3.27.2006

What does he say to people signing CAW cards?

Yes, the titles are usually more catchy, but this page is still wrapping around his head around the CAW President's insistence that his entire union be wrapped up in his personal temper tantrum against New Democrats. As you may remember, Hornblower Hargrove came out in support of the Liberals in January's federal election. As a result, his membership was suspended by the Ontario NDP. As a result, Bellicose Buzz leaned on the CAW executive to endorse disaffiliation from the party.

"The action of the Ontario NDP is a direct attack on the CAW and our members," screamed Hargrove last week. No, Buzz it isn't: it's what happens when you sign your name to the membership card of a political party and you blow off the constitutional responsibilities of party membership, like SOLIDARITY during election campaigns. All Hargrove had to do to show some actual leadership and avoid the embarrassment of being suspended from the party was cancel his NDP membership before he started swooning over Paul Martin. This page would have respected such a move, but Hargrove's insistence on perpetual fight-picking with pretty much anyone (except Ford, GM, and Chrysler) leaves me with the same contempt most cognizant unionists have for him.

Last spring this page worked alongside volunteers with the BC Federation of Labour's 'Count Me In' campaign that helped elect a strong NDP opposition in Victoria. At meetings I sat next to CAW members from Coast Mountain Bus Company and across from CAW members who were involved in the agonizing organizing drive at Starbucks. Since the resolution from the CAW Executive calls on CAW members to avoid Federal and Provincial New Democrats, is Buzz Hargrove saying that these workers should try to get a better deal from Gordon Campbell?

Telling union members how to vote is one thing. Telling union members how not to vote because your union's president is an egocentric idiot manchild who can't read the fine print on a membership form is another.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Jaime - Do you know who Buzz Hargrove is, or more to the point, who he thinks he is?

Hargrove's machinations as President of one of the largest unions in the country are important to any and all Canadians, particularly those who are members of a union or drive an automobile.

Also, if bear604 is 'engulfing' himself in someone else's life, we may as well shut down the entire media. Actually, why are you engulfing yourself in bear604's life?

Anonymous said...

Shoes don't write autobiographies or sacrfice the long-term interests of workers for short term political gains.