Spoof Unions
Are our unions for real or are they a spoof? As workers and members we need to ask this question and others. Are Canadian unions that much different from their business-unionist American counterparts? Are our unions really just hierarchical self serving business organizations disguised as our representatives?
In Canada, unions have a great deal of freedom. There are few laws regulating union behavior, no laws protecting union members against abuses from union leaders and pitifully few requirements for financial accountability compared to what is required of unions in the US. The upshot of this is that, in Canada, union leaders - rather than union members - have been able to shape and define what unions are all about. And they've shaped them into top-down leader-driven outfits where major decisions are made by tightly knit cabals of insiders and put to the members for approval - which is expected and usually obtained.
Does that make Canadian union members worse off than union members in the US? Not a chance. A lot of ink has been spilled comparing and contrasting the effectiveness of unions on either side of the Canada-US border. Most of it is pretty meaningless. Union members on both sides of the border are hurting and have been for a long time. A lot of time and effort has been devoted by their leaders to keep them from seeing the truth.
North American unions are no longer really unions. They are, in some instances, businesses that support the profitability of the corporation whose workers they represent. In other instances, they are more like private clubs that further the personal and professional goals of their leaders and their hangers-on.
Many union reformers believe that one of the central motivations behind unions-as-we-know-them is the collection of dues which provide the revenue that is needed to fund the "business" or the private club. Many also believe that the persistent emphasis on organizing new members (rather than providing good representation for existing members) is the result of the leaders' desire to grow their business or, in some cases, for self-preservation.
Are the business unions' goals as simple as that? Preservation of existing power structures or the care and feeding of cultish (in an alarming number of cases - nepotistic) institutions? There seems to be an abundance of evidence that suggests that this is so.
If that's the case, is it right? Is it sufficient that unions - as defined in our legislation and not by their leaders - behave like businesses? Can a union make its primary goal bringing in revenue to keep the business/union afloat? This does not seem consistent with the definition of a union - an association of employees who come together with the shared goal of improving their working conditions and having a voice at their place of employment". What if "generating revenue for the advancement of the interests of the leaders" isn't a shared goal among the members? What then? It would seem that the organization would no longer fit the definition of "a union". The members should no longer have to belong to it and it should no longer have the authority to act as their representative.
But how are members ever to know what their unions' priorities are with the cult of secrecy that pervades most unions-as-we-know-them? Even Canadian unions like CUPE that spout about openness and democracy are really secretive especially when it comes to financial records. Just ask any CUPE Local that has asked to see CUPE National's books.
Why the great secrecy about financial records, wages of national representatives and other paid union officials? What do they have to hide from members if they are in fact open and honest? Why should they be able to hide anything from the members if the union is "an association of employees"? What is there to hide? Motives? Priorities? Reality? Are unions, on either side of the border, just a spoof?
"To spoof" in its generic sense means to parody, to do a satire or take-off of something. Spoofing, when used in relation to the Internet refers to a method used for misleading a computer system into believing that you are not who you say you are. Spoofing has also been defined as deception for the purpose of gaining access to someone else's resources.
Can we go as far as generalizing that spoofing is a generic term for unions misleading workers into believing that unions are something that they really are not in order to get a part of the workers' paychecks?
We think that we can. That's pretty rotten when you think about it. So is the way in which the leaders keep the members from figuring it out.
Members do have a responsibility to think for themselves so why do they blindly follow, believing everything they are told by their union leaders? Because when members do decide to think for themselves they are frequently vilified and bullied by their leaders or the leaders' trusty machine heads in ways that would make any cult leader proud.
What's a Machine Head?
Typical machine head spewing includes the admonishment of members to quit criticizing unions, their leaders and their lackeys. Instead of criticizing the leaders, members should work harder to make the leaders greater.
A recent article, Confessions of an Ex-Union Man, in Frontpagemag.com describes an insider's perspective on life with the leader that many reformers are familiar with. It's a scene that's also familiar to union representatives who started out with good intentions but came to question their union's values, principles and actions.
The experiences of this ex-organizer turned him away from unions to the dark side. Call him a traitor if you like, but he's just busy propping up the corporatist socio-economic model just like legions of so-called labour leaders.
So many secrets, so little time. Again we must ask, "why?" Why is so much effort expended by union leaders to keep the members in the dark? The more that we understand it, the sooner we can liberate ourselves from it. Are the efforts to keep us blind to reality deliberate or accidental? Is the disillusionment of workers planned or coincidental? Do our unions exist for our good or the good of the leaders? Are our unions for real or are they a spoof?
It should be the moral responsibility of every union member to break their expected silence and let their voices be heard. We must all encourage and promote dissent and openness within our unions for the betterment of all workers. We must not willingly and blindly cling to the status quo. We must ask questions and be willing to demand the answers despite the admonishments of our union leaders.