To: ALL AFFILIATED UNIONS, UNION REPRESENTATIVES AND DISTRICT LABOUR COUNCILS
Why the labour movement must join the fight for the Canadian Wheat Board
The Harper government’s attack on the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) is not about market freedom. It’s not about offering a choice to farmers. It is, quite simply, an illegal and undemocratic attack on collective bargaining.
With dismantling of the CWB, the Conservative government is attempting to tie the hands of farmers in the same way that it tied the hands of workers at Canada Post and Air Canada. The government chose to pass back-to-work legislation on the workers who were seeking a fair deal for their labour.
Terry Boehm, president of the National Farmers Union, says: “Recklessly turning the clock back a hundred years, this move will leave farmers at the hands of the robber barons of the grain trade who are already more powerful than ever before.”
The loss of the single-desk authority of the CWB will take money earned by farms out of rural communities and give it to large, mostly foreign corporations at the expense of fragile rural Canadian communities, families and working people.
The Tories have refused to hold a vote among farmers on this issue, despite a legal requirement that it consult members before making changes to the CWB. It has refused to respect the wishes of the majority of farmers who voted to keep the board in their own vote.
Supporters of the CWB are fighting back. Three court cases have been launched seeking to reverse the decision and keep the CWB alive. However, court challenges are expensive and they need help.
Harper’s Tories have come after farmers, they have come after workers at Canada Post and Air Canada – and they will surely come after the rest of us if left unchecked. Helping the farmers fight now will help workers later.
I ask you to consider making a donation to help in these legal challenges. Donations can be made:
- Online;
- With a credit card on the phone at (204) 354-2254; and
- By mail to: Friends of the CWB, P.O. Box 41, Brookdale MB, R0K 0G0.
In Solidarity,
Gil McGowan, President
* See Statement on Canadian Wheat Board from the Feds of Labour