Date:Tue, 11 Jan 2000 22:29:10 -0500 From: Andy Lehrer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Fight Union-busting at Greenpeace Oppose Union Busting at Greenpeace Greenpeace Canada (GPC), with a budget of over $7 million annually is on a drive to bust the union of telephone and door canvass employees. The phone canvass department alone raises an estimated $250,000 in net gains for GPC, after wages and costs. They are expected to work unpaid overtime to meet the unfair labour practice of quota (wages and job security determined on the basis of funds raised per individual, not based on seniority etc). Outsourcing has been threatened to companies that have a far lower rate of return than the phone canvass department. This is explicitly designed to bust the union, OPEIU local 343. Management has been clear about this from the beginning. Several employees were fired in the early 90s for trying to organize a union. The current telephone supervisor Eric Gamble - has stated that "there is no security in this job. If we want to fire somebody around here - it can be done easily." They have wrongly assumed that the union will not fight. Currently, the workforce is completely part-time. Yet it is only full time employees who qualify for the overwhelming majority of the benefits, optical, paid vacations, sick time etc. Currently management is conducting a disciplinary process against union rep, Jason Baines. It is a matter of discrimination against the union as other employees who have not obtained "quota" have not been disciplined. It is the traditional management tactic of victimizing union campaigners in an attempt to weaken the union and strengthen its overall position. It will not work. Already grievances have been filed. However this is not enough. The mobilizing power of ordinary workers and youth is central in winning gains for telephone workers. It is not just the specific local that is effected here. It is important for unionized telephone workers to organize. A victory at GPC will strengthen the union, putting it on the necessary foundations to unionize of low paid telephone workers. Please voice your concerns. Call Eric Gamble acting Geenpeace phone canvass supervisor at 416-597 8409 extension *3009 and email him if possible at [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please demand: full rights and benefits for part-timers end harassment of union activists decent job security and a living wage If you're a member of Greenpeace or have contributed money to Greenpeace, please point that out in your message. -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink