Spurred to Action
One of the stories Antonio had shared, was about a polish man in his late 60’s who had also worked as a framer for almost all of his adult life, and was a long standing member of the union. This man and his family came to Canada when he was young and had started working as a framer as soon as he was old enough to work. Even though his employer knew that he struggled to speak English, they didn’t feel the need to go over any of the union papers with him, or explain any of benefits due to him. They did however keep giving him work because they knew he was a hard worker that always came to work and did his job.
The day came when this man quietly entered the union office to make a request to collect the vacation pay that he knew they had been deducting off his check for several years. Normally vacation pay is given out twice a year, once before Christmas and the other in July, but it is the right of every worker everywhere to collect their money whenever they are in need.
However the workers that worked in the unions office, were told to follow an ‘unwritten rule’ that if someone came in to ask for their vacation pay and it was not one of the two times I have just mentioned they were to ask what it was the union member needed their moneys for and make a note of the answer on their file. When the man had approached the desk and had asked for his vacation pay, the young lady on the other side did what was expected of her and asked the man what he was planning on using the money for? When the man softly replied that his wife had been struck and killed truck on her way home from grocery and he needed the money to help bury her, the young lady started to tear up. In a state of disbelief she informed the man that the union provided him with a $30,000 dollar death benefit and asked him if he had not known this. The man had no idea, as he was just asking for the $860.00 that he had accumulated over the past months, and was very relieved to hear of this.
After the man had left the desk, the young ladies manager who had overheard the conversation came to her and reprimanded her for giving out the information freely. She was told it was not her job to inform them of their benefits, that if they did not take the time to inform themselves it was their loss. The young lady actually got in trouble for telling the man about a benefit that he was entitled to.
