Thursday, February 18, 2021

Mike Riggs, Former Local 56 President

Once staunchly anti-union, Mike’s experience with CLAC changed his opinion about what unions can do for workers

By Eric Nederlof, Representative

Michael Riggs was born in England and moved to Toronto with his father and ended up in Edmonton in 1982. By 1990, as a young adult having to support himself, he put a hold on his university education and started work at a Budget Rent-A-Car facility cleaning and prepping vehicles.

Unfortunately, after about six months, the facility went through some downsizing, and he ended up out of work. A friend told him about an available position as a fuel attendant where his friend was working at Ryder Truck Rental Canada Ltd.

Mike got the job, intending to work for a while to save up enough money to go back to university. He was offered opportunities at Ryder to train and move up into a lube technician role, but he kept turning it down.

Meanwhile, he started seeing his university friends graduate but struggle to find work in their field—or any work at all that made use of a university education. So, he finally took advantage of an offered spot for a lube tech and then eventually an apprentice heavy duty mechanic in 1998. He became a certified heavy duty mechanic (now heavy equipment technician) in 2002.

When he first started at Ryder in 1990, the employees were already represented by Local 56. At that time, Mike would describe himself as anti-union. His very negative opinion about unions was based on what he knew from other family members’ experiences.

But he really liked, appreciated, and looked up to Roger Kooger who was the CLAC steward at Ryder at the time. He was also surprised how well the relationship between the employees, the service manager, and the union worked. He expected rights fights, posturing, and manipulation, but what he saw was cooperation, teamwork, and camaraderie.

Mike’s attitude about unions, or at least this union, began to change. He is the type of person who believes that you have no right to complain about something if you aren’t willing to do something about it, and that if you are not part of the solution, then you are probably part of the problem.

He realized that he had to be willing to step up into leadership roles. He served several stints as a CLAC steward for a total of about 13 years, and as a bargaining committee member renegotiating the collective agreement four times. He also was elected to the Local 56 Board for five terms of three years each, serving as president for four terms.

Mike has learned a lot over the years through his various experiences. One lesson that struck home with him occurred when his CLAC representative at the time gave him some advice during an episode in which a particular employee, who was often at the wrong end of a disciplinary process, found himself there again. The rep explained that his role was not to be a defense lawyer and get him off in whatever way he could but to ensure that the employee’s rights were protected.

Along with protecting individual worker’s rights, the union also has a responsibility to do what is best for the group as a whole. If there was cause for discipline, it must be fair and “fit the crime.” Mike took that message to heart—but he got the employee off anyway.

He said that over the years, particularly as he saw different service managers and corporate heads go through the shop, he saw the benefits and advantages of a union and the stability it can bring employees. Belonging to a union is rarely about the money—often, the market takes care of that, although even a modest improvement more than pays for union dues.

But unions can have a big influence on the workplace culture. He saw how CLAC and the collective agreement can help bring dignity, respect, and protection when individual actors try to take advantage of someone who may be less likely to speak up or more easily manipulated or even threatened.

Mike also remembers a particular bargaining session in which an outside operational manager involved seemed to have a real hate-on for this particular shop. It was a tough round of bargaining, but the union still came out with an excellent deal, though not without much acrimony expressed. For Mike, it was the little Canadian shop going up against the big, bad, union busting, American corporation—and still coming out on top.

Mike’s proudest moment of being involved with CLAC has nothing to do with his workplace but instead with a situation involving a foreign national who was killed on a project in northern Alberta and how CLAC worked to ensure that his family back home was taken care of. CLAC worked to ensure that proper accountability was acknowledged. A CLAC representative travelled to China, the foreign national’s home country, to meet his family members and ensure that his life insurance payment and other benefits got into their hands.

For Mike, that was a show stopper and a game changer. He always appreciated the culture he witnessed at CLAC as an organization, and that’s what he wanted emulated in his workplace. He loved the camaraderie he saw when he went to CLAC conferences and conventions and how well his fellow members treated each other, got along, and really knew each other.

Mike feels blessed by having had good role models and mentors at work. There are a number of people he recognizes as being instrumental in his development. Roger, Dave, and Bob are just a few of them.

Over his 30 year career at Ryder and his CLAC service, Mike’s advice to new stewards, or to anyone in any new or unfamiliar role is to surround yourself with good people to look up to as role models and mentors. Look for them. Search out the people with the life experience and wisdom in the area you need. Then watch, learn, emulate, and put your own stamp on it.

Unfortunately, after 40+ years in the Edmonton truck service and maintenance market, Ryder Truck Rental shut down its Edmonton-based operations. The company cited a loss of customers who went out of business and a shrinking, competitive market. The closure has displaced about 25 Local 56 members, including Mike. He and other Local 56 members are feeling the pain of the weakened Alberta and Canadian economies and the devastating effects of the pandemic.

Mike Riggs, Former Local 56 President

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