Date: Fri, 1 Aug 2003 10:42:44 -0700
From: moe <moe@kootenaycuts.com>
Subject: [KCUTS] Gag order on Sunset Lodge bidder
HEU is slowly being outlawed, first our contract is ripped up, then
injunctions forbidding reactions, and now it appears we are not allowed to
talk!
Monday Magazine Issue 31 Vol 29, July 31 - August 6, 2003
Pick up a free copy from a yellow box near you
Injunction restricts stories on Sunset Lodge bidder
The company that is interviewing potential staff to run some of the
Salvation Army's support services at Esquimalt's Sunset Lodge seniors home
has obtained a sweeping injunction that one expert calls "unusually broad."
B.C. Supreme Court judge Linda Loo granted an ex parte injunction in
Vancouver on Friday July 25 that places severe restrictions on publication
of stories about the Canadian subsidiary of multinational London-based
company Compass Group PLC.
Loo granted plaintiffs Compass Group Canada (Health Services) Ltd., Compass
Group Canada (Beaver) Ltd. and Compass Group Canada Ltd. an injunction
against the defendants, named as the Hospital Employees' Union, "and its
members, servants and agents, and persons acting or purporting to act on its
behalf."
The order bans the defendants from "in any way interfering" with anyone
trying to attend Compass job fairs held last Friday at the Howard Johnson
Hotel on Elk Lake Drive, and three others in Greater Vancouver on July 29,
30 and 31.
But more worrisome for some is the injunction's prohibition against "anyone
having knowledge of" the injunction from "publishing, orally or in writing,
including by means of placards, statements defamatory of the plaintiffs."
The ban applies "until further notice."
Vancouver media lawyer David Sutherland, who has acted for Monday, noted the
injunction's ban on future speech.
"It's an unusually broad order, in my experience," Sutherland says. "First,
it applies to anyone who has notice of the order. Second, it applies to any
publication orally or in writing that is defamatory of the plaintiffs."
"That is prior restraint, an approach which typically courts don't like."
HEU spokesman Stephen Howard said Tuesday that the union has been served
with the injunction, and is being "very careful" to respect its provisions.
"Our lawyers are also carefully reviewing the order and examining all of our
legal options," Howard said. "We of course have the right to apply to the
B.C. Supreme Court to have it set aside."
-Russ Francis
Multinational health company interviews for Sunset Lodge work
According to its statement of "corporate social responsibility," the
U.K.-based Compass Group promises to "conduct business in an ethical
manner." As well, fundamental to its business strategy is the recognition of
"human resource . . . considerations."
But the world's largest food service company is paying its workers at
Vancouver hospital only a fraction of what they were previously paid.
Compass is interviewing potential staff to take over some of the work
previously done by members of the Hospital Employees' Union-Canadian Union
of Public Employees joint local at Esquimalt's Sunset Lodge seniors home.
The lodge is operated by the Salvation Army and funded by the Vancouver
Island Health Authority.
In the course of applying for their own jobs, Sunset Lodge dietary workers
previously paid more than $17.00 an hour have been told they'll be earning
$9.25 as Compass employees.
Compass officials could not be reached by Monday's deadline.
The company holds the housekeeping contract at Vancouver hospital, where the
pay of a number of employees dropped by nearly 50 percent for a range of
positions. The workers are now members of IWA local 1-3567, under a contract
signed December 6, 2002.
Besides reduced pay, the workers' benefits are sharply lower. The pension
has been eliminated entirely and vacations reduced.
The Vancouver contract contains a bizarre clause, called the "no competitive
disadvantage" section.
The clause, which the HEU referred to in a January 17 statement as "race to
the bottom," stipulates that if the IWA negotiates a cheaper contract with
any other employer, the provisions of the cheaper one will apply to all
workers.
IWA local 1-3567 president Sonny Ghag could not be reached. The labour
movement generally looks down on one union "raiding" the membership of
another.
Victoria Labour Council secretary-treasurer Colin Graham says the IWA local
in question is a "rogue" local, and the issue is now before the Canadian
Labour Congress.
"I think Compass has a hell of a lot of nerve," Graham says. "They should be
ashamed of exploiting workers at low hourly wages."
Sally Ann spokesman John Murray was out of town and could not be reached by
Monday's deadline.
In the six months ended March 31, 2003, Compass Group PLC reported a "very
successful" half year, with revenue up 12 percent to £5.5 billion, or about
$12.3 billion in Canadian funds.
-Russ Francis
Brenda Jordison
Chair HEU Pacific Rim CUPE 6142
The Salvation Army Sunset Lodge - Victoria
--
http://www.kootenaycuts.com/
"S/he who fears not the death of a thousand cuts will dare to unhorse the
emperor."
- Ancient Chinese proverb
--