Time for TWU to go?Judging by this news release, looks like the Telus rank and file should seriously consider jumping over to the SteelWorkers union. If the SteelWorkers are good enough for the all the BC loggers, then the Telus workers would fit in very well too.
And you can be sure of one thing. The SteelWorkers don't fool around for 4 plus years without some serious job action! And they can sure squeeze out every ounce of juice from even the toughest of management. Darren would be easy pickings for them.
Steelworkers oust Christian Labour Association at lumber re-manufacturing operation
MAPLE RIDGE, BC, June 14
United Steelworkers' Western Canada Director Steve Hunt announced Tuesday that the BC Labour Relations Board has granted the union the legal right to represent workers at the Chasyn Canadian Forest Products Ltd., a re-manufacturing operation in Maple Ridge, near
Vancouver.
By an 82-per-cent majority, workers elected to join Steelworkers' Fraser Valley Local 1-3567, thereby decertifying from the Christian Labour Association of Canada (CLAC) which is regarded as an employer-friendly organization by the mainstream labour movement.
"We welcome these workers into our union," said Hunt. "The Steelworkers will work with our new members to negotiate improved wages, benefits and working conditions. In our opinion, wherever the CLAC is found in BC or elsewhere in Canada, workers' legitimate interests are being denied."
Local 1-3567 President Sonny Ghag said the CLAC stood by while the
company arbitrarily attempted to terminate long-time employees in favour of new-hires and while the company altered workers' wages.
"The workers are fed up with ill treatment from this employer," said
Ghag. "We will work to negotiate a proper collective agreement that treats workers with dignity and respect."
Located on McKay Avenue near the Albion Ferry, the operation was once
certified to IWA Canada until the early 1990s. After re-opening under new ownership and name, the IWA was denied certification successor rights. The CLAC achieved voluntary certification with a previous owner four years ago.
"The workers have come back home to our local," said Ghag. "And they are now part of the largest industrial union in Canada and North America."
Last September the IWA Canada merged into the Steelworkers, a union that now represents more than 260,000 men and women working in every sector of Canada's economy.