OE Agent Conducts CLAC Drive-by Smear

DATE: November 21, 2011

Shame on Darryl Wilcox for failing to disclose that he is a business agent for the Operating Engineers union. Wilcox used an attack on Premier Wall as an excuse for a drive-by smear of CLAC in a letter to the Saskatoon Star Phoenix (November 17, 2011).

His illogical rant is proof that Old Labour attitudes that members don’t need to worry about how their dues are spent are, unfortunately, alive and well. Wilcox smears a competitor union instead of providing a rational argument against union financial transparency.

Old Labourites like Wilcox underline the importance to workers in Saskatchewan of democratic choice in selecting a union. Workers can choose Old Labour, which believes that union bosses—not members—are the only ones to decide how union dues are spent. Or now, they can choose modern, progressive unions like CLAC, which doesn’t spend members’ dues on political donations or tell members for whom to vote.

Dennis Perrin, CLAC Saskatchewan Director
Letter to the Editor of the Saskatoon Star Phoenix