On The Level October 2003 
hardcopy edition available as Adobe PDF download | previous issue | Level archives
On The Level October 2003
hardcopy edition available as Adobe PDF download | previous issue | Level archives
Members can have confidence in the Plan — Davies
Pension Plan outlook brightening
Carpentry Workers Pension Plan Chair John Davies says “The future looks bright,” for the Pension Plan.
“We are through the worst and have put the Plan well on its path to recovery,” he told ON THE LEVEL in a recent interview.
Davies was commenting on an article on page 4 of this issue from the actuarial firm of Hewitt Associates that shows the Carpenters Plan well ahead of the pack in protecting its assets during the tough investment markets of the past three years. He went on to say that “We are now beginning to see the positive impact of the investment and funding policies established by the Trustees.”
Davies had some reassuring comments for members concerned about the security of their benefits. “With the financial disciplines we have put in place as well as the protections for vested pensions under the provincial pension legislation, members can now have confidence in the Plan’s ability to deliver on its promises.” On the same point, he mentioned that it is important for members to know that the Plan assets are held in a trust that is separate from the Local Unions or International Union. “The assets are for the exclusive benefit of the Plan members – nobody else can touch them,” he said.
“Although some members may be asking ‘Why have another vote? Just get on with it!’ we must send a strong message to Canadian unions (and the International) that the majority of members in BC clearly support autonomy,” said Embree.
The ballot, which asks if members wish to transfer their affiliation away from the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America to a Canadian union, is necessary at this time, said Embree, because the International has clearly demonstrated that it is unwilling to abide by the membership’s wishes.
“We need to be able to show the Canadian labour movement, including the Canadian Labour Congress, that our members are determined to protect their democratic rights to determine their own destiny,” he said. “We must transfer our affiliation away from the International in order to become a Canadian union or to affiliate with one.”
Embree said this referendum “will allow us to achieve our autonomy and continue to participate in the Canadian house of labour as a Canadian union.”
The International, according to Embree, has made it clear under its restructuring edict that they will not allow democratic votes or officer elections. They intend, he said, “to decimate Local Union autonomy by transferring your assets to a gang of Washington appointees.”
A number of Canadian unions have pledged support for an autonomous BC Carpenters Union, offering financial and political backing “including the possibility of mergers if it comes to that,” said Embree.
Embree is convinced that no effective organizing can take place until we can tell Canadian workers that their dues will remain in their own country to used for issues that they support and decide on by a vote.
For more information, please see President’s Corner page 8 and Council Comment page 7
“Whether that be electing officers, hiring organizers and representatives or negotiating collective agreements,” he said. “The right to vote on these decisions belongs to the members paying for them out of their dues.”
Embree said that those collective rights have been fought for over the generations and “We are not going to hand that over now, or ever.” He explained that in no other country in the world do workers send per capita taxes to a foreign power. He said that workers in Great Britain, Germany, France or even Mexico would never pay per capita tax to the USA.
Embree also said there are practical reasons for maintaining Canadian autonomy. He feels there can be more work for union members if we are aligned with some of the larger Canadian industrial unions. “I say this because of the experience of large industrial unions like the CAW and CEP who had to fight their American head offices for their independence. Now they are considerably larger and stronger than when they were branch plants of American international unions.”
The issue of assets, more than any other, exposes the International’s true intentions, stated Embree. “The International claims that all the assets built up by the British Columbia membership over the years belongs not to the members but to Washington!” he said. “We consider this not only wrong, but immoral. In autonomous Canadian unions assets are held in the name of Local Unions in trust for the membership.”
If the number of past and current court cases are any criteria, the International will probably drag the BC membership through many more months of litigation before letting go, he said. “The International’s behaviour indicates a long fight. So be it. Their continuing legal attacks are more justification for autonomy.”
Embree claimed the ballot is long overdue. “Staying with the International will not solve any of our problems here in Canada. Only as a free and autonomous organization will we be able to make the changes necessary to grow and properly represent Canadian workers,” he said.
This is a copy of the ballot that BC Carpenters Union members will use to finally determine the direction the organization will take for the future —This is the vote that counts. When it comes in the mail mark it YES for Canadian democracy and membership rights...
British Columbia Provincial Council of Carpenters
BALLOT
AFFILIATION TO CANADIAN UNION
Do you wish to transfer the affiliation of the British Columbia Provincial Council of Carpenters and its affiliated Local Unions from the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America to a Canadian union?
Yes
No
This referendum has become necessary because every effort of the BC Carpenters Union to resolve our differences with the International have met a dead end. In order to fully appreciate the importance of this vote we should review all the events of the past eight years that have brought us to this point.
In September, 1995, Douglas J. McCarron was elected as the General President of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America. In 1996 he introduced his plans to restructure the entire union. The restructuring included the forced mergers of Local Unions and the transfer of all assets and authority to become a truly Canadian Union authority to newly established Regional Councils. It also provided that McCarron would appoint all the officers and delegates of any newly established Councils. The membership in BC solidly rejected the proposed restructuring, and instructed the Provincial Council to take any steps necessary to resist the structure being imposed in BC.
Negotiations facilitated by former Labour Relations Board chair Stan Lanyon failed to find a resolution between the parties. In July of 1999, GP McCarron came to a meeting in Port Alberni where the membership walked out after they were told that there would be no vote on mergers of Locals and no elections for the founding officers of any new Locals or Councils. Attempts by the International to force mergers and form a Regional Council on Vancouver Island failed when the Provincial Council successfully defended a Labour Relations Board decision that prevented any transfer of bargaining rights without a vote of the affected membership.
In the summer of 2000 the International and a few of their supporters in BC filed a lawsuit against the Provincial Council when we refused to turn over our books to their auditor. The International lost this suit when Madam Justice Brown found that they had acted in bad faith in attempting to use the General President’s constitutional authority to further their political battle against the Provincial Council.
In October, 2001 the Provincial Council applied to the Canadian Labour Congress, under the justification provisions of their constitution, seeking a CLC supervised vote of the membership that would allow us to affiliate directly to the CLC. This led to another failed round of mediated negotiations and ultimately, over a year after our application was submitted, the CLC advised us that they would not proceed with a vote because in their view our application did not meet their constitutional requirements.
Feeling abandoned by Canada’s house of Labour, the delegates at the Provincial Council’s 2003 convention endorsed a resolution directing the Council to negotiate an affiliation with a large Canadian Union. Before we can proceed with these negotiations we need to be able to demonstrate that this is clearly the wish of the membership in BC. That is the reason for this referendum vote. And that is the reason why it is important to remember what the issues are.
McCarron has said that restructuring is necessary to make the union more accountable. Where his views differ from ours is that he believes the membership should be more accountable to the leadership — we believe the leaders should be accountable to the membership. Affiliating with a Canadian Union may be the only means left available to us to prevent the International from taking away those vested rights that the membership in BC have had for over one hundred years. Protect your right to vote by exercising that right when you receive your ballot in the mail.
Spotlight on organizing by Josh Coles, provincial organizer
American control of our union would not help organizing
When the International commanded in 1996 that we restructure our union to their 33 bylaws they said it was for the good of the Brotherhood. They said that centralizing power to Washington, DC was the only way for the whole International to organize new members, including Canadians. But they did not and still have not, allowed us a chance to vote on those bylaw proposals. Even though their proposals would have fired our elected Business Agents, altered our dues structures, removed our Pension trustees, and canned our Presidents and Executives — they said we were not allowed to vote on their “great idea.”
Restructuring is good for organizing, they say repeatedly, so you do not get a right to vote on the deal. But restructuring has been a disaster for organizing in nearly all areas where the International has taken over in Canada.
According to their own reporting of membership levels to the Canadian Labour Congress, the International now only has 26, 000 members in Canada, compared to over 50,000 in 1996. And that includes BC. In Canada, the International has fewer members now than when they started restructuring. This proves at least one thing: American unions cannot, and should not, organize Canadian workers.
Canadians need to talk to Canadians about unions. We do not need the American government, American corporations, or our American parent union, the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America telling us how to talk to each other. The International’s plummeting membership numbers in Canada are unfortunate, but understandable. If we were restructured, just imagine being a Canadian worker who was approached by an organizer from the International:
Union Organizer: You really should join a union.
Canadian Worker: Maybe. Which union?
Organizer: The United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America.
Worker: Of America?
Organizer: Yeah, uh, we are an International union. So you get to send $9 per month of your dues to
the United States of America.
Worker: Why?
Organizer: Uh, to help our General President Doug McCarron who has got deep connections with
President Bush. In fact, Brother McCarron rode with Bush on Air Force One, twice!
Worker: Yeah, but Bush is bad for Canada. I mean, the Americans closed our sawmills with their
softwood lumber tariffs.
Organizer: Oh, yeah, our General President supported that too.
Worker: Your union President supported the layoffs of thousands of workers in Canada? Did Canadians
get a chance to vote on that policy?
Organizer: No, voting slows things down. But it’s not about that — do you want a union?
Worker: Maybe, but I was looking for a different union — like maybe one for Canadians?
Organizer: It doesn’t matter where your union’s head quarters are.
Worker: Then why is it in Washington DC and not Vancouver BC?
Organizer: Oh nevermind, goodbye.
American control of our union will not help organizing. For once and for all we need to build our union in BC, for British Columbians.
The current referendum is about protecting our sovereignty as Canadians. It is about protecting our union from American politics and American economics.
If we are serious about organizing and building our union, then lets find the answers within ourselves and not in a foreign land. Let build our province, our country and our union—our way.
I am voting Yes for Canadian autonomy because I am Canadian
Cartoon by Dave Livingston — Local 2300
www.carpentersunionbc.com
click to view larger version
Autonomy referendum slated for November
Members will get to state preference for the record
PRESIDENT’S CORNER by Len Embree
The choice is clear— Do you want a Canadian Union governed by democracy —
Yes or No!
It is with a certain amount of excitement that I write about the upcoming membership referendum vote. After years of talking about it, we are clearly at a point where the membership in BC will state for the record their preference for our union: American or Canadian.
Although the outcome should be predictable, it is worthwhile to consider how we reached this point.
The aspiration for an independent Canadian union has been proposed, discussed, and debated for more than the almost 30 years that I have been a member. It has been met along the way by the International’s diversions (e.g., establishment of a Canada Council), threats, and lawsuits. It says a lot about the BC membership that through all of this experience — turnovers of leadership, and downturns in the economy — they have remained steadfast in their demand for the right to govern their own affairs within a BC/Canada context.
For me, one of the most disappointing reactions has been the absolutely unprincipled attack by a very small number of our existing members who distort facts, lie, and threaten on behalf of their International masters despite the damage their half-truths could do to the pension plan, organizing efforts, or individual members. Their obscene devotion to the International is ludicrous. Like losing a lawsuit and saying that you won it; or Wayne Cox’s attack letters on the pension plan being used as propaganda by nonunion employers during an organizing campaign; and a few retired members who previously claimed to be pro-autonomy, now working with the International against autonomy.
An old friend once coined the phrase that “you can’t suck and blow at the same time.”
It seems to me this is the most appropriate response to a lot of this doublespeak.
To refresh everyone’s memory, the prominence this struggle has assumed was in response to the International’s arrogant insistence that they had the right to appoint officers and/or merge Local Unions without any vote of the BC membership. Added to this was their scurrilous 10 B lawsuit. This lawsuit was supposed to win them the right, under provisions in their constitution, to come into union offices in BC and seize documents and financial records. Even with the slavish and questionable support of their lackeys in BC, they lost this case in the BC Supreme Court. The judge ruled very clearly that they were found to be “not acting in good faith.” This still wasn’t clear enough for them; two more lawsuits initiated by them remain outstanding.
I bring up these points in an attempt to caution you to be on guard for the bullshit that undoubtedly will be manufactured by the International and their supporters around this referendum. Already the rumours have started. Fabrications about the pension plan are being circulated by gossips whose only intention is to scare members from voting. The Pension Plan is recovering nicely and there is no way under law that anyone can get their fingers in that pie. The International, with no standing as a trade union in British Columbia, has no bargaining rights and thus has no legal access to your pension fund. That belongs entirely to the Plan members.
The Executive Board is very clear in its position. We have been directed by the membership through referendum, and by Provincial Council convention resolutions adopted, to afford everyone the opportunity to vote on this issue. It represents what we are all about.
This is the fundamental difference between the BC Carpenters and the International. For my part, I find it difficult even to understand how a workers’ organization – a union, or whatever term you wish to use – would feel compelled to attempt to bully a group of workers through actions like legal coercion and threats of unemployment, to stay associated with that organization. Even the most uninformed person would conclude that it all must be about power and money. What other motivation could there be for a so-called labour organization to try to justify taking away their own members’ right to vote?
The time for talking is over. Vote the way you feel is the correct course, but vote!
The question is clear. Do you want to be in a Canadian union that is governed by membership democracy – yes or no?
I look forward to the results of your vote!
33 infamous Bylaws
In November of 1996, GP Douglas McCarron tried to foist 33 mandatory by-laws onto Canadian carpenters that would, if implemented, take away a Century of workers’ democratic rights to select their own representatives and run their own affairs.
The Bylaws, which have never been recinded or amended, take all significant union power away from Local Unions or District Councils and place it in the hands of a Washington appointed Regional Council headed by an appointed Executive Secretary-Treasurer. The Locals would be able to employ only clerical staff. The Regional Council would have the power to hire, discipline, promote and fire all employees including Business Representatives and Organizers. The council would also have complete control of hiring halls regionally. The EST would chair all negotiating committees and appoint all committee members. The Bylaws also would allow the appointed council to designate and remove all Trustees for Employer/Union trust funds.
Only the concerted and united resistance of BC Carpenters Union members working through the BC Provincial Council of Carpenters has stopped the implementation of those bylaws in this province to this date.
McCarron is a founding member of the New Unity Partnership (NUP) that seeks to make a “historic transformation” in the US, according to media reports and a released manifesto for the new group.
In addition to the International Carpenters, also involved in NUP are the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the Hotel Employees International Union (HERE), the Needletrades International union (UNITE) and the Labourers International Union (LIUNA).
NUP seeks to be a counter organization, complete with staff and headquarters, to the AFL-CIO, at least until the fall of 2005, according to Business Week magazine. General Conventions for both the UBCJA and the AFL-CIO are scheduled for that year.
In press interviews last month, the unions raised the familiar alarm about union decline and, as a solution, envision a drastic restructuring of the labour movement. The group proposes in their manifesto, available at www.counterpunch.org, to merge the sixty-six unions currently in the AFL into twelve to fifteen mega-unions, forged along industry lines and operating according to a “strategic growth plan.” The manifesto says the changes would be approved by the unions’ top leadership and advanced through the US with the help of a similarly restructured network of state labour federations and local laboor councils.
These organization’s presidents would be replaced by “chief operating officers,” appointed by and serving at the behest of the new national leadership, according to the manifesto. There is no mention of the unions’ general membership getting an opportunity to approve these changes.
BC Carpenters are not the only union in Canada experiencing problems with their International.
This month the Universal Workers Union Local 183 of Toronto filed a “Bill 80” complaint with the Ontario Labour Relations Board against their Internationalparent, the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA).
Bill 80 empowers the Ontario Labour Relations Board to overrule the constitution of International unions if it is determined that the International does not have just cause in interfering in a Local Union’s affairs.
In a press release, Local 183 says that continued affiliation in LUNIA “may not be in the best interest of its members.”
Local 183 is the largest construction union local in North America, representing more than 30,000 members through South and Central Ontario and the Greater Toronto Area. Over the past seven years, Local 183’s membership has expanded beyond the general labourer classification to include carpenters, masonry workers, shinglers, plumbers, marble, tile and terrazzo workers and others.
Today, the majority of residential construction in the Toronto area is performed by Local 183 members. Local 183 has been a member of LIUNA since its founding in 1952.
Local 183 says relations are tense with their International over an unspecified internal dispute.
“For years, Local 183 has provided considerable financial support to LIUNA, yet reaped few benefits from this relationship,” said Keith Cooper, spokesperson for Local 183.
“Although we are tremendously proud of our long history within the international union, we believe, given the lack of confidence demonstrated by LIUNA’s current leadership, that we must question the benefits of our ongoing affiliation since it is evidently damaging Local 183’s reputation and standing within the communities in which we work.”
Other sites of interest include:
Carpentry Workers Pension & Benefit Plans of BC www.cwbp.ca/
BC Federation of Labour www.bcfed.com
CLC home page www.clc-ctc.ca
CEP home page www.cep.ca
Canadian Autoworkers www.caw.ca/index.asp
CUPE BC www.cupe.bc.ca
Labour Start (labour news) www.labourstart.org/canada/
Straight Goods (news) www.straightgoods.com/
Working TV www.workingtv.com/index.html
David Shreck (analysis) www.StrategicThoughts.com/
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