Canada
saw its first strike in 1872 with Toronto printers fighting for a
nine-hour day. This was considered illegal finding labour leaders
arrested, but after mass protests not only were all charges dropped
but union activity was given a legitimate acceptance and legalized.
Workers found their champion and employers a formidable foe.
Winnipeg of 1919 saw the first General Strike involving over 25,000
workers and a reaction by government with strike breakers, police and
army to force an end to it. Our early association with the British
Union Movement was gradually replaced with closer ties to our
neighbours the Americans.
In
1937 collective bargaining was recognized and a ruling by Justice
Ivan Rand made it mandatory for all workers to pay union dues whether
or not they wanted to join a union ensured that union leaders were
now slowly moving into a new direction. This decision was motivated
by the accepted fact that everyone benefited from a union-negotiated
contract, so everyone had to pay for it.
Early
labour leaders had stood up for workers for one major reason, to
fight for fairness for all workers. True there were those with
political ideologies that found a soul mate in the union movement
such as socialists and communists. Now union leaders find themselves
in extremely well paid positions that do not suffer even during
strikes. Some union leaders earn salaries in the hundreds of
thousands of dollars, even rivalling some CEO's of major
corporations. It would seem that the equality between union member
and union leader has faded. Strikes depending on their duration
bring pressures on those walking the picket lines, as no work equals
no pay. Financial obligations and family considerations weigh a
heavy burden, yet the union leaders see no such equation targeted at
them.
New
technology brought about new pressures on the workforce. Automation
in manufacturing saw the loss of jobs on assembly lines and a chance
for unions to flex their mighty muscles. The results were not
beneficial and in a response brought new action by governments.
Prime Minister Trudeau introduced mandatory price and wage controls
in 1975 and British P.M. Thatcher went head to head with one of the
strongest British unions. Thatcher won in the end, and the union
movement arguably had lost some of its mystic.
Today
with legislation in place to protect workers, unions have a harder
time to convince all of their necessity. More and more manufacturing
is being shifted to South America and in particular China. Cheap
labour costs are more important to business over using unionized
local labour. Politics has made a greater in-road to the union
movement. True the New Democratic Party which started life in 1932
as the Co-Operative Commonwealth Federation has had only moderate
success, still the NDP's union alliance remains as its foundation.
Large unions such as the CAW and CUPE have a great deal of money to
invest, after all they have to pay senior union leaders six figure
salaries and some at the top even
more. One such example in British Columbia is of the Working
Enterprises, a family of companies affiliated with the British
Columbia of Federation of Labour and their two thirds ownership of an
on-line news service The Tyee. Whatever the size of a union or its
membership, can any union be allowed to threaten an elected
government or an elected member of government?
In
the Niagara Region an elected regional councillor was alerted by
members of the public of a situation that should require
investigation and the councillor did just that, the results were
astonishing. The situation was simple, members of the public had
seen on a number of occasions regional employees take extra long
coffee breaks at a McDonalds. These members of the public took their
concerns to their elected representative, who in turn questioned how
this could be possible. After all these individuals are paid with
public money and in effect were cheating on the public purse. In the
private sector such action would be warned against once and then if
it continued the consequences may be harsh. Yet here as these
employees were members of CUPE, the Canadian Union of Public
Employees, the leaders of CUPE Local 1287 sent a letter of threat to
the regional government.
Leaders
of CUPE Local 1287 in fact threatened the regional government to take
any action necessary to stop what they called harassment of their
members, in reality to shut down an elected councillor who raised
questions as to abuse of the public purse. Shawn Wilson as President
of CUPE Local 1287 did not investigate the matter, nor did he or
anyone form CUPE have the courage to call members of the public
liars, instead they issued an ultimatum and threat.
This
was not an issue of wages or harsh working conditions, where a union
is needed to protect its members. Rather it was an issue of union
members caught abusing the public purse they are paid with. How does
a union find the arrogance to threaten an elected member of
government to stop raising questions regarding information brought to
him by members of the public?
A
letter sent to the councillor by the Region's CAO has this to say,
“I've also received
correspondence from CUPE 1287 leaders who have demanded that we take
whatever action necessary to ensure that inappropriate behaviour
towards their members ceases immediately.” CUPE
1287 leaders, and Shawn Wilson who is the President of CUPE 1287, had
demanded, though they had not investigated the allegations by the
public. No comment has been forthcoming on this from CUPE senior
management.
Shawn Wilson has been president of
CUPE 1287 now for some four years and active in his Local for over
ten years. Shawn Wilson is also an elected councillor for the City
of Thorold. Now that's an eyebrow lifter. Here we have a president
of the Canadian Union of Public Employees who in effect is also an
elected representative of the body who employs CUPE members, his own
Local's members. If this does not have the stench of conflict of
interest than what could. This has been taken from
cupe.on.ca/history: “Our members have campaigned during
municipal and school board elections for candidates taking
progressive positions, traditionally supported the NDP federally and
provincially.”
How can it be that the union
president, of the union that supplies all the employees to the
municipality, is also the one who in effect is the employer of those
union members. In addition to this Shawn Wilson as the President of
CUPE 1287 had to of been, one would think, the signature on the
“correspondence from CUPE 1287 leaders who have demanded...”
A municipality employs CUPE members, it does not have CAW nor the
printers union or any other union members. The president of the
union that supplies all the employees cannot sit on council that
makes decisions that may affect those union members. It is a
conflict of interest and cannot be permitted, nor would it anywhere
else.
CUPE was formed in 1963 by merging
the National Union of Public Employees (NUPE) and the National Union
of Public Service Employees (NUPSE) forming what is Canada's largest
union representing over 615,000 members. It has a decentralized
structure in which each Local elects its own executive, sets its own
dues, conducts its own bargaining and strike votes. So is Shawn
Wilson then part of the new strategy, to infiltrate the employer base
for its own union members? This may sound wild but the sheer
enormity of the question regarding the impropriety of conflict of
interest remains unanswered, in light of the threat sent to a
regional councillor elected by the people only adds a more serious
twist to the whole mess.
Still there will be those who will
sing the praises of CUPE and unions in general, considering its
blasphemy to raise such questions. But what happens when a union
member uses his powers of authority to threaten and harass a member
of the public? Should the union leaders investigate the issue, in
particular when hard evidence is provided? Or should a union act
like nothing more than a thug and issue threats?
A building inspector for the City
of St. Catharines had issued an 'unsafe house order' without an
inspection. Mind you this is a building inspector who did not
inspect and when asked to inspect refused to do so and was recorded.
The title of his position of building inspector brings forth the
expectation that he would inspect buildings before making any
decisions. This building inspector is also a member of CUPE as all
employees for a municipality are. After all it is the Canadian Union
of Public Employees and a building inspector is a public employee
employed by a municipality paid with public money. All of these
points are facts, no possible denial and all documented.
Shawn Wilson as President of CUPE
1287 was sent all the details on February 2nd 2012, not a
word of reply has been received from him. Not surprising after
examining the potential conflict of interest against Shawn Wilson.
Yet no one else has bothered to respond from the Local either. In
light of the information regarding CUPE's decentralized form of
governance somewhat surprising. So all the details were sent to the
CUPE National's President Fred Hahn.
A letter was sent dated February
21st 2012 to Mr. Hahn providing all the
details and it included a copy of the voice recording of the building
inspector. This letter was sent out in clear English, the language
of the Realm and impossible to misconstrue, the facts set out.
A response came from President Fred Hahn dated February 27th
2012. In this response Hahn states, “CUPE National works
directly to address the types of issues you have raised in your
correspondence, so I have forwarded your correspondence to Brian
Atkinson National's Ontario Regional Director. I am sure that you
will be hearing from him at his earliest opportunity.”
That of course did not happen, I
did not hear from Atkinson and made several attempts to call Hahn's
assistant Stephanie Malinsky. Finally on March 28th I
wrote again to Fred Hahn, his response dated April 4th
2012 was incredible. CUPE President Fred Hahn provided statements
that were proof of intentional lies or that he truly has serious
problems with comprehending the English language. True Hahn has a
university degree from the University of Toronto and
his work in social services would
require a degree of listening skills. His response of April 4th
then is indeed one that proves the opposite.
My response to Hahn dated April
11th naturally has not brought any further letters in
reply, that is not surprising.
Hahn in fact makes it clear he lied
that Atkinson would indeed be contacting me. Paragraph one of the
April 4th fun-fest as I call it proves that Hahn lied, and
they are his own words. Hahn's words were empty, hollow and stupid.
He speaks of Shawn Wilson's “dedication to making the lives of
the people of Niagara better,” I guess Hahn needs a map of
Niagara to look at the picture. The individual who wrote Shawn
Wilson who was threatened and harassed by a CUPE member lives in
Niagara. That regional councillor who was threatened by Shawn
Wilson's CUPE 1287 in their self-inflated arrogance threatened an
elected government, it was the Regional Municipality of Niagara that
was threatened. Finally those CUPE members who were in fact cheating
on the public purse that Shawn Wilson threatened an elected
government and elected councillor over, well they were from Niagara.
I get it now, that is who Shawn Wilson and CUPE are only dedicated to
make the lives better for in Niagara. The hypocrisy and lies in Fred
Hahn's letter are astounding.
President of CUPE Fred Hahn
obviously knew that Brian Atkinson National's Ontario Regional
Director would not have any intention in contacting me, yet he put it
in writing and signed it. Then he later states in another letter
again signed that the information was passed on to “appropriate
people” as “points.” Hahn confirmed now his own intentional
lie. In Hahn's biography (cupe.on.ca) it states that he is
committed to social unionism, what does that mean? Is it a new term
for the new era describing socialism? Does it mean that Hahn stands
for the common man, then I would ask what is Hahn's salary in
comparison to the common man who pays his dues.
These actions by CUPE, Canada's
biggest union, do not stand alone but are a part of an overall
question as to what is the true role of unionism today. CUPE has had
a member masquerading in a position that gives his ego power to act
like a thug and CUPE has shielded and protected him. CUPE itself has
acted no less a thug and threatened in arrogance an elected
government and elected councillor, not in the protection of members'
work conditions or wages, but in an attempt to ensure that no one
questions those workers' abuse of the public purse. Is it unfair to
raise questions of conflict of interest, hypocrisy and lies under
such circumstances with hard evidence to prove the facts raised to be
true.
My father came from a country where
freedom and workers' rights did not exist and he fully believed in
the doctrines the unions pushed. He even believed in the NDP and in
particular Bob Rae, now look at him a semi-leader of a party
interested in legalizing marijuana. Union leaders sit on massive
salaries and have the arrogance to threaten elected members of
government to cover-up members' abuse of public money.
Fred Hahn sent a letter that could
only be thought of as ludicrous in its content. He proved with his
own hand that he lied. Fred Hahn is a President of CUPE! For me to
publish a copy of my letter to Hahn of February 28th would
only be of greater public embarrassment for Hahn. Still Hahn has it
and he knows he lied the only question is why? Shawn Wilson on the
other hand, (Il Duce) of CUPE 1287 should be looked at by the
Minister for Municipal Affairs. He has serious issues to answer in
regards to conflict of interest. Hahn refers to him as a shining
light standing for the people of Niagara. But then we now know Hahn
is capable of a lie and has proven it himself. It was Shawn Wilson's
CUPE Local 1287 that threatened an elected councillor. I guess in
Hahn's words that's how Shawn Wilson dedicates his life to make the
“lives of the people of Niagara better.” Wilson picks up
a pretty salary as the President (Il Duce) of CUPE Local 1287 and
public money as a city councillor. I love CUPE's system of
presidents everywhere, there are so many that it makes one think of a
banana republic. O.K. I know it's called an 'extremely
decentralized' structure but when you have so many chiefs how is the
pow-wow conducted quietly?
Sarcasm aside it is a question that
many of the hard-liners in the union movement or socialists will not
like, but what good are unions today. What are their true benefit?
A world economy flipping backwards and forwards with recent examples
that are not flattering such as the last postal strike or the
problems at Caterpillar. After all there are those of us who
question the point of the Monarchy in our society, why can't we
question unionism.
Send comments to: demtruth@gmail.com
Send comments to: demtruth@gmail.com
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