Claptrap from Buzz Hargrove By Stephen Gray “I support equality. And so, I support same-sex marriage.” Buzz Hargrove, president of the Canadian Auto Workers Union( CAW) Financial Post Jan 31. 2005. Mr. Hargrove is entitled to his opinion on any issue, but when he uses the platform of the CAW to promote his own point of view, one has to ask the question: Were all CAW members polled individually on their views on same-sex marriage and does Buzz Hargrove have the authority to promote this and other non-work related issues using union time and money? The reason union dues were made compulsory was for collective bargaining; this has now turned into collective coercion. Brother Buzz had this to say  in his Financial Post article regarding so called ‘same-sex rights:’ “When the debate was at its loudest and strongest, it never occurred to me to call an election in my union over same-sex rights,…” Of course not, Mr. Hargrove; unions have compulsory members and compulsory union dues, they are the equivalent of a dictatorship. Dictators don’t allow votes. For years the CAW and many other unions have been using their membership’s time and compulsory funds on a multitude of non-work related issues. Numerous special interest groups are funded by trade unions and the CAW is one of the biggest financiers of many of these groups. Terence Corcoran writing in the Financial Post of  June 17, 2000, said:  “The Toronto riot…was essentially financed by Canada’s labour leaders. The organization behind the event was the Ontario Coalition against Poverty, run by John Clarke. Most of his budget comes from the Canadian Auto Workers, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers and the Canadian Union of Public Employees….Mr. Clarke, the professional agitator who led the Queens Park riot, is in effect a union front. Without Buzz Hargrove as his money bags, Mr. Clarke…and his so called organization would not exist.”  Mr. Corcoran went on to say: “Unions are possibly the most protected sector of Canadian political and economic life. Unions collect their dues as if they were taxes on their members, pay no taxes on their income or operations and then use the money to subvert the system, including promotion of violence….”  (Terence Corcoran, Financial Post, June 17, 2000.) Mr. Corcoran is right on the money, no pun intended. Yet, Buzz Hargrove has the hypocritical gall to say on same-sex marriage that, “…the politicians are hearing from the well-funded, vocal religious minority,…”  At least these people opposed to this perversion of words called “same-sex marriage” have the courage of their convictions and use their own time and their own money to get involved. Whereas Buzz Hargrove is claiming the support of CAW  and claiming to speak for all his membership on not only this issue, but others as well. The CAW has given millions to the NDP over the years and Buzz is a big supporter of the socialists. “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.” (Globe and Mail, Oct. 24, 2000.) 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.” Buzz is well named; he buzzes here, there and everywhere like a little hornet.  Buzz, and the CAW interfered in a Catholic school Prom and he said, “More recently, we took a strong public stand on the right of a young Catholic high school student to attend the prom with his same-sex partner.” (Financial Post Jan 31. 2005).  Hargrove only gets away with this nonsense because  unions are funded by compulsion and have compulsory members. His mandate is collective bargaining not interfering in religious issues or making moral, social and political decisions for his membership. He said this about trade unions political involvement: “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. Yet this little hypocrite was handing over CAW  members dues money to the NDP for years. The same applies to this “same-sex marriage” issue. None of the unions have a “mandate” from their members. This “same-sex’ issue is being promoted by union bosses who have not polled their membership individually. Meanwhile,  CAW members have been laid off and Hargrove is mouthing off about “same-sex marriage.” 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.” Oh really, one wonders when they got certified for that? Oh, I forgot dictatorships do as they like.    Questions must be asked about the misuse of trade union time and money in this country. It has become blatant. If any other organizations in Canada were doing what the CAW and other trade unions are doing with compulsory funds, charges would be laid.  The question is: Why are they getting away with it? It has to be stopped, as has the claptrap from Buzz Hargrove claiming to speak for CAW members on every issue he takes a fancy to. Stephen Gray Feb. 1, 2005 graysinfo@yahoo.ca  website http://www.oocities.org/graysinfo Some info on the Author: Stephen Gray published a newsletter for  11 years exposing the misuse of trade union time and money. He is a writer and researcher on various topics