Why are we too poor to use too cheap Munaca service with the "activists" servicing mostly them?

If we try to analyze more facts and predict the future it becomes very obvious that it is much cheaper to pay more for better shoes instead of buying often those from one-dollar shops. It seems that our Munaca exactly represents this kind of shop and we have only one such isolated/strange "union"(?) structure among almost 10 universities in Montreal as the others are affiliated with the real unions. This way of thinking represents a logical use of wisdom from the old English saying that sometimes using a cheap staff is more expensive.

Nobody can control Munaca's policy if the activists there are so secretive and we are too shy or busy to ask them some basic questions. In fact, they are very smart not to say too much about many important details and keep members in the dark. FOR EXAMPLE, MUNACA WAS ASKED MANY TIMES TO INFORM US ABOUT THE GRIEVIENCES BUT THE LEADERS NEVER RESPONDED. It seems that they do not want us to be aware how malicious the McGill administration is toward lower ranking workers.

A very small FTQ (Local 800) that until recently (because it now represents about 600 McGill workers) was only having 150 cleaners but over 300 grievances. At the same time our shrinking Munaca with 1200 members and two lawyers issued only about 500 grievances with no possibility of looking at them to even verify this number.

For me it was only ten minutes of talk to the FTQ president to get from him a full text of one recent case that he had at his 6 square meter office in his Ferrier bldg office. He promised me to bring more in next week, which I will post later (so, please, come back later to this site).

I do not speak French, so any member is invited to translate some interesting fragments from the court decisions and e-mail to me for posting. Also, everyone is invited to correct and improve this unedited text and provide more catchy comments to convince more members to join a real union. In fact, I do not have the heart to write and nicely polish this text; as for me it is a kind of propaganda. I am more of an idealist type of person and the union issues are quite dark/dirty and not very inspiring to me. That is the reason why I do not like to see myself as the union's dedicated activist. Let me put it in another way: it does not look to be my destiny (let us not be afraid to use this word more in this simple modern world with a uniform religion - money).

The case posted below was issued after many talks with McGill as a grievance at the end of 1997. It seems that this case was taking the soul of Mr. J. Sztuke from HR. When a few months ago a message about losing this case was delivered to him by Mr. Marcel Wery at another meeting (he had learned about it before from his union lawyer) Mr. Sztuke was so shocked that he immediately canceled this meeting and was not available for another 2 weeks. This case will cost McGill about $250,000 as retroactive and they will have to hire another worker to calculate the all night shifts for the all cleaners plus interest. It was very strange for the administration to deny 0.53$ per hour when working in the night. It seems that honest looking people like Mr. Sztuke are forced to behave as "kapo" for the workers. The most important question is who forced Mr. Sztuke to be so nasty to the hard working people?

In another case we can see Mrs. F. Tracy (the top manager for the Residences) behaving even worse. It concerns the weekend premiums that were not paid for years at the expense of the workers. After many failed negotiations a grievance was finally sent to the arbitrator. When she learned about it, she said in front of Marcel and Mike, that if McGill will be forced to pay back this money she would fire the all weekend workers. Was she forced to behave like a "kapo"?

There is a woman from McGill working as a cleaner who was sick for about a year. McGill refused to recognize for her a long-term disability. She was forced to withdraw money from her RSSP to make ends meet for some months. The FTQ made a grievance and it was taking a long time. This poor lady had a lot of stress and only one day before the trial McGill agreed to pay. It was not their generosity but a well calculated decision because by waiting for such a long time the person is "well-softened". It is also not good for them to go into court because if they lose the case they cannot torture the workers in the same way. So, in this situation the next sick worker can expect the same treatment.

We must look at a big picture of this situation. In my view we should look more closely at Mr. Shapiro and his policies when supervising McGill. It is statistically impossible to say that we have had bad luck to have so many unfriendly and uncaring people at our administration. Instead of attacking them we should offer them help and ask: Who forces them to be so bad to their sisters and brothers?