Time to move forward

Let’s make some sense form the nonsense

and press forward to fight the real demon, Darren Entwistle.

Once upon a time there was a proud productive company built upon the foundation of hard work and customer service. It took years to build and went for years without labour dispute. Then came Darren.

Darren Entwistle came to TELUS in the year 2000. A young hot shot and charismatic speaker. Unfortunately his words rarely matched his actions and the kool aid he sold was tainted. That is why his employees continuously referred to him as Jim Jones. His story is found at www.darrenentwistle.com

Once Darren came into the picture the once proud company was without a contract for five years. Darren created his infamous Imposed Contract that the Union rejected and didn’t even bring it to the membership. Darren argued that the Union were extremists and did not have the support from the general membership. He was convinced that if he bypassed the Union and took his  Imposed Contract to the general membership they would approve of his wonderful plan and build statues to commemorate his feats.

To this end he did exactly that, bypassed the free collective bargaining process and sent out copies of the contract directly to the employees. Working for Canada Post at the time, I remember seeing some of these returned to sender unopened that said ”Talk to my Union, not with me.” Talk to my lawyer so to speak. These were individuals who claimed their right to Union representation and made that choice of their own free will.

Darren’s ego got the best of him and he went on a Union breaking campaign to break the Union and break the existing contract during a time of record profits. Sound familiar? At the beginning of the lockout, many on the picket lines had signs that said “Talk to Bruce.” Bruce was the Union president at the time who was declaring that job security was the hill to die on and Darren’s Imposed Contract was unacceptable.

As long as Bruce Bell held that position, he had the members support. Then it happened. The evil conspiracy infiltrated through the ranks of Buzz Hargrove from the CAW. At first many were excited to hear that Buzz Hargrove was helping with negotiations and were hopeful he would insist on a special mediator being appointed. Instead, Buzz Hargrove convinced Bruce Bell and many of his friends that job security was out of reach and convinced them to agree to a broken contract that was not much different from Darren’s Imposed Contract.

Many speculated that the sell out was because of a promised secret merger with the CAW. These fears were confirmed by Buzz Hargrove’s initial statements to Lila Hacket as to stipulating the reason he got involved in the negotiations.

Then things went sour fast. Members who had been on the line for four months called it a sell out and called for Bruce Bell’s resignation. Their signs that said Talk to Bruce were then changed to read “Talk to me.” Implying that they rather Darren by pass Bruce and talk directly to them because Bruce had failed them.

The sense from this nonsense is the fact that Darren was wrong. The general membership of the Union did not support Darren’s Dream and voted it down after it was finally brought to them after being starved out on the picket line for four months. It was finally ratified by a very controversial mail in ballot which violated many policies in the TWU constitution. As a result many argued that contract was illegal. The contract is legal but is was the result of betrayal and deception.

The moral of the story is Darren was wrong. The employees in B.C. and Alberta did not love him like he claimed. They wanted to lynch him. The member’s anger and concerns was over the issue of job security. TELUS purchasing off shore call centres during times of record profits was a big concern. Not having job security clearly defined in the contract to protect Canadian jobs was the ultimate concern.

Look what happened. As soon as the contract was signed large number of B.C. jobs including call centres were shipped to Alberta. This was to punish B.C. for being a Union friendly province. Then after seeing the resolve of the labour movement in Alberta, Darren starts shipping these jobs out to Ontario. Meanwhile back on the ranch the number of jobs and calls keep decreasing and members express concerns about the possibility of Darren rerouting calls overseas. After all that is what he was telling the shareholders in New York his plan was. That is why they kept investing in the stock during the lock out.

The nonconfidence vote is really a nonconfidence vote in Darren Entwistle and the direction he was hired by Brian Canfield and the Board of Directors to take the Corporation in. Working families in Canada want to protect jobs in Canada for themselves and their children. This is the quest and the campaign that we all must carry.

Generations ago our ancestors left rising taxes and high costs of housing and came to Canada looking for a better opportunity for themselves and for their children. We see history repeat itself and the same climate rise. The only difference is that we have no place left to go. That is why he have no choice but to fight. We simply have no place left to go.

In Solidarity,

Dennis Watson a.k.a. Finian

A New Day Dawns for TELUS

[Off Shore call centres] [Employees felt lied to]

[CUPW New Vision]