Not a Creature is Stirring inside Canada's Labour Club
October 2nd, 2003 has come and gone. Inside the Canadian Labour Congress, the mice aren't stirring. Neither are the fat cats or the rats or the rat unions.
That was the date by which IWA-Canada President Dave Haggard was to advise the CLC what steps would be taken to bring the IWA into compliance with a section of the CLC constitution which, depending on how you hold it up to the light, could be interpreted as prohibiting sweetheart contracts by CLC affiliated unions.
The trouble started last year when the IWA inked a deal with BC health services companies that was so sweet that a number of Canada's larger unions demanded the CLC do something. When CLC President Ken Georgetti said there wasn't much that could be done, the Canadian Union of Public Employees filed a formal complaint under the CLC's constitution. An "impartial umpire" appointed to decide the complaint found the IWA guilty and set the October 2 deadline for the union to respond to tell him - and the CLC - what he intended to do about it.
It's been a week now and the media-release-spewing CLC has said nothing about what the IWA intends to do. Our guess is that's because the IWA intends to do nothing or at least, nothing meaningful. That would make perfect sense because, as we discussed in a previous commentary, there's nothing it can do.
CLC cheerleaders hailed the umpire's report as a great victory for solidarity. Heaving a collective sigh of relief they proclaimed that now they could march boldly forward fighting privatization and greedy corporations.
Solidarity among whom, we are compelled to ask. The leaders of the CLC's affiliated unions? Canadian labour (four major unions, NUPGE, UFCW, CAW and CUPE account for over 50% of the 2.5 million CLC members). What will they fight with? Empty rhetoric? Labour gurus' finger wagging? Rolled up copies of the IWA's shameful "partnership agreement" with Aramark Corporation?
Surely the CLC's "Plan B" (Plan A was just to ignore the outcry against the IWA until it blew over) will do little to promote solidarity among the workers who are covered by lousy agreements between union-management partners or who have lost their jobs in backroom deals or who are just plain fed up of the tired old rhetoric and in-house courtroom dramas played out to give them a warm feeling that something is being done.
What do highly paid labour gurus chanting hollow rhetoric have in common with union members whose lives have been devastated by fine upstanding members of their congregation? Nothing. Absolutely nothing! And that is the problem. These labour leaders are so stuck in their comfortable ruts that you couldn't pull them out with a winch.
Let's stop, just stop dead in our tracks and ask ourselves if the CLC leaders really give a damn about the fate of workers and their families. Stop with the "solidarity forever" bullshit already. Save it for somebody who doesn't know any better - if you can find anyone who fits that bill.
The Canadian labour movement is falling apart one brick at a time and the IWA's exploitation of workers - along with its corporate partners - is just one example of the race for the bottom of the barrel of union representation.
Victoria Labour Council Secretary-Treasurer Colin Graham blames Compass Group, one of the IWA's partners, stating:" I think Compass has a hell of a lot of nerve".
You're wrong Brother Colin. Compass Group is just doing what corporations do: Making the biggest buck it can. It's the IWA that has one hell of a nerve, signing a sweetheart deal that cuts workers' wages in half, reduces vacations and other benefits and eliminates pensions.
The "no competitive disadvantage" clause is something the IWA should really be especially ashamed of. What kind of a union would ever agree to a management demand that stipulates that if the IWA negotiates a cheaper contract with any other employer, the provisions of the cheaper deal will apply to all workers in its current bargaining unit? What the hell is that? Pattern bargaining in reverse?
The IWA has blazed quite a trail. There will be many more corporations waiting in the swampy reeds for the same candyfloss contracts given to Compass and Aramark.
Good luck to the great leaders of the Canadian labour movement in their fight against privatization. Thanks to the IWA's sweetheart deal and the CLC's tacit approval, the HEU members whose jobs are on the line in BC know they have to accept whatever deal the government throws at them or face the frightening prospect of being thrown out of work and replaced by IWA members for half the price. That's bound to inspire a lot of solidarity.
Workers at St. Joseph's Hospital in Comox BC recently voted overwhelmingly to accept huge concessions just to save their jobs. Some of them are loosing up to $4,000 a year in wages, 3 days of vacation time, and have agreed to work longer weeks. Workers also agreed to pay back wage and equity adjustments just received in 2003. Solidarity or surrender? You be the judge. If there is any consolation in all this, it's that they are not IWA members.
Will the IWA respond to the Georgetti deadline? Why would they? At impartial umpire Victor Pathe's CLC show trial, IWA President Haggard called Local 3567 (the local that did the sweetheart deals) a "rogue" local. It was as if Haggard was saying, "Hey, don't blame my union fellas. It was that damned rogue local of ours. Geez, you just can't get those guys to stay in line."
Of course, in the world of autocratic unionism there are no rogue locals. Local 3567 could no more have made its sweetheart deal with Compass or Aramark than Haggard could fly to the moon without a rocket. Even if it did, Haggard could have trusteed Local 3567 before any damage was done. He didn't and that's because he knew what was going down all along.
Sonny Ghag, President of the "rogue" local, isn't sounding terribly contrite either. He recently commented on Vancouver radio station CKNW that his union was "way beyond the HEU and a couple of other unions". Doesn't sound like any backpedaling is planned by the IWA.
Both Ghag and Haggard know very well that there is nothing the CLC can do to their union. Everyone at the CLC knows it too. What is the great CLC going to do, collect the IWA's increased dues contributions or kick them out of the CLC? Please people, we weren't born yesterday.
Apart from the loss of dues, there's another consideration that pretty much guarantees the IWA will never be booted from the Canadian Labour Club. The accelerated race for the bottom that might occur with an independent IWA running around the countryside like a deadly virus-signing sweetheart deals like there's no tomorrow? Not too likely. Better to have them safely in the fold where their sweethearting can be hidden underneath a pile of impartial umpire's reports.
A poll conducted last year says Canadians think competition is a good thing for unions. Nobody asked those polled if they thought unions should look after their members or their leaders first. Nobody's asking the question, but a lot of union members are answering it anyway.
Canadian workers want a different type of union. Inclusive, democratic, pragmatic, dedicated to them and their issues, ready always to support them. The IWA/CLC drama is a sham. It's the kind of performance that will put workers off of unions even more than is already the case.
The Pathe ruling is toothless and unenforceable. The ruling only buys the IWA and the CLC unlimited time to dick around and do nothing while presenting union members with the illusion that something substantial is being done.
The IWA's actions and the CLC's reaction are an indication of just how much solidarity and genuine interest there is in the Canadian house o' labour in the best interest of workers. The boys in the backrooms at the CLC know that, at heart, the leaders of their affiliated unions are just a band of pilfering pillagers. Organizing workers is expensive and tiring. Picking over their bones is a lot easier and leaves more time for golfing.
So if your are upset with the IWA's shameful sweetheart deal or the CLC's disgraceful drama, you may get some satisfaction sending your best regards to IWA Local 3567 President Sonny Ghag at local13567@iwa.ca, CLC President Ken Georgetti at president@clc-ctc.ca, CUPE President-in-Waiting Paul Moist at pmoist@cupe.ca, CLC Secretary-Treasurer Hassan Yussuff at sectreas@clc-ctc.ca or perhaps CLC Executive VP Barbara Byers at executivevp@clc-ctc.ca or maybe CLC Womens and Human Rights Director Penni Richmond at prichmond@clc-ctc.ca. It beats waiting around for any action by the Canadian Labour Congress.
The most important fact in all this is that if you say nothing, you are signaling your approval of this self-serving behaviour. It's time to tell these very well paid labour leaders just how us poor folks really feel. Let the CLC's out-of-touch leaders know that you give a damn about your fate and the fate of all affected workers and their families.