“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”
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.
