why is their union so, well, damp?

And why is it that 1 in 100 in Victoria don't know the library is on strike? Because the union is not doing their job, that's why. Isn't this what the workers are paying dues for? Isn't this the raison d'etre of the union officials? Aren't they supposed to be out there making waves, getting publicity, meeting with other civic unions to go on strike in support of the librarians? Aren't they supposed to be making this an issue instead of lying low and waiting for the whole thing to blow over so they can go back to dusting their shelves every day while collecting really good pay for doing very very little? The problem with unions now is the management of them, not the workers. There are very real issues here folks, and the biggest ones are the way that union leaders shortsuit their workers without fail. I was in HEU when within one day of a province-wide general strike in support of all unions in this province, a strike that would have serious repercussions for the gov't initiatives that were disabling unions everywhere, when our leader caved in for mysterious reasons and accepted a 15% pay cut and other options that WE DID NOT WANT and there was no way he could have imagined we wanted. I think the librarians' union leaders are afraid to step it up. I think they just want to keep their nice cushy jobs and don't want to agitate for the rights of their workers. And overall, the unions need a shakeup because they are getting pushed around by a govt that cares only about enriching the rich. And for years and years they have only concerned themselves with their own particular members and their own comfy well paid jobs. It is not hard to see why many many working people are not supportive of unions. The unions are not working together, their vision is too small, their leaders not making good choices.

The public libraries are just the latest in a long line of assaults made on unions all over this country. Health care, teachers, now librarians. We should all be sticking up for each other, the unions should be striking together instead of getting picked apart by the govt. Without the public libraries, and without enough teachers in schools, the level of public education is going to drop to next to nothing. We need the libraries to be strong! We need more teachers! We need more nurses and better preventive health care (starting with healthy hospital food, not fastfood outlets for crying out loud)! Paying taxes is not bad, it supports civil society. I want a good library, I will pay taxes for that, but I don't want to pay taxes for an arena or a convention centre or some crappy art nouveau about day is for sleeping and night is for resting. Get some politicians in there who have some values and some gumption for a change!

Unions

...haven't been doing their jobs for any numer of years in this province.......

I think union leaders consider themselves "executives".....

Better union leaders

The path to having the union leaders you want is to vote for them. If some union official isn't standing up for those he represents then get rid of him.

Hunh....

Leaders can't lead where people don't want to follow. People won't man the barricades any more. Bisguy speaks of the HEU coming within a day of shutting the province down. It wasn't ever going to happen - Jim Sinclair and compadres weren't going to let it happen. Private sector unions told the HEU to buzz off, and only CAW and BCGEU had any gumption at all to a)support the HEU and b) try to get it to see some sense in a mor productive pattern of job action than the atomic bomb of General Strike.

Yet the writing was on the wall for more than a week before. Privately, the Gordocrats were making noises about legislating any work stoppage back to work for at least a week before, and it is likely that this is what the private sector unions were responding to.

The other unions at the Facilities Bargaining Table tried to talk the HEU into a pattern of rotating actions of varying kinds - no go. We occupied only two seats at the table of 15. The hot-heads there wanted "General Strike", and the HEU leadership, whatever their motives, listened to them.

So there we were - 6 IUOE guys - out on the lines for no strike pay, rotating shift-and-shift-about keeping them up all night long at my facility while the few HEU members that showed up for their PAID shifts during the day on the picket lines went home to their cushy beds.

Sorry, bisguy, I'm not impressed with the vast majority of HEU members, not to mention two of their leaders - too much hot talk, and little gumption to back it up with.

Strikes are a tough business. Any union or business that brings one on should have exhausted ALL their other options first. It's an atomic bomb, and nobody wins in a strike after two weeks - everyone loses big.

Union busting in B.C.

As a library worker(although not in Victoria), I know firsthand that libraries across this province are mainly staffed by highly motivated, intelligent and hardworking/overworked staff who really care about their customers. Front line staff at libraries are among the lowest paid union workers in B.C.(yet we are usually the libraries' public face);we have weak unions that are overwhelmed by grievances created by an absurdly adversarial management more motivated by their annual salary reviews than pursuing the libraries' mandate to serve the public. Sadly, so much could be accomplished if management chose to work with their employees to create a true public service.

Similar unfortunate situations exist in public education, public transportation and the health care system, which makes me question why I pay taxes? It seems my money goes towards supporting this dysfunctional system; an illusion of a public service that mainstream media is paid to portray as effective, by advertisers who fund the political parties currently in power.

The only thing I can suggest is for members of the public, taxpayers and voters, to become actively involved; speak out, protest, write letters and use your local library. After all, you have paid for that privilege. As an employee, I have been effectively silenced by the threat of losing my livelihood should I be brave enough to speak out.

More action

One of the best actions unions can do is encourage their members to support alternative media like the Tyee, as the IUOE and others have done.

Honestly, any union member still sending money to the publishers of the fishwipe known as the Notional Pest should have his or her head examined. Not only is it utter, right-wing doggerel of the most vituperative order, but it's recycled from so many other sources that readers should be honest and go get it sooner (and better) there.

Zalm

Private sector unions is just about an oxymoron, and private sector union "executives" are far worse than public sector "leaders", if only because they can do NOTHING when a mill closes here in BC, or when an auto plant shuts down back east. Hypocrisy of the worst sort.........

What do you expect?

Well, they can't. If we were like Germany in that there exists some kind of cooperative management where the union gets a seat at the boardroom table by fiat, and all companies starting up business in that industry are automatically unionized, then there might be a case for demanding action.

Otherwise, it's all hold your breath til you turn blue for all the good it'll do you. Times now are as bad as in the time of the great robber barons. There is no responsibility to society any more - just to the quarterly results, senior management's pay packets, and occasionally, the shareholders.

Public sector unions are successful only when they remind government that there's no need for them to act like private sector companies, and that workers are almost as important as customers. Would that private sector unions could find a similar lever.

Oddly, the government's memory continues to be short from time to time, roughly corresponding to the election cycle....

Touche, Zalm.......

Touche, Zalm.......

While a lockout would, if

While a lockout would, if done by the proper procedures, be legal, it would certainly not result in firing any workers. That is against the law in B.C. even under the "Liberals". And so is bringing in scabs, er, pardon me, "replacement workers".

As for the "leadership", I suppose that I am that "leadership" and I've never claimed to do more than a mediocre job at best, but I keep getting elected by acclamation so they are stuck with me, at least until 2009 when I retire.

The way to get elected as a union leader? Attend a meeting and at the right time stick up your hand and say "Oh alright, I'll do it."

We are now pursuing a charge of unfair labour practices against the Employer, and the hearing starts tomorrow.

We have a website at www.cupe410.ca by the way.

Ed Seedhouse

President, CUPE Local 410