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:: Saturday, April 30, 2005 ::
What Happened to Our Unions? Labor’s Militant Voice The UBC and its president, Doug McCarron, are perfect examples of how the union leadership suppresses the potentially strongest members. These are the members who understand that unionism means a united struggle against the employers and are willing to take risks and make sacrifices in order to do so. It is exactly these members have been pretty well locked out of any decision-making role. The official leadership does all it can to discourage and demoralize these members at every turn of events and at every union meeting. If a group of members is motivated to come to meetings in order to get the union to fight for better conditions, they are given the run around and told repeatedly why this is impossible. If a member takes the time to call his or her business rep to complain about conditions on the job, they never know if their name will be turned in to the boss and they will be fired. If a member seeks to file a grievance, at every step of the way the business reps will try to discourage that member from fighting it through to the finish, no matter how strong their case is. In many areas, there is a near open black list against the most active and principled union members. And if all else fails, the most active members are offered jobs with the union establishment in an attempt to buy them off and silence them. In one instance, where even this didn't work, McCarron and his Executive Board had a member and local officer officially expelled from the union for "disobedience to authority".
posted 11:35 AM :: reference link ::
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