Myanmar: New International Sanctions Announced On Junta As Airstrikes, Arrests Keep Country On Edge

 March 4, 2023  Eurasia Review  

By Peoples Dispatch / Globetrotter News Service

On February 20, the European Union announced a sixth round of sanctions on nine individuals and seven entities in military-ruled Myanmar in light of the “continuing escalation of violence, grave human rights violations and threats to the peace, security and stability in Myanmar/Burma” two years after the February 1, 2021, coup. The sanctions entail travel bans and asset freezes of influential businessmen, politicians, and military officers.

According to the EU, some of the targeted individuals were “involved in the process of death sentences and execution of four democracy activists in July 2022, and in Kachin State, where they oversaw air strikes, massacres, raids, arson and the use of human shields committed by the military.”

The EU said in its statement: “All hostilities must stop immediately. The military authorities must fully respect international humanitarian law, and put an end to the indiscriminate use of force.”

The announcement comes after democratic advocacy group Justice for Myanmar on January 25 reported on the networks established between foreign countries, intergovernmental organizations, and financial institutions that have been aiding the junta forces in acquiring “funds, resources, and power.”

Meanwhile, the conflict in Myanmar is intensifying. According to a report in Mizzima, the military government carried out 57 airstrikes in January, and 652 airstrikes since the coup in February 2021. More than 288 individuals, mostly civilians, have died, and 377 have been severely injured as a result of these strikes since the coup.

Source: This article was provided by the Peoples Dispatch / Globetrotter News Service

FOR PROFIT HEALTHCARE

Health exec: 'Publicly traded entities don’t necessarily understand clinical culture'

CVS, Amazon health care mergers ‘could be highly transformative’: SCAN Health CEO

Anjalee Khemlani
·Senior Reporter
Fri, March 3, 2023 

Retail health care is not a new concept. There's the recent push into the space by CVS (CVS), with its $10.6 billion Oak Street Health acquisition, and Amazon (AMZN) acquiring One Health Medical for $3.9 billion. But all that activity is a reason to pause and reflect what kind of culture for-profit entities will bring to a medical service space.

That's according to SCAN Health Group CEO Dr. Sachin Jain, who said the acquisitions could be an opportunity to connect existing health care verticals with the new clinical services. (See Video Above)

For example, CVS is not just a national drug chain anymore. It is also an insurance company and pharmacy benefits manager. That means it will want one part of its business to support the other, like finding a way to "highlight" Oak Street Health with its Aetna members, according to an executive on the latest earnings call.

"I've just been around the block enough to know that, oftentimes, publicly traded entities don't necessarily understand clinical culture. They're making decisions, sometimes, for the short term," Jain said. "When you're making decisions to hit a quarterly earnings target, you aren't necessarily doing the things you need to do to improve peoples' health over the long term."

It's why the deals could easily fall apart in the future. Or not. The jury is still out.

"They're still figuring it out," Jain said.

In addition to the providing health care services, retail pharmacies like CVS and Walgreens (WBA) are looking to get into the drug trial space, but even that is a work in progress.

Jain currently runs the California-based non-profit insurance company, but has held several positions in the past including in the U.S. Health Department, at Anthem (now Elevance Health (ELV)) and Merck (MRK). He is part of a segment of experts that worry about the impact of mergers and acquisitions by large for-profit entities in health care. Over the years, the cost of care has gone up as a result of such M&A activity and an influx of private equity, according to studies.

It's why, for now, traditional health care organizations are still the best bet. But that could change with the retail moves.

"I worry that some of these entities will put profits before patients. I think the American public is tired of being seen as a profit center when it comes to their health and their wellness," Jain said.

China’s Space Success Is Ready To Launch With Or Without Foreign Partners – Analysis


Rocket carrying satellite of BeiDou Navigation Satellite System blasts off from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China’s Sichuan Province (Xinhua/Jiang Hongjing, NDU Press)

March 4, 2023
By East Asia Forum
By Brian Waidelich*

On 25 January 2023, Space News reported that the European Space Agency (ESA) no longer intends to send European astronauts to Tiangong, China’s newly completed space station. The report quoted the ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher saying that the agency was already ‘very busy’ with its International Space Station (ISS) commitments and that it currently lacked both the budgetary and political ‘green light’ to engage with China’s space station.

The Director General’s remarks come several years after the stall of efforts to prepare European astronauts for flights on China’s space station. This had been a major development following decades of cooperation between the two space agencies.

In 2016, a Chinese astronaut participated in an ESA astronaut training course. The next year, two European astronauts carried out sea survival training with their Chinese counterparts. But after 2017, the budding human spaceflight cooperation between the two sides hit a snag.

The assertion that budgetary constraints are holding the ESA back from participating in Tiangong’s mission has its merits. As pointed out by Eric Berger, the senior space editor at Ars Technica, ESA funding is less than one-third of NASA’s. The European agency must be choosier about how it uses its limited resources.

But politics undoubtedly exerted the greatest influence on the ESA’s decision. For years, European countries have been reconsidering the nature of their relations with China amid growing concerns over human rights, technology security and intensifying strategic competition between Washington and Beijing. The pace of those shifting views was quickened following the outbreak of Russia’s war in Ukraine.

China, while claiming to be impartial to the conflict, has consistently issued official statements and media reports with pro-Russian narratives and has expanded its economic ties with Russia amid Western countries’ economic sanctions on Moscow. Although Beijing has not yet provided lethal military aid to Russia, China’s companies have supported Russia with ‘nonlethal assistance,’ according to US officials. And China’s military has participated in large-scale exercises and patrols with Russian armed forces aimed at improving their interoperability and deterrence signalling. At a time when Europe and China are supporting opposite sides of a conflict that has been likened to a superpower proxy war, sending European astronauts to Tiangong would be awkward at best.

The ESA Director General’s remarks, while annoying to Beijing, were almost certainly not unexpected. During a press conference in April 2022, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin dodged a direct answerwhen asked whether any foreign astronauts would enter China’s space station. In the vaguely worded reply, the spokesperson said that foreign astronauts are ‘welcome to visit’.

While it is likely an unwelcome development for Beijing, it is highly improbable that the absence of European astronauts on Tiangong will have any notable effect on the space station’s operations or on China’s expansion into space more broadly. China has invested enormous sums into its manned space program since the 1990s. Its reported space budget is second only to the United States. It is seeking to become the world’s pre-eminent space power by mid-century.

Unlike the ISS, China has built and managed Tiangong without depending on other countries for funds or personnel. According to China’s official news agency Xinhua, Chinese space station developers ‘have been adhering to self-reliance and independent innovation’, ‘developed a large number of core technologies’ and achieved complete localisation of ‘key components’.

Even if China’s space station does not host European astronauts any time soon, researchers from Europe and other countries may proceed with plans to use Tiangong as an alternative to the competitive spots for scientific experiments on the ISS.

In 2019, China — in collaboration with the ESA and the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs — selected nine projects from 17 countries to be implemented on Tiangong. Most of these projects were apparently designed to be conducted in space by Chinese astronauts, with ground support from other countries’ researchers. According to China Daily, there had only been requests from several of the 17 countries to send their own astronauts to run these experiments on the space station.

China understands the benefits of space cooperation as a means of pooling resources and advancing important scientific discoveries. But what China ultimately seeks in opening up Tiangong to foreign researchers is to use space cooperation as a means of supporting Beijing’s larger political and diplomatic goals of making China more respected and influential.

As the Director General of China’s Manned Space Agency put it, ‘we hope to make China’s space station a platform which promotes the building of a community with a shared future for mankind’. This invoking of the ‘community with a shared future for mankind’ rhetoric — a major foreign policy initiative under Chinese President Xi Jinping — ties Tiangong to Beijing’s broader efforts to lessen US influence and transform the international system in ways more suited to China’s interests.

By claiming that its space station is open to all UN members, China hopes to portray itself as more inclusive than the United States as China has been barred from joining the ISS. Yet by continually playing up Tiangong as a feat of self-reliance, Beijing undermines the potential contributions of international partners.

On 25 February 2023, a month after the ESA Director General’s remarks, an official from China’s Manned Space Agency said that they would soon begin selecting foreign astronauts from ‘multiple countries’ for ‘joint flights’ to China’s space station. Without naming any specific countries or deadlines for selection, the official expressed hopes that foreign candidates could use their time on Tiangong to ‘get some knowledge about Chinese culture.’

Going forward, China will likely continue to highlight signs of international support for its space program, but it will not engage in major initiatives that depend on other countries’ resources. Foreigners may certainly visit China’s space station, but they will not be critical to its success.

*About the author: Brian Waidelich is a Research Scientist with the China and Indo-Pacific Security Affairs Division at CNA.

Source: This article was published by East Asia Forum

East Asia Forum

East Asia Forum is a platform for analysis and research on politics, economics, business, law, security, international relations and society relevant to public policy, centred on the Asia Pacific region. It consists of an online publication and a quarterly magazine, East Asia Forum Quarterly, which aim to provide clear and original analysis from the leading minds in the region and beyond.

POSTMODERN STALINISM

Cambodia: Court Sentences Opposition Leader Kem Sokha To 27 Years For Treason


Cambodia's Kem Sokha, who served as the President of the Cambodia National Rescue Party

 (CNRP). Photo Credit: Wikipedia Commons.

March 4, 2023
By RFA

Cambodian opposition leader Kem Sokha was found guilty of treason on Friday and sentenced to 27 years imprisonment — a verdict the U.S. Embassy called “deeply troubling” and said was based on a “fabricated conspiracy.”

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court’s sentence comes five years after his arrest. The court said he had colluded with a foreign power beginning in 2010. It said he had one month to file an appeal against its ruling.

Kem Sokha’s lawyer, Meng Sopheary, told RFA that he plans to appeal the judgment.

After the verdict, Kem Sokha was taken out of the courtroom and placed under house arrest. Authorities took control of his house and all personal bodyguards were kicked out, Meng Sopheary said. Security has been tightened around the house.

His daughter posted on Twitter that he is also barred from meeting anyone but his lawyers and family members. She also clarified that the sentence was not 27 years under house arrest, which should be considered a temporary measure.

The court also stripped him of the right to vote or run as a candidate for an indefinite period.


The Phnom Penh Municipal Court defended its decision, saying in a statement that “promoting human rights and democracy is legitimate and is protected by the Constitution.

“But the court found out that promoting human rights and democracy with help and collusion in secret – and planning with foreign countries and foreign agents to topple the legal government through mass demonstration and color revolution – is illegal,” the statement said.

Soeung Sengkaruna, spokesman for the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association said he was not surprised with the outcome.

“This is a serious verdict,” he said. “The verdict will affect younger politicians, they have a difficult time competing in Cambodia’s political environment. I am concerned about human rights and democracy in Cambodia.”
Five-year wait

Kem Sokha has always denied the charges which led to his arrest in September 2017, when more than 100 armed police officers stormed his home.

Several months earlier his Cambodia National Rescue Party had made large gains in local commune elections.

The 69-year-old was put on trial in January 2020 but the hearings were suspended two months later on the pretext of the coronavirus pandemic. The trial resumed last year.

The charges against him relate partly to a video recorded in 2013 in which he discusses a strategy to win power with the help of U.S. experts. The United States Embassy has rejected any suggestion that Washington was trying to interfere in Cambodian politics.

On Friday, the court said in its statement that it omitted the alleged foreign countries that colluded with Kem Sokha from its decision for the sake of national interest and to maintain Cambodia’s relationship with those countries. The court will keep related documents confidential to maintain cooperation between foreign countries, it said.

After his arrest, Kem Sokha spent a year in Trapeang Phlong Prison near the border with Vietnam. He was transferred to house arrest in Phnom Penh in October 2018. More than a year later, the court eased some of the restrictions by allowing him to travel inside the country but still banning him from participating in politics.

The ban proved superfluous. Shortly after his arrest Cambodia’s Supreme Court dissolved and outlawed the CNRP, paving the way for Prime Minister Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party to take all 125 National Assembly seats in the 2018 general election.

“The multi-year process to silence Kem Sokha, based on a fabricated conspiracy, is a miscarriage of justice,” the U.S. Embassy said in a statement. “Denying Kem Sokha and other political figures their freedom of expression and association undermines Cambodia’s constitution, international commitments, and past progress to develop as a pluralist and inclusive society.”

Amnesty International Deputy Regional Director Ming Yu Hah said Friday’s judgment revealed the “jaw-dropping lack of independence” of the Cambodian justice system.

“Sokha is one of many opposition figures who has been put through a physically and psychologically taxing ordeal which will continue after today’s unjust verdict. There can be no right to a fair trial when the courts have been co-opted by the heavy hand of the government,” she said.

“Sokha has spent years in detention, moved in and out of prison, and endured house arrest in a virtually ceaseless attempt to silence him. He has also been prevented from leaving the country due to unnecessary restrictions on his freedom of movement,” she said. “The Cambodian government should drop these fabricated charges and immediately and unconditionally release Kem Sokha.”
Statements from ministers, businessmen

After the verdict, government ministers and several prominent business people issued statements in support of the verdict and sentence. The court’s decision was based on the law and the evidence presented by the prosecution, CPP spokesman Sok Ey San said.

“Kem Sokha can behave during house arrest,” he said. “Kem Sokha must comply with the court’s verdict.”

The verdict is part of a well-planned strategy to ensure smooth power transfer to Hun Sen’s son and political heir, Hun Manet, political analyst Seng Sary said.

“This is a one party government hidden under pluralism. It is very sensitive during the transition to eliminate rivals for his successor to grow,” he said.
Silencing the opposition

Kem Sokha was hoping a not-guilty verdict would clear the way for a return to politics. His daughter told the AFP news agency he was keen to return to the fray ahead of July’s general elections.

With four months to go until that vote, he has become the latest threat to be silenced by Hun Sen.

“It was obvious from the start that the charges against Kem Sokha were nothing but a politically motivated ploy by Prime Minister Hun Sen to sideline Cambodia’s major opposition leader and eliminate the country’s democratic system,” Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch said in a statement released immediately after the verdict.

“Sending Kem Sokha to prison isn’t just about destroying his political party, but about squashing any hope that there can be a genuine general election in July.”

But acting CNRP President Sam Rainsy told RFA that Kem Sokha’s verdict won’t break people’s commitment toward democracy.

“If people are demanding justice, democracy will continue to strive,” he said. “We need to ask the voters. The sunset of dictators is coming closer. Hun Sen is revealing himself. He is getting worse, it is pushing Hun Sen to the end.”

Last month, Cambodia’s Supreme Court upheld the conviction of Candlelight Party Vice President Son Chhay, who has been ordered to pay U.S.$1 million in damages to the CPP and the National Election Commission after saying last year’s local commune elections were marred by irregularities.

Also in February Hun Sen shut down Cambodia’s last fully-independent news outlet after Voice of Democracy published a story about Hun Manet. A clever tactician, he then said VoD staff could apply for government jobs without having to sit the entrance examination. On Tuesday the government announced that at least 25 former staffers had applied.

Translated by Samean Yun. Edited by Mike Firn and Matt Reed.

RFA
Radio Free Asia’s mission is to provide accurate and timely news and information to Asian countries whose governments prohibit access to a free press. Content used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036.

US enlists indigenous tribes in bid to conserve bison herds

Bison awaiting transfer to Native American tribes 

(Matthew Brown/PA)

SAT, 04 MAR, 2023 - 
MATTHEW BROWN, ASSOCIATED PRESS

US officials will work to restore more large bison herds to Native American lands under an order from Interior Secretary Deb Haaland that calls for the government to tap into indigenous knowledge in its efforts to conserve the burly animals that are a symbol of the American West.

Ms Haaland also announced 25 million US dollars in federal spending for bison conservation.


The money, from last year’s climate bill, will build new herds, transfer more bison from federal to tribal lands and forge new bison management agreements with tribes, officials said.

American bison, also known as buffalo, have bounced back from their near extinction due to commercial hunting in the 1800s.

But they remain absent from most of the grasslands they once occupied, and many tribes have struggled to restore their deep historical connections to the animals.

A man stands atop a pile of buffalo skulls as another rests his foot on one at a glue factory in Rougeville, Michigan (Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library/AP)

As many as 60 million bison once roamed North America, moving in vast herds that were central to the culture and survival of numerous Native American groups.

They were driven to the brink of extinction more than a century ago when hunters, US troops and tourists shot them by the thousands to feed a growing commercial market that used bison parts in machinery, fertiliser and clothing.

By 1889, only a few hundred bison remained.

Ms Haaland, of Laguna Pueblo in New Mexico, is the first Native American to serve as a US cabinet secretary and has championed tribal concerns on issues ranging from wildlife conservation to energy development, and put a spotlight on past mistreatment of Native Americans through a series of listening sessions about systemic abuses at government-run boarding schools.

She said last year that the decimation of bison by European settlers eliminated the primary food source for many tribes and opened the way for their land to be taken away.

The return of bison in some locations is considered a conservation success.

But Ms Haaland said they remain “functionally extinct” and more work is needed to return the animals to tribal lands and restore the grasslands they depend on.

“This holistic effort will ensure that this powerful sacred animal is reconnected to its natural habitat and the original stewards who know best how to care for it,” Ms Haaland said in announcing her order on Friday, during a World Wildlife Day event at the National Geographic Society in Washington, DC.

“When we think about Indigenous communities, we must acknowledge that they have spent generations over many centuries observing the seasons, tracking wildlife migration patterns and fully comprehending our role in the delicate balance of this earth,” she added.

Across the US, from New York to Oklahoma to Alaska, 82 tribes now have more than 20,000 bison in 65 herds.

Numbers have been growing in recent years along with the desire among Native Americans to reclaim stewardship of the animals.

A young bison calf stands in a pond with its herd 

(Audrey Jackson/AP)

Many of the tribes’ bison came from US agencies, which over the past two decades transferred thousands of the animals to thin government-controlled herds so they do not outgrow the land.

The transfers often were carried out in cooperation with the South Dakota-based InterTribal Buffalo Council.

The group’s director, Troy Heinert, said Ms Haaland’s order is an acknowledgement of the work tribes have already done.

“The buffalo has just as long a connection to Indigenous people as we have to it,” said Mr Heinert, a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe.

“They are not just a number or a commodity; this is returning a relative to its rightful place.”

Past administrations have proposed or advanced bison conservation plans, including under former presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump, and tribes have long been part of that process.

As window for final testing narrows, N.L.'s Muskrat Falls encounters new problems


Fri, March 3, 2023 


ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — Newfoundland and Labrador's long-suffering Muskrat Falls hydroelectricity project has encountered new problems ahead of a final round of testing that must take place during the colder months.

Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro says the issues have pushed a round of high-power testing to late March or early April.

The Crown corporation's latest report says a new glitch was discovered in the software that runs a subsea cable stretching across the Strait of Belle Isle, between western Newfoundland and eastern Labrador.

The report to the province's public utilities board says frigid February temperatures have held up other troubleshooting efforts as the hydro company can't risk outages during extreme cold.

Rob Collett, N.L. Hydro's vice-president of engineering, says the high-power testing will determine if Muskrat Falls can smoothly deliver 700 megawatts of power to the province's grid.

He says it's the last round of testing the project needs to pass, but it can only be done in winter, when people crank up their thermostats and put enough demand on the grid.

In an interview, Collett said that if the high-power testing fails and reveals more problems, he and his team will likely have to wait until October or November for power demand to once again be high enough.

An attempted round of high-power tests failed last November, leaving about 58,000 people in the dark for up to 25 minutes.

Muskrat Falls is years overdue and its cost has ballooned to more than $13 billion ⁠— almost double what it was expected to cost when it was sanctioned in 2012.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 3, 2023.

The Canadian Press

POSTPANDEMIC ENDS PINOI OTW* 

'Stop the bleeding,' Philippines health official says about international recruiting of nurses

Fri, March 3, 2023 

Rhea Patulay says she has seen the lack of nurses in the Philippines first-hand while caring for her husband in hospital. The Philippines has traditionally trained more nurses than it needs, but since the pandemic, health officials say recruiting from Western countries has led to a severe shortage.

 (August Pineda/ABS-CBN - image credit)

Rhea Patulay saw the shortage of Filipino nurses up close, sitting by her husband Rico's hospital bed as he recovered from a minibus accident.

"No one there to attend to the patients," she said recently in an interview in Tagalog through a translator. "Doctors usually look after you for operations, surgeries and when they do their rounds, which takes them too long to shows up."

Patulay said one of the nurses working overnight at the hospital near Manila looked like she was still a student. "She said to me 'Ma'am, I am assigned here.'"

The Philippines has traditionally trained more nurses than it needs, knowing they will work internationally and send money back home to support their families.

However, since the COVID-19 pandemic, government health officials say an estimated 40 per cent of all Filipino nurses have left the country or retired.

Philippines has shortage of 350,000 nurses

"We would like to stop the bleeding as soon as we can," Dr. Maria Rosario Vergeire, officer-in-charge of the Department of Health, said in a recent interview, adding that the Philippines has a shortage of more than 350,000 nurses.

"Why is it that the higher-income countries are actively recruiting?" she said. "The countries getting our nurses should also be for some form of exchange so there would be something for our country."

August Pineda/ABS-CBN

Government officials, hospital administrators and nursing advocates in the Philippines are trying to find ways to make their own health-care system sustainable, even as recruitment delegations — including from Canada — come knocking.

Delegations from Manitoba and New Brunswick just returned from recruiting trips in February.

The Manitoba government said it offered letters of intent to nearly 190 registered nurses, 50 people who are the equivalent of licensed practical nurses and 110 health-care aides.

The New Brunswick delegation interviewed more than 500 candidates and made 241 job offers, said a spokesperson for the province's Department of Health. As of March 1, 164 offers had been accepted.

A delegation from Saskatchewan was in the Philippines in December and has made more than 170 job offers to RNs, continuing care assistants and medical lab assistants.

And that's just Canadian provinces. Countries from around the world are competing to attract nurses from the Philippines.

WATCH | Some provinces reach out to Philippines to address nursing shortage:

Western countries 'getting more aggressive'

"That is now the problem," Melvin Miranda, president of the Philippine Nurses Association, said through a translator in a recent interview in Manila.

In the past, Miranda said, nurses sought out international opportunities, but since the pandemic, countries like Canada have come calling, "getting more aggressive in recruitment."

Experienced nurses are being attracted by the "huge pay offer and compensation," he said, noting that the pay is at least double in Canada.

August Pineda/ABS-CBN

While Miranda said he doesn't want to hold back nurses from opportunities abroad, he also worries about the country's health-care system.

"We feel it in communities, especially in far-flung areas that we cannot reach. The data shows: Why is there high mortality in high-risk pregnancies in provinces and far-flung areas? Because services through sufficient manpower cannot reach them," he said.

"So I think this is alarming. If this will continue, it will continue to increase these cases and we cannot prevent them."

Not to mention the strain and increased workload on those nurses left behind, caring for more patients than is considered safe, Miranda said.

"For example, a nurse is assigned to manage patients in critical levels. They can manage [a ratio of] 1:5 or 1:7 to ensure quality management and monitoring. But if it goes to the point that the number of patients rise beyond that standard ratio, the nurse will not be able to manage, to be honest," he said.

"[If] our nurse will have a high risk of error, it can compromise quality care that the patient deserves."

Torn between opportunity, duty to country

One solution is for Western countries like Canada to help pay for nurse training spots or provide scholarships to students going into nursing, said Dr. Rene De Grano, president of the Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines Inc.

Most countries are recruiting experienced nurses, which leaves a big hole in the Philippine system.

"For example, you are a specialist in dialysis for kidney centres, heart in cardiac centres, ICU," he said. "They have excellent training, so centres abroad really prefer them, [but] we don't have enough of those nurses right now, there's so few of them. If they get them, it's a big problem."

Filipino nurses say they are torn between duty to their country and the much larger paycheques and opportunities that working overseas can provide.

August Pineda/ABS-CBN

"We are dedicated to our country. We are willing to stay, but we have some requests that our country cannot give to us," Lawrence Vergara said through a translator, during a break on a hospital ward.

Vergara is a nurse who worked in Dubai before returning to the Philippines during the pandemic. She wants to move her entire family to Canada, Australia or New Zealand — partly because of the huge difference in wages, but also to give her children new opportunities.

"That is my ambition. No matter how hard, I will take the risk, for my family and career advantage as well."

Amir Pagadilan has been dreaming of moving to Canada since 2016, studying English and making applications. He's a chemo-dialysis nurse who has been forced to work two jobs to support his family.

August Pineda/ABS-CBN

Pagadilan is one of the hundreds of pre-screened applicants who received an interview with the Manitoba delegation. He was overcome with emotion after learning he was getting a conditional offer of employment.

"My mom would always say, 'In God's time,'" he said, stopping to wipe his eyes.

"Sorry, sorry. I'm just happy because it feels that it's a God's gift. I have tried so many times since 2016, but it was difficult to get the specific position. It was a lot of patience."

Ethical, economic, safety concerns

Manitoba's minister of labour and immigration, Jon Reyes, said the province needs to fill nearly 2,000 nursing vacancies.

Reyes, originally from the Philippines, said the delegation's goal was to recruit 350 Filipino nurses through an expedited pathway in the next two years.

"We want to make sure this batch that comes has a seamless transition so that they can be gainfully employed right away, and that will benefit Manitobans," he said at a reception in Manila.

Jon Reyes/Twitter

But there are growing concerns in less developed countries that wealthy nations like Canada are exploiting those with fragile health-care systems.

"It's the higher-income, richer countries who are going on this global shopping trip to address shortages, which they have failed to recruit enough of their own," Howard Catton, CEO of the International Council of Nurses in Geneva, said in an interview this week.

"They are taking from shelves which are already very, very bare and can least afford to lose nurses from," he said. "You need to absolutely assure yourself that you are not going to do more harm by recruiting from that country."

August Pineda/ABS-CBN

Catton, who is having meetings in Bangkok this week with organizations from nine countries representing nearly 10 million nurses, said they are all concerned about international recruiting and shortages.

That includes countries like the Philippines and India, which have traditionally exported health-care workers to countries around the world.

An estimated 10 per cent of nurses in Canada and 15 per cent of those in the United Kingdom are internationally trained, a result of "decisions not to educate enough of your own nurses," Catton said.

"That may have worked in the past, where you could recruit overseas is a fairly quick fix to fill those gaps in the short term. But I think for a whole pile of ethical as well as economic reasons ... and also issues of safety and security in the supply of your own health workforce, that's not a strategy to rely on in the future."

*OVERSEAS TEMPORARY WORKER

Air Canada pilots decry 'embarrassing' pay gap with U.S. after Delta deal

Allison Lampert
Fri, March 3, 2023 

Airplanes at Toronto Pearson airport

By Allison Lampert

MONTREAL (Reuters) -Air Canada pilots are pressing for higher pay in the run-up to fresh contract talks, following recent gains secured by pilots at U.S. carrier Delta Air Lines, union representatives told Reuters.

A contract between Delta and its pilots that came into effect on Thursday delivers a 34% pay increase over four years, driving pressure on other U.S. carriers to reach similar deals.

It is also galvanizing pilots at Canada's largest carrier. Delta's latest hourly pay rates are up to 45% higher than current Air Canada hourly pay rates, the Air Canada Pilots Association (ACPA) said by email.

Air Canada pilots have received a 2% wage increase per year, since 2014, said ACPA, which represents about 4,500 pilots. They could potentially begin salary talks as early as this year, or in 2024, the union said.

"Pilots in the U.S. have recently secured significant wage increases and other contractual improvements, creating an embarrassing gap with Canada," Charlene Hudy, a top ACPA union leader, said in a statement.

The talks come as North American carriers are collectively recruiting thousands of pilots to meet a rebound in travel demand following a pandemic-induced slump. Air Canada did not respond to a request for comment.

ACPA is in talks to possibly join the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), the world's largest pilots' union, representing more than 60,000 pilots.

ALPA Canada President Tim Perry said many U.S. carriers recognize the importance of crew to their business model "by providing improved wages and working conditions for their pilots, in most cases far surpassing those of their Canadian counterparts."

Pilots north of the border are now trying to make gains. Canada's Sunwing Airlines pilots secured a 23% wage hike early this year and another 2.5% raise next January as part of their existing four-year agreement, union Unifor said.

Some airline executives are concerned that hefty pilot pay raises will inflate fixed costs and make it tougher to repair debt-laden balance sheets. Delta has forecast a hit on its earnings in the first quarter as the pilot deal is estimated to drive up operating costs.

Air Canada, which expects to return to 2019 levels of capacity next year, is also facing cost pressures.

Salary is also a priority for pilots in negotiations at Canada's second-largest carrier, WestJet.

U.S. carriers American Airlines Group and United Airlines are also negotiating with their pilots.

(Reporting by Allison Lampert in Montreal. Additional reporting by Rajesh Kumar Singh in ChicagoEditing by Matthew Lewis and Susan Fenton)

City of Vancouver backs away from living wage pledge after council vote in closed meeting

Thu, March 2, 2023

City councillors have voted in a closed-door meeting to end Vancouver's commitment to being a certified living wage employer. 

(Ben Nelms/CBC - image credit)

Vancouver has confirmed that it is walking away from its years-long commitment to pay workers a living wage following a vote in a council meeting that was closed to the public.

Instead of ensuring employees and contractors are paid the estimated hourly rate two working adults need to support a family of four, as determined by Living Wage for Families B.C. (LWFBC), the city will now pay wages based on a five-year rolling average of the rate.

The decision was made during a closed-door meeting following a sharp jump in the living wage caused by the skyrocketing cost of living in Vancouver.

Anastasia French, the provincial manager for LWFBC, described the move as "incredibly disappointing" and said she was disheartened to learn the vote happened behind closed doors.

"It's vital that anyone working on behalf of the City of Vancouver can afford to live in Vancouver," French said in a statement.

"Their decision to instead pay workers a five-year rolling average goes against the spirit of the living wage. People across the city are struggling to pay for the cost of essentials right now, not the cost of rent or food averaged out from five years ago."

A city spokesperson told CBC in an email that the living wage jumped 17.35 per cent for 2023 to $24.08 per hour and said the annual changes in the rate are "difficult to administer" in a large organization like Vancouver.

"We hope LWFBC will consider this variation in implementation and allow organizations that use this approach to continue to be certified, as we are continuing to use their calculated living wage rate but applying a more practicable approach for large organizations," the email says.

'Working poverty has enormous fiscal implications'

Coun. Christine Boyle, who says she voted against the change in approach, described it as unacceptable.

"It gets more expensive to live in this city every day. We should be figuring out how to pay working people enough to live here, not making it harder and harder for them to make ends meet," she said in a written statement.

According to French, the cities of Port Coquitlam, Quesnel and Victoria have all agreed to continue paying workers a living wage, despite this year's big jump in the rates.

"These employers have found that paying a living wage is good for workers, good for business and good for the local community," she said.

"Working poverty has enormous fiscal implications for social programs, health care costs, education, employment, and criminality. Paying workers the living wage is a key solution to solving these issues."

As it stands, the living wage is a conservative estimate. The cost of food only covers basic groceries. Entertainment, extra-curricular activities and unpaid vacations aren't included, and there's no extra for saving money, sending a child to university or retiring with cash in the bank.

The city has been a certified living wage employer for more than five years.

Weeks later, workers remain on picket lines at Windsor Salt, Highbury Canco

Fri, March 3, 2023 

Workers at Windsor Salt have been on strike since Feb. 17. (Jason Viau/CBC - image credit)

More than 650 workers at two Windsor-Essex area employers say they're tired of watching other workers do their jobs while they remain on the picket lines fighting for contracts they believe are fair.

Around 405 employees of Highbury Canco walked off the job on Feb. 13 after rejecting the final offer from their employer because they said their wages aren't keeping up with the cost of living.

"We're entering our fourth week of labour dispute starting on Sunday," said Sam Caetano, the director for United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) Local 175 Region Six.

"So it's almost three, four weeks, and we haven't heard anything from the employer. So we're really at a standstill."

As trucks crossed the picket line at the company's facility in Leamington, Ont., Thursday, a sign out front read, "Scab City."

'I might have to look at going somewhere else'

Workers on the line told CBC they were concerned about their financial situations as the strike ground on."

"Our benefits were cut off as soon as our strike started," said Rick Olah. "So that's the biggest thing, because my wife is on a lot of medication and stuff."

Eddie Noster said workers such as himself tried to prepare for the strike by working overtime to set aside cash, but paying bills would get tough if the strike continued for a long time.

"I might have to look into going somewhere else, honestly, depending on if it's going to be a long, long strike," he said. "But I have hope that we'll be back in soon."

Over at Windsor Salt, where approximately 250 employees have been on strike since Feb. 17, a court injunction filed by the company came into effect Wednesday that prevents workers from blocking non-unionized workers crossing the picket line.

Jason Viau/CBC

"That's a little bit more upsetting now than in the past," said Mario Fiorito, "because we see the trucks the last couple of days are going in and loading product out and shipping the product to our warehouses, which hasn't been happening up until yesterday."

The union told CBC News at the start of the strike that the company was refusing to talk about financial requests unless the union would allow the company to contract work in its salt mine to non-union employees.

Unifor Locals 1959 and 240 are bargaining with Windsor Salt for the first time since the company was bought by U.S.-based holding company Stone Canyon Industries in 2021.

CBC reached out to both Windsor Salt and Highbury Canco for comment but did not receive responses from either.

Windsor West MPP Lisa Gretzky grilled Ontario Labour Minister Monte McNaughton at Queens Park about the strikes, calling on the government to pass what she called anti-scab legislation.

The minister replied that the government is proud of its labour relations, saying that 99 per cent of deals are reached at the bargaining table.