The Government - is not here to help you
The Government - is not here to help you
The recent decision of the BC Labour Relations Board in the dispute between UFCW Local 1518 and Loman Distribution has left union officials and workers angry and disappointed. Darryl Gehlen, a worker at Loman's warehouse, wrote to his brothers urging them to put the decision in perspective and to look at other options in their fight to keep their jobs which are about to be sacrificed on the altar of corporate greed.
"...there are some fundamentals that we need to get back to. The power of unionism has always been people based. Now it is more like a top down governance. We are expected to remain united, "in solidarity", while all the real decision-making power lies elsewhere, our ability to influence it minimized. And the clock keeps ticking. One of the biggest obstacles is the lack of decision-making power our warehouse committee has. This battle cannot be fought by generals behind a desk with a timetable strategy. The battle itself will dictate what is required and where. To be effective we need to be able to make decisions. Success will not come from any one great idea. It will be pursuing every avenue and tying them together. Instead we feel hamstrung."
That's good advice. The Loman decision, disappointing though it is, isn't all that surprising. Why? MFD offers up its own analysis and some words to the wise about the gatekeepers of the labour relations system.
MFD's Analysis
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"...there are some fundamentals that we need to get back to. The power of unionism has always been people based. Now it is more like a top down governance. We are expected to remain united, "in solidarity", while all the real decision-making power lies elsewhere, our ability to influence it minimized.
Great article, and outstanding analysis! This just sounds so familiar. It is so hard to remain united in solidarity when your income is cut off and your family is getting hungry and all the while your officials who represent you are still drawing their checks and telling you how important it is to remain strong in your beliefs. Shouldn't our officials pay stop as well when we are forced to take a stand and fight for what we deserve? Wouldn't they have a little more vested interest? If they listened to the membership and joined them in the trenches, wouldn't it help to hold the membership together? It never ceases to amaze me how far we have drifted away from what made labor unions viable in the first place. You may say I'm a dreamer, Imagine all the people! (Lennon)
Believe it or not, there actually are some union officials who stand with their members and forego their salaries during times when the members are without pay checks. Leah Casselman, President of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union is one of those, I believe. She draws strike pay when OPSEU is out on strike (which they were for about 2 months recently). If Leah can do it, I see no reason why other union leaders can't. If it would mean that they would be on strike pay almost continuously (if they have a lot of different bargaining units), there must be other sacrifices that could be made in a similar vein.
I would love to have Leah Casselman visit MFD sometime. She seems to be the sort of union official one could actually call a leader! I'm impressed! I just wish there could be more like her and maybe there will before much longer. I would like to think an official would be more than willing to join with the members in their sacrifices during troubling times. This is what Solidarity is all about! We truly need officials who honestly believe in the membership and who are willing to stand with them. It just seems so simple to me and yet it seems almost impossible to find this trait within labor. It's difficult to understand sometimes! What are they thinking and how the hell do they live with themselves?
Oh maaan!
I just read the article again.
My thoughts:
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in·com·pe·tent (ĭn-kŏm'pĭ-tənt)
adj.
- Not qualified in legal terms: a defendant who was incompetent to stand trial.
- Inadequate for or unsuited to a particular purpose or application.
- Devoid of those qualities requisite for effective conduct or action.
n.
Unions are not in the business of *making assumptions*.
AND NOW OFG is taking One of the lomans leafletters to the supreme court Sueing him for loss of business etc. Jimmy pattison Has Unleashed the hounds On the beleagured loman Boys . Now throwing High priced lawyers Into the fray to Pick On SINGLED out employees. who are vocal In standing Up for their rights. Not Only screw Him Out of his Job, but now blame him for loss of business, due to their High handed tactics and Out the outright lies they tell themselves over and over till they actually beleive It ( Overwaitea foods is NOT in the warehouseing business) Then who owns the building Lomans works out of?. Hopefully Ther is someone with common sense who hasnt been bought yet at the lrb. WHO CAN SEE AS WELL AS 98% of the common people that OFG is the true employer. THEN OFG can start pointing fingers at their Own Mismanagement professionals.
Heh! I caught some show on PBS or something, about 4 o'clock this morning, that had Jimmy extolling the virtues of the moral highroad in business.
I don't know what the show was called. I'll see if I can find out more about it. It would be nice to slap JP in the face with it.
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AND NOW OFG is taking One of the lomans leafletters to the supreme court Sueing him for loss of business etc. Jimmy pattison Has Unleashed the hounds On the beleagured loman Boys . Now throwing High priced lawyers Into the fray to Pick On SINGLED out employees. who are vocal In standing Up for their rights.
Are you serious TS? Are they really suing an individual worker rather than the union? That is about as low as it goes. Please tell us more about what's happening.
I certainly hope that the UFCW uses its full resources to fight for this worker and to stop this disgusting form of economic terrorism in which, sadly and ironically, it is itself a participant.
slek, yes see what Jimmy, patron saint of retailing, has to say. Maybe we can ask him - publicly - to explain whether the Lord would approve of suing those less fortune in the name of the almighty dollar. Yes, yes, I say we ask him.
I'd like to hear more about this lawsuituit too. The UFCW better pull out all the stops to defend this guy if this is what's happening.
Getting back to the LRB decision. It seems that this whole thing started when the union decided to agree to the 10 year deal for no other reason that I can see except that the company said it signed a 10 year lease. What the hell does it matter what the lease was? If I came to the UFCW office and said "I'm planning on setting up a widget making plant and want to give you voluntary rec for my employees. I've just signed a 99 year lease on the plant, so give me a 99 year collective agreement, OK?" Does this make sense?
These guys know a company can pull up stakes any time it wants. Rather than bargaining a 10 year agreement, they could have bargained 4 two year agreements, or 3 three year agreements. The same thing would have happened in 2002 but the workers would be further ahead.
I hear the suponea has the individual's name AND the UFCW as defendants. They are apparently going after loss profits because they feel the leaflet line appeared to be an illegal picket line. OWG apparenntly made a detailed account of how many customers turned away. They have pictures of other leafleters there but are only targeting one individual.
I beleive OWF is also going to the LRB on Wed to try and get an injunction against the leafleters.
Time for "The Friends of the OFG Workers" to leaflet the stores...and once OFG gets an injuction against them then the "The anti-Jimmy Pattison society" can take over. 
This is what we did when we leafletted the Slaveway store on Commercial in support of striking Calgary Herald workers (as Slaveway was still advertising in the paper)...nothing much they could do??? There wasn't an organization they could go after ("Friends of the Calgary Herald Strikers") and if they called the cops to kick us out it would of turned more people against them... 
And if they try to figure out if your a worker at OFG then swap picket sites with strikers that are also out right now...like the Projectionists, Carpenters, Steelworkers, etc. See VDLC strike support committee... 
Just an idea...
Edit: Ultimately UFCW should send all their OFG members out to stop this...occupy those stores and you'll see some results!!!
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I beleive OWF is also going to the LRB on Wed to try and get an injunction against the leafleters
walmart of the north? .. looks like there's more to worry about then just walmarts.
Sing it with me JP
O Canada!
Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all thy sons command.
With glowing hearts we see thee rise,
The True North strong and free!
Hmm hmm...
God
keep our land glorious and free!
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See VDLC strike support committee...
How come I can't find the strike committee Blackcat? Could you post a direct link. (visual aids much appreciated 
)
You know I have a funny feeling about the union and how much support they will give the worker. I personally read the "complaint sheet" that was given to him at his house by a sheriff. I believe the Union was served on Friday and they finally caught up to him today. But my question is if the union was served on friday why was he not contacted by them immediately. Apparently he had been phoning Ivan all day today trying to ask him why he hadnt been contacted by them. Smells fishy to me anyways. But thats just me.
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You know I have a funny feeling about the union and how much support they will give the worker.
Do they have a choice on this one? Doesn't the responsibility fall squarely on the machine in a labour dispute.
By naming the machine and one leafletter in the suit, the company covers all the bases. If one thinks about it, covering all the bases kills two birds with one stone. It hopes to keep the enemy (use that term loosely) busy and send the soldiers scurrying back to the trenches.
The VDLC website doesn't have that much info and isn't that updated. Thats why I posted just the website link. There is the News section but if you want a little info but you gotta dig through the meeting minutes to find the juicy stuff.
They can't get anyone to come out to the picket lines and support any of the workers that are currently out. Gord (Strike Support Chair) said they've got "Carpenters, Projectionists, and Steelworkers rotting on the picket lines." Despite sending out faxes and emails to all the locals...no one comes out to help these workers.
Well, I don't see that the UFCW has a choice now. It's been named as a defendant in this suit so it must - in the least - defend itself. This sounds to me like another SLAPP lawsuit. I am very interested in hearing what the UFCW will have to say about this kind of lawsuit considering that the UFCW has lawsuits going against a number of its own members and this web site.
As for the worker who's been named as a defendant, I certainly hope that the UFCW pays for his lawyer. If they can pay for Local 777's President Gib Whitlock and Business Agent Dean Patriquin's lawsuit against 777 member Bill Gammert, it would be quite outrageous that they decline to help the member from Lomans warehouse who is being sued by OFG.
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I am very interested in hearing what the UFCW will have to say about this kind of lawsuit considering that the UFCW has lawsuits going against a number of its own members and this web site.
Me too!
I hope the member knows that the UFCW lawyers work for the UFCW executive, not the member!!
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too. 