Sunday, May 26, 2019

A Canadian Union: Unifor is ‘the resistance’



“Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez is defending a decision to give a union that has actively campaigned against the Conservative Party a role in determining which news organizations are eligible for government funding...
“Unifor — a union that has actively campaigned against the Conservatives under both Stephen Harper and Andrew Scheer — represents more than 12,000 journalists and media workers in Canada.” 
CBC Radio · Posted: May 24, 2019 2:22 PM ET | Last Updated: May 24

Unifor uses the word “democracy,” yet, it is funded by compulsory union dues, as are other trade unions in Canada. Which raises the question, Is Unifor ‘resistance’ being paid for by the compulsory union dues of its members? Or is ‘the resistance’ cabal doing its “work” on its own free time and using its own money? Another question is this, Unifor probably has members that vote conservative or for various other political parties? Is it “democratic” that ‘the resistance’ is taking a position that could be contrary to any number of its members? After all, union members have a variety of views on all kinds of issues, therefore is this position of ‘the resistance’ an affront to their freedoms and should it be allowed in a supposedly free country? But hey, the union likes to use the word “democracy.”

“If @AndrewScheer doesn’t understand the connection between a strong media and its role in preserving our democracy then he is unfit to lead.”

Is it hypocrisy for Unifor to use the words “unfit to lead”?   Unions have been misusing their members, time and money on numerous non-work related issues for years. Membership in any political party is not compulsory, yet ‘the resistance’ cabal of Unifor has compulsory union membership. It also has a role in the disposition of”600 million” of taxpayers’ monies.

“The mega-union [Unifor] representing 315,000 workers across the country, including a large percentage of anglophone Canadian journalists at legacy media outlets — and also autoworkers, because that totally makes sense — will nominate one of eight people to an ‘independent panel of experts.’ The panel will decide the criteria for divvying up tax breaks adding up to some $600 million in public funding.” Chris Selley, May 22, 2019, National Post.

Unions receive their certification for collective bargaining and this has progressed into collective coercion. Trade unions pay no taxes and have a compulsory money machine to pursue and finance agendas that are incompatible with personal freedom and democracy in Canada.

I believe forced union dues and forced association are a violation of so-called: “Freedom of Association” in The Charter of Rights and Freedoms. But hey, that document should be called; Canada’s Charter Disaster.” And that is why I believe Canada has become a pretend “democracy.”

The supposed watchdog of a free society is a free press, yet many journalists in Canada are in trade unions which are financed by compulsory union dues. Misuse of union time and money has been epidemic across the country for many years. Where is the coverage on all of this by investigative journalists? Many journalists can show corporate connections and conflicts of interest down to the smallest detail, but they are strangely silent when it comes to probing union activities too deeply.

“Newspaper CEOs and Unifor union chief Jerry Dias may be pleased with the federal bailout moves, but taxpayers and all who believe that the press should be free of government control, manipulation and interference should not. There is no way Ottawa’s journalism-bailout scheme can pass any press-freedom test.” Terence Corcoran, National Post.

In closing, I believe Unifor should not have a role in disbursing taxpayers’ monies. In fact, I believe there should be a public inquiry into trade unions in Canada. For many years they have been using their memberships, time and money, on multiple issues unrelated to the workplace. I believe they have become dangerous to freedom and “democracy” in Canada. If any other organizations were doing what trade unions are doing with compulsory union dues, charges would be laid. Instead the tax free unions appear to be a law unto them-selves

"Freedom can primarily be characterized by the absence of coercion or constraint. If a person is compelled by the state or the will of another to a course of action or inaction which he would not otherwise have chosen, he is not acting of his own volition and he cannot be said to be truly free." Chief Justice Bryan Dixon in the "Big M Drug Mart Ltd." decision.

"We are involved in matters which have to do with the social direction of Canada and not just issues at the bargaining table..." -Larry Brown, Secretary Treasurer of N.U.P.G.E. (National Union of Provincial Government Employees) in "The Dossier" of Action Canada Network, Sept.-Oct., 1991.

“…the CLC does not allow members of one union to leave and join another. A union member is like an indentured servant.”
Buzz Hargrove, president CAW, page 201 in his book “Labor of Love”

Stephen J. Gray
May 26, 2019.


Links of interest below on unions:
Groups, organizations and causes that have received union time and/or money.