convention

¢ Rod Kelty, IAM Administrative Assistant

[AM speaker
gives address

Favorite speaker Rod Kelty, Administrative
Assistant with the IAM, was on hand once
again this year to update the membership on
that union’s activities below the borderline. In
1994, the I.W.A. in the United States merged
into the IAM, and I.W.A. CANADA has main-
tained dialogue and interchanges with the

o ization since.

On the west coast and the northwest, the
TAM has negotiated a new four year agreement
with Weyerhaeuser, one that offers job security
for loggers over the term of the contract. It also

vats more money in the employee’s insurance

d. .
‘As Kelty’s speech was prior to the vote for

U.S. president he went over the political situa-
tion in his country. :

He said that ‘A Gore was 100% pro-union on
labour issues but that he “has been no friend of
_ any worker that works in the natural resources
% ”

Continued on page thirty

aN

wae

° CAW National President Buzz Hargrove explained his union’s position with the SEIU and called

for debate and change within the CLC.

Solutions sought for

CLE union

The Canadian Autoworkers are under Level
III sanctions for raiding 30,000 members from
the Service Employees International Union and,
during the convention, the I.W.A. was under
Level I sanctions for raiding the Carpenters
Union in Ontario, as it brought in over 700 new
members into I.W.A. Local 700 when it signed
up workers at Canac Kitchen in Thornhill. In
December the Congress dropped the case against
the I.W.A. as the Carpenters didn’t press
charges.

Both unions were sanctioned under CLC
rules.

National I.W.A. president Dave Haggard
introduced CAW leader “Buzz” Hargrove to the
convention and said that he and his union are
worng, hard to find some solutions to the prob-

lems.

Haggard was assigned as chair of the commit-
tee to resolve the CAW dispute with the SEIU
and then stepped down when the I.W.A. was
charged with raiding the Carpenters in Ontario.

Harcourt explained that eight locals of the
SEIU existing of 30,000 members and their top
leader, international president Ken Brown,
made a decision that they weren’t getting
enough autonomy in the international and
wanted to get out.

The members went to the CAW, knowing full-
well that the international would put locals
under trusteeships, get rid of staff and remove
elected officials.

About 120 executive officers of the 8 locals
met in Toronto where they were unanimous in
their decision to leave their international union
and join the CAW.

Workplace leadership meetings took place
where 800 workers where unanimously in favour
of leaving the international. Then a member-
ship meeting was held where over 11,000 showed
uP in eight communities to vote 98% in favour
ro) joining the CAW.

‘So I don’t believe that’s raiding. My idea of
raiding has always been if someone goes out
and solicits members of another union (and)
encourages them to leave their union. Then I
believe that’s wrong and shouldn’t be allowed
under the Canadian Labour Congress rules,”
said Hargrove.

He said when the Canadian section of the
UAW decided to leave in 1984/85 the “Ameri-
cans were pissed off,” but the Canadians gained
respect. Membership votes were taken and all
but one local, which is still in the UAW today,

conflicts

formed the CAW.

A few years ago, following a secret ballot, the
CAW agreed to let one local (a former CBRT
and GW unit) join the Longshormen’s union,
rather than charge the Longshoremen for raid-
ing.
Hargrove said “we believe in our union that
workers must have the final say as to what hap-
pens.” He said that every dispute he has seen
at the CLC over the past 10 years has been
solved by a vote of the membership affected.

Harcourt said that “if I accept the argument
that some are making around the (CLC) Execu-
tive Committee today, we could have never left
the UAW.”

He said that he has met and will continue
meeting with CLC president Ken Georgetti to
help find a solution.

“I don’t believe the debate, as some would say
today, will destroy our movement,” said Har-
grove. But he predicted the movement would be
destroyed if workers wants are not respected.

Earlier in the convention Brother Haggard
told delegates that the I.W.A. also raided a
UNITE plant in Quebec when the employees
wanted to join the union after the “plant hadn’t
had any service for about a year and a half.” On
other occasions the I.W.A. organizer, a former
UNITE member, sent the crew back to their
union. The workers, at the Kirkland plant, were
headed to the CSN, a non-affiliate labour group.

Haggard said the union wants to see a process
put in place, under the CLC umbrella, where
workers can leave their union if they want to.

On the last day of the convention, Barry
O’Neil, president of the Canadian Union of
Public Employees, told the delegates that the
labour movement is undergoing “some very
troubling times.”

“And you will hear a lot of talk about raiding,
of which I must say and I’ve said publicly, I
don’t I don’t think that any of our hands are
perfectly clean on this issue.”

He said that the labour movement set rules to
protect its membership and it’s not living by the
same rules it did ten years ago or will it be
AEE in 10 years time, by the rules it has
today.

“Rules need to be changed to meet the times,”
he said. “Let’s be clear. And so we put a place in
the procedure to do just that, and no one per-
son, no one union or no one body should be able
to change those rules without the collective
agreement of us all.”

LUMBERWORKER/DECEMBER, 2000/29