Unions are not all equally transparent or democratic
FP Letters:
Republish Reprint
Special to Financial Post | 26/09/13 7:00 PM ET
RE: Unions’ good works, Sept 18; Unifor: Canada’s new political party-er, union, Terrance Oakey, Sept 11
Unions have a common objective to improve the salaries, working conditions and benefits for their members; that is the only reason why a group of workers would want to join a union. Union leaders do not willingly mention to their members or to the public their organizations’ involvement in funding political parties and non-union activities.
The national president of the newly merged union Unifor, Jerry Dias, states in his letter that rank-and-file members have a say on what their union “says and does.” I wish I could say this was true with my union, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE).
CUPE has spent union dues to fund the NDP, on a Campaign Against Charest, on the Vancouver Film Festival, to send members to monitor the Colombian Presidential election, to visit the Castros in Cuba and for many other non-union activities. I have never been asked whether I support any of these specific activities nor have the over 600,000 members of CUPE. At the last National Convention in 2011, all foreign policy agenda was removed from the resolutions package and the strategic directions booklet, even though it was included in the 2007 and 2009 convention.
I have proposed a resolution for the national convention next month, which would require CUPE to hold a referendum for all members, to ask if they support funding a political party and organizations outside of Canada. Bill C-377 is a private member’s bill which would require unions to disclose their financial statements to Revenue Canada to then be posted on a public website; this bill will be before Parliament in October.
If both the resolution and Bill C-377 get passed this fall, CUPE will then be at a higher level of transparency and accountability, just like Unifor.
Even though I am an elected Air Canada Component Trustee of CUPE and a Local 4092 delegate for the 2013 Airline Division Conference and CUPE National Convention, I am stating my opinion as an individual and not on behalf of my union.
Marc Roumy, Toronto
CUPE is becoming more accountable
National Post - Full Comment
13/07/24 | Last Updated: 13/07/23 3:25 PM ET
Re: Unions Are Not Accountable, David Murrell, July 20; Unions Already Are Accountable, Paul Moist, July 19.
I have been a member of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) for 16 years, and I know it needs improvements in transparency and accountability. Bill C-377 and the news coverage it has been receiving provided an unintended “positive” consequence: my union is becoming (albeit gradually) more transparent.
My local leadership recently allowed members to walk out of union meetings with budget information. Above the local is the component which represents all Air Canada flight attendants; financial statements were being posted on its website since last fall, which never happened before.
Yet, at the national level one must be acclaimed or elected as a delegate and travel to another city or province to attend a convention, in order to be provided an individual copy of the financial statements. All shareholders of public corporations receive an annual report, and financial information is available online.
I recently proposed a resolution for the upcoming convention, which would require CUPE to hold a referendum for all members, to ask if they support using union dues to fund a political party and organizations outside of Canada. If passed by delegates this October, CUPE would then be even more transparent and accountable to its members.
Marc Roumy, Air Canada Component Trustee of CUPE, Toronto.
Hugh Segal was wrong
13/07/09 | Last Updated: 13/07/08 2:31 PM ET
National Post - Full Comment
Re: Why I Believe Bill C-377 Is Flawed, Hugh Segal, June 29.
Accessing financial information from unions is difficult. I was honoured to be a witness for the Senate Committee studying Bill C-377, which would obligate unions to disclose financial information to the Canadian Revenue Agency, to be posted on a website.
Senator Hugh Segal believed in the flawed arguments presented by witnesses, rather than the bill’s transparency benefits. Canada is the only country that obligates unionized workers to pay union dues to keep their job no matter what they are used for. Donations to charities are voluntary; investors can choose where they invest. Not one example on how financial disclosure would be bad for Canadians or the economy based on the experience of other nations with public union disclosure laws was ever made.
If Bill C-377 was passed, Senator Segal would have realized the lack of parity regarding political funding: union dues flow to the NDP and Liberal party — not to the Conservative party —involuntarily from members who are forced to pay union dues. The Liberal and the NDP party opposed this disclosure bill. Passing Bill C-377 would have been the right antidote to make union dues spending transparent.
Marc Roumy, Air Canada Component Trustee of CUPE, Toronto.
FP Letters to the Editor:
Union secrecy first-hand
Special to Financial Post | Sep 14, 2012 9:09 PM ET
Reuters
ReutersAir Canada flight attendants, members of CUPE, protest last year.
Re: “More open than you,” Ken Lewenza and Dave Coles, Sept. 7
In their article, union leaders Ken Lewenza and Dave Coles were critical of enhancing union financial accountability through Bill C-377, which troubled me. As a flight attendant for Air Canada, based in Toronto and a member of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), I do not believe my union is as open to its members as they say the CAW and
CEP are.
On a quick search of my union’s website, there are no financial statements to be found. At our local union meetings, the budget is handed out and numbered and then returned once the meeting has ended. If a member cannot make a meeting, and then wishes to see this statement, they must make an appointment and meet with the secretary-treasurer at the local union office. Since most of my colleagues work just before or after local union business hours, this can be inconvenient to arrange. Yet, as a delegate for a national convention — 2,000 out of a 610,000 strong membership — one does receive an individual budget booklet to take home.
I have attended two national conventions. Even then, after repeated inquiries to union officials, I still do not know the salaries of my national president, secretary-treasurer and vice-presidents. Moreover, to attend a convention, I have to be elected as a delegate, travel across the country (the last national convention was in Vancouver) and then carefully read through the budget booklet to glean the specifics of what my national union does with my dues.
It was a revelation to learn that they fund the election campaigns for NDP candidates, and many other non-union activities within Canada such as the Vancouver Film Festival, and organizations outside of Canada (Burma Project, Honduras Solidarity and a World Water Congress, etc.). At the 2011 national convention, unlike in 2007 and 2009, nothing was put to a debate or vote regarding CUPE National’s foreign policy agenda. When I inquired why, I was told that whatever was adopted in 2009 would remain in force.
Surprisingly, Mr. Lewenza and Mr. Coles compared these activities to a privately held business. However, an investor in a business can choose to withdraw their stake and invest elsewhere if they feel their money is being improperly spent. As a union member in Canada we are not given this choice and, even more alarmingly, we are currently denied the option to discuss how our money is used to support non-union activities.
Many would find such a situation intolerable. For many of my colleagues and me, we believe our union would be stronger if we had a truly open and easy access to our union’s financial statements. If we have nothing to hide, then we should know what our union leaders earn and where our dues are being spent. If CUPE does not choose to change direction soon, and in the near future we are given the freedom to get hired or associate without obligation to a union, then I fear there may come a day when many of my colleagues will choose to no longer be part of CUPE.
Marc Roumy, Air Canada Component trustee of CUPE, Toronto
CUPE should focus on its members, not foreign policy
Marc Roumy: CUPE should focus on its members, not foreign policy
Posted: August 26, 2009, 9:10 AM by National Post Editor
The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) is Canada's largest union, representing over 560,000 workers in both the public and private sectors across Canada. CUPE's members work in health care, education, municipalities, libraries, universities, social services, public utilities, transportation, emergency services and airlines. I automatically became a member when I was hired as an Air Canada flight attendant; there was no other choice.
CUPE has three levels of bottom-up leadership with voting privileges at all three levels: local, component and national. At the airline, local representatives deal with the company's lower management while the next component level faces upper management. Across Canada, locals and components are under the umbrella of CUPE National, headquartered in Ottawa, which lobbies and fights for our rights before all levels of government.
CUPE National sets its agenda every two years at a national convention, which approximately 2,000 delegates attend to debate and vote on resolutions provided by all locals. Each delegate is nominated by acquiring a minimum number of signatures from their local membership. If more members are nominated than proportionally allocated, an election is held to decide who becomes a delegate.
Two years ago, when I first attended the National Convention as a nominated delegate, I was surprised at the many distractions we faced. For five days there was very little, if any, discussion about the working or safety conditions facing our members. Much of the focus was placed on a mandate within the union's constitution on the "promotion of peace and freedom." The many resolutions debated and voted on ranged from the Kyoto Protocol to the protesters killed in Burma and opposition to the war in Afghanistan. There was even one resolution criticizing "any threats of war and/or a military action against Iran, and equally opposed [to] the sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council." Anti-Israeli literature was freely promulgated, and anti-Israeli meetings were held. Out of the 515 resolutions brought forward over the five days, only 40 were discussed.
The majority of my colleagues have no idea that this is what goes on at the National Convention. When they find out, they are either angry or disappointed. Very few have told me they support CUPE's current direction. They're unhappy that the delegates spend so much time contemplating resolutions that have no bearing on members' health and safety and general collective agreements.
At the last convention, only eight out of 2038 delegates voted against the foreign policy resolutions mentioned above. I was one of those opponents. I also publicly spoke against some of them on the convention floor. As a result, a couple of delegates labelled me as an extremist and others openly questioned my right to be there.
The CUPE National convention suffers from overt political bias. It has strong ties with the NDP and openly donates funds to the party. At the next National convention in October, I hope to see a resolution pass which would end discrimination against differing political views by adding protections for "political ideology" to the union's constitution equality statement.
This would allow CUPE to become a more open and democratic union, inclusive of all political views. Perhaps in the future, thanks to more open and fair debate, it will become clear to our membership that adopting a foreign policy agenda does not help our common cause. CUPE's focus must remain within the boundaries of the collective agreements of the people it represents.
National Post
Marc Roumy is a member of Air Canada, Local 4092
Copyright © 2018 marc Roumy - All Rights Reserved.
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