Unifor Joins With TIDES NGO's Against Their Own Members

[Anonymous]

Unifor is on the side of California billionaires and TIDES funded anti-Canadian industry NGO's like the radical Dogwood Initiative against it's own due-paying members. This is a gross betrayal of their members.

Imagine you are a union member who pays dues off every paycheque to have the union protect your job, then one day you find out your dues money is being used to make your job obsolete.



That's what's happening to plenty of members of Unifor, Canada's largest private-sector union.



Unifor announced this week it was joining a lawsuit to try to stop the Northern Gateway pipeline just approved by the Harper government after years of hearings, consultations and environmental review.



What is shocking about this is that Unifor represents a significant portion of the thousands of workers toiling, often for big paycheques, in the oilsands of Northern Alberta. The union itself says it represents "35,000 members who are employed in oil and gas extraction, transportation, refining, and conversion in the petrochemical and plastics sectors."



More than 10% of Unifor's members work in an oil- and gas-related sector and yet the union is fighting to shut many of those jobs down.

"Unifor stands united with the groups demanding that the federal government stop reckless pipeline projects and invest in greener jobs that can support families," union president Jerry Dias said in a released statement.



Dias and the union claim only 228 permanent jobs will be created by the pipeline, ignoring the many more construction jobs to build the pipeline. He's also ignoring the key point that without a way to get Canadian oil to market, all those union jobs in the oil patch will dry up.



The judicial review isn't the only part of the fight against a pipeline that the union is supporting. According to Kai Nagata, the energy and democracy director of the Dogwood Initiative, Unifor has joined his hard line environmental group in seeking to have the British Columbia government block the Northern Gateway and even Kinder Morgan pipelines.



"Our allies at Unifor, Canada's largest private sector union, have begun building full-time teams in several key ridings," Nagata wrote on the group's website.



The plan is to use B.C.'s citizen's initiative legislation to block to pipeline.



So now we have Unifor funding or supporting the opposition to two different pipelines and they are also on the record opposing the Keystone XL pipeline.



The union will claim this is all about keeping jobs in Canada but they know the industry doesn't work that way.



Oil is most often processed close to where it will be used; that requires pipelines or ships to carry the oil to markets where it is processed into many different products from gasoline to heating oil, kerosene to industrial products. That's why we have refineries in places like St. John, N.B. or Montreal.



We don't drill for oil in those cities but we do bring oil in from foreign markets, like Nigeria or Saudi Arabia, and process it for distribution to markets in Central Canada or the Northeastern United States.



In the world of Unifor all oil extracted in Canada would be processed in Canada which would require more pipelines, more trains and more ships to get the products to the foreign markets that want it. Without those export markets the 35,000 Unifor members currently involved in the oil industry will shrivel to a fraction and all that government revenue from royalties and taxes -- money used to pay for social programs -- would disappear.



Unifor is fighting against its own members, its own interests.



Why?



Maybe because they have a deeper commitment to the far-left groups they fund than they do to the hard-working Canadians who fund Unifor with their dues money.

http://www.edmontonsun.com/2014/07/17/who-is-unifor-fighting-for">http://www.edmontonsun.com/2014/07/17/w ... ghting-for">http://www.edmontonsun.com/2014/07/17/who-is-unifor-fighting-for

[Anonymous]

^^Are the rank and file aware of this? I doubt it.

[Anonymous]

^^Are the rank and file aware of this? I doubt it.

Of course not. The bigshots in the union tell them they are fighting for their jobs and the average stiff wants to believe them. They have no idea of how they are misusing their dues to fight for OPEC jobs. It's fucking criminal.

[Gary Oak]

Maybe Unifor is working for OPEC Muslim slime?

[RW]

Wait a second.  Are we really to believe that without a pipeline all those oil patch jobs that have been there for years and years are going to disappear?



What a HUGE load of shit Shen.  You guys really need to insist on better journalism in Edmonton.

[Anonymous]

Wait a second.  Are we really to believe that without a pipeline all those oil patch jobs that have been there for years and years are going to disappear?



What a HUGE load of shit Shen.  You guys really need to insist on better journalism in Edmonton.

How many international customers does Canada have RW? I will tell you, one, the USA. Which country is now the world's largest producer of petroleum, again the US of fucking A. Which country heavily discounts our oil based on the fact that they are in the driver's seat? Our "friend" the good old USA(vomit). China, Norway, Japan and other international investors have high hopes of our oil reaching international markets and yes getting international prices, which is exactly what Unifor opposes. You do the fucking math. Unifor works hard to protect jobs....in SAUDI FUCKING ARABIA!!

 :x  :x  :x  :x  :x  :x

[RW]

Shen, without a pipeline (as we've been operating without one since the beginning of the oil sands projects), tell me how many oil sands jobs you estimate we're going to lose without one.



I'll wait.

[Obvious Li]

Shen, without a pipeline (as we've been operating without one since the beginning of the oil sands projects), tell me how many oil sands jobs you estimate we're going to lose without one.



I'll wait.

for a question this stupid you need to start conversing with sharkhunter......he is pretty much up on oil sand production and pipelines as well....jesus fucking christ



the correct answer is every fucking job not created once transportation capacity hits 100%....which is fast approaching and thus the need for added pipelines and rail......projects that take 10 years and many billions  to complete....china and france already shelving projects as a result of this fucking pipeline fiasco....more to come as industry investment dollars start to give canada a pass...not a safe or friendly place to do business with this supreme court running the country......your welcome sharky

[Anonymous]

for a question this stupid you need to start conversing with sharkhunter......he is pretty much up on oil sand production and pipelines as well....jesus fucking christ



the correct answer is every fucking job not created once transportation capacity hits 100%....which is fast approaching and thus the need for added pipelines and rail......projects that take 10 years and many billions  to complete....china and france already shelving projects as a result of this fucking pipeline fiasco....more to come as industry investment dollars start to give canada a pass...not a safe or friendly place to do business with this supreme court running the country......your welcome sharky

[size=200]Bullseye!![/size]

I expect this level of stupidity from the likes of Shark Hunter or Gay Bob, but RW is intelligent and capable of looking at the big picture. Very disappointing.

[RW]

Shen, don't saddle in with him.  It makes you look stupid.



I understand the effects it could have on future jobs, but the claim was Unifor is fighting against its own members.  The trouble is, jobs that may or may not be created in the future are not technically Unifor's membership.  There membership are the people CURRENTLY employed in oil sand positions.  Surely you two have the mental capacity between you to figure that one out.



So either tell me how many jobs are going to be lost as a result of Unifor's support of whatever or STFU.

[Anonymous]

Shen, don't saddle in with him.  It makes you look stupid.



I understand the effects it could have on future jobs, but the claim was Unifor is fighting against its own members.  The trouble is, jobs that may or may not be created in the future are not technically Unifor's membership.  There membership are the people CURRENTLY employed in oil sand positions.  Surely you two have the mental capacity between you to figure that one out.



So either tell me how many jobs are going to be lost as a result of Unifor's support of whatever or STFU.

Unifor represents the old United Steelworkers. What are pipe sections made out of? This would be like the United Autoworkers opposing the production of new cars at plants in Ontario? It is not in the interests of their members and I am sure most of their members are unaware of their union's politics.



We are moving a lot of oil by train right now, but it is not as effective as a pipeline. It is meant as a temporary solution until we build a larger pipeline infrastructure network.

[RW]

Listen.  You want to jump on the "RW is stupid" bandwagon but you can't seem to answer my question which stems from your own claim around membership decline and disinterest.



Debate around here seems to consist of nothing more than ignorance and insult.  This is now the second such reminder....

[Anonymous]

Listen.  You want to jump on the "RW is stupid" bandwagon but you can't seem to answer my question which stems from your own claim around membership decline and disinterest.



Debate around here seems to consist of nothing more than ignorance and insult.  This is now the second such reminder....

This isn't about you. This is about Unifor leaders working against the interests of the people that pay their wages.

[RW]

You still haven't answered the question of "how many CURRENT due paying Unifor jobs are going to be lost as a result of not having a pipeline?"



No more dancing Shenikins.  No more hiding behind Mubday's lame insults either.  Just answer the fucking question.

[Anonymous]

You still haven't answered the question of "how many CURRENT due paying Unifor jobs are going to be lost as a result of not having a pipeline?"



No more dancing Shenikins.  No more hiding behind Mubday's lame insults either.  Just answer the fucking question.

I don't know the exact number, but if production is scaled back because there is no way to get their product to market, you can be sure there WILL be jobcuts.