The Industrial Workers of the World continues to organize a union with Fellow Workers working at Chartwell’s in Carleton University. In its public statements, Chartwell’s managers presume to talk for workers even after they have fired an IWW organizer and intimidated its workforce. It was no coincidence Braden Cannon was fired; he had filed union certification papers with Chartwell’s the week before.
The IWW calls on Chartwell’s employees to continue to fight back and never let them silence you. You can make a difference, when you stand up for yourselves.
In the News
FRATERNIZING WITH THE UNION
By Melissa Wheeler, Ottawa XPress September 5, 2002
The Carleton University food service provider Chartwell’s won’t talk about the sacking of an employee August 23 for a 20-minute work stoppage protest.
District manager Barbara Phillips said “it’s a personnel issue and I’m not prepared to talk about it with anyone but the student at this time.”
The student is Braden Cannon, 22-year-old international studies major at Carleton University. He said he was part of a group of seven student workers who orchestrated a 20-minute work stoppage when they learned a co-worker had not been paid the preceding Monday due to a glitch in the system.
Prior to the incident, he had instigated an Industrial Workers of the World union drive among Baker’s Grill and Tim Horton’s employees on the campus. Following the attempt to organize, Cannon was suspended along with three other employees, two of whom had not signed union cards. The next day he organized an “informational picket” to hand out flyers protesting the pay delay. He also met with Philips and Chartwell’s regional vice-president Marty Doyle, was fired and learned that the other employees’ suspensions had been lifted.
“Obviously I was fired because there was a political action, because it was an action specifically against the company. They can’t excuse politics in the workplace.”
Chartwell’s said the company allows employees the freedom to belong in a union, a freedom guaranteed by the courts.
Cannon said he plans to stay involved in the union effort anyway because “they’ve already done the worst they can to me by firing me.”
Chartwells workers suspended for 20-minute walkout
by Dave Pizer, The Charlatan
Four Tim Hortons and Baker’s Grille employees were suspended by Chartwells management after participating in a twenty-minute work stoppage as an act of solidarity for a colleague whose paycheque was allegedly several days late.
Braden Cannon was a Baker’s Grille employee who participated in the work stoppage. He says an assistant cook who had been filling in at Baker’s Grille for a week had not been paid at the end of the week. According to Cannon, the cook needed the money to place a deposit on an apartment.
At 2 p.m. on Aug. 21, seven employees at Tim Hortons and Baker’s Grille unanimously decided to take their breaks at the same time to protest Chartwells’ treatment of the cook.
Cannon and three of the other participants were suspended from work.
The following day, members of Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), joined by members of other unions on campus and CUSA, gathered outside of Tim Hortons and Baker’s Grille for what they called an ”information picket.”
Leaflets produced by the IWW with the headline, “An injury to one is an injury to all!” were handed out to passers-by. The document claimed the suspended workers decided to stop work after realizing “their fellow worker might become homeless as a result of Chartwells’ shameless behaviour.” The IWW also encouraged people to avoid Chartwells businesses until the suspended workers were reinstated.
IWW delegate John Hollingsworth was handing out leaflets at the picket. He says, “Workers at Tim Hortons and Baker’s Grille want to have a union, they want to have the right to bargain their conditions of work and wages. They want to be able to know that when they act in solidarity, management will not be so able to take reprisals against them.”
According to Hollingsworth, the majority of workers at Baker’s Grille and Tim Hortons have signed union membership cards and their application for recognition as part of Industrial Union 640 is currently before the Ontario Labour Relations Board.
Hollingsworth also says he believes the work stoppage was part of the reason the cook was paid Aug. 21.
“We think the fact that the workers were drawing attention to this was probably a pretty important factor in making sure it was expedited,” says Hollingsworth.
But Chartwells district manager Barbara Philips says there was no anti union motive in the action to suspend the workers.
“We just can’t shut the doors, because we have an agreement with the university that we will provide service from this time to that time,” says Philips. “So right now, they are on a paid suspension until we find out all the details that went on.”
According to Philips, the leaflet being distributed by the IWW was filled with factually incorrect and misleading information, and makes “a number of totally unsupportable allegations.”
She says due to a minor error in the payroll system at Chartwells head office, there was a delay with some employee payments. However, Philips says the problem was resolved within 48 hours and “no employee suffered any loss at that time.”
Philips says the assistant cook in question was not on the verge of homelessness and is “extremely embarrassed and upset” that such information is being circulated, and wishes to remain nameless.
“I don’t think that was fair to do that. I think they should have got all their facts straight,” says Philips.
The assistant cook declined to comment.
Three of the suspended workers were reinstated on Aug. 23, while Cannon, who is also an IWW delegate, was fired.