Time For Change 793

A very important reminder to all members of Local 793.  Your general membership meeting will be this Sunday, March 28th, 2010.  At 10:00am at our Head Office on Speers Road in Oakville. 

Issues discussed will be of importance to all members regardless of the sector they happen to be working in.

At all January union meeting through out the province, proposals will be taken from the members, for the new Provincial Collective Agreement, make sure you attend the meeting in your area.

The March general membership meeting will be held at head office 2245 Speers rd. Oakville Ontario, on Sunday March 28th 2010. This maybe the most important meeting you ever attend, as a member!! Make sure you get out, and make your vote count!!

This was emailed to me and I think it is an urgent issue for our members to respond to, since Local 793 is supporting the Liberal Party which has introduced this.

———————————–

Next summer (2010) the Ontario Government is set to put into force its new harmonized GST/PST sales tax which will apply a 13% sales tax to everything we purchase.

Things That Were Not Subject To The Current 8% PST Will Be Now Taxed As a result, things that were not previously taxed under the current Ontario Provincial Sales Tax (PST) will be taxed at 8%.

The new 13% tax will therefore apply to things like your electric bill, your gas bill, your water bill, condominium fees, insurance premiums, and every other good and service you purchase. There are almost no exemptions.

The current Ontario PST tax does not apply to services, nor does it apply to the purchase of certain goods. The new 13% tax will therefore extend the old 8% PST tax rate to the purchase of all goods and all services.

The New 13% Tax Will Apply To The Purchase of All New Homes
The new harmonized GST/PST will also apply to all purchases of all new homes. If a person were to purchase a new $1 million dollar home in Toronto, they would have to pay roughly $200,000 in taxes as a result of the Ontario land transfer tax, the new city of Toronto land transfer tax, and the new harmonized 13% GST/PST.

Think about that and what that would do to real estate values in Toronto.

It will cause property values to fall and kill the new home construction industry and the jobs it creates.

And it won’t be long before you’ll hear our elected representatives telling us that, because of the harm that has been inflicted to the new home construction industry by the new 13% tax, it would be “fair” to extend the new 13% tax to sales of existing homes.

The New 13% Tax Is An Assault On Your Primary Residence
Canadians have had two things that they have always been able to count on as being tax free – things that they could use to save money and accumulate wealth. They are your: (a) primary home; and (b) RRSP. That’s it.

The extension of the new 13% GST/PST to homes is simply a tax assault by the government on your primary home. They want to tax your primary home and you will suffer because of it.

Why? Because if a purchaser has to pay almost $200,000 in taxes to buy your $1 million dollar home, the purchaser is going to pay less to you for your home. The purchaser will reduce the amount he or she is willing to pay to you in order to pay all the taxes.

The New 13% Tax Will Effectively Raise Your Income Taxes
Currently, the combined Federal/Ontario income tax rates are roughly 25% on the first $20,000 of taxable income, 42% on the next $40,000 of taxable income, and 46.5% on each dollar of taxable income over $60,000. On top of that you have to add the “Fair Share Health Tax” of up to $1,000 each of us has to pay.

If the Ontario Government gets away with implementing their new harmonized GST/PST sales tax of 13%, the top effective income tax rates in Ontario will be as follows (since you can’t spend any of your tax paid dollars without paying the new harmonized 13% GST/PST tax):

38% on the first $20,000
53% on the next $40,000
59.5% on every dollar over $60,000

On top of that, you have to pay your Ontario Fair Share Health Tax, your city realty taxes, your city garbage fees, your city water fees, your city street parking permit fees, your annual Ontario and new city of Toronto vehicle license plate fees, your Ontario land transfer tax, your new city of Toronto land transfer tax, your gasoline taxes, your liquor taxes, your air departure taxes, your entertainment taxes, and so on.

OF ALL THE MONEY YOU WORKED HARD TO EARN, WHAT PERCENTAGE ARE YOU REALLY KEEPING FOR YOUR OWN USE?  25%? 20%? 10%?

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH – FIGHT BACK
THIS HAS GOT TO STOP HERE OR WE WILL ALL SOON BE WORKING FULL TIME FOR THE VARIOUS LEVELS OF GOVERNMENT IN ONTARIO.

YOU CAN ALREADY SEE HOW OUR LIFESTYLES ARE DECLINING BECAUSE OF THE ENORMOUS TAX LOAD WE BEAR.

AS A RESULT, I URGE YOU TO TAKE THIS ISSUE SERIOUSLY AND TO FILL AND AND SIGN THE PETITION AT  www.unfairtaxgrab.com AGAINST THE NEW HARMONIZED GST/PST TAX SET OUT BELOW. 

I WOULD ALSO ASK YOU TO E-MAIL THIS ON TO OTHERS THAT YOU KNOW AND ASK THEM TO DO THE SAME.

IF WE DON’T WORK TOGETHER ON THIS ISSUE THE NEW HARMONIZED 13% SALES TAX WILL BECOME A REALITY NEXT SUMMER.

THANK YOU.
To sign a petition go to  www.unfairtaxgrab.com
 
Thousands say “no” to the HST
 
Dalton McGuinty claims “no one is complaining” about his unfair tax grab. You proved him wrong this week. On Wednesday we sent out a request asking you to send a message to the McGuinty Government about the HST. Almost instantly our email box began to fill. By the end of the day we’d received nearly 2,000 messages.

New Democrat Members of Provincial Parliament did their best to read them into the record in the Legislature, but they simply ran out of time. The good news is: there are more debates to come and we’ll be sending you details about how to keep up the fight against this unfair tax grab. In the meantime, you can read a transcript of the debate here .

Together we can stop the HST.
 
PS – Urge your friends, family and other concerned citizens to sign the petition at www.unfairtaxgrab.com .

That’s right!   This Sunday.  Since most of the summer union meetings have been cancelled, please get out and voice your concerns this Sunday Sept 27, 2009.  Make sure the union doesn’t make decisions without you the member having a vote.  I encourage those members who haven’t yet been able to find work, with families that are struggling to attend this meeting.

If you can not afford to get there, or need a ride, feel free to contact me.

In a good economy, our members work their hardest through the summer months and in the past years almost all of our members would be out on sites with open calls at the hall for operators going unfilled.

This year, this is not the case.  We have many members waiting for a call to work while other unions and non-union employees are getting on equipment, taking jobs from our highly skilled members at lower wages.  Now is the time to defend our jurisdiction, to get our representatives out to sites and ensure our contracts are in effect.  Ensure trained operators are running equipment.

I urge every member, no matter their area or if they are travelling this summer for work, to attend your July / August meetings.  Don’t leave our representatives without your input when work is scarce and they have an important job to do.  If your local area July / August meetings have been cancelled, ask your business rep’s why?  Now is the time for vigilance.

I’ve been speaking with members and stewards across Northern Ontario in the past few weeks.   The members support change in our election process even more strongly than they did before the elections and the trial.  The members agree, its time for change.

Monti Rose

I’ve been traveling and speaking with stewards and members across Southwestern Ontario for the last week.  The members agree change is necessary in our Election process.  We have to allow any member to run for office without fear of intimidation, and with full access to the membership.  How else can someone running for office speak about important issues that influence members decisions when it comes time to vote?

I’ll be speaking with more members in the coming weeks and would like to thank every one for their support, especially in this downturn.

I will be asking the courts to make a decision on the “unions refusal” to supply me with a copy of the transcripts taken during my union trail.  Under the Constitution I have been requesting the union supply me with my own copy for months. I would like to thank all the members for their ongoing support in regards to this important issue.

Hamilton has a new office and Wednesday February 25th will be the first meeting at this new hall. All members are encouraged to spread the word and come out to the meeting which starts at 7:30pm.

The new hall is located at 35 Goderich Road, Unit 5. Hamilton, Ontario. Click Here To See Directions From Mapquest.

After the meeting we’ll be heading down to T.J. Pluckers at 1565 Barton Street E. where chicken wings will be half price for all members of Local 793 that can make it out. Thanks to Brother Shawn Brisebois, owner of T.J. Pluckers and proud Local 793 Member for making that possible.

Keep your calendar open, Wednesday’s Meeting is a special event you should not miss!

The revised Labour Mobility Chapter of the AIT¹ will provide that any worker certified for an occupation by a regulatory authority of one province or territory is to be recognized as qualifed for that occupation by all other provinces and territories. This will now make the “red seal” a thing of the past, and encourage more operator’s to travel province to province seeking employment.

¹AIT stands for “Agreement on Internal Trade“