Study estimates proven and probable reserves total 38.8 million ounces of gold and 10.2 billion pounds of copper.

2015: The Red Chris shipped its first load of copper concentrate. In 2020 metals production was 88.3 million pounds copper and 73,787 ounces gold. Imperial Metals and Newcrest jointly operate the mine.

This long tradition of discovery and mining is laying the foundations for the next generation of investment.

Today’s Golden Age for Exploration and Development

Continued exploration is necessary for new discoveries and advancing projects to new mines. More importantly, the minerals discovered today will be needed in the low carbon economy and British Columbia—in particular, the Golden Triangle will play its part in delivering metals for renewable technology.

Source: Based on data collected for the EY LLP, 2020 British Columbia Mineral and Coal Exploration Survey

Gold and copper account for most of the exploration in the Golden Triangle, but other commodities for the low-carbon economy such as silver, nickel, and zinc also attract interest. A strong exploration industry is the beginning for future investment, new jobs, and community development.
A Bright Future: Investing in Community

The Golden Triangle continues to attract exploration activity as infrastructure and community development lays the success for future generations and industries.

Community:
Agreements with First Nations (Tahltan and Nisga’a Nations)
38% of expenditures stays in the region
97% stays in British Columbia
150+ communities benefit

Infrastructure:
The paving of the Stewart-Cassiar highway
The opening of ocean port facilities for concentrate export at Stewart
The completion of a $700-million high-voltage transmission line bringing power into the region

This is a new beginning for the continued economic impact of British Columbia’s Golden Triangle.

(This article first appeared in the Visual Capitalist)

MINING IS NOT SUSTAINABLE

 BC  

Protesters not 'terrorists': Lawyers argue against Fairy Creek injunction extension

Protesters not 'terrorists'

The Canadian Press - Sep 16, 2021 / 5:26 pm | Story: 346025

Photo: The Canadian Press

A watch camp that was recently abandoned because members formed a new blockade a few kilometres away is shown in the Fairy Creek area near Port Renfrew, B.C., on May, 11, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jen Osborne

A British Columbia court heard today from lawyers who say people from all walks of life with concerns about protecting old-growth trees from logging on Vancouver Island are being treated like terrorists by the police and a forestry company.

The lawyers represent about half a dozen people who oppose a court application by Teal Cedar Products Ltd. to extend an injunction order against protest blockades in the Fairy Creek area by one year.

About 1,000 people have have been arrested in the area north of Port Renfrew since May when the RCMP started to enforce an earlier B.C. Supreme Court injunction against blockades erected in several areas near logging sites.

Lawyer Elizabeth Strain showed the court videos and photographs of police allegedly unsafely removing protesters from trees and ditches, and pulling off the face masks of people at the blockades before dousing them with pepper spray.

She says the protesters include youth, teachers, retired scientists, doctors, lawyers and students with fears about climate change and they want to protect the trees, but they are being treated like terrorists.

During the hearing, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Douglas Thompson said the protesters appear to be employing tactics purposely designed to make enforcement of the injunction difficult for the police.

Lawyer Matthew Nefstead, who is representing several members of the Rainforest Flying Squad protest group, says granting the injunction extension should be denied because it could be viewed by the police as granting them further powers.

Teal Cedar lawyer Dean Dalke told the court Tuesday the blockades are impeding the company's legal rights to harvest timber and alleged the actions of the protesters pose dangers to employees and the RCMP.

Police union survey says most in B.C. support enforcement at Fairy Creek

82% agree with enforcement, 77% support right to peaceful protest

RCMP officers and protesters face off at a camp in Fairy Creek 

with tripod structures visible in the background. (Submitted by BC RCMP)

KEVIN ROTHBAUER
Sep. 16, 2021

According to a survey commissioned by the National Police Federation, the vast majority of British Columbians support RCMP enforcement of the BC Supreme Court injunction in the Fairy Creek watershed, but numbers are split when it comes to supporting civil disobedience to stop old-growth logging.

Pollara surveyed 800 randomly selected British Columbians, including 299 Vancouver Island residents, between Aug. 30 and Sept. 2, and 82 per cent said they agree with the statement that “the police have a duty to enforce Supreme Court injunctions.”

The National Police Federation represents roughly 20,000 RCMP members across Canada.

The survey also found that 78 per cent believe protest is an important part of democracy, and 73 per cent believe that the request from the Pacheedaht First Nation for the protesters to leave their traditional territory should be respected. Numbers are split with regard to the justification that civil disobedience is justified to stop old-growth logging, with 43 per cent in agreement and 42 per cent opposed.

Nearly half of those surveyed — 47 per cent — said they have been following the Fairy Creek protests closely, including 62 per cent of Vancouver Island residents.

“Our members have professionally and respectfully enforced a B.C. Supreme Court injunction since mid-May,” said National Police Federation president Brian Sauvé. “This has resulted in over 860 arrests for violation of the injunction over 114 days, with very few if any credible complaints, including one related to an incident involving force after a police officer suffered a concussion as a result of being pushed to the ground by a crowd of protesters.”

Sauvé’s statement was released on Sept. 9. The number of arrests at Fairy Creek has since climbed past 1,000, making it the largest act of civil disobedience in Canadian history.

“Our members have maintained their professionalism and composure against a steadily increasing barrage of verbal taunts, racial slurs, engineered physical barriers, human chains, and bindings that threaten the health and safety of everyone in the area,” Sauvé continued. “Protesters and their supporters have also undertaken a campaign of online and personal stalking and harassment of individual officers for which the NPF is considering legal action.”

The RCMP has asked the Attorney General of Canada to change the injunction to give the police force greater powers, including the right to control access to areas in the injunction zone where enforcement is occurring. Teal Jones, which owns the logging rights to Tree Farm Licence 46, which includes the Fairy Creek watershed, has asked for a one-year extension on the injunction, and the Rainforest Flying Squad, which is organizing the protests, is challenging that application.

READ MORE: Old-growth activists want fewer police powers at Fairy Creek, RCMP asking for more

In response to the NPF survey, the RFS agreed that it is the job of the RCMP to enforce injunctions, but questioned their methods of doing so.

“We would ask, though, whether people would agree or disagree that RCMP should endanger the lives of protesters while enforcing the injunction,” the RFS said in a statement to Black Press. “Should people practicing civil disobedience to protect forests for the good of all be treated like criminals, or in some cases, in ways that it’s illegal to treat animals? Should the RCMP deny access to journalists in injunction zones, even after the court has reaffirmed the importance and democratic right of journalists to report on police activities such as enforcement of injunctions?”

The results of the survey haven’t affected the feelings of the protesters, they added.

“The commitment and morale of the forest defenders have not flagged, despite the RCMP’s racism, recklessness and contempt for protestors’ safety, and despite their well-resourced and well-funded media department’s intensive PR campaign against us,” the statement continued. “However, the respect that some of us (mostly white settlers) had for RCMP members before, believing them to be impartial defenders and protectors in society, has really taken a beating.

“Protecting B.C.’s old-growth forests is still one of our best hopes to mitigate the climate crisis. Logging old-growth forests causes more carbon emissions than any other activity in our province, but is not counted in provincial tallies.

“Sacred areas on unceded Indigenous territories are being obliterated. Endangered species and/or their habitat are being destroyed daily. We remain committed to protecting these forests and ecosystems until government halts their destruction.”

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Wisconsin Launches Probe Into Methane Plume Spotted From Space

Naureen S. Malik and Aaron Clark
Fri., September 17, 2021



(Bloomberg) -- Wisconsin is investigating a methane plume that was spotted by a satellite last week.

The state launched a probe after being contacted by Bloomberg News about a plume of methane detected in southwest Wisconsin by Kayrros SAS, which relied on a Sept. 10 satellite observation from the European Space Agency. The geoanalytics company estimated an emissions rate of 30 tons of methane an hour was needed to generate the release.

“The DNR was made aware of a potential methane plume in Southwest Wisconsin, and commenced investigations immediately,” spokeswoman Molly Meister said in an email Friday. “No reports of planned or unplanned work or releases by regulated sources in the area of the plume have been identified by DNR thus far.”

Halting intentional releases and accidental leaks of methane, the primary component of natural gas, could do more to slow climate change than almost any other single measure. The U.S. And the European Union this week unveiled a new initiative to pare global methane emissions by 30% before the end of the decade. Methane has more than 80 times the warming impact of carbon dioxide over the short term.

Like many other states, Wisconsin has no methane reporting requirements, and often such releases are never reported or are under-reported to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

This year, Energy Transfer LP and Gazprom PJSC confirmed emissions in the U.S. and Russia after Bloomberg News reported plumes spotted from satellites.

Enbridge ordered to pay US$3 million for Line 3 groundwater leak

The Associated Press
Friday, September 17, 2021 

Al Beesley, Senior Safety Coordinator, leans on some pipe while waiting for a press conference to start with Alberta Premier Rachel Notley during a tour of Enbridge's Line 3 pipeline replacement project in Hardisty Alta., on Thursday, Aug.10, 2017.

 (Jason Franson/THE CANADIAN PRESS)


ST. PAUL, MINN. -- Minnesota regulators have ordered Enbridge to pay more than US$3 million for allegedly violating state environmental law by piercing a groundwater aquifer during construction of the Line 3 oil pipeline replacement.

The state Department of Natural Resources said Enbridge, while working near Clearbrook in January, dug too deeply into the ground and pierced an artesian aquifer, which resulted in a 24 million gallon groundwater leak.

"Enbridge's actions are a clear violation of state law, and also of the public trust," said Barb Naramore, DNR deputy commissioner. "That is why we are using all of the tools in our authority to address the situation."

Enbridge said in a statement Friday that it was reviewing the DNR's order and would work with the agency on a resolution.

"Enbridge has been working with the DNR since June to provide the required site information and approval of a corrective action plan which is currently being implemented," the Calgary, Alberta-based company said. "We share a strong desire to protect Minnesota waters and the environment and we are committed to restoration."

It wasn't until mid-June that the DNR discovered something was wrong after speaking to independent construction monitors who had observed water pooling in the pipeline trench near Clearbrook.

The DNR has ordered Enbridge to put $2.7 million into escrow for restoration and damage to nearby wetlands. Enbridge is also required to pay $300,000 to mitigate the lost groundwater and $250,000 for long-term monitoring of the wetlands.

Enbridge's 340-mile (547-kilometre) Line 3 replacement pipeline will carry Canadian crude across northern Minnesota to the company's terminal in Superior, Wisconsin. The pipeline, opposed by environmental groups and some Ojibwe tribes, is nearly complete. The project is replacing a deteriorating line built in the 1960s that can only run at half capacity.

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Enbridge fined for breaching Minnesota environmental laws during Line 3 construction

September 17, 202111:29 AM The Canadian Press

CALGARY – Enbridge Inc. has been fined for breaching Minnesota environmental laws during the construction of its Line 3 pipeline replacement.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has ordered Enbridge to pay $3.32 million for breaching an aquifer containing groundwater during construction of a trench near the company’s Clearbrook Terminal.

The department says Enbridge did not follow the construction plans it had originally provided, and instead dug the trench deeper than proposed. It says the resulting breach of the aquifer caused an unauthorized release of 24.2 million gallons of water, which has had to be pumped, treated and released to a nearby wetland.29dk2902l

The department says it has also referred the matter to the Clearwater County Attorney for criminal prosecution. It says Minnesota law makes it a crime to appropriate waters of the state without a permit.

Enbridge says it has been working with Minnesota since June on the issue and has implemented a corrective action plan to halt the flow of groundwater. It says it is committed to restoration and will work closely with the agency on a resolution.29dk2902l

Enbridge’s Line 3 pipeline replacement is expected to be in service by the end of the year. The $9.3-billion project is expected to add about 370,000 barrel per day of crude oil export capacity from Western Canada into the U.S.

‘They screwed up our lake’: tar sands pipeline is sucking water from Minnesota watersheds

The Anishinaabe people are rallying to save their lakes and their traditional wild rice harvests

Low water levels mean rice harvesters can’t paddle their canoes to their traditional harvesting areas. 

Photograph: Kerem Yucel/AFP/Getty Images


Will Parrish
Sun 19 Sep 2021 

Along the eastern boundary of the White Earth Indian Reservation in north-western Minnesota, Indigenous Anishinaabe wild rice harvesters Jerry and Jim Libby set down a row of wooden pallets into the mud just beyond the dock of Upper Wild Rice Lake. It was a clear day, and tight, lush clumps of green rice heads were visible across the lake’s horizon.

In a typical year, the entrance to this – one of a long necklace of wild rice lakes in northern Minnesota to which the region’s Indigenous people flock every year in the late summer – would be covered in at least two feet of water. But now it is composed of suspended sediment as solid as chocolate pudding, through which the Libbys need to create a makeshift ramp simply to carry their canoe out to the waterline.

Minnesota is weathering an historic drought, but there is another problem beyond the weather: Enbridge’s Line 3 tar sands pipeline has taken a substantial toll on watersheds in the region, including through a permit to pump five billion gallons of water for construction. In the case of Upper Wild Rice Lake, a road construction contractor named Knife River Construction stuck a pump directly in the lake this past June, sucking out an unknown quantity of water, which locals suspect was related to the use of heavy trucks for the pipeline.

“As far as I’m concerned, Enbridge screwed up our lake, and they’re taking money directly away from our families,” Jerry Libby says. “It makes us feel anguished – this is our staple food, you know.”

The Indigenous-led struggle against Line 3, which seeks to move 930,000 barrels of tar sands bitumen daily from Alberta to a shipping and refinery hub in Superior, Wisconsin, has been the biggest environmental and Indigenous land protection campaign in the US this summer. More than 900 people have been arrested opposing the pipeline, including nearly 70 who were kettled in late August during protests outside Minnesota governor Tim Walz’s residence in Minneapolis.

Branded as a “replacement” project, the new pipeline would double the old Line 3’s capacity to carry tar sands bitumen. Enbridge, a Canada-based energy company, has announced it will begin sending oil through the pipeline next month.

The processing and combustion of bitumen for the pipeline would release greenhouse gases equivalent to 50 coal plants, according to analysis by the nonprofit Oil Change International, thereby significantly contributing to the global climate crisis. But one of the pipeline’s most immediate impacts is on wild rice harvesters such as the Libbys, for whom the annual harvesting season began in late August and runs through much of September.

Wild rice – known to many Anishinaabe people as “manoomin,” or “the food that grows on water” – is a dense, nutritional grain that grows naturally in the abundant lakes and rivers in Minnesota, Wisconsin and parts of Canada. Thousands of Anishinaabe people continue to harvest it with the same traditional methods used for generations, by propelling a canoe or small boat through the rice beds with a long pole.

Indigenous people of the region believe they have a sacred covenant to protect manoomin and numerous other nonhuman beings, without which they would cease to exist as distinct peoples, notes longtime Anishinaabe rice harvester Bob Shimek. “During any kind of ceremony we do here, wild rice is involved,” Shimek says. “It’s kind of like the Anishinaabe soul food.”

Line 3 runs across more than 200 bodies of water, including the headwaters of the Mississippi River and some of the region’s most important wild rice waters, streams, rivers, lakes and aquifers. The state Department of Natural Resources permitted Enbridge to draw nearly five billion gallons from these water bodies absent public notice or consultation with the White Earth Indian Reservation.

Christy Dolph, a University of Minnesota research scientist focused on the state’s water resources, notes that the pipeline’s impacts on water and the species that depend on it are numerous. In the course of excavating trenches to lay pipe, Enbridge pumps out any groundwater that still seeps into the trench, inevitably leading water to evaporate.

“These activities have a major impact, especially because these wetlands are already under severe stress from the drought,” she says.

Opponents also fear leaks and spills from the tar sands pipeline, particularly since the thick substance is nearly impossible to clean up.

As with other wetland plant species, wild rice is highly sensitive to fluctuations in water levels, which damage its ability both to grow and reseed. For rice harvesters, low water levels mean they are unable to paddle their canoes out to their usual rice grounds, depriving them of a major source of physical and spiritual sustenance, as well as a significant source of income.

During a typical year, the Libby brothers say, they make up to $9,000 from rice harvesting, which they use for basic necessities like home repairs, school supplies for their grandchildren and vehicle maintenance. But since this year’s harvesting season began in late August, many harvesters have had to resort to unorthodox methods such as trekking through the muddy, dried-out lakes in snow shoes with burlap sacks slung around their shoulders, a technique that yields one-third to one-fourth the amount they could harvest with canoes.

Enbridge disputes the notion that they bear any responsibility for the dry conditions in rice beds near the pipeline route or that the pipeline has a detrimental impact on watersheds. “Line 3’s permit conditions protect the environment during construction, and specifically wild rice,” Enbridge spokersperson Juli Kelner wrote via email. “Enbridge pipelines have coexisted with Minnesota’s most sacred and productive wild rice stands for seven decades.”

In response to a request for comment, a Department of Natural Resources spokesperson wrote that “Minnesota DNR has worked consistently to minimize the impacts of the Line 3 replacement project on wild rice and other Minnesota resources. These efforts date back to our original comments to the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) regarding project routing, where we strongly advocated for route alternatives that would minimize crossings in or near wild rice waters.”

The effects of Line 3 construction on wild rice are at the center of a first of its kind lawsuit brought by the White Earth Band of Ojibwe in which wild rice is itself the plaintiff. Under a series of treaties that Chippewa Anishinaabe people signed with the US government during the mid-19th century, the lawsuit asserts, wild rice “possesses inherent rights to exist, flourish, regenerate, and evolve, as well as inherent rights to restoration, recovery, and preservation.” The suit seeks an injunction against the Department of Natural Resources to void Enbridge’s water permit, though the case may not be decided until after construction is completed.

Beyond the direct effects of the Line 3 pipeline, wild rice faces numerous other threats – including from the climate crisis. According to a 2018 report by the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC), an intertribal agency that seeks to protect Anishinaabe treaty rights, climate change will wreak devastation on virtually all the plant and animal species on which they rely. Wild rice is the most endangered of these species because of its sensitivity to flooding, drought, and disease outbreaks, the report says.

Stopping Line 3 is imperative to fighting the climate crisis, opponents note, because tar sands are one of the most intensive fossil fuels in terms of carbon dioxide emissions and because the construction of new fossil fuel infrastructure locks in emissions for decades to come. For the past several months, activists have called on the Biden administration to stop the pipeline by directing the Army Corps of Engineers to revoke the permit it granted the project under the Trump administration.

According to Anishinaabe wild rice harvester Angel Stevens, a member of the anti-pipeline Manoomin Camp, the struggle against Line 3 is still going strong despite the project’s imminent completion. “We’re continuing to do everything we can to stop this pipeline,” she says.

Public daycare workers across Quebec to strike for 1 day next week

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Public daycare workers have been without a contract for 18 months

CBC News · Posted: Sep 17, 2021 11:57 AM ET | Last Updated: September 17

Parents across Quebec will need to make child-care arrangements, as 11,000 public daycare workers are set to go on a one-day strike next Friday. (Charles Contant/CBC)

Workers in the province's public daycares will be walking off the job for a day next Friday.

Earlier this week, 97 per cent of the 11,000 workers in Quebec's Centres de la petite enfance — commonly referred to as CPEs — voted in favour of a 10-day strike mandate.

The vote sent an "extremely strong message to the government," according to a statement from the union federation that represents the workers.

The federation also says the nine other days in the strike mandate will be used "at an opportune time."

The CPE workers have been without a government contract for 18 months. Salary increases are among the main sticking points in negotiations.

• What needs to be fixed in Quebec's daycare system

Workers are also asking for more resources in order to provide better services to children with special needs.

"Your offers in July were insufficient, and if you want to reach an agreement, you'll need to come back to the table with a serious proposition," said Stéphanie Vachon, who speaks on behalf of CPE workers affiliated with the CSN. 

"The result [of the vote for the strike mandate] also shows the CPE workers' state of mind. Determined more than ever, our members are ready to battle...with the government to improve their conditions."

UK

Amazon protesters campaign at Northamptonshire landmark for trade union rights

58 per cent of the public now view Amazon employees as "Key Workers" according to a poll

By Tom Hitchenor
05:00, 18 SEP 2021

Unite protesters at Welland Viaduct (Image: Unite)


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Unite campaigners staged a protest outside Welland Valley Viaduct this week to secure trade union rights for Amazon workers.

The demonstration took place as a poll revealed strong support for Unite’s campaign to secure rights for directly employed Amazon workers and those in the "Gig" economy.

Gig workers are independent contractors, online platform workers, contract firm workers, on-call workers and temporary workers.

The protesters demonstrated at the Grade II listed Welland Viaduct that straddles the Northamptonshire/Rutland border between the villages of Harringworth and Seaton - near the town of Corby.

The group also said they were firmly opposing Amazon’s "anti-trade union tactics" and believe the e-Commerce giant stop workers from "gaining a collective voice."


Unite highlighted that Amazon has failed to sign either the United Nations Global Compact or the Ethical Trading Initiative – bodies that recognise the right of all workers to a union.

Amazon confronts battle with Teamsters

in labour-friendly Canada

Matt Day and Josh Eidelson, Bloomberg News
Sep 17, 2021

After beating back its highest-profile challenge to date from organized labor in the U.S., Amazon.com Inc. is now confronting a concerted union campaign in Canada, where labor laws are much friendlier to unions.

Affiliates of the Teamsters union are attempting to organize employees in at least nine of the company’s facilities in Canada, Reuters reported on Friday, citing interviews with local union officials working in provinces from British Columbia to Ontario.

The Teamsters earlier this week said they’d filed paperwork with Alberta’s provincial labor regulator to hold a union election at a warehouse in a suburb of Edmonton. The international union in June approved a resolution declaring the world’s largest online retailer an “existential threat” and deeming organizing there a “top priority” for the organization.

Labor lawyers say Canadian laws are more effective at protecting workers’ right to make an uncoerced choice about unionization than those in the U.S., where organizers contend the system is dysfunctional and slanted in favor of employers.

After representatives of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union filed paperwork late last year to hold a union election at Amazon’s Bessemer, Alabama, warehouse, the company mounted a campaign to convince workers to vote no.

Amazon brought in staffers from around the country, as well as consultants who specialize in fending off unions, and held hundreds of mandatory meetings with workers to share management’s views. Voting began roughly three months after the union sought to have the election, giving Amazon plenty of time to campaign against it.

The company won’t have the same advantages in Canada, should the current union drives make it far enough to hold elections. Union votes are typically held within weeks. And Canadian labor boards are more likely to deem mandatory anti-union meetings illegally coercive, or to order Amazon to recognize the union without holding an election if the company is found to have engaged in sufficiently severe misconduct.

“Amazon will confront a number of legal obstacles that will restrict its ability to wage an extended ‘vote no’ campaign similar to that which it conducted in Alabama,” David Doorey, an associate professor at York University in Toronto, said in an email earlier this week after the Edmonton organizing effort became public.

Christopher Monette, a spokesperson for Teamsters Canada, didn’t return messages seeking comment on the broader union drive. Amazon reiterated comments from spokesperson David Bauer earlier this week, touting the company’s pay and benefits and saying “we don’t think unions are the best answer for our employees.”

Amazon workers in Bessemer rejected joining the RWDSU by a more than 2-to-1 margin, though the union has won a preliminary recommendation from a labor board official that the vote be rerun after organizers complained about Amazon’s conduct during the election. (Amazon has denied violating election rules.)

UPDATED

'Full steam ahead': Unionization efforts underway at 9 Amazon facilities across Canada

Union members going to great lengths to connect with workers, even sleeping in cars to catch employees after graveyard shifts

Author of the article:
Reuters
Julia Love and Moira Warburton
Publishing date:Sep 17, 2021 • 

The union's efforts to reach Amazon workers stretch from British Columbia to southern Ontario. PHOTO BY DAVE ABEL/TORONTO SUN/POSTMEDIA NETWORK FILES


The Teamsters workers’ union has launched campaigns to organize employees in at least nine Canadian facilities of U.S. e-commerce company Amazon.com, according to Reuters interviews with union officials

The influential union took the first step earlier this week to organize employees at one of Amazon’s Canadian facilities, and the interviews reveal it is widening such efforts across the country, where the e-commerce company employs about 25,000 workers and plans to add 15,000 more.

The campaigns could be seen as a bet by the Teamsters that early success unionizing employees in a more labour-friendly market such as Canada will inspire similar results south of the border, where Amazon has so far fended off unionization attempts.

In the latest challenge to Amazon’s anti-unionization stance, Edmonton, Alberta’s Teamsters Local Union 362 filed for a vote on union representation at a company fulfilment centre in nearby Nisku late on Monday.

Interviews with Teamsters units in other cities and provinces show that the union’s efforts stretch from the Pacific coastal province of British Columbia to the Canadian economic heartland in southern Ontario.

The Teamsters’ Edmonton unit says it has enough signed cards calling for a union to meet the 40 per cent threshold to require a vote. Two of the union’s units in Ontario and one in Alberta have confirmed they are signing membership cards with Amazon workers.

It's our hope that we can help these workers. They certainly can use some help

TEAMSTERS LOCAL 31 PRESIDENT STAN HENNESSY

And two of the five units that confirmed to Reuters that they are organizing said they are running campaigns at multiple sites, bringing the total Amazon facilities involved in some level of organizing to at least nine.

“Any locals that have an Amazon facility in their area are doing an organizing campaign,” Jim Killey, an organizer with Teamsters Local 879 near Hamilton, Ont., told Reuters.

Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Earlier in the week Amazon Canada spokesperson Dave Bauer said in an emailed statement: “As a company, we don’t think unions are the best answer for our employees.”

Unions would prevent the company from changing quickly to meet employees’ needs and represent “the voices of a select few,” he added.

The Teamsters say they can help the workers win better wages and benefits, such as leaves of absence.

Sleeping in their cars

Unionization votes in Canada do not have any direct bearing on the United States, but they could raise enthusiasm, said John Logan, a labour professor at San Francisco State University.

“Organizing at a place like Amazon requires workers to take a certain amount of risk,” Logan said. “If they can look to other places and see that that risk has paid off for other workers, then they are far more inclined to do it themselves.”

Union members are going to great lengths to connect with Amazon workers, sleeping in their cars to catch the employees after graveyard shifts and forging ties at local churches.

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which has more than a million members in the United States and Canada, has made organizing Amazon a top priority, describing it as an “existential threat.”

Teamsters Local 362 and supporters outside an Amazon warehouse in Edmonton, speak to workers about unionizing in July.

 PHOTO BY ED KAISER/POSTMEDIA FILES

Amazon does not have any unionized facilities in North America. The Teamsters is one of a handful of unions trying to undertake the daunting task of organizing its vast, high-churn workforce.

Earlier this year, the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) lost a vote to organize workers in Bessemer, Alabama, by a more than two-to-one margin. Amazon pushed hard against unionization, and the result is being disputed.

The Teamsters have indicated they will not seek to hold such votes in the United States any time soon, arguing the process is unfairly tilted toward employers.

But in Canada, where labour laws are more favourable, the Teamsters see an opportunity to go straight to the ballot box.

The Teamsters’ Killey said his chapter is campaigning at Amazon facilities in Milton, Cambridge and Kitchener, all traditionally working-class towns just west of Toronto, Canada’s most populous city.

“Where we see there is a lot of support, we’re going to go full steam ahead,” said Christopher Monette, spokesperson for Teamsters Canada.

Jason Sweet, president of Teamsters Local 419 in Ontario, said his unit has begun signing cards with workers in the greater Toronto area and has formed WhatsApp groups with Amazon workers to keep them abreast of the union’s efforts, delivering updates every 48 hours or so. “We are trying to build relationships from the inside,” he said.

In British Columbia, Teamsters Local 31 President Stan Hennessy said potential members have been receptive.

“It’s our hope that we can help these workers,” he said. “They certainly can use some help.”

© Thomson Reuters 2021

MORE ON THIS TOPIC

Amazon faces labour battle in Canada as Teamsters file for vote at Alberta fulfilment centre

Amazon to hire 15,000 new workers in Canada and give existing employees a big pay hike

Howard Levitt: Workplace blockades are an illegal union tactic that can backfire on members

Return-to-office mandates drive workforce unionizations

‘I’ve reached the anti-union part of training’: TikToker exposes alleged Home Depot training video

The company says that it doesn't think workers 'need a third party to speak on their behalf.'

STANDARD ANTI UNION RHETORIC THEY PAID 

AN ANTI UNION COSULTANT FOR

@nomoneymitch_/TikTok

Claire Goforth
Internet Culture
Published Sep 17, 2021

Union busting is a notorious part of American history. Union busting refers to companies attempting to discourage or interfere when workers organize to negotiate for higher wagers, better working conditions, and the like

Amazon has been criticized for its alleged union busting activities in recent years.

Now a TikToker claims to have unearthed evidence of another massive American corporation’s effort to discourage employees from forming or joining a union.

TikToker @nomoneymitch_ posted a video of an alleged Home Depot training video on Thursday. An onscreen caption reads: “I’ve reached the anti-union part of training here.”

@nomoneymitch_

😂😂😂 some bullshit. #TheHomeDepot #HomeDepot #HomeDepotEmployee #Union #UnionGang

♬ original sound - Mitch

https://www.tiktok.com/@nomoneymitch_/video/7008260968568343814?sender_device=pc&sender_web_id=7008960912310093318&is_from_webapp=v1&is_copy_url=0

The video begins with a person informing another that they’re “really happy working here” and their company is “really supportive whenever we have concerns.” Then a woman in a Home Depot apron warns about attempts to encourage workers to join unions can happen anywhere.

“This interaction can occur at work, at home, or online. It is now okay for unions to go after your legally binding signature electronically. When you sign, you may be giving up your right to speak for yourself,” she says.

The woman in the Home Depot apron continues:

“We believe that every associate can speak for themselves without having to pay their hard-earned money to a union in order to be listened to and have issues resolved. Once you sign, the authorization card is legally binding and it’s hard to get back.”

She then references a previous scene wherein a woman told another that a union helped her get better hours and pay.

“It is important to know that union representatives often make promises they cannot guarantee,” she says as the clip concludes, adding that unions make money off initiation fees and dues, which is repeated in a caption onscreen.

The TikTok has nearly 70,000 views as of this writing. The Daily Dot reached out to @nomoneymitch_ via TikTok direct message, but they did not return a request for comment.

In an email to the Daily Dot, a Home Depot spokesperson reiterated the general gist of the video.

“We strive to create an environment where associates feel comfortable bringing issues directly to the Home Depot’s attention,” the spokesperson said. “We don’t feel our associates need a third party to speak on their behalf.”

They did not address a question about the video’s authenticity.

@nomoneymitch_ captioned the video, “Some bullshit.” Most reactions to the TikTok were similarly negative.

“I’m just saying a union never promised me a pizza party and then never did it,” commented one.

Another pointed out: “The irony is the actor is in a union.”

1929 REDUX

Evergrande: Chinese property giant admits to misconduct by executives

Six Evergrande executives cashed in their investments just as the company's liquidity crunch became clear. China's second-largest real estate company is close to collapse.


Evergrande has built huge multi-tower property projects in dozens of Chinese cities

Six executives from the troubled property giant China Evergrande illegally sold their investments in the company over the past four months, the company admitted in a statement Saturday.

The revelation comes as the country's second-largest real estate firm by sales is drowning in more than $305 billion (€260 billion) in debt after liquidity from property presales dried up.

"As of May 1, 2021, a total of 44 people, who were then senior executives … held 58 investment products of Evergrande Wealth. From May 1 to September 7, … 6 people redeemed 12 investment products in advance," the company statement said.

The company said it was taking the early redemption seriously. It said that the withdrawn funds "must be returned within a time limit," adding that "severe penalties will be imposed."


Investors have been protesting at Evergrande properties in several cities, demanding their downpayments back

Evergrande could default in weeks

China Evergrande is close to collapse following years of borrowing to fund its rapid expansion. Some commentators say its bankruptcy could be China's "Lehman moment" — a reference to the US investment bank Lehman Brothers that went bust during the 2008/9 financial crisis.

The Shenzhen-based property giant is struggling to convince its many creditors to reschedule billions of dollars in liabilities — ranging from loans, bonds, so-called trust products to money owed to contractors and suppliers.

Interest on bonds worth $130 million becomes due in the next 10 days and will default if Evergrande fails to pay within 30 days.

Reuters news agency reported Friday that three of Evergrande's main lenders were either making provisions for losses on some loans or planning to give the firm more time to repay. But much of the firm's debt is not held with banks

Will Beijing step in?

Some analysts are questioning whether Beijing will step in to either bail out Evergrande or help manage an orderly collapse.

Bankruptcy, even a managed one, would reverberate through the Chinese economy given the firm's liabilities, which are equal to 2% of the country's GDP.

The editor-in-chief of the Chinese Communist Party-backed tabloid the Global Times on Friday warned Evergrande that it was not "too big to fail," and it should not expect to be rescued.

New curbs halted property speculation

Evergrande was already the world's most indebted real estate firm when the Chinese government introduced strict lending curbsin August 2020 to cool the overheating property market.

China Evergrande, which is reliant on presales to shore up its income, has been hard hit by the subsequent property downturn. It has been forced to sell properties at a 25% discount.

Investors have made down payments on around 1.5 million properties, Bloomberg reported, citing data from December.

Many of those buyers have expressed concern on social media about whether they will get their money back after housing projects were suspended.

With material from DPA and Reuters

Casinos and Evergrande Crisis Renew Worries Over China Stocks

Jeanny Yu and Chloe Lo, Bloomberg News

Sep 17, 2021

Taxis wait for customers outside Venetian Macao casino resorts, operated by Sands China Ltd., a unit of Las Vegas Sands Corp., in Macau, China, on the early morning of Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2020. Casinos in Macau, the Chinese territory that's the worlds biggest gambling hub, closed for 15 days as China tries to contain the spread of the deadly coronavirus. , Jeanny Yu and Chloe Lo

(Bloomberg) -- Chinese stocks suffered their worst week in a month as Beijing’s move to tighten the screws on Macau casinos and fears of a potential collapse of China Evergrande Group underscored the risks of investing in the nation’s equities market.

A soft rebound on Friday was small consolation for investors, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index and the mainland’s CSI 300 gauge still ending the week down more than 3% each. The HSI is trading near the lowest level in almost a year and few more down days could put the CSI in the same position.

“Risks are skewed to the downside amid the double whammy of macro weakness and regulatory uncertainty,” Morgan Stanley strategists including Laura Wang said in a research report. The Wall Street bank cut its targets for the HSI and Hang Seng China Enterprises Index by 4% while noting the difficulty in quantifying the impact of Beijing’s crackdown.

Traders had just started to wade back into the waters and look for bargains, betting that the worst of China’s regulatory crackdown may be over. Instead, what they got was Beijing unveiling a new round of measures on the gambling sector that wiped out nearly $20 billion in market value and fears of contagion from Evergrande’s debt crisis hitting property and banking sectors.

Sands China Ltd. tumbled more than 40% this week, leading declines among Macau casino operators, after the government said it was looking at appointing representatives to “supervise” the businesses. Authorities are also considering boosting local shareholdings and tightening controls on the distribution of dividends.

The renewed scrutiny added pressure to the gambling hub already struggling with years of slowing growth and hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. Bloomberg’s index of the six casino operators in the gambling enclave posted a 31% drop this week.

Despite perennial hopes for a rebound, the HSI is still among the world’s worst-performing primary indexes this year, this quarter and this week.

“There’s maybe been a feeling at the start of September that some of the pace of regulatory action has calmed down,” said James Cordwell, analyst at Atlantic Equities LLP. But events in recent days “reminded investors that the government still sees plenty of work to be done in tightening up regulation,” he said. 

Evergrande Crisis 

Meanwhile, pressure is growing on the government to head off systemic risk by helping to restructure Evergrande’s $300 billion pile of liabilities.

Worries that other Chinese property developers may run into similar financial troubles as Evergrande intensified after a unit of the indebted company said its onshore bonds were suspended from trading on Thursday. 

Amid the uncertainty, the HSI’s property sub-index tumbled 8% this week, its worst performance since March 2020. 

China’s Nightmare Evergrande Scenario Is an Uncontrolled Crash

Technology stocks managed to outperform the wider market Friday but also ended well down for the week, with the Hang Seng Tech Index dropping 4.4%.

Negative news continued to hang over the sector, including a Financial Times report that the government plans to break up Ant Group Co.’s Alipay lending business. Government calls for better protection of gig-economy worker’s rights also weighed on confidence, along with a renewed call for internet companies to stop blocking links of their rivals. 

Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd.’s valuation dropped to a record, a sign that investors are “pricing a more sustained change in its profitability or growth prospects looking ahead,” Michaël Lok, chief investment officer at Union Bancaire Privée, said in a research note on Thursday. 

Meanwhile, Tencent Holdings Ltd. briefly lost its place among the world’s 10 largest companies by market value on Thursday, which left no Chinese company in the list. 

But as Friday’s uptick in stocks showed, some investors are still prepared to wager that cheaper valuations make Chinese stocks -- especially big technology names -- more attractive. 

Beaten-down names in e-commerce and internet platforms still have appeal, said Zhikai Chen, head of Asian equities at BNP Paribas Asset Management.

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.