January 7, 2011 - Government of Newfoundland and Labrador

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Protecting the Labour Rights of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians in a Globalized World surge in commodity prices. Conversely, and quite worrisome is the share of wages and salaries as a percentage of the province’s GDP. This share is lower than other province in Canada and has fallen just as dramatically as corporate profits have surged – an 18.6% decline between 1999 and 2008. Less than 30% of our GDP goes to wages and salaries for working people, compared to the Canadian average of over 51%. Newfoundland and Labrador has the lowest percentage of its GDP going into wages and salaries of any province and the highest percentage going to corporate profits (See Appendix 5). Newfoundland and Labrador is the only province where (in 2008) corporate profits exceeded total wages and salaries. This, according to Stanford, is extraordinary. The pie is divided very differently in Newfoundland, compared to the rest of Canada. One can argue that because so much income goes to corporate profits, Newfoundland and Labrador still has below-average personal income (9 th out of the 10 provinces) despite having above-average GDP per capita (3 rd in Canada). The inability of Newfoundland and Labrador workers to attain a reasonable and normal share of the new wealth they produce in personal income (ie. wages and salaries) is thus holding back the whole provincial economy. That’s why government must be an active player, on the side of Newfoundland and Labrador workers, in helping them win and defend a fair share of income in high-value industries like oil and gas and mining. Outside the multi-year $2.8 billion investment in the Long Harbour project, once again a result of government intervention and policy, what is extracted for the most part in profit by global companies like Vale never “touches down” in Newfoundland and Labrador’s economy. It flows back to corporate headquarters and is reinvested in ventures and takeovers in other parts of the world or divided up among shareholders. Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour Page 31
Protecting the Labour Rights of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians in a Globalized World Newfoundlanders and Labradorians have a long history of seeking to remedy the lop-sided benefits that flow from our rich resources. While that is beginning to happen as a result of some hard-nosed bargaining, much more needs to be done to ensure not just that we get a fair return on resources to provincial coffers through taxes and royalties, but that workers employed by these multinationals have an opportunity to prosper. One way of giving working people a fighting change at the bargaining table and continue to expand the province’s middle class is for our government to put in place a set of labour laws that protect rights in these new times in which we live. And we would strongly encourage this Inquiry to made recommendations in this regard. Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour Page 32
Page 1: SubmissiontotheIndustrial InquiryCo
Page 4 and 5: Protecting the Labour Rights of New

January 7, 2011 - Government of Newfoundland and Labrador

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