CAW Local 1256

OFL Delegates Sound Warning to Leadership

[ 31 March 2006: Message edited by: CUPE_Reformer ]

I'll touch base with them. I may not have to run on an anti-Buzz platform, because these guys are already pissed with Buzz over being hoodwinked at Council.

But I'll be checking with them.

I'll also be checking in with my Local President about Lambert. Last I talked with him, he said no one was out there to challenge Buzz.

[ 31 March 2006: Message edited by: Tommy_Paine ]

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Originally posted by Deliverance:
Willie would bring democracy back to the CAW and allow delegates to speak their minds without fear of retaliation.

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Do you have examples of such retaliation?

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Do you have examples of such retaliation?

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CAW issues legal warning to union reformer

[ 31 March 2006: Message edited by: CUPE_Reformer ]

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Originally posted by Hephaestion:
How is any work in the CAW offices getting done, with all of you on here babbling?

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Originally posted by Hephaestion:
How is any work in the CAW offices getting done, with all of you on here babbling?

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Babbler Number: 4795
Registered: 28 December 2003
Posts: 12657

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Originally posted by CUPE_Reformer:
Originally posted by unionist
unionist:

CAW issues legal warning to union reformer

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That's kind of humorous, no? I looked at the home-page of your link and found this:

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Disclaimer Please do not associate www.cawlocal1285.com with CAW Brampton 1285 (caw1285.com) I am a member of this local but I am not a proud member. I prefer to think of myself as a bad ass Auto Worker, lean mean (CAR) making machine. I do not want to be a Canadian Auto Wimp. In Solidarity. Michael Labelle.

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So here is some character who was using the name of his Union Local without permission of the Local, and the Union warned him to stop - and he obviously stopped. Sort of like if I were to issue a press release in the name of the NDP.

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Originally posted by Polunatic2:
Unionist, why do you keep insisting on such a high debating threshold? Assertions against the CAW are all that's needed to make self-serving arguments. Grow up already.

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Funny, the only example posted so far of the CAW crushing democratic dissent is a character who appropriates the name of a CAW Local without permission, and introduces himself as follows:

I am pleased to accept the appointment as President cawlocal1285.com.

Not of CAW Local 1285, mind you - but President of his own website!

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(It's also still only 7:30 am here. What's your excuse?)

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Hold on a sec. I'm in the middle of a raid...

[ 31 March 2006: Message edited by: Polunatic2 ]

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Do you have any real examples of people's opinions being suppressed by the CAW, or is this just frantic feeding frenzy time?

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I realize that the following is not recent, but Buzz Hargrove was the CAW National President then:

"... He detailed a litany of election irregularities. The elections were conducted without voters' lists and no adequate record was kept of which members voted. Everyone eligible was entitled to vote at more than twenty polling stations throughout the city of Oshawa. In all several thousand people were involved in the vote. Before the count, no tally was made of the number of ballots published and used so that they could be compared with the number of votes actually cast."

Cases No. 6-8/92 Member, CAW Local Union 222-G.M. Unit v. National Executive Board (Oshawa, Ontario)

[ 31 March 2006: Message edited by: CUPE_Reformer ]

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Originally posted by CUPE_Reformer:
Originally posted by unionist
unionist:

I realize that the following is not recent, but Buzz Hargrove was the CAW National President then:

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Interesting. The case in question was one where a decision of the National Executive Board was overturned by the Public Review Board (a unique CAW institution), and the will of the Local 222 membership was restored. I'm not sure how that shows suppression of dissent in the CAW??? Rather, it shows democracy and justice functioning in the members' interest - even a decision of the highest-ranking body in the CAW, or of the President, can be reversed on appeal to a panel of individuals who are not on the CAW payroll.

In any case, it wasn't even a case of suppression of discussion, but rather of a contested election result.

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The CAW has a unique independent appeal panel, called the Public Review Board. It is composed of prominent independent Canadians, and is chaired by Alan Borovoy (General Counsel for the Canadian Civil Liberties Association). Individual members can refer any unresolved dispute regarding union representation or democratic processes to the Public Review Board.

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Originally posted by CUPE_Reformer:
unionist:

Only one of the contested elections was re-run (the only one which was appealed). The other contested elections could have been rigged. The CAW Public Review only made a decision on the contested election which was appealed. The true wishes of the other voters' may never be known.

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Originally posted by Deliverance:
Willie would bring democracy back to the CAW and allow delegates to speak their minds without fear of retaliation.

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I'm trying again. That's kind of a serious charge. Does anyone (Deliverance or CUPE_Reformer) have a single example ever of any CAW member who was the victim of retaliation for speaking her/his mind? Or is this just a baseless innuendo?

Reformer, I'm not talking about contested elections, for now, nor people illegally issuing statements in the name of the CAW when they were not elected to do so (like your website colourful character). Just what Deliverance said. Rumours start with statements like that and by the time they're done, people think there's a grain of truth.

[ 31 March 2006: Message edited by: unionist ]

There always have been political consequences for taking a position at odds with the administration caucus.

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There always have been political consequences for taking a position at odds with the administration caucus.

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Originally posted by CUPE_Reformer:
unionist:

Did Lyle Hargrove become the CAW Director of Health and Safety Training because he is related to Buzz Hargrove?

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Who is Lyle Hargrove?

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http://www.ncqc.ca/speaker_bios_2006/speaker_bio_dcci.html

[ 03 April 2006: Message edited by: CUPE_Reformer ]

No resemblance here. Nope. Nada.

[ 03 April 2006: Message edited by: Kenehan ]

Yup, there's your official confirmation. Now the star article says:

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Willie Lambert, a bus driver from Oakville and a long-time local labour leader, will run against Hargrove for the presidency of the Canadian Auto Workers at a union conference in Vancouver this August.

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Lambert, 44, wasn’t immediately available for comment, but his web site indicates displeasure with Hargrove’s decision to support Paul Martin’s Liberals during the federal election campaign, even though the CAW leader has been a card-carrying member of the NDP for 41 years.

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“He doesn’t come from the auto industry — he works in the public sector . . . So he doesn’t have the same threat to his job as the auto workers.”

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Lambert decided today that he would withdraw from the election race and announced he would endorse Hargrove as the national president.

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Challenger Withdraws From Race to Become CAW President

"Buzz Pops the Question" (Toronto Star)

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VANCOUVER—The re-elected president of the Canadian Auto Workers union proposed to his long-time girlfriend yesterday in front of a rowdy crowd of union delegates at a conference in Vancouver.

Buzz Hargrove asked Denise Small to marry him in front of a crowd of about 1,000 work colleagues.

After being acclaimed as the union's president, Hargrove gave his acceptance speech and thanked Small last.

Two large projection screens then showed pictures of the couple, with text reading, "I love you, will you marry me?" in French and English.

Small willingly accepted the proposal, saying she had great respect for Hargrove.

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After being acclaimed as the union's president, Hargrove gave his acceptance speech and thanked Small last.

Two large projection screens then showed pictures of the couple, with text reading, "I love you, will you marry me?" in French and English.

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Willie was not elected by his local as a delegate to the Vancouver convention, although this is apparently not a pre-condition for running for President. Combined with lack of support from his own local elected delegates, however, Willie appears to have been unable to find a nominator. Here is the statement from his website regarding his pulling out of the race:

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Originally posted by Fly on the wall:

Hargrove himself supported “One Member One Vote” at the NDP federal convention and spoke in favour as the CAW President and NDP executive, why not in his own house?

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The Steelworkers saw this in 1981 when Dave Patterson became President over Stew Cooke (more on that interesting piece of labour history here). Patterson faced a lot of subsequent challenges - but at least he got to (a) run and (b) win.

The CAW bureaucracy, like those of most other unions, will never allow one-member-one-vote elections for this exact reason: it's more democratic and fair.

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Originally posted by unionist:

Do you know if anyone in the CAW has proposed this?

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Willie Lambert did in his 12 point solution durning his campaign for one member one vote