Monday, March 28, 2005

Right to Life = Right To Work

Those on the right who oppose gay marriage also oppose a womans right to choose abortion, they also oppose publicly funded daycare and a living wage for daycare workers.

They also oppose unions and while not saying it outright they support "right to work" laws, those that would end 'forced unionization' in the work place the ending of the Rand Formula.

"In Canada, the union security clause requires that all workers in a bargaining unit belong to the union and/or pay dues. The mandatory collection of dues is protected from Constitutional challenges under a 1945 ruling by Supreme Court Justice Ivan C Rand (origin of the Rand formula for authorizing dues payment) saying the collective rights of workers supercedes individual rights. These provisions are crucial for unions to maintain control in the workplace."
Could BC be Canada's right-to-work beachhead?

Right wing groups in Canada cross post each others press releases, and research. It is common for a right wing reseracher say with the Fraser Institute to quote from the Cato Institute, both right wing think tanks, to legitmate their research. The same applies to the right wing -anti-abortion, anti-daycare, anti-feminist, and anti-gay lobbies.

For instance a Real Women of Canada Press Release posted on the Canadian Family Action Coalition complains that Taxpayers Fund Gay Legal Challenges for Same-sex Marriage

"With the funds they receive from compulsory union dues, Canadian unions are also financially backing homosexual activists. EGALE lists Canadian Auto Workers, Canadian Union of Public Employees and Canadian Labour Congress as its “Gold” sponsors on its website."

Subtle eh, "compulsory union dues" is a phrase used by the right wing opposed to so called 'forced unionization'.

An example of this kind of language can be found at the American Right Wing Anti Union
"NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LABOR RELATIONS RESEARCH" site.

(don't you love that name, sounds like a government department,
or a legitimate labour relations institute when really is a right wing anti-union lobby front)

Where they say in an article about Canadian Unions: Trouble in Big Labor 'Paradise'

"U.S. Employees Are Free to 'Vote With
Their Feet' Against Forced Unionism

In the U.S., nearly four out of every 10 private-sector employees work in a state with a Right to Work law that bars union officials from forcing anyone to join or pay dues to a union as a job condition. And the share of employees who are protected by Right to Work laws is steadily increasing. Every year, non-Right to Work states suffer an average net loss of roughly 500,O00 citizens who "vote with their feet" by moving to one of the 22 Right to Work states. But not one of Canada's 10 provinces has a Right to Work law. Forced union membership or dues payment is authorized under federal law and under every provincial law. Therefore, employees have no opportunity to "vote with their feet" against forced unionism unless they are willing and able to leave the country! It is not just Canada's lack of any Right to Work protections for employees that appeals to U.S. union officials. They also love the fact that Canadian labor laws put even tighter restrictions on employers' ability to resist the forced unionization of their employees than does U.S. labor law, and that the penalties for recalcitrant employers are far more severe."


And while Canada does not have Right to Work laws, that has not stopped the Right Wing from lobbying for it. As the Labor Notes article Could BC be Canada's right-to-work beachhead? points out. (my comments in bold)

"There are advocates in Canada who see right-to-work as a tonic for the country's economy and a way to free workers from the yoke of "forced unionism". Support comes from the National Citizens Coalition whose "top priority" is "to push governments to reform labour laws so those union bosses can no longer use forced dues to subsidize their political causes." The NCC launched Canadians Against Forced Unionism in Alberta during its 1995 right-to-work debate. The former president of the NCC, Stephen Harper, is the newly elected leader of the Canadian Alliance party. (now the Conservative Party of Canada)

The spokesperson for CAFU was Rob Anders who is now a Calgary Conservative MP .

["Just as the Reform Party lost Harper as an MP to the NCC, it picked up a former NCC employee to run in his seat. Rob Anders, who headed up the NCC's project "Canadians against forced Unionism," was selected by the Reform Party to replace Harper as the candidate in Calgary West. (Prior to being hired by the NCC, Anders was active in the Reform Party club on the University of Calgary's campus. Anders worked on the NCC anti-union project, set up according to Somerville to “expose and oppose Canada's oppression labor laws" from 1994 until November 1996.) He won Harper’s Calgary West riding for the Reform Party in February 1997." ] StephenHarperSaid.ca

Completing the axis of ideological allies, the Fraser Institute's Michael Walker and Fazil Mihlar write, in Unions and Right to Work Laws, that such laws "constrain excessive demands by unions and keep wage increases in line with productivity growth," meaning an employer is likely to hire more workers when wages are lower rather than invest in labour-saving technologies.

Rob Anders, Ezra Levant and Jason Kenny the young Turks on the Right were all student interns at the Fraser Institute. Kenny and Anders are now Conservative MP's, Levant (the mouth that roared) is publisher of the Conservative Western Standard.

Alberta's Ralph Klein government and set up a joint review committee to study the economic benefits of right-to-work in 1995. Organized labour responded with concerted lobbying efforts to stop this scheme from going further. In the end, the committee reported there was no economic justification for introducing right-to-work as Alberta already enjoyed an advantage over the rest of Canada.

Today, the Alberta government continues to pass contentious labour legislation like Bill 12 to prohibit teachers from striking. Could right-to-work be resurrected there anytime soon? Selby thinks not. He explains, "In Alberta, the labour movement is not considered a significant threat to expand much beyond its current base - in other words, the current labour legislation is already doing an admirable job from their point of view." According to the AFL, Alberta has the "worst labour code" and the lowest unionized workforce (23 percent) in Canada."

The most recent union busting right to work legislation passed in Alberta and supported by the Federal Government is allowing Oil Sands companies and their allies in the Construction industry to bypass the building trades unions and bring in contract workers from Venezula in cooperation with the fake union: CLAC (Christian Labour Association of Canada).

CLAC is the arm of the Christian Reformed Church in Canada, and was founded here in the 1950's by post WWII Dutch immigrants . The Dutch immigrants came to Southern Alberta and Southern Ontario to farm, and they formed a similar Farmer Association. These are politically right wing associations, opposed to the traditional unions and farmers organizations that created the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) and New Democratic Party (NDP).


"The Christian Reformed Church does not allow women to hold official positions in the church and also strongly supports the establishment of private Christian schools , Christian Reformed parents sponsor the largest network of primary and secondary Christian schools in the United States.The CRC has consistently condemned divorce, except when infidelity is part of the picture." New Religious Movements Christian Reformed Church



Christian Reformed Church (CRC) on Labour Unions


Position

Church membership and membership in a labor union are compatible as long as the union does not warrant or champion sin in its regular activities. Church members should discontinue membership in any unions whose common practices are clearly in conflict with the principles of the Word of God. Christian conscience cannot condone membership in a union if it continues in sinful practices in spite of protests against them. Membership in unions which have engaged in sinful practices does not of itself make one liable to ecclesiastical censure, but if church members themselves are guilty of acts contrary to the Word of God, the usual means of discipline should be applied. Churches should be aware of the practices of labor organizations in their communities and vigorously emphasize the scriptural principles regarding the relation of the Christian to the world and the organizations of the world.

History

The CRC has dealt with the issue of labor unions several times in its history. From the 1880s to the 1940s the following matters were discussed: whether church members ought to be members of labor organizations, whether members of a union are responsible for its decisions and acts, and which labor unions were appropriate for church members. In 1904, 1928, 1930, and 1943, synod reasserted its basic position with regard to unions. In 1934, 1936, and 1943, synod recommended the Christian Labor Organization for moral and financial support. Synod 1965 adopted resolutions of the Reformed Ecumenical Synod regarding Christian organizations. This discussion went beyond labor organizations to include social and political organizations.

And what sinful activities does the CRC Oppose; birth control, abortion, in divorce it does not recognize remarriage, the scientific theory of evolution, membership in Freemason or other oath based fraternal Lodges.

They also oppose:"
The endorsement or use of contemporary inclusive language for God (both gender-egalitarian and gender-neutral) is unacceptable to the CRC. "

On Dancing, until the 1970's they were opposed to it;
"As a result, Christians are not to reject dancing, but to redeem it, realizing that some forms of dancing are more difficult to redeem than others."

They opposed going to movies,
The CRCNA made its first official declaration on the topic of film arts in a warning against movie-theater attendance in 1928. But by 1966 "The film arts were then considered a legitimate cultural medium to be used with discernment by Christians."

They support capital punishment "
The CRC has declared that modern states are not obligated by Scripture, creed, or principle to institute and practice capital punishment. It does, however, recognize that Scripture acknowledges the right of modern states to institute and practice capital punishment if it is exercised with utmost restraint."

They are biblical literalists; "Holy Scripture in its entirety is the written Word of God, inspired by God to be our rule of faith and practice. This inspiration is organic, extending to the ideas and the words of Scripture, and is so unique that Scripture alone is the Word of God."

On the Church and State

"The state is instituted by God and is endowed with power in order that it may promote, within the limits of its authority, the maintenance of human life and its development in agreement with God's law. The state is called to protect the church with all the means given to it by God in order that freedom of conscience to serve God be guaranteed and anti-Christian powers which threaten the church be resisted and prevented. The church recognizes and honors the state for its God-given power and service, faithfully proclaims the gospel to all in the state, and prays for all people, including those who are in authority, in order that all may lead quiet and peaceable lives. The state should not assume the right and power of the only King of the church, Jesus Christ, and should recognize that the church owes allegiance and responsibility to him alone."

On War: "Glorification of war for its own sake must be warned against, but pacifism that causes people to refuse to bear arms under any conditions is also to be condemned. The CRC formed its position on war in the 1930s, when the threat of the Second World War loomed and pacifism was a controversial issue. The basic statement adopted by Synod 1939 has not changed."

On Race; The CRC was involved with the Reformed Church of South Africa the church of Aparthied and the Boers. And while they now proclaim to be inclusive that was not always the case;

"During the 1960s and 1970s the church dealt with the issue at home as it struggled through a race-related case regarding Timothy Christian School in Cicero, Illinois, and abroad as it held discussions with the Reformed Churches in South Africa regarding its policy of apartheid.

Synod 1985 appointed a committee to deal specifically with the RCSA and apartheid, awaiting its recommendation rather than acceding to overtures to sever ties with the sister church. In 1989 this committee did recommend suspension of ties of ecclesiastical fellowship, and synod agreed. That suspension was in effect until 1996, when synod lifted the suspension because of changes in the RCSA's position and practices re apartheid and the changes in the political and societal situation in South Africa."


1989, it took till 1989 before the CRC recognized that apartheid was sinful. Gee someone should have told them to talk to Dr. Tutu, Opps nope these are Boers after all. They were one of the last of the Reformed Churches to end their relationship with the Aparthied regime and its Church in South Africa.


These are the Christian values that CLAC supports and promotes.

CLAC supports Right To Work legislation and is opposed to "forced unionization" and opposes the Rand formula, though they abide by it when they "represent" their workers. CLAC does not unionize workers, they approach the employer as labour management consultants and in a private agreement (voluntary representation under the Labour Relations Act) with the boss they become the union for the workers. There is no voting on whether the workers want to be represented by CLAC, it is a private deal between the employer and CLAC.

This has caused CLAC no end of trouble with Labour Relations boards which have ruled that while they are an association they barely fit the judicial definition of a 'union'.

As CLAC says on their web site:


Can I be forced to join the union?

Canadian law has given unions the right to force people to join their ranks as a condition of employment. CLAC believes this is fundamentally wrong and an abuse of Canadians' constitutional right to freedom of association.

It is our policy that no one is forced to belong to CLAC. If you cannot in good conscience support the union, you do not need to sign a membership card, and you can apply to CLAC to have your dues directed to a mutually agreed upon charity. No other union offers this choice or respect for your freedom of association. Workers who are granted non-member status cannot participate in union affairs and have no voting rights."

While the Supreme Court ruled that the Rand Formula was the law in Canada, see Lavigne case below, CLAC likes to take the same position that Lavigne and the NCC did back in 1998 that union members who disagree with the unions politics should have the right to put their dues in a Charity.

For instance in their FAQ about CLAC they say about being a "Christian" Association,

"
The word "Christian" in our name comes from our distinct philosophy that guides our policies and practices as a trade union."

Yeah right, it comes from being founded by the Christian Reformed Church, a specific Dutch protestant Calvinist faith sect. They can't even be honest about that.

Gee for a Christian organization they sure do fib a lot. They fib about not being in favour of Right To Work while denouncing Forced Unionization, which is right wing talk for the same thing.

CLAC has used their 'Christian' appelation to be able to represent Save-On Foods employees, who never got a chance to vote on being represented by CLAC. A private deal was swung by this Christian Association and Save-On Foods owner, multi-millionare, born again Christian, Jimmy Pattison. It has meant CLAC has a secured source of dues revenues to expand its raids into other sectors, such as healthcare and nursing care in Ontario and Construction in Alberta's oil sands.

What kind of bargaining does CLAC do for the bosses well we will let them speak for themselves:
"We have the opportunity to chart a new course in workplace relations. We challenge all, including ourselves, to explore the possibilities of labour-management cooperation and partnership, based on a preponderance of mutual rather than different interests. In this we appeal particularly to the employers of our members, to put aside fears and suspicions, and accept and respect their employees (and their union) as responsible partners." Working at Cross-Purposes By: Ed Grootenboer

Ah gee, that sounds nice doesn't it. We should all get along, what it means in reality is that the partnership CLAC has is with the boss not the workers it reperesents. It will bend over backwards to maintain labour peace at all costs.

It is called corporatism and was practiced in fascist states of Spain, Italy and Germany and by the Catholic Church when it formed it's own labour movement, just like the Christian Reformed Church has.

"Historically, corporatism or corporativism (Italian corporativismo) is a political system in which legislative power is given to corporations that represent economic, industrial, and professional groups. Unlike pluralism, in which many groups must compete for control of the state, in corporatism, certain unelected bodies take a critical role in the decision-making process. This original meaning was not connected with the specific notion of a business corporation, being a rather more general reference to any incorporated body. The word "corporatism" is derived from the Latin word for body, corpus. Ostensibly, the entire society is to be run by decisions made by these corporate groups. It is a form of class collaboration put forward as an alternative to class conflict and was first proposed in Pope Leo XIII's 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum, which influenced Catholic trade unions which were organised in the early twentieth century to counter the influence of trade unions founded on a socialist ideology." Wikipedia

And like other right wing groups CLAC opposes "compulsory union dues" being used for political purposes.

"
Telling you how to vote is one thing. But a good number of unions even use their members’ dues money to support a particular candidate or party—whether members like it or not. And in a much publicized case in the early 1990s, the Supreme Court of Canada told unions they could do so!" Unions and Their Sleeoing Partners By: Gideon Strauss

Sounds just like the complaints from the right wing groups like Real Women, Alberta Federation of Women United for Families, etc. And it should because the Christian Reformed Church is well represented in these groups. For instance the editor of AFWUF is a Christian Reformed Church member. Here's her opinion on fair pay for daycare workers in Alberta.

AFWUF "Voice" Archive
"It Takes A Mom vs Day Care
Fall 2001 Vol 20 No 4
In July, in response to a year of intense lobbying from social workers, daycare owners and career women, Alberta Children's Services Minister Iris Evans announced that the government would begin subsidizing the wages of Alberta's daycare workers. The province already gives grants worth $350 per year for every child in daycare as well as doling out $20 million in subsidies for the most needy parents over the last two years. I'm sure Alberta is not unique and other provinces do the same or more. This means that every Canadian family where mother cares for the family's children is subsidizing the lifestyle choice of those who daily put their children in an institution. Government subsidies to harm children. Now that's sad."

The right wing likes to talk about lifestyle choices, its the same accusation they make against women who have abortions and of course against gays and lesbians.

It's a choice we make; working for a living in a province with the worst labour law and lowest minimum wage in Canada is not a lifestyle choice. It's a neccissity. So both parents work.

Interestingly AFWUF accuses working women as being 'career women', identifying them as privleged. In reality it is career women who can afford nannies, not daycare. These so called career women are in fact the women who serve you in the resteraunt, at the 7/11, or work in daycare centres. Their career is making a living.

Many of Alberta's daycare workers were making minmum wage and even now still are seriously underpaid. But AFWUF doesn't sympathize, why should they, daycare to them is an attempt to destroy the Christian family. The family where the woman knows her place.

CLAC is no better their position on the recent Federal announcement of federal funding to increase public daycare spaces is that government should give money to both daycare funding and child tax credits for stay at home mothers. This is the same position as the Klein government and the Federal Conservatives.

CLAC has its own Research Arm that lobbies for Right to Work, tt's called Work Research Foundation, Van Pelt, Strauss and Pennings have been associated with CLAC, and the funding for WRF comes from CLAC and the Christian Reformed Church of Canada.

The Work Research Foundation was established to influence people to a Christian view of work and to promote the idea of sphere sovereignty as a framework for renewing the economic sphere and public life.

However there is no direct linkage between WRF and CLAC websites, giving the (false) impression that WRF is an independent research foundation. You have to ask why and what are they hiding.

Well WRF like CLAC supports the right wing idea of corporatism. And their vision for labour relations is a right wing corporatist state, a theocratic state where we all work together.

History of the WRF

The WRF researches issues surrounding the organization of work, the movement of trade, and leadership in the economic sphere. The WRF organizes its projects on three levels: academic, macro-economics and public policy, and the front-line workplace. Together, these perspectives help us identify the changes that will characterize the contribution of work to our socio-economic prosperity in the decade to come.

The Work Research Foundation (WRF) was incorporated and registered as a charitable organization in 1974, with Harry Antonides as the first part-time research director. Antonides argued for a view of work rooted in the European Christian tradition. In 1983, Antonides launched the WRF Comment, a bimonthly journal devoted to issues of work and public life.

Between 1987 and 1994, Antonides published two books through the Work Research Foundation. Servant or Tyrant? was a collection of papers presented at a joint conference between the Christian Labour Association and the Work Research Foundation, with contributions from Christian luminaries such as Paul Marshall, Michael Novak, and Al Wolters. Servant or Tyrant? explored and analyzed the main trends of contemporary politics, and discussed ways in which Christians can actively preserve and enhance freedom and justice in the political realm. Three Faces of the Law, by Ian Hunter, was based on a series of lectures to the Ottawa Summer School of Biblical and Theological Studies, and critically examined the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and its subversion of justice, liberty, and life.

The profile of the WRF increased substantially with a $325,000 project relating to freedom of association from 1997-2000. In March 1997, the WRF commenced its biennial survey of Canadian attitudes toward unions. The survey indicated that Canadians are looking for a less confrontational and adversarial approach to labour relations. The WRF built on this insight over the next few years with conferences and publications devoted to alternative labour relations structures.

In 2000, the WRF developed an aggressive business plan and hired Michael Van Pelt, its first full-time President. Van Pelt rebranded the WRF as a full-fledged research institution and think tank, focussed on investigating work, productivity, and work relationships. Van Pelt hired Dr. Gideon Strauss to edit Comment, and Ray Pennings to create an alternative model for industrial relations policy.

Since then, the WRF has begun to promote a holistic view of the economic sphere, in which the individual worker, the trade union, management, economics, and public policy are vitally interdependent. In projects ranging from its Corporate Partners Program, Sphere Sovereignty Project, and revamped Comment magazine, the WRF is charting a new path for economic life and civil society.

WRF has used polling of Canadians to see whether or not their push for Right to Work laws will fly. The survey done in 1997, 1999 and 2002 always asks if Canadians accept forced unioniziation, and compulsory membership. It is used by the WRF/CLAC to justify their corporatist ideology for changing Canada's labour laws.

"
Overcoming the adversarial labour relations model that has characterized Canadian labour-management relations requires systemic public policy change that, to date, has proved elusive. " Ray Pennings, Cooperative Labour Relations: Translating Theory into Practice,” a symposium conducted by the Work Research Foundation on November 25 and 26, 1999 in Vancouver, B.C.

"
The solution is to create local work communities that model the sort of respect workers and managers owe each other as fellow human beings and to work within structures that reinforce that respect. Besides the good will and positive benefits of living civilly with our neighbours, solutions based on mutual respect are the best recipe for social and economic prosperity."
Beyond Unions? by Ray Pennings Published in the Summer 2002 issue of The Comment

Besides polling to see if there is room to move to a corporatist right to work model of labour organizing, WRF launced an Industrial Relations Institute (another CLAC front group) which proposes:

"Our second project will focus on work organization practices in the construction industry and seek to quantify the various implications that arise from how we organize the workforce. The conventional craft method of organization will be compared with the wall-to-wall and open shop models and we will document the particular challenges and opportunities offered by these different approaches. The construction sector is one of those in which the monopoly model of worker representation is predominant, supported by various legislative provisions across the country. The implications of this model are profound on both a micro and macro economic level and the study we are undertaking should result in a series of monographs and symposiums tentatively planned for the latter part of 2002." Launch of the Centre for Industrial Relations Innovation
(Ingersoll, ON - September 19, 2001; Vancouver, BC - September 26, 2001; Edmonton, AB - October 17, 2001)
by Ray Pennings, Chair

It is this research that has been used by CLAC to give it an opening in the Construction Industry in Alberta in its work with Ledcor and CNRL and its corporatist collusion with the Klein government in recent months.

With its membership in the right wing World Confederation of Labour, CLAC has contacts with its Christian union counterpart in Venezula, the Central Latino–Americana de Trabajadores (CLAT). It is CLAT workers that CLAC will import into Alberta to work at wages below those of the other Trades Unions.

"It was in 1920 that was founded, in The Hague (Holland), the international trade union organisation currently known as World Confederation of Labour - WCL. Born in the European cradle and inspired by the basic values of Christian humanism, this organisation was constituted under the name of "International Federation of Christian Trade Unions". As was stipulated in the first Statutes, the new international trade union organisation wanted to protect, in an independent and autonomous way, not only the concrete workers' interests but also values such as the dignity of the human being, the priority of labour, democracy, justice and solidarity across the national borders. The Dutchman Pieter Jozef Serrarens was the first secretary-general, the Swiss Joseph Scherrer the first president"
A Brief History of the WCL

"Forced unionization" is right wing speak for right to work and is used by Conservative politicians when they oppose unionized construction projects. In Alberta it is what allowed the Human Resources Minister Mike Cardinal to void the labour relations act in favour of CLAC and Canadian National Resources Ltd. to allow the importation of workers that did not belong to or would be allowed to belong to the Building Trades Unions.

In Manitoba the Conservative opposition whined about Forced Unionization there too.

Mr. Hawranik – Legislative Assembly of Manitoba to request the Premier of Manitoba to consider ending his government's forced unionization plan of companies involved with the Red River Floodway expansion and to consider entering into discussions with business, construction and labour groups to ensure any qualified company and worker, regardless of their union status, is afforded the opportunity to bid and work on the floodway expansion project. (G. Friesen, P. Funk, R. Funk and others)

CLAC attacks the CLC and the CAW as being class war unions, while it portrays itself as the prince of peace in the labour movement. Discussing the CAW dispute with the CLC over raiding in 2000 the WRF news magazine Comment said this:

"Closed shop dogma

But Buzz deserves only two cheers, not three. While the CAW is for the moment a voice for union choice, it is not yet a voice for thoroughgoing freedom of association, and it is far from a voice for labour peace.

Hargrove would like working people to be able to choose which union should represent them. But he does not want people to be able to choose whether they want to belong to a union in the first place.

Many people find that their dues are used for causes beyond that of justice in labour relations. Sometimes, dues go directly into the pockets of political parties that many union members would not support in an election.

Both the CAW and the CLC unions sponsor schemes for social reengineering that go beyond the interests and concerns of their grassroots members and that some of their members cannot in good conscience support. But the zealous dedication of both the CAW and the CLC unions to the closed shop dogma means that such members must choose between their job and their conscience.

"Closed shop" means that if you want to have access to work in a unionized place of employment you have to be a member of the union representing workers in that workplace. Many unions feel strongly about the closed shop. In their opinion, it prevents the vice of freeloading. The freeloader would refuse to join the union or to pay dues but would by law enjoy the privileges of union representation and the benefits of collective bargaining.

There is a flexible way in which to allow freedom of association to people who cannot in good conscience belong to a union or support all of its causes, while at the same time preventing freeloading: require bona fide conscientious objectors to contribute an amount equal to what would have been their union dues to a charity mutually agreed upon by the objector and the union.

Still class warfare

For the CAW-even more than for most CLC unions-labour relations remains class warfare. While many trade unions in North America are beginning to see the value of win-win negotiations, also known as mutual gains bargaining (MGB), the CAW is "totally opposed" to this kind of innovation.

"I see it as in the interest of the employer only," says Hargrove. "The goals of the corporation are different than the goals of working people."

Were it indeed impossible to reconcile the interests of labour and management, or of labour and the other stakeholders in the economy, then there could be no hope for real labour peace. Every collective agreement would be just a momentary truce in an ongoing war that no one could win.

An increase in union choice would be a boon for organized working people. But that choice would only make a significant difference if workers get to choose between significantly different trade unions. The choice between CLC unions and the CAW is a choice between Dumb and Dumber.

The CLC unions offer working people the closed shop within a union monopoly; the CAW offers them the closed shop within a union duopoly. The CLC unions offer working people class war lite; the CAW offers them class war turbo.

A real choice would include unions that offer workers real trade union democracy through genuine freedom of association and unions that realize the wisdom of labour peace through mutual gains bargaining. Labour leaders who offer such an option deserve the full three cheers that Buzz Hargrove does not."

Gideon Strauss is research and education director for the Work Research Foundation and editor of WRF Comment.

Clever to talk about the closed shop and the need for real choice, freedom of association this is the same language as right wing uses when it calls for Right to Work laws against unions.

And if you don't believe CLAC is right wing lets go way back to 1987 and see what the right wing psuedo libertarian Freedom Party of Ontario wrote:


"That
unions exercise legalized coercion as their method of "negotiating" is nothing new to those of us who believe in individual freedom. What is astonishing is how so much of the Canadian public, despite being aware of it, tacitly accepts this coercion --- and sometimes even outright violence --- as inevitable and legitimate aspects of the labour movement.

Our laws do not prevent the use of this coercion. Instead, our labour laws institute, sanction, and enforce it. Explicit in every union action from initial certification to its "negotiating" philosophy and ultimately to its political advocacies is the use of coercion and the denial of freedom of choice to anyone who does not agree with its militant labour stance.

Legalized coercion is the tool of the labour movement. Mutual consent is the target of its destruction.

It's coercion when individuals are forced to join a union against their will just because a "majority" votes for it. Don't minorities have any rights? Should the rest of us just stand back and keep swallowing the old union line that it represents its members when we all know that union methods of recruitment depend on the word mandatory?

Just ask Merv Lavigne what he thinks about union coercion. Ask him how he felt about being forced to fund political causes he doesn't even agree with."

Victory in “Lavigne Case”

Business Agent BG&PW Union and Legal Counsel for NUPGE, Cam Nelson stands beside approx 33% of legal documents researched and generated in this case.1988 also saw an important legal decision from the Ontario Court of Appeal. In 1986 a community college teacher named Merv Lavigne funded by the right-wing National Citizen’s Coalition, had gone to Court asserting that his rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms had been violated. He claimed that his Union (Ontario Public Service Employees’ Union – a NUPGE affiliate) was not entitled to use his dues for non-collective bargaining issues. If successful, this argument would have substantially prevented unions from participating in the political process.

Following legal precedents from the United States, the Judge at trial found in Lavigne’s favour, and ruled that unions could not use mandatory dues for political, social, or other non-bargaining related activities. On appeal, Brother Nelson acted as NUPGE’s counsel, and the Court of Appeal overturned the Trial Court’s decision and ruled that unions have the right to decide how they spend the dues they receive, including spending for purposes other than collective bargaining. Lavigne and the National Citizen’s Coalition immediately launched an appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada. Once again Brother Nelson acted as counsel to NUPGE, and, on June 27, 1991, in a landmark decision, the Supreme Court of Canada upheld the importance, value and legitimacy of the social and political role of unions in Canada and dismissed the Lavigne appeal.

Lavigne was awarded the Colin M. Brown Freedom Medal by the NCC for his efforts.

"The Colin M. Brown Freedom Medal commemorates the late founder of the NCC, who first started his crusade for "more freedom through less government" in 1967. Mr. Brown died on March 4th 1987."

The Right Wing supported Lavigne because he was challenging the fact his dues were being used to support the NDP, the party of the Canadian Labour movement. These are the same complaints CLAC makes about forced union dues and they denounce the NDP on a regular basis.

It's not about choice, its about denying that the working class and the employing class have nothing in common.

Right wing Columnist Andrew Coyne agrees with CLAC, about the tyranny of the closed shop, and says so in a National Post column talking about the Supreme Court rulings on the Lavigne case and the Quebec Construction Unions closed shop. And with friends like this no wonder CLAC has so many enemies in the Labour movement.

"So now not only is the Rand Formula constitutional, but so is the closed shop. The Court has a fine idea of workers' rights: not only can the union shake you down for your lunch money, whether or not you're a member, but -- at least in Quebec -- it can prevent you from earning the money in the first place. After all, there's all that "context" to consider.

The mob rule that first led the government of Quebec to enact this repressive legislation has now been sanctioned by the highest court in the land. God help us."
The closed shop is constitutional? Andrew Coyne, National Post Monday, October 22, 2001

The Freedom Parties assertion that mutual consent will eliminate unions, sounds like CLAC's approach to labour relations in their win win / mutual gains bargaining approach to labour management.

The Freedom Party being another right wing lobby regularly runs ads against "Forced Unionization" during Ontraio elections. This is the kind of company that CLAC keeps ideologically.

Unite The Right

TORONTO (March 20-21, 1998) - Fp president Robert Metz was among the key speakers participating in this year's Roots of Change Conference held at the Royal York Hotel. Accompanying him at the event was Fp leader Lloyd Walker, whose comments to Toronto Star reporter Thomas Walkom set the tone of that paper's coverage of the event.

Organized by Progressive Group for Independent Business (PGIB) president Craig Chandler, the Friday and Saturday conference was billed as a 'unite-the-right' event. With an impressive list of speakers with philosophies ranging from 'social conservative' to 'libertarian', attendees heard a wide range of opinion on the merits and pitfalls of uniting these various fragments of the so- called 'right.'

SPEAKERS LIST

FRIDAY: Toronto Sun Money Editor Linda Leatherdale; president of the Employer WCB Crisis Committee, Richard Fink; London South MPP Bob Wood; journalist, author and talk show host Michael Coren; Mackenzie Institute president John Thompson; Freedom Party president Robert Metz; former Halton School Board trustee Robb McLeod.

SATURDAY: president of Any Key Solutions, Tim McKay; past Reform Party candidate and Canadian Citizen's Alliance president Hugh Prendergast; Alliance for the Preservation of English in Canada (APEC) president Ron Leitch; author, writer, and political activist Greg Vezina; Reform Party of Canada's executive councillor in Quebec Brian Rogers; Campaign Life Coalition member Steve Jalsevac; founder-president of Renaissance Canada Inc., Ken Campbell; PGIB Ontario youth chairman and board member of the Canadian Youth Rights Association, Karl Baldauf; president of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Youth Association, Walied Soliman.

COMMON GROUND

Roots of Change organizer Craig Chandler wrapped up the two day conference by calling upon attendees to arrive at some consensus on the issues they could all agree to support, despite their many fundamental differences in philosophy and areas of concern. Surprisingly, support was virtually unanimous on six key issues, all of which are supported by Freedom Party policy:

(1) End government funding of abortion; (2) Seek an alternative to Canada's first-past-the-post electoral system; (3) Repeal the Charter of Rights and Freedoms; (4)Calgary Framework in its current form; (5) Promote less government, lower taxes, more individual freedom; (6) Limit law-making to those issues that protect individual rights. Oppose the

We are pleased to report that the last item (#6) was included at the behest of Freedom PartyMary Lou Gutscher, who was quick to warn all that item #5 could be interpreted in ways not consistent with individual freedoms. founding member

Chandler vowed to integrate these recommendations into PGIB's lobby platform when he returned to Calgary following the conference. Our thanks and appreciation are extended to both Mr. Chandler and the Progressive Group for Independent Business for hosting a most provocative and stimulating event.

And the right wing media loves to poll Canadians to prove their point that Unions are no longer relevant. As right wing columnist Terence Corcoran writes in his Labour Day Column in the National Post in 2003 when they polled Canadians about unions.

"
But there's more to worry unions here than general worker
crankiness about the usefulness or desirability of union membership.
The poll highlights the great fallacy behind the historical rise and
entrenched power of organized labour.

After decades of mythical struggles based on slogans of class
warfare, worker oppression and exploitation, the entire union
movement shows up in the poll as an ideological sham.
Self-portrayed as the champion of downtrodden masses of working
men and women, the union movement emerges today as the iron
protector of a privileged minority. The alleged saviours of a
struggling underclass are in fact the armed guardians of the
fortresses of a relatively wealthy overclass.

The poll shows only 32% of Canadians are union members, and the
vast majority of those union members (81%) want to hold on to
union status. They are generally better educated (more likely college
or university) than non-union workers, are members of well-paid
professional and service organizations such as teachers and nurses,
and are significantly older. More than 45% of union members are
more than 45 years old. And they mostly work for big government
(72%) and big business.

None of this is unexpected. All of the figures roughly correspond to
other workplace statistics. What is surprising is the degree to which
union members want to hold on to union status compared with the
large proportion of non-union Canadians who want nothing to do
with unions. Few Canadians pine for union rescue, perhaps because
they see fewer benefits of membership than they already enjoy.
But there are other reasons non-union Canadians have little use for
unions. The poll shows Canadians have a deep sense of fairness and
principle when it comes to their jobs and workplaces. They don't
care much for union seniority and prefer instead job advancement
and layoff policies that are based on merit. A large majority of all
working Canadians (76%) oppose government contract rules that
favour unionized companies. Canadians want secret ballots on union
certification and de-certification. They generally oppose the use of
union funds for non-union activities.

These aren't the views of a nation of union collectivists and socialists
who see their work and living conditions in constant deterioration
and in need of union rescue.

In fact, almost nobody thinks unions are a "very positive" force
behind Canada's growth and economic success. Nor are they much
taken with governments as national economic saviours. Canadians
see business as the engine of growth, especially small business.
While only 12% of Canadians view unions very positively, 67% see
small business as the nation's most positive economic driver.
Combined, 96% of Canadians look to small business and 79% to big
business as the major contributors to economic well-being, well
ahead of governments and unions.

The National Post/Global National poll paints a post-Labour Day
portrait of Canadians who love their jobs, respect and have good
relationships with their mostly private-sector employers, and who
are more than happy to make their way in the work world without
having a union boss by their side."

Well as the header to this blog says, the Ruling ideas are the ideas of the Ruling Class. And the National Post is the voice of the Reform/Alliance/Conservative Right Wing in Canada so what would we expect from them but this kind of conclusion. Cocoran's conclusions arise from a Leger Poll that the National Post commissioned, so it set the quuestions to get the answers it wanted.

First union representation in Canada may be low, 32% but it has actually increased. And it certainly is higher than in the U.S. Thats the complaint from Right To Work lobby in the U.S. that Canada's productivity is low because of high unionzation rates compared to them. Coyne and Cocoran would likely agree.

Cocoran asserts we all work for 'big government or big business' loaded terms, and that makes unionized workers an 'overclass'. What?!! Even in the relatively well paid sectors of the economy such as Gas Plant workers or Construction workers in Alberta, who may make around $100,000 a year, not exactly what the real 'overclass' makes when you look at the salaries of Doctors, Lawyers, Investment Bankers, Real Estate Agents or Journalists, who make more than that.

By asking the questions that the National Post and the majority of the private sector media constantly drum into us, they get the anwsers they want. Small business good, big business and big government bad, small business good, unions bad, small business good. Gee the National Post is a big business, so I guess it's 'bad'.

And their poll is completely contradicted by the survey done a year earlier by CLAC's WRF in 2002. WRF hired University of Lethbridge sociologist Dr. Reginald Bibby
(one of most reputiable sociological researchers in Canada and he is NOT a pollster) to do an independent survey of Canadian's opions about unions. That survey found 64% of Canadians approved of unions!! Despite asking their own loaded questions.

Bibby's conclusion is diametrically opposed to that of Cocoran's smug comments. Bibby found that amongst Canadians who did not belong to unions beleived ther best bet for protection of their workplace rights was the government and legislation. While union members believed it was their union that could best protect them. And former union members believed in unions and legislation.

The runs completely counter to assertations made by Cocoran and the National Post Poll.

The National Post poll is simply telling us what they want us to beleive that unions are no longer neccasary or relevant (tell that to Wal-Mart workers), and to promote the right wing agenda to smash unions.

Unions hold some blame for this, failure to publicize themselves, failure to clean up their act and be more democratic and responsive to their rank and file, failure to advertise on TV on radio in the media. Failure to develop a national press that speaks for workers.

That being said the right wing continues to attack unions and lays the ongoing ground work ending "forced unionization".

So lets go over this again the Right has a program and it includes ending "forced unionization", ending "taxpayer funding for abortion", opposing same sex marriage, opposing public daycare, opposing immigration( temproary non union workers are ok), opposing refugee rights.

Right now they are busy lobbying against human rights for gays and lesbians, challenging the right for a woman to choose, and opposing public daycare. But soon they will turn their focus on the unions again.

It is why the labour movement must make common cause with campaigns for same sex marriage, full funding for abortion services (which are currently underfunded and privatized), full funding for public daycare with living wages for daycare workers, and of course the right to unionize and the right to strike.

But it is not enough to just throw money and endorsements at these causes, its important to be active in them, to shape them, to recognize that for instance the gay business community is growing and is largely non-union!

That a womans right to choose also includes the right to having a midwife, for birthing, fully paid for as part of medicare which isn't now. And that mid-wives should be unionized and recognized as a profession.

The Christian right wing will attack prostitutes, prostitution and all aspects of sexuality outside of marriage. Labour must oppose these attacks and call for unionization of Sex industry workers, especially in order to assure these women's safety and their health.

The labour movement and the left must not be silent when confronting the Christian Right, we must speak out in favour of a unitarian pluralism, secularism needs to be defended against those who would impose their moral values on us.

The creeping theological domination of politics and the failure to confront it is best illustrated by the fact that creationism is being taught in schools and universities side by side with evolution.

You cannot reason with the right, nor can you reason when arguing with them, as T-Bone Slim said the politiest form of response is attack. And labour and the left have failed to do this.

Now labour and the left must speak out against the Christian Right as the real threat they are and as they have always been. It is time to FIGHT THE RIGHT.





Saturday, March 26, 2005

Same Sex Marriage in Alberta A Go

Tick Tock, Tick Tock, The Clock Struck One
and the Alberta Marriage Act is Toast

MARRIAGE ACT Chapter M-5
Preamble
WHEREAS marriage is an institution the maintenance of which in
its purity the public is deeply interested in;
WHEREAS marriage is the foundation of family and society,
without which there would be neither civilization nor progress;
WHEREAS marriage between a man and a woman has from time
immemorial been firmly grounded in our legal tradition, one that is
itself a reflection of long standing philosophical and religious
traditions; and
WHEREAS these principles are fundamental in considering the
solemnization of marriage;
THEREFORE HER MAJESTY, by and with the advice and
consent of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, enacts as follows:
Override of Charter and Alberta Bill of Rights
2 This Act operates notwithstanding
(a) the provisions of sections 2 and 7 to 15 of the Canadian
Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and
(b) the Alberta Bill of Rights.
2000 c3 s5

"But unless Alberta MLAs receive an unprecedented awakening from their constituents in the next few days, March 22 marks the date Alberta's notwithstanding clause provision, protecting the definition of marriage as one man one woman, will pass into oblivion. Klein Tories who claim to support traditional marriage have decided to quietly let this sunset clause -- in the Alberta Defence of Marriage Act -- set. "
Janet L. Jackson
(Calgary Sun columnist)
Mon Mar 21 2005


Me thinks they protest too much, all the bluff and bluster, Sturm and Drang for what, the whole Same Sex outrage of the Provincial Tories turned out to the mewlings of weak kittens, rather than the roaring of indignent lions.

Yep when push came to shove those terrible tory tabbies, licked their wounds and cried "Uncle". While proclaiming their opportunistic opposition to Same Sex Marriage they, by inaction, allowed the Alberta Marriage Act which banned same sex marriage in Alberta (a completely useless endeavour since the provincial government has no say in this Federal jurisdiction) to die without renewal.

Yep the time ticked by and Mickies Big hand and little hand passed each other and the Alberta Marriage Act was dissolved as of Wednesday March 23, 2005.

"During question period in the legislature yesterday, Finance Minister Shirley McClellan said the government is developing options for renewing Alberta's Marriage Amendment Act, which expires tomorrow, to reaffirm the traditional definition of marriage. Government Services Minister Ty Lund will bring those options back before the legislature, but not by tomorrow's deadline, said spokesman Ryan Cromb."

Alberta gays wait to tie knot
Edmonton Sun, Tue, March 22, 2005

As the Februry 2005 Federal Judicial Review of Bill C-38 The Civil Marriage Act, ( this is the act to recognize same sex marriage in Canada) says about Alberta having to accept this legislation it is based upon the fact that: "Every jurisdiction in Canada prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation in the provision of services, accommodation and employment. Alberta is the only jurisdiction in which this ban was effected by the courts rather than legislation: Vriend v. Alberta, [1998] 1 S.C.R. 493."

Yep Vriend cost taxpayers millions and forced Alberta to accept what every other province had, Gay Rights are Human Rights, Notwithstanding pig headed opportunist politicians and neaderthal fundamendalists.

Way back in December of 2004 Alberta Tories knew they were toast when it came to banning same sex marriage in Alberta, all Kleins outbursts aside, as Paul Stanway wrote in the Edmonton Sun at the time;

"The Supreme Court yesterday refused to call the traditional definition of marriage unconstitutional, but it took the legs out from under the only province interested in upholding that definition.Alberta's brand-new justice minister, Ron Stevens, admitted as much. "The reality is that our ability to defend the (Alberta) Marriage Act has been restricted by this ruling," he confessed.Although not mentioned specifically by name, much of this Supreme Court ruling was clearly aimed at the only Canadian jurisdiction that might have hit the Constitution's emergency escape lever - the notwithstanding clause - to avoid the gay marriage juggernaut. "What this (ruling) means now is that the federal government has the full ability to make uniform law through Parliament allowing for same-sex unions." said Stevens. "Alberta does not have the ability to invoke the notwithstanding clause in relation to federal legislation."

But Klein insisted on challenging the unchallengable, to play to his Southern Alberta Red Neck supporters. As Stanway reported a few days later in one of his columns:

"We won't go to hell," Premier Ralph Klein assured reporters yesterday after his cabinet had discussed the burning issue of the day. But the premier insists that Alberta will continue to "fight the good fight" in defence of traditional marriage, even if "the legal options are few and far between." "Marriage has been that way forever, and it should stay that way," he vowed. "I'm against (same-sex marriage) because I feel it's morally wrong. I believe in the traditional form of marriage." Nevertheless, Klein's cabinet yesterday voted unanimously "to pursue all legal and political avenues to oppose same-sex marriage," which is quite remarkable when it knows the legal avenues are virtually nonexistent and the political ones are full of potholes big enough to swallow the unwary.

The result of this decision has meant that since December the Alberta Government has spent over $110G to fight same-sex marriage law.
"The Alberta government rang up about $110,000 in legal fees to fight Ottawa's proposed same-sex marriage law in front of the Supreme Court of Canada. Alberta Justice spokesman Mark Cooper said yesterday that in-house lawyers have also offered opinions on the decision, but could not say how much was spent on that. Alberta was the only province that participated in the high court reference last year in opposition to what was being proposed by the federal government."

See they hadn't learned anything from the Vriend case, and shilling for the social conservatives they wasted money and embarassed Albertans, being the only province to oppose the bill.

Not another red cent on a losing battle - Pannu
NDP Opposition calls for an end to Alberta's "make-work project for lawyers"

Edmonton – NDP Opposition justice critic Raj Pannu called on the Alberta government put a halt to spending taxpayers’ money on the same-sex marriage legal fight today. “This government is prepared to fight losing legal battles with taxpayers’ money, and it is a shameful waste,” says Pannu.

“This government is not committed to human rights, they’re committed to a make-work project for lawyers. Taxpayers are forced to foot the bill,” continues Pannu. “This isn’t only symbolic – it will inevitably lead to more costly legal battles.”

Pannu was responding to the Conservative caucus’ decision yesterday to charge ahead with use of the notwithstanding clause, even though every shred of legal advice – and even their own Justice Minister – has indicated that deciding who may marry is outside provincial jurisdiction.

“If the Tories want to appease social conservatives in their ranks, or conduct a recruitment drive among Alliance supporters, Alberta families should not foot the bill. The Conservative party should pick up the tab for any more legal battles,” says Pannu.

Pannu was echoed by Edmonton City Councillor Michael Phair, who said that the caucus decision is “extremely unsupportive to Alberta’s gays and lesbians and calls Alberta’s commitment to equality into serious question.”

“The fact is that the gay and lesbian community are forced to pay twice for these inappropriate and fruitless legal battles – once as taxpayers, and a second time as supporters of gay and lesbian legal defence funds. Equality rights should not be this expensive, especially since the battle has already been won,” added Phair.

The Alberta Marriage Act died this week, with nary a whimper and so did the Tories campaign against Same Sex Marriage. And by the by Ralphie boy, you are still going to hell.

Monday, March 21, 2005

Alberta Fleeced by Enron

Well you know the good ship of state in Alberta is teetering towards toppling and leaking like a sieve when its main propagandist gives it a good backhand slap.

Edmonton Sun columnist Neil Waugh the apologist for all things Klein and Tory has thrown up his hands in disgust over the cover up by the government of the fleecing it got from Enron when it deregulated the energy market. See his Edmonton Sun columns: March 10, 2005 Powerful question where he asks:

When first confronted with the Project Stanley allegations, Market Surveillance Administrator Martin Merritt - a watchdog without a government leash - reviewed the Snohomish/California allegations and declared them old news. Then he turned his guns on the media, accusing us of "mischaracterizing the allegations."

Just 20 days later - on the first day the legislature gets down to business - Merritt suddenly changed his tune. There's going to be an investigation after all.

"The MSA has requested and obtained materials filed in proceedings before FERC," Merritt gulped. The Cantwell tapes. But instead of an Alberta-based probe, he turned it over to the feds' weak sister Competition Bureau. Then he took another shot at published "articles and commentary."

Short hours later, the Tory butt-covering started in the legislature. Surely a coincidence. And the premier quickly ducked and let the B-Team take over.

"Albertans have not been impacted in any financial way," blustered Energy Minister Greg Melchin. But how does he know? Especially after Justice Minister Ron Stevens - when asked if his notorious Gang that Couldn't Shoot Straight has launched an investigation - blurted "at this point in time there is no intention to proceed with anything."

Yesterday, Opposition Leader Kevin Taft met the same brick wall.

"I don't get involved in the mechanics of an investigation," the premier snapped.

Melchin blathered on about "legislated hedges."

Even the man who should be on the case, Auditor General Fred Dunn, is handcuffed. The Market Surveillance Administrator has been conveniently tucked away out of his jurisdiction.

"Why do the people of Alberta have to rely on the County of Snohomish to protect their rights?" wondered Taft. Why indeed?

and in his March 17, 2005 column, How serious are we? Alberta talks tough on crime, but ignores power allegations he continues the spanking:

In a week when a New York court declared Edmonton's own Bernie Ebbers guilty in the massive WorldCom securities fraud, Alberta Solicitor General Harvey Cenaiko summoned the province's police chiefs to his office.

He vowed to crack down on criminal conspiracies.

"Gangs are a breeding ground for organized crime," stormed our Harv. "Organized crime crosses all boundaries and affects everyone."

He joined Justice Minister Ron (Get Tuff) Stevens in his law-and-order manifesto. Our Harv and Tuff mean business. Or at least they say they do.

"We are targeting crime bosses through co-ordinated efforts," Cenaiko blustered on. He talked about "aggressive action already taken."

It all sounds so wonderful, until yet another Enron horror story shows up, this time from deep in the heart of Texas. And you realize just how pathetic the Alberta Tories are these days.

Especially with the Enron bigwigs Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling about to be the next alleged corporate fraudsters to undergo the tough love concept of the United States Department of Justice and President George Bush's Corporate Fraud Task Force.

OUCH that must hurt, could hear that ring throughout the marble halls of the Legislature.

The privatization and deregulation of energy in Alberta has been its billion dollar boondoggle, the equivalent of the Ferderal Gun Registry. No one wanted it, not the public sector or the private sector, and certainly not the public. It was driven by ideology (See my article Wild West Buy Out, Steve West aka Prince of Darkness, Kleins drinking buddy and his promoter of the privatization of everything) and it has been a failure in reducing costs but a success in making huge profits for the utility companies.

And now it has been revealed that Enron set up a price fixing fraud in Alberta using the deregulated market to set up a sting it would later use in Texas and Califronia. The gutting of the public purse by Enron first happened in Alberta, thanks to the ill informed, poor planning and oversight of the Klein team.It has taken an American court case to reveal the fact and the Klein gang now has egg on their face.

And now they are covering their asses, claiming this fraud is no big deal. After all it wasn't their fault it was the, wait for it, the Federal Governments fault. Yep fleece us with deregualtion, get fleeced by Enron pass the buck to the Feds.

The Official Opposition Liberals have taken them to task over Enron in the house last week. The NDP have made energy deregulation their cause popular, and now both opposition parties have a literal smoking gun. Will this kevlar government feel the pain, well when its allies like Waugh give it a good smack down, you know they are in trouble. Big Trouble, with a capital T and its spelled ENRON.

Waugh continues his attack in the Edmonton Sun where he writes about TransAlta the private utility corporation which pushed deregualtion because it had a license to market electricity into and out of the U.S. Along with it being private it is a holding company for ex government politicians, it was that way under the Socreds and remains so under the Tories.

TransAlta was the power behind West, in the push to privatize electrical marketing in Alberta. They hoped to be able to trade blended electricity into Canadian and American markets, since they were the only Canadian utility licensed to do so. Ron Sothern of ATCO the other private utility company as well as EPCOR and ENMAX the City of Edmonton and Calgary publicly owned utilites opposed the deregulation.

And while Transalta and the public utilities have made oddles of profit on the deregulated market it is us as taxpayers and consumers who have borne the brunt of the burdern with massive cost increases in electricty as well as having to shell out infrastructure costs for expanding the electrical generation base in the province. After all we were told that deregulation would be good for consumers.


Yeah, consumers like Enron.


Sun, March 20, 2005
Power struggle
TransAlta gets no help from Tories in shaking off taint of Enron scandal
By Neil Waugh -- For the Edmonton Sun

With friends like these, who needs enemies? TransAlta Utilities and the Alberta Tories have this relationship going. They're not exactly attached at the hip. But a lot of prominent PCs are on its board.

Former provincial treasurer - and reported heir apparent for the premier's job - Jim Dinning was an executive vice-president until he curiously resigned Jan. 1 to head up a small bank based out of High River.

Last week TransAlta's name came up in the legislature. This is not a good thing. Especially when it's linked with former Enron Canada president Rob Milnthorp and ex-Enron general counsel Mark Haedicke.

Haedicke, among other things, is suffering the wrath of ex-Enron workers who lost their jobs and pensions after he got a $750,000 bonus, days before the big power marketer went bankrupt. Enron is now facing charges that it rigged the California power market in 2000.

The Alberta Liberals went on the attack after they found what they claimed was a damning e-mail in the mountains of Enron files and transcripts recently released by the United States Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

The document was called "Project Stanley" - the code name Enron execs invented to allegedly manipulate energy markets in California and Texas. And, if you believe the attorney general of California Bill Lockyer, honed their illegal craft, fixing the Alberta market in the early days of Ralph Klein's botched energy-deregulation regime.

'Low profile'

It talked about keeping a "relatively low profile until we settle Project Stanley." And the 2000 memo referred to "recent meetings" with the Alberta government and TransAlta. That sent the Liberals off on a fishing trip for what Grit Leader Kevin Taft says are 5,600 pages of Enron documents in the government's possession.

Instead of giving them up, the Tories naturally stonewalled. Unlucky TransAlta got caught in the crossfire. "The intent is to try and slander," yelped Alberta Energy Minister Greg Melchin. "We still are looking for evidence."

He sure has a funny way of going about it.

"Until a month ago I'd never heard of Project Stanley," said TransAlta legal affairs director Sterling Koch. (Although TransAlta was involved in litigation with Enron at the time.) But he sure has heard of Bill Lockyer. Probably too much.

On May 30, 2002, the crusading attorney general, on behalf of the "people of the state of California," launched a massive suit against TransAlta Energy Marketing Inc., owned by TransAlta but registered in Delaware.

In it he talked about the "skyrocketing electricity prices, widespread blackouts, utility bankruptcy and massive economic upheaval" that hammered his state in 2000. It alleged that the TransAlta spin-off "through unjust, unreasonable and illegal overcharges and price-gouging, received unprecedented profits at the expense of consumers, ratepayers, businesses and the state of California."

As you can see, Bill doesn't pussyfoot around.

In his latest quarterly report - after all the happy news came out - TransAlta president Steve Snyder gave his shareholders the latest Golden State update. The claims were dismissed. An appeal was denied last October.

A parallel investigation by FERC in June 2003 ordered TransAlta to "justify certain trading activities in California." A document filed with the regulator specifically asked TransAlta if it participated in Enron market-fixing scams like "Death Star, Load Shift, Get Shorty and Fat Boy."

TransAlta denied it.

Overcharge claim

"TransAlta does not participate in and has nothing to gain by doing these types of trades," Snyder said at the time. But the company is still arguing over $46 million that California power authorities claim TransAlta overcharged them.

"The courts have dismissed their claim," said Koch. But he might have spoken too fast.

"We're just trying to get our money back," California attorney general spokesman Tom Dresslar snapped last week.

The battle continues. With no help from the Alberta Tories.

Saturday, March 19, 2005

For a Ruthless Criticism of Everything Existing

Dialectical Magick

I have to thank the folks over at the Coffee Shop for the excellent article entitled Socratic Marx, which discusses this letter from Marx which was published in the Tucker Anthology The Marx and Engels Reader as: For a Ruthless Criticism of Everything Existing (1843).

This is one of my favorites short radical writings by Marx which expresses exactly what revolutionary thought is, philosophy in action. It is here we find the essence of Marx's revolutionary thought, and the phrase For a Ruthless Criticism of Everything Existing, was not lost on me when I first read this thirty-five years ago.

It is this letter which was to turn the entire socialist movement on its head, that communism is not just an extension of socialism it is something else, something different than existing socialism and social democracy. I have highlighted in bold those ideas which struck me as crucial so long ago, and remain embedded within my philosophical outlook.
And this essay has not just influence me, it has influenced other radical thinkers like Raya Dunayevskaya, it is in this essay we find mention of the idea of her Marxist Humanism [1].

Out of the broom closet

I had forgotten how important the ideas in this essay had been in building the foundation of of both my view of libertarian communism and what I would later call dialectical magick; a historical materialist interpretation that magick[2] has acted as a ‘ruthless criticism of religion’ and of science/scientism. It is the original Libertation Teleology.

"The whole socialist principle in its turn is only one aspect that concerns the reality of the true human being. But we have to pay just as much attention to the other aspect, to the theoretical existence of man, and therefore to make religion, science, etc., the object of our criticism."

As Marx says in his Introduction to A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right Karl Marx (published in the same journal; Deutsch-Französische Jahrbücher, in February, 1844) “the criticism of religion is the prerequisite of all criticism”. I have included an excerpt from this below his letter to Rouge.

Magick historically fulfills this prerequisite, it has functioned both as a practice[3], gift economy, and a social movement that acted as a "reform of consciousness not through dogmas, but by analyzing the mystical consciousness that is unintelligible to itself, whether it manifests itself in a religious or a political form. "

Marcel Mauss; shows this in his Outline of a General Theory of Magic, which is still relevant today, the centennial of its publication. While not as well known as his The Gift: The Form and Reason for Exchange in Archaic Societies, the General Theory of Magic postulates that magic is different from religion and not only pre-dates it but represents a social function that is essentially anti-authoritarian and based on an economy of self consciousness of production. Just as The Gift shows that this magickal economy is not one that produces exchange value but a communist exchange, those with surplus exchange it with those who do not have it by holding a potlatch.

Mauss further contends that magickal thinking is still with us, and modern physics shows this with its M-theory of String phenomena. Or as Feyerabend says in "Against Method", 1975, "Thus science is much closer to myth than a scientific philosophy is prepared to admit."

Magickal economy is consistent with what Marx called "actually existing communism" in his letter to Rouge. Marx, influenced by the early anthropological work of Lewis Morgan, saw the gift economy as essentially communist. It was an economy based on magick and mediated by the shaman, as in later periods communal society would be mediated by witches, cunning men, wise women, etc.

In the gift economy the shaman reflects social power of both the status quo and its other. They can be insiders, leaders in the community or outsiders, those exiled from the community. In either case they act to make acceptable to the community 'the other' such as homosexuality and gender bending (the bardache) which Edward Carpenter, the English socialist and gay advocate, documents.


THE SHAMAN IN THE CAVE

Les Trois Freres, France

“The Shaman/Trickster appears in the cave paintings of the Early European Tribes, about 18,000 about years ago. Warriors don't appear until about 9,000 years ago. Kings appeared even later. It appears historically that the Shaman/Trickster came a lot earlier, perhaps even before the cave painters appeared. The Shaman/Trickster is closely tied to hunting, and hunting and gathering were the origin of human society, maybe 50,000 years ago. The warrior and the king are possible only after the development of cities. THEORIES ON THE NORTH AMERICAN TRICKSTER

Magick in practice is mnemonic, it is a remembrance of mans development of tool making and technics, the subconscious memory that labour altered our consciousness. The tools of magick, the cup, the pentangle, the athame, the wand and the sword are mnemonic symbols of the development and transition of the human from the dominance of the world of nature, into nature’s transformer, the magi. The invocations and the evocations of magickal chants are the voice of humankind speaking of and to the names of the natural world as it are transformed by our labour. [4] As the world changes so do the deities, the reifications of the world made in the image of man. Or to put it another way "That which is mostly observed, is that which replicates the most."

“Man makes religion, religion does not make man. Religion is, indeed, the self-consciousness and self-esteem of man who has either not yet won through to himself, or has already lost himself again. But man is no abstract being squatting outside the world. Man is the world of man – state, society. This state and this society produce religion, which is an inverted consciousness of the world, because they are an inverted world,” as Marx says in his introduction to his Critique of Hegel below. And we could add that man also makes science, and that magick which originates science[5], as it does religion, it continues to be a different form of science, natural science as opposed to technic based science of capitalism.

And as Frazer says in the Golden Bough; "So far, therefore, as the public profession of magic has been one of the roads by which men have passed to supreme power, it has contributed to emancipate mankind from the thraldom of tradition and to elevate them into a larger, freer life, with a broader outlook on the world. This is no small service rendered to humanity. And when we remember further that in another direction magic has paved the way for science, we are forced to admit that if the black art has done much evil, it has also been the source of much good; that if it is the child of error, it has yet been the mother of freedom and truth."[6]

We can see within the modern Occult movements in the 19th and 20th centuries this dialectic of religion and politics, of liberation and oppression played out in the microcosm of secret societies and the macrocosm of mass movements for social change which includes the neo-pagan and witchcraft revivals that are occurring today. We can see it in the popular response to Harry Potter novels by millions of children, for whom magickal thinking has not been repressed. This is not mere mysticism, but as Freud called it the ‘return of the repressed[7]. Magick has influenced much of the modern revolutionary movements, from the time of Byron and Shelley (called satanic poets by their contemporaries) through to Surrealism, the beat poets such as libertarian communist Kenneth Rexroth and even Situationism, just as it has broadened our understanding of early human communities through the sciences of sociology and anthropology.

In the information age the return of magick in the 20th century , at the height of capitalisms ascendance its technological transformation of society, shows that the alienation of production and its reification into commodity and consumer, satisfies the individuals need to create meaning and power out of powerlessness. Magick functions not only for creating meaning and power for the individual, but to bring individuals back into contact with each other as creators of community; it answers the need for the village and commune in the midst of a mass consumer culture.

If we are to understand magick as part of the revolutionary movement, we must discard popular conspiracy theory notions of it and apply dialectical and historical materialist theory to it. This then is the challenge that dialectical libertarians face. The study of magick has long influenced revolutionary thinkers[8], as well as reactionaries[9]. The reactionary thinker sees the Occult as competing secret societies vying for power[10], the libertarian communist, sees magick as humanities gnosis of ourselves as self conscious creators of our world as Joseph Dietzgen[11] contends with his theory of Cosmic Dialectics.


Letters from the Deutsch-Französische Jahrbücher

M. to R.
Marx to Ruge

Kreuznach, September 1843

I am glad that you have made up your mind and, ceasing to look back at the past, are turning your thoughts ahead to a new enterprise.[22] And so — to Paris, to the old university of philosophy — absit omen! [May it not be an ill omen] — and the new capital of the new world! What is necessary comes to pass. I have no doubt, therefore, that it will be possible to overcome all obstacles, the gravity of which I do not fail to recognise.

But whether the enterprise comes into being or not, in any case I shall be in Paris by the end of this month,[23] since the atmosphere here makes one a serf, and in Germany I see no scope at all for free activity.

In Germany, everything is forcibly suppressed; a real anarchy of the mind, the reign of stupidity itself, prevails there, and Zurich obeys orders from Berlin. It therefore becomes increasingly obvious that a new rallying point must be sought for truly thinking and independent minds. I am convinced that our plan would answer a real need, and after all it must be possible for real needs to be fulfilled in reality. Hence I have no doubt about the enterprise, if it is undertaken seriously.

The internal difficulties seem to be almost greater than the external obstacles. For although no doubt exists on the question of “Whence,” all the greater confusion prevails on the question of “Whither.” Not only has a state of general anarchy set in among the reformers, but everyone will have to admit to himself that he has no exact idea what the future ought to be. On the other hand, it is precisely the advantage of the new trend that we do not dogmatically anticipate the world, but only want to find the new world through criticism of the old one. Hitherto philosophers have had the solution of all riddles lying in their writing-desks, and the stupid, exoteric world had only to open its mouth for the roast pigeons of absolute knowledge to fly into it. Now philosophy has become mundane, and the most striking proof of this is that philosophical consciousness itself has been drawn into the torment of the struggle, not only externally but also internally. But, if constructing the future and settling everything for all times are not our affair, it is all the more clear what we have to accomplish at present: I am referring to ruthless criticism of all that exists, ruthless both in the sense of not being afraid of the results it arrives at and in the sense of being just as little afraid of conflict with the powers that be.

Therefore I am not in favour of raising any dogmatic banner. On the contrary, we must try to help the dogmatists to clarify their propositions for themselves. Thus, communism, in particular, is a dogmatic abstraction; in which connection, however, I am not thinking of some imaginary and possible communism, but actually existing communism as taught by Cabet, Dézamy, Weitling, etc. This communism is itself only a special expression of the humanistic principle, an expression which is still infected by its antithesis — the private system. Hence the abolition of private property and communism are by no means identical, and it is not accidental but inevitable that communism has seen other socialist doctrines — such as those of Fourier, Proudhon, etc. — arising to confront it because it is itself only a special, one-sided realisation of the socialist principle.

And the whole socialist principle in its turn is only one aspect that concerns the reality of the true human being. But we have to pay just as much attention to the other aspect, to the theoretical existence of man, and therefore to make religion, science, etc., the object of our criticism. In addition, we want to influence our contemporaries, particularly our German contemporaries. The question arises: how are we to set about it? There are two kinds of facts which are undeniable. In the first place religion, and next to it, politics, are the subjects which form the main interest of Germany today. We must take these, in whatever form they exist, as our point of departure, and not confront them with some ready-made system such as, for example, the Voyage en Icarie. [Etienne Cabet, Voyage en Icarie. Roman philosophique et social.]

Reason has always existed, but not always in a reasonable form. The critic can therefore start out from any form of theoretical and practical consciousness and from the forms peculiar to existing reality develop the true reality as its obligation and its final goal. As far as real life is concerned, it is precisely the political state — in all its modern forms — which, even where it is not yet consciously imbued with socialist demands, contains the demands of reason. And the political state does not stop there. Everywhere it assumes that reason has been realised. But precisely because of that it everywhere becomes involved in the contradiction between its ideal function and its real prerequisites.

From this conflict of the political state with itself, therefore, it is possible everywhere to develop the social truth. just as religion is a register of the theoretical struggles of mankind, so the political state is a register of the practical struggles of mankind. Thus, the political state expresses, within the limits of its form sub specie rei publicae,[as a particular kind of state] all social struggles, needs and truths. Therefore, to take as the object of criticism a most specialised political question — such as the difference between a system based on social estate and one based on representation — is in no way below the hauteur des principes. [Level of principles] For this question only expresses in a political way the difference between rule by man and rule by private property. Therefore the critic not only can, but must deal with these political questions (which according to the extreme Socialists are altogether unworthy of attention). In analysing the superiority of the representative system over the social-estate system, the critic in a practical way wins the interest of a large party. By raising the representative system from its political form to the universal form and by bringing out the true significance underlying this system, the critic at the same time compels this party to go beyond its own confines, for its victory is at the same time its defeat.

Hence, nothing prevents us from making criticism of politics, participation in politics, and therefore real struggles, the starting point of our criticism, and from identifying our criticism with them. In that case we do not confront the world in a doctrinaire way with a new principle: Here is the truth, kneel down before it! We develop new principles for the world out of the world’s own principles. We do not say to the world: Cease your struggles, they are foolish; we will give you the true slogan of struggle. We merely show the world what it is really fighting for, and consciousness is something that it has to acquire, even if it does not want to.

The reform of consciousness consists only in making the world aware of its own consciousness, in awakening it out of its dream about itself, in explaining to it the meaning of its own actions. Our whole object can only be — as is also the case in Feuerbach’s criticism of religion — to give religious and philosophical questions the form corresponding to man who has become conscious of himself.

Hence, our motto must be: reform of consciousness not through dogmas, but by analysing the mystical consciousness that is unintelligible to itself, whether it manifests itself in a religious or a political form. It will then become evident that the world has long dreamed of possessing something of which it has only to be conscious in order to possess it in reality. It will become evident that it is not a question of drawing a great mental dividing line between past and future, but of realising the thoughts of the past. Lastly, it will become evident that mankind is not beginning a new work, but is consciously carrying into effect its old work.

In short, therefore, we can formulate the trend of our journal as being: self-clarification (critical philosophy) to be gained by the present time of its struggles and desires. This is a work for the world and for us. It can be only the work of united forces. It is a matter of a confession, and nothing more. In order to secure remission of its sins, mankind has only to declare them for what they actually are.

Introduction to A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right

Karl Marx in Deutsch-Französische Jahrbücher, February, 1844

For Germany, the criticism of religion has been essentially completed, and the criticism of religion is the prerequisite of all criticism.

The profane existence of error is compromised as soon as its heavenly oratio pro aris et focis [“speech for the altars and hearths”] has been refuted. Man, who has found only the reflection of himself in the fantastic reality of heaven, where he sought a superman, will no longer feel disposed to find the mere appearance of himself, the non-man [Unmensch], where he seeks and must seek his true reality.

The foundation of irreligious criticism is: Man makes religion, religion does not make man. Religion is, indeed, the self-consciousness and self-esteem of man who has either not yet won through to himself, or has already lost himself again. But man is no abstract being squatting outside the world. Man is the world of man – state, society. This state and this society produce religion, which is an inverted consciousness of the world, because they are an inverted world. Religion is the general theory of this world, its encyclopaedic compendium, its logic in popular form, its spiritual point d’honneur, its enthusiasm, its moral sanction, its solemn complement, and its universal basis of consolation and justification. It is the fantastic realization of the human essence since the human essence has not acquired any true reality. The struggle against religion is, therefore, indirectly the struggle against that world whose spiritual aroma is religion.

Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.

The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness. To call on them to give up their illusions about their condition is to call on them to give up a condition that requires illusions. The criticism of religion is, therefore, in embryo, the criticism of that vale of tears of which religion is the halo.

Criticism has plucked the imaginary flowers on the chain not in order that man shall continue to bear that chain without fantasy or consolation, but so that he shall throw off the chain and pluck the living flower. The criticism of religion disillusions man, so that he will think, act, and fashion his reality like a man who has discarded his illusions and regained his senses, so that he will move around himself as his own true Sun. Religion is only the illusory Sun which revolves around man as long as he does not revolve around himself.

It is, therefore, the task of history, once the other-world of truth has vanished, to establish the truth of this world. It is the immediate task of philosophy, which is in the service of history, to unmask self-estrangement in its unholy forms once the holy form of human self-estrangement has been unmasked. Thus, the criticism of Heaven turns into the criticism of Earth, the criticism of religion into the criticism of law, and the criticism of theology into the criticism of politics.

For Donalda Cassel, Larry Gambone, Jane Leverick, Sam Wagar

FOOTNOTES



[1] communism is itself only a special expression of the humanistic principle

[2] The use of Magick with a 'k' comes from Giambattista della Porta (aka John Baptist della Porta) (1535-1615) Natural Magick , Published in 1558 in Italian and then in 1658 in English. ( In this wildly popular series, now expanded to 20 books, della Porta claims the natural world can be manipulated by the natural philosopher through theoretical and practical experiment. He describes ways of beautifying women, tempering steel, counterfeiting precious stones, identifying natural magnets, and forming new plants and animals.) Natural Magick predates Aleister Crowley’s use of Magick spelled with a K, though he is credited with popularizing this spelling.

[3] Magick is the Science and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with Will.

In one sense Magick may be defined as the name given to Science by the vulgar.

[4] Mircea Eliade's The Forge and the Crucible (1956) asserts that the ancient art of alchemy begins in the bronze age with the forging of tools, and that western systems of initiation into secret knowledge originate in this era with the metal crafts guilds and secret societies of smithy’s.

[5] Astrology is the mother of Astronomy, and Alchemy is the mother of Chemistry as historians of science like to say, but Alchemy is also different from chemistry in that it postulates that the observer affects what is observed, which is the quantum theory of Schrodingers Cat, and that the observer is transformed in the process.

[6] Definition and Theorems of Magick , Magick in Theory and Practice, Aleister Crowley

[7] The Return of the Repressed The strange case of Masud Khan, Robert S. Boynton, The Boston Review

[8] William Godwin, the Lives of the Necromancers, 1834

[10] “the history of the world is the history of competing secret societies” Mumbo-Jumbo By Ishmael Reed which deals with Hoodoo and the spirit of Jazz Age which 'jez grew' in 1920's America to create a black autonomous culture. A very funny work on conspiracy theories in the vein of Robert Anton Wilson/Bob Shea’s Illuminatus series.