While the CN rail strike may be over (pending a final contract ratification vote by mail, though workers are already back on the job), the real battle is just heating up. The CN rail workers, currently represented by the United Transportation Workers, may soon become Teamsters. The Teamsters claim that 65 percent of the 2,800 UTU members at Canadian National have signed applications asking for a certification vote.
This strike highlights the problem with international unions operating in Canada. The strike split the UTU began with its international president removing the original Canadian negotiating team and accusing them of launching an unauthorized walkout on February 10. The walkout was deemed unauthorized by the UTU because the Canadian division didn't ask the international for permission before undertaking the job action. The Canadian Industrial Relations Board found differently, allowing the strike to continue. If the switch to Teamsters does take place, hopefully that union will respect the Canadian division and grant them full autonomy. If they can't do that, then let's get the internationals the hell out of Canada.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
When 96% of your membership votes in favour of striking, it's really just suicide for the union brass to go along with the employer and attempt to have the strike labeled as illegal. I don't blame a single one of the CN workers for wanting a new union, they were sold out during this strike, and they were sold out when they needed strong representation the most.
Hopefully everything works out when they switch unions because it'd be extremely demoralizing to know that within a year, your going to have to go back to the bargaining table and everyone knows you've got what seems to be nothing more than rat union representing you.
Yes Jim Stanford made all the same arguments recently in the Globe - here it is, reprinted at Rabble.
I would agree, but expand on his point to include the larger national unions swallowing up smaller ones.
I was a member of a union that is still amost two years down the line, dealing with the fall out of an executive that seemed more interested in folding us into another larger union that was agressively courting us then fighting the dispute we were in. Our President was expelled and major soap opera still ensues over the involvement of representatives from that other union in our bargaining process.
Which union does Stanford belong to again? Yeah.
Post a Comment