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Spotlight on organizing by Josh Coles, provincial organizer
UBCJA Canada is a House of Cards

The International continues to repeat the refrain that restructuring is all about increasing membership and organizing. The funny thing is that, since restructuring, the UBCJA in Canada has experienced a record net loss of membership outside of BC and Alberta. Over 9,000 members have left the UBCJA, most to other unions, since 1996.

Of course, this is not the official line out of International headquarters in Washington, DC. They will insist that restructuring in Canada has increased membership, even though they officially report to the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) that they only have 26,000 members in Canada now, compared to over 50,000 in 1996.

Outside of BC and Alberta, the UBCJA is in steep decline. In fact, the UBCJA in Canada has lost so many members that it has reached a point of severe dysfunction. The Provincial Council is in contact with numerous members and union officials from across Canada and it is clear that the present-day UBCJA is nothing short of a House-of-Cards.

Consider: Over 12 industrial plants of the UBCJA have been raided by other unions in the past seven years, most to the Steelworkers and the IWA. Over 3,000 industrial members have switched to other unions since 1996. Organizers from other unions report that the biggest issues for disgruntled UBCJA members are a lack of Canadian autonomy, little membership democracy, and unfair union representation.

One of these raided plants, KML Homes, is actually partly owed by the Ontario carpenter union pension funds. Jim Smith, the UBCJA Vice-President for Canada, sat on the company Board of Directors while the 100+ employees switched from carpenter union representation to the IWA last year.

And the bleeding continues in the industrial sector of the UBCJA. The Nova Scotia Labour Board confirmed that there is presently an application for decertification being processed by the 125 UBCJA members of Swedwood Canada Inc. (an Ikea furniture manufacturer) in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.

While such losses should not be celebrated, they are understandable. According to sources connected to Swedwood, the members calculated that decertifying away from the UBCJA was the first step towards eventually gaining representation from a democratic Canadian union.

The story in the �restructured� construction sector of the International is even worse. Since 1996, the Universal Workers Union Local 183 (UWU), an autonomous affiliate of the Labourers union, has been so successful in its raiding of the UBCJA in Ontario that there are now more carpenters in the UWU in Ontario than there are in the Carpenters Union.

UWU is based on an all-employee model of organizing and representation, and was a minor player up until the UBCJA started its restructuring in 1996. Since then, the UWU has signed up over 5,000 carpenters and now performs most low-rise/ high-rise residential formwork and highway bridge work in Southern Ontario, paying higher rates than the UBCJA. The Toronto- area UBCJA locals have a combined total of 13,000 members while the UWU has 31,000 construction members.

It has also been confirmed that UBCJA Local 675 of Toronto, the largest UBCJA local in Canada, was put into trusteeship by the International in April, and that most of its leadership has been fired. Apparently, the trusteeship was prompted by a membership resolution instructing the Local to spend up to $1 million fighting the International in ongoing internal disputes. A key clash is that the local, which represents wall and ceiling members, has been in merger/ affiliations negotiations with the UWU. If this happens, the UWU will cement itself as the de facto construction union in Ontario, a trophy the UBCJA proudly held before General President Doug McCarron started his destructive restructuring.

Again, this potential loss of over 3,500 to the labourers is not something to celebrate. But it helps others to understand why BC members have concluded, time and time again, that the UBCJA is a poison and our only antidote is Canadian autonomy.

The Provincial Council doesn�t claim to be perfect, nor do we have all the answers about organizing. But in recent months we signed up more members and new contractors than we have in preceding years. The tide is turning our way.

The International UBCJA�s loss of membership in Canada proves that McCarron�s American- style restructuring is bad for organizing. We need to go up, not down.


larger version UBCJA Canada "Not Wanted" Deck of Cards by dave2300



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