Has the UFCW become so immersed in business culture that it's bought into business values lock, stock and crock? Read this:
They actually put this into a collective agreement!
quote:
The parties to this Agreement pledge to work towards the greatest possible degree of consultation and cooperation believing that the following concepts provide a fundamental framework for improved labour-management relations:
(a) the industrial enterprise is an economically characterized work community of capital investors and workers under the leadership of a management;
(b) the economic character springs from a continuous striving toward efficient use of resources, energy and environment, and in the adequate development of research, production and marketing'
(c) the enterprise requires authority relationships under a strong central leadership or management;
(d) a strong management does not discourage cooperation but stimulates it, recognizing that while management without labour can do nothing, labour without management cannot survive.
(Collective Agreement between Turner Distribution Systems Ltd, and UFCW, Local 777, 1998-2004, Article 17 Labour-Management Committee)
Labour without management cannot survive???!!! They actually believe this shit?! Worse still, they signed it off on their members' behalf.
quote:
a) the industrial enterprise is an economically characterized work community of capital investors and workers under the leadership of a management;
This pretty much locks workers into a slave/master relationship with employers. No damn wonder *family* has no value, it's been signed off by the machine. 
Yup, that sick thinking doesn't seem to be an isolated UFCW brain fart. Local 777 came to be at the behest of Loblaws. Y'know, Turners could very well have been in the running for the OFG account. However, when you consider that Local 777 was run by Gib Whitlock and the Turner deal was done with Whitlock as president, and when you consider that Whitlock is president of Local 247, and when you consider that Local 247 is certified to represent a bunch of Overwaitea and Superstore employees, you wonder how that will all shake out.
Will Superstore still have one deal for Local 247 meat/deli/fish departments employees and Overwaitea/Safeway/IGA have another one?
Local 1518 talks about coordinating bargaining with Local 247. Ha! Will Local 247 be able to coordinate bargaining between it's cheapo 777 agreement and the old Local 2000 agreements?
If Whitlock bought and truly believes in shit like:
quote:
The parties to this Agreement pledge to work towards the greatest possible degree of consultation and cooperation believing that the following concepts provide a fundamental framework for improved labour-management relations:
(a) the industrial enterprise is an economically characterized work community of capital investors and workers under the leadership of a management;
(b) the economic character springs from a continuous striving toward efficient use of resources, energy and environment, and in the adequate development of research, production and marketing'
(c) the enterprise requires authority relationships under a strong central leadership or management;
(d) a strong management does not discourage cooperation but stimulates it, recognizing that while management without labour can do nothing, labour without management cannot survive.
What the hell is Local 1518 doing hangin' out with Local 247?
Does Ivan and Brooke and their crew have the fortitude to publicly condemn that sort of yellow-dog rhetoric, or do they believe it? Is that sort of thinking the foundation from which Local 1518 plans to build its cooperative working relationship with Local 247 and the employers?
I wonder what Bro_Ken of the CLC would think of this language? Maybe we ought to ask him. Is this the kind of thing those "pretend unions" that he once spoke of negotiate? maybe Bro_Doug Dority would like to tell us what he thinks of it also.
I can honestly say that in all my years of working with collective agreements (and I've seen hundreds of 'em), I've never seen this kind of crap - ever.
Bro_Ken has bigger fish to fry. Little folk aren't his worry. Besides, he's big on nominating Nancy Riche for honorable mention in "The Backslappers' Club."
Nancy Riche will receive Persons Award
What a phoney charade. It's kind of ironic how Nancy seems to work so hard for women while working for an organization whose members oppress so many UFCW women. If she really cared about women, she might just speak out about how partnering has harmed so many women.
Nancy, it's time you earned your accolades. Start speaking out against the pigs and oppressors that permiate the labour movement.
You know who we mean, you've seen them at work and you've seen the putrid results. Do you have the guts to praise the good guys and revile the pigs?
Until you do, you should decline the Persons Award.
quote:
The Persons Case was fought early in the 20th century when five women -
Emily Murphy, Henrietta Muir Edwards, Nellie McClung, Louise McKinney and
Irene Parlby - contested the notion that the legal definition of "person" excluded women, thereby banning women from public office positions such as the judiciary and Parliament.
If women were not legally persons, according to that logic, they had no legal rights.
The five won their case when they appealed to the British Privy Council, which was, at that time, the highest court ruling on Canadian law.
I think that Sister Riche should demonstrate her commitment to democracy and the democratic rights of women by clearly and publicly proclaiming her support for democracy within unions. It's very ironic that women in the early 20th century were excluded from meaningful participation in democratic governance because they were not considered "persons". Today thousands of women are excluded from meaningful participation in their unions because of an absence of real democracy or because they're just not deemed smart enough by the ruling elites of backslapping boys who run their unions. What are do you have to say about that Nancy?
I agree with weiser, Nancy Riche should decline the Persons Award based on the pathetic track record of the CLC on the issue of union democracy and its effect on women workers.
quote:
"Working women are persons too," said Riche upon learning of the honour, adding that while she'll get to keep the medal, she's accepting it on behalf of all women in the labour movement who work "day in, day out and one hell of a lot of evenings" in the struggle for women's equality in the workplace and in society overall.
women in the labour movement who work "day in, day out and one hell of a lot of evenings" She forgot to say ... "for little more than minimum wage".
I not only agree with weiser that Riche should decline the award but ... On behalf of working women trying to live on poverty union wages in the 21st century, I insist.
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