For Immediate Release — October 22nd, 2019

OTTAWA — Unionized staff of the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) who have been on strike for more than a week continue to call on the Management of the CLC to return to the bargaining table and negotiate a a fair deal with the staff and their union (IAMAW Local Lodge 3111 CULR).

Members of IAMAW Local Lodge 3111 CULR (the Canadian Union of Labour Representatives) represent the majority of staff at the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) in offices across Canada. Unionized staff of the CLC have been on strike for more than week, after rejecting a “final offer” from the employer and giving a 92.5% strike mandate to their Bargaining Committee.

Remaining issues in dispute are the text of a workplace anti-harassment policy in which the employer is demanding concessions, pension issues and the desire by the striking staff to have modest inflationary wage improvements.

Members of IAMAW Local Lodge 3111 CULR who are on strike at the Canadian Labour Congress are fighting for recognition that:

• Every union member deserves to have fair language embedded within their Collective Agreement to appropriately enshrine the rights of complainants/survivors in cases in which they have been subjected to harassment in the workplace.
• Every union member deserves to have a fair pension plan, so they can retire with dignity.
• Every union member deserves fair wages, to keep up with the cost of living.

The Collective Agreement between the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) and their unionized staff, represented by IAMAW Local Lodge 3111 CULR, expired on July 1st 2017, and bargaining has been underway for more than two years, unsuccessfully, in an effort to obtain a fair negotiated collective agreement. Formal conciliation discussions began in late August, but were cut short when the employer tabled a “final offer”. Formal mediation between both parties took place on October 8th, but the parties were unable to resolve the outstanding issues.

For the past two weeks, the union has offered the employer (CLC Management) the opportunity to refer all outstanding issues in dispute to binding arbitration, allowing a neutral third-party arbitrator to hear arguments and issues presented by both sides and allowing the arbitrator to make a determination on each issue. That offer of binding arbitration was rejected by the employer in advance of the ongoing strike.

Members of IAMAW Local Lodge 3111 CULR began strike action at the Canadian Labour Congress in the early morning of Tuesday October 15th.

“This strike is a last resort after nearly two years of bargaining with our employer have been stalled out without an agreement, and the union’s offer of binding arbitration was rejected,” says Tony Tracy, President IAMAW Local Lodge 3111 CULR. “The irony is that the Canadian Labour Congress advocates for workers every day, and our members jobs when they are not on strike are to advocate on behalf of workers in various ways. The staff of the Canadian Labour Congress deserve to be treated with the same level of fairness and respect by their own employer. Our union is asking the employer, the Management of the Canadian Labour Congress, to return to the bargaining table and negotiate in good faith towards a fair settlement to end this strike.”

The union has launched a petition / public letter to CLC President Hassan Yussuff and CLC Officers and Management, which can be found online at IAMAW3111.ca.

To learn more about the ongoing Canadian Labour Congress strike, please visit http://IAMAW3111.ca and/or the union’s social media accounts at http://Facebook.com/IAMAW3111 and http://twitter.com/IAMAW3111.

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A lot of people don’t realize that unions that represent workers in interactions with employers are also employers themselves. The union’s leaders are members of the union and are elected by the other members – but most unions, especially larger national or international unions and labour federations, also have administrative, executive, and staff employees. These employees keep the union running day to day, and might have special expertise, like researching or negotiating, that the union can use during its organizing campaigns or collective bargaining.

What a lot of people also don’t realize is that employees of unions are often unionized themselves. The employees don’t belong to the same union that they work for – that would be a conflict of interest. So they are members of a different union, usually one that includes workers in similar occupations. As an example, the employees of the union I belong to, at a provincially-funded university, are members of a local of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, a national union that represents many public sector workers.

A union’s employees being unionized also means that, like any other group of unionized workers, they negotiate with their employer for a collective agreement. And that is where things can get kind of tricky. A union is accountable to its members, whose union dues are the union’s main source of revenue, and members expect their union to be financially responsible and to operate efficiently and effectively. But unions are also supposed to be progressive organizations that support better workplace conditions and fair treatment for all workers.

So it looks embarrassing for a union if contract negotiations with its own workers break down, and those workers decide to go on strike. And right now, 46 of the unionized workers at the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), Canada’s largest national federation of unions, are on strike. These workers are members of the Canadian Union of Labour Representatives, which is affiliated with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW).

I don’t have any special insight on the dynamics of this bargaining dispute, or on what internal conflicts might be influencing it. CLC president Hassan Yusseff claims that after mediation, the union walked away from a “fair and decent offer” that members of the other union representing CLC workers had already agreed to. Apparently the disputed issues between this union and the CLC include the amount of pension contributions and the structure of an anti-harassment workplace policy.

The CLC has a special status as “the national voice of Canada’s labour movement”. Therefore, its operations should set an example for the thousands of unions and labour councils under its umbrella. It’s unfortunate that negotiations broke down between the CLC and this group employees, and it’s unfortunate that those employees felt that going on strike was their best option. Trust me, going on strike is not fun, and union members usually think very seriously before agreeing to a strike. There’s no way of knowing how long a strike could last, or how much the strike might hurt the workers financially in lost wages.

The CLC has a responsibility to treat its employees fairly, as does any employer, and its operations need to be financially sustainable. But as the organization that represents Canada’s labour movement nationally and internationally, the CLC also has a moral and ethical responsibility to demonstrate progressive and collaborative labour relations – to use an old cliché, to talk the talk and walk the walk. I sincerely hope that this dispute will be resolved quickly and amicably.

Originally published on Dr. Fiona McQuarrie’s All About Work, an always interesting Canadian blog about current events and issues in the world of work and organizations. Used by permission.

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Staff of Canadian Labour Congress Reject Employer Offer

CLC EMPLOYEES TO STRIKE TUESDAY MORNING

OTTAWA — After nearly two years of ongoing negotiations with their employer following the expiry of their Collective Agreement on June 30th 2017, members of the Canadian Union of Labour Representatives (IAMAW Local Lodge 3111 CULR), which represents the majority of staff at the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) in offices from British Columbia to Newfoundland and Labrador, have overwhelmingly rejected the most recent offer from the employer and will begin strike action at all offices of the Canadian Labour Congress at 12:01am on Tuesday October 15th.

The primary outstanding issues of importance to IAMAW Local Lodge 3111 CULR members are the employer’s desire to unilaterally impose a significant non-monetary concession on language of an Anti-Harassment Policy within the existing Collective Agreement, as well as terms of the employee’s defined benefit pension plan and modest wage improvements to keep pace with inflation.

The employer has tabled language to eradicate a provision within the Anti-Harassment Policy which ensures that a complainant/survivor in a harassment issue has meaningful and effective determination on whether a harassment complaint is referred to an outside third party for investigation.

Staff at the Canadian Labour Congress have suffered since 2011 substantial erosions and reductions in the terms of the pension plan to which both employees and the employer jointly contribute.

“Since 2011, workers at the CLC have suffered significant reductions in the accrual rate of the pension plan, have been forced to contribute nine weeks of deferred salary / severance into the plan since that time, have increased employees payroll contribution rate by nearly 30%, and have a ‘cap’ on their pensionable earnings that falls far below the actual earnings of the majority of the staff”, said IAMAW Special Representative Neil Giroux.

“Every day, the CLC staff work hard towards gaining fairness, respect and dignity for both unionized and non-union workers across Canada”, says IAMAW District 78 Business Representative Jim Snider. “They deserve to be treated with the same level of fairness and respect for which they advocate each day for all workers as part of their jobs. This strike is resolvable, and the members and their Bargaining Committee are asking the employer to come back to the table to settle outstanding issues in good faith.”

The post Press release: Staff of Canadian Labour Congress reject employer offer, CLC employees to strike Tuesday morning appeared first on Nova Scotia Advocate.

All of it is collected by tireless local activist Lynn Jones, whose boxes and trunks of stuff recently found a permanent  home at the St. Mary’s University archives.

Jones started her collection in the sixties when she was eight years old. She has been clipping newspapers and storing away other documentation ever since.

Her union work, her anti-racism work, her fight against racism within the union, her fight to stop the government from closing the employment office on Gottingen Street, her contribution as a Canadian election observer in South Africa when Nelson Mandela was elected in 1994, it’s all reflected in the collection, and there is much more.

Giving up the eighteen boxes wasn’t easy, Jones says.

“It’s like birthing. I had it for so long , my whole life, all these years and now they are leaving me. I carried these boxes and trunks through rain, sleet, hail, to every apartment and house that I ever owned,” says Jones. “And it had to have a special spot, I didn’t want to put it in a damp basement. Even as  young girl I was conscious of that.”

The early days

I especially liked going through a box from Jones’ early days. It’s fun to meet this young girl curious about the world, and see that curiosity expand over time. There are newspaper clippings about Jones’ musical and athletic accomplishments (she competed in the Canada Games), and obituaries (a recurring theme throughout the collection), but also, as Lynn grows older, an increasing amount of political stories, as well as articles documenting accomplishments of often famous Black people.

Click to view slideshow.

Her scrapbooks were popular, says Jones. “When I was young people would come over and I would always show them my scrapbooks. A lot of people would be fascinated, but sometimes a clipping would affect their families, terrible things. I wouldn’t want them to be hurt by it , so I would tear it out quickly,”

Politics and labour activism

Much of Jones’ activism has been within unions. Jones became active in her Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) local, and from there she moved onto the provincial and national stage.

In Nova Scotia Jones helped organize the first PSAC conference on anti-racism in Canada. In 1992 she became the first woman of colour to serve as a vice president in the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), where she continued her human rights and anti-racism activism.

Click to view slideshow.

The occupation of the Canada Employment Centre on Gottingen Street

When a downsizing federal government announced the closure of the small Canada Employment Centre in the impoverished North End of Halifax in 1996, Jones became one of the leaders of a 122 day long occupation.

Click to view slideshow.

When I interviewed Jones last summer this is what she had to say about the occupation.

“The community was very active at that time. We had a group of people who were protesting everything. There was a small core group,  a person from CUPW, somebody from the library, people from the arts community. If somebody noticed that something was going down, you just made a call and we all arrived with our placards. We used to call ourselves rent a demo.

“There were cutbacks happening with employment offices across the country. We said let’s get together. We met at a tavern, it was about maybe six of us. Sitting around having a beer. We said what are we going to do? Somebody said let’s occupy. And we said, what? Six of us?

“Each of us was to go back into our communities, in secret, to find out if people were interested. We quickly determined that people said yes let’s do it. I don’t think anybody refused.

“The union became critical. The occupation would never have lasted that long without that union And I don’t know how many unions would have done what PSAC did. Mind you, they didn’t do it because they were so devoted to this poor and culturally diverse community. They did it because key people with power in the union movement told them to do it.

“There was a lot of racism among unions. Had it been a different issue, other unions would have been right in, doing marches and what not.  I naively assumed that the Federation of Labour here would organize a march or a demo, but it never did. But I know how unions bus people in, and how they have money, if only they want to.

“We had a huge demo in Parade Square (at Halifax City Hall), and again I thought, oh the unions will bring their members in by the busload, this is such an important issue. I was wrong again. Bob White (at that time president of the Canadian Labour Congress) came, but local unions didn’t do their job. Yet we had backing from every newspaper, every tv outlet in town.”

Reparations

Her papers may have found a permanent home in the Lynn Jones African-Canadian & Diaspora Heritage Collection, that doesn’t mean Jones has any plans to slow down, let alone retire from activism.

Over the last few years Jones has turned much of her focus on the notion of reparatory justice for African people in Nova Scotia, joining an international call for reparations for historical harms originating from slave trade- related activities.

“I see reparations as very important, and this documentation can really support that. I have been telling organizations to start documenting where reparations would come in. I don’t know myself, we have to figure it out collectively,” Jones says.

Jones is the Chair of the Nova Scotia Chapter of the Global Afrikan Congress, a group that in February organized a well-attended community meeting at the Halifax North Memorial Public Library to introduce the idea or reparation and to begin to flesh out what it could look like.  A report, as well as more meetings, and not just in Halifax, will follow, she says.

The formal launch of the Lynn Jones African-Canadian & Diaspora Heritage Collection is scheduled for this Thursday April 13, at 6:30 PM at the North End Memorial Public Library. Everybody is invited!  

If you can, please support the Nova Scotia Advocate so that it can continue to cover issues such as poverty, racism, exclusion, workers’ rights and the environment in Nova Scotia. A pay wall is not an option, since it would exclude many readers who don’t have any disposable income at all. We rely entirely on one-time donations and a group of 25 or so dedicated monthly sustainers.

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KJIPUKTUK (Halifax) – Lynn Jones has been fighting injustice in Nova Scotia for a long time. As an African Nova Scotian living in Nova Scotia, a province with its share of racism, and with fearless civil rights activist Burnley ‘Rocky’ Jones’ as an older brother and role model, it is hard to see how it could have been otherwise.

Much of her activism has been within unions. Jones became active in her Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) local, and from there she moved onto the provincial and national stage.

In Nova Scotia Jones helped organize the first PSAC conference on anti-racism in Canada. In 1992 she became the first woman of colour to serve as a vice president in the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), where she continued her human rights and anti-racism activism.

It all started in 1979, when as a young Black woman Jones started a new job at the local Canada Employment Centre in Dartmouth. It was a temporary position, and Jones told herself not to rock the boat. “I wanted to become a permanent employee, and I knew that If I started anything that might not happen,” she says.

That resolution didn’t last long.

On the need to  speak up

I noticed how my co-worker did not refer people from East and North Preston (two African Nova Scotian communities) for job interviews, no matter who well qualified they were.

I remember thinking, I don’t care if I ever get this job, I can’t see this injustice continue. It was so bad that the manager called us both into the office. The manager addressed it, but not by making that person refer the people from Preston. Rather, I was given my own quota to refer someone from the Preston area.

So I did. To be honest, if I didn’t have people from Preston to refer, and Black people from elsewhere would come to me, I’d tell them “well, you’re from Preston now.”

But I thought, this still is not justice because my colleague never had to change his ways.  It was about how this community was being marginalized. The union didn’t involve itself. They didn’t see it, they thought everything was fair.

On joining the union

Part of that had to do with my brother Rocky (Burnley “Rocky” Jones). His workplaces weren’t unionized. He was so excited when I became part of a unionized workplace. He said, oh you’re so fortunate, you’ll be in a union, and I didn’t even have a clue what that meant.

I was only a term employee, but I could see things in the workplace that weren’t right and I wondered why people took this lying down, and never said anything. When I wandered into the union meeting, I was amazed to discover that people were resisting. That was an eye opener. Oh my goodness, these people see what I see.

On encountering racism in her Local and becoming president

Meanwhile the local was ready to go into receivership, because there was nobody to hold office. Me and another young Black woman stepped up, just to keep the Local going.  I decided to run for secretary. I just wanted to help out.

But then the Local executive decided they weren’t ready for a Black person in a leadership position, and that they would hold their positions after all. I was so upset that I decided to run for president. I asked all the people in the office who didn’t usually attend meetings to come out. I won the presidency, and the other Black woman became shop steward.

On leveraging union infrastructure

Once I became president my first task was to get trained. I couldn’t believe all the training that was available.  If the community had the kind of training opportunities that the union offered I know we would have had a totally different community in terms of getting changes, understanding your rights and all of that.

I felt that the union had  a responsibility to the community. The largest organization here in the African Nova Scotian community was the African United Baptist Association. The Association was trying to define terms of reference for their different committees. The union does that all the time. So we provided the funding to go to a wonderful training facility for a weekend and the union helped with the facilitation. We often did that kind of thing.

On the 122-day occupation of the Canada Employment Centre in the Halifax North End

When a downsizing federal government announced the closure of the small Canada Employment Centre in the impoverished North End of Halifax in 1996, Jones became one of the leaders of a 122 day long occupation.

The community was very active at that time. We had a group of people who were protesting everything. There was a small core group,  a person from CUPW, somebody from the library, people from the arts community. If somebody noticed that something was going down, you just made a call and we all arrived with our placards. We used to call ourselves rent a demo.

There were cutbacks happening with employment offices across the country. We said let’s get together. We met at a tavern, it was about maybe six of us. Sitting around having a beer. We said what are we going to do? Somebody said let’s occupy. And we said, what? Six of us?

Each of us was to go back into our communities, in secret, to find out if people were interested. We quickly determined that people said yes let’s do it. I don’t think anybody refused.

The union became critical. The occupation would never have lasted that long without that union And I don’t know how many unions would have done what PSAC did. Mind you, they didn’t do it because they were so devoted to this poor and culturally diverse community. They did it because key people with power in the union movement told them to do it.

PSAC put in  a lot of funds to keep that occupation going. It was their membership working in the building, and they had a bigger battle going with the government.

There was a lot of racism among unions. Had it been a different issue, other unions would have been right in, doing marches and what not.  I naively assumed that the Federation of Labour here would organize a march or a demo, but it never did. But I know how unions bus people in, and how they have money, if only they want to.

We had a huge demo in Parade Square (at Halifax City Hall), and again I thought, oh the unions will bring their members in by the busload, this is such an important issue. I was wrong again. Bob White (at that time president of the Canadian Labour Congress) came, but local unions didn’t do their job. Yet we had backing from every newspaper, every tv outlet in town.

Staff loved the occupation, they were solid. Some actively participated. But I was the leader, I was on the news, at the press conferences.

Towards the end, unbeknownst to the government, we’d had enough. We were trying to figure out how to get out of this. It was time to close her down. And just when we were having those conversations the regional director called, she wanted to make a deal. But she wouldn’t talk to me.

Part of the deal was that I wouldn’t attend the signing of the agreement. It took me two seconds to say  that I am not going through 133 days and not be there on the last day. I didn’t care about my job anymore. There comes a point that you stand up for your rights and your community, you don’t care anymore. .I had full confidence that the community would protect me, and it did.

On mobilizing

Are things getting better? I don’t think in those terms, I am more interested in what is changing and what isn’t, and how much is on the agenda that’s not being dealt with. I don’t really know what’s going on inside unions anymore, but from where I stand I don’t hear their voices on these issues,and I don’t see them.

But I do see individual union members, and organizations such as Solidarity Halifax, and the environmental justice groups. I am so pleasantly surprised by many young people, oh my goodness, they can really mobilize.

In my mind it doesn’t take a whole lot to organize people in the workplace. When I would mobilize people. I didn’t start from my perspective, I asked, what is troubling you? What is on your mind?

At one time staff in my office was upset because the manager was putting people in higher level positions without competition, just because they were his friends. I called a meeting after work. We didn’t even call it a union meeting. We put all their concerns on a flipchart, and took each one to management.

But management wasn’t taking our complaints seriously. So we decided to all wear black armbands, and we went on a work slowdown, not even as a union, just on our own. The office went crazy. Eventually they turfed the manager out.

The same principle applies to mobilizing communities. In the Halifax North End inevitably the people’s number one concern is jobs, meaningful, well paying jobs. But to this day, there is not one organization that worries about jobs here in the North End.

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