The Story of One Worker is a Story for all Workers

The reality of globalization within capitalism has made its painful mark on Pedro’s life as it does with other workers.  The anomalous story of a poor worker who migrates to a ‘First World’ country and who later becomes wealthy, is precisely such; odd and extremely uncommon.  Capitalism loves to flaunt these rare cases.  Unfortunately the vast majority of workers find themselves impoverished in Western countries as well.  They regularly confront isolation, discrimination, racism, deportation, poverty, and oppression among other abuses by a system that is so intricate and tightly woven, that it is almost impossible to navigate and understand.  The resistance to the system both within its own framework and outside of it is a harrowing challenge for the individual worker.  Many workers however do resist and many more must be called to such tasks.  Pedro is a motivating story of one worker who stands up for his rights and calls on his supposed representative body, the union, to help, to no avail, and to his employer, not surprisingly to no avail.  This story is not to motivate workers to stand alone and fight back within the system, not that this isn’t encouraged (it certainly is!), but most importantly, that standing together as a powerful labour force, workers not only have voices, but have power to turn the capitalist system upside down little by little.

Pedro’s Story

Pedro Vanegas, a professional electrical engineer came to Toronto, Canada from Nicaragua via the United States approximately 14 years ago for a better life.  When he first arrived, he studied English as a Second Language, and then completed his studies in Refrigeration and Air Conditioning at George Brown but was unable to find work in this field.  Following this, he studied hospitality at the YMCA and found a few positions as a waiter in some local Toronto hotels including the Metropolitan.  In all of his positions he was a part-time worker.  He was a steady permanent part-time member of the Hotel Employee and Restaurant Employee (HERE) Union Local 75.  This was approximately 7 to 8 years ago.[i] 

Sequence of events

1999 – Problems of harassment at work began and Pedro began seeing physicians at The Scarborough Hospital (TSH).

In approximately November 2001, Pedro went to the emergency for panic attacks with “hyperventilating with pressured speech”.  The reason he had this particular panic attack was he had to return to Nicaragua due to his mother’s deteriorating health and because of this the company were threatening to fire him.  Pedro was feeling the pressure to return to care for his mother, because he was the older son and his personal situation afforded him this possibility.  Pedro had requested a leave of absence and in the past he was permitted to do this without any problem but this time the company made it clear that the company said regardless of the situation of his mother, if Pedro were to leave without their authorization, he would be fired upon his return.  A co-worker warned Pedro not to go to Nicaragua because he had overheard a conversation between two assistant managers saying that Pedro would be fired if he went to visit his sick mother.  At this point Pedro asked a lawyer if legally the company could fire someone for making an emergency trip to see their mother and he was advised that this was not the case and to go on the trip.  The doctor’s notes at this time indicated that both the Human Resources at the Metropolitan and the Union “don’t care”.  The heartlessness of both – to hurt another human being to save money is what this boils down to.

In May 2002, the physician reported that there was harassment by the supervisor at the Metropolitan who did not allow him to choose his own hours to which he was entitled due to his seniority.  Also workers with less seniority were given more preferred scheduling and resulted in a loss of income for the workers with more seniority, and so Pedro complained.  Also the Union was aware of this issue and refused to do anything about this as was their legal obligation as the only representative body for the workers, clearly they weren’t.  Pedro was labeled a troublemaker and the union did nothing.  The physician wrote that “patient is being deflected between union and Human Resources”.  Pedro continued to fight for seniority as they were favoring some workers over others.  According to his physician’s report there were 2 stressful incidents which were the following: his supervisor got agitated in front of Pedro and Pedro told him to calm down, and after this, his co-worker tried to assault Pedro after work in a coffee shop.”  The individuals who were being favored were angry with Pedro for fighting for his rights and they blamed him for threatening the favors themselves that they were receiving by management.  The Union knew that from the beginning there was the fight for seniority and that they were harassing him.  Based on the collective agreement, they were supposed to fight on his behalf but they sided with management.

Pedro had a grievance for seniority but the union did nothing because then the company would owe millions of dollars in back-pay to all senior staff.  Numerous grievances were being filed for unjust scheduling and seniority.   

In June 2002 Pedro hurt his back and shoulder at work pushing a heavy trolley.  He refused to push the trolley because normally it takes a few people to do this, and more importantly, it was not part of his job description.  When he refused, his job was threatened so he complied.  Pedro pushed the trolley resulting in his ongoing back and shoulder injuries.  

 In June 2003, his physician wrote a letter to the HERE Union Local President to express concern over ongoing “harassment, ridicule, conflicting directions from management” which were presented to Human Resources department at the Metropolitan in 1999 and ongoing until 2002 with his health meanwhile deteriorating.  Despite this letter, the union did nothing; he was ignored by the staff, by union management and by the Metropolitan management.  With this letter, everything escalated and the harassment increased.  For example, the Assistant Manager referred to Pedro as a “dummy” in front of everyone.  

 In September 2003 there were a series of more serious incidents.  A security guard was hovering around him at work and asked him to go into the elevator.  At the time there was a rumour going around that Pedro was a troublemaker, mentally ill and that he carried a knife with him.  Once inside the elevator, the security guard began poking Pedro hard in the chest saying that he was going to hurt himself with the knife.  Pedro had been carrying a tape recorder and the security guard confiscated it even though it was his private property.  He was accused of taping his co-workers.  His boss listened to the tape recorder, a clear invasion of privacy.  Pedro filed a police report for the assault by the security guard but because he did not file the same day, charges were not laid.  Later in that month, Pedro was not feeling well but because he did not want to lose his job he went to work.  On this particular day, he continued to feel very ill and asked if he could go home but they refused stating that if he came to work he obviously feels well enough and now it was too late to go home.  Then he started to feel increasing worse; he couldn’t breathe, was sweating profusely, and blinking his eyes and his co-workers began to make fun of him.  After this, Pedro was called for a meeting, was accused by co-workers for harassing them, and there were several witnesses at the meeting.  Pedro told them that he felt that he was almost dying, but they wouldn’t let him go, so he stayed and did not know what was going to happen.  Again he asked to leave.  After the meeting he got worse and they still refused to let him leave.  A few minutes later he collapsed, passed out, and he was sent to emergency.   

The day before this Pedro was disciplined for speaking Spanish in the kitchen.  It was also around this time his panic attacks were increasing and he had made 3 visits to the emergency for these attacks.

 Meanwhile back at the Union – During the last union negotiation due to the complaining of the seniority issue by different departments, the union filed a grievance for the loss of income and promised that this issue would be reinforced by the collective agreement as well as the promise to monitor the issue more closely and that everyone would be paid the money that the company owed them when breaching the collective agreement.  The collective agreement ended up being signed behind the workers’ backs and without any feedback and so later the banquet department found out that the union had fooled them.  When staff had begun asking for the lost income to be paid and questioned the union representative, she answered that something had to be sacrificed in order for the collective agreement to be signed and now it was too late to do something.  This demonstrates how the union helped the company save millions of dollars, dollars that belonged to the workers and therefore had not even requested input from the workers.  The nature of the union existing within the legal framework of the capitalist system is a force of worker control, that is, the union controls the wages, the ‘expenses’, of the company, preventing a naturally and radical anti-capitalist discourse openly erupting on a large scale.

 Pedro had all the while been approaching the Union who did not act on his behalf either.  When Pedro approached management and the union he was ignored by both.  Due to his back and shoulder injuries Pedro was bed-ridden for two months.  To survive financially he spent his life savings and became completely broke. 

In response to Pedro’s illness, he was told to go and receive Employment Insurance and not receive benefits related to his disability.  He received EI for a period of time until it ran out and ended up on welfare eventually. 

When Pedro went to the union, they were in the midst of a general meeting with the shop steward and so during break Pedro approached the union representative for help and she said that she can’t do anything for him because they were in a meeting, so he should go home.  Pedro showed the shop steward that he was wearing a brace for his back due to his injuries at work and told them he was going to the company to report the situation.  When Pedro approached managers they told him they were too busy and deflected him to various other managers until he was told to go to the Human Resources manager.  She also told Pedro she was too busy to do anything for him and said she would call him but in the end neither the union nor management followed up with Pedro about his complaints.

 In November 2003 Pedro’s case went to Workplace Safety and Insurance Board and the employer’s denied any injury even though it had been reported. 

It is important to note that at this point, more co-workers became supportive as they were not scared after Pedro has continued a painful fight with management and union, therefore other workers are fighting back - Pedro has paved a path of resistance.  Now Pedro has two cases in the Ontario Human Rights Commission one against the union and the other against the Metropolitan.  

 It is fundamental to stress that Pedro is one of many, many workers who has become disabled on the job, and who has been ignored by his representative body, the union, as well as the management of the company.  This too is common however another commonality is Pedro’s fight back.  

 Pedro is currently still listed officially as an employee at the Metropolitan but is without a return to work as ordered by the Labour Board.  Pedro is in legal limbo and thus far, this appears to be indefinite. 

Conclusion

 Many workers around the world confront harassment, exploitation, and suffering in their workplaces.  They are choosing between their livelihood or this exploitation and must always choose exploitation if they are to survive.  Oftentimes they do not have the energy, drive, or means to fight back and are simply defeated by the system.  The system, when challenged within its own framework, protects itself, keeps workers like Pedro, who do indeed want to return to work, but cannot due to the legal limbo they find themselves in.  Workers like Pedro find themselves deeper in poverty as they are forced to go on welfare or disability insurance with a very limited fixed income.  Furthermore, the many unions who allegedly represent workers are only collaborators with management.  The unions have a stake in capitalism.  They make money from the workers and hire a bunch of bureaucrats to ‘talk’ with the bosses and arrive at ‘compromises’.  If the unions cease to act within the legality of the capitalist system, then they lose their privileged status of being the negotiators of the powerful labouring class.  They do not want to lose this power and therefore continue to cooperate with employers.  Compromises, concessions, for the workers, keep them as that, working class, poor people, in a monetarily wealthy society.  Unions are not true worker organizations.  Worker councils are what worker’s need, such as those that currently exist in Argentina – this is an instance where workers control production and distribution of their labour.  There are small situations around the world where workers labour co-operatively, and collectively deciding on their own fates.  Unfortunately this is not common and most workers are subjugated by their employers, being given no choices but to report to work and slave so that the bosses and the bosses’ bosses have prosperous lives.  It is not a crime to demand equality and justice for all and yet it is – in the capitalist system. 

Support for Pedro is growing, as he has opened the door to more open complaints against the management.  More hotel and restaurant workers have been inspired by Pedro’s fight.  The more we recognize our connections to each other as the wage-slavers in an unjust and hierarchical society, we become conscious of our power – we labour and toil for profits of others.  When will this disgusting cycle end?  How will it end?  It begins with these connections, the organizing of workers, solidarity, and resistance to all means of oppression by all governments and all corporations, and can build a trail towards a future of mutual participation, co-operation and collectivization.