Members for Democracy Archive

MFD Weekend: Watt the Hell?

A couple of weeks ago UFCW Canada did something so breathtakingly stupid that the whole lot of us over here at MFD have been ROTFLOAO ever since. Actually, what the UFCW did wasn't funny at all: They served their former employee, HJ Finnamore, with notice that they are taking him to court in an attempt to have him banned from talking about them - forever.

It's how they're going about it that's got us busting a gut. Attached to the official paperwork that Finnamore received was an affidavit of David W. Watts, Executive Assistant to UFCW Canada Director Mike Fraser. Given the sanctimoniousness of Mr. Watts' affidavit, the magnitude of the restrictions the UFCW is seeking to put on Finnamore and some blatantly wrong assumptions upon which they're relying, we just had to share.

In support of its request for a permanent, lifelong muzzle on Finnamore, the UFCW is relying on a mutual "no tell" agreement they made with him after they booted him out of the fold in 1995. If enforced to the letter, the no-tell agreement would prohibit Finnamore from ever speaking about the UFCW or any other union or from doing labour relations work for the rest of his life and then some.

In his reply Finnamore tells the court that the agreement is unenforceable. The courts themselves have said that agreements of this kind that are too broad or that are not time-limited are just not on. Then there's an email that UFCW Canada Director Michael Fraser sent to Finnamore in 2001 telling him that the no-tell deal is off. Fraser must have neglected to tell Watts about that. Oh well, details, details…

But that's not what got us guffawing. In his affidavit, Watts cites dozens of examples of communications which he states he believes were made by Finnamore. Watts bring these forward as evidence of Finnamore's violations of the long expired no-tell agreement. Included are opinion pieces Finnamore wrote for various media publications over the past four years, a radio interview he gave in 2001 and emails he sent to the Alberta Pension Commission. Watts also cites various articles and forum posts that have appeared on this web site, attributing them all to Finnamore - including a number of posts made by MFD contributors siggyand about unions.

Watts does not state why he believes that all of these articles and posts were authored by Finnamore, he just says, he believes. Well, David Watts has made an Executive Ass of himself big time. So much so, in fact, that he's earned himself the nickname "15-Watts".

In his reply, Finnamore acknowledges those articles and forum posts that he has written. He denies however, having written the whole lot and there's a good reason for that: He hasn't!

Any dyed-in-the-wool UFC-dubya leader (or Executive Ass thereof) knows that MFD forum contributor siggy is none other than the indomitable Sharyn Sigurdur, founding member of the MFD site, member in good standing of UFCW Local 1518, currently a candidate in the election for her Local's executive, a defendant in yet another UFCW lawsuit. Siggy is definitely not Hugh Finnamore. I can attest to that myself.

Assuming that Mr. Watts went over the MFD site with a fine-toothed comb looking for stuff that just had to be written by Finnamore, he would have noticed that MFD contributor about unions sheds enough light on his own identity to persuade even the most suspicious Executive Ass that he is not now nor has he ever been HJ Finnamore.

Then Watts presents (at #40 of his affidavit) a long list of articles which he "verily believes" are also Finnamore's work. The first one, History of Company Warehouses was written by MFD Contributor Darryl Gehlen. His name appears on the "by line" of the original post of that article. So…it's pretty unlikely that Finnamore wrote that one.

The rest of the articles are - mine! Now, I'll admit that they don't exactly have my name on them, but someone who has spent countless hours pouring over the MFD web site should surely have noticed the stylistic differences between Finnamore and me. Come on Dave! I'm much more prolific and sustained in my attacks against business unionists and all their fine works. It pains me that I'm sitting here keyboarding my fingers to the bones day in and day out and there you go giving all the credit to some guy! That's just sooooo UFCW. But I'm not going to let it get to me.

Looking over your long list gave us a great idea for an online book. It will be a sort of "Best of MFD" or maybe "The UFCW's Most Hated" or maybe "21st Century Workers Speak" - we'll get to the title later. We're going to include all the posts that you listed from siggy, AU and HJF and include them as well. What an idea!

In the interim, we thought we'd bring you - and the rest of the world - this shortened version of The Collected Works of HJ Finnamore and R Viewer, as selected by David W. Watts, Executive Assistant to the Director of UFCW Canada.

HJ Finnamore:

Labour Reform Day: The Union Members' Revolt
Union Governance Lacking in Ethics and Moral Turpitude
Canada's Labour Bureaucracy: Irrelevant and
Dysfunctional
The Global Crossing Scandal Shone a Light on
North America's Union Elite
A Sweetheart Deal

R Viewer:

Bigger is Better? For Who?
It's Labour Reform Day!
On the Long Road to Reform with Teamsters Local 938
Sins of the Father
The Government is not Here to Help You
The Haunted Houses of Labour
Voluntary Wreck
Inside the Machine: An Interview with Hugh Finnamore
UFCW Local 777: Part I - From Biz Union to Biz
Partner
The Swiss Chalet Workers - Mainstream Labour's Best Kept
Secret

Thanks UFCW guys! And happy reading.

On a more serious note: We're interested in getting suggestions from all of our contributors and visitors about items that should be included in our forthcoming compilation. This can include any articles, forum post or other item from the MFD site that you found most inspiring, informative, thought-provoking or that you just think, for your own reasons, should be part of the project. Post your picks in the forum or email them if you prefer.

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Any dyed-in-the-wool UFC-dubya leader (or Executive Ass thereof) knows that MFD forum contributor siggy is none other than the indomitable Sharyn Sigurdur, founding member of the MFD site

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Apparently not the ones at Ben Blasdells labor board meeting, the union lawyer twice tried to put on the record facts about this site as being Mr. Blasdells web site, both times being quickly stopped by "Justice" I hope thats the right reference Mclean as he stated at the very start he would not be dealing with that issue on that day.

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Watts also cites various articles and forum posts that have appeared on this web site, attributing them all to Finnamore - including a number of posts made by MFD contributors siggy and about unions.

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Well I have to admit I'm somewhat flatter'd. To think something I posted could have been mistaken for one of HJ Finnamore's witty, insightful, revealing, widely publish'd and read works is just plain awesome.

On another up side, after reading 15-Watts beliefs, misguided or whatever, being a ufcw member, there may be room for hope. We know now at least some of ufcw leadership is better informed and getting their information from a reliable and competent souce.

Keep reading fellows, there's lots more to learn...

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posted by NIGHTS:
rv what does ROTFLOAO mean?

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Rollin on the floor, laughing our asses off.

Maybe the confusion is deliberate so as to establish a legal basis for attaining membership records and IP addresses of the users of this web site?

It has to be HJ Finnamore posting all this stuff, how could a bunch of food clerks know what is going on!

No, no, no it has to be Mr. Blasdells web site. The members love us, how could they do something like this?

No, its the employers. No, no, its the commies. I think we better blame Wal-Mart for this one. NO thats not it, its the union busters. Yeah, Yeah I think you might have something there.

How bout we sue em all, the hell with Winnebago's, were giving em away.

Three blind mice, see how they run.

Judges across the country have been refusing to uphold no competition and no tell agreements that do not contain reasonable time limits on them. Had you bothered to consult with a lawyer who wasn't the son of a self proclaimed hero of the UFCW you would have heard that yourself. Instead you relied on the ....ehum ... legal opinion of JR and actually made such an ass of yourself it's hard to comprehend.

My guess is the UFCW has quite a few others who are thinking about spilling the beans and if the flood gates open the whole thing might come down like a house of cards. So they're huffing and puffing away hoping to scare these insiders thinking about their conscience.

There is a saying "you can only throw your glasses across the table so many times before the other side stops worring about you and starts questioning your credability" I think these lawsuits are great. Please, keep up the good work. You guys do more to convince people your crooks with something to hide than HJF or anyone else. I love it.

Dear David Watts;

By now you have read the article on the front page of this web site. I don't doubt that you're one livid camper about what we've said about you. Well. you've earned it.

Next time you set out to ask the courts to nullify somebody's (anybody's) constitutional right to freedom of expression and freedom of association, the least you could do is your homework.

Apart from the state of the law on restrictive covenants there's the not-too-small issue of the 2001 email exchange between your boss Michael Fraser and HJ Finnamore. That exchange effectively nullified the 1995 deal (if it was even enforceable at all by then). Given this state of affairs it's baffling why you are pursing this action in the first place. What's even more baffling is that you seem unaware of this email exchange between Fraser and Finnamore and that's really baffling because Fraser's emails came from your email account!

If, for some reason, Mike was just using your email account and neglected to tell you about his exchange with HJF, you should really take this up with Mike. Seriously, you need to be kept in the loop about these kinds of events if you're going to be running around out there asking the courts to enforce no-tell agreements and suspend citizens' constitutional rights.

The other thing that I can't figure out for the life of me is how on earth you could mistake "siggy" for Finnamore. Siggy's identity is well-known around the UFCW high command. They're suing her for her involvement with this web site. Presumably they've known for the past couple of years who she is. If they haven't been telling you, you're beef is with them and not with us.

Similarly, I can't understand how you could mistake "About Unions" for Finnamore. I gather that you must have reached your conclusions about "who's who" after conducting some pretty thorough research into the contents of this site. If you did that, you'd know that AU is a member of a different union and has never been associated with the UFCW. If you didn't catch that in your thorough review of the contents of this web site, be pissed at yourself and not at us.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but I'm completely baffled at how you concluded that A History of Company Warehouses was written by Finnamore. The original post that accompanied this article clearly states that it was written by "Darryl Gehlen, Warehouse Worker". You can find it in this news archive. I'm assuming you've seen it though, given the scope of the research you must have done.

For someone who's out to extinguish someone else's constitutional rights, you did a pretty sloppy job of your paperwork David.

You took a bit of a leap (to be charitable about it) in assuming that all those other articles were Finnamore's as well. Admittedly you were relying on nothing more than your belief. Not a smart move on your part was it? I thought that you need more than just a gut feel in order to put something forward as evidence for the consideration of the courts? Oh well, it blew up on you didn't it and I'll bet you're mad as hell at us for poking fun at you for it, aren't you?

Well, you know something David, consider it a lesson learned. If you're going to try to muzzle someone in a democratic society, prepare for a fight. If you're going to make mistakes or otherwise do a sloppy job of presenting your case to the courts, prepare to be criticized, even mocked.

On the other hand, if you knew about Fraser's emails to Finnamore, if you knew that siggy and AU were probably not Finnamore, if you knew that A History of Company Warehouses was authored by Brother Gehlen, but you went ahead and swore out your affidavit anyway, then we can only conclude that you are simply using the courts as a tool in your ongoing efforts to silence your critics then you can prepare for a further and even more scathing reviews on MFD's and other media's front pages.

Keep this in mind David: MFD did not make you look bad. You made yourself look bad. We're just talking about it.

Have a great day.

Imagine if Mr. Watt blunders this easily as a representative of UFCW, I can imagine how the members get screwed over.

My offer is still open to sue me Mr. Watt, but now I want $1.50 before I give you my address.

I am just trying to imagine how you will top this history setting bunder, but I have faith that you boys in the UFCW will find a way.

Please keep up the good work Mr. Watt, you make our ratings go through the roof.

An educational moment:

MTM, I understand that you are expressing your frustration with practices that have been used by oppressive organizations to silence critics or keep information that may be hurtful to the oppressors out of the public eye. I'm assuming that's what's behind your choice of descriptors in the post above.

We can call them and their agreements a lot of things, however, I would caution about using the term "Nazi". If you'd like to pursue a more indepth discussion about this, just say so and we can talk about it.

As far as these no-tell agreements or go, they are sometimes used by employers to prevent workers (or former workers) from saying things that may be embarrassing or detrimental to the business. Another kind of agreement that is sometimes put before a fworker is a "non competition" agreement which prevents the worker from engaging in activities that place him or her in direct competition with the employer.

There are limits the kinds of restrictions that can be placed on a person however, and some agreements of this kind (both no-tell and no-competition) have been found unenforceable because they go too far in restricting an individual's constitutional rights.

I am not aware that such agreements are in widespread use among unions. The reason for this, I think, is that unions are not "businesses" so it's arguable that a union employee could be "in competition" with the union. Unions also, supposedly support democratic principles (like free speech) so it would be somewhat awkward for them if suddenly they began insisting on gag agreements from the staffers.

Are you sure unions promote democracy?On Thursday Oct.23 2003 Ian Anderson (in house lawyer local 1000A UFCW) promoted the position that members should not be allowed to vote on mid-term ammendments because "they might not know what is best for themselves".The union leadership can vote on their behalf because they see the big picture.

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posted by <Larry>:
Damn,when is it my turn to be HJ Finnamore?

{this message was not edited by Jimmy Hoffa}

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Now that's funny!

I can hear the Brookies now:

BA to member: That MFD slate is way radical. That Sharyn is under scrutiny by the electionchair and we're suing another one of them for disclosing sensitive information. They're just shit disturbers who don't have their facts straight.

Any pretense will do.