India’s migrant millions: Caught between jobless villages and city hazards

Reuters Published April 18, 2023

Photo: Reuters

NEW DELHI/JAUNPUR: As he crosses the mud houses and wheat fields around his village to catch a train to distant Mumbai, Sujeet Kumar says he is thinking about the better life that awaits him in India’s city of dreams.

The 21-year-old from Jaunpur district, in India’s most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, was headed for the country’s financial capital, saying he moved out of “compulsion”, like hundreds of millions of others before him.

“Mumbai is a city of the rich…whoever goes to Mumbai, their luck changes,” Kumar said. “I hope luck smiles on me also there, and I will also make progress.”

This internal migration is bound to intensify as India becomes the world’s most populous nation, throwing up enormous challenges for the government - managing the strains on urban infrastructure as well as creating 8 million to 10 million jobs every year to absorb its army of young unemployed.

IMF trims India’s growth forecast to 5.9% for current fiscal year

According to 2011 figures, the latest available, India’s then population of 1.21 billion people included 456 million internal migrants.

The United Nations had projected India’s population would reach over 1.42 billion last week, overtaking China.

Nearly two-thirds of India’s people are under 35 and many of those in the countryside flock to the cities to take whatever job they can - becoming labourers, drivers or helpers in shops and homes. Many are from Uttar Pradesh and neighbouring Bihar state, where populations are rising faster than elsewhere in the country.

“Migrants are always concentrated in more precarious work. Better jobs are not available to migrants and they have very little political power to negotiate wages,” said Mukta Naik, an expert on migration at New Delhi’s Centre for Policy Research.

“There are not enough jobs, and they are not good enough to attract people for the long term, not good enough wages to invest in housing, to get their children to the cities to study.”

Besides the low-paid and difficult-to-get jobs, those arriving in the cities are faced with prohibitive costs of living and a struggle to find a place to live. They are unable to access social welfare benefits and many fall victim to the crime rampant in urban slums.

India economy likely to grow 6.5%-7% next fiscal year

Abdul Nur, a 37-year-old security guard in Bengaluru, said he left his village in the northeastern state of Assam when he was 17, and has since lived and worked in Chennai, Hyderabad and Mumbai cities.

“When I was in Mumbai, there was too much tension. It was hot, there was crime,” he said.

He was in India’s financial capital a decade ago, where, he said, it was very tough to live on the 14,000 rupees ($171) he earned a month, with high rents and cost of food.

But even Bengaluru, India’s tech capital which is attracting huge numbers of migrants, has become too expensive, Nur said.

“I am sending my wife and child back to the village,” he said. “In my salary it is very tough to educate him here. I will live alone now.”

Going back

Some of the migrants have become so disheartened they are returning home.

Bhikhari Manjhi, 30, left his village in Odisha state and moved to Bengaluru where he was promised a job as a construction worker with a salary of 10,000 rupees a month. For two months, his contractor paid him 100 rupees every week, promised to pay the rest later, but never did.

India may peg nominal GDP growth at about 11% in 2023/24 budget

“When we demanded our money, we were beaten up,” Manjhi said.

Earlier this month, Manjhi walked for about 1,000 km (620 miles) for over seven days with two fellow villagers to return home.

Now, he said: “We live in the forest area, and can earn about 15,000 rupees in a year.”

In cities like Bengaluru, more than that can be made in a month. But Manjhi said: “I don’t want to go back”.

A 2020 International Labour Organization report said migrant workers contribute 10% of India’s GDP and serve as the backbone of several sectors. The money they send back reduces poverty at home and improves the well-being of their families, it said.

Experts say the government needs to help create more jobs and ensure they are distributed across the country, especially in the poorly-developed and predominantly rural north and the east.

“Rural India (only) provides jobs in the form of disguised unemployment,” said Mahesh Vyas, who heads the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy.

This meant, he said, that even if more jobs are created in agriculture, they do not add to output. And apart from agriculture, the only investment in the hinterlands is in temporary infrastructure projects, which produce short-lived jobs.

The cities, with all their shortcomings, will continue to attract migrants as they remain the best places to offer jobs, he said.

Kumar from Jaunpur echoes that.

Sporting a new haircut and a pair of sunglasses, he shot videos and photos for his social media accounts during a visit to Mumbai’s tourist spots.

“I am really liking it here…so much better than my village,” he said.

HSBC investor Ping An says bank's management has failed on strategy

LONDON, April 18 (Reuters) - HSBC's management has "fundamentally failed to address key business model challenges", the bank's biggest shareholder Ping An said on Tuesday, in an escalation of a spat between Europe's biggest bank and the Chinese insurer.

HSBC should separate its Asia business into a Hong Kong-listed entity, Ping An said, in an update to proposals it began urging last November calling for the bank to spin off its Asia business.

The renewed salvo from Ping An comes as shareholder advisory group Glass Lewis urged investors to vote against proposals calling for a strategic review and dividend policy revamp, deepening divisions between factions of the bank's ownership ahead of its annual meeting on May 5.

"We believe that a structural solution which creates a separately listed Asia business headquartered in Hong Kong will crystallize multiple benefits to all HSBC Group shareholders," Ping An said.

HSBC reiterated its stance that the proposals lack merit.

"It is our judgment, supported by third-party financial and legal advice, and with third-party assurance, that alternative structural options will not deliver increased value for shareholders," a spokesperson for the bank said.

Glass Lewis said the strategic review proposal, filed by individual shareholder Ken Lui in Hong Kong and backed by Ping An, was "not in shareholders' interest".

Lui's resolutions demand HSBC restore dividends to 51 cents per share and provide regular updates on strategy, including the possibility of spinning off its Asia business.

"In our view, the board's strategy and plans appear valid and are likely to result in greater returns and value, on a risk and cost-adjusted basis, than the overly prescriptive and, in our opinion, unnecessary proposals submitted by the proponent," Glass Lewis said in a note to clients seen by Reuters on Tuesday.

The contrasting positions among HSBC shareholders reflect a deep divide over the direction of Europe's biggest bank, which has struggled in recent years to deliver on long-term profit targets and lift its share price.

Since Ping An began pushing for the Asia spin-off last November, the bank has tried to accelerate plans to exit retail banking in underperforming Western markets such as France and Canada, seeking to deliver on a promise to 'pivot' to Asia.

The Chinese insurer, with an 8% shareholding in the bank, would not be able to force a break-up on its own and has so far shown little evidence that it has convinced other large institutional backers of HSBC that its plan has merit.

Reporting By Sinead Cruise, editing by Lawrence White

HSBC’s top shareholder calls for breakup, expressing ‘deep concern’

By Hanna Ziady, CNN

 Wed April 19, 2023

HSBC may have to choose between China and the West

London CNN —

HSBC’s biggest shareholder has called on the bank to create a separately listed Asian business headquartered in Hong Kong to fix what it sees as a lack of competitiveness.

In a strongly worded statement Tuesday, the CEO of Ping An (PIAIF) Asset Management said that despite improvements, the insurer remained “deeply concerned” about HSBC’s financial performance relative to rivals.

“It is necessary for HSBC to push for structural reform to fundamentally address HSBC’s underlying market competitiveness issues, improve performance, enhance value and accelerate growth opportunities in Asia,” Michael Huang wrote.

“The HK-listed business would be able to focus on investing resources in Asia and being more attuned to local Asia market dynamics,” he added. Ping An Asset Management holds just over 8% of HSBC’s shares.

Europe’s biggest bank is facing growing calls to spin off its Asia business. The latest demand comes just weeks before shareholders are due to vote on a resolution at the bank’s annual meeting that could force it to come up with a plan to split off or reorganize its Asian business — HSBC’s main source of profits.

HSBC's Hong Kong headquarters, photographed in September 2021

Katherine Cheng/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images

At an informal meeting of shareholders last month, HSBC (HBCYF) CEO Noel Quinn said a breakup of the bank would result in “significant revenue loss” because much of its business relied on cross-border transactions. Alongside chairman Mark Tucker, he defended HSBC (HBCYF)’s strategy and said splitting the bank would not be in shareholders’ interests.

HSBC reiterated this position Tuesday.

“It is our judgment, supported by third-party financial and legal advice, and with third-party assurance, that alternative structural options will not deliver increased value for shareholders. Rather, they would have a material negative impact on value,” a spokesperson for the bank said in a statement.

“We remain clear that our current strategy is the fastest, safest and most value-enhancing way to deliver returns.”

HSBC's top execs face tense shareholders calling for a breakup

But in his letter, Huang said the lender’s management had “exaggerated many of the costs and risks” of a breakup. “Despite sharing multiple suggestions with HSBC, we have been extremely disappointed by HSBC management’s consistent closed-minded attitude to all solutions,” Huang wrote.

“We believe that both the HSBC team and its appointed paid external advisers have an adamantly preconceived view against reviewing any structural options, despite our continued request for an open dialogue and the demands of other shareholders.”

Under Ping An’s proposals, HSBC Group would remain the controlling shareholder of a separately listed bank headquartered in Asia, giving it “great influence” over “commercial arrangements,” according to Huang.

He argued that the spinoff would improve HSBC’s financial returns, saying they currently lagged those of rivals. For example, HSBC delivered a return on equity — a measure of a bank’s profitability — of 9.9% in 2022 versus the average of 12.5% for its peers, Huang noted.

HSBC buys SVB's UK business, ending 'nightmare' for British tech

HSBC Asia “will be the most valuable and unique bank in Asia with the strongest growth potential within the HSBC system, and also the only local bank with global competitiveness,” he added.

Ken Lui, the activist shareholder who submitted the resolution that would force HSBC to devise a plan to potentially restructure its Asian unit, cheered news of Ping An’s support and said he had hired a consultant to help lobby HSBC’s “top 50 institutional investors tirelessly” on the issue.

Lui has proposed increasing HSBC’s value “by structural reforms including but not limited to spinning off, strategic reorganisation and restructuring” of its Asia business.

Meanwhile, Glass Lewis, an advisory firm, recommended that HSBC investors vote against the proposal. “We do not believe that realizing improvements in returns and value necessitates a breakup or spinoff of HSBC’s Asian business at this time,” it said in a report to clients this week.

HSBC will hold its annual shareholder meeting on May 5.

— Michelle Toh in Hong Kong contributed reporting.

IT TOOK THIS LONG TO FIGURE OUT

Porn on Amazon’s Kindle app prompts warnings from Apple’s App Store

Tuesday, April 18, 2023 

After learning that sexually explicit porn could be accessed by children on the popular Kindle app, Apple has raised concerns with Amazon calling on the company to strengthen its content moderation.

Greg Bensinger for Reuters:

The warnings were sparked by questions posed by Reuters to spokespeople at the three companies about users’ ability, via the Kindle app, to access and view online volumes of photographs of naked women, with titles such as “75 hot fully nude photos of a young blonde” and “Real Erotica: Amateur Naked Girls – Vol. 4″. Some appeared to show women and men engaging in sexual acts.

Reuters learned of the issue when two families told Reuters their pre-teen sons downloaded the explicit material via Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited e-book subscription service and viewed the full-color photographs on the Kindle iPhone app. Pornography also is available through Amazon’s Kindle online store and viewable on versions of the Kindle app.

The parents, who declined to be named, told Reuters they were initially attracted to the $10-per-month service because it offered access to age-appropriate book series that would otherwise be expensive to purchase and were not available on Amazon’s Kids+ subscription service.

The adult material at issue is primarily self-published through Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing arm. Authors can self-publish their books nearly instantaneously through Amazon and may designate the content as available for the Kindle Unlimited service… After Reuters alerted Apple of the availability of pornography in the Kindle app, Amazon earlier this month changed the age rating in the app store to 12 years or older from 4 years or older.

There are no parental controls available for the Kindle Unlimited service.

MacDailyNews Take: Sounds like the Kindle Unlimited service should offer parental controls.

Real Erotica: Amateur Naked Girls – Vol 4 Kindle Edition

WORKERS DEBT DRIVES US CAPITALI$M

More US consumers are falling behind on payments

Apr 18, 2023 
By Tatiana Bautzer

NEW YORK, April 18 (Reuters) -Consumers are starting to fall behind on their credit card and loan payments as the economy softens, according to executives atthe biggest U.S. banks, although they said delinquency levels were still modest.

Profits at Bank of America Corp BAC.N,JPMorgan Chase & Co JPM.N, Wells Fargo & Co WFC.N and Citigroup Inc C.N beat analyst forecasts as lending giants earned a windfall from rising interest rates. But industry chiefs warned that the strength would tail off this year as a recession looms and customer delinquencies climb.

"We've seen some consumer financial health trends gradually weakening from a year ago," Wells Fargo Chief Financial Officer Mike Santomassimo said on a conference call Friday to discuss its first quarter results.

While delinquencies and net charge-offs - debt owed to a bank that is unlikely to be recovered - have slowly risen as expected, consumers and businesses generally remain strong, the bank's CEO Charlie Scharf said.

The company set aside $1.2 billion in the first quarter to cover potential soured loans.

Citigroup also made larger provisions for credit losses even as it brought in more revenue from clients' interest payments on credit cards.

Delinquency rates were rising as anticipated, but still stood below normal levels in the bank's "very high quality" loan portfolio, said Mark Mason, the bank's finance chief.

"We have tightened credit standards specifically as a result of the current market environment in cards, we continue to calibrate our credit underwriting based on what we're seeing based on macroeconomic trends," Mason said.

Delinquency rates will probably return to "normal" levels of 3% to 3.5% for branded cards and 5% to 5.5% for retail services by early 2024, Mason said. Current delinquency rates are 2.8% for branded cards and 4% for retail services, according to Citi's presentation on its earnings.

Bank of America provisioned $931 million for credit losses in the quarter, much higher than the $30 million a year prior, but below fourth quarter $1.1 billion provision. Total net charge-offs with credit reached $807 million, increasing from the former quarter but still below pre-pandemic levels, the bank said in its earnings release.

"The consumer's in great shape in terms of credit quality by any historical standards. Employment remains good, wages remain good, and we haven't seen any cracks in that portfolio yet", Bank of America Chief Financial Officer Alastair Borthwick told reporters.

Some of JPMorgan's customers were starting to fall behind on payments, but delinquency levels were still modest, said Jeremy Barnum, finance chief at the largest U.S. lender.

“We are not seeing a lot there to indicate a problem,” he said.

The bank more than doubled the amount it set aside for credit losses in the first quarter from a year earlier, to $2.3 billion, reflecting net charge-offs of $1.1 billion.

Worsening economic conditions would lead to "credit deterioration throughout 2023 and 2024 with losses eventually surpassing pre-pandemic levels given an oncoming recession," predicted UBS analysts led by Erika Najarian. Still, loan defaults are forecast to stay "below the peaks experienced in prior downturns," they said.

As large and medium-sized lenders become more conservative in underwriting, their net charge offs will probably to peak in several quarters, wrote Morgan Stanley analyst Betsy Graseck. "This means slower loan growth" 2023 and 2024, she wrote.

American Express said in a filing on Tuesday its card loans net write-offs grew slightly in March to 1.7% from 1.4% at the end of February. Volumes of past due loans were stable from February to March.

Reporting by Tatiana Bautzer; additional reporting by Saeed Azhar; Editing by Lananh Nguyen and Nick Zieminski

PIE IN THE SKY
Facing disastrous climate change, the U.S. is betting on direct air capture


By Karen Graham
Published April 18, 2023

The Svante carbon capture pilot (pictured during construction) at our Pikes Peak South thermal project near Lloydminster, SK. in October 2021. Source - Cenovus Energy Inc.

The U.S. government has offered $3.5 billion in grants to companies that will capture and permanently store Carbon dioxide.

As the need for climate action intensifies, The U.S. is heading up the largest global effort to help halt climate change through Direct Air Capture (DAC) and expanded a tax credit to $180/tonne to bolster the burgeoning technology.

The sums involved dwarf funding available in other regions, such as Britain which has pledged up to 100 million pounds ($124 million) for DAC research and development.

The world’s largest operating DAC plant, Climeworks’ Orca plant in Iceland, can remove 4,000 tonnes of CO2 a year, which is then stored deep underground.

On 8th September 2021, Orca, the world’s first and largest climate-positive direct air capture and storage plant was launched, making direct air capture and storage a reality. Source – Climeworks

Although bids for the DAC funding were due on March 13, the government and some companies have yet to fully disclose details about the applications. The Energy Department expects to announce winning bids this summer.

As we all know, efforts to cut emissions have been inadequate, and for this reason, DAC has been thrust to the top of the list. UN scientists now estimate that billions of tons of carbon will need to be sucked out of the atmosphere annually to reach a goal of capping global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius.

While much of that will come from natural solutions such as planting more trees or increasing the ability of soil to sequester carbon, permanent carbon removal like DAC will also be needed.

Proposed Regional DAC Hubs in the United States

The map shows major DAC projects and applicants seeking part of an available $3.5 billion from the Energy Department to build regional hubs. 

Source Interviews, Public Information

Swiss start-up Climeworks, has raised more than $800 million to date and is backed by Singaporean sovereign investor GIC. The company has bids out for three DAC Hubs, in Louisiana, California, and North Dakota.

Chief Executive Christoph Gebald said all had the potential to be scaled to the U.S. government’s target of a million tonnes, known as a megatonne, a year.

While all this is amazing and very worthwhile, the question still remains – Where are all the employees coming from? Gebaldm asks, “Where are you getting those people in the next 30 years?… there’s no university program on DAC.”

The company planned to boost headcount from the low double-digits to more than 100 over the next 18 months, and by 2030, the three hubs could create 3,500 direct jobs and tens of thousands of indirect jobs, if given the green light, he said.

A view of a computer-rendered image of Climeworks' Mammoth direct air capture plant, is seen in this undated handout picture obtained by Reuters June 28, 2022. 

Climeworks/Handout via REUTERS

A piece of equipment called a distributor used to hold trays of limestone for capturing carbon is seen at the Heirloom Carbon Technologies facility in Brisbane, California, U.S. February 1, 2023.

A layer of small particles of a material derived from limestone is seen on a tray for capturing carbon at the Heirloom Carbon Technologies facility in Brisbane, California, U.S. February 1, 2023.

Small particles of a material derived from limestone are seen on a tray for capturing carbon at the Heirloom Carbon Technologies facility in Brisbane, California, U.S. February 1, 2023. 

REUTERS/Nathan Frandino/File Photo

Another bidding for funding is start-up Carbon Capture, in partnership with Frontier Carbon Solutions and a new company called Twelve, which will use captured carbon to make sustainable aviation fuel in Wyoming, Jonas Lee, chief commercial officer for Carbon Capture, told Reuters.

“This industry is fragile right now, but all the arrows are lined up in the right direction. Now, we have to do our job which is to put iron in the ground and start taking out meaningful amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere,” Lee said.

“Hopefully that will help in a virtuous cycle that galvanizes even more support from corporations buying carbon credits, and maybe from state and local governments.”

Rocket startups face adapt-or-die moment amid investment drought

Variety
2023-04-17 

Demand for sending satellites into space remains strong, but US rocket startups are taking drastic measures to survive a tight funding environment where fears have been exacerbated by the bankruptcy of Virgin Orbit.

The industry faces an interesting dichotomy. Demand has surged from launching a few satellites on small rockets to launching swarms of satellites at once using bigger rockets, even as investors shy away from the sector in search of safer bets.

Venture investment in space startups has dropped 50 percent year-over-year in 2022 to $21.9 billion, according to VC firm Space Capital.

As the cost of capital rises with the Federal Reserve's interest rate hikes, investors are less incentivized to fund capital intensive projects that do not have a clear revenue stream or path to profitability, leaving many space startups scrambling for funds.

"I've never raised capital in a harder market than the one we're in right now," Firefly Aerospace CEO Bill Weber said. "The I word and the R word - recession and inflation - make the investment market conservative and a little more cautious."

The failure of billionaire Richard Branson's Virgin Orbit, which filed for bankruptcy this month, has only ratcheted up pressure on rivals trying to keep up with Elon Musk's SpaceX, Rocket Lab (RKLB.O) and the Boeing (BA.N)-Lockheed Martin (LMT.N) joint venture, United Launch Alliance.

Texas-based Firefly is trying to mass-produce its medium-sized rocket, while developing a larger launcher under a new partnership with Northrop Grumman (NOC.N).

Fresh off celebrating its Alpha rocket's orbital debut last October, Firefly tried to raise $300 million by year-end to become cash-flow positive. By mid-February, it had only raised $30 million according to regulatory filings, although Weber said since then the company had reached about 75 percent of target.

Firefly expects to hold another funding round in mid-2024, Weber said.

Relativity Space said last week it was ditching its centerpiece small rocket, Terran 1, for a larger planned rocket, Terran R, a decision roughly a year in the making as demand for small rockets faded, CEO Tim Ellis said in an interview. The Long beach, California company to date has raised $1.3 billion, compared to Firefly's total $390 million which includes some funds from the ongoing fund-raising effort.


Firefly Aerospace's first Alpha rocket lifts off minutes before suffering a catastrophic anomaly during its first launch leading to the loss of the vehicle 2 minutes, 30 seconds after liftoff from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, U.S. September 2, 2021. 

REUTERS/Gene Blevins

"It was a lot better to just put those resources into Terran R because that's going to be a way-more-profitable way to allocate the team that we have," Ellis said.

The bigger rocket's planned debut in 2026 will leave the company without any missions for roughly three years, but Ellis said he is not worried about future funding and declined to say when the company would do another funding round.

Astra Space (ASTR.O), which ditched its small Rocket 3.3 for a planned, larger Rocket 4 in the next few years, has struggled to bring its stock price above $1, facing delisting threats from Nasdaq. Astra declined to comment on its financial struggles.

Firefly and Astra have added other business lines to make up for lost revenue, while Relativity has said its 3D printers used in rocket construction will be eventually employed for other products.


United Launch Alliance's next-generation Vulcan rocket is unloaded after it arrived by ship in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S. January 22, 2023. REUTERS/Joe Skipper

Firefly, which was forced by US officials in 2021 to sever its Ukrainian ties through Noosphere Ventures over national security concerns, counts a lunar lander named Blue Ghost as a "very profitable" line of revenue, Weber said.

"I know Firefly's management is very proud and vocal about Blue Ghost, but let's hope they can walk the walk without the Ukrainians," Noosphere founder Max Polyakov told Reuters.

Despite the startups' struggles, launch demand has soared after sanctions following Russia's invasion of Ukraine cut off access to Russian rockets. Recent failures with Europe's Arianespace's Vega-C rocket have added to demand in the US, outstripping the number of available rockets.

Shared missions to space on SpaceX's Falcon 9 rockets, a cheaper, so-called rideshare option for satellite companies that helped kill the business case for small rockets, have taken some of that demand, but much of it remains.

Private plans to deploy mega-constellations, vast swarms of satellites in low-Earth orbit, have also given launch startups hope for future demand.

"The industry is now behaving as a more rational, capitalistic industry," Erich Fischer, a senior partner at Bain and Co who advises space companies, said. "It's never behaved that way before, ever."

Elon Musk changes CBC Twitter tag to ‘69% Government-funded’

Story by Anja Karadeglija • Yesterday


The entrance to CBC's Toronto headquarters.© Provided by National Post

Twitter owner Elon Musk has changed CBC’s label to “69% Government-funded Media,” after the public broadcaster paused its use of the platform.

CBC stopped its use of Twitter Monday over being labeled government-funded, a term Twitter defines as having some level of government involvement in news content. “Our journalism is impartial and independent. To suggest otherwise is untrue,” CBC said.

CBC/Radio-Canada received $1.24 billion in parliamentary appropriations in 2021-2022 and earned $651 million in revenue, the biggest proportion of which came from advertising.

After the “T(w)itter Daily News” account posted about those numbers and a CBC tweet saying that government funding only covers a portion of its expenses, Musk responded: “Just trying to be accurate. Would they be ok if we said 70% govt funded?

He then changed the tag to “70% Government-funded Media,” tweeting “their concern has been addressed.” Another user then suggested Musk change the label to 69 per cent, suggesting he give “them the benefit of the doubt.”

“Good point, generosity is always the right move. 69% it is!” Musk tweeted, and changed the label again.

The broadcaster said Monday it had “sent a letter to Twitter asking them to reexamine the designation.”

Last week, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre asked Musk to apply the tag to CBC. On Monday, both Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh accused Poilievre of turning to an American billionaire to attack the CBC.

After Musk changed the tag to “69% Government-funded Media,” Poilievre tweeted “There. Now everyone is happy.”

Twitter also tagged British public broadcaster BBC News and NPR in the U.S. as government-funded. BBC News objected, prompting Musk to change the label to “publicly-funded,” while NPR left the platform.

Twitter initially added the label to CBC’s account Sunday. The platform defines a “government-funded” media outlet as an outlet “where the government provides some or all of the outlet’s funding and may have varying degrees of government involvement over editorial content.”

Trudeau says Poilievre's attacks on CBC while running 'to American billionaires' for support 'telling' of values

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre of enlisting U.S. billionaires to attack Canada's public broadcaster, after Poilievre pushed for Twitter owner Elon Musk to label the CBC as "government-funded." Trudeau said that Poilievre was "attacking this Canadian institution, attacking the culture and local content that is so important to so many Canadians," and said Poilievre "runs to American billionaires" to "attack this institution."

Internal audit raises red flags over maintenance of graves, cemeteries for veterans

The Canadian Press
Mon, April 17, 2023 



OTTAWA — An internal report by Veterans Affairs Canada is raising red flags over the country's military graves and cemeteries, warning that more permanent funding is needed to keep them from falling into disrepair.

The report is the result of an internal audit following up on a similar review six years ago. At that time, nearly 45,000 out of the estimated 207,000 graves of Canada's veterans were in a state of disrepair because of a lack of resources.

The Trudeau government subsequently committed nearly $25 million over five years in temporary funding starting in 2018, which the new report says has largely addressed the problem by facilitating thousands of repairs.

Yet auditors found that without a permanent increase to the department's funding, that success will be short-lived.

"While five-year funding for the backlog project has allowed the grave marker maintenance team to reduce the backlog of repairs significantly, maintaining an adequate inspection cycle post-project will be challenging," the audit report reads.

"The evaluation finds that the current $1.25 million allocated to the cemetery and grave marker maintenance program is insufficient to prevent a future maintenance backlog."

The audit report goes on to note that the annual $1.25 million budget has remained largely unchanged since 2009, even though the number of graves tracked and maintained by the department has increased by more than 40 per cent over the past decade.

Veterans Affairs spokesman Marc Lescoutre confirmed in an email to The Canadian Press that the department has not increased baseline funding for the maintenance program, though he said it has taken $900,000 from other areas to ensure sufficient funds.

"The department is exploring opportunities to seek ongoing funding to address the increasing cost of maintaining the grave marker inventory and to develop and implement an appropriate grave inspection/maintenance cycle," he added.

Bruce Julian, dominion president of the Royal Canadian Legion, welcomed the progress that has been made in reducing the number of grave markers needing maintenance.

"At the same time, we were concerned to read that the future of the department's program was at risk due to apparent insufficient funding," Julian said in an statement.

"We ask that the federal government commit to fully and permanently supporting the ongoing care of grave markers placed by VAC. These are essential means of reflection and remembrance dedicated to those who have served our country."

The Liberals have been repeatedly criticized for refusing to make permanent investments in Veterans Affairs operations over the past few years, as it has relied instead on temporary funds and staff to address long-standing problems.

That included hiring of hundreds of temporary staff to process a backlog of disability claims from ill and injured veterans, and dozens of temporary case managers to help permanent staff with their overwhelming workloads.

The temporary measures have been criticized by veterans, service providers and others such as auditor general Karen Hogan, who has blasted the continued use of what she calls ad hoc funding.

During their review of grave marking maintenance, auditors interviewed staff from Veterans Affairs as well as the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, which cares for the graves of 110,000 Canadian soldiers killed and buried overseas in the First and Second World Wars.

Their conclusion: "Returning to the financial status quo after the backlog project will result in a situation where grave markers cannot be inspected and maintained within the current 12-year cycle.

"Further, the 12-year inspection cycle itself was adopted in response to funding levels, not as a best practice. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission currently inspects the graves it is responsible for on a six-year basis."

In addition to Canadian war graves, the commission also cares for those of British, Australian, New Zealand and Indian soldiers killed during the two great wars.

Auditors found problems in the operation of the two cemeteries that Veterans Affairs owns and operates: Fort Massey Cemetery in Halifax and God's Acre Cemetery in Esquimalt, B.C., which was recently expanded to accept more graves.

"The upgraded facilities were supposed to allow for on-site staffing to facilitate increasing burials at the cemetery," the audit report says of God's Acre. "However, health and safety concerns with the structure have restricted on-site activities."

Concerns were also raised about a lack of formal policies around who can actually be interred at God's Acre, how plots are obtained, reserved and priced, while "no business processes are in place for the handling of funeral payments."

God's Acre and Fort Massey also did not have up-to-date operational plans or plans for protecting the cultural and historical integrity of either site.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 17, 2023.

Lee Berthiaume, The Canadian Press

Nova Scotia public schools plan for possible strike of CUPE support workers, bus drivers

CBC
Mon, April 17, 2023 

School bus service in some regional centres for education will be put on pause if workers go on strike. (Shutterstock - image credit)

Nova Scotia public schools are preparing for a possible CUPE strike this week, forcing hundreds of students back to online learning

Thousands of unionized workers — including bus drivers, cleaners, maintenance staff, educational program assistants and early childhood educators, along with other roles — could soon walk off the job after wage negotiations reached an impasse last week.

"It was our biggest fear for a while," said Emma Wilkie, a Portapique, N.S., parent with a teen in Grade 11.

"... Our 17-year-old is not thrilled about going back to online learning having just gotten out of it."

Wilkie said it's too bad the strike could be coming so close to the end of the school year.

"Our other option previously was to drive Jade ourselves, now it's going to go to online learning. We've got emails from the teachers saying anyone in Grade 7 to 12 would be switching to online in less than a week from now, so that's a surprise for teachers; it's definitely a surprise for us," she said.

The earliest a strike could begin is Friday, April 21, but the union is required to give at least 48 hours of notice.

Wilkie said the bus service is essential for students in rural areas.

"Driving a bus full of teenagers and kids is not an easy job, and if they're only getting paid for hours in the morning and hours in the afternoon, of course it's going to be hard to find workers. So maybe the pay should be more, maybe the benefits should be more," Wilkie said.

Autism Nova Scotia expressed concerns about a possible strike in a news release on Monday. The organization says the needs of students will be forgotten, including students with autism being left without support in the school system.

"We are deeply concerned for autistic students and students with disabilities who require specific supports, who will be left without options if a strike takes place," said Cynthia Carroll, executive director of Autism Nova Scotia, in a news release.

"All students deserve equal access to education, it's a human right. Without a proper contingency plan in place, autistic and students with disabilities will once again be left behind."

While many regional centres for education are hopeful a strike could be prevented, they are making plans in case a strike happens.

Plans vary because the strike will have different impacts in different areas.

Chignecto-Central Regional Centre for Education

In-person learning will continue for pre-primary children up to Grade 6 classes in all CCRCE schools.


Before and after school programming will continue


Grade 7 to Grade 12 students will move to online learning, with devices provided to students who need them. The centre says school staff will connect with families where a student has special programming requirements.


School bus transportation will be paused..


Field trips that rely on school-bus transportation will be paused.


All extra-curricular activities, sports and community use of school buildings will pause, but there could be exceptions for outdoor fields and grounds.

Cape Breton-Victoria Regional Centre for Education

Primary to Grade 5 students will be able to continue attending school.


There will be no school bus service.


Grade 6 to Grade 12 students will move to at-home learning.


Students will continue to follow their regular schedule and will meet with their teachers and classmates on Google Classroom.


Students needing additional support will still be able to access in-person learning at their school, but without the support of teacher assistants or student support workers. Individual schools will reach out to affected families to discuss these plans.

Annapolis Valley Regional Centre for Education

No school bus transportation for students to and from Annapolis County schools, West Hants area schools and the West Kings Family of Schools in Kings County.


Primary to Grade 5 and pre-primary children who receive busing by National Passenger Service (AVRCE's third-party provider for most Kings County schools) will continue to receive transportation to and from school.


AVRCE-operated cafeterias will not be available, but breakfast and snack programs will remain.


Secretaries in West Hants-area schools will not be working, so delays are anticipated if anyone tries to contact school offices.


Any after-school extracurricular activities that require being in the building will be on pause. Community use of schools during evenings and weekends will also be on pause.

Halifax Regional Centre for Education

All schools will remain open to in-person learning, student transportation will operate as usual for those who require it, and the EXCEL program will continue to operate.


Educational program assistants would not be at work. Schools are reaching out to families who would be affected to come up with an alternative plan on a case-by-case basis.


Pre-primary programs will be paused and pre-primary students will not attend school.


Services from the following employees will be paused for the duration of a strike: library support specialists, SchoolsPlus community outreach workers, child and youth care practitioners, Mi'kmaw/Indigenous student support workers, African Nova Scotian student support workers and assistive technology support workers.

South Shore Regional Centre for Education

Grade Primary to Grade 6 students will still attend class.


Learning for Grade 7 to Grade 12 students will shift online, with some exceptions. That includes students who attend class though the learning centre.


School bus service will be suspended, except in cases where a private bus is being used.


Schools will not be available for before or after school use, except for any existing child-care programs.


Extracurricular activities inside the school building or that require a school bus are suspended, but sports on fields and on school grounds may continue.

Tri-county Regional Centre for Education

Elementary students will continue to attend class.


Most junior high and high school students will shift to online learning, with some exceptions.


Schools will not be available for use before classes or after classes, except for existing child-care programs.


Buses will not be available for students, unless there are previous arrangements for a student to take a private bus service.


Extracurricular activities inside schools are paused.

Conseil scolaire acadien provincial

Elementary students will continue to be able to attend class.


Most junior high and high school students will shift to online learning, with exception for students who attend class at the learning centre for more than half the time.


On the first day of a strike, learning staff would be given a day to prepare for online learning and students would take an independent learning day. Online school would begin on the second day of the strike.


Regions that would lose bus service during the strike include Clare, Argyle, Pomquet and South Shore. Areas where transportation is provided by Transco as well as taxi services will continue to operate.

Strait Regional Centre for Education

A spokesperson for SRCE told CBC News CUPE Local 955 staff are not in a legal strike position on April 21, 2023. Its negotiation timelines are different than other regional centres for education.

MORE TOP STORIES

Ben & Jerry's workers announce plan to unionize in Vermont

Mon, April 17, 2023 


BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — About 40 workers at the Ben & Jerry's ice cream shop in the Vermont city where the company was founded announced Monday that they plan to form a union.

“Collectively, we have come to embody Ben and Jerry’s slogan of ‘peace, love, and ice cream,’” they said they wrote to management.

The so-called scoopers at the Burlington, Vt., shop said they have formed an organizing committee and petitioned the National Labor Relations Board for an election. They said they have the support of the upstate New York & Vermont chapter of Workers United, the union that started the Starbucks unionization campaign in Buffalo, New York.

“I think of this union as a sign of respect for Ben & Jerry’s,” said Rebeka Mendelsohn, a shift manager and catering lead, in a statement. “We’re a company that stands for social justice rights and equity, and I want to ensure that this message is translated to all levels of employment.”

Ben & Jerry's, now owned by consumer goods giant Unilever, said organizers just presented the plan to the company Sunday night.

It's ”an important issue to us, we’re aware of it, and we’re actively working on it," Ben & Jerry's spokesman Sean Greenwood wrote in an email.

The shop employees' letter to management says they want a voice in key decisions over issues such as salaries and health care costs.

“We are taught from the beginning of our employment that equality and justice are integral rights of ours as people. But what happens when Vermont’s Finest are continuously left out of these conversations?"

The Associated Press