Lakeside Packers/ Tyson strike

[no1important]

I see this dispute got violent yesterday. I see company is trying to union bust. They "Tyson" rejected deal government proposed, even though workers voted 90% in favour. Picketing is also limited now.

- Scabs allowed to be used in Alberta (I guess this should not surprise me). It is terrible a province allows scabs.

-many of the workers are immigrants who want job stability.

- that racism seems to be alive and well in Brooks.

Alberta Labour Board Limits Lakeside Packers Strikers

Workers back inside Lakeside Packers

Province staying out of Lakeside strike

Terrible Tyson


Busloads of workers evade picket line

 

[Reverend Blair]

RE: Lakeside Packers/ Tys

Tyson has a long history of union busitng and bargaining in bad faith. So does the Alberta government. We need national anti-scab legislation and pro-worker legislation in regard to collective bargaining practices.

Right now we should be shutting down the Tyson plant and giving the assets to the workers.

 

[MMMike]

These pickets should be forcibly removed. They don't own the plant - what right do they have to shut it down?

 

[no1important]

RE: Lakeside Packers/ Tys

Didn't lakeside/Tyson rip the farmers off as well during bse crisis, if memory serves me.

 

[Reverend Blair]

RE: Lakeside Packers/ Tys

Yup, Tyson was found in contempt of Parliament along with Cargill. The Conservatives refused to impose a fine.

They have every right to shut it down, MMMike. That's what happens when companies try to rip off their workers.

 

[MMMike]

Re: RE: Lakeside Packers/ Tys

Yup, Tyson was found in contempt of Parliament along with Cargill. The Conservatives refused to impose a fine.

They have every right to shut it down, MMMike. That's what happens when companies try to rip off their workers.

So if I'm understanding you, workers should decide themselves what they should get paid, and if the company doesn't agree, they shut it down? Sounds kind of one-way, don't ya think?

 

[Hank C Cheyenne]

...its usually what youd expect from an uneducated Green party voter....

 

[Reverend Blair]

RE: Lakeside Packers/ Tys

That's because you aren't understanding the way it works. Both sides have a position and then they bargain and reach a compromise. There has to be give and take.

Tyson doesn't do that though. They walk into meetings, tell the union reps to piss off, then try to bust the union. They've got a long record of doing that. It's called bargaining in bad faith and there needs to be severe penalties for doing so.

 

[MMMike]

There is no give and take and negotiating back and forth, there is only fair market value. This not only applies to widgets, it also applies to the skills you try to sell on the job market. If someone has the same skills as you and will sell those skills for less than you are asking, guess who gets the job? If Tyson is so bad and is not willing to pay fair market wages, the workers can take their skills and go elsewhere.

 

[Reverend Blair]

RE: Lakeside Packers/ Tys

Except that the companies have all of the power in a situation like that, Mike. They have the power not to pay fair market value.

What you describe would work if there several small packing plants in the area, but there aren't. There's Tyson. There's Cargill. That's about it for western Canada.

The right to organise is recognised by the United Nations and every developed nation, by the way. The system you are supporting exists in oligarchies and dictatorships.

The reason that the right to organise is recognised is because we've seen what the world looks like when that right doesn't exist.

 

[MMMike]

Re: RE: Lakeside Packers/ Tys

Except that the companies have all of the power in a situation like that, Mike. They have the power not to pay fair market value.

What you describe would work if there several small packing plants in the area, but there aren't. There's Tyson. There's Cargill. That's about it for western Canada.

The right to organise is recognised by the United Nations and every developed nation, by the way. The system you are supporting exists in oligarchies and dictatorships.

The reason that the right to organise is recognised is because we've seen what the world looks like when that right doesn't exist.

I will concede that we need a strong competition act. That is a complete red herring, though. There are lots of other places to work other than a packing plant. If the wage Cargill offers is too low, no one will work there.

 

[Reverend Blair]

RE: Lakeside Packers/ Tys

There aren't really a lot of choices. First of all, a lot of immigrants moved to Brooks because they could work in the packing plant. Tyson encouraged them to do so. They have few other skills, many don't understand our system, and a lot of them are afraid of deportation if they lose their jobs. Because so many of them are African, they also face prejudice when looking for other jobs. Their credentials and educations often aren't considered adequate.

Tyson has them over a barrel. All they are doing is trying not get stuffed in that barrel.

I know a lot of people on the right hate unions as a matter of political ideology, Mike. The truth is that without unions you'd be working twelve hours a day for six or seven days a week though. You'd have no benefits, little (if any) vacation time, far more dangerous workplace conditions, low wages, and absolutely no job security.

That was the situation in this country less than a century ago. A lot of people suffered a lot of abuse, some were killed, to get you the rights that you have today. If you and others are successful in your constant attacks on the unions, we'll be back to where we were before the 1919 strike within a decade.

 

[PoisonPete2]

it is a typical story of exploitation and union bashing. That it still happens in Canada is an indictment against our governing bodies and the ignorance of our citizenry.

 

[MMMike]

Unions had a place back in the day of the industrial revolution to fill in for the lack of h&s regulations and employment standards. That day has long passed. Now they are just an impediment to efficiency and progress. Swimming against the current of economic reality.

 

[Reverend Blair]

RE: Lakeside Packers/ Tys

The current reality is that without unions and an organised labour movement, corporations would lobby the government to reduce health and safety regulations and the government would comply. You'd see unpaid overtime become the order of the day. You'd lose your rights as a worker.

Unions are very much needed to keep corporations from abusing their employees. Without unions, there would be no regulations.

 

[MMMike]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20051015.wlakeside15/BNStory/National/

Union members at a strikebound slaughterhouse in southern Alberta called Saturday for attempted murder charges in a car crash that injured their leader.

 

[Nascar_James]

Tyson has every right to not have a union at it's company if it so chooses. Those individuals protesting are free to choose where they work. That is the beauty of our society, we pick where we want to work.

Unionizing a company means more costs for the company, which means higher prices, which means less business, which means layoffs. Not very efficient when looking at the big picture.

 

[no1important]

RE: Lakeside Packers/ Tys

Thankfully we do not have "right to work" laws like 22 states in America do, including yours Nascar.

People have the right to join a union. Tyson has no say in the matter. The workers want a union so they have one. They do not want to work for Wal Mart wages.

 

[Nascar_James]

Re: RE: Lakeside Packers/ Tys

Thankfully we do not have "right to work" laws like 22 states in America do, including yours Nascar.

People have the right to join a union. Tyson has no say in the matter. The workers want a union so they have one. They do not want to work for Wal Mart wages.

Ahhh ... good old Oklahoma.

 

[Hank C Cheyenne]

....its not fair for the workers who don't want to be part of a union...why should they have to sit out...... and the threatning and breaking of windows is not acceptable.... and they think they can just block buses of workers to keep them from doing their job...what about their rights to work in a free country...

...if a worker is not happy with the pay then what the hell is keeping them there...there are jobs everywhere...

...unions are a cause for lots of lost revenues and it is a fact that unionized workers have a higher rate of absenteeism.....but I'm just saying we need to protect the rights of the workers who want no part of a union.