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3.12.2007
Glorious Failure 3.11.2007
The crumbling of Dave Cole's power equation The crumbling of Dave Cole's power equation By A. Vendetta Dave Cole's power equation is based upon two main components: resources and strategy. The resource side of the equation is based on his control over the C.E.P's funds. In past years this income has been of the order of millions, a good portion of which has been utilized by Coles to build a corporate style union against what he calls "the empire," the Building Trades. The strategy component has been largely provided by three main advisers: Phil Hochstein independent contractors czar and mentor who convinced him to run for president and was the brain behind the manipulations of the past few years that actually converted a democratic Provincial Council of Carpenters into an authoritarian state; Josh Coles, his main political operator, who over the years has kept the rank n file essentially fragmented; and Russel J. Horner, Catalyst president and chief executive officer who has guided him along the path to convert our contracts into toilet paper and transform the greedy Dave Coles into the current leader of the whore like union camp in Canada. The equation started looking like it was working well, with both components on the rise. Since his electoral victory in October 2006 Coles has gone into a ruling mode beyond simple strategic action, into the realms of what some authors such as anonymous, from CMAW web log call "instrumental action." Whereas strategic action in politics is the ability to persuade or the ability to manipulate others to do what you want, instrumental action is the imposition of your will by sheer brute force, treating people like if they were cattle. The style of Dave Coles has started to look closer to that of Kim Jong Il or George Bush. To the casual, superficial observer of the C.E.P situation, it would seem that Dave Coles is now reaching the peak of his power. The monetary resource base at his disposal has allowed him to buy the loyalty of much of the provincial council's top brass, practically all of the top members of the local 1995 top bureaucracy guarantying their cooperation allowing him to sell out the members to the more important group of local owners and industrialists. It has also allowed him to shower millions of dollars in concessions on multi national oil companies extracting Canadian resources to supply the U.S. It has made it possible for him to believe he can justify his shamelessness. It has also allowed him the means to engage in a policy of handouts to contractors that has given many unemployed brothers the sensation that he is the man who will end their problems when, in fact, he is only adding to their problems by reinforcing their dependence on a paternalistic state that might not be able to continue lowering its standards down the road sometime soon. In contrast to his human resource-based disadvantages his political strategies had been, until recently, extremely successful, as dictated by mentors like Hochstein. He had been able to project himself as a defender of autonomy. He had been able to support initial political triumphs and contribute to Noster and Dekker electoral victories in B.C. and Alberta. All in all he looked unstoppable. In the last year, however, his power equation has been weakening significantly. This is becoming evident, not only inside the union but also the house of labour. Two factors account for this: one, the increasing financial disarray of his regime that is leading to a rapid deterioration of the union's social situation, and, the other, the loss of the International boogey-man. A financial mess The financial problems leading to a rapid deterioration of social conditions inside are the result of the massive and uncontrolled spending of Dave Coles, combined with a drop in market share and less money coming into the union due to inferior collective agreements. With the mill closures that have cost many C.E.P members there careers Dave Coles was establishing commitments to supply workers to the Alberta oil patch that far exceeded his inventory. His objective of leading a C.E.P crusade against the Building Trades has proven to be extremely costly. He is said to have spent one million dollars in trying, unsuccessfully, to undermine construction collective agreements in B.C. and Alberta. However, what he was attempting to do by means of his money he destroyed with his mouth, when he gave a speech against the building trades that amused delegates in public while convincing them in private that he was a vulgar and unreliable clown. He has already spent a million and is planning to spend more, in order to protect his authoritarian regime from a rank n file "vote." He is giving away our money in an effort to gain the contractors and owners loyalty in his fight against the Building Trades. In an effort to keep the bosses happy, he is cutting important funds, traditionally funded by the employer from the contracts, to pump into massive schemes of handouts to Catylst and Driver, a strategy that is reinforcing the corporate greed of these beggars but is not solving the deep seated, structural problems of unemployment and ignorance in the members. As he does this, the Alberta state oil company CNRL is receiving inadequate workforce and is losing its capacity to stay on schedule. As a result CNRL is bound to provide less money to the Coles regime in the future. In parallel, due to his handouts inside and outside B.C., he is establishing a framework of increasing social expectations and political expectations that no union leader can fulfill in the longer term. At this moment there are serious problems being created for workers by the C.E.P shortages in contract terms are obvious as he has increased executive control over our union and established unrealistic contract concessions. Inflation is running at 1.3% for the year. At the same time, unemployment and inflation rates are the largest for C.E.P members. In the national scene, the Eastern Provinces are starting to feel that Coles is mostly talk, as he is lagging in his promises to supply employers with a cheap workforce while Westerners, like Horner and CNRL, impatiently get in line to ask the rewards for their "loyalty." The results are inevitable. The 2007 C.E.P budget shows a pronounced fiscal deficit, the same as last year’s. This gap can only be closed through a large volume of market share for less, just like the Wal-Mart model. Accordingly, Catylst and others are currently in the market for jumbo concessions. Coles is allowing the company to become the most important and loudest voice in the room. Corporations love nothing better than to keep on juicing a union, leading to its financial collapse. As strategy falters there is less money and more mistakes are made As Coles makes faulty strategic decisions and as they have negative economic and social results he is under increasing pressure to keep making flawed strategic choices. This is becoming a vicious circle, leading to further deterioration of his power equation. As concessions and unemployment increase, support and market share declines, as his sources of income become less abundant, he feels obliged to take drastic, unpopular measures such as adopting Clac agreements in B.C. and Alberta a measure conceptually retarded taken as an emergency step to increase income. By trying to control not only maintenance but also the industrial and construction sectors, he is costing everyone immense amounts of money and is acquiring a very heavy burden of managerial responsibility, something that he clearly does not possess. A fragile outlook Unnecessary partnerships, alignment with CLAC, an alliance with the FTQ to supply a workforce; acquisition of offices ; welfare program for officers; the request for injunctions leading to Cole's unlimited re-election as president; disregard for the rank n files needs, rendering the rank n files power useless; the fiscal problems; the collapse of C.E.P reputation; the explosive increase of concessions; the growing impatience of Cole's political clients such as Driver and Catlyst the corporate poor; internal rumblings inside CMAW; the paralysis of commercial inactivity; the highest unemployment rates in construction; the proliferation of popular protests all over the net, all of these factors speak of an increasingly weak Dave Cole's power equation. It is not improbable, therefore, that a change of regime in B.C. could take place in the not too distant future. (posted as a comment on "CEP/CLAC Attack and International Amnesty", http://cmaw.blogspot.com/2007/03/cepclac-attack-and-international.html 10/3/07 5:43 PM) 10.18.2006
S. California Carpenters' Effort To Raid IUPAT Lathers Leads To Backlash LaborNet: Online Communications for a Democratic Labor Movement S. California Carpenters' Effort To Raid IUPAT Lathers Leads To Backlash 10/14/2006 By Steve Zelser Hundreds of AFL-CIO building trades workers rallied against efforts of the United Brotherhood Of Carpenters UBC in Southern California to raid the painters' drywall finishing work. A biting flyer with cartoons was posted on the website of the State Building and Construction Trades, Council of California, AFL-CIO, entitled "You Deserve Better Than Being A Carpenter, Carpenter Leaders are SCABS!!! The flyer goes on to say that "Only the privileged few get higher pension benefits. Carpenter Apprentices pay 2 times the dues. Carpenters have no right to vote on Contracts! Carpenters have no right to vote on Agents. Ask a Lather what happens when you join the Carpenters - They cut their wages/Vacation and lost their pension! http://www.sbctc.org/ Carpenter's Raid Attempt Crushed - Details ... http://sbctc.org/pdf/painterbulletin.pdf You Deserve Better - Flyer http://sbctc.org/pdf/carpenters.pdf This mobilization by the State building trades is in response to a provocative effort of UBC President Doug MacCarron and his supporters to set up a massive training school in Las Vegas to train electricians, iron workers and painters who will compete at lower wages with other skilled crafts. According to a SBCTC bulletin on October 11, 2006 "Carpenters business agents in groups of 10 to 15, some from as far away as Colorado and Utah, had been going to job sites to try to persuade about 1,500 drywall finishers in Painters and Allide Trades District Council 36 to vote 'no' on the four year contract, which gave them a significant raise. "The vote to ratify the contract as held Saturday morning in Buena Park, San Diego and Bakersfield, and the Carpenters had intended to leaflet the Painters Union voters on the way to the ratification meeting. But when they saw hundreds of building trades union members rallying in support of the contract and carrying anti-Carpenter Union signs, they just kept driving." Grant Mitchell, Business Manager/Secretary Treasurer of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 36, expressed his thanks for the great show of solidarity to all the unions that supported the Painters. McCarron who joined with SEIU president Andy Stern in the new federation Change To Win has sought to ingratiate himself with not only President Bush but also like Stern attended a healthcare conference in Los Angeles hosted by California Governor Arnold Schwartzenneger. This was followed up by Mike McCarron, executive secretary-treasurer of the Southwest Carpenters representing 60,000 carpenters endorsing the union busting governor. "The carpenters union has shown no courage with this endorsement," said Robert L. Balgenorth, president of the Building and Construction Trades Council of California. San Diego Union October 3, 2006 copyright 2006 © LaborNet 8.06.2006
Fabulous United Brotherhood of Carpenters one of these photos was manipulated in Photoshop and one is an actual photo of union members' dues money being frittered away at the 2005 UBCJA convention in Las Vegas. It does not matter which one is real, as the convention excesses say nothing positive about the International Brotherhood of Carpenters - yet another reason why this website supports full Canadian Autonomy.  International Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners convention 2005 - photos of the Fabulous United Brotherhood of Carpenters  United Brotherhood of Carpenters Convention photo index page To locate your photos, click on a link below to view thumbnails and larger images, then click on Secure Order Form to place an order. ============ and to further compound the hypocracy and irony of pissing away your dues on entertainment for hired staff, appointed delegates and their spouses to party hearty, here is an article about the UBC hiring homeless people to chant and carry picket signs: Carpenters outsourcing picket duty - Columbus Dispatch, OH  6.24.2006
Half-Truths From The WarZone Half-Truths by Mike Griffin When you pick up Carpenter magazine you would expect some degree of honesty and at least a degree of relevance for working members who pay the bills. That however, is absolutely never the case. Like all publications in the house of labor, the news becomes that which the current dictator wants members believe and which supports the power structure he or she has established. Labor publications, even news releases to members, have stooped to new lows in propaganda designed to deceive and shape the direction current corrupt mis-leaders are going to take the organization without regard for the will of the members and all too often, at the request of the employers. A case in point is the Carpenter April-June issue and its coverage of British Columbia carpenters. It is curious that The Carpenter has been silent of carpenter affairs in that Canadian Province for several years, at least since the defection of the BC Carpenters from the UBC [United Brotherhood of Carpenters]. BC Carpenters disaffiliated by a membership vote of more than 80% several years ago with no mention in Carpenter magazine. More than 8000 carpenters fed up with the UBC dictatorship under the control of Doug McCarron, President, voted with their feet. Perhaps the silence from the Carpenter is to downplay the tens of thousands in dues money spent by McCarron in unsuccessful lawsuits in retaliation. If you read this issue, that disaffiliation is not mentioned and the article hails the two small locals the UBC organized in hopes of disrupting the effort of BC carpenters to control their own destiny. Why now has the Carpenter magazine decided to do an article on BC carpenters? The two small locals mentioned in the article fall under new labor provisions forced on skilled trades in BC that take them in the direction McCarron is forcing the UBC to go in the U.S. Without any vote of UBC members, McCarron and his henchmen pulled the UBC out of the AFL-CIO. In spite of phony complaints on organizing, in letters between McCarron and John Sweeney, President of the AFL-CIO, McCarron made it clear the real issue was Sweeney's refusal to suspend the articles of the AFL-CIO constitution governing jurisdiction. Those rules forbid the UBC from raiding other skilled trades work. The BC locals now affiliated with the UBC are negotiating "all employee" contracts under new laws in British Columbia. Could it be that now, labor conditions forced on labor in BC, agree with the direction McCarron wants to go in the U.S. and Carpenter magazine is being used to sell this clearly employer motivated agenda? While some of the article contains a measure of the truth, it is what is not being said that is the most damning. Why shouldn't rank and file members of the UBC have full knowledge of the exodus of BC Carpenters? Why are members denied a full accounting of the enormous expenditures McCarron has made if fighting the will of BC carpenters? Carpenter has never mentioned the disaffiliation of a New York local or its destruction by the UBC. We never read about the many trustee-ships McCarron imposes when locals vote in the wrong leadership or opposes his dictatorship. Half-truths, misdirection, and spin doctoring seem to be the real challenge for writers and publishers of the Carpenter. How quickly labor lashes out at the mainstream media when they misrepresent our issues, and how amazingly adept our own publications are at misrepresenting issues our members have every right to be informed about. Even Hitler would have been impressed by this machine. Mike Griffin Decatur IL 5.06.2006
Bro. Coles Raked Over CEP’s ‘Sub-CLAC’ Contractors  larger clac-colesThe Pulper April 2006 Bulletin of CEP Local 1129 in pdf format Wage Caucus Delegates Irate Bro. Coles Raked Over CEP’s ‘Sub-CLAC’ Contractors Delegates from CEP Locals representing members at Catalyst Paper mills spearheaded an irate denunciation of CEP Western Region Vice President Dave Coles at a March 27-29 CEP Pulp and Paper Wage Caucus meeting in Vancouver. Their anger, and the anger of other delegates, was sparked by a recent Collective Agreement reached between an outside contractor named JV Driver and CEP Local 470. Brother Coles helped negotiate the agreement. According to some delegates he was also instrumental in introducing Catalyst management to JV Driver management. The discussion occupied an hour or more on each of the meeting’s first two days. Local 470 is 18 months old and is related to the Construction, Maintenance and Allied Workers (CMAW). CMAW is the name taken by Canadian members of the carpenters’ union who broke away from their US-based international in 2004 and affiliated with the CEP. Several wage and benefit provisions in the Contract between Local 470 and JV Driver mean the contractor’s employees are working under a “sub-CLAC agreement,” in the words of one delegate. (The Christian Labour Association of Canada is a “rat union” which the legitimate Union movement in western Canada has been fighting against for over 10 years.) As of early this year, JV Driver is now the “preferred contractor” at Catalyst mills in Campbell River, Crofton, Port Alberni, and Powell River, all of which have CEP-represented workforces. The “preferred” designation means Catalyst will contract virtually all of its outside contracting work to JV Driver, which will either do the work with its own crews or sub-contract to other contractors. One brother from Port Alberni reported that his members were even being told that mill tradesmen might have to work under the direction of JV Driver foremen and might have to submit to taking competency tests required by the contractor. JV Driver has also done work at the Weyerhauser mill in Kamloops, and several brothers expressed fears that the contractor will now be seeking work at other CEP-represented mills in the province. “Coming to a mill near you,” quipped one. Delegates from the four Catalyst mills cited wage levels in the JV Driver contract which are significantly below those paid to members of the mill locals. A labourer, for instance, makes only $15 per hour. But there are similar gaps for apprentices, truck drivers, and other categories of workers. “So, why should Catalyst hire people into the bar- gaining unit,” said one delegate, “when they can pay a lot less by having JV Driver hire them?” To make matters worse the JV Driver contract has what is known as an “enabling clause.” This race-to-the-bottom clause states, “The wage rates and other provisions set out may be amended by mutual agreement for specific projects in order to enable the employer to compete with non-union or other competition...” Most of the delegates’ ire centred around two aspects of this development. First, they are “pissed off” that these negotiations were carried out without anyone talking to the CEP locals in the affected mills. Second, they are livid that the CEP 470 deal under-cuts the protections most CEP Contracts contain around the use of low-wage-low-benefit contractors whose members are non-union or members of rat unions. Our Code of Ethics forces non-union and rat union contractors to pay their tradesmen at least the journeyman’s rate in our Contract and the rest of their workers at least the base rate paid to mill workers. But the Code of Ethics does not cover contractors whose employees are represented by a union like the CEP. In his defense, Brother Coles argued that the JV Driver Contract wasn’t really that bad. In this he was supported by at least one CEP National Rep. “We’re not seeing Catalyst contract out more work,” said Brother Coles. “Just the opposite: they’re contracting in work that would have been contracted out.” He maintained that the JV Driver trades rates were “higher than the mill’s.” Many of the wage and benefit figures in the JV Driver contract (although not the labourer’s wage) were similar to those in many construction union collective agreements, said the VP. Brother Coles also said he did not interpret the language cited above as an “enabling clause.” Brother Bob Hughf, the national rep, pointed out that the Code of Ethics sets minimum wage rates, but does not provide for any minimum health and welfare benefits. Non-union workers coming into mills under the code have to pay their own premiums in most cases, he said, whereas the Local 470 contract provides benefits as part of the compensation package. Brother Hughf recounted the developments leading up to the JV Driver contract. When Catalyst chose the company as its “preferred contractor,” he said, this set off a lot of fears: • that the mill workforce would be reduced to skeleton crews, • that Catalyst would save work for shutdowns and contract out as much as possible, • that there would be roving contractor crews moving from mill to mill, • that a non-union JV Driver would take work from “legitimate unions,” and • that use of the contractor would encourage blurring the demarcation lines between different trades. CEP has received assurances from CMAW President Len Embury as well as from JV Driver President Bill Elkington, said Brother Hughf, that neither aims to take work away from CEP mill crews. Catalyst management has also said similar things, he reported. Furthermore, the contract provides for JV Driver hiring permanently laid off mill workers who are CEP members, said Brother Hughf. But delegates were not calmed by the remarks of Brothers Coles and Hughf. On the specific question of JV Driver’s trades rates being higher than mill rates, delegates pointed out that this was only when safety incentive “awards” were taken into account. The CEP 470 Contract provides 50-cent pay boosts following every eight-week period in which an individual has no lost time accidents or medical aid visits. A further 50 cents is paid to an individual if his crew has had no lost time accidents or medical aid visits. By the time the discussion was over (or at least on pause for the time being), delegates had passed two motions. The first instructed CEP staff that they were not to meet with employer representatives without Local representatives present. The second demanded that the Wage Caucus be provided with a detailed breakdown on the costs related to CEP’s association with CMAW—including legal fees, time spent by staff, lost time wages, etc.—and information on what CEP funds these expenditures were allocated from. 4.27.2006
IT'S ALL ABOUT TRUST IT'S ALL ABOUT TRUST "For me, this struggle in the trade union movement has always been about personal relationships and personal trust. Trust that our reps have with our members. Trust that our members have with us. Trust that we have for each other. And if we don't have that, we don't have very much. And it's why we have survived to this point because we have that." From the speech given by Brother Len Embree, at the 61st Annual BCPCC Convention, November 25, 2004 Brothers and Sisters, Without trust our Union's survival is threatened. That is why we find it necessary to inform the membership we have come to the conclusion that by their actions, the leadership of our Union has shown us they can no longer be trusted. Remember our vision of a strong and proud autonomous democratic Canadian Union (CMAW)? Remember how the CEP reached out to us in support in our struggle to break the shackles of the International? Well that was then and this is now. Now there is another agenda afoot. An agenda driven by Dave Coles, Vice President CEP Western Region along with the resident officers of our Union. An agenda that is secret. An agenda created behind closed doors. An agenda that is undemocratic. That agenda is a wholesale takeover of the BC Provincial Council of Carpenters by the CEP without the knowledge of some of the Executive Board and without the vote of the membership. To illustrate just some of what has gone on recently, consider the following examples: Rather than dealing with any of the problems they have created and working with the Executive Board to rectify them, the resident officers Embree and Haggarty have decided to circle the wagons to defend their actions. President Embree has refused to call Provincial Council Executive Board meetings even after the Executive Board directed him to hold meetings no less than once every 2 months. Secretary-Treasurer Haggarty has now decided to conduct Executive Board business through e-mail polls. The resident officers have postponed convention to avoid facing the delegates. Brother and Sisters, it is time to expose the resident officers for mismanaging this Union. It is time to put honesty and integrity back into the leadership of our Union. It is time to rebuild trust. President Embree had one thing right - without trust we don't have much. Without trust our survival is threatened. Clearly President Embree isn't practicing what he preached, who are the victims? You - the Union! In Solidarity, The undersigned. Tony Heisterkamp - 1st Vice President, Provincial Council Paul Nedelec - Vice President, Provincial Council Steve Borho - President Local 1719 Brian Zdrilic - Executive Board Member, Provincial Council Bob Eaton - Vice President, Provincial Council Sandra Backer - Vice President, Provincial Council George Jalava - Vice President, Provincial Council John Colbourne - Executive Board Member, Provincial Council Dave Sewell - President Local 2106 Jim Senior - Business Agent Local 1989 Dave (Doc) Livingston - Executive Board Member, Local 2300 Charlie Scaling - Executive Board Member, Provincial Council |
