(The
following article is from
the December 1-31,
2007
issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles
can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in
Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per
year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to:
People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502,
Hamilton,
ON, L8P 2H3. By
Wayne Fraser, Sid
Ryan, Cec Makowski, Sharleen Stewart, Dave Ritchie and Warren Thomas,
in the Financial Post, Nov. 23, 2007
As the Ontario Federation of Labour
meets in convention next week, the Canadian labour movement faces
plenty of challenges. From the collapse of the manufacturing sector to
growing economic inequality, it's clear that working men and women have
never needed effective workplace representation more than they need it
now.
The question
is "what kind of
representation?" In this age of insecure, contingent work, contrasted
with soaring CEO incomes, the best hope of ordinary people to win some
dignity and exercise some control over their working lives is
independent democratic unionism - with workers having the right to
freely choose their own representatives in the workplace, their own
bargaining committees, their own local union officers.
However,
within the labour
movement itself, this is no longer a universal consensus. The deal
struck between the Canadian Auto Workers and Magna International Inc.
is a major blow against independent unionism.
There's
little doubt that the
agreement reached between the CAW and Magna has champagne corks popping
in Bay Street boardrooms. Business and economic elites have a lot at
stake in the so-called "Framework for Fairness."
It's not
hard to see why. The
Magna-CAW pact not only eliminates the right to strike, it takes away
the right of workers to elect their own representatives without the
boss's participation - a vastly more insidious weakening of workers"
rights because of its daily implications.
The CAW has
agreed to scrap the
election of "stewards" by their co-workers, and replace it with a
complex system of "employee advocates" and "fairness committees,"
unaccountable to the union. Instead, Magna workers who seek to be
appointed as "employee advocates" (a maximum of one per factory) are
assessed by "fairness committees" made up of management and union
members. However, the union members are not allowed to view their roles
as "union representatives nor does their role include the
representation of employees."
It gets
worse. Magna workers are
denied the right to directly elect their own local union leadership. We
encourage everyone who has only heard the chest-thumping publicity from
both Magna and the CAW to read the actual "Framework for Fairness"
agreement for yourselves. It will open your eyes.
The deal is
defended by the CAW
as an innovation and step forward, but it is nothing of the sort. The
"framework" is a throwback to the days of Mackenzie King-style "company
unionism."
"Company
unions," whether the
King model or the Stronach-Hargrove model, simply entrench
paternalistic styles of management, loved by non-union employers
everywhere. They are designed to silence workers" voices and ensure
that workers" priorities are in lockstep with bosses" priorities.
The
CAW-Magna deal follows the
pattern faithfully. And the undersigned union leaders, from a broad
spectrum of Ontario's economic life, do not underestimate the potential
damage of these dealings.
We do not
dispute that the CAW
can choose such arrangements. It is free to do so, dependent on its own
internal checks and balances. But the blatant publicity effort that has
accompanied this deal means that critical comment from other unions
cannot be a surprise to anyone.
The
Magna-CAW transaction will
encourage unionized employers across Canada to slap comparable "deals"
on every bargaining table in the years ahead. And non-union employers
have been handed a new weapon for stalling organizing drives: "You
don't need your own democratic voices or the right to strike - the CAW
says so!"
It seems
pretty clear that this
deal will help production and employment to flow out of the Big Three
auto assemblers and other auto-parts makers, and into Magna, where
workers will lack time-tested union rights and capacities, and where
labour costs are significantly lower than in the Big Three. We agree
with critics inside the CAW who are deeply concerned about the
long-term effects of this deal.
Is there a
silver lining? Oddly enough, we believe there is.
The result
of the Magna sell-out
could mean employers will face a much more militant labour movement in
the days ahead. That possibility will certainly be reflected in the
debates on the floor of the OFL convention, which promise to be feisty
and inspiring.
Our unions
intend to put every
one of the employers we face on notice that they can forget about
trying to import the Magna deal into our existing collective
agreements, or into agreements for workers who join our unions in the
future. Our activists expect us to continue to strengthen independent
democratic unionism, not weaken it. And let us be very clear - we will
not give up the right to strike under any circumstances.
We will
continue to oppose
company unionism with engaged, energized and active democratic
unionism. It's too bad this fight has been provoked by one union going
in the other direction, but that doesn't weaken our resolve. Working
people deserve nothing less from us than a full-out commitment to
enhancing their rights, not rolling them back.
Wayne
Fraser is director of District 6 (Ontario and Atlantic provinces) of
the United Steelworkers. Sid Ryan is president of the Canadian Union of
Public Employees (Ontario). Cec Makowski is vice-president of the
Ontario region of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of
Canada. Sharleen Stewart is president of Local 1.on of the Service
Employees International Union. Dave Ritchie is Canadian general
vice-president of the International Association of Machinists and
Aerospace Workers. Warren (Smokey) Thomas is president of the Ontario
Public Sector Employees Union.
Found at:
http://www.peoplesvoice.ca/articleprint08/10__CAW_DEAL_IS_A_THREAT_TO_INDEPENDENT.html