Inside the Machine
An Interview with Hugh Finnamore
Part 1
MFD: How did it all begin for you? How did you first become involved with a union? And why?
HJF: I was driving an 18-wheeler for an IGA grocery distribution warehouse in BC. It was hard work, but pretty good pay. But it paled compared to what I saw when our Union business agent visited the warehouse. I was impressed by the fancy clothes our business agent wore and the brand new Chrysler Imperial she drove. I thought that she must make great money and all she seemed to do was drop by once in a while shake a few hands, visit with the boss and bugger off. It was sort of like those old Dire Straits lyrics, "That ain't workin', that's the way you do it; money for nothin' and..." So, when our business agent quit, I applied for her job. The union hired an experienced business agent from another local, but they advertised for candidates for the next opening. I was short listed and spent the next two years marketing myself.
When the next opening came, I was hired. First off, I was in bargaining with my former employer. I took my former workmates out on strike - the first one in their 30 years in the union. They also got their best contract in their 30-year history. We were a small local union with little extra money, so I was expected to present arbitrations, WCB appeals, employment standards appeals and labour board hearings. I had 35 collective agreements covering 44 locations that I bargained and serviced. I worked my ass off, and loved every minute of it.
The money attracted me, but the love of labour relations kept me in the job. I didn't look at myself as a trade unionist, but rather as a defender of people. I started out loaded with principles and a desire to help people.
MFD: So getting a job with a union is a lot like getting a job anywhere else. The money and the status are appealing. You market yourself and hope you get hired on. Were things like principles and desire to help people part of the hiring criteria? What qualities were the people who hired you looking for in a business agent?
HJF:Surprisingly enough, when I was hired they wanted someone who cared and who would fight for the members. I asked if I could fill a vacancy on the Executive Board before I was hired as a business agent. I was told that if I took the position, it would put me out of the running for the business agent's job because the Executive Board had the last say in who was hired. They told me right up front that to be on the Board and hired for a job with the Local would be a conflict of interest. To this day, I respect that decision. The UFCW does exactly the opposite, they hire from their boards.
The Local I started out in was small and it wasn't exactly flush with cash. The business agents did everything from organizing and bargaining to presenting arbitrations. About my fifth year as a business agent was when a lot of the mergers started and bigger was better. Politics and fancy cars overtook the importance of servicing the members. The bigger the Local the more money it had and the more numerous the trips became. That's because the smaller the union the harder it is to hide monetary transactions.
MFD: We recently posted an ALRB decision about Westfair Foods Ltd. (Loblaws), the Teamsters and the UFCW. From what we can gather, the UFCW launched an extensive campaign to get certified at the Lloydminster Superstore in the early 1990's. The campaign included some great propaganda. We understand that you were the author of most of that. Is that right?
HJF: I wrote, and worked with a Vancouver production house to produce, all the radio spots, I wrote the newspaper ads and some of the more deadly leaflets. The killer for the Teamsters was the leaflet listing headlines about the Teamsters.
MFD: Reading about that campaign, we have the sense that a great many people working in close quarters somewhere in Alberta. Were you actually there while this was going on?
HJF: I was as close a luxury room at the San Francisco Four Seasons Hotel. Actually, that's where I wrote some of the radio spots and some of the newspaper ads. I was on an International Foundation of Employee Benefits junket when the poop hit the proverbial fan. I did a lot of stuff from Vancouver after my week in San Francisco, and then I actually paid a visit to Lloydminster to hang out during some of the Labour Board hearings. The management reps from Westfair Foods weren't too happy to see me. When they did, the light went on as to who might be greasing the Teamsters slippery slide into retail oblivion.
MFD: The communications about the UFCW were very strong about the virtues of the UFCW. Did you believe what you were writing?
HJF: All is fair in love and war. This was war, and I was a mercenary on a mission. While I didn't believe the UFCW was the best of unions, I thought it was a step above the Teamsters.
Let me explain:
In BC, I was assisted by well-placed eastern Teamsters officials to set up shop to compete with the UFCW. I was given a Textile Processors local to run. I did a deal with a Loblaws subsidiary to represent some grocery store employees. This was to tide me over until the Real Canadian Superstores opened with potentially thousands of employees. Silly me, I thought that I could do better than the UFCW and make myself a cushy living at the same time. I was a bit of a boozer at the time, so my thought pattern seemed quite logical to me.
Granted, my first contract has lower start rates but higher top rates than the UFCW agreement, but the second one was moving towards meeting the UFCW when they negotiated a deal that matched my start rates. I was astounded. I had less than 250 members in three stores and the UFCW had about 15,000 in hundreds of stores, but they immediately matched my start rates. That stopped my start-rate progression in its tracks. At that point, I thought no union was worse than the UFCW.
That's when the Western Teamsters realized that I was going to get thousands of new members and bust open the UFCW's prized turf. The Teamsters started courting Loblaws, so I paid a visit to Ed Lawson and told him to back off 'cause the Superstores were mine. I told him I'd give him the Superstores if he gave me a local. He told me to piss off, so I did. I wasn't half way across his parking lot before one of his International Reps caught up with me. He said he could get a local if I was willing to cough up the Superstore employees.
We had a deal, and Teamsters Local 711 was chartered shortly thereafter. What happened next is covered in the Loblaws' Affidavit on the MFD site. When the UFCW scooped the Superstores, Cliff Evans approached me and asked me to work for the yet-to-be-chartered UFCW local that would collect dues from the yet-to-be-hired Loblaws employees. I took the job offer and big pay raise and left my members with the Teamsters who promptly undercut the rock-bottom Superstore start rates by one dollar per hour. They also opened up the duties a departmental assistant could perform - essentially undercutting a Superstore clerks start rate by anywhere up to three or four dollars per hour. As well, the buggers left me personally liable for a huge loan that had to be repaid to one of my Eastern Teamsters Pals.
I guess that's a lot of words just to say, comparatively, I thought the UFCW was better than the Teamsters, and I was hell bent on making sure the Teamsters didn't get a foot-hold in the food business.
MFD: You described yourself as a mercenary but a lot of what you're saying suggests you were trying to get the workers a better deal - or protect them from a worse one. Is that right? When and how did they start to matter to you?
HJF: I wasn't a mercenary out to take care of myself at the expense of working people. I was a mercenary in the sense that I had no allegiance to any one union organization. If the Teamsters had offered me more money to stay and kick the UFCW's ass, I would have stayed with the Teamsters. If the CAW offered me big bucks to take on the Teamsters and the UFCW I would have taken that job. I was good at labour relations and combat strategies. When I was with the Textile Processors, I ran circles around the UFCW reps. When I was with the UFCW I helped kick the Teamsters' butt when they tried to break into the grocery business.
I was a mercenary, but a naïve one. I knew how to cut a deal, and I knew the big wigs cut deals too, but I had no idea how low they would go to cut a deal. I was astounded at the deals that were cut. I argued against them, and when they blew up, I had to fix the mess that they caused. I was astounded that I wasn't allowed to do anything to upset the employers.
I'm the easy target for the UFCW to blame on the mess the retail food sector is in, but in reality all as I did was set up camp on the UFCW's turf. And what has resulted today is an example of how far the UFCW was prepared to go to keep a monopoly on "representing" retail food workers.
MFD: How about the other UFCW people who worked on the Westfair campaign? Did they believe?
HJF: They believed because they didn't know any better. They didn't have a clue that the Teamsters were doing exactly the same thing the UFCW did. They didn't understand the concept of "top-down" organizing. That is where a union approaches management with a deal in return for easy access to the employer's workforce.
Union manuals don't have instructions for and union workshops don't give directions on how to approach management to barter for members. Such activity is unthinkable to the average member of the Power Source. Union activists are taught that you would no more sleep with an employer than make love to a crocodile. You're taught that there'd be a heck of a lot of action, and then you'd be gone.
MFD: Do most union staff reps believe that the union is inherently good? Does that change over time?
HJF: For the first part of the question, see the previous answer. Most union reps start out as union activists. However, few union reps are elected. The President hires them. To get hired, you must engage in "group-think". In effect, group-think turns members of a group into believers and followers of rituals. They believe the group is right and others are wrong. It reduces communication from the group to outsiders.
In answer to the second part of the question, I'd say that that most business reps get hooked on the union, so even if they see corruption they slip into a state of denial because they need the union to live. It is like asking a heroin addict if heroin is bad. He or she may despise it, but they think they will die without it, so they do whatever they have to in order to maintain its availability.
MFD: In the Westfair case, the UFCW trashed the Teamsters for doing a voluntary recognition deal even though at that time they'd done some similar deals themselves and have continued to do them up to the present. How is it that it's OK for us to do them but not for the other guys? What kind of mental gymnastics do the staff reps go through to rationalize their own union's activities?
HJF: Many of the reps think that the union is certified to represent employees rather than the union operating under a voluntary recognition agreement. The average rep is nothing more than a glorified shop steward. Generally speaking, the average UFCW rep couldn't handle even a simple arbitration or WCB appeal. They don't have any expertise in bargaining contracts either. Some may be allowed to demand a "me too" contract from an employer, but in those cases there's no bargaining, just a demand to match. The best ones know a bit about the CA and what arbitrators think on various issues, but they aren't really labour relations practitioners.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the talent isn't out there; I'm saying that UFCW doesn't tend to develop their staff reps as well as they should. The reason being is that an inept rep is less of a political threat to the local's bosses. That's where union reps aren't supposed to think for themselves, they are supposed to think what they are told to think.
I guess the simple answer is that the average union rep isn't allowed to see the big picture, so he or she wouldn't be able to figure which pieces of the puzzle are out of place or in some cases missing. There isn't a lot of mental gymnastics going on. If a rep gets caught thinking too much, he or she could get a one-way ticket back to the shop floor.
MFD: Is anything done to develop the talent at all? We hear the mainstream unions talking a good game about training and education but what's the real story about that? What kind training and education do union staffers get?
HJF: There's no incentive to train union staffers. There's basically one rate of pay, so you don't get paid any more for being better educated. In fact, the more you know the scarier you are to some of the cretins who run some of the unions. They aren't exactly Rhodes Scholars. In their limited logic, education equals ambition. They do not like ambition. In fact, they are terrified of ambition. As well, hard work also is a sign of ambition. If you want to get ahead, never work hard.
I believe the basic union tenet goes something like this, "We'll let you know if we think you need to know, but until then carry on as if you did know." The fear is that if a staffer knows too much, he or she will impress the "Power Source" and one who impresses the Power Source gathers a following and a "power base." One who has the biggest power base can unseat the incumbent elite. The elite's rule #1 is never let a staffer accumulate a power base.
Some unions' attempts at education programs are nothing better than scams to get money out of government agencies. They buy or lease some computers from an associate and then offer stupid classes that most Grade 5s already have. Education is really a day or two party for shop stewards and other favourites. Give them a paid day away from work, some spending money and a couple of free meals and they go back and tell everyone the union president is a swell guy. Most is razzle dazzle and very little if any substance.
MFD: What we've heard about these conventions as well as your comments about being a mercenary, being at war, excessive drinking, that sort of thing, suggest a fast-living, high-flying macho culture inside the union. What can you tell us about that?
HJF: For the most part, unions are steeped in male culture. With few exceptions, even the women who rise to lofty positions within unions are molded to the male culture. That's because men have always been the gatekeepers of the elevator to the power suite. If you can't pass yourself off as "fitting" into the male culture, you usually aren't let on the elevator, and if a woman was to force her way on she is usually let off a few floors short of the top floor. Then the men make sure the elevator never stops at her floor again.
As for high flying, the old recruiting jingle, "there's no life like it," is very appropriate. For the highest level there are numerous meetings at posh resorts. They big wigs invite specially-chosen local union presidents to sit on frivolous committees so they can tag along on the "special" bashes, like the International's annual Florida junket. The International set up an ergonomic committee, fondly known as the "cashier's stool committee." Selected presidents chosen for that committee would get to hang out with the big shots in Florida presumably to study the best ergonomic stool for cashiers to sit on. I don't know for how many years they continued to study stools.
I know one local president who went to the Florida shindig and dropped $15,000 for the week. You see, the guys who go like to impress each other, so they take everybody out for dinner. They stay at an enormously expensive resort and rent enormously expensive cars. I don't know how he did it, but even by his high-flying standards he was a bit worried about how he would get the expenditures past the secretary treasurer.
As well, to give decision making a semblance of democracy, the UFCW holds numerous meetings every year. For the most part, presidents hand pick their entourage who get a free trip in exchange for voting as they are told. Even CLC conventions are well orchestrated. The hand-picked "delegates" are paraded into a room and told which way they will vote on which issue. Most don't really give a hoot because it's an all-expense paid holiday and party. The only understanding is that the "delegates" must attend the meetings and they must vote as they are told and they must never get up to a microphone to speak unless they are told what to say and when to say it - unless, of course, it is to say something in support of what they've been told to vote for.
MFD: It sounds like it's hard to leave once you're inside. Do many union reps get out? Where do they go?
HJF: One day you're a virtual nobody, and then the union invites you in and then you're a somebody. The average dope has a Grade 10 education and all of a sudden has employment with better pay and benefits than somebody with five years of university. Seemingly overnight, the chump is a big shot! If you're chosen to win the union lottery, you get to travel, you get a new fancy car every couple of years.
That generalization may seem a bit harsh, but in many cases, it's an accurate account. However, there are some really bright stars that are hired, but by the time they see what a corrupt bunch they are working with, they have two choices: Stay and soak up the gravy or go back from whence they came. The latter isn't an option for the average union retainer. He or she has bought a house and is living from paycheck to huge paycheck. They can't get anything comparable because they don't have the education or experience. They are caught by golden handcuffs and leg irons supplied and fitted by the union.
That's what stymied the machine heads about me. I planned my escape. I came to them with a ton of labour relations experience and got an education on their time. I was able to bide my time and make myself marketable for the day I would escape.
The rest of the staff thought I was nuts to take on the machine by demanding accountability and by launching a couple of lawsuits against them. They were astounded that I could do all this stuff and still not be fired. I knew I was going to get fired, but I didn't care. I was going to see some of the corruption stopped. Unfortunately that wasn't the case. The membership watched me fight the machine and put my house on the line by fighting them, but they weren't about to do anything that would support me.
So, I folded my tent, and stepped into the real world and took a deep breath of clean air. To this day, it drives the machine heads nuts that I'm doing better now than when I was with them. They just can't understand it. They can't understand why I wasn't ruined for the real world by their corrupt welfare machine. They just can't understand why I don't need them.
MFD: What do you think will bring about union reform? What do union members need to do?
HJF: They need to understand the power they possess. They possess it, but they can't save it. They must use it or it goes to the corrupt and despotic by default. It's sort of like "use it or lose it," but with the saving that the power is not static. It is a stream of power. The stream flows from the "Power Source" and the power source is the membership. They can direct the stream for their own purpose whenever the notion hits them. It can never be taken away from them but it can be used against them. And the power of other members can be used against them too, so that it may be somewhat hard to exercise the power, but it's not impossible.
The Power Source needs to be educated. They need to be taught about how it is their own power that is being used against them rather than solely the power "corporate agenda" or "big business" or "world markets."
The individual member of the Power Source needs to understand that she or he is important in bringing about change. There's an old adage about how much snow does it take to snap the branch of a tree? The answer is one single snowflake. It's that last snowflake, the one that adds the final touch at the exact moment when the branch gives way to the weight. The individual member must always think of him or herself as the one that tips the scales for justice. She or he must harbour the thought that the job won't get done without him or her. One vote or one voice is all that stands between victory and defeat.
The Power Source must defeat the system that allows and promotes the corruption that exists in today's Labour Unions. They must realize that it is the system that corrupts. It's a system that breeds the human love of power. Some of the better unions have set terms for principal officers. They can't hold on to power. They must return to the shop floor and live as a worker, with the workers. There can be no elite amongst the elected officers. They must work in a system that forces them to compare themselves with the Power Source rather than the titans of business. They must compare themselves to the clerk on the shop floor rather than the president of the company.
I believe if the Power Source becomes aware of how their union is actually run and if the Power Source really wants a change in how their union is run, such change will happen. I think the change has started. It's picking up momentum.