Union lost to company loyalty
Sir: Tom Collins, international representative of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Employees Union, had by his own admission, "the wrong impression" about the Eaton employees, and has lost the vote.
In the article "Eaton's workers reject union (Free Press, Oct 1), he was quoted as saying it is difficult to to determine why the majority voted against the union. But after some difficulty, Collins goes on to state: "I think it's a natural fear that employees have of reprisal." Thereby he blames fear as the cause of the union failure. But Collins and his union insisted on a secret vote, and he knows very well it was conducted as such. Where does fear of reprisal fit into this? No one knows how any person voted.
Then Collins states, "I think we will get them on the next run." Will this be done by another secret vote without fear of reprisal this time around? I think a person's loyalty to the Eaton's company was the reason for the union's defeat. I should know, I worked there for over 25 years.
London
HERMAN VAN DYKE
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last updated on April 28, 2002