¢ CLC political action representative Danny Mallett, from the prairie region, said that unions that are seen to be moving to the interests of their
communities are the ones that are going to grow in the future

Time to plan union futures says CLC rep —

It’s a challenge for local unions,
national union representatives and
organizers to think about what kind
of an organization they want to build
for this new century in an ever-
changing economic, social and
political landscape, I.W.A. national
staff conference attendees were told.

“But it’s the measure of the union
that takes these kind of challenges
and starts to move,” said the CLC’s
Political Action Representative
Danny Mallett, from the national
labour body’s prairie region.

Mallett, a former member of .W.A.
Local 1-424 and a CLC staffer for
the last 17 years, said unions have
to carefully map out their futures
and put a “planning culture” in place
to survive in the years ahead.

He cited two large unions — the
CAW and the UFCW, as examples
of organizations that have strategic
plans in place.

-Mallet suggested that each and
every LW.A- local union consider its
future and where it wants to be five
years down the line.

So far Ontario Locals 1000 and
700 have put together such plans on
paper.

He said that union representatives
have to work on the “gap” between
what workers perceive is being done
by their union and what is actually
being done. Most members don’t
know how their dues are being
utilized.

“Most members, for instance, don’t
know what the cost of an arbitration
is, or what negotiations cost,” he
added, saying that when unions
communicate those messages,
acceptance levels rise.

The instructor noted that when
friends and neighbours talk about
their union then the union is likely
to grow. As the workforce ages, said
Mallet, unions will increasingly rely
on younger members.

Workers in the 16-25 year-old age
group have developed large “affinity
groups” through the Internet and

traditional forms of social contact.

“The challenge for union members
like the I.W.A. is how do you guys
find these affinity groups?” said
Mallet.

The visible union will garner
potential members even though
many youth may not yet see trade
unions as a vehicle to solve their
workplace problems.

Mallet said that the democratic
structure of an organization is a key
determinant of acceptance by today’s
youth.

“As we get younger members in
there, because they are more savvy
to the whole question of globalization
and trade, the issues of democracy
becomes more important to our
membership.”

He said unions that participate in
community issues get an approval
rating of over 70 per cent by the
youth.

“The unions that are involved in
community issues — that are
building coalitions in the community,
that are seen to be moving to the
interests of the community rather
than the self-interest of themselves,
are the unions that are going the
grow,” he said.

FIGHTING RIGHT TO WORK

Brother Mallet warned I.W.A.
officers and staff that the right-
wing assault against trade union
rights is gaining momentum right
across Canada and that unions must
strategically plan to fight back. It’s
cloaked in a “right-to-choose”
movement, or otherwise know as
the “right to work.”

Tn Ontario, an army of consultants
is working with employers to press
the issue of the employers’ legal
access to union members in order to
influence their decision to decertify.

The Mike Harris Conservatives
have passed laws to grant employers
access to rank-and-file members.

The I.W.A. has about 12,000

members in the province.

“Legally they (employers) can go
out and tell them ‘here’s your right
to decertify - you have the right to
choose.”

Mallet said similar laws are in
the B.C. Liberals’ election platform
and that “they will push that
envelope as far astheycan.” .

The employer-driven, “right-to-
choose” movement stems from the
“right to work” movement, largely
in southern U.S. states, which has
taken away the right for unions to
negotiate collective agreements that
say that all bargaining unit
employees must join a union and
pay dues if the majority decide that
the union should be their legal
representative.

The ability for worker to “opt out”
of union membership is seen by the
Canadian labour movement as anti-
democratic and is promoted by the
employer community in order to
weaken and eliminate unions
altogether.

Mallett predicted over the next 10
years right-wing governments will
press the ‘right-to-work’ agenda. He
said in any workforce about 20 per
cent of the members may be anti-
union and that number can be more
than doubled with employer freedom
to meddle with the workforce.

In New Zealand the right-wing
government has introduced the right
to negotiate individual contracts
over collective agreements and that
rates of unionization have tumbled
to less than 20 per cent from 69 per
cent in a two year period starting in
1997.

In Canada a website (www.-
labourwatch.com) offers “tailor-
made plans to get out of unions,”
mentioned Mallett.

In Alberta, the Klein government
backed down from right-to-work
laws in 1995 but Mallett predicted
efforts will be rekindled to bust up
building trades, teachers’ unions
and nurses’ unions.

In Saskatchewan, the opposition
Saskatchewan Party (a coalition of
Liberals and Conservatives) ha: ae

,

individual freedom and job growth
in Saskatchewan.”

He said that throughout the
prairies there are committees
involved in issues like rural
revitalization, sponsored by business
communities, that are talking about
competitiveness with right-to-work
states.

“Because we live in a trade world,
we are going to be compared with
and against righ- to-work states,”
said Mallett.

He said the Vancouver-based
Fraser Institute, a right-wing think
tank funded by the largest
corporations in Canada, has
spearheaded the right to work
movement the country.

In 1997 the institute’s director

started a media campaign to “break
the taboo” on the discussion of right
to work in Canada. Since then
it has become part of the
discussion among all right-wing
parties and is manifested in their
policies.
_ He challenged workshop part-
ieipants to analyze their role in
fighting the employer-driven
agenda and to come up with solution
to “street-proof” the workforce.

Mallet said that the visibility of
the union, its ability to have access
to its members and its education of
members 4 secon Bs

e noted that many unions, unlj
the I.W.A., do not have Hake
education funds, and that “we often
don’t make union visibility a
priority.”

Getting access to the members to
raise the union’s profile has to
become a policy that is put
forward into the collective
bargaining agenda, said Mallett. »

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36/LUMBERWORKER/SEPTEMBER, 2001