Also: there was a strike at that very plant in the 1980s which lasted four years -- after which the local was apparently de-certified. I assume the plant kept going with scabs.

Another detail about the town of Brooks, and the plant: I heard last year that there is a largish (2000-3000? somewhere in there) community of recent immigrants from Sudan living in Brooks, many of whom work at the plant. I wonder if any opponents of the union tried to frighten them into voting No by suggesting they'd lose their jobs.

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Originally posted by 'lance:
Good for them, though the vote was very close -- only 51% in favour. I wonder how this will shake down. If the local were to strike to get their first contract, it might not be very solid.

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The last referendum in Quebec was less than that but Canada is still one country. But, numbers aside,...the best method for building union awareness is to prepare for a strike. That's true even if a strike doesn't take place. I don't know of any better way. By NOT preparing for a strike the other side can continue to use the weapons of intimidation. Once a strike has taken place (or at least a strike vote, etc.) there's no turning back...whatever the result. Conflict clarifies wonderfully. I hope I don't sound doctrinaire.

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"Prepare for battle"...is a good slogan in other domains of conflict as well. I've been a UFCW member myself for a few years...and they really are a mixed bag. But give 'em credit...they're doing a lot of the hard organizing work.

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Oh yes, absolutely. Some friends of mine work for a public-sector union out in BC. Before deciding whether to try organizing some place, someone else with the same outfit told me, this union does a feasibility study.

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When he found out I had socialist leanings...he treated me like a space alien. And he seemed the same to me for thinking that way.

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Just goes to show how brainwashed people get...where they don't know shit about a century-old perspective that unconditionally supports a working class point of view while, at the same time, holding a staff or elected position in a class-based organization.

P.S. I see that neither Bernard Christophe nor Colin Trigwell are mentioned as current officers of local 832. Christophe retired in September 2002 ...and Colin presumably retired as well. Time marches on.

UFCW 832 thumbnail history

[ 28 August 2004: Message edited by: N.Beltov ]

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You know...come to think of it...I got the same reaction from one union stewart at a sawmill in rural Vancouver Island. Maybe I am the space alien.

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