THERE IS NO SUCH A THING
AS A UNION BOSS
UNION BOSS is one of
those right wing terms that was inserted into the media in the eighties, by
conservative and business spokespeople opposed to unions. The use of pejorative Boss recognises this no one likes a Boss or the Boss unless its The Boss; Bruce Springsteen. And there is the rub, the mouthpieces of the corporate bosses our employers equates our elected representative off the shop floor as the same as the guy in head office.
Journalists who shill in the business, being lazy when they are not colluding with like minded politicians and lobbyists, picked up the term and used it. In this case the Sun newspaper chain in Canada used it because of its right wing ideology. With nineties and the hard shift to the right the term Union Boss was picked up by all media outlets and used, it is rare to hear it not being used to describe an elected officer of a union.
The current attack on unions is by right wing politicians in Canada and the USA who support the Right To Work anti union lobby. As this article explains there are BIG differences between
Canadian Labour Law and American Labor Law, something these imported anti union advisers and lobbyists did not understand in the early years of their entering Canada to provide their services and as part of the Right Wing Republican and Conservatives opposition to unions period.
This lobby tries to get unions out of the workplace before they even sign up enough members, since the seventies they have provided employers who think they may be unionized, with training programs on how to keep unions out, threatening employees etc. Never of course would they suggest better pay, benefits and a grievance procedure might solve the problem.
All of this is based on these labour advisers saving the real BOSS money.
They include professional union busters who also provide scab protecting thugs during strikes, these thugs, private security for the strike breaking firm, are treated by cops like they are cops when in fact they have no more power to arrest or harass anyone than you or I. But they sure do have snappy cargo pant black military jump suits, helmets, pepper spray, yep looks like someone in authority. But strip them of the uniforms and they are just thugs this baseball bats, whom the cops are obliged to treat as that.
Of course they rarely do that anymore. With lack of replacement worker legislation in Canada scabs, as they are known as, are allowed to cross picket lines, because this is dangerous the employer, boss, hires thugs to protect the scabs from the righteous indignation of those who are walking a picket line with no pay and benefits, to make it better. Of course the scab is a temporary worker, hoping for a quick buck and maybe a job but that will never happen unless the union is busted like it was during the infamous Calgary Herald Strike.
The President of the union local and the other union officers, are elected by the dues paying members to represent them at an annual General Meeting open to all initiated members. Because in Canada we use the Rand formula once a union is certified the bargaining agent for the workers, dues are taken off each paycheck automatically whether you are for the union of not. Because of this automatic dues check off members are then signed up at the first meeting, sworn in (take an oath) to mutually support each other, and now have all the rights and responsibilities of a union member.
The most important responsibility of union members is to attend the monthly general meeting.
Union members make the decisions in a union local by
attending monthly meetings just like any service club here all decisions are made motions passed, etc. The union uses Roberts Rules of Order to operate by. In Canada we use a Canadian Parliamentary Rules of Procedure, similar to Roberts.
Unions are far more democratic than any corporation. Which
are not democratic institutions
Boss also implies giving orders, which employers do, workers
elect fellow workers to represent them against the boss
"Chuck Jones, who is President of United Steelworkers 1999, has done a terrible job representing workers," Trump said in a tweet. "No wonder companies flee country!"The president-elect followed up with another tweet accusing union leaders of not doing enough to save the jobs that were threatened. "If United Steelworkers 1999 was any good, they would have kept those jobs in Indiana," Trump wrote. "Spend more time working-less time talking. Reduce dues."
EUGENE PLAWIUK
2019
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