The psuedo fascist security goons who dress in paramilitary drag and work for AFI are a common sight on picket lines across Canada. These goons assault picketers and act as provcatuers on the picket lines. The company boasts its anti-union security operations protecting scabs who cross picket lines.
AFI ensures employers are secure as secondary picketing becomes commonplace In keeping with its commitment to help employers mitigate extraordinary risks, two leading security experts from AFI International Group Inc. will deliver an address in Victoria April 20 on ways to ensure the security and protection of non-union employees and management during a labour dispute.
These goons assualted several of the Edmonton IWW branch members who were supporting the Telus Strikers here. We have seen them at other strikes as well. So folks out in B.C. should show them a bit of labour courtesy and set up a picket action at their speaking engagement.
Two of AFI's senior executives - Warren Wilson, Vice President of
Corporate Relations and Michael Thompson, Executive Vice President of
Investigations - will be addressing human resource professionals April 20 at
the B.C. Human Resources Management Association (HRMA) annual conference,
Building Business Results in Victoria April 19-21.
Also see: Union Busting Alberta Style
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labour, AFI, unions, union-busting, scabs, security, anti-union, Canada, B.C., Victoria, Human, Resources,
As someone who acted as a picket captain on a line that AFI graced with their presence I can attest to their thuggishness.
ReplyDeleteOne of their favorite tactics was to follow a few paces behind smaller female picketers, cameras aimed at their faces. We soon learned that we had to be aggressive in response; getting our signs right up to their camera lens every time one of them left the employer's steps.
Soon after the picket began they supplemented their ranks by hiring dozens of bar bouncers. They dressed in black, wore black leaher gloves, were eager to film us, less thrilled about being filmed. They were repeatedly caught during our pickets in both Alberta and BC doing things like following picketers home and staking out their homes and filming from un-marked cars.
Thugs R Us basically.
As someone who has been on the other side of the line from AFI, I wish I could be in Victoria to picket them.
ReplyDeleteKudos to you for helping to expose them for the goons that they are. The bahavior I witnessed by them was unethical, and to put it bluntly, the lowest form of sleaze. Behavior such as following female picketers with their videocameras, making comments that in a workplace would be considered sexual harassment (I was told I could come to one of their hotel rooms for a "Christmas Present")and monay other incidents has left a very sour taste in my mouth.