quote:

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Mr. Ochej said he is disillusioned with the treatment the workers have received from the national CAW -- a union he says is supposed to fight for the rights of workers. “It’s one thing for the union to make all their policies,” he said. “But if they don’t have the balls, the backbone, or the guts to back them up, then what’s the point?”

Many of those walking the picket line believe the national CAW is sacrificing parts workers to keep big companies like General Motors happy.

“It is all political,” said one worker who asked not to be named. “Buzz (Hargrove) doesn’t want GM to go down, so he does whatever they want.”

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If Buzz Hargrove is selling out the workers' struggle in AGS, he deserves to be condemned. As you say, though, it would be good to have all the facts. And bargaining strategy in the context of a particular plant, facing a particular crisis, is not always (in my experience) a matter of science, or black and white, or screaming "concessions" as if concessions are not made in real life every single time friends or enemies sit down with each other to try to hammer out a modus vivendi.

The important thing is to take the same approach (ask questions first, shoot later) to all aspects of life, without exception. I do not support Buzz Hargrove when he does things which to me are wrong (such as his shameful Star article on the Middle East - which I was the first to condemn on babble). Nor did I ever support his strategic voting policy in the last election. But for those who call him "whore" and make vulgar comments such as the ones you do, I have only pity. They haven't got a clue.

Just as worship of Hargrove is ridiculous, so too is worship of the NDP and its leadership. Only, the latter is far more pernicious, because the NDP actually is a political force in this country, which Hargrove cannot and does not pretend to be.

When someone does something right, I applaud it, even if most of the time their views seem fanatical to me. By the way, I liked your comment on U.S. foreign policy. I thought it was right on.

[ 13 June 2006: Message edited by: unionist ]