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Home arrow News arrow Justice arrow UFCW v. The People: A Trip Down Lawsuit Lane

UFCW v. The People: A Trip Down Lawsuit Lane

Written by Wanda Pasz Friday, 11 September 2009

UFCW President Wayne Hanley's recent hypocritical sermon about online censorship cried out for a rebuttal and I was happy to oblige with a trip down the UFCW's own lawsuit lane. For the benefit of anyone interested in the UFCW's own shameful history of putting the boots to online critics, here are some of the people who have been targeted in the Voice for Working America's decade-long assault on Internet free speech.

The late 1990's saw the Internet come into wide use across North America. Union reformers - workers who desired real democracy within their unions - were quick to make use of this affordable, user-friendly communications medium that offered instant access to a world-wide audience and the possibility of making connections with many like-minded others.

As the 21st century arrived, many small union reform web sites dotted the digital universe. Not surprisingly, members of some of the most democracy-challenged unions were first out of the gate when it came to promoting their cause on the World Wide Web.

Some Union Democracy Online Pioneers

The UFCW sprouted not one but two online reform groups - REAP (Research, Education, Advocacy, People) an informative US-based web site and UFCW Members for Democracy - our scrappy, interactive Canadian site that was the forerunner of this website.

In the US, union officials bristled at the public airing of their copious dirty laundry by union reformers (in 2002 Plumbers Union President Marty Maddaloni mused, "I think the use of a public web is bad for organized labor, I really do. I think it should be censored in some way shape or form") but tread carefully around the online rebels. An intense crackdown on union corruption by American law enforcement agencies and legislation that required unions to practice democracy, kept autocratic union "bosses" from cracking down overtly on this emerging form of internal dissent. But in Canada, where no similar laws exist and where despotic unionism has long been tolerated (and even encouraged) by legislators and government agencies, the crackdown began early. Dissident union members quickly found themselves up against all manner of reprisals - smear campaigns, expulsion from membership, unjustified firings and spurious lawsuits. The latter proved especially effective as it's virtually impossible in Canada for working people to afford legal representation in these cases.

When it came to suing members and other people to shut them up, the UFCW blazed an impressive path.

Among the earliest known UFCW dissidents in Canada to hit the Internet was Steve Giuliano. In the mid-1990's Giuliano, a Toronto area supermarket worker and a member of UFCW Local 1000a, became prominent in a movement to democratize the local. His efforts took him as far as the Ontario Supreme Court where, in 1996, he and fellow member John Clark (who would go on to become a well-known anti-poverty activist) challenged the Local's constitution and sought the right to run for elected office (they were unsuccessful - the court ruled they should take their issues up through the union's internal process, which wasn't exactly receptive to such reforms).

While his activism didn't sit well with Local 1000a's rulers, it was not until he began hanging out on the reformist REAP web site that the going got ugly. Sometime in 2001 Giuliano was threatened with legal action for writing a short article called Concession Bargaining UFCW-Style which was posted on the REAP website. Not long after the lawsuit was filed, Steve vanished from the scene. It is believed that he eventually settled with the UFCW - exchanging a vow of silence for the withdrawal of the lawsuit.

Around the same time that they were busy putting the litigation screws to Steve Giuliano, the UFCW threatened legal action against a group called Youth For Socialist Action. Their crime? Posting a story about how a group of Local 1000a officers and staffers disrupted a meeting at which Steve Giuliano was to speak about union democracy.

Calling the report "erroneous, unfair and seriously defamatory of the UFCW and its officials", the UFCW demanded "an apology and full and fair retraction" in the next edition. No apology was posted and the article stayed online for a couple of years. It's not known whether a lawsuit was actually ever initiated.

The UFCW soon found itself with bigger fish to fry - part-time workers and a former employee.

The UFCW v. Bill Gammert

Bill Gammert was among the first UFCW members in Canada to go online with his concerns about undemocratic practices in his local (the storied UFCW Local 777). A part-time grocery worker in Vancouver, Gammert started a simple web page called "William's Web" where he expressed concern about undemocratic practices and corruption within his local (the storied Local 777). He also had the gall to post a copy of the UFCW constitution which was not accessible to most members at the time.

It didn't take long for the UFCW to lawyer up. In a lawsuit filed in 2001, the UFCW called Gammert "arrogant and high-handed" and claimed that his criticisms of its officials were defamatory (among the alleged libels was the expression "God help us all!"). The UFCW took issue with Gammert's colourful take on its acronym and claimed that his posting of the constitution violated copyright law. UFCW officials demanded temporary and permanent injunctions and asked for punitive and exemplary damages for their embarrassment and suffering.

But Gammert didn't back down. When he was finally dragged into court, alone and unrepresented, things turned out badly for the UFCW. The judge said he wasn't about to get in between a union member and his constitution. Gammert walked away with an order that forced the UFCW to post its constitution on its Canadian web site - where it can be found to this day.

The Gammert Files

The UFCW v. Hugh Finnamore

The case of the UFCW v. Hugh Finnamore stands out as one of the UFCW's most mean-spirited and vindictive campaigns. Finnamore was a former international representative who got canned after asking questions about some odd financial transactions at the aforementioned Local 777. Many years after he left the fold, he started writing about his experiences on the inside, immediately drawing the wrath of Canadian UFCW officials. In addition to suing Finnamore, the UFCW engaged in a relentless smear campaign. No expense was spared. At one point, UFCW Canadian Director Michael Fraser, during whose reign of error many of these lawsuits were filed, planned to fly to Saskatchewan to address a group of members who had read some of Finnamore's articles and were asking questions. As it turned out Mike couldn't make the flight so another official was sent to read them a prepared statement urging them not to pay attention to Finnamore. On another occasion, just before they finally went to court, UFCW organizers handed out leaflets filled with outrageous - and unfounded - accusations against him in front of a Wal-mart store in his neighbourhood.

The basis for the UFCW lawsuit against Finnamore was that he had breached a gag order that was part of the settlement of his unjust termination grievance several years earlier. They asked for an injunction that would prohibit him from ever speaking about the UFCW, or communicating with UFCW members (so, no more radio interviews, no newspaper articles, no online postings - as UFCW members might see or hear them) and to forever refrain from "interfering in the business of the UFCW". As in Bill Gammert's case they also made unspecified allegations of defamation but never did explain just what it was that he'd said or written about them that was defamatory.

But the Finnamore case blew up. A letter, written by UFCW Canadian strongman Mike Fraser in an obvious fit of pique, had released Finnamore from his "no tell" obligations years earlier. In MFD forum, we rolled around on the floor.

The Finnamore Files

In it's efforts to shut down Finnamore, the UFCW cited a long list of subversive articles from the MFD web site which, it claimed, he had written. At least half of these were written by other people (in some cases the authors' names actually appeared in the articles). We thought the list made such a fine line-up of dissent writing that we compiled them into an online journal called Purple Haze Union.

The UFCW v. Members for Democracy

At the same time as Mike Fraser and his posse were chasing after Finnamore, they also tried to put the hammer down on Members for Democracy, a web site launched by UFCW members in Vancouver in 2000. American UFCW officials were quick to object to the web site's use of the URL www.ufcw.net (chosen by the members as a symbolic gesture of taking back their union) but approached the reformers diplomatically, offering to pay the cost of relocation to a new domain that was not comprised solely of the UFCW acronym. The reformers agreed. But just as the deal was coming together, the boys from UFCW headquarters fell silent. A year later, they would initiate a lawsuit over the MFD's use of the www.ufcw.net domain name.

The UFCW's lawsuit against MFD was served on Sharyn Sigurdur, a part-time grocery worker in the Vancouver area and member of UFCW Local 1518 and Kelsey Sigurdur, the MFD web site developer and former member of Local 401. It alleged that the reformers were "passing off" on the UFCW's good name to promote their cause. UFCW leaders alleged that the site was "calculated to cause confusion" and that members might mistake it for an official UFCW web site. As in the case of Gammert and Finnamore, there were the usual unspecified defamation allegations and the demand for a sweeping injunction - one that would prevent the use of the acronym UFCW in the name, keywords and generally "in connection with" the web site without the UFCW's permission.

At the trial, which took place years later, the UFCW clarified that it was only asking for an injunction against the use of the URL www.ufcw.net, but then further clarified that it did not want "UFCW" used in ways that would cause Internet search engines to include the web site in search results for "UFCW". The Voice of Working America's legal team looked somewhat dismayed when we told the judge that this meant we could no longer write about or discuss the UFCW online because references in the text of articles or even in discussion forum posts can attract search engines. Maybe they really didn't know this or maybe they were hoping we wouldn't bring it up. It turned out to be an important point and led the judge to conclude that the injunction, as requested, was "unsustainably broad".

In the end we had to move to a new address but we shut down the UFCW's attempt to censor the web site and their demand for $2,500.00 in damages. The ruling in UFCW v. MFD also provided the operators of protest web sites some valuable guidance on staying on the safe side of the law in relation to their domain address.

The MFD Defence Files

It's impossible to known how many tens maybe even hundreds of thousands of dollars of members' dues have been spent in these pointless missions to stifle online criticism of the UFCW and it's officials. Apart from the spinelessness of it all, the UFCW's assaults on online free speech clearly have not had the desired effect. If anything, they've only served to draw even more attention to the practice of suing members with their own money.

Free speech irritates food workers' union

Union Democracy Survives Two Lawsuits

And on that subject, there's something really wrong with this picture: Dues paying union members, sued by their union, unable to afford lawyers or even the benefit of legal advice, heading into court to square off against $300 an hour lawyers paid for with their dues dollars.

Those who may be feeling some sympathy for the UFCW and its oppression at the hands of the lawsuit-wielding Wal-Mart Corp, can take comfort in knowing that Hanley and the UFCW will have a virtually unlimited legal budget with which to fund their defense. Neither Hanley nor any other UFCW official will have to appear in court confused and unrepresented, facing the possible loss of their life's savings or their homes. Thanks to the dues of thousands of UFCW members, UFCW leaders will be spared the distress that they have visited on part-time workers, young socialists and former employees.

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