Ask any biz-unionist about union democracy and he's sure to tell you that unions are democratic enough as it is. They have elections, don't they? Members get to vote for the candidate of their choice, don't they? Union constitutions have a complaint process, don't they? Well, all that is true except that in many cases, the union election playing field is anything but level, candidates who dare to run against incumbents are made virtually invisible, and internal complaint processes look good on paper only. This latest contribution from UA 787 MFD gives us an insider's perspecive on really happens. Its reads like an Idiot's Guide to Winning Biz-Union Elections. Find out about Local 787's Excellent Election Campaign.
The "edit" job on Rick's literature is just a bit brutal. 
I love the UA president saying he'd like to help, but the benefit plan isn't the union, so he has no jurisdiction. 
What a pile-o-crap! The biz union machine heads are infamous for trusteeing locals that don't handle union affairs just the way the machine directs them to.
Sounds like not much has changed in Canadian unions since Hal Banks ran the SIU. 
[ 12-11-2001: Message edited by: weiser ]
quote:
not much has changed in Canadian unions since Hal Banks ran the SIU
quote:
Now we must deal with another unsavoury aspect, and with some very doubtful actions on the part
of the Canadian government, which all had to do with the dismantling of this planned Canadian
Merchant Navy after World War II.
The Canadian Seamen's Union, spoke for Canadian Merchant Seamen. It was a good union, it had a
good reputation, the Canadian seamen strongly supported their own union, and they felt that this
Canadian Seamen's Union should be fighting the government to try to stop this dismantling of our
Canadian ships. Well, history tells an interesting story. If you want to break a union, there's several
ways to do it, and one of them is to bring in another union and develop a union versus union fight.
And so the ship owners in Canada turned to this ploy. They knew of the Seafarer's International
Union, the SIU in the United States. They also knew that it was a very tough union, it was run by
thugs and felons. Among its officers were people with criminal records. Anyway, arrangements
were made to bring the officers of the Seafarer's International Union from the States into Canada,
with the objective, undoubtedly, of breaking our own Canadian Seamen's Union.
Some may remember the infamous name of Hal Banks. He was one of the strong organizers of this
SIU from the United States. He had a long criminal record. Now, people with criminal records are
not allowed into Canada. And the research and the history shows another little bit of treachery. In
order to get Hal Banks into Canada, he had to sign an application. On the normal application it says,
"Do you have a criminal record?" Well now isn't it interesting. Isn't it interesting, that when we
checked the application for Hal Banks to get into Canada, that question had been left off. So he
didn't have to lie, he just didn't answer the question 'cause it was not on the form. So Hal Banks got
into Canada, and then we began about a 12 to 14 month union struggle. The only way that the
Canadian Seamen's Union, our own union, representing our own Merchant Seamen, the only way
they could put up a fight was to go on strike, so they went on strike, and what happened? This SIU
from the States began signing up other seamen to go onto the Canadian ships to serve. I'll tell you, it
was a bloody, bloody, bloody time. But just another chapter, and I want to use the word treachery
again, another chapter in the sad story of the way we treated our Merchant Seamen who'd served so
valiantly during World War II.(bold added)
Old Hal was buyin' women for extremely high-ranking government officials and then makin' movies of the "under-covers" activities. When faced with the "naked" truth, the government officals did extrordinary things to help old Hal.
Hmmmm.... Many machine heads are very close to high-ranking officials to this day. They may or may not be making movies, but the officials still have a sick dependence on machine heads for one reason or another.
Money may not buy happiness, but it can sure buy you the odd friend. And some of the friends are truly odd.
If you can get a copy of the Natonal Film Board video "Canada's Sweetheart: The Saga of Hal C. Banks" you will be shocked at some of the ways democracy was thwarted in the SIU. However, you will be sickened when you see how little has changed.
Many libraries cary copies, or you can phone your local NFB office to find out where you can get a copy. The CBC runs it now and again.
Warning: after you watch it, you may say, "what's the use?", but after the feelings of hopelessness pass, those with real heart will gain strength from it and go on with the fight to restore unions to what they should be.
I guess maxdogon can't dispute the election stuff 'cause he sure keepin' a low profile.
I might not pay too much attention to the stuff said about the UA Local 787 election, 'cept it sounds too much like all biz union elections.
If you're a political threat, or have the wherewithal to become a political threat, the machine heads will either try to buy you off and corrupt you using the Power Sources' money, or if you can't be bought and won't play any of their reindeer games, they will crush you using the Power Sources' money.
They will offer you a MR's job or a position on the E-Board, with all the free trips and union conventions you can handle. If that doesn't work, and you decide to run against them, the machine kicks into gear and does all the same crap that the UA Local 787 guys complain about.
Hey, but that's all changin'. The Net will overcome. That's because the machine can buy all the fancy Web pages it wants, but smokestack-era machine heads don't understand the Web and don't know how to harness its power. 
From what we hear, machine head, "maxdogon," was mortified that he was outed by sleK. He's gone out shopping for more shiny suits and flashy ties, that always makes him feel better.
I'd prefer a better opponent than Max anyway. What about that clown from the BC Fed? What's his name?? You know weiser, the President, goatee, short brown hair. He loves to piss and moan. I'd like him to come on this site and defend the status quo. He doesn't mind taking his paycheck and looking the other way. I'm sure he has some kind of explanation for partnering agreements and voluntary recognition. Maybe we could discuss reasons behind the falling numbers of union membership.
Come on chicken shit, be a man and step up to plate. I'm easy to hit cause I only throw heat. Here's one strait down the middle waist high hot shot.... what's the pupose of the BC FED and how does it help every day union members?
The UA Local 787 monthly meeting was held on Wednesday night. As usual, there was barely a quoram. This isn't so surprising. The meetings are held at 6.30pm, absolutely no time for members, other than those who live within a reasonable distance, to go home, eat and drive to the meeting. When some do make the effort, sometimes driving for 2hrs to get there, they find that there are not enough members and the BM merely pops his head around the corner and says, "go home, we don't have a quoram" No "thanks for coming we'll have an informational meeting"
Or "we're sorry there aren't enough for a meeting we'll take you for coffee before you start your 2 hr. drive home.
However, at this meeting, the first since the articles on Local 787, there was absolutely no mention of the material on this MFD site. I guess we can conclude that the union officials have no desire to have the members see how they embarressed themselves! Thanks to everyone for their comments.
"No comment" usually means they were caught completely off guard, don't know what to do and probably have been told by headquarters to say nothing in case they say something stupid. It's a positive sign. Let's keep up the discussion.
Tell us a little more about the local. How many members are there and where do they work? How many contracts? What are some of the big issues right now (apart from the benefit plan and the local leadership)?
What would be helpful is that the employers where UA Local 787 members work should be mentioned here. People will see the employers' names and it will become a topic of conversation. More people will talk and more will come and see all about UA Local 787.
This is just the beginning of the reform of UA Local 787. Keep the comments comming.
Local 787 has about 2000 members,or so we've been told. It is a province wide local and alot of members never get to a meeting unless they can make it to an area meeting. These meetings are supposed to be held once a year but there haven't been any this year!
Members in the Niagara region have a tough time knowing when the meetings are. The union members don't usually get their notice until a day or two later. The last time the dates of all the meetings were sent to all the members, the Hamiltom St Catharines area wasn't mentioned at all so a member called the UA and complained. After the complaint, meetings were slated but, again, "the mail screwed up". As luck would have it, one member who had contemplated the ploy, went around to all the wholesalers and posted the meeting notice.
Out of the 2000 members, only 1200 are on the voting list. The Constitution says that apprentices can't vote but the union execs decided that salaried supervisors and owner operators can't vote either???
The disabled,retired and out of work don't get ballots sent to them to vote on the collective agreement
We can't see the logic in this. Maybe someone can enlighten us
The UA Local 787 story sounds a lot like the Teamsters Local 938 story. Apparently, Teamsers Local 938 would call it's general meetings about an eight-hour drive away from the bulk of the members. The majority of the members were in the GTA, but the Local switched its meetings to Thunder Bay (I think) after the members started to question the pension plan the machine heads gave themselves.
It's that sort of crap that politicians just don't understand. Union democracy looks good on paper, but it's structured so that it's relatively simple for the machine heads to corrupt it and use it against the Power Source.
Teamsters Local 938 membership meetings were held in Thunder Bay which is a 16 hour drive from the Greater Toronto Area (where most of the members live).
It seems as though the UFCW, the Teamsters and now the UA are connected in the benefits/pension administration area. We should find out more about that.
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