"There is not a single union in Canada that can claim a mandate from its rank-and- file members for continued financial and political support for the NDP. The labour movement and the party will both be better off if we call an end to this fiction..."
Buzz Hargrove, Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) union president, quoted in Vancouver Province, June 13, 2002, page A20.
It is a wonder Mr. Hargrove doesn’t choke on his own hypocrisy. The CAW has handed over millions of dollars in compulsory union dues to the NDP over the years, now he finally admits that the CAW and other unions don’t have a "mandate" to do this. He then says "financial and political support" for them is "fiction." He even writes in his book "Labour of Love," page 97, that "one of the CAW’s toughest challenges is getting large numbers of our members to vote NDP." One thing for sure is that the millions of dollars of the union memberships funds handed over to the socialists is not "fiction." It is a fact. One wonders based on this admission from Mr. Hargrove, (see information below) if union members past and present have a case for a class action suit against the unions for misappropriation of their money.
"The Labour Movement will be explicit in it’s support for the N.D.P."
Buzz Hargrove, president, Canadian Auto Workers union. (Canadian Dimension Magazine Nov.-Dec. 1992.)
According to The Hill Times of July 8, 2002, CAW National Headquarters contributed $87,076.95 to the NDP in 2001.
A CAW press release of Oct. 21, 2000 stated: " The Canadian Auto Workers’ Union National Executive Board voted unanimously today to support the NDP in the upcoming Federal Election. The Board also voted to donate a further $150,000 to the Federal NDP, which comes in addition to an earlier $150,000 in support given in July."
It is noticeable that the above amounts of money came from CAW headquarters and the CAW National Executive Board, no mention is made of the rank and file union member. This is not surprising as Buzz Hargrove has compared a union member to "an indentured servant." This can be seen in the following quote: "In an age of extreme worker dissatisfaction- with unions as well as employers- the CLC does not allow members of one union to leave and join another. A union member is like an indentured servant." (page 201, "Labour of Love")
Buzz could not have said a truer word. The "indentured servants" at the CAW and other unions are forced to support not only the NDP but all kinds of special interest groups and causes with their compulsory union dues. But Buzz is never stuck for a turn of phrase and writes in "Labour of Love", page 120. "We took on the social issues so that everyone understood that the CAW is a social movement as well as a union." Unions are certified for collective bargaining, they are not certified to be "social movements" with compulsory union dues. Obviously Mr. Hargrove has another agenda when he says "the CAW is a social movement."
Buzz is, in his own words, a bit of a preacher, and is quoted in the Globe and Mail of Oct. 24, 2000, as saying: "I’m a socialist. If you’re going to join our union you’re joining a union that’s led by a socialist, and I preach every day, wherever I go." Too bad he doesn’t do his preaching on his own time.
Buzz is a great guy for telling the truth about union money. He wrote in the book "As We Come Marching:" " What places unions at the centre of any politics of the left are our financial resources." And in the book "Under Siege" (page 8) by Ian McLeod, it is stated that the: "...auto workers...have diverted money ... into the social action coalitions." Of course money is not a problem for the CAW, Buzz writes in his book "Labour of Love," page 80 : " The total dues gathered by the CAW are about $100 million annually." This money is tax free and comes from "indentured servants"- Buzz’s description of a union member. One thing is for sure, Buzz certainly knows a lot about money. He writes on page 128, "Labour of Love," "At a recent CAW council meeting, I tallied up the total of non-union-related donations our leadership approved...and it came to more than a quarter of a million dollars." Laid off CAW members should go after their union and demand a dues rebate. After all it is their money that is being handed over in "non-union related donations."
When one sees the huge amounts of money collected in compulsory union dues and the misuse thereof, a rational person would say union dues should be voluntary. Then at least union members would have control of their own money. Buzz however says: "Without unions, there would be anarchy in the workplace."(page 81, "Labour of Love"). One wonders how the majority of workplaces that are not unionized, have not descended into "anarchy"?
Of course, Buzz would never sanction anarchy. Though he did write in his book "Labour of Love" (page199) about the protests in Windsor, Ontario against the Harris government ... "our union had helped shut down more than eighty workplaces and taken 30,000 of our members off the job to join in the protest.... There probably would have not been a Day of Action without the organizing initiative of the CAW." Buzz also boasts on page 177, of his book that the Windsor Day of Action, "shut down more than 200 businesses and cost the city $100 million in lost production." Of course this was not "anarchy." How could it be anarchy if "unions" were involved? One wonders was this union democracy in action, when some people were prevented from working?
Buzz has this to say about democracy in his book on page 13.
"I’m writing this book because I fear that corporate interests are eroding the very basis of democracy in this country..." Based on the writings of Buzz, one can truthfully say, it is the interests of some union bosses that "are eroding the very basis of democracy in this country."
Stephen Gray
email graysinfo@telus.net
October 14, 2002