IWA Rogers Video
While it's good that the IWA has organized Rogers, it's just another example of a craft/industry union looking to expand its "business". Retail is where the potential for dues payers is, so unions start looking at retail as a source of revenue.
When you consider that "video" stores will be history in a couple of years,(everything will be rentable on-line)Rogers isn't a good choice to expand revenue.
If unions really believed in fighting for retail employees rights, they might look at rescuing the Swiss Chalet employees or any group of thousands of retail food employees enslaved by "partnering" agreements.
Unions have done diddly for retail employees in the last decade. They haven't taken them up and the ones who were up are now down.
It'll be only when unions look at retail employees as "real workers" rather than a source of revenue that anything will ever change.
With all do respect Weiser, I was a member of the IWA. That union is no better than the UFCW. Sure it's mill workers are well paid (if your on the first tier) but I was on the second. Let me tell you a story about my IWA experience.
I worked at a door and moulding warehouse in Langely during the '96 strike. A second night time crew was hired to meet increased production demands. I started as a bin man. (real physical grunt work) I was promoted to daytime checker after 6 weeks.
There was a 6 month probation period our entire crew was hired for. We were paid half of what the first crew recieved. There were approx. 10 of us hired, all on different weeks. We didn't get benefits until after the 6 months, and we didn't get a raise until then either.
I remember thinking it was a scam but given the strike I wasn't in a position to complain. I kept my head down and worked hard. Then the first guy was let go just prior to his 6 months. The next week same thing. I told the guys then that it was a scam I'd seen before.
- double the probation to get more productivity out of the work force.
- stagger hire dates to reduce the trainies on the floor.
- charge the union initiation fees to ensure cooperation with the union.
- charge dues as well.
-hold off on all benefits and wage increases until after probation ends.
The guys didn't believe me. Then it happened 3 more times. Half of the crew had now been replaced. I was # 9 and my time was running short. The promotion to days was good and I knew I had a job to go to but I felt for the other guys. They complained to the union after # 6 was let go. To no avail. Finally after # 7 was let go almost the whole night crew gave their notice on the same day. Management went into panic mode. # 8 kept their job. I went back to work at Save-On and I understand # 10 (the best worker) was hired. After that I understand letting go employees became more staggard.
You can't tell me the IWA didn't know what was going on. I think they knew but they got their peice of the pie so they didn't give a damn. Of the 2nd tier employees who were there when I was, not one remains today. I have other friends who are IWA and they have their own stories. Given what I know of the IWA I think Rogers employees are better off on their own.
The IWA has some interesting connections to the grocery business. Check out Local 700 - it has three Loeb stores in Toronto. Prez Ron Diotte and the UFCW are familiar with each other.
I see what blinky means. The IWA did a five-year deal with Leobs. I wonder what the boys on the Coastal mills and in the forests would say to the IWA if its elite told them to vote yes for a five-year deal.
Is George Weston Limited that much more powerful than Weyerhauser or Fletcher Challenge?
Eek! Five-year deal huh? Boy does that sound like a familiar package. I think the fundamental problem with our current crop of unions is that they really don't understand these service industry employers at all. They buy a lot of management BS without really questioning it and haven't got a clue where the vulnerabilities of these businesses are and how they can be exploited. I also think that, in order to successfully organize workers in this sector, a whole new approach to organizing will be required. I'm not really sure of what that is, but I think it will be very different from organizing as we know it and will require a very different type of union.
A few years back a member ran against Diotte for president. The UFCW was quite helpful behind the scenes, although I don't think this is widely known. There may be more to this story, if you look into it.
Is there anything you can tell us to help get us started? What did the UFCW do to help out behind the scenes? 
When I said Diotte and UFCW were familiar, I didn't mean friends. The UFCW tried to get him defeated. They failed. Some questions: What were they doing meddling in another union's election? What is a wood workers union doing in the grocery business anyway? Loeb bargains with UFCW for its other stores. Why did it let these three go IWA?
What often happens in these union-management "partnerships" is that the company begins squeezing its union partner harder and harder. It's a natural thing for the company because every concession it can squeeze out of the union gives it a little bit more "competitive advantage". Sometimes the squeezing reaches a point where the union has to say "no more". Usually, this is because the union is afraid of decertification or the concessions management is seeking would make it stink so badly, it just can't go there. Management gets quite indignant when this happens. Don't forget, they're used to being in charge in these partnerships and have gotten used to having their way. In retaliation, they may reneg on voluntary recognition deals they've made for new stores, leaving them open to being organized by other unions. As long as its another biz-union that gets in, everything is OK. A little competition is thought to be a good thing in business circles. Management can then play one union off against the other while dangling a big carrot (the prospect of voluntary rec usually) in front of them both. It works.
I don't know if this is what took place at LOEB's, but it's been known to happen.
Don't forget that unions sometimes buy the executive of other unions. Come with us, and we'll make you rich. Merger mania! It pays to be friendly and helpful, sometimes even to your enemies.
I think I'm about as good a strategist as there is. And my hatred for the UFCW leadership and everything they represent is legendary. Yet I'm very pessimistic when it comes to things getting better for our members and working people in general.
An upstart union would have to be more lucky than good just to survive. Even then I doubt they could without help from an established union. Movies would be made and books would be writen about the people who made that climb because it's damn near impossable.
So how do we do it?
What I'd give to meet the person(s) who knows the answer. 
quote:
Originally posted by Scott Mcpherson:
An upstart union would have to be more lucky than good just to survive. Even then I doubt they could without help from an established union. Movies would be made and books would be writen about the people who made that climb because it's damn near impossable.
So how do we do it?
What I'd give to meet the person(s) who knows the answer.
I think that the people who know the answer are all around us. They're the people on the receiving end of the crappy representation - the union members and potential union members all over the map. They know the answer in that they know what they want or can figure out what they want, as far as representation in the workplace is concered and have the resources and ability to get what they want. It's just a question of how to get there.
As to who will lead these new unions or coordinate their activities, anybody sitting around right now and thinking about their job and/or their union and saying to themselves "it doesn't have to be this way" is a potential leader and should think of themselves in those terms.
[ 12-20-2001: Message edited by: remote viewer ]
I guess what I'm getting at is the hardest switch to turn on in this world is the switch that motivates the power source. I could always handle the threats from employers. The UFCW leadership is as predictable as a calender and quite frankly I found them to be extremely lacking as an antagonist. They're weak minded and lack the cognitive thinking skills it takes to be good strategists. They just have a lot of money and for all of that they only out manouvered me once, and that was during my arbitration. (whole other story)
What I couldn't do was impress upon the membership just how important change was for them. Even people in my own store didn't get it. They were far more concerned with petty differences amounst themselves. Many to this day have yet to visit this site. The shop stewards out there I though would post info from this site on the union boards havn't done so.
I really could go on Remote, I have a million things I could point out. I think I'm about as motivated a person as it gets yet I just couldn't motivate the members. They will not even go to meetings. We got bigger and bigger turn outs all the time but not enough to swing a vote. Hell I'd still go to meetings if I thought enough members would show up. I can't vote and have no voice but I'm still a member. I can still give an opinion to those who seek it outside.
I don't know. Sometimes I think it's like an alcoholic who just has to hit bottom and loose everything before they finally realize they need help. I really hope that isn't true. I want to believe that switch can be turned on, that everything my family sacraficed wasn't for nothing. That's what truely makes this fight difficult. The internal doubt all reformers feel. Is this personal sacrafice worth it? does anyone really care? would I be better off keeping my head down and just taking care of myself?
When your in the eye of the storm those are harder questions to answer than you think. Honestly, I havn't answered them yet myself. What I am sure of is that until clear cut answers are cauterized into the minds of all union reformers and spread throughout the general membership change will not take place. Many of us can handle the external, few do as well with the internal.
quote:
I don't know. Sometimes I think it's like an alcoholic who just has to hit bottom and loose everything before they finally realize they need help
You are not far from the target! The Power Source is hitting bottom, all thanks to the machine. The machines' negligence will be its' own demise. Hitting bottom is the reason reform has been steam rolling. The Power Source have had enough. Forces are combining! There will be change and it is not far off.
[ 12-20-2001: Message edited by: siggy ]
What's really unfair is that the machine heads do the partying and the Power Source gets the hangover. It's like the machine heads go Christmas shopping and buy the best of gifts for themselves, their families and friends, but do it all using the Power Source's credit card and cheque book.
It seems to me that you are all getting at the answers. There's no doubt that in the service industry the Power Source is hitting rock bottom. When workers earn minimum wage, work part time forever and have management calling all the shots, the incentive to support their biz-union is going to dry up. All the mainstream rhetoric in the world isn't going to keep them loyal and long-suffering forever.
One of the reasons the Power Source hasn't gotten very excited about union reform is that, in most cases, reform means reforming your existing union. That may be a viable option for some, but then there are the biz-unions that are beyond reforming. How do you reform a monolith like the UFCW? It's impossible or near-impossible and the Power Source know it. Why waste a lifetime beating your head against a wall.
There is another option that is reinventing unions. Yes, this means starting new or alternative unions. It's an option that doesn't get much attention and is often dismissed as too difficult. I think though, that we only think it's too difficult because we are accustomed to believing that bigger=better or bigger=more powerful. As we've seen, however, there is very little proof of that.
A starting point may be for reformers/reinventers to think about what could be instead of what is. To forget about the unions they have and think about the unions they want to have and what those would look like, how they would operate, and so on.
Another way to approach this may be to take stock of the resources that are available to reformers/reinventers and ask the question: How could we use this or that to build a really good union(s)? One really important and powerful resource now available to all of us is the Internet (because of its growing accessibility to workers and the amazing communications capability it provides).
I'm going to start a new thread so we can brainstorm this question and see if it gives us any ideas. http://www.ufcw.net/cgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=20&t=000019
quote:
When I said Diotte and UFCW were familiar, I didn't mean friends. The UFCW tried to get him defeated. They failed
Back on topic! No fair eluding to something then not telling!! No fair!!
Share with us blinky ... 
[ 12-22-2001: Message edited by: siggy ]
Hmmm.... From the looks of it, Diotte didn't have the "urge to merge" so it was time someone else, who might roll in for the right pension, was in power.
What have they done? Have the machines buried Local 700 alive? Can't find any worthy links. 
Who's got a link??
