Home Bargains billionaire backs Labour with £5,000 donation

Luke Barr
Sat, 21 October 2023 


The billionaire founder of Home Bargains has become the latest high-profile businessman to back Labour ahead of the next election.

T J Morris, which owns Home Bargains and is run by Liverpudlian Tom Morris, recently donated £5,000 to Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting.

Mr Morris, 69, joins former supermarket chairman Baron David Sainsbury and ex-Autoglass chief Gary Lubner on the growing list of business leaders to have backed Labour in recent months.

Last month, The Telegraph revealed that long-time Tory donor Lord Harris of Peckham had also donated £5,000 to Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves.

It follows a high-profile charm offensive of business leaders by Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and Ms Reeves.

T J Morris donated £5,000 to shadow health secretary Wes Streeting - Ian Forsyth/Getty Images

Through his retail empire, Mr Morris has amassed a reported personal fortune of more than £6bn, making him one of Labour’s wealthiest donors.

T J Morris donated £5,000 to Mr Streeting last month, parliamentary filings show.

A Labour spokesman said: “Wes is proud to have the support of successful business people like Tom.

“The Labour Party is winning business support with our plans to get British business booming, the economy growing, and the NHS fit for the future. Business leaders know it’s time for a change and they’re backing Labour to give Britain its future back.”

Labour is winning the support and funding of business leaders as public opinion swings behind the opposition. Last week the Tories suffered historic twin defeats in by-elections in Tamworth and Mid Bedfordshire, with both formerly safe seats falling to Labour.

Mr Morris launched Home Bargains as a market stall in 1976, fuelling its early expansion through a personal overdraft.

The chain now operates almost 600 shops across the country and is Britain’s largest independent grocer. It employs 28,000 workers and had revenues of £3.42bn in 2022.

Earlier this year, Mr Morris was handed more than £20m in dividends from Home Bargains despite company profits falling 26pc to £290m.

Mr Morris previously gave £10,000 to Labour’s Steve Rotheram in 2017 as part of his successful bid to become Liverpool’s metro mayor.

He was scrutinised last year for failing to repay taxpayer support that Home Bargains received during the pandemic.

Home Bargains declined to comment.

UK
‘The Tories’ lack of support for farmers will see them pay at the polls’

Daniel Woolfson
Tue, 24 October 2023

Riverford founder Guy Singh-Watson says there is ‘a huge amount of anger’ in the countryside over the Government’s rural policies - Stuart Everitt

The Tories have squandered the farming vote, the boss of Riverford Organics has claimed.

Guy Singh-Watson, founder and chief executive of Riverford, said there was “a huge amount of anger, frustration” in the countryside over the Government’s rural policies.

Farmers have been left to cope with soaring inflation and deal with the upheaval of the transition from EU subsidies to new green incentives in England, known as the Environmental Land Management schemes (ELMs). The process has been beset by delays and confusion.

Mr Singh-Watson criticised the Government’s handling of the scheme. He said: “Let’s remember, it was only just over 12 months ago, when Liz Truss was talking about tearing [ELMs] up.

“What the hell are we meant to do? What’s the next turn going to be?”

Founded in 1987, Devon-headquartered Riverford Organics supplies 65,000 households with fruit and vegetables from its own organic farms and other producers across the UK. Sales last year were a record £110m.

The criticism from Mr Singh-Watson comes days after a historic wipeout of the Conservatives in by-elections in Tamworth and Mid-Bedfordshire.

The defeats in what were relatively safe seats have led experts to warn that the Tories can no longer rely on traditional strongholds.

Farmers and rural communities have long been seen as a bedrock of support for the Conservatives but backing has wavered in recent years as financial pressures on food producers have mounted.

A survey by Farmers Weekly at the end of last year found just 42pc of farmers would vote for the Tories in a general election. That was the lowest amount on record, down from 71pc in 2020.

Mr Singh-Watson, 63, said: “I don’t think you’ll find any farmer who would defend [their record]. There’s a huge amount of anger, frustration, probably a fair amount of it reflected in the fishing industry as well.”

Earlier this year Jeremy Clarkson summed up rural frustrations when he said farming had become “mainly about filling in forms”.

Mr Singh-Watson said he believed ministers “sold farming down the Swanny” by doing trade deals after Brexit that undermined British producers.

He said: “I remember Michael Gove from the Oxford farming conference saying categorically that farmers had no need to worry about foreign trade deals, and that the standards for imports would be the same as for UK production.

“We can now import eggs from Mexico without any restrictions on how they’re produced at all. Those are directly competitive with British eggs.”

Rural communities have long been seen as a bedrock of support for the Conservatives – but in recent years backing has wavered - Stuart Everitt

Lizzie Hacking, a Conservative councillor and chairman of the Conservative Rural Forum, said a group of MPs were pushing for rural issues to be put “front and centre” ahead of the next election to shore up support.

She said: “They’re recognising the polls haven’t necessarily been where they have been historically, and they’re trying to fix it. The rollout of ELMs has created some frustration, which is fair. I think the party recognises that it’s not been as smooth as it could have been.”

Beyond the ELMs, Mr Singh-Watson highlighted a lack of support from the Government for farmers when dealing with supermarkets.

Supermarket vegetable shortages earlier were blamed on bad weather impacting harvests. However, Mr Singh-Watson said pressure from supermarkets to keep prices low was leaving the country vulnerable to further supply issues.

He said: “Prices are being driven down and down and down... farmers are getting a smaller and smaller proportion of the end retail price.

“What typically happens in negotiations is that the supplier ends up being driven down to something only marginally above their variable costs of production – seed, labour, fertiliser, packaging – but nothing is left over or very little left over for reinvestment in the infrastructure of the farm.”

Riverford has launched a campaign called Get Fair About Farming calling on the Government to intervene by reforming the Groceries Code of Practice, which dictates how retailers treat their suppliers. Over 67,000 people have signed a petition so far.

An open letter accusing supermarkets of ‘wasteful’ practices was signed by celebrities including Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall - Jeff Gilbert

Mr Singh-Watson said: “If you go to Holland and meet growers, they have confidence in their long-term future. They will put up a greenhouse that won’t be paid off in their lifetime and possibly their children’s lifetime.

“No one’s going to do that if they don’t have confidence in the future. And that will come both through government policy and the way the [supermarket] buyers behave, so we’ve just got a double whammy in this country.”

In an open letter to the bosses of Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, Aldi and Lidl, Riverford accused the supermarkets of “imbalanced, short term and wasteful” practices that have left British farmers “struggling to survive”.

It was signed by celebrities including Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Julia Bradbury and Ray Mears.

Mr Singh-Watson said: “Clearly supermarkets have been making a bloody fortune during Covid and the post-Covid period.”

Supermarkets have faced repeated accusations of profiteering during the cost of living crisis as prices rose. However, the sector was cleared of doing so by the Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) in July, citing a fall in supermarkets’ margins.

Mr Singh-Watson said government support for striking a new deal between supermarkets and farmers would help to boost Britain’s food security.

He said: “In 1980 we were about 80pc self sufficiency in food, we’re now down to about 60pc depending on how you measure it.

“I would like to see us get back up to 80pc, or certainly not fall any lower. And that does require farmers being able to invest in their businesses.”

Andrew Opie, director of food and sustainability at the British Retail Consortium, which represents supermarkets, said: “Food retailers source, and will continue to source, the vast majority of their food from the UK, and work hard to pay a sustainable price to farmers.

“Retailers value their relationships with British farmers and are supporting them by paying more for their produce.

“However, retailers are also facing many additional costs and the recent CMA report shows that they are working hard to absorb these in order to limit price increases for their customers.”

A spokesman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) said: “We back British farmers and are committed to realising the benefits of greater trade, opening up new markets for our world-class British produce.

“We are supporting farming by investing £2.4bn annually into the sector and at our Farm to Fork Summit this year, we announced a package of measures to protect farmers’ interests in future trade deals, boost domestic fruit and veg production and deliver new investment in technologies.”

UPDATED

British cargo ship sinks off coast of Germany - several missing after collision

Sky News
Updated Tue, 24 October 2023 



A British cargo ship has reportedly sunk off the coast of Germany following a collision, and several people are missing.

Two vessels crashed into each other in the North Sea, according to German authorities.

The ships, Polesie and Verity, collided in the early morning about 14 miles southwest of the island of Helgoland, Germany's Central Command for Maritime Emergencies said.

One of the ships, the British-flagged Verity, apparently sank.

The emergency command said one person was rescued from the water and was being given medical treatment, and rescuers were searching for several more people who were unaccounted for.

It said the ship was headed from Bremen to the English port of Immingham.

The other ship, the Bahamas-flagged Polesie, remained afloat with 22 people on board.

A number of German search and rescue vessels are in the area, according to ship tracking, along with two helicopters.

The Iona cruise ship - based out of Southampton - was headed for Rotterdam but has also paused in the vicinity of Verity's last known location, perhaps in an effort to assist with the search.

Sailor dies and four people missing after British cargo ship sinks in North Sea

Jamie Bullen
Tue, 24 October 2023

The Verity (pictured) sank after a collision in the North Sea - Andy Gibson / Alamy Stock Photo

One sailor has died and four remain missing after a British cargo ship sank in the North Sea after colliding with a larger freight vessel.

German maritime authorities say three people who were on board Verity have been rescued after it struck another ship in the German Bight on Tuesday morning.

Officials say one man was declared dead after he was pulled from the water and a search is continuing for four people who remain missing.

One person was rescued earlier.

A search and rescue operation involving a P&O cruise liner and a German Navy Sea King was launched in the early hours on Tuesday after Verity collided with another freighter, called “Polesie”, near Heligoland in the North Sea.

The cause of the collision is being investigated but German media has reported Verity may have lost radio signal around an hour before the crash amid choppy conditions.

Verity, which sails under the British flag, was journeying from Bremen to Immingham, Lincolnshire, reportedly to deliver a shipment of steel. It was believed to have eight people on board.

The Polesie was also involved in the collision

While Polesie, which is registered in the Bahamas, was travelling from Hamburg to La Coruña in Spain. It has remained afloat with 22 people on board.

Poleise is the much larger vessel measuring at 190 metres in length and 29 metres in width compared to Verity which is said to be 91 metres by 14 metres.

In a statement, the German Society for the Rescue of Shipwrecked People said it was “assumed” Verity sank as a result of the ships colliding.

It said: “A ship collision occurred in the German Bight early on Tuesday morning, October 24, 2023, around 5am. The cargo ships Polesie and Verity collided approximately 12 nautical miles (22 kilometers) southwest of the island of Helgoland and 17 nautical miles (31 kilometers) northeast of the island of Langeoog.

“The emergency command took over overall operational management.

“The accident command currently assumes that the Verity sank as a result of the collision. One person was rescued from the water and is receiving medical care.

“Several other people are currently missing. The search for the shipwreck is underway.”

A P&O passenger told The Telegraph they were alerted to an incident in their cabins at around 5am following a tannoy announcement.

The man, who only gave his name as Al, said: “There was an announcement that the crew had to ‘muster rescue’ at that point.

“A little later, the crew were instructed to stand ready for a possible helicopter landing. Upper decks were cleared and I was sent packing also.

“As of right now, we’re still stationary. The mood is subdued. There have been no further instructions from the bridge.

“The ship’s company is amazing and should be mentioned here. Utterly professional.”

The Iona has been helping German rescuers at the scene

A P&O spokesman said: “P&O Cruises Iona is currently involved in a search and rescue operation off the coast of Germany.

“The incident is ongoing and Iona’s cooperation complies with international maritime law as well as being consistent with the company’s moral and legal obligations.

“Iona is scheduled to be at sea today and this event should have no impact upon tomorrow’s scheduled call to Rotterdam or the onward itinerary.”

Verity was built in 2001 at a shipyard in Kootsertille, Netherlands, and was registered in Douglas on the Isle of Man.

Owners Faversham Ships, a British-Dutch company, said it had no comment to make at this time but was in contact with German authorities.

UK
Unemployment rate unchanged but signs point to cooling jobs market

Holly Williams, PA Business Editor
Tue, 24 October 2023

The UK jobless rate remained unchanged in the latest three months amid mounting signs that Britain’s jobs market has cooled.

Estimates from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed that the unemployment rate stood at 4.2% in the three months to August, the same as in the previous three months, under a new calculation adjusted for low survey responses.

It comes after official figures last week revealed that real earnings are outstripping inflation for the first time in nearly two years.

(PA Graphics)


But there was also a mixed picture for the wider jobs market after last week’s figures showed pay growth starting to ease back for the first time since January, job vacancies falling for the 15th time in a row and an 11,000 drop in UK workers on payrolls during September.

The latest “experimental” figures had been delayed by a week due to a low response to its labour force survey, and the ONS said it has used extra data sources to estimate the figures, including more real-time payroll data.

The ONS said this provides a more “holistic view” of the labour market while the traditional survey statistics are uncertain.

Darren Morgan, ONS director of economic statistics, said: “This is part of our transformation of the way we measure the labour market where we are introducing an improved Labour Force Survey, asking more people in different ways about their employment status.”



The data showed that the inactivity rate among those aged 16-64 remained unchanged at 20.9% when compared with the three months to July.

It also revealed that 119,000 working days were lost to industrial disputes in August, with the majority of the strikes in the health and social work sector.

Junior doctors and hospital consultants have staged a series of strikes in a long-running dispute over pay and conditions in the English NHS.

Earlier figures from the ONS showed regular earnings rose by a near record 7.8% in the three months to August and were 0.7% higher with Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation taken into account.

(PA Graphics)

Revised figures from the ONS also revealed wages have been out-pacing inflation since the three months to July, with wages rising faster than prices for the first time since October 2021.

However, earnings growth eased back from 7.9% in the three months to July in a sign that firms are starting to hold back on wage hikes.

Vacancies also dropped for the 15th time in a row – down 43,000 quarter on quarter to 988,000 in the three months to September – in a further sign that Britain’s jobs market is cooling in the face of a barrage of interest rate hikes and economic worries.

Jake Finney, economist at PwC UK, said: “The UK labour market remains tight but is cooling, with unemployment rising, vacancies declining, and pay growth slowing.”

The latest data showed there were 1.4 million unemployed in the three months to August while the employment rate also remained unchanged at 75.7%, with 31.6 million in jobs.

(PA Graphics)

When compared with the three months to May, the UK jobless rate edged up to from 4% to 4.2%, with 74,000 more jobless people, the ONS said.

Martin Beck, chief economic adviser to the EY Item Club, said the newly calculated data complicates the reading for the jobs market, but suggests that the loosening in the labour market looks “slightly less significant than before”.

He said that despite this, unemployment is still rising faster than the Bank of England expected.

Mr Beck added: “The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) will be mindful about the potential for revisions in the new jobs measure.

“But alongside an absence of surprises in recent pay and inflation data, the latest labour market numbers offer another reason to think that the MPC will keep Bank Rate on hold when it meets in November.”

UK real living wage increases to £12 per hour – and £13.15 in London

Pedro Goncalves
·Finance Reporter, Yahoo Finance UK
Mon, 23 October 2023 

Low-paid workers remain at the sharp end of the cost of living crisis, according to the Living Wage Foundation. Photo: PA/Alamy (Gary Hider)

More than 460,000 people across the UK will see their "real living wage" rise by 10% amid the ongoing cost of living crisis.

Rates will increase to £12 an hour outside London — a rise of £1.10. In the capital it will rise to £13.15 an hour — a £1.20 increase from this Tuesday.

The rate, which is voluntarily paid by some employers, applies to everyone over the age of 18 and compares to the statutory national living wage for over-23s of £10.42 an hour.

Over 460,000 people, employed by 14,000 employers, receive the real living wage, with the retail, care and hospitality sectors accounting for a large number of these jobs.

“As inflation eases, we cannot forget that low-paid workers remain at the sharp end of the cost of living crisis,” Living Wage Foundation director Katherine Chapman said.

Read more: The best and worst UK banks for current and savings accounts

According to the foundation, a full-time worker earning the new real living wage will earn £3,081 more per year than someone on the current government minimum, and an additional £5,323 in London

“Low-paid workers continue to struggle with stubbornly high prices because they spend a larger share of their budget on food and energy. These new rates are a lifeline for the 460,000 workers who will get a pay rise,” Chapman added.

Research by the foundation found that, despite easing inflation, the cost of living crisis is far from over for low-paid workers, with 50% worse off than a year ago.

More than two in five low-paid workers say they regularly use a food bank and almost as many report falling behind on household bills, according to the Living Wage Foundation.

The real living wage is decided by the Living Wage Foundation and the rate is set based on current living costs, such as the cost of bills. It is different from the national living wage, an "obligatory" minimum wage businesses pay workers in the UK aged 23 and over for each hour they work.

Read more: Tesco and Sainsbury's using 'dodgy tactics' on promotions, says Which?

Real living wage employers include the Royal Albert Hall, Aston University, and the Excel Centre, as well as about half of the FTSE 100 (^FTSE) companies including insurer Aviva (AV.L).

UK chancellor Jeremy Hunt has confirmed that from April next year, the national living wage will rise from the current £10.42 an hour to at least £11 an hour. The increase would see the annual earnings of a full-time worker earning this amount increase by £1,000 a year.


Real Living Wage to rise 10% amid cost-of-living crisis

Alan Jones, PA Industrial Correspondent
Tue, 24 October 2023 

The voluntary so-called Real Living Wage is to increase by 10% to reflect the ongoing cost-of-living crisis for workers, it has been announced.

More than 460,000 people working for 14,000 employers who pay the rate will receive a wage rise.

The Living Wage Foundation said its rates will increase to £12 an hour outside London – a rise of £1.10 – and to £13.15 an hour in the capital – a £1.20 increase.

The foundation said the 10% rise, coming into effect on Tuesday, reflects “persistently high costs” for low-paid workers.

(PA Graphics)

The voluntary rate, which applies to everyone over the age of 18, compares to the statutory National Living Wage for over-23s of £10.42 an hour.

A full-time worker earning the new Real Living Wage will earn £3,081 a year more than someone on the current government minimum, and an additional £5,323 in London, according to the foundation.

Its research found that, despite easing inflation, the cost-of-living crisis is far from over for low-paid workers, with 50% worse off than a year ago.

More than two in five low-paid workers say they regularly use a food bank and almost as many report falling behind on household bills, said the foundation.

Living Wage Foundation director Katherine Chapman said: “As inflation eases, we cannot forget that low-paid workers remain at the sharp end of the cost-of-living crisis.

“Low-paid workers continue to struggle with stubbornly high prices because they spend a larger share of their budget on food and energy.

“These new rates are a lifeline for the 460,000 workers who will get a pay rise.”

The foundation said record numbers of employers are signing up to pay the voluntary rates.

Unison general secretary Christina McAnea said: “This is good news for hundreds of thousands of low-paid workers whose employers do the right thing. That’s pay them a decent wage.

“But many more providing essential public services will miss out. These employees include care workers, who’re often on poverty pay, in a sector already struggling to fill record vacancies.

“Today’s increase means thousands of workers employed by the NHS on the lowest pay bands – like porters, cleaners, domestics and security staff – will be significantly short of the new rate.

“The Government must follow suit and boost the minimum wage so millions are better able to weather the cost-of-living pressures causing such deep financial pain.”

Exhausted Amazon staff fight back against retail giant at global UK summit


Jon Ungoed-Thomas and Nonyelum Anigbo
Sun, 22 October 2023

Photograph: Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP/Getty Images

It was about 3am on a night shift in May last year when Amazon worker Christine Manno tried to retrieve a box stacked high in the warehouse in St Peters, Missouri. She was 30ft in the air, strapped to a harness and standing on the edge of the raised platform of a truck.

She was recovering from operations on her injured hands for carpal tunnel syndrome, a neurological disorder, and the weight of the box shot pains through her neck and back. “It was like an electric shock,” she said.

Manno was initially on restricted duties but has been stuck at home from her injury since last July on sick pay. A few years ago, a worker like Manno would have had scant chance of redress, but she is now part of an organising committee at the St Peters warehouse demanding action over Amazon’s working conditions.

“People are getting their parcels in one or two days, but behind the scenes it’s exhausting,” said Manno last week. “The [targets] are unsustainable. I am leaning off a truck attached by a harness lifting cases weighing 40 to 50lb. And this is over a 12-hour shift. Amazon is breaking down our bodies, young or old.”

It is not just Manno and her fellow workers calling Amazon to account. From her Missouri workplace to fulfilment centres in the UK and Europe and warehouses in India, workers are demanding union rights and an overhaul of the digital giant’s working practices. They also want a greater slice of Amazon’s global revenue, which was $514bn (£423bn) in 2022.

This week, campaigners, politicians and unions will gather at a summit in Manchester called Make Amazon Pay to call for international action over workers’ rights, market abuse and tax. It will convene at a conference centre at the Mechanics’ Institute, where the Trades Union Congress (TUC) was founded in 1868.

Protests are planned around the world on 24 November, Black Friday. The GMB union has announced four days of strikes in November, including Black Friday, of more than 1,000 workers at Amazon’s Coventry warehouse.

Amazon is also under pressure from regulators. The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced last month it was suing Amazon for anti-competitive strategies, including overcharging sellers, stifling innovation and suppressing competition.

“We haven’t tried to rein in a monopoly this large for decades,” said Emily Peterson-Cassin, digital rights advocate at Public Citizen, a US advocacy organisation supporting the Make Amazon Pay summit. “This could and should be a tipping point.”

It is a potential crisis for Amazon, with growing calls for it to be broken up. Some believe it has got too big and should no longer be the “referee” and a retailer on a marketplace it controls.

The FTC, headed by Lina Khan, a prominent expert in the anti-monopoly movement, seeks a permanent injunction to “pry loose” Amazon’s monopolistic control.

In Jeff Bezos’ first letter to shareholders after Amazon went public in 1997, he said the company was vigilant and maintained a sense of urgency in its long-term pursuit of market dominance, with a relentless focus on customers. More than two decades later, Amazon has more than 200 million Prime members and dominates online retail. The customers it zealously pursued, with a typically seamless service, are now a captive market.

Critics say that service quality has slumped and its sellers are being squeezed for fees. A recent Washington Post article said the proliferation of ads on product searches meant that as a place to find items it was becoming “a tacky strip mall filled with neon signs pointing you in all the wrong directions”.

Cory Doctorow, the commentator and author of The Internet Con, describes how Amazon has gone through a digital lifecycle he calls “enshittification”. Financial surpluses, he says, are first directed to users; then, once the users are locked in, to suppliers; and finally to shareholders, at which point the platform becomes degraded, or in Doctorow’s words “a useless pile of shit”.

These digital monopolists are not geniuses. They just operate with less constraint and more powerful tools
Cory Doctorow, commentator

“Amazon boasts about its $31bn advertising business, but it’s not really advertising,” said Doctorow. “It’s ‘pay for play’ where merchants buy the right to be shown on the search result page ahead of the best match. These are often deceptive offers, similar to what you may have wanted, but lower quality or higher price.”

He added: “These digital monopolists are not smarter than people who cornered markets before. They’re not wizards or geniuses. They’re the same sharp operators we’ve always had, operating with less constraint and more powerful tools.”

Richard Allen, a campaigner for retailers against online market abuse, said he refused to sell his products on Amazon when he operated a record business. “I said: ‘You’ll get to see my sales. You’ll get to know my customers. Why would I do that?’ But people fell for this idea that Amazon was a better platform to have their goods on because it was more visible.”

As a retailer, Amazon had the upper hand over every seller on its platform, he said, because it operated the marketplace: “I don’t think you should be allowed to operate a platform and also be a retailer on it. The conflict is too great.”

A report in June by the Amsterdam-based Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations found that, between 2017 and 2022, Amazon tripled earnings from fees for independent sellers in Europe.

It’s not just small retailers who are counting the cost of doing business with Amazon. Its employees around the world complain they are suffering from inadequate pay and burnout.

Rachel Fagan, GMB organiser, said there were now about 1,000 union members at the Coventry warehouse, where the workforce last year was the first to take legally mandated strike action against Amazon in the UK. Fagan said workers were demanding better pay but also considered performance targets were unfair.

She said: “In the middle of winter, people are dressed like they are going to the gym, with T-shirts, shorts and trainers, because of the physical work. It’s really hard work and it has a toll.

“If you work in any other warehouse, you get a target on how many boxes you pack a day. But at Amazon the algorithm bases [the target] on the average picking that day. People don’t know the target, so everyone is working at full capacity, and this is the reason people get worn out.”

Workers in Amazon centres across the world are calling for a change in workplace practices. One worker in India who spoke to the Observer said she would take part in action on Black Friday to press for work targets to be achievable, for working hours to be no longer than eight hours a day and for better pay rates. She works 10-hour days, five days a week, earning about £100 a month.

Amazon said in a media briefing last week it planned to automate many repetitive tasks at warehouses with robots. It is testing Digit, a two-legged robot that can grasp and lift items. Union officials say whatever innovations are in the pipeline, the workforce needs better representation.

Christy Hoffman, general secretary of UNI Global Union, an international union for service industries, said: “Amazon’s unchecked power needs to be curbed. One step governments should take is stronger labour laws and stronger enforcement that would help stop Amazon’s union-busting.”

Related: Amazon unveils plan to deliver packages by drone in UK and Italy

Between January and August, the US Department of Labor has cited Amazon for workplace violations on six occasions, including violations at warehouses in Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, New Jersey and New York. Bernie Sanders, chair of the senate committee on health, education, labour and pensions, which is investigating Amazon’s workplace practices, says conditions in US warehouses are dangerous and illegal. Amazon has said it strongly disagrees with Sanders’s assertions.

Amazon says it is a trusted partner for millions of sellers worldwide and the FTC action was misguided. It said its platform was good for competition, consumers and sellers.

The company said working in a warehouse was a rewarding job at Amazon, with excellent pay, workforce support and comfortably paced work with breaks. A spokesperson said: “We invest, invent and innovate in safety, going above and beyond the basics right across our business. Performance metrics are regularly evaluated and built on benchmarks based on real-life and attainable performance history.”

In response to reports of the proliferation of ads on product searches, the company said: “We offer hundreds of millions of items to millions of customers, and it’s our job to bring together each individual customer with the best single product for them – all in a matter of seconds. This is no easy feat, and we work hard every day to strike the right balance between organic search results, merchandising and advertising.”

Labour promises £3bn to support British steel industry as 2,000 job cuts loom

Jonathan Leake
Mon, 23 October 2023

British Steel's plant in Scunthorpe, north Lincolnshire - LINDSEY PARNABY/AFP

Labour wants to build hydrogen-powered factories that produce green steel as part of Sir Keir Starmer’s plans to invest £3bn in the sector if he wins the next election.

This forms part of the Labour leader’s pledge for Britain’s steel industry to be “the future, not the past”, as he said he will “back, not abandon” steelworkers.

Labour’s bid for hydrogen-powered steel will mean Britain could make so-called green steel from scratch, rather than recycling old scrap.

Details of the £3bn plan follow revelations that 2,000 jobs may go at British Steel’s Scunthorpe plant.

Mr Starmer made his announcement during a visit to Tata’s giant Port Talbot plant in South Wales on Monday, as he said he wants the UK to retain its steelmaking industry and become a world leader in “green steel production”.

He said: “We have ambitious plans for the steel industry. We see this as the future, not the past. That requires strategic thinking about our economy. We want to go to clean power, that will bring down energy costs.”

The Government last month announced it will pump up to £500m into Port Talbot as part of plans to produce “greener” steel. Tata employs 8,000 people, 4,000 at Port Talbot. Up to 3,000 jobs could eventually be lost.

Over the weekend it was reported that Jingye Group, the Chinese owners of British Steel, want a similar deal, seeking an estimated £300m to help switch its Scunthorpe plant’s coke-fired blast furnaces to electric arc versions, which can run on zero-carbon electricity.

However, British Steel is drawing up plans to cut up to 2,000 workers as it grapples with losses of up to £30m a month, the Sunday Times first reported.

Keir Starmer reaffirmed his party's commitment to the steel industry during a visit to Tata’s Port Talbot steelworks - Ben Birchall/PA Wire

Sir Keir met with representatives of the three main steelworkers’ unions – Community, GMB and Unite – during his visit to Port Talbot.

He said: “If we are able to put in place our mission for clean power 2030, that will require more steel – and therefore we want the demand for steel to go up.

“Of course, we need to transition to green steel. But we must do this transition very carefully, protecting the jobs and the skills and the history that we have here in South Wales. Connecting and bridging that to the future, which is green steel.

“So, we have been having productive discussions this morning about what I think will be a very bright future for steel. But only with strategic thinking around it.”

A government spokesperson confirmed it was already in negotiations with Jingye, and said: “Our commitment to the UK steel sector is clear, including announcing a major package of support on energy costs and government financing to enable greener steel production by Tata Steel at Port Talbot.

“We continue to work closely with industry, including British Steel, to secure a sustainable and competitive future for the UK steel industry.”

British Steel’s headquarters are based at the 2,000-acre Scunthorpe site in Lincolnshire, along with its main iron and steelmaking operations. Its four blast furnaces produce about three million tonnes of steel a year – about half the UK total.

It also has rolling mills in Teesside and Skinningrove in the UK and in Alblasserdam in the Netherlands.

A British Steel spokesman said it was committed to transforming British Steel into a “green and sustainable company”. He added: “As part of our journey to net zero, it is prudent to evaluate different operational scenarios.”

British steel ‘the future, not the past’, Keir Starmer vows during Port Talbot visit

David Hughes and Dominic McGrath
Mon, 23 October 2023 



SIR Keir Starmer said that he had “productive” talks during a visit to Port Talbot, as he promised to make the UK a world leader in clean green steel.

The Labour leader visited Tata’s giant Port Talbot plant, promising that the industry was “the future, not the past”.

Tata also runs sites in Llanwern and Caerphilly.

Sir Keir, who was meeting with representatives of the three main steelworkers’ unions – Community, GMB and Unite – during his visit, made the vow as the industry faces job cuts as part of the drive to lower emissions.

He has made delivering clean power by 2030 one of his five missions for a Labour government.

“We have ambitious plans for the steel industry. We see this as the future, not the past. That requires strategic thinking about our economy. We want to go to clean power, that will bring down energy costs,” Sir Keir said.

He added: “If we are able to put in place our mission for clean power 2030, that will require more steel – and therefore we want the demand for steel to go up. Of course, we need to transition to green steel. But we must do this transition very carefully, protecting the jobs and the skills and the history that we have here in South Wales. Connecting and bridging that to the future, which is green steel.

“We have been having productive discussions this morning about what I think will be a very bright future for steel. But only with strategic thinking around it.”

The UK Government last month announced it will pump up to £500 million into Port Talbot as part of plans to produce “greener” steel – but as many as 3,000 jobs could be lost.

The taxpayer funding will help switch the plant’s two coal-fired blast furnaces to electric arc versions, which can run on zero-carbon electricity.

The firm, which employs around 8,000 people across the UK, will also invest about £750 million in the project.

Electric arc furnaces (EAF) are mainly used to melt scrap metal for conversion into new products, while blast furnaces are used to create steel from iron ore and coke.

Around 2,000 jobs are also reportedly at risk at Scunthorpe-based British Steel, according to the Sunday Times, although final decisions have not been made.

A UK Government spokesman said: “Our commitment to the UK steel sector is clear, including announcing a major package of support on energy costs and recent Government financing to enable greener steel production by Tata Steel at Port Talbot.

“We continue to work closely with industry, including British Steel, to secure a sustainable and competitive future for the UK steel industry.”

A Labour spokesman said: “We’ll invest in the communities that are at the heart of the future by investing £3 billion over a decade to greening steel across the UK, from Port Talbot, to Rutherglen, to Scunthorpe.

“Our long-term plan for steel will see a 10-year commitment to invest in the new green technologies we need to keep UK steel competitive, ensure jobs stay in the UK and reduce our carbon emissions.

“That’s the difference between Labour and the Conservatives, they lurch from crisis to crisis while Labour has a plan for a decade of national renewal.”

Community’s general secretary Roy Rickhuss said: “It is clear that Labour is on the side of steelworkers, and we need a Keir Starmer-led Labour government that will deliver the investment needed for our industry to thrive.

“After three years of discussions, the deal that Tata and the UK Government have cooked up – with no input from the unions – is a botched plan for decarbonisation on the cheap.”

He called for a “long, robust consultation” on the plan with the chance for the union to put forward alternative proposals, adding that “we will do everything in our power to support our members and all options should be on the table”.

The Unite union called for Sir Keir to back its plan for the industry, which includes a £12 billion, 12-year phased transition to green steel and changes to procurement rules to allow public contracts to use 100 per cent British metal.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Port Talbot can remain at the centre of a vibrant UK steel industry if Keir Starmer commits a future Labour government to supporting Unite’s plan for steel.

“Unite’s workers’ plan for steel shows politicians have the opportunity to make the UK a world leader in steel production – we will be doing everything in our power to make sure they grasp it.”

Labour promises UK steel industry will be ‘backed not abandoned’

David Hughes, PA Political Editor
Sun, 22 October 2023 

The UK can be a world leader in clean steel production, Labour vowed as the industry faces painful job cuts as part of the drive to lower emissions.

Sir Keir Starmer will visit Tata’s giant Port Talbot plant in South Wales where he will promise the UK’s steelmakers are “backed, not abandoned”.

The Government last month announced it will pump up to £500 million into Port Talbot as part of plans to produce “greener” steel – but as many as 3,000 jobs could be lost.

The taxpayer funding will help switch the plant’s two coal-fired blast furnaces to electric arc versions, which can run on zero-carbon electricity.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer is set to visit Port Talbot (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

The firm, which employs around 8,000 people across the UK, will also invest about £750 million in the project.

Electric arc furnaces (EAF) are mainly used to melt scrap metal for conversion into new products, while blast furnaces are used to create steel from iron ore and coke.

Around 2,000 jobs are also reportedly at risk at Scunthorpe-based British Steel, according to the Sunday Times, although final decisions have not been made.

A Government spokesman said: “Our commitment to the UK steel sector is clear, including announcing a major package of support on energy costs and recent Government financing to enable greener steel production by Tata Steel at Port Talbot.

“We continue to work closely with industry, including British Steel, to secure a sustainable and competitive future for the UK steel industry.”

Sir Keir is expected to meet representatives of the three main steelworkers’ unions – Community, GMB and Unite – during his visit to Port Talbot.

A Labour spokesman said: “The UK can be a world leader in clean steel and our long-term programme of investment will safeguard jobs and help us lead the pack, not lag behind our competitors.

“Labour won’t stand aside. We will ensure the UK’s steel industry is backed, not abandoned.

“We’ll invest in the communities that are at the heart of the future by investing £3 billion over a decade to greening steel across the UK, from Port Talbot, to Rutherglen, to Scunthorpe.



“Our long-term plan for steel will see a 10-year commitment to invest in the new green technologies we need to keep UK steel competitive, ensure jobs stay in the UK and reduce our carbon emissions.

“That’s the difference between Labour and the Conservatives, they lurch from crisis to crisis while Labour has a plan for a decade of national renewal.”

Community’s general secretary Roy Rickhuss said: “It is clear that Labour is on the side of steelworkers, and we need a Keir Starmer-led Labour government that will deliver the investment needed for our industry to thrive.

“After three years of discussions, the deal that Tata and the UK Government have cooked up – with no input from the unions – is a botched plan for decarbonisation on the cheap.”

He called for a “long, robust consultation” on the plan with the chance for the union to put forward alternative proposals, adding that “we will do everything in our power to support our members and all options should be on the table”.

The Unite union called for Sir Keir to back its plan for the industry, which includes a £12 billion, 12-year phased transition to green steel and changes to procurement rules to allow public contracts to use 100% British metal.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Port Talbot can remain at the centre of a vibrant UK steel industry if Keir Starmer commits a future Labour government to supporting Unite’s plan for steel.

“Unite’s workers’ plan for steel shows politicians have the opportunity to make the UK a world leader in steel production – we will be doing everything in our power to make sure they grasp it.”

PRACTICAL AI
Artificial intelligence could help city maintain roads, save money


CBC
Mon, October 23, 2023 


Initial tests by the City of Calgary in using artificial intelligence (AI) show it can do a better job of detecting potential potholes, cracks and other road defects than humans can.

Earlier this year, officials developed a system that uses AI machine-learning technology to gauge pavement conditions.

It was a joint project between the city's mobility department, its information technology department and AltaML, an Alberta-based company that designs and implements AI solutions for businesses.

An IT engineer with the city, Ashiq Rahman, said they first had to tell a computer algorithm what kinds of defects it should look for in the imagery.

"You throw this training set into the model and the model, from that set, will learn these defects and when it learns, it means the model will become ready," he said.

"Then you can use this model to test any new defects that your camera will capture."

What the AI program was able to do had everyone on the project feeling pretty excited.

To illustrate how it performed, the city has produced some images. In blue boxes on the pictures, you can see potholes or cracks that are detectable by the human eye.

But there are also red boxes which outline the deformations detected by AI with varying degrees of accuracy.

"It means the algorithm is saying here that 'look i see a defect here and I am 98 per cent confident that this is a road defect that you are trying to detect,'" said Rahman.

It means city crews could repair a defect before it becomes a bigger problem or they could monitor the situation and deal with it as it becomes visible.

The director of the city's mobility department, Troy McLeod, said having this kind of intelligence can generate all kinds of dividends.

"It can predict where those defects will propagate and come up with a priority repair program so that we can address deficiencies in advance of any failure or any further deficiencies in the roadway," said McLeod.

"This will help us save costs on repair for our pavement assets."

So far this year, the city has patched about 25,000 potholes. That program costs more than $6 million annually. The city also typically spends about $40 million a year repaving roadways where the pavement has reached the end of its lifecycle.


The kind of video that's been gathered using a new high-resolution 11K camera that can be fed into an AI program is shown. (Mike Symington/CBC)

McLeod said the next big step in their AI work will come in January 2024. That's when the city plans to start mounting special high-quality cameras on some of its vehicles.

The devices will be used to gather high resolution, 360-degree video as the vehicle is driven along city streets.

That higher quality video will be fed into the AI program to further test its effectiveness at spotting current and potential problems in the asphalt.

An imagine showing potholes visible to the human eye and ones that were detected by an AI program. (The City of Calgary)

The chief information technology officer for the City of Calgary, Jan Bradley, said the work is "incredibly exciting."

She said that while the discoveries so far have been good news for road maintenance, there is a lot more potential for the city.

"The opportunities that we have to leverage artificial intelligence, machine learning, to really solve business unit use cases that can be very time intensive, labour intensive, if we can transition that work to some of these AI models, I think the opportunities are endless."

For example, AI could point out city trees that need watering based on their deteriorating condition, or pinpoint illegal temporary signs next to roads.

Bradley said the city has been working in this field for a few years, but a more recent development has boosted their progress.

"The launch of ChatGPT and the public awareness has really allowed us to accelerate how we are going to be able to use and leverage this technology in our organization. And that's what we're really excited about."

For those who worry about a growing number of city vehicles on the street with cameras, Bradley said there are rules to protect the public's privacy.

She said the city won't be intentionally collecting or keeping imagery of people's faces or licence plates. The focus will be gathering video for what's needed for the AI model to do its work.

The city believes it is at the forefront of this research among Canadian municipalities.

McLeod said he's aware of other cities that are doing AI work regarding potholes, but not related to cracks and other road defects.

IPA

A new hop: How the hunt for a B.C.-optimized beer ingredient could spark revival of a once-mighty industry


CBC
Sat, October 21, 2023


A research program in British Columbia is aiming to help revive the province's once-mighty hop industry by developing B.C.-optimized strains of the beer ingredient.

Since 2019, the NextGen Hops development program at Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) in Langley — about 50 kilometres southeast of Vancouver — has been breeding plants that will thrive in the province's climate and potentially lead to the creation of a signature B.C. hop, in the same way some current varieties are associated with major producing regions like southern Germany and the U.S. Pacific Northwest.

Together with the small group of the province's remaining hop growers, the aim is to "get more acres in the ground and hopefully develop the next great hop to make the farmers happy and the brewers happy," said Mathias Schuetz, a molecular biologist and biochemist at KPU who is leading the NextGen Hops program.

B.C. was once the biggest producer of hops in the Commonwealth, with production focused mostly in the Fraser Valley, but the industry began to dwindle in the 1950s in the face of foreign competition.


Hop cones ready to be picked in the hop yard at Barnside Brewing in Delta, B.C., in September. (Andrea Klipp)

The province's industry today is tiny — with just five commercial-grade farms cultivating not more than 50 acres, according to members of the B.C. Hop Growers Association — especially compared to its giant competitor to the south, where Washington's Yakima Valley produces the largest annual yield of hops in the world across thousands of acres.

While much of the hops used by breweries across Canada is imported, mostly from the U.S., growers and researchers believe the KPU program is laying an important foundation for future success and development here.

Head start with 'feral' hops

The hop plant, humulus lupulus, which is grown on tall trellis structures due to its climbing nature, produces bright green cones in late summer and early fall that have been prized as a beer ingredient for centuries.

Hops were primarily used in beer for their bitter and preservative qualities, but interest this century has tended to focus more on the aromas and flavours different varieties provide.

The goal of the NextGen Hops program is to create a type of hop that has a high yield to maximize profit and is disease-resistant, particularly to the mildew that can blight the crop in southwest B.C.'s relatively damp climate.

Schuetz and his team have leaned on the province's brewing past for help in isolating these qualities by seeking out "feral" hops left behind by the industry in the 20th century. These plants have thrived in the wild along roads, waterways and rail lines across the Lower Mainland for decades, meaning nature has already done some of the lab work.

"They're not being cultivated, they're surviving well in the wild with disease pressures that are all around them, so we're using them for breeding stock — using hops with these good traits and crossing them with varieties that are grown for aromas and flavours," said Schuetz, whose program has been boosted by a $250,000 grant from Genome B.C. to help with molecular analysis.


Mathias Schuetz in the lab with a DNA sequencing machine that his research team is using for a hop genomics program. (Garrett McCarthy)

But what would the exact aromas and flavours be in a signature B.C. hop? Salmonberry and salal? Cedar and kush?

"We're letting the brewers decide," said Schuetz, who's making use of KPU's in-house brewery to get brewing program students to test his cross-bred hops in batches of beer.

He concedes that the popularity of fruity hop flavours like berry, citrus and stone fruit could influence the profile, as well as an emerging trend toward the spicier notes of European hops.


Staff and students from Kwantlen Polytechnic University's Applied Genomics Centre and brewing program help harvest hops at Crescent Island Hops in Delta, B.C., on Sept. 15. (Kwantlen Polytechnic University)

Local hops for local brewers

Schuetz took his research to the B.C. Craft Brewers Conference on Friday, in a bid to convince more beer-makers to opt for local when buying hops.

Growers say it shouldn't be a hard sell, seeing as B.C.'s booming craft beer scene already draws heavily on community support and collaboration.

"Everything about craft beer is more localized than just about any other business out there these days, especially in the age of Amazon," said Ken Malenstyn, chair of the B.C. Hop Growers Association and owner of Barnside Brewing in Delta, about 25 kilometres south of Vancouver.

"We'd like to tie ingredients to that story as well."

However, local brewers have been slow to put trust back in B.C. hops after a short boom-and-bust period in the mid-2010s that damaged the industry's reputation, said Malenstyn, who cited issues with operators who planned according to speculation and not demand.

"There was a lot of damage done — some small landholders lost their land; it really hurt the reputation of local growers; there were issues with product quality … so many issues," Malenstyn said.


An aerial shot of the hop yard at Barnside Brewing in Delta, B.C. (Andrea Klipp)

One of the few established growers that remains to revive the industry is Topp's Hops in Abbotsford's Sumas Prairie, which handles all aspects of hop production, from growth through processing to delivery.

Despite the tiny stature of the industry in B.C., owner Mark Topper is confident there's room for growth once the pieces of high-quality research and local support connect.

"There could be a fivefold increase in what's being done right now, with some simple messaging and awareness to the brewers and a community connection … it's just getting the glue to bring it all together," said Topper, who has been growing hops on his family's farm since 2014.

There's also some long-term climate resiliency built into the industry in southwest B.C., in terms of ample water sources such as the Fraser River. A growing concern among the hop producers of Yakima is drought and high heat, Schuetz says, adding that yields are falling year after year in major hop regions of Europe due to extreme weather caused by climate change.

A new variety of high-yield, disease-resistant, aromatic hop can take 12 to 15 years to develop, Schuetz says, but he's hopeful the timeline can be shortened. He says he has three promising potential varieties, with one of them already planted over an acre-and-a-half in the Fraser Valley.


Hops is a primary ingredient in most beer, lending bitter and preservative qualities, as well as different aromas and flavours depending on the variety. (Andrea Klipp)

In the meantime, Schuetz, Malenstyn and Topper are all keen to point out that high-quality hops are already being produced in B.C. that show subtle terroir in the different soils they're grown in, whether that's in Abbotsford, Delta or Pemberton.

"We have excellent hops growing right now, with public varieties like Cascade, Chinook, Centennial," Schuetz said. "We're urging Canadian brewers to access them."

Indigenous students lead the way in new McGill course on Indigenous health care

CBC
Sun, October 22, 2023 


A new course at McGill University is putting a spotlight on Indigenous health care, and Indigenous students are the driving forces behind it.

The course, called "Indigenous Worldviews in Health Delivery and Research," debuted this fall. It's available to graduate students at the School of Population and Global Health (SPGH), which is part of McGill's faculty of medicine and health sciences.

The key role Indigenous students play in shaping this program makes it a first among all Canadian universities, according to McGill. Indigenous staff and faculty also played a role in shaping the new course.

It examines the effects of colonialism on Indigenous communities, specifically as it pertains to their experiences in hospitals. The case of Joyce Echaquan, an Atikamekw woman who recorded herself moments before her 2020 death as hospital staff hurled racist insults at her, is among those being explored. It also looks as Indigenous health research ethics.

The course's co-creator, Sidney Leggett, a master's student who is Métis, said the push to create this course began a year ago when students noticed a gap in what they were learning. Students eligible for the course are enrolled in programs that allow them to work in fields such as public health, occupational health, biostatistics and epidemiology.


Anglena Sarwar, a master's student at McGill, is one of the first students to enrol in the 'Indigenous Worldviews in Health Delivery and Research' course. (Matt D'Amours/CBC)

"For either an epidemiologist or a public health expert, you're generally going to be in some kind of policy-making role and making policy in Canada means that you're making policy that affects Indigenous people," said Leggett.

"Students just felt that they were going through all these methods courses, intensive courses and were kind of missing that piece."

It was important to "Indigenize" the curriculum, according to Anyana Banerjee, an assistant professor at McGill and the SPGH's lead on equity, diversity, inclusion and anti-racism.

She said being able to grasp the history and current realities surrounding Indigenous health gives graduates — regardless of their background — the tools to break the cycle of discrimination in health care.

Anglena Sarwar, who is working to get a master's degree in public health, says she's passionate about equity and social justice and felt this class was a perfect fit.

She says she's learned a lot in just a few a weeks — enough to realize that wrapping her head around the realities of Indigenous health care is a process that will continue well past this semester.

"It's going to be a continuous process throughout my life. I'm never going to have all the right answers," Sarwar said.


Students who participate in the new course are enrolled in programs that allow them to eventually work in fields like public health, epidemiology and biostatistics. (Mat D'Amours/CBC)

"No matter what, I'm going to be a learner. It doesn't matter if I have my master's. I'm going to be working with communities, people who have better knowledge than me."

The course isn't mandatory, though that could change in the future.

Leggett hopes it contributes to having more Indigenous students choosing fields like epidemiology.

"At the end of the day, that will be the strongest baseline in Canada to build a successful equity and policy-making foundation," Leggett said. "It's to have Indigenous people in the room."

New partnership agreements struck to support northern Quebec Cree health hubs


CBC
Mon, October 23, 2023 


Leaders of several Cree organizations have signed a historic agreement they say will help address some long-standing health and social issues, like intergenerational trauma, chronic illnesses and high rates of addictions.

On Sept. 22, leaders from the Cree health board, Cree Nation Government (CNG) and Cree School Board signed a new Community Miyupimaatisiiun Committee Partnership agreement to improve overall well-being for Cree people in northern Quebec communities.

"The nation was too split up, doing their own thing without considering working together because we're all serving the same people," said Bertie Wapachee, the chairperson of the Cree Board of Health and Social Services of James Bay (CBHSSJB).

Instead of addressing one part of an issue, we can do it all together [such as] alcoholism, bootlegging or drug addiction and drug trafficking," said Wapachee.

"Miyupimaatsiiun," in English, roughly translates to "healthy living."

Bertie Wapachee, middle, speaks about the importance of shared responsibility toward healthy living of all Cree in Eeyou Istchee. They signed the agreement in Chisasibi on Sept. 22. (Marcel Grogorick/CBHSSJB)

Community Miyupimaatisiiun Centres (CMC) are existing local health hubs in Cree communities that offer general medicine, home care and dentistry, among other services.

Each community also has a Miyupimaatisiiun committee made up of local leaders and community members, some of whom represent regional Cree organizations and entities. They are mandated to identify three local health and social priorities and suggest solutions, according to a release about the signing. The idea is to better support and bridge the local CMC committees with regional entities and resources.

Mandy Gull-Masty, the current Grand Chief of Eeyou Istchee, said that she is looking forward to the mandate beginning.

"We are inter-connected, but we know every community also has diverse needs … The Miyupimaatisiiun committees are critical to finding successful solutions that are Cree-driven," said Gull-Masty, in a press release.


Sarah Pash, second from left, is the chairperson for the Cree School Board. She says collaboration is important for meaningful action. (Marcel Grogorick/CBHSSJB)

Leaders of Cree organizations say they will support the Miyupimaatsiiun committees in programming and projects.

Priorities could be anything from youth mental health, Cree customary adoption or chronic conditions such as diabetes, among others, according to a Cree health board press release.

One of the other entities signed onto the agreement is the Cree School Board.

"The effects of the pandemic, compounded with the issues we face in our communities as a result of intergenerational traumas, necessitate a focus on physical, emotional, spiritual, and mental well-being in our schools," said Sarah Pash, chairperson for the Cree School Board.


Members of the CBHSSJB, CNG, CSB and nine chiefs from Eeyou Itschee signed the new Community Miyupimaatsiiun Committee Partnership. (Marcel Grogorick/CBHSSJB)

The regional partners and local committees are in the early stages of figuring out how the committees will work and how they can be best supported.Their aim is to work together toward a healthier nation in all aspects of life.

"Whatever action plan they come up with, we'll do our part in contributing [funding] to their action plan," said Wapachee, adding the level of collaboration is something that has never been done before.

They start meetings soon, Wapachee said, adding he's looking forward to moving to a Cree model of what health and well-being looks like.

"The four elements in life — the physical health, emotional health, mental health and spiritual health — have to be balanced," said Wapachee. "That's what we're all seeking and that's what we all deserve."