By Stephen Gray
“It cannot be stressed enough that the coercion which unions have been permitted to exercise contrary to all principles of freedom under the law is primarily the coercion of fellow workers” - F. A. Hayek, “The Constitution of Liberty.”
Trade unions were originally formed to negotiate fair wages and working conditions for their members. In 1946, a Supreme Court judge, Ivan C. Rand, made union dues compulsory. This decision by Judge Rand was eventually enacted into labour legislation across Canada. Judge Rand’s decision of compulsion opened the door to the corruption of the trade union mandate. A mandate which was supposed to be for collective bargaining, evolved into collective coercion, and now union members are compelled into financing and supporting abortion clinics, socialism, communist ideology, numerous special interest groups, so called same-sex marriage and a host of other issues that has nothing to do with working conditions.
The conditions of the trade union member is best described by union boss Buzz Hargrove who stated: “A union member is like an indentured servant.” [1] Brother Buzz is bang on the money with that statement. The “indentured servants” through there compulsory union dues are forced participants in the biggest scam ever to be perpetrated in Canada. This union scam, which is called “free collective bargaining,” is a distortion of language and words. How can anyone be “free” when they are compelled to support a union organization funded by compulsion, which takes some of their money and diverts it into numerous groups and causes outside the workplace? The latest scam getting union support is this aberration called “same-sex marriage.” In fact, Big Brother Buzz Hargrove recently wrote Prime Minister Stephen Harper on this issue and said:
Dear Prime Minister:
How disappointing to read, yesterday, that your government is planning to move ahead on a vote in the House of Commons on same sex marriage.
What, exactly, is your problem with real equality for all Canadians?
Because, Prime Minister, equality is what is at the heart of same sex marriage.
And you’re opposed to it….
I am asking you to put petty politics aside and do the right thing. You are not on the side of justice, you are not on the side of the majority of Canadians and you are not on the side of an honourable history.
Let same sex marriage be. It deserves to be celebrated, not attacked. [2]
Can you believe the cheek of this union boss? CAW union members are losing their jobs and this guy is writing letters supporting this nonsense called “same-sex marriage.”
Still, he is only one of the many union bosses enraptured by, and supporting, “homosexual marriage.” The big cheese at the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) is Ken Georgetti; he is also an inveterate letter writer and when he was president of the B.C. Federation of Labour he sent out a letter soliciting funds for an abortion clinic. Now he is president of the CLC, which had this to say on same-sex marriage: “With the passage of the federal equal marriage legislation, Canada has taken an important step forward. The labour movement—from local activists to national leadership—stood united with the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender community and played a critical role in persuading the Canadian government to pass the same-sex marriage law….
The Canadian Labour Congress was a founding member of the broad-based coalition, Canadians for Equal Marriage which led this struggle.” [3]
Something has to be done to control the power of these union bosses. They are interfering in the social, moral and political lives of their membership. A recent case is the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) which is discriminating against one of their members because she is opposed to “same-sex marriage.” See Lifesite Article “Canadian Union Refuses Member’s Right to Oppose Gay “Marriage”[4]
If trade union bosses wish to support so called “same-sex marriage” they should do it on their own time and use their own money. It is an affront to democracy in this country that compulsory funded trade unions can be allowed to run roughshod over the democratic rights of their members and force them into supporting any lifestyle or cause that is outside the trade union mandate, which is collective bargaining. The time has come for our elected governments to crack down on trade unions and their bosses who have become a massive threat to a free society.
Stephen Gray
April 19, 2006
graysinfo@yahoo.ca website: http://www.oocities.org/graysinfo
Some info on the Author: Stephen Gray is a writer on various topics. He published a newsletter for 11 years on the misuse of trade union time and money on non work related issues.
Endnotes:
1Buzz Hargrove, president Canadian Auto Workers Union (CAW), in his book “Labor of Love” page 201.
2 http://caw.ca/news/newsnow/news.asp?artID=1091
3 http://www.canadianlabour.ca/index.php/pride_sol/Its_Time_to_Celebrat
4 http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/apr/06041902.html