SOCIALISM IN ACTION
NDP MLA introduces private member's bill to create venture capital fund

NDP economic development and innovation critic Deron Bilous is again calling for the Alberta government to create a venture capital fund to attract investment to the technology sector.

NDP economic development and innovation critic Deron Bilous.

Lisa Johnson Edmonton Journal 

Bilous introduced a private member’s bill Thursday, Bill 203, the Technology Innovation and Alberta Venture Fund Act, which if passed will establish an advisory council and venture capital fund managed by the Alberta Enterprise Corporation (AEC) to invest in early-stage companies, startups and scale-ups.

The NDP pitched a similar fund in February 2021 , calling for $200 million in seed funding, but the new legislation doesn’t include a dollar request. Since its earlier proposal, the NDP said industry leaders suggested the fund should have professional, arms-length oversight from the government.

Bilous told reporters before introducing the bill Thursday the global tech sector saw strong growth during the COVID-19 pandemic, but Alberta needs to do more to be competitive.

“We’re losing ground to other provinces,” said Bilous, adding the fund would catapult Alberta’s growth and allow Albertans to invest and earn returns.

The Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (CVCA) has reported that 2021 was a record year for venture capital investments in Alberta and across the country. The CVCA estimated $14.7 billion in investment, while Alberta saw a total of $561 million in deals.

“We’ve grown, but our growth is actually much slower than other jurisdictions. The industry has said to me and to us, if we want to be leaders we need to take significant bold action. This venture fund concept is one that is unique and doesn’t currently exist in the country,” Bilous said.

Video: NDP calls on UCP government to help Albertans struggling with surging price of utilities (Global News)

Following the release of CVCA’s report in early March, Jobs, Economy and Innovation Minister Doug Schweitzer said the investments show Alberta is becoming a major player on the global tech stage.

Tricia Velthuizen, Schweitzer’s press secretary, said in a statement Thursday the government is still reviewing the bill but the minister is a strong advocate of the tech sector. In January, the government announced a $31.2-million investment for the AEC to go into three venture capital firms.

“Any attempt to spin the venture capital numbers in our province as anything less than exponential growth is mistaken. Since forming government, investment has increased by nearly 500 per cent, something that was never seen under previous administrations,” said Velthuizen, adding the number of tech companies has more than doubled since 2018.

Trent Johnsen, founder and CEO of Liveweb, spoke in support of the NDP bill.

“We actually dropped from over 10 per cent of total investments across Canada to less than four per cent. We’re not even keeping up with our Canadian peer provinces, let alone the rest of the world,” said Johnsen, adding Alberta’s lack of incentives like investor tax credits are slowing growth down compared to other jurisdictions.

Ontario, British Columbia, and Quebec topped the CVCA list with $7.4 billion, $2.9 billion, and $2.8 billion in investment respectively in 2021. The NDP noted in a news release that while those provinces saw growth between 180 per cent and 270 per cent, Alberta’s year-over-year increase was only 23 per cent.

“My request is for industry to help amplify this conversation. Let’s get Albertans talking about real ways that they can help grow the economy, and invest in companies in our own backyard,” Bilous said.

lijohnson@postmedia.com

twitter.com/reportrix

TELL CP TO BARGAIN 

NO BACK TO WORK LAW

Farmers in Western Canada brace for worst in Canadian Pacific labour dispute

Bryan Passifiume 

The effects of a nationwide railway dispute are already hitting western Canada hard.

© Provided by National Post 

A Canadian Pacific (CPR) locomotive on the prairies.

Even before Canadian Pacific announced it would lock out nearly 3,000 Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) engineers, conductors and yard workers at midnight Saturday, American feed shippers began halting shipments north, fearing a work stoppage would strand their cargo once the network stopped operating.

“With the drought we had last year we already had a critical feed shortage, so right now they’re relying on somewhere between eight and 10 trains per week bringing up corn and dried distillers’ grain from the states to feed the more than million head of cattle in Western Canada,” said Foothills MP and Shadow Agriculture Minister John Barlow, whose riding south of Calgary includes some of Canada’s oldest and most established cattle ranches.

“And if we don’t have that, we’re facing a pretty serious animal health crisis.”

For ranchers, producers and industries in much of the southern prairies, Canadian Pacific is their only railway option.

CN, Canada’s largest railway in both revenue and network, built their transcontinental line along a more northerly route, with the bulk of branch lines and secondary routes servicing areas south of Saskatoon and Edmonton largely abandoned over the decades.

A strike vote held earlier in March saw 96 per cent of TCRC members voting in favour of a strike, reflecting the frustrating impasse taking root at the bargaining table.

The stalemate continued until Wednesday evening when Canadian Pacific issued a 72-hour lockout notice.

“For the sake of our employees, our customers, the supply chain we serve and the Canadian economy that is trying to recover from multiple disruptions, we simply cannot prolong for weeks or months the uncertainty associated with a potential labour disruption,” Canadian Pacific President and CEO Keith Creel said in a company statement.

“The world has never needed Canada’s resources and an efficient transportation system to deliver them more than it does today. Delaying resolution would only make things worse. We take this action with a view to bringing this uncertainty to an end.”

Teamsters Canada Rail Conference spokesperson Stéphane Lacroix said negotiations resumed Thursday, but concurred with observations from Canadian Pacific that the two sides remained far apart.

“We’re really, really disappointed,” he said of the impending lock-out.

“Yesterday’s announcement of a lock-out is upsetting, and our members are not very pleased with that.”

The overwhelming strike vote notwithstanding, Lacroix said work stoppages are the last thing their members want.

“They wanted to keep negotiating, they wanted to fix the issues and reach an agreement,” he said.

While wages, pensions and benefits remain at the centre of the impasse, Lacroix said the union also wanted the railway to address concerns over rest and work rules.

“Yard employees at Canadian Pacific are only allowed ten hours rest,” he said.

“In some locations it isn’t sufficient time to go home, to rest and return for their next tour of duty.”

CP Rail will lock out 3,000 conductors and engineers if they don't have a deal with the union by Sunday

A statement released Thursday by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) said the dispute could not come at a worse time for their members.

“As many businesses rely heavily on rail services to send and receive their goods from Canadian and international suppliers, the work stoppage will further disrupt their operations and create more uncertainty at a time that is already challenging for many businesses,” the statement read.

“Only 35% of businesses have returned to normal sales, while debt levels and share of businesses considering bankruptcy remain high.”

In light of the ongoing worldwide supply chain crisis — and Ottawa’s invocation of the Emergencies Act last month to ostensibly clear trade-crippling freedom convoy blockades at land border crossings — many are predicting the Trudeau Liberals are preparing to table back-to-work legislation or declare the railroads an essential service.

Spokespersons for both the Transport and Labour ministers declined to answer direct questions about legislating trains back onto the rails, directing the National Post instead to a statement from Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan.

In the statement, O’Regan said he respected the collective bargaining process, adding that both he and Transport Minister Omar Alghabra would monitor the impact of any work stoppages — strongly suggesting the federal government was not intending to step in before any deadline expired.

In a tweet later Thursday, O’Regan said, “Update: CP Rail and TCRC remain at the table with the support of federal mediators. I’ve been in regular contact with them and continue to monitor the situation closely. It’s not lost on us that this news is already starting to have real impacts.”

Barlow said the dispute ending in either a strike or lockout shouldn’t have come as a surprise to anybody.

“We’ve been in contact with Minister O’Regan asking them to make sure that they have a contingency plan in place that will prevent a strike,” he said.

“That’s up to them whether that’s binding arbitration or back-to-work legislation.”

All this, Barlow said, as ranchers scramble to feed their herds and farmers wait to ship grain harvested two seasons ago.

“All of these things take time, and that’s something we do not have right now,” he said.

REINFORCING THE AUTHORITARIAN FAMILY
Parents can now track how much time their kids spend on Instagram

By Staff Reuters
Posted March 17, 2022 

Facebook owner Meta Platforms Inc FB.O will allow parents to track how much time their children are spending on Instagram and will soon roll out parental supervision features on Quest virtual reality headsets, the company said on Wednesday.

The new parental controls are part of Meta’s promise to protect children using its social media apps, after a whistleblower leaked internal documents that showed the company was aware that Instagram caused body image problems for some teenage girls.

READ MORE: Meta to allow ‘violent speech’ against Russian soldiers, leaders in some countries

The uproar resulting from the leaked documents led to Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, testifying before Congress in December, where he was grilled about children’s safety online. Read full story

The Instagram supervision tools will be available in the United States beginning Wednesday and will roll out globally over the coming months, Meta said.

Parents will be able to view what accounts their children follow and can set time limits for how long their kids spend on the app.

3:19 Encouraging children to speak out a start to tackling online bullying: 

cybersecurity expert – Feb 23, 2022

In May, Meta will launch a dashboard that includes supervision tools for its Quest headsets and will automatically block teens from downloading age-inappropriate apps on Quest.

Parental supervision on both Instagram and Quest will require consent from teens, Meta said in a blog post.

The company added it plans to eventually allow parents to oversee their kids’ activities across all of Meta’s services from one central place.

— Reporting by Sheila Dang in Dallas

THIS APPLIES ACROSS CANADA

More people will be hospitalized as public health restrictions lift: Ontario science table

Social Sharing

• F

COVID-19 wastewater signal now increasing slightly but

spring should bring improvements, new modelling shows

CBC News · Posted: Mar 17, 2022 

In new modelling released Thursday, the group of medical experts say hospital and ICU occupancy are projected to increase over the next few weeks, but will not reach the numbers seen amid January's Omicron surge. (Evan Mitsui/CBC)

Ontario's COVID-19 science table says based on an uptick of coronavirus detected in wastewater and the province ending most public health measures next week, it's predicting more people will wind up in the hospital and in some cases intensive care. 

In new modelling released Thursday, the group of medical experts say hospital and ICU occupancy are projected to increase over the next few weeks, but will be nowhere near the levels seen at the peak of the Omicron wave. The science table projects it will also be for a "limited period of time," though that depends on peoples' behaviour.

The projections indicate that there could be fewer than 900 hospitalization at a peak in early May — a far cry from the more than 4,000 people in hospital with COVID-19 in January. 

The new data was released less than a week before mask mandates are set to lift in most settings, although officials including Dr. Kieran Moore have encouraged Ontarians to keep wearing masks in high-risk settings. 

The modelling suggests the extent of a rise in transmission will depend on the number of close contacts an individual has — especially in indoor settings without masks — vaccination status and the spread of BA.2 subvariant.

• You can read the science table's full report at the bottom of this story.

The group estimates that the current daily number of infections is between 15,000 to 20,000, based on wastewater data. 

(COVID-19 Science Advisory Table)

The science table said a complete vaccine series, which is currently two doses in children, three doses in adults, and four in long-term care residents and other eligible high-risk groups, is the best protection against contracting and spreading the virus.

"Older adults, immunocompromised, unvaccinated and marginalized individuals and groups are still susceptible to severe illness from COVID-19," the report noted.

The science table also says that administration of COVID-19 booster doses appears to have plateaued, but notes that the third doses helped cut hospitalizations and ICU occupancy by about 30 per cent at the peak of Omicron.

The science table has had to rely on metrics like wastewater surveillance, test positivity and mobility data to model for possible COVID-19 trends since the province limited PCR testing late last year.

A member of the science table says while there are anticipated increases in transmission across Ontario, the coming months still look promising.

"We're moving into the spring, we're moving into warmer weather, so our short-term outlook in terms of a potential surge is looking relatively good," assistant scientific director, Karen Born, told CBC Radio's Metro Morning Thursday morning.

"[But] as immunity wanes from vaccines or from prior infection, as we move more back into the fall ... we may again begin to see some of the surges that we've experienced over the past two years."

• Omicron may hang around longer on surfaces than original virus, early findings suggest

• Ontario lifts vaccine mandates in schools, hospitals and long-term care homes

Born said it's anticipated there will be seasonal surges of the novel coronavirus, similar to what is seen with influenza, but experts hope that some of the more restrictive public health measures that were previously in place, such as school closures, will not have to be re-enforced.

The projections were released as the province prepares to drop all remaining masking rules and emergency orders on April 27.

Capacity limits and proof-of-vaccination rules have already been dropped in most spaces and masks will no longer be required in many settings as of Monday.

A spokeswoman for Health Minister Christine Elliott says Ontario's public health trends are significantly better than the best case scenario laid out in the science table's previous modelling update, and hospitals can continue to manage what is projected in today's modelling.

JUST THE FACTS, MA'AM

Province reports 19 more deaths

Ontario is reporting 19 more deaths linked to COVID-19 Thursday as the number of patients in intensive care dipped below 200 for the first time this year. The 19 additional deaths reported by the province push the official death toll to 12,307. 

There are 644 people hospitalized with the virus, marking a slight dip from 649 the day before and 742 exactly one week ago.

About 47 per cent of those admitted to hospital were directly seeking treatment for COVID-19 symptoms, while 53 per cent were admitted for other reasons but have since tested positive for the virus.

Of the hospitalizations reported, there are 199 patients in intensive care, which is down from the 204 reported Wednesday and 244 at this time last week. The last time the province saw its ICU count dip below 200 was on Dec. 21, 2021 when the Health Ministry reported 190.

​Roughly 75 per cent of those patients were admitted to ICU specifically for the virus, while the rest were admitted for other reasons but also tested positive for the virus. 

Another 2,398 new COVID-19 cases have also been logged, though the province's medical officer of health has warned the actual number of new cases is likely ten times higher. Here are some other key pandemic indicators and figures from the Ministry of Health's daily provincial update:

Tests completed: 14,648

Provincewide test positivity rate: 12.3 per cent

Active cases: 15,397

Patients in ICU requiring a ventilator to breathe: 97

Vaccinations: 31,929,540 doses have been administered to date. Currently, 92.7 per cent of Ontarians aged 12 and older have received at least one dose, while 90.8 per cent have received two doses.

About 89.9 per cent of Ontarians aged five or older have received at least one dose, while 86.2 per cent have received two doses.

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With files from The Canadian Press

South African Medical Students Return From War-Torn Ukraine

March 17, 2022 
Vicky Stark

South African student Vutlhari Mtonga, center-left, who was evacuated from Ukraine following Russia's invasion of the country, is welcomed by her sister Mikateko Mtonga, on arrival at OR Tambo International Airport, in Johannesburg, South Africa, March 10

CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA —

South African medical students, who were evacuated from Ukraine, are now looking for ways to complete their studies. South African universities are discussing options for the students, some of whom are still shaken by the attacks they witnessed and are fearful for teachers and classmates left behind.

Concerned students have already launched a “Save Our Studies” campaign with the goal of helping about 50 repatriated medical students find spots at South African universities.

Twenty-five-year-old Mandisa Malindisa, a fourth-year medical student who was studying at Kharkiv National Medical University, is one of those who wants to get placed.

Her studies were interrupted when Russian forces entered Ukraine in late February.

She says that after a few days of hearing bombs in Kharkiv, a city in northeastern Ukraine, she and five friends decided to flee by train to the Hungarian border.

The scene at the train station, she says, was pure chaos.

“Everybody’s losing their mind. Everybody’s trying to get on it. People have knives out. People are screaming. People are fighting. People are biting each other. You know, just trying to get onto this train. We looked, we were just watching. Cause we were like this is not our train. This train is going to Kyiv. This is not for us,” Malindisa recalled.

Eventually, a train that would take them to Lviv in western Ukraine did arrive, but much to their horror it stopped in Kyiv which they’d been hoping to avoid because it’s a high-risk area. They waited there for six hours.

“When we saw what Kyiv actually looks like, everything is just burning. There’s smoke. Everyone was just looking outside the window in just terror,” Malindisa said.

After 24 hours they reached Lviv and Malindisa made her way into Hungary, where she managed to book a flight home.

Sixth-year medical student Luphumlo Ntengu is also hoping to be able to continue his studies in South Africa. He was studying at Vinnytsia National Medical University in Ukraine. Safely home now in South Africa, he says he often thinks about those he left behind.

“Yes, I am very worried about my friends and my teacher you know. Ukraine has been my home for the past six years, they are like family to me. So, it’s so sad everything that is going on there. Right now, it feels like my own home that is being destroyed like that,” Ntengu said.

The chairperson of the South African Committee of Medical Deans, Professor Lionel Green-Thompson, confirmed that schools are discussing ways to help the repatriated students.

“Issues relating to students in the [sic] Ukraine have been brought to the attention of the South African Committee of Medical Deans. We have initiated conversations around this issue. The responses are complex and we continue to discuss these things,” Green-Thompson said.

But finding places may be problematic. The professor noted that many other South African students who returned due to the COVID-19 pandemic have also been seeking placement.

CLASSIC  CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

Accountant stole nearly $1 million from New Orleans firefighters pension fund, feds say

Hayley Fowler, The Charlotte Observer 

A 72-year-old accountant entrusted to look after a portion of the New Orleans Firefighters Pension and Relief Fund is accused of spending the investment money on gambling, home repairs and credit card payments.

Now he’s facing federal prison time.

Wayne Triche, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, pleaded guilty on Wednesday, March 16, to wire and tax fraud charges in the Eastern District of Louisiana. Prosecutors said the charges stem from allegations that Triche embezzled money from the fund that he was supposed to invest in life insurance policies. Instead, he spent it on a slew of personal expenses over the course of eight years, prosecutors say.

Triche faces up to 23 years in prison on both charges when he’s sentenced in June.

Defense attorneys representing Triche did not immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment.

The New Orleans Firefighters Pension and Relief Fund administers survival, disability, retirement and death benefits for members of the New Orleans Fire Department and their families. Firefighters pay into the fund through monthly deductions from their paychecks, and the city of New Orleans also contributes.

A board of trustees manages the fund’s investments with financial consultants.

Triche started working with the fund as a certified public accountant at the company American Pension Consultants, according to federal court documents filed with his plea agreement.

APC was owned by another man, George Russell, and together they pitched the New Orleans Firefighters Pension and Relief Fund on an investment opportunity in 2003, prosecutors said.

The trustees declined, opting instead to pay APC $5 million to purchase life insurance policies, court documents state.

Russell died in 2007, prosecutors said, leaving Triche to take over management of APC and the pension fund’s investments. The alleged embezzlement scam started two years later.

From 2009 to 2017, Triche is accused of embezzling $937,658 from life insurance policy payouts.

Prosecutors said he hid the fact that APC had received more than $4 million in policy payouts by telling fund representatives that the investments weren’t profitable.

In reality, court documents state, Triche used the money to gamble at casinos, pay his mortgage on a commercial property, pay a civil judgment in a federal court case against him, cover his property taxes and pay for home improvements as well as other general living expenses.

Triche also never reported that income on his tax returns between 2011 and 2014, prosecutors said.

A grand jury indicted Triche on 38 counts of wire and tax fraud in 2019, court documents show, and he tried unsuccessfully to have the case dismissed. A judge denied the request in 2020.

Triche’s trial was slated to begin March 21 before he pleaded guilty.

As part of the agreement, Triche pleaded guilty to just two of the original 38 counts. He also agreed to pay $937,658 in restitution to the New Orleans Firefighters Pension and Relief Fund and another $329,895 to the IRS.

He’s scheduled to be sentenced June 14.

©2022 The Charlotte Observer. Visit charlotteobserver.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Schultz returns as Starbucks CEO as it seeks to shed its union-busting image


Former Starbucks boss Howard Schultz in Seattle in January 2019

FORMER Starbucks chief executive Howard Schultz is set to return to the company for a third time, it was announced on Wednesday, amid reports of anti-union tactics by the coffee-chain giant.

Mr Schultz takes over the reins as the beleaguered firm seeks to improve its image, which has been damaged over claims of union busting and bullying of staff.

Starbucks told investors it aimed to “improve relations” with its workers and open 20,000 stores by the end of the decade.

Earlier this week the National Labour Relations Board accused Starbucks of retaliating against two workers who attempted to unionise their store in Phoenix, Arizona.

The watchdog heard allegations that the company breached US labour law by issuing threats and changing conditions of employment for those engaged in “concerted activity.”

Laila Dalton and Alyssa Sanchez were part of the so-called Starbucks revolution, which has seen unionisation drives sweep stores across the country.

In December the Elmwood store in Buffalo, New York, became the first store in the company’s 50-year history to win union recognition after a vote ratified by the board.

Starbucks Workers United, an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union, has brought charges on behalf of many Starbucks staff who have faced bullying and intimidatory tactics by the firm in a bid to block union recognition.

Starbucks bosses are accused of suspending Ms Dalton on spurious charges and changing her shifts after she complained about staffing levels and treatment of workers.

According to the board, the two Phoenix workers were disciplined for assisting the union, with Starbucks aiming to prevent workers from engaging in lawful activities.

Union spokesman Bill Whitmire demanded a public apology for all those “discriminated against, lied to, harassed, bullied, and retaliated against” for trying to unionise their stores.

“Laila and Alyssa were traumatised and their hope is that no other ‘partner’ — that is to say worker — ever has to go through what they have gone through,” he said.

Company spokesman Reggie Borges denied the pair had been targeted for their trade union activities.

“A partner’s interest in a union does not exempt them from the standards we have always held,” he said.

“We will continue enforcing our policies consistently for all partners and we will follow the board’s process to resolve this complaint.”

If the case filed by the board is successful, Starbucks could be forced to put up notices in its stores advising workers of their right to unionise. The hearing is set for June 14.

MORNINGSTAR 

Southern African countries with weak institutions 'get less relief aid for climate change mitigation'

Lenin Ndebele

Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi are among the countries most affected by extreme weather.

A researcher says vulnerability is not actually a key factor in determining where donor funds go.

Most vulnerable communities are the same, with weak institutions and rampant corruption.

Countries most affected by climate change in Southern Africa have received the least financing for mitigation and adaptation measures because of weak institutions.

This was revealed by Aimée-Noël Mbiyozo, a senior research consultant at the Institute of Security Studies (ISS) in Pretoria, in her presentation at the recent seminar on "What is Southern Africa's plan for the climate crisis?"

"Vulnerability is not actually a key factor determining where funds go," she said.

Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, according to the German Watch Climate Risk Index in 2019, were ranked first, second and fifth of the countries most affected by extreme weather.

READ | Southern African countries facing serious heatwave

But, in terms of funding, they ranked at positions 32, 108 and 75 respectively.

"Finance tends to flow to countries where donors already have a presence. So they want a strong institutional capacity and perceivability to successfully implement projects and to give a return on investment," she said.

Zimbabwe is one of the countries most affected by corruption and state capture in the world.

Transparency International ranks Zimbabwe 157 out of 180 countries in the world, with a score of 23 out of a 100 points.

The government is currently working on passing a non-governmental organisation (NGO) Bill, which will outlaw aid agencies it deems unfriendly to the government.

A woman fetches water from a spring amid dry conditions in Zimbabwe.
Getty Images Tafadzwa Ufumeli/Getty Images

Mozambique, one of the poorest countries in the world, is currently cut from international financiers because of the "hidden debt scandal", in which senior politicians and public servants allegedly conspired to organise a R32 billion loan to Mozambique – an incredible 12% of GDP.

Last week, Malawian clerics, in a letter to President Lazarus Chakwera, said the country had high level corruption and accused the president's office of becoming "a source of inefficiency and mismanagement of the public service".

READ | Displaced people survive by eating grass amid discrimination in Mozambique  THE SAME OCCURED IN UKRAINE 1930'S GREAT FAMINE

Mbiyozo said: "But (investors) are reluctant to invest in countries with poor policies and poor institutional environments; unfortunately, those are the communities that are most vulnerable.

"Then, again, once the funds reach the countries, they tend to be driven at the highest national level as opposed to making it down to the communities and this is really problematic."


In 2019, after Cyclone Idai affected Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe, triggering a humanitarian crisis, international donors, private corporations, religious groups and ordinary citizens offered massive support for cyclone victims.

Then, there were reports of donor aid abuse, such as politicisation of food aid and theft, involving senior members of the Zimbabwe National Army. The News24 Africa Desk is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation. The stories produced through the Africa Desk and the opinions and statements that may be contained herein do not reflect those of the Hanns Seidel Foundation.

EXPROPRIATE THEM ! WORKERS SELF MANAGEMENT

‘I’m ashamed to be British’: P&O Ferries customers vent fury

Passengers report being left stranded as ferry operator sacks 800 crew and suspends crossings

Lorries queue on the A20 for the Port of Dover in Kent as P&O ferry services were suspended on Thursday. 

Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA

Rob Davies
THE GUARDIAN

Thu 17 Mar 2022 

Furious P&O Ferries customers have rounded on the company for leaving them stranded at short notice, causing confusion over refunds, and for its “abysmal” treatment of 800 staff, whose abrupt sacking on Thursday triggered chaos at ports across the country.

P&O initially told passengers that services were unable to run “for the next few hours”, affecting the Dover-Calais crossing and the routes from Hull to Rotterdam, Liverpool to Dublin, and Cairnryan to Larne.

But as furious workers responded to their dismissal by staging sit-ins on board P&O boats, the company announced that many services would not run “for the next few days”, before later indicating it could take up to 10 days for operations to return to normal.

'Sacked by email': P&O seafarers protest sudden UK redundancies – video report

Gabi Breithaupt, 60, from Beverley, near Hull, said her son was supposed to be visiting for the Easter holidays after four years without seeing him.

“We were all so looking forward to his visit and now it is all up in the air,” she said. “Four years is a long time for a mum and it’s the highlight of our year. I hope it still happens.” She added that P&O’s treatment of its staff was “inhumane”.


P&O Ferries suspension: your consumer questions answered

Peter Theakston, 53, had been visiting his ill mother in Yorkshire and was due to return to The Hague, in the Netherlands, at 8pm on Thursday, on a £200 foot passenger ticket. He said the company had not been in touch to explain what was happening or offer any advice, and was not picking up the phone.

“I’m pissed off,” he told the Guardian on Thursday afternoon. “There’s no news at all about the sailings. They’re updating everything else but not Hull-Rotterdam and they’re still taking bookings even though they say they’re not sailing.”

Theakston, who has been using the Hull-Rotterdam overnight service for 20 years, said he was unable to reach the company for hours. When he did speak to someone, he was told not to expect a refund as the service hadn’t yet been cancelled.

However P&O, which has no competition on the route, said later on Twitter that the service had been cancelled.

Theakston said the company’s decision to sack 800 staff out of the blue, via a video message, was “totally obscene”.

“It makes you ashamed to be British that the government lets the company do this,” he said.

'Your final day of employment is today': P&O staff told they're being laid off – video


The official P&O Ferries Twitter account told passengers on Thursday that it was trying to arrange alternative passage for them with rival ferry companies, such as DFDS and Stena.

“Where possible we are organising travel via an alternative operator,” it said. “Space is very limited so we would suggest if your journey is not essential, please do not travel today. We apologise for any inconvenience.”

Some passengers, however, reported difficulty in transferring their tickets. One said the company had told her that her booking would be valid on a Stena boat, but Stena had told her to rebook. “What are we supposed to do about the refund?” she asked. P&O said in a Twitter response that she would receive a full refund.



David Reger, 67, was due to be sailing from Hull to Rotterdam at 8.30pm and travelling home to Germany after a few days working in Leeds.

He said: “I’m fed up. We’ve not been told anything but it doesn’t look like it’s going to sail today. I’ve told them they have to book me alternative travel or put me in a reasonable hotel for the duration that they’re stopping me from travelling.

“If they don’t I’ll stand in front of the counter and not let anyone else get to it, and it’ll start getting like it is in Dover.”

Russian Police Release Journalist Who Defied Putin’s Propaganda

• 
  

Published: 17 March 2022
WRITTEN BY HENRY POPE

Russian police released on Tuesday a journalist who a day earlier had jumped into the frame during the live broadcast of a pro-government TV channel’s prime-time news holding a banner that urged viewers not to believe the outlet’s “lies.”

As she appeared behind the news anchor, Marina Ovsyannikova, an editor at Channel One, shouted “Stop the war. No to war.” Her banner also read: “Don’t believe the propaganda.” (Photo: Marina Ovsyannikova, Facebook, License)As she appeared behind the news anchor, Marina Ovsyannikova, an editor at Channel One, shouted “Stop the war. No to war.” Her banner also read: “Don’t believe the propaganda.”

Channel One cut the live feed a few seconds after Ovsyannikova appeared on screen.

Her act of defiance of Russia’s draconian censorship laws has quickly become an international symbol of resistance to President Vladimir Putin’s efforts to silence free speech and showed that there are still people in the country with the immense courage needed to stand up to him.

Ovsyannikova also prepared a video statement—shared by Visegrád 24—before police took her into custody. In it, she declared that “what is currently happening in Ukraine is a crime. Russia is a country-aggressor. All responsibility for this aggression lies on the conscience of one person: Vladimir Putin.”

She also spoke of the close history between Russia and Ukraine, including its people’s shared ancestry.

“Russia should immediately stop this fratricidal war and our brotherly nations can make peace with each other,” she said.

Ovsyannikova’s protest was aimed at raising awareness amongst the Russian people that Putin’s recently implemented censorship law razed to the ground independent media’s autonomy to report the invasion and replaced it with Kremlin propaganda.

Essentially, the law punishes those who portray the Russian military in a negative light.

The law also forbids the media from even referring to Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine as a war. Instead, the official Russian government line is that it is a strategic military operation.

Punishments for disobeying this government prerogative can include censorship, a fine, and even up to 15 years’ imprisonment.

Police took Ovsyannikova into custody shortly after her onscreen protest. Reportedly, during her 14-hour interrogation, she was denied legal counsel and was not permitted to sleep, according to the Financial Times.

Ultimately, she was released and fined 30,000 Russian rubles (US$280) for her act of defiance.

Ovsyannikova’s actions drew praise from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who stated in a Telegram video that he is “thankful to those Russians that do not cease trying to get the truth out, who fight against disinformation and tell the truth.”

He then called out to all Russians, telling them “you need to fight, you shouldn't miss your own chance.”

Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron also lent his support to the Russian journalist.

He said that he would speak of her the next time he sits down with Putin to discuss a peaceful solution to the crisis and that France was “ready to offer consular protection to the journalist,” including the possibility of granting Ovsyannikova asylum, according to France 24.

Not everyone responded to Ovsyannikova’s actions with praise, however. Margarita Simonyan, an editor at the Russian state-controlled television station RT, stated that the whole story has been blown out of proportion.

Ovsyannikova will only pay a small fine, she said on Telegram. “They got used to gouging out the eyes of their protesting girls with rubber bullets right away and thinking - what will animals like us do then? Are they quartered, or something, in public?”

“Nothing will happen to her. Despite public outcry,” Simonyan concluded. “Trust my experience.”

Ovsyannikova, however, admitted that pro-government media in Russia has been brainwashing Russians for years.

“Unfortunately,” she said, “for the last several years I worked at Channel One, promoting Kremlin propaganda, and for that I am very ashamed right now. I am ashamed that I allowed lies to be told from TV screens, that I allowed Russian people to be zombified.”

“We stayed quiet when all of this was just getting started in 2014,” she said in reference to Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea, and that “we [the Russian media] didn’t come out to protest when the Kremlin poisoned Navalny. We continued to quietly watch this inhumane regime.”

“Now the whole world has turned away from us,” she sadly reflected. “Ten generations of our descendants won’t be able to wash away the shame of this fratricidal war.”