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FEBRUARY2011
What is CLAC,anyway?
The ChristianLabourAssociation
in the Unlted
was irst established
1931.
Statesln
The ChristianLaboufAssoclation
of Canadawas forrnedin 1952bY
affiliatedwith the
Dutchlrnmigrants
christlanReformChurchin ontario.
ln
cLAc gainedits firstcertification
'1963in Ontario.
5 gniicanl membershipgrowth,
however,
did not takeho d untilthe
mid 1980sand 1990s,colnciding
with the electionofrlght-wing,anti
union governmentsat the federal
and provincialevek{theMu roneY,
Harris,Klein,CamP
Vanderzalm,
bell, and now the WaI govern"
embarked
Thesegovernrnents
corpoon an agendafavoLrring
changingthe pojitrateinterests,
environlca, egalandleglslative
mentthatgovernslabourrelations
Thishashadthe effectof weaken_
F
I
ing abourrightsandin the process,
hasmadeit moredifficultfor legitlmate unons to organlzeano Dargainfreely,whilemakinglt easierfor
cornpanypseuoo
unrepresenlalNe
gain
muchmofethana
unionsto
the
that9ince
lt:sno coincidence
e.tedin 2007,CLAC
Sask.
Partywase
is seekingto repfesentworkelslry
attemptingto becomece(iied as
a bonafidevade unionln Saskatch
INSIDE:
2r A lookatCLAC'S
contractlanguage
3: Tacucsintheworkplace
comes
4: Sask.gov't.we
CLAC
7: sCLACdemocratlc?
8: Unlonleadersspeakout
bodythat
MeritCanadaisa ndtional
con
fepresents
antrun on conslructron
arenon
tractors.
A I member.ontractors
on ofconrpanies
un on,wirhtheexcept
CLAC.
who havedqtreementswith
the a
tuleritlobjectveis to discredit
andto break
in genera,
boufrfrovement
constructionunions speciicaly. They
committedto the
are phiosophicaly
andto openshoP
openshopmovement
.onstrlrcton in Canada.
An open shop is a p aceof employ
rnent whefe unionsare not we come
(usually
as a placewhele
descfibed
workersdo nol havetojoin orfrnanclay
of
un on asa condition
support
a laboLrr
empoyment).
h ing orcontnLred
the annualIntefna
J\4er
t organzes
which
tiona Open Shop Confelence,
binqi togetheropen shopcontractors
ffomacrossCanada
andtheU.S.
hed n Keow
The 20'10conference,
(and
by CLAC)
8.C.,
o-sponsored
na,
e.l'Free
Chaice,
a
session
entit
featufed
poli.l
biLed
as "a
and
Public
Unians
paneofexperts
wilexplorehowCanada! labour awsareblasedn favourof
and
ofworkers
unionsto thedetriment
g
pet
oba
com
tlvenessl'
Canada!
by Glenn
was presented
Thesesslon
Nafrom
the
American
[4. Taubman
Defense
Right
to
Work
Legal
tional
pres
Foundation,andlohn lMortimer,
Canadian
Labourwatd
dent of the
Asso(iation.
incudeddntiunion
com
Thesession
aga
nst"forced
mercials
and afguments
unlonizaton"and po itica involvement
crculatedpol
by unions.Presenlers
un
on
messages
lhat
fesuisofthe anti
unionized
wofkers
appeamostto both
pubic.
andthegenera
(continuedon next page)
(.onti nued fron previouspage)
l\4efit
engages
in obbyingand eqis
ativeactjonat al eves of government
n an atlemptto reformabolrregsa
ton, to shiftthe badncein favoufof
nonunroncontractors
and to advance
thecause
ofthe anti abour,
openshop
Mert also advancesthis agenda
throughther membefship
in the Canadian Labourwatch Asso<iation,
an organization
olunlonbusters
whose
purposels to provid€ nforrnatonand
ega assistance
to empoyerswho wanr
to keepthe I wofkplacesun on free or
whowantto getrldofunionsareadyjn
CLACalso $rorksclosey with the
un on busting Progressive Contra(tors AssodationofCanada(PCAC).
A
CLACrepfesentative
met wth PCACon
February
l,2006,apparently
to co abo
rate ,,^/
th enrployersto assstthem in
avoidingceftiicationsby the bonafrde
buildingtrades.(PCAC
Exetutive
Dtrcc
tor\ Repati2AA6).
On the PCACrecruitmenty/ebpage,
CLACls the on y so caled unionpro
motedto constructon workers.
MoreCLACcollaborators
Th-" vicepfesidentof operationsai
Deton'ChoNuna,a contractor
wth the
Canadan government,pressuredem
p oyeesto nay wth CLACafd resst be
ingfepresented
bythePubcSelVceAj
The gener.l managerof Rempel
BrothersCon(r€t€Ltd. in B.C.trledto
nop his empoyeesfrom beingorga
nzedby unionsiketheOperating
Engi
neersandtheTearnsters.
n memostoh s empoyees,
henated,
'RempeandChalenge
company
di
{a
visjonJ
haveawaysbeeniefcey non
unoncompan
es...
He explained
that he negotateda
ifst colectlve
agreementwith
CLAC
and
encouraged
themto voteln favofofthe
CLAC
agreement,
caling ttheif"bestop
Al the Hofizonsltein the A bertaoi
sands,CLAC
hasfepfesented
theemploy
eesot CanadianNalional ResouKes
Limitedsince2005.
In 2009,lhe A bertagovernmenta d
(s3)agalnst
a recordnumbefof charges
CNRLand two of lts contractors.
This
came aftef lengthy nvestiqations
into
thecause
ofthedeaths
oftwotemporary
loreignworkels.
tweenApfilandJulyof2007.
Dufingth-.investigat
on,itwasdiscov, Additionally,
29 chargeswerel.id fof
eredthat132Chnesetemporaryfore
gn ta lureto ensurethe heath andsdferyof
wofkefson that sltewefe not pa d be wotke's. lcaigaryHenld,April)2, 2aa9)
ponentRebuld Centre,
andcontfacted
out
the urorkto a new faclty ca led OEMRe,
manufacturingCompanylnc.,which
was
bu ltandfinanced
withFinning
money.
Finninglnternationalis a Cdnadlan WhenFinnlng
trdnsferfed
ts rebuidop
baseddistrbutorof heavyequipment.
erationto oEl\1,r managed
to dumpthe
"remdnu l\4achin
Partot its business
lnvolves
sttunionin favour
ofCLAC.
What did the worker. get when
Finning moved its opelations to OEM
and workersgot a CLACagreement?
)
Lowerpaylorth€ sameworkwith
a"rarkingsynemthatentitesthe
employertodecidepayrates;
) Lesspaidvacationandfewern.t
ta ctu rn g" us edandwo rn p a rts fo r
ci ven rhat the w ork bei ng
.",- o 1" , d d o- f e, l rr-. o
ao,- ot r,rrr9 tA V d,d ,
oqr
6n
l
.
o
pr
r
ocl \^ ct A , dree, €nrtl
'o , |
TheA bertaLabourRelatlons
The 250 workersat this
ty the sarne,lookinq at ,
boardjustreleased
ittde'i
Fjnnng Component Re
the two contracts is
'
s on canceling CLAC!.eruf
build Centreweremem
feveaing.
catlonwth OEA4
nemanlfac
bersofthe lnternatonal
CLAC agreed to
Aqsociationof Machin
tlring becaus€ofcompany
a collective agreeists and Aerospa.e
dominationofthe process.
ment grossty infeworkers(LAM)Lodgegg
rior to the Machinln the spring of 2005,
lAMlacal99v.OEl\/l,Finning ists'(ontract.
Finning closed G com
& CLAC,
AtbertoLRB2a11.
Justovefh.lf ofthe previous
employer
pensioncontrlbutions,
A doubing ofthe probatonaryperiod;
Promotions
basedon empoyer
discretlon
ratherthansenjofity or
abiity;
ti*c rr:s*arehrtr,r#yfnunrl {i-"1-1{
iritsuseci'inei'ol;*,,1.,ir;,'{.':ii{:r:
,
,
'
Ac.eptedinvitatlons
by
eniployers
toenterinto
volLrntary
recognition
agf€ementsto
thwaftthe
ofganlzing
effortsof tradi-
Entered
intodvo untary
agreemenl
w!tnanernp oyerDercre
anyempoy
eeshavebeenhired,or
beforethe bulkofempoy
eeshavebeenhiredj
Enteredintoa vo Lrntary
agreemenrwtn
anem
ployer without obtanjng
egitimatesupportfrom
theworkers
t represenrsj
Entered
intoinferor colec
t veagreements
compared
to thoseofotherun ons
that represent
workersin
thesameindunryorwith
Pfoposed
wageratesin a
fifstcolectve agreement
thatwere51.25
perhour
essthananyemployee
n
reqLrrrementthata
mem
be6hipratiicaton votebe
heldto approvenegotiat
ed colecUveagreements;
the bargani ng uni tw as
currentl yearni ng;
C onducteda.o l ecti ve
ag reement rat ficationvote
among wofkefs beforea
w agescneoue w asnego
tlated into the colect ve
'
,
Offeredempoyers'bpen
shopor'bpens te"colec'
tiveagreements;
Permittedmanagernent
ilad no consUtutiondl
un on meetlngstodiscuss
andvoteonagfeements.
(Negotiatin9 without d FIoar:
UnianizedWarketExclusian
tramBCEmplayment
Standoftl s,I u]y2007,Canadian
Centrefot
Pa cyAltenatives
p.2324)
ir
1 2008, the govefnment
amendedthe Tfadelln on Act
{Bil 6) in favoufof empoyers
Thechangeslimlttheabl
ityofle
gitimateLrnions
to organize
ne,"v
They aso e povr'er
members.
ernpoyerstocommunlcatetheir
bpjnlons'to
empoyee9,
creating
an envronmentwhereernpoy
erdominated
Lfiofs llkeCLAC
get. hepng hafd.
BiI 6 repeaed a sectionth.t
alowed the LabourRelalions
Boafdto retuseto ordera vote
on a cerlii..tlon appication
whereempoyeeswerea ready
fepresenreo
Dya unron,anorner
changeth:rtopensthe doorlor
likeCLAC.
as5ociatlons
th,. fules
Bi 6 a so changed
so therei9fo ongera lnrit on
dre lengthof colectiveagree
ments.
cLAcsupports
thisru e
because
they Lrsea strategyof
signnqtlengthyagreernents
to
avoidhavngan open perod.
Openperodspermtworkersto
chooselegt matetrnons.CLAC
was found gu ity of th s in U,4
4E8/|BEW
124 vs.Fiestane dncl
CLAC,
AI,ETIO
LRB
2AA9.
n a letler to iG membe|s,
CLACencouf.gedwofkefqto
get involved
i1 the astprovin
ThechafgesmayalowCLAC
ca eectionand to pefsuade deputym nlsterof abourlater
po
thatthe onlyorganiN ot surp i si ngy, anti !ni on to be certlfied n $e conttrlrc
the
iticlans'
to changetle admitted
Construclion
IndustryLabour zation lother than employer .ontractofs from Alberta, in tj on ndustry(C LACcoud not
R€ationsAct (CLRA)ioct. 23, organizations) who asked c ud ng the Progressive Con- be certi ed n,:of st r uct ion! n
for Bill ao wasCI-AC.
tm(tors' Asso<iation of Can- derl he prevousl ar r 't .
2007).
He aso acknou/edged
th.t ada, vr'antand nrppoft this b
ShortlyafterBillS0passed,
When governnrent introcLAc applied for fiv€ Gertifiduced amendrnents
to the heexcudedtheblridlngtrades
C LRA(B 80), the irsslstantunionsfrornthe consLrkation
the day B l 80w asl ni roduced. (ati onsi nS aska t G hewan.
,l-, :i'". i rr
:r,i::l :;:i:1 a! il:]':
Il
CLACrecentlyopenedan ol
ice in saskatoon.They
havea Fa
cebookpagedevotedto organizingin saskatchewan,
andnotjust
ln the construct
on irdustry.
It states,lfyou arelnterested
jn havingCLACrepresent
you
ano your co worKersIn your
workpdce, whether you are
employed
in hospltalty,manu
facturing,servce,construction,
of retal, we would lketo hear
Adsin the LedderPosrand
Sfdr
Phoer/xfeature
workefs in flower
In Ontafloand8.C.,
CLACof
ganizesextensively
n heath
care,oltentargetng ongterm
care facilities.They also have
menrbefsin
9oca 9ervlces,tran9
portation,
minin9,education and
;! tl:r-i'li:i:rt
r.::, :
'!:
''CLACdoes not support or
partcipatelnanypoltlca
partes
or sociacausesl{L€drrlrgdboul
the ChristianLabaurAssadatian
of Candda,CLACSdtkat(hewan
'
CLACretently lobbied
theprovin.ial
government for a
two-tiered minimum
wage,Theyargued
youthundertheage
of2l shouldmake
otherminimum
wage
earners.
sourcei
CUC Submission
to
thesaskatchewan
AtrinimumWageBoad,
Oct.8,2a09.
CLAClobbled the
federal govelnrnent
in oppositionto Bill
C-252 anti-scab
legislrtion.
I -rr: .i
,. .
;,r'r.:,:,,ir..:.i:,:
belowthe standards
of the Employment
Standards
Act, both beforeand aftef the
n May2002,theBritishColumbia9ov- 2002chdnges.
emment mades gniicantchanqes
to the
n manyinstances,
th s hasfesulted
in
Employment
Standdrds
Act.
a oweringof wagesand workingcondiOneotthechangeswastoexempt
union tjonsbelowthe(newandowef)rninimum
zedemp oyeesfromcoreprovisions
ofthe protectlons
oftheAct,and/ordenying
secAct (if their co ectjveagreementrontajns tionsofrheifmembership
thecoreprotec'
dny dnguaqe
regarding
thoseprovislont.
Th s openedthe doorto'tmployer accom
Some examplesof clausesthat were
modatjng"unions
to negotateagreenientsfoundto be belowthe EmpoymentStan
with provislons
b€ ow the rninim!rnstan dardsAct floorincluded:overtimepay,an
nua vacationswith pay,dnd iermination
A researchstudy of these changesre- pav
(Negotiatingwithaut ct Flaor Unionized
vlewed56CLAC
co leclive
agfee.nents
and
WatkerExclusianfton BCEmploymentStan
CLACfrequentlyconcededto emp oy- dards,July 20A7,CanadianCentrefar Pa cy
ers co ectlveagreementswlth provisons
tl
Whatkindof agreements
doescLAcsign?
Hereisanexample:
Lf,T.tEN Of IXDI&STAXDIIYCiI
,rv .:dNh.!Di
l_rJ
fr t,r l l tri ri
ornorv*"*..nc.,1r"'lr.a,,{r1{_
P {JJy n hr.y
_:0or
\r L,lrDrvon(rtsj Ur\rotL(r^L
rJrRrsll\NI$ouir rssochnoN
Hereare more examplesof other clausesthat havebeen negotiatedby CtAC:
,THEBOSS
I5
AlWAYgBIEEI
n the event
vea
thatcofsu
tatonfaistofeso
matterofcontenton.$e LJnon
aqreesthat the decisiveword
resides with Managemenl,
ly.br dged,d!
un€ssspec6ca
etedor modiliedby th eAgree
the
rnent.The Unlonreserveg
fighttoreferLnresovednratt,.rs
totheGrevafce
Procedure
,WEWILLNEVER
GQON STRt(El
Durng thetern
ofthis.greement,
or whilenegotiationsforaf urtheragr6ementarebeingheld,the
Union
wi notpermltor encoLrageany
.essaton of work,strke, s owoown of .ny sroppageor worK
of other\,vse
renrct or nterfere
wlth the Employeisoperatlon
rffougnrtsmemDers.
,NEWEMPLO]fEESDO!1I
betw een the E m p oyer and
HAVETO
JOINOURUNION'
Neitherthe
Empoyernor the Union w
compe-.mpoyeesto jolnthe
to Art ,:le6.01,
Uf ion.Sublect
the Empoyerwl notdiscrim
nate agalnstany ernpoyee
becauseof llnlon member
ship or lack of it, and w
nforma new empoyeesol
the conlractuare .t onshp
B efofecommencinq wor k,
or as soon as r ealonaby
possb e after cor nm encing
w ork, new emp oyees wl
be refeffed by t he Em ployer
to a U ni on stewar dor Repr e
sentatve i n ofde r lo descr ib€
the U nl ons purposeand r ep
resentatl on pol lcies t o su. h
CLAC'SSTYLE
re(all any grievan(e being
arbitrated in a construdion
Withoutexefciringthe right industry bargaining unit
to stfike,the ightto gfieveand anywherein his25yearsj'
the rlght to arbitrate,can you
CLAC
hdsrunvefyfewstrikes
in
bafgaina fa r co lectiveagree itsentrehistory.ln
fact,EdGroomentandcanyouentorceitl
tenboeradvocat€d
thatthe proCLAC
doesn't
appeartothink vincalandfederalgovernn-rents
abolishnrikesandlockouts
and
At a hearingbeforethe Nova imposemandatory
arbltrat
on to
scota LabourReldt
onsBoard, fesovelaboLrf
disputes.
CLACsrepresentat
on was de
Graatenboer,
farmerExe(
lEd
scrlbed
in thisway: ... Uohn) utlveDitectataf CLAC,
]n Pursult
Kampholwho hds beenem of lLtstice,SaFar,SaGoad.l\4istis
p oyed by CLACas d represen sauga:Chtistian
LabourAssa.ia
tatlvetor 25 years,(ould nol
LABOUR'S
LABOUR
U N IO N
PHILOSOPHY MOVEMENT LEADERS
DEMOCRACY SP EA K
OUT
We know that without the
AGAINST
CLAC
right to nfike, colective
barWestriveto modeldemocracy
gaining becomes co lecUve by e ecting workplacestewards
begging. Without exercislng and union executives.
"The450,000workersrepre
our ight to grieveand to arbi
We learn dbout co le.tive sentedby B.c.Federation
of La
trate,how canwofkersprotect decisionmak nq, accountability boufaff latesdo not recognze
and enforcetheir gainsat the and fair electionsthrouqh our the ChfistanLabourAssocia
bargaining
tabe?
tionof Canada
asa realun on
Workers
andthe r realuniont
And we build so idafitywhen
andforgoodreasonl'
havea waysusedthe r ght to we join together in labo!f coLrn
i n Sin.lail
strike to improve the social, .ls, provincial fedefationsand
8Cfederdtionat'Laboul
economlc
and polrlcallfe of th e C a n a d i a Ln a b o u r C ongress.
Saskatchewan
and Canadian
"Ant un on empoyershave
soclety.
Asctzens,we hdveproten
a waysuseda varietyof tools
ed to expressour viewsabout
the kind of societywe want for
ourselves
andoufchildren.
our h storyis 6led wth ex
amplesof our victores: oc
cupationa heath and safety,
vacatons,s ck eave,minimum
wage, marernry reave,pen
srons,empoyment Insufancei
medicdre...the
I stgoeson.
to try to preventworkersirom
exercisinglhe r demo.fatic
r ght to unionrepresentatlon.
Oneot thesetools s th€ dum
my'union establishedwith
i he
.^..p':i ^.
iha
.n-
^f
ployerto b ockthe fofmation
ol a real union repfesenting
theworkersintefestsl'
GilM.Gawan
AlbertaFedercuan
of Labour
"We are very troubledthat
the ant LrnionSaskatchewan
govefnnrentsupportscLAc
jtl yet anotherassaut on the
unorganizedand on workers
r9hts:
7?'
ln yourworkplace
Contactthe sFLto arranqefor an anti
atyourlocalorunlon.
CLACpresentatlon
More resources are avallable at
www.lhetruthaboutcLAC,<a.
cal or
ofthlspublication,
Forbu kcopies
ernalltheSFL.
ln Saskatchewan
unions have join'"d to
Saskatchewan
qetherto argue beforethe LaboufRela
as
tionsBoardthat CLACdoesnot qLralify
based
on
lt
being
trade
union,
a legitimate
employerdominated.
notsatistthedef nl
WeargueCLACdoes
whlch
Saskatchewan,
tionoftradeunion'in
ofsocia
unionism.
a history
includes
AcrossCanada
(CLC)
has
LabourCongress
TheCanadian
Tlade Union
appljedto the International
(TUC)to have CLACsus
Confederation
ITUCis
pendedfrom ITUCmemberchip.
the wodd'slargesttradeunionfederation.
175millon workersthrough
It represents
within 155
irs 311 affiliatedorganlzatjons
countrles
andterritories,
ls
withtheSFLLabour
in conjunction
AGton the Factshasbeenproduced
ofLabour'Other
Federation
bytheSaskatchewan
Published
suesCampaign.
dnd
Education
Healrhcare
publicdtions
includeI abourRigntsrlu'ranR:ghts,
Services
& Public
CrownCorporations
or to placebulkorders,con
on anyofthesebooklets,
Toordera presentation
525-0197
Sask.' Phone:306
Regina,
13thAvenue,
tacttheSFLat220-2445
. Fax:306525-8960. Webrwww.sfl.sk'ca/labour-issues.php'
sk.ca
Email:sfl@sfl
2011/ CUPE4828
February
./J