Attention News/Labour Editors: CAW continues support for democratic decision by SEIU members
TORONTO, April 14 /CNW/ - The ruling by the impartial umpire selected by
the Canadian Labour Congress that found the Canadian Auto Workers union guilty
of raiding the Washington-based SEIU will not halt the support of the CAW for
SEIU workers wanting to make a democratic decision about their future.
In February of this year, over 800 elected local union leadership voted
unanimously to support a recommendation by the executive of eight Ontario SEIU
locals covering 30,000 members to leave the U-S.-based SEIU. The SEIU
responded by placing the locals under trusteeship and removing hundreds of
officers, workplace representatives and staff from their positions. The SEIU
obtained a court order to halt a vote by the membership to democratically
decide their future. Stopped by the court from voting on disaffiliation from
SEIU, on March 2 more than 10,000 members from the eight locals endorsed by
98.75 per cent the direction taken by their former elected leadership to leave
the SEIU and join the CAW.
Workers from the eight locals which have collective agreements close to
expiry have chosen another route to express their desire to have a choice
about which union they want to belong to. The Ontario Labour Relations Board
began counting today ballots cast by over 4000 SEIU members in approximately
80 bargaining units. The workers voted on whether to remain with the SEIU or
become members of the CAW. The first vote counted by the OLRB was the
bargaining unit of Victorian Order of Nurses, in the Thunder Bay and
surrounding area, which voted 24 to 4 to leave the SEIU and join the CAW.
CAW president Buzz Hargove on learning of the umpire's decision,
notified, by letter, CLC president Ken Georgetti that the CAW rejects the
right of the Umpire to hear this case and further, rejects the findings of the
umpire. "We will continue to support the rights of workers until such time as
they have a democratic process to determine their future. This continues to be
about the right of these workers to have a democratic say in their future...
not simply whether they want to join the CAW."
Hargrove said, "The affiliates to the CLC must agree on a mechanism for
workers to be able to exercise the democratic process to leave their home
union and join another CLC affiliate if they desire. The labour movement must
protect the democratic rights of its members or CLC affiliates such as CAW who
believe in democracy, will have no choice but to take up the fight."
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For further information: CAW Communications - Jane Armstrong, (416) 409-0106 |
Title: CAW continues support for democratic decision by SEIU members
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