Business Unionism Offers No Solution To Capitalist Crisis

You know that the labour movement is no threat to Canadian Capitalism when it can agree with the bosses on a band aid to the current economic crisis.;

'Job killing' EI premiums hurt workers, employers as manufacturing sector lags

Critics say the current EI program fails jobless workers, many of who don't qualify for EI benefits because they have not worked the required number of hours, as well as employers, who worry about having to pay what Liberal MP John McCallum, an economist, calls 'job killing' EI premiums.
On the employee side of the debate, the push is for more generous benefits.

Not surprisingly, one of the few things employer and employee representatives agree is the need to refrain from increasing the 2009 EI premiums for employees or employers. The chief actuary of the EI commission has already recommended a freeze for 2009, and the commission is expected to take the advice when it announces the 2009 rates this week.
Corinne Pohlmann, vice-president of national affairs for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, said the commission should go further and cut employer premiums. Continuing surpluses in the EI fund, estimated at $600 million for the last year, should be used to reduce the rate from the current of $2.42 per $100 of insurable earnings, she said in an interview.
The federation also wants the formula rewritten so employers and employees share the cost of the EI plan 50/50, or so that the government picks up a share of the cost. Employer premiums are currently 1.4 times higher than the $1.73 paid by employees.
The business federation and the CLC have both advocated - unsuccessfully so far - to give employers a 'premium holiday' for a period of time if they use the money to train employees.
The Conservative government's plan to move to a new system for setting EI premiums, starting in 2010, is causing jitters in some circles too. A newly-created EI financing board will set the premium rate each year "to generate just enough premium revenue during that year to cover expected payments" and to ensure a $2-billion reserve is maintained, according to government documents. Legislation establishing the new system became law last June.
Diane Finley, named last week to her former post as human resources minister, declined requests to discuss the EI system on grounds she is still getting briefed on the portfolio.
But Georgetti and McCallum said the system means that if the country's jobless rate worsens, as is expected, the board will either have to raise premiums the following year or cut benefits to meet its mandate.
"It has to be one or the other," said Georgetti. "That's the only way I have ever learned to balance the books. And neither one, in this environment, is the way to go."



Once upon a time the labour movement opposed child labour now they decry unemployment of the youth sector of the economy. These are kids working at Wal-Mart, MacDonalds etc., all of course in the non unionized sector.

Canadian Labour Congress: Public Works!
Now That the Election is Over, it's Time to Invest in Jobs That Last

Young workers, many of whom work in accommodation and food services, took a big hit in October. In total, 34,400 workers aged 15 to 24 lost their jobs. At the same time 27,000 people who earned their livelihoods in the accommodation and food services sector were out of a job last month.



And in their recently released paper on the global meltdown they sound more like economic apologists for capitalism than the voice of the working class. There is no discussion of using public and workers pension funds to finance the creation of worker controlled take overs of manufacturing in Canada. Showing that Canada's labour movement has lost the vision of building a new world within the shell of the old. Instead true to its nature as business unions the CLC calls for the state to bail out its bosses.



The Meltdown, Seen from Below
What union leaders, labour experts and anti-poverty activists say needs to be done.

The CLC has just issued a paper on its response to the current crisis titled "Global Capitalism: On the edge of the abyss." The paper says the global economy is now "almost certainly headed for a deep and prolonged recession," and notes that global markets have already fallen as far as they did in the Great Crash of 1929.
The labour group blames deregulated global finance for the crisis, pointing to what it calls "the unregulated shadow banking system of investment banks, hedge funds and private equity funds," and decrying the creation of "fiendishly complex and sometimes outright fraudulent products." The face value of these highly abstract and uncertain financial instruments, the paper notes, was recently estimated at over $50 trillion.
The CLC paper quotes Nouriel Roubini, professor of economics and international business at the Stern School of Business at New York University: "The crisis was caused by the largest leveraged asset bubble and credit bubble in the history of humanity.... a housing bubble, a mortgage bubble, an equity bubble, a bond bubble, a credit bubble, a commodity bubble, a private equity bubble, a hedge funds bubble are all now bursting at once in he biggest real sector and financial sector deleveraging since the Great Depression."
The CLC paper calls on Canada to play a role in creating a co-ordinated international response to the crisis that features re-regulation of both local and cross-border transactions and the imposition of a small transaction tax on all securities trading, including commodity futures. This Tobin Tax, named for the Nobel Prize winner who first suggested it, is designed to discourage short term speculation and to raise the government revenues that will be necessary to fund appropriate investments in social services and infrastructure repair.
Bail out tied to regulation
While many critics of the official response so far are asking why so much money is going into the banks and finance houses that created the crisis, the CLC endorses some bail-out activity as necessary to avert a systemic collapse. The bail out money must come, it cautions, tied to effective regulatory rules.
The CLC wants Canada Mortgage and Housing to re-finance distressed Canadian home mortgages at lower rates, dismissing the view that Canada is not experiencing a housing bubble as a myth. The $10 billion a year in new infrastructure investment the CLC calls for, says the paper, would create 200,000 new Canadian jobs rebuilding roads and bridges, mass transit projects, water works and the like as well as replenishing the country's diminished stock of social housing. A public letter recently signed by 80 prominent Canadian economists has echoed this call for an active and interventionist response by government to the economic crisis.
Further corporate tax cuts should be cancelled, the paper argues, in favor of direct government support for new investments in machinery and equipment, research, development and training.
Even if all these reforms are put into place, says the CLC paper, Canada may well experience serious increases in unemployment, which will expose weaknesses of the Employment Insurance program. Far fewer workers are eligible for EI as it now exists than was true in years past, and maximum rates and time allowed for coverage are both inadequate, according to the paper, which calls for broadened eligibility, higher maximum payouts and longer terms of coverage for the unemployed. The EI system currently has a surplus of over $50 billion.
Call for new pension protection
The CLC paper predicts the current financial crisis will create a severe pensions crisis, and a follow-up paper issued on Oct. 29 calls for the creation of a new pension benefit insurance scheme (financed by the proposed tax on financial transactions) to insure annual pension and RRSP benefits for individual Canadians up to $60,000 a year.
Pensions are a concern for Bill Saunders, too. Saunders, the president of the Vancouver and District Labour Council, says that Canadian workers and their pensions are more exposed to risk during market trouble because of the successful campaign over the past decades to move from defined benefit pensions, which guarantee a certain monthly amount when you retire, to defined contribution plans, promoted by market enthusiasts.
Contribution plans shovel a defined amount every month into mutual funds and other stocks, creating pension payouts that can vary widely depending upon the health of the market, as many Canadians are discovering this year as their RRSP holdings have shrunk dramatically.
"Twenty years ago," said Saunders, "60 per cent of Canadian private pension plans were defined benefit. Now that share has been cut in half. Defined contribution plans just don't deliver the goods for workers the way defined benefit plans do, and the current crisis illustrates that."

The final irony is that despite calls by the CLC to meet with Harper government it appears that labours agenda was accepted by the Premiers and the PM at their first ministers te'te' today.

Harper, premiers agree on infrastructure, pensions

Once again proving Herr Doctor Professor Marx correct:



Trades Unions work well as centers of resistance against the encroachments of capital. They fail partially from an injudicious use of their power. They fail generally from limiting themselves to a guerilla war against the effects of the existing system, instead of simultaneously trying to change it, instead of using their organized forces as a lever for the final emancipation of the working class that is to say the ultimate abolition of the wages system.Karl Marx, Value, Price and Profit, Addressed to Working Men, The First International Working Men's Association, 1865.



SEE:

Concessions Don't Work

And Then There Was One

October Surprise Was The Market Crash

No Austrians In Foxholes

Pension Rip Off



Tags
unionization, labour, CLC, Ken Georgetti, economy, trade union, recession, EI, business unions,
CLC
Labour

Concessions Don't Work

Concession bargaining is always a defeat for workers, it never results in any real gains, and is always presented by the bosses as the alternative to unemployment and job loss. Want job security give us back wage and benefit gains you have made. It is an example of one step forward two steps back. And it is the contradicition which exposes the fallacy that business unions are weapons to defeat capital, rather they bargain workers labour for a seat at the table of capitalism, but that seat keeps getting kicked out from under them and they are shocked.

Trades Unions work well as centers of resistance against the encroachments of capital. They fail partially from an injudicious use of their power. They fail generally from limiting themselves to a guerilla war against the effects of the existing system, instead of simultaneously trying to change it, instead of using their organized forces as a lever for the final emancipation of the working class that is to say the ultimate abolition of the wages system.
Karl Marx, Value, Price and Profit, Addressed to Working Men, The First International Working Men's Association, 1865.


As these news stories show nothing has changed. Concessions are demanded and plants still close. And the current crisis of capitalist credit is used as an excuse to demand more from workerrs in order for the bosses to capitalize their bottom line.

The union representing 85 striking and soon-to-be unemployed workers at Mercury Graphics Corp. has filed charges against the company for poor bargaining practices.
A major sticking point of plant closure negotiations is severance pay, said Cossar. Under the collective agreement and the provincial Labour Standards Act, employees should recieve two weeks of pay per year of employment. For people who have worked for the company for 25 to 30 years, that means a severance payment between $40,000 and $50,000.
The company has offered its employees $2,500 in severance, she said.
"It's an absolute insult to offer someone twenty-five hundred bucks for someone who has invested 25 years in a company," Cossar said. "It's appaling behaviour on the part of a company who didn't need to close down in the first place."
At the company's request, the union agreed to some concessions -- worth $300,000 -- to keep the plant open, Cossar explained. Mercury Graphics, however, wanted more, she said.

Court Rules in Favor of Wage Concessions for Frontier Airlines
Bankruptcy Court today granted Frontier Airlines relief it requested regarding its collective bargaining agreement with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT). The court granted Frontier's request for wage concessions from the IBT and adopted the airline's proposed heavy maintenance plan. Frontier's plan allows the company to furlough its heavy maintenance workers during periods Frontier does not require heavy maintenance work and recall these workers during periods Frontier has work available.
"Our inability to reach agreement on outsourcing heavy maintenance, given our reductions in fleet size, would have put Frontier at a competitive disadvantage and required heavier operational outlays than we feel are appropriate in this competitive market and in these difficult economic times," Collins said. "This ruling allows us to continue to perform heavy maintenance with our trusted employees, while providing us the option to outsource if court-approved milestones are not met."

Toronto workers to fight for 'sick bank'
Unionized City of Toronto workers will strongly resist any attempt to take away a perk that gives them up to six months' pay from cashing in unused sick days when they leave the job.
The issue of the "sick bank" – a relic of the days before short- and long-term disability programs – came up in 2005 contract talks, and management is expected to raise it again in talks due to start soon, said Brian Cochrane, chief negotiator for the Canadian Union of Public Employees, Local 416.
"We understand that they are going to try and take away the sick banks," Cochrane said. "To what extent we won't know until we hit the bargaining table."

Issaquah school unions file unfair labor charge
“The Issaquah School District is not negotiating with their employees,” Powell said. “The district is not negotiating in good faith. The district is demanding language concessions in our agreement that has nothing to do with economics and that our members will never agree to.”
If district officials are found, regarding either of the unions’ charges, in violation of state law by not passing through the cost of living adjustment and added health benefit increases, commission investigators can mandate that district officials pass through each, dating back to Sept. 1.
Neither union’s employees are receiving their cost of living adjustment nor their health benefits increase this year.
Each employee is paying an additional $25 per month to compensate for district officials not passing those through, in addition to their out-of-pocket medical expenses, Powell said.

Michael Russo's Sunday Insider: NHL players brace for concessions
Goals and assists, wins and losses are issues NHL players care most about, but Paul Kelly is giving his players a lesson on economics.
As the NHL Players' Association executive director began his second fall tour last week, one key topic was explaining why the union has decided to put 13.5 percent of each player's salary into escrow.
Under the collective bargaining agreement, players put money into escrow in case salaries exceed 57 percent of hockey-related revenues. If that happens, money is refunded to the owners from the escrow account after the season.
NHL revenues reached a record $2.6 billion last season, but because of the uncertainty in today's economy and the decline in value of the Canadian dollar (down to 83 cents against the U.S. dollar Friday), Kelly proposed the record escrow number.

It was the tactic of the bosses during the recession of the eighties. A recession directly caused by the neo-con agenda of Reagan and Thatcher. And both of them challenged the unions with state power giving the signal to the bosses that concession bargaining was ok.Reagan attacked PATCO air contollers and Thatcher the powerful Mine Workers Union. And again during the debt nd deficit hysteria in Canada during the ninties concession bargaining was demanded by Bob Rae and the NDP in Ontario of public sector workers, and in Alberta with Safeways demanding concessions and a 5% roll back from UFCW leading to Ralph Klein calling for wage and benefit cuts to Alberta's public sector workers.

Canadian unions, like their counterparts in most other developed countries, were on the defensive from neoliberal policies of wage restraint and fiscal austerity long before the crisis hit. Struggling with hostile employers – whose anti-union repertoire includes shutting down locations where workers are involved in organizing drives, to back-to-work legislation against public sector strikers, the re-organization of work processes and the deployment of organizational forms that are resistant to the control of industrial and craft unionism – unions were pushed back and forced to accept concession bargaining. Thus, they may not be in a position to successfully resist employers' pressure for wage-cuts

During the fifties and sixties wages and benefits for private sector and public sector workers, who actively fought for the right to unionise, increased. With the oil crisis and post Viet-Nam war downturn in the economy a recession occurred and the State attacked workers rights through wage and price controls. The latter being far less effective than the former.

Taking its lead from the state right wing think tanks like the Cato Instititue and Fraser Institute promoted the idea that their neo-con state could reduce workers wages and benefits increasing the bottom line by attacking the uniion movement. Their ultimate plan has always been to smash unions but when this could not be done, the bosses demanded concessions and claw backs from workers. The bottom line was to increase profits, the threat was plant closure or lay offs.

Even as the economy boomed workers were asked for concessions and as taxpayers were asked to bail out companies like the Big Three automakers. Who came with cap in hand in the eighties to ask taxpayers (workers by any other name) to bail them out. And returned again over the past two years as the market for their SUV's and Trucks collapsed.

The recent downturn in the economy is only an excuse to demand more concessions, and whipsaw workers by moving jobs out of Canada. Here is another reason we need to nationalize the auto industry under workers control. Clearly tax investments as well as concessions do not mean job protection nor are they an industrial strategy.

Navistar to slash jobs at Ontario truck plant
TORONTO, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Navistar International Corp confirmed on Thursday it will lay off as many as 499 workers at its Chatham, Ontario, truck plant early next year due to deteriorating market conditions.
The union and the company squared off in 2003 when Navistar said it was going to close the plant in Chatham, which is about 65 kilometers (40 miles) east of Detroit and has a population of about 100,000, and move production to Mexico.
In the end, the CAW said it agreed to significant concessions to keep the plant in Ontario and the federal and provincial governments kicked in C$65 million ($54.6 million) to sweeten the pot.
"We had an incredible struggle five or six years ago in that community to save that manufacturing plant," said CAW President Ken Lewenza.
"We believe it (the layoff announcement) violates the spirit of the agreement that we struck," he said, adding that the company now plans to increase production in Mexico.

Ontario could claw back investment in Chatham truck plant
Navistar International Corp. "will pay" if hundreds of job cuts at its truck plant in southwestern Ontario violate the terms of a government bailout agreement it signed five years ago, Economic Development Minister Michael Bryant vowed Thursday.
The Illinois-based company (NYSE: NAV) received millions of taxpayer dollars to keep open the plant in Chatham, Ont., and will have to pay some of that back if it fails to live up to its end of the deal, Bryant said.
"There is an agreement in place. Taxpayer dollars have been spent," he said.
"Navistar has to fulfil their obligations, which is what we want them to do. But if they don't, we will enforce that contract and we will make them pay."
The job cuts announced Wednesday will affect 470 employees at the Navistar-owned International Truck and Engine Corp., which faced closure in 2003 during a downturn in the heavy-truck market.
The layoffs start Jan. 31 and will leave the plant with about 400 employees.
Bryant didn't provide any details Thursday about the amount of money the company received, the terms of the agreement or how much it may have to repay.
But the Canadian Auto Workers union says International Truck received a $60-million government bailout package to remain open, along with $44 million in annual concessions from workers.
Bryant called the job cuts "totally unacceptable" and warned that Navistar would face repercussions if the layoffs breach the contract it signed back in 2003 under Ontario's previous Conservative government.
"I'm sure that Navistar would not want to damage their international reputation by not responding to a government – provincial and federal – that provided millions of taxpayer dollars in exchange for investments and jobs," Bryant said.
"What's important here is that taxpayer dollars are spent as they are supposed to be. But there is no free lunch, I say to Navistar, when it comes to investments in the province of Ontario."
NDP Leader Howard Hampton dismissed Bryant's remarks as "nothing more than media spin" as the province continues to be hammered by massive job losses in its troubled manufacturing sector.
The governing Liberals invested $235 million to help General Motors (NYSE: GM), only to see thousands of workers laid off, he said.


tags
MGuinty, GM, concesssion bargaining, unions, trade union, Marx, Ontario, Corporate Welfare, Canada, cars, automobilie, production, taxes, taxcredit, investment, environment, hybrid, self-valorization,, self-management,, workers control,, autoworkers,, Buzz Hargrove,,CAW, Big Three Auto,, libertarian socialism, automobile, Frank Stronach, Magna, business unions, auto parts, workers, layoffs, plant-closings, workers-control, unions, labour, Canada

Carpenters Union Defines Business Unionism

Faced with corporatist labour management counsultants from CLAC who promote collaboration with Merit Shops (non-union open shops in construction trades) the Carpenters Union are promoting themselves as the alternative.

Contrary to the article below this is not new at all its the return of Gomperism...the Carpenters Union see's its business partners as 'clients' and see's its role as a partner in capitalism, selling labour to the highest bidder. So long Class War.

The worst crime against working people is a company which fails to operate at a profit

The more thoroughly the workers are organized and federated the better they are prepared to enter into a contest, and the more surely will conflicts be averted. Paradoxical as it may appear, it is nevertheless true, that militant trade unionism is essential to industrial peace.

What we have endeavored to secure in industrial relations is industrial peace.

Samuel Gompers President, American Federation of Labour

After all Peter McGuire, Gompers pal, was the Canadian born President of the Carpenters Union, and he and Sam gave us Labour Day to undermine the more radical May Day which arose after the Haymarket Massacre. So the idea of selling labour to the highest bidder is nothing new for the Carpenters Union. Just as business unionism has always clashed with those who believe that the purpose of unions of workers is to challenge capitalism.

What is interesting in this story as well is that their centre is Green...that is it uses geothermal energy in oil rich Alberta. Now did they also build with recycled components?

Carpenters build for construction boom
Union unveils $21M west-end facility for training, updating workers
David Finlayson, The Edmonton Journal
Published: Friday, September 12

EDMONTON - A $21-million new training centre and talk of long-term partnerships with "clients" -- welcome to the carpenters union of the new millennium as it positions itself as a major stakeholder in the booming construction industry.

"Times have changed, and we're not the union of old," says Martyn Piper, executive secretary-treasurer of the

Alberta Regional Council of Carpenters and Allied Workers, which has 11,500 members.
"First and foremost we represent our people, but we also provide a service for our clients.

"They want safe and productive people when they need them, and our new training centre will help us do that."

The geothermally heated and cooled west-end centre will provide training and updating for carpenters, scaffolders, millwrights, industrial roofers and floor layers, and interior systems installers -- all in high demand amid the frantic oilsands and other industrial construction activity.

While the priority is to train Alberta's young people, scaffolders are in such short supply the union has brought in 2,500 workers from across Canada, as well as the U.S. and the U.K.

Already, 450 Americans are at various northern Alberta sites and that will rise to 1,000 in the next few weeks.

The union has a working relationship with its Irish counterparts to bring people over on temporary worker permits, and Piper soon will be going on a recruiting trip to England.

They've worked hard with Ottawa to smooth out the entry system, but it's still a slow process, he says.

Scaffolding's become an important job as large industrial complexes recognize the need to give workers a safe working platform, Piper says, and the new training shop is arguably the best in the world, certainly the best in North America.

It's a three-year apprenticeship, and many workers enrol in both the carpentry and scaffolding programs, he says.

In the millwright shop, workers can learn how to install and service a giant, modern hydrogen compressor donated by Petro-Canada.

The centre, which can accommodate about 200 trainees on any given day, consolidates five separate facilities the union had around the city, including administrative offices.

There's plenty of room on the site for expansion as needed, Piper says.

The new partnership and training philosophy came from the union's Washington, D.C-based international president Douglas McCarron, who believes it has to be run like a business for the best interests of the industry as a whole.

The Edmonton centre is a smaller version of one built in Las Vegas by McCarron, here today for the official opening.

Piper says changing times for unions call for new approaches, especially with the number of open-shop contractors in Alberta, and the inroads being made by the Christian Labour Association of Canada.

"They are exciting -- and challenging -- times. And we believe we have a functional, modest facility that meets the needs of industry and which our members can be proud of."

dfinlayson@thejournal.canwest.com


© The Edmonton Journal 2008

See:

Unions the State and Capital

This is Class War

Unions




Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
Labor, Labour, LaborDay, LabourDay, Day, Work, Workers, Working, Unions, AFL, IWW, Gompers, McGuire, Canada, USA

AFL Demo Falls Flat On Its Face

Ouch. Suppose we called a demonstration and no one came?

The majority of the 15 workers that did show up were probably Wobblies who have been active on every wildcat picket line over this last month. Dual carders, folks who belong to both the IWW and their regular trade union. The IWW has been gaining support amongst the building trades union rank and file pissed off at their union's lack of democracy.

While the union bosses couldn't organize a rally, demo, or meeting bigger than a gathering in a phone booth, cause they are pork choppers, far removed from the rank and file. And when they do organize rallies its the paid union staff that show up.

This is not only disappointing but shows that the real resistance of the workers in Alberta not only to our bad labour laws, but to the Oil royalty rip off will be led by rank and file militants not the labour bureaucracy. That was what made last months wildcat actions successful. But as soon as the labour bureaucrats joined in well it died.

While the Oil Bosses bused in their workers and paid them to attend their Anti-Royalty Rally at the Leg on Wednesday the AFL's excuse is that their demo was poorly attended cause it was payday. Well that was a brilliant move wasn't it. The pork choppers don't even know when pay day is up in Fort McMurray. Or when shift changes occur. Talk about being out of touch. They should have just organized a counter demo in Edmonton instead.

Unions drive message home despite poor turnout

By CAROL CHRISTIAN
Fort McMurray Today staff
Friday October 19, 2007

It may have been a tiny crowd at a royalty rally for oilsands workers Thursday night but that didn’t undermine their support for changes to the current royalty system.
About 15 people attended the rally hosted by the Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL). Gil McGowan, AFL president, wasn’t really surprised at the turnout given it was payday, and shift change day so many workers had already left town.
He explained the AFL went ahead with the meeting because of concerns Premier Ed Stelmach was going to announce his decision on the royalty panel recommendations today. That didn’t happen at press time; the premier is rumoured to have television airtime booked next Wednesday.
McGowan presented his top 10 reasons why big business won’t leave Alberta even though companies are “rattling their sabres” and threatening to pull out of the province.
“The oil is here. They’re going to stay here because there’s money to be made and there’s nowhere else to go,” stated McGowan. Other reasons included that oil companies have always known the government has the right to unilaterally raise royalties and companies are not going to turn their backs on billions of dollars of investments already made here.
He mentioned other jurisdictions like Alaska and Britain have increased royalty rates by as much as 80 per cent yet it hasn’t scared off investment. The royalty review panel is recommending a 20 per cent increase for Alberta.
McGowan pointed out some of the same companies threatening to leave Alberta continue to invest in Venezuela where royalties are higher than here and profit margins lower.
“We don’t have to be intimidated by the scare tactics being employed by big oil,” said McGowan.

While the premier is talking tough, there’s still a concern about closed door meetings between government and big oil companies, he said. Believing the companies are trying to intimate the government McGowan is urging workers and Albertans to tell their MLAs not to lose their nerve.
“We have to help them get the backbone they need to stand up to big oil,” he stated. “The time for accepting bargain basement royalties is over.” If government cows to oil companies, McGowan added Albertans can show their displeasure at the ballot box.
Petition letters to the premier available at the rally said the royalty report should be seen as a bare minimum for action. Anything less than that is a failure by government to stand up for the best interests of Albertans.
“Any effort to water down the recommendations would be a unnecessary capitulation to big oil,” said McGowan.
The local rally was held for workers in contrast to the one the day before at the legislature in Edmonton organized by business. Referring to that rally as a “paid political commercial brought to you by ownership,” Barry Salmon, an International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) official, said owners are more interested in their own bottom line than the best interests of Albertans.
Salmon said the panel came up with a mediocre report that was already a compromise favouring big oil.
This was intended to set a marker so when government introduces its decision, it will be seen as a compromise. “Albertans will believe its acceptable because they will be told it’s a compromise between the royalty recommendations and big oil demands.
“We’re being had,” he said, adding Albertans are now involved in a shell game with the government and big oil.
As part of their scare tactics, oil companies are threatening some 19,000 jobs, said Mel Kraley, IBEW assistant business manager. Yet, he noted, there some 21,000 temporary foreign workers in Alberta. McGowan believes the number of workers is closer to 60,000.
Several workers in attendance took the opportunity to express their concerns.
Ron Davidovich said the government should “feel ashamed” for finally asking for royalty review. “We’ve got billions of dollars lost in this province,” he added at a time when seniors can’t get the care they need and are struggling on fixed incomes. The extra $2 billion from increased royalties could help seniors among other things, he said.
“As soon as we encroach on them (oil companies) ... we hear some nice stories,” said Roland Lefort, an official with the Communication, Energy and Paperworkers union.
He added when the Kyoto Accord was first introduced, oil companies bemoaned the financial hardship it would cause. As a result, “Albertans believed Kyoto was going to destroy the economy.” The royalty review is no different, Lefort said.

Don't Let Big Oil Set Our Royalty Rates make sure Ed hears from you

See:

I Am Malcontent

Who Will Decide About Royalties

Alberta's Tar Sands Gamble

Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
royalties, oil, profits,
Bill Hunter, Alberta Royalty Review,
Alberta Cabinet, IBEW, Ed Stelmach,
Big Oil,oil royalties, AFL, Gil McGowan, Fort McMurray, IWW,

Steel Merger

US Steel to buy Stelco for $1.1bn

This was the merger the Steelworkers union was looking for. And how much it was facilitated by the USW President Leo Gerard, who is from Canada, well that's anyone's guess. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge, know what I mean.

It's just good fortune that they both share the same union. A union that practices and advocates for mergers and acquisitions.

SEE:

Mittal Plays Monopoly

Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
Leo Gerard, Steelworkers, Untied Steelworkers Union, Amicus, 
General Transportation Workers Union, Mittal, Mergers, Canada, Stelco, US Steel, 
Free Trade, job cuts, layoffs,

Canada
Steel
Dofasco
Mittal
ThyssenKrupp
Arcelor
Monopoly Capitalism

Boom and Bust

While inflation in Alberta is 6% annually workers just get by whether unionized or those free riders in the Merit shops. Is it any wonder they are asking for more.

In Alberta, 25,000 electricians, pipefitters, millwrights, plumbers and refigeration mechanics in the oilpatch are in intense negotiations for new contracts and another 5,000 could join them on strike by mid-August if talks break down. Electricians recently rejected a four-year deal offering 5%, 6.5%, 6.5% and 6.5%.

The precedent for robust increases was recently set at Sun-cor Energy Inc., where 2,100 unionized won annual gains of 7%, 6% and 6% over three years, plus a $4,000 lump sum payment, up from a previous contract averaging 3.2% per year and no lump sum.

Meanwhile in the booming Alberta construction sector, wage settlements have gravitated toward the 7% to 8% range over the past two years, up from previous gains of 3% to 5%, said Stephen Kushner, president of Merit Contractors Association, representing non-union employers in the province. About 160,000 of the 200,000 construction workers in Alberta are open shop.

"We can all talk about core inflation and the niceties of that, but for the average person in Alberta, the overall inflation rate is 6%," said Douglas Porter, deputy chief economist at BMO Capital Markets.

See:

$63.90 Per Hour

Molsons Strike

Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
class-war, class-warfare, classagainstclass, workingclass, proletariat, bourgoiesie, middleclass, rulingclass, anarchy, anarchism, anarchist, communism, communist, socialism, socialist, workers, labour, labor, unions, syndicalism,
Strike, strike, Molson, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, Beer, CAW,

Union M&A

I raised this issue last week and Barrie McKenna in todays Globe and Mail questions Mergers and Acquisitions in the labour movement. The alternative to the labour movements version of corporatism is One Big Union. Instead of organizing the unorganized, like Starbucks workers, these old industrial based business unions are organizing for their retirement.

On this May Day - also know as International Workers' Day - it's worth asking the question, why merge at all?

The venture may prove to be a lot less ambitious than advertised. The three unions said they would engage in co-ordinated campaigning on issues such as human and labour rights in Colombia, China and elsewhere, as well as common approaches to contract negotiations with multinational companies.

The barriers to more fundamental transatlantic co-operation are substantial, including different labour laws, political systems and employers.

Nor is it clear how the merger would help overcome the greatest challenge facing organized labour - dwindling membership. The vast majority of workers in all three countries aren't union members. In Canada, just a quarter of the civilian labour force belonged to a union last year, down from nearly 30 per cent at the beginning of the 1990s. The comparable numbers for the United States and Britain are 12 per cent and 28.4 per cent, respectively, and the shares continue to fall every year.

The Steelworkers have bucked the trend, but mainly by swallowing other unions, rather than internal growth. And like many unions, nearly a third of its members are retirees, whose ranks are unlikely to be replenished with new union members.

Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
Leo Gerard, Steelworkers, Untied Steelworkers Union, Amicus, 
General Transportation Workers Union, Mittal, Mergers, Canada, UK, US, 
Free Trade, job cuts, layoffs,

Canada
Steel
Dofasco
Mittal
ThyssenKrupp
Arcelor
Monopoly Capitalism

AUPE Calls General Strike Over Safety

The difference between business unionism and industrial unionism. Business unions are in the business of keeping business operating, industrial/social unionism says wobble the job for health and safety.

The head of Alberta Building Trades Council is calling for calm over the deaths of two foreign workers at a Fort McMurray-area oilpatch worksite.

Executive director Ron Harry called on workers and the public to wait until all investigations into the tragedy are complete before making any decisions.

"There are processes and policies on each site," said Harry.

"In the end a worker is a worker, no matter if he's union or non-union, an immigrant or non-immigrant. It's unfortunate but you must find out what caused the situation first."

He was responding to reports Doug Knight of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees called on workers to walk off the job immediately if they fear the jobsite is not safe.

If there is immediate danger at the workplace you must remove yourself and your co-workers from it," said Harry, "then work with the employers and owners on site about the problem, don't just walk off the job."

The ABTC represents 50,000 unionized workers, 16 affiliate trade unions and 23 locals in Alberta. The two workers killed were not union members.

Harry said that the last thing he wants to see are massive groups of workers walking off the job sites without first going through the workplace safety steps.

The two men died while working at the Canadian Natural Resources Ltd site in the Fort MacKay area, near Fort McMurray. Witnesses said that a massive tank collapsed and killed the two temporary Chinese workers and injured four more.

Fiona Wiseman, spokesman for Occupation Health and Safety, said that four investigators from Alberta Employment, Immigration and Industry are already at the site.

A government translator who speaks Mandarin, the same language the two dead men spoke, is also on the scene. Wiseman said that no details will be released until the investigation is completed. In 2006, 124 people died on the job in Alberta. The death toll reached 27 in the first two months of 2007.

See:

Day of Mourning

Labour Shortage = Union Busting

Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
workers, injuries, assault, crime, work, labour, labor, government, public sector workers, service workers, Canada, job, dangers on the job, assault, crime, unions, working alone, CLAC, unions, labour shortage, Monte Solberg, Canada, Alberta, tarsands, oilsands, labour, labor, work, jobs, IBEW, Merit Contractors, non-union, rat unions, yellow dog union, temporary workers

M&A in the Labour Movement

M&A is Mergers and Acquisitions. Today this is the case between three of the worlds largest unions. This M&A in labour reflects the growing oligopolies in the Steel industry as I wrote here last year; Mittal Plays Monopoly

Also see: Time For A Canadian Steel Workers Union

And as I wrote in my paper Global Labour in the Age of Empire

Let us look at the impact of capitalism on the union movement. Unions are a business, they look at gaining large numbers of members in order to bargain with the bosses. To effectively bargain they need a steady work force, in many cases their disconnect from their members is this servicing model, the membership see a bureaucracy of union reps and leaders, who bargain for them, who service them, who do not challenge capitalism, but maintain business as usual. .

I will not go into examples of specific unions, but overall, their purpose is to maintain themselves in power, not to mobilize for workers power. As a result union membership in North America is on a serious decline. Where unions have spent their energy in the past decade has not been organizing the unorganized, or the poorest workers, or even the growing part time or contracted out workers, but in raiding each other. That’s right, gangsterism has replaced revolutionary struggle. Competing unions want each other’s membership, or as the old industries collapse the unions move into non traditional areas, such as the public sector to compete with existing public sector unions for a decreasing membership base.

In a real tribute to Wall Street, a number of unions have adopted the methods of big business; merger and acquisitions. The Brotherhood of Railway workers is talking about merging with the Teamsters. Talks are under way for Steel and other Metal workers unions to merge with Coal and Transportation unions, nationally and internationally.

Unlike the One Big Union of the last century, that believed all working people, regardless of their jobs, should be in a union to overthrow capitalism, these mergers will create new capitalist enterprises that guarantee the union bosses their jobs, in a declining growth market.

---

And while some might consider my assessment harsh let us not forget that the General Transportation Workers Union in the UK sold out the Mersey Side Dockworkers ten years ago. They surrendered the battle against globalization without firing a shot. Today they join with the Steelworkers and Amicus to become the negotiators of a gentler kinder globalization of capitalism. As I predicted; Will Canadian Labour Accept Free Trade?

Steelworkers and Amicus take first steps towards global super-union

    Merger exploration group to create 3.4 million member Trans-Atlantic
union

OTTAWA, April 18 /CNW/ - The United Steelworkers (USW), together with
Amicus and the Transportation & General Workers Union (T&GWU) of the United
Kingdom, today announced a formal process to prepare the ground for the
creation of the first Trans-Atlantic trade union.
At a ceremony held in Ottawa at the USW's Canadian National Policy
Congress, representatives of the three unions signed an accord to set up a
merger exploration committee which will be tasked with laying down a
foundation for a legal merger within one year.
The new union would represent more than 3.4 million members in the US,
Canada, UK and Ireland. It would be the world's biggest union and would be
expected to attract other union organizations throughout the world into
membership.
During the exploration process, the unions will engage in coordinated
campaigning and common approaches to collective bargaining with multinational
companies.
This agreement follows a strategic alliance signed between Amicus and the
USW two years ago. Amicus and the T&GWU will join together as one union with
two million members after May 1, 2007. The new union, based in London, will be
called "Unite".
Statements were issued after a press call and signing of the 'Ottawa
Accord' by USW President Leo W. Gerard and Derek Simpson, General Secretary
for Amicus, as follows:

Amicus, General Secretary, Derek Simpson said,

"One of the main reasons for the merger between Amicus and the T&GWU was
our desire to create an international trade union that would be able to deal
with multinational companies on an equal footing. Coming as it does hot on the
heels of our mergers, today's announcement demonstrates the resonance that the
idea of a global super union has. "Multinational companies are pushing down
wages and conditions for workers the world over by playing one national
workforce off against another. The only beneficiaries of globalization are the
exploiters of working people and the only way working people can resist this
is to band together.
"I hope today's announcements marks the beginning of the creation of a
formidable international trade union organization."

USW International President Leo W. Gerard said,

"Workers in this new century need a trans-Atlantic union to tame the
exploitation of global corporations, international banks and world trade
organizations.
"The time for global unionism has arrived. We need cross-border
organizing strategies to protect workers against the mobility of capital that
knows no borders. Workers want their unions to develop labor contracts that
encompass global employers. We must meet the challenge and defend human rights
standards for all.
"USW members in the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean Basin know the
benefits of international unionism and are ready to commit support to today's
announcement for exploring the first trans-Atlantic union for workers in two
continents."

T&GWU General Secretary, Tony Woodley, said:

"This is an historic step for global trade unionism, and will help
working people to look even the biggest employer in the eye. Closer working
and agreement with North American trade unionists forms a crucial part of our
global organizing agenda, designed to stop bosses playing off workers in one
country against those in another."

Ken Neumann, USW National Director for Canada, said the document signed
at the National Policy Conference was a historic moment for the 600 delegates
representing USW members across Canada.
"It is important for our members to be able to participate in the signing
of a document that will affect their future as workers in a global economy.
"Our union has never been satisfied with limiting our reach exclusively
to Canada. And we are more than an international union. We are a global
network of workers and their organizations."

The 'Ottawa Accord' signed by the three unions was titled: "Exploring a
Global Union for the 21st Century."

The Accord stated: "Amicus-T&G and the USW firmly believe that over the
coming years only through greater international solidarity and cooperation can
we as a trade union movement, effectively represent the interests of our
members against the threats posed by global capital."

It committed the North American and UK unions to:
<<    -   Creation of a Merger Exploration Committee of five principals from        each union to study the legal framework, constitutions, rules and        structures of the current unions during the next 12 months to suggest       a framework for a formal merger.   -  A regular exchange between senior officers to take place every        quarter to monitor and develop areas of joint work and to find ways        of integrating common programs to enhance the understanding and        culture of the unions.  -   Provide materials and financial resources for joint international       solidarity projects that might include support of Columbia's trade       union movement in the face of continued attacks on labour and human       rights; capacity building projects with partner unions in Africa;        solidarity work with the ship breakers of India and joint exploration        of transnational corporations in China.   -   Development of common approaches to collective bargaining in sectors        and multinational companies where our joint membership work.    -   Engage in regular participation in each union's educational and       political conferences and activities.    >>

The full 'Ottawa Accord' signed by the USW, Amicus and the T&GWU, plus
details of the announcement creating a formal Merger Exploration Committee are
available by accessing www.usw.org or www.amicustheunion.org.






                  
 United Steelworkers and Independent Steelworkers Unions Merge             
                     
In the Bible, Jeremiah 29, verse 11 offers a message of optimism: “For I
know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm
you, plans to give you hope and a future."
Members of the former Independent Steelworkers Union say the message reflects
how they feel now that they are members of the United Steelworkers.
Leaders from the unions met Friday in Pittsburgh to sign a merger agreement.
The ISU and its 1,150 members at Arcelor-Mittal’s Weirton, W.Va., mill
 are now USW Local 2911, named for the Bible verse.
“When you read it, it’s hope for the future,” said Mark Glyptis,
former president of the 56-year-old ISU and now president of the new
USW local. “We certainly believe this gives (our members) hope.”
Glyptis said he and his members were elated about the merger,
approved 913-89 by ISU members last month. It means workers can speak
with one voice in bargaining with Mittal, the world’s largest steel
company.
“It’s a historic day,” said USW International President Leo W.
Gerard, who noted the Weirton union’s strong record of battling for its
members and the industry. “We’re proud of the history, the
tenaciousness, the respect that people have for the ISU.”
Glyptis said members will benefit from greater financial, legal,
mobilizing and lobbying strength, a message echoed by USW District 1
Director Dave McCall.
Joining forces “gives us more power, more energy,” McCall said.
U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, a Democrat from West Virginia, spoke to
the gathering by telephone from Washington, D.C., saying he believes
the merger is good news for Weirton workers.
“They’re joining a very strong force in the labor movement,”
 Rockefeller said, promising his support.
“If I’m not in a fight for people producing steel, I feel like I’m
neglecting life _ I’m part of you, you’re part of me,” he said to loud
applause. 
The decision to merge the ISU with the larger USW followed profound
changes in the management of Weirton, which has gone from an
employee-owned corporation to part of Arcelor-Mittal.
Gerard and Glyptis vowed to work hard on several issues, including
having a say in the sale of Arcelor Mittal’s Sparrows Point, Md., plant
where the USW represents some 2,100 production workers.
The ISU and the USW have worked together on the Stand Up for Steel Campaign,
retiree health care and pension issues.
Hoisting their joined hands in the air after signing the merger
agreement, Gerard and Glyptis promised to build on those efforts.
“We’re going to fight together,” Gerard said.
“Absolutely,” Glyptis said. “And we’re going to win.”
Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
Leo Gerard, Steelworkers, Untied Steelworkers Union, Amicus, 
General Transportation Workers Union, Mittal, Mergers, Canada, UK, US, 
Free Trade, job cuts, layoffs,

Canada
Steel
Dofasco
Mittal
ThyssenKrupp
Arcelor
Monopoly Capitalism

Farmer John Exploits Mexican Workers

Back in the early days of the IWW, Wobblies organized farm workers, since many workers in Canada and the U.S. found interim work on the farm before finding work in mills, mines, in lumber and on the railroads. Their term for a farmer who exploited farm workers was Farmer John.

Farmers in the West in Canada and the U.S. relied upon itinerant workers, hobos, to bring in the grain. Paying them 'bum' wages, treating them like slaves, charging them for room and board, led to the I.W.W. to organize farmworkers on a large scale industrial basis.

Today Farmer John relies upon temporary workers from Mexico and in Alberta, over a century later nothing has changed. Farm workers brought in from Mexico and the Caribbean to work for Farmer John in Alberta remain indentured servants, slaves by any other name.

Farm workers cannot bargain collectively in Ontario and Alberta and there is no independent voice for the workers in the program. In 1999, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that farmworkers enjoy the same rights as other workers to associate without intimidation, coercion or discrimination by their employers.

And for that reason Farmworkers need a union.

***

A Mexican farm worker who had a bad experience working on a farm near Provost has gone back home.

Armando Garcia flew back to his wife and two children Wednesday after parishioners at the Catholic Church in Provost raised money for his plane ticket.

His friend in Edmonton, Miguel Herrero, said he's appalled Alberta's labour code provides no protection for farm workers. He's trying to raise additional money for Garcia to help him get back on his feet after his bad experience in Canada.

Alberta Employment is investigating claims that the temporary foreign worker didn't get the medical coverage he was promised, wasn't paid extra for overtime and had so many deductions from his paycheque that he was getting paid less than $1 an hour.

***

Harvest War Song

(Tune: "Tipperary")

We are coming home, John Farmer, we are coming back
to stay.
For nigh on fifty years or more, we've gathered up your
hay.
We have slept out in your hayfields, we have heard your
morning shout;
We've heard you wondering where in hell's them pesky
go-abouts?
CHORUS
It's a long way, now understand me; it's a long way to
town;
It's a long way across the prairie, and to hell with Farmer
John.
Up goes machine or wages, and the hours must come
down;
For we're out for a winter's stake this summer, and we
want no scabs around.
You've paid the going wages, that's what kept us on the
bum,
You say you've done your duty, you chin-whiskered son
of a gun.
We have sent your kids to college, but still you must rave
and shout,
And call us tramps and hoboes, and pesky go-abouts.

But now the wintry breezes are a-shaking our poor frames,
And the long drawn days of hunger try to drive us boes
insane.
It is driving us to action--we are organized today;
Us pesky tramps and hoboes are coming back to stay.

IWW Little Red Song Book

The early Wobblies were above all famous for their Westerners: the part-Indians and the Yankees, sons and daughters of pony express drivers and gold prospectors whose families had kept going west but never escaped poverty. But even in these early years, many of the militants were fresh from Europe or the children of immigrants, radicalized on the other side of the ocean or in their first years of American life. They remained in the IWW when native-born “Americans” mostly came and left, published magazines and newspapers that lasted decades, and kept the Wobbly spirit alive for later generations.

The Agricultural Workers Organization (AWO) planted itself in the work-life culture of the mostly white, male, mobile harvest workers of the plains states. Like the Wobs in the mines and sawmills, they epitomized the Western (and “American”) spirit of the organization. Notoriously rebellious and restless, their effective control of box car-riding (“show your red card”) was legendary. The capability of Wobbly organizers to create miniature egalitarian communities among the transient workers testified to their adeptness but also their belief in the lowest ranks of workers.

The larger AWO could also grow strong in the face of repression, peaking in 1918, for a seemingly unlikely reason. The First World War created a labor shortage: it was easier to quit or get fired and move on, because more jobs were available everywhere. Not that AWO organizing drives necessarily succeeded. The racial diversity of many California farms was difficult to overcome (although they tried). The repression of labor during wartime meant suppression of Wob newspapers, arrests of organizers, and threats of vigilante violence. In the longer run, the mechanization of farming would dramatically reduce the numbers of agricultural workers and their bargaining power.

Wobblies also learned that organizing in fields was more complicated than in factories. They could not rely on family or ethnic ties, and so had to rely on sudden job actions, slowdowns, and similar tactics to attract and hold members. Thus in April 1915, Frank Little called a conference to organize casual workers (hoboes), creating a job delegate system within the IWW, with Wobs setting wage and hour demands before the harvest, selecting an individual or committee to negotiate with a farmer, and then having all the Wobs ratify the agreement. This way, the AWO built quickly and successfully. Dues were a two dollar initiation, then fifty cents per month. By 1915, many had won immediate Wob goals: the ten hour day, three dollar minimum, overtime, good board, clean beds; all realizable because war raised the price of wheat.

Thus, Wobs would arrive outside town, establish a “jungle” near a stream, then call a meeting and elect committees to keep the camp clean. A “spud and gump brigade” foraged or begged for food and did the cooking, while some got jobs in town to build up a common fund. This was the IWW world in miniature, a workers’ society run by itself—although organizing it and keeping it going sometimes distracted from actual organizing in the fields.

IWW strike leadership would naturally be blamed for causing deaths and injuries handed out by police and private thugs. Huge defense fights exposed terrible conditions while leaders were handed long sentences. Yet, the IWW’s reputation spread most amazingly. Japanese and Chinese workers had their own labor organizations that worked with the IWW, although not usually affiliating directly. The Fresno branch chartered the Japanese Labor League in 1908 with a thousand members. Mexicans formed their own Wobbly locals (especially in San Diego and Los Angeles) and published Wobbly pamphlets, leaflets, and papers in Spanish. All this activity was unknown and indeed unwanted by the mainstream AFL.

» Zane Grey » The Desert of Wheat

Hard? It sure is hard. But it'll be the makin' of a great country. It'll weed out the riffraff.... See here, Kurt, I'm goin' to give you a hunch. Have you had any dealin's with the I.W.W.?"

"Yes, last harvest we had trouble, but nothing serious. When I was in Spokane last month I heard a good deal. Strangers have approached us here, too--mostly aliens. I have no use for them, but they always get father's ear. And now!... To tell the truth, I'm worried."

"Boy, you need to be," replied Anderson, earnestly. "We're all worried. I'm goin' to let you read over the laws of that I.W.W. organization. You're to keep mum now, mind you. I belong to the Chamber of Commerce in Spokane. Somebody got hold of these by-laws of this so-called labor union. We've had copies made, an' every honest farmer in the Northwest is goin' to read them. But carryin' one around is dangerous, I reckon, these days. Here."

Anderson hesitated a moment, peered cautiously around, and then, slipping folded sheets of paper from his inside coat pocket, he evidently made ready to hand them to Kurt.

"Lenore, where's the driver?" he asked.

"He's under the car," replied the girl

Kurt thrilled at the soft sound of her voice. It was something to have been haunted by a girl's face for a year and then suddenly hear her voice.

"He's new to me--that driver--an' I ain't trustin' any new men these days," went on Anderson. "Here now, Dorn. Read that. An' if you don't get red-headed--"

Without finishing his last muttered remark, he opened the sheets of manuscript and spread them out to the young man.

Curiously, and with a little rush of excitement, Kurt began to read. The very first rule of the I.W.W. aimed to abolish capital. Kurt read on with slowly growing amaze, consternation, and anger. When he had finished, his look, without speech, was a question Anderson hastened to answer.

"It's straight goods," he declared. "Them's the sure-enough rules of that gang. We made certain before we acted. Now how do they strike you?"

"Why, that's no labor union!" replied Kurt, hotly. "They're outlaws, thieves, blackmailers, pirates. I--I don't know what!"

"Dorn, we're up against a bad outfit an' the Northwest will see hell this summer. There's trouble in Montana and Idaho. Strangers are driftin' into Washington from all over. We must organize to meet them--to prevent them gettin' a hold out here. It's a labor union, mostly aliens, with dishonest an' unscrupulous leaders, some of them Americans. They aim to take advantage of the war situation. In the newspapers they rave about shorter hours, more pay, acknowledgment of the union. But any fool would see, if he read them laws I showed you, that this I.W.W. is not straight."

"Mr. Anderson, what steps have you taken down in your country?" queried Kurt.

"So far all I've done was to hire my hands for a year, give them high wages, an' caution them when strangers come round to feed them an' be civil an' send them on."

"But we can't do that up here in the Bend," said Dorn, seriously. "We need, say, a hundred thousand men in harvest-time, and not ten thousand all the rest of the year."

"Sure you can't. But you'll have to organize somethin'. Up here in this desert you could have a heap of trouble if that outfit got here strong enough. You'd better tell every farmer you can trust about this I.W.W."

"I've only one American neighbor, and he lives six miles from here," replied Dorn. "Olsen over there is a Swede, and not a naturalized citizen, but I believe he's for the U.S. And there's--"

"Dad," interrupted the girl, "I believe our driver is listening to your very uninteresting conversation."

She spoke demurely, with laughter in her low voice. It made Dorn dare to look at her, and he met a blue blaze that was instantly averted.

Anderson growled, evidently some very hard names, under his breath; his look just then was full of characteristic Western spirit. Then he got up.

See:

Slavery in Canada

Monte Solberg

temporary workers


Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
migrant workers, Canada, immigrants, temporary workers, farm workers, Alberta, labour, labor, employment, slavery,