Happy Holidays Indeed for CN Boss

[CliqueofOne]

http://www.sevenoaksmag.com/features/45_feat2.html

Happy Holidays Indeed for CN Boss
January 4, 2005
Derrick O'Keefe

Years ago, when Canada still had a “national railway,” the great engines that drove this country’s economy used to pretty much shutdown with the holidays, at least the Christian ones. And so, on Christmas Day, workers could count on a day off from their demanding and dangerous jobs to enjoy a meal with family and friends. Privatization, however, has quietly swept away those quaint notions.

Today, the CN, which this year scored the much-sought-after purchase of BC Rail, now runs full loads of freight along its steel highways right through the holidays. Top executives, no doubt, slip away to their gated suburban homes, or off to a get-away beach condo for a “much deserved” break, while their more lowly employees keep watch of both switch signals and the hallowed stock value and bottom line.

This, of course, is the essence of the right-wing fuss about “family values”: it’s all a matter of whose families you value. The stresses and strains of working through the holidays, though, are but one aspect of the privatization of the railways and other public assets. An empty seat at the holiday dinner table is only one of many symptoms that reveal the new relationship of Labour and Capital on the country’s rails. The grinding, subtle and “inevitable” process of de-nationalization goes on all year round. And it deserves much closer examination.

The BC Rail deal of Gordon Campbell’s government has already been muddied by scandal, with charges including bribery related to its sale filed against two top Liberal staffers.

While the charges against Robert Virk and David Basi, prominent aides to then Transportation Minister Judith Reid and the conveniently departed Finance Minister Gary Collins, respectively, have received remarkably muted coverage, buried as they were beneath the all-important Todd Bertuzzi case.

There has been even less written about the company that has benefited the most from the sale of BC Rail: CN. And though of course it would be libelous to describe legal partisan donations as bribes, CN has contributed tens of thousands to the B.C. Liberals over the past four years.

Formerly the Canadian National Railway, the corporation was privatized in 1995, and is today run by CEO Hunter E. Harrison, a Chicago-based railway tycoon.

A sprawling city on the shores of Lake Michigan and situated at the center of North American transportation and shipping operations, Chicago has a long history in the railway business.

The notorious George Pullman revolutionized the industry from there with the introduction of his luxury “sleeping car” in the 19th century. Pullman named a company town just south of Chicago after himself, and integrated the “utopian” experiment into his empire of exploitation – exorbitant rents were deducted from paycheques; foodstuffs and other essential goods were marked up; wages were slashed, especially during the 1890s recession. When the business baron died in 1897, his family made sure that his body was placed in a special tomb, protected from any chance of posthumous feedback from his workforce: His eight foot deep pit came complete with steel-reinforced walls and floors, covered over with steel rails, more concrete, and asphalt.

Harrison, for his part, took command as CEO of CN Rail on January 1, 2003, after first joining the company in 1998. Replacing the outgoing Paul Tellier – who jumped on the Bombardier bandwagon at an inopportune time, and has just been fired – Harrison has done very well for himself indeed.

The CN Chief Executive might not even mind a comparison with Pullman, and it’s unlikely he cares much about what his employees think of his “reforms” at the CN; American managers have been said to refer to their Canadian workers as “snow niggers” or “overpaid Mexicans.”

And speaking of overpaid, Harrison has certainly done well for himself since joining the CN in 1998. In 2000, while still the lowly No.2 man as the company Chief Operating Officer, Canadian Business reported that the “tough as nails” executive received $891,120 in base salary, plus “a few perks” and a cool $10 million performance bonus (December 10, 2001).

In a comprehensive report on CEOs “raking it in,” The Globe & Mail reported that Hunter Harrison has also been rewarded with shares in the company, holding $33.2 million in CN stock options (April 30, 2004).

The CEO has been rewarded heartily for shedding costs (employees) and raising the company’s stock price. Harrison has driven a hard line in negotiations with the CN’s workers, represented by the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) and the United Transportation Union (UTU), as well as the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers (BLE).

Other measures, too, have been employed to “discipline” the workforce. Most recently, the CAW has filed charges against the company for threatening the union representative who blew the whistle on hidden surveillance cameras at the Transcona Wheel Shop in Winnipeg. The UTU, for its part, has been busy fighting wrongful dismissal cases through arbitration and by appealing to the Canada Industrial Relations Board.

So while life has gotten harder for CN workers, as symbolized by the increased holiday workload, executive compensation has skyrocketed – a familiar formula that accompanies privatization and neo-liberal economic and political regimes. The company, perhaps wary of potential griping from its ungrateful employees, addressed the issue of working through the holidays in a recent newsletter by adding a little caveat to their seasons greetings:

I extend to you and your family my best wishes for this festive season. Ours is a demanding profession, and our families have to accept that our duties make it impossible to be present at some family occasions…(“Message from Peter Marshall,” CN Western Canada Region Newsletter, December 2004)

One can speculate pretty safely that Hunter Harrison’s many duties did not keep him away from a big holiday feast with family and friends. After all, the CN’s CEO had a lot to celebrate this year, and a lot of reasons for which to send a really nice Christmas card to B.C. premier Gordon Campbell.

[gabe]

Zardoz,

I am not going to speak for MWH, for I am sure that he is more than capable of speaking for himself. But, I will speak for his posts, because your statement is not at all an accurate representation of what he has posted.

I don't want to say what Mark thinks or does not think. But, if you think Mark's comments represent an unabridged and unconditional support for the free market system, you don't need to read between the lines--you need to read the lines. At the very most, he has not expressed an opinion on this dialectic.

I have always liked and respected your posts, Zardoz. But, I really think your pinpointing your dislike for your understandings of the haves and the have nots on Mark is, at best, inaccurate.

Gabe

[Anonymous]

Zardoz-

There is more to successful capitalism than the Scrooge model mentioned in the article. One need not be Fezziwigg either. But there is room for balance. I'm sure in time things will settle down at CN.

LC

[Anonymous]

Click-

Cry me a river....

LC

[jeaton]

If you take the link to the article, you will find another link to Seven Oaks Magazine manifesto which is basicly to promote socialism. Among the views of those who run, write and support the magazine, the exploitation of workers so that business owners and top managers can receive huge profits and salaries is wrong. Not necessarily anything wrong with someone having that view, but as with most discussions of "isms", objectivity isn't at the forefront. From the tone of the article, you can be sure objectivity is not one of the sins of this magazine.

Having had the experience of working for companies that underwent changes of focus, culture and management strategy, and also having been on the wrong side of downsizing more than once, I can understand the anger that will come. I would always allow myself to indulge a period of selfpity, say 10-15 minutes, but then it was time to get over it. Would I have prefered that the system would have been more favorable to me? Of course. Who wouldn't. However, I never subscribed to the idea that life should be fair.

I do happen to agree that an effort should be made to try to make life a little bit more fair for everyone. The article quoted above doesn't get anywhere close to that goal. All it does is point to a situation considered by the writter to be terribly unfair and it only reinforces of the sad world view of persons who feel they are the special victims of an unfairness.

Jay

[fuzzybroken]

I have two contributions to this topic:
1. Capitalism, as a whole, is a good thing.
2. I have often heard it said that "Money makes good people better and bad people worse."

[2c],
-Mark W. Hintz (the other MWH!)
http://www.geocities.com/fuzzybroken

[Anonymous]

Its just to bad that when Hunter Harrison and his little band took over Canadian National Railway Co., they never bothered to learn about a little thing called the CANADA LABOUR CODE.
Because they ran head on into it.

[Anonymous]

Sure it's important to make money and of course it is the duty of management to ensure that stockholders are getting the vaule that they deserve, but I disagree that workers should be treated like numbers.

Yes they are treated like numbers (disposable numbers in CNs case), I'm not so nieve as to believe that the CEO of ever major corporation should know all of his/her employees by name, catering to their every request, but I do believe that it isn't difficult (and certainly not impossible) to treat their employees like humans.

In my opnion, CN does a very poor job of respecting their employees, I for one am glad I don't work there.

[zardoz]

In order to avoid further misinterpretaions, I have deleted my posts in this thread. My apologies if I offended anyone.

[Junctionfan]

Canada doesn't appreciate the Rockefeller approach to workers. The reason why people don't vote in a way that would involk a more socialist atmosphere is because the Canadian people are either not educated enough on the matter, they don't care or they don't have the guts to vote with their heart and their brain but just go for what everybody else is voting for. You wouldn't believe the amount of people that voted for Mike Harris that said they didn't know why voted for them and then they had the nerve to whine about the results.

Their is one thing I have noticed about Canadians and that it is that we are rather lackadazicle and too apathetic. We don't really show alot of back bone when it comes to politics because it doesn't really matter to us unfortunately. If you look at the amount of voter turn out at the polls, it is very apparent the people are starting to just not care. A great deal of people have lost faith in the political system of Canada but that is because they keep voting in the same parties over and over again, not giving the others a chance. We are not a 2 party system, we many other parties that has the potential of being a good government but nobody hardly votes for them so really it's their own fault for not learning from their mistakes and choosing wiser.

Having said that, that doesn't give the corporate elite the right to go around and act like vassal lords. That is a whole backwards way of doing things and doesn't work the way it should. The short term results maybe great but the long term consequence is not good. Have you seen how powerful some corporations are in the movies? Is that a kind of precedent you want to set and allow corporations to run the government and become above the law? It isn't happening yet but if they are allowed to continue unchecked, that is exactly what will happen. You can rebuttle and say I'm just being silly but honestly, have you sat and thought about it? You don't need to be an oracle to figure out that it's begining to point in that direction.

[gabe]

Andrew,

You certainly don't have the backbone problem discussed above; you are all backbone and no brain. I normally wouldn't say such a thing, but your post has got to be the most arrogant thing I have seen you state to date--and that is saying something.

I can't believe you said that about the Canadian electorate. No one else knows but you.

In all honesty, if Canada were more of a socialistic country, I would respect that--as I respect other socialist countries. That is because, if socialism is what a country wants for itself, they have that right and should be respected for it. Similarly, if a country does not think your socialistic ideas are so great, they should be respected for it. You simply want a system that favors your self-interest the most and will be a moral bully to whomever might assert differently.

It you want socialism, organize and vote for it. But my goodness, you are being incredibly arrogant to think everyone else has no idea what they are talking about.

Gabe

[co614]

Mr. Hemphill says it well. I was not aware that the CN employees that Mr. Harrison is so mis-treating were enslaved to CN, but was under the evidently wrong impression that they were free to seek employment elsewhere if disatisfied! Truly a travesty that should be investigated(perhaps at the UN?) and corrected!!!
Ross Rowland

[Junctionfan]

QUOTE: Originally posted by gabe

Andrew,

You certainly don't have the backbone problem discussed above; you are all backbone and no brain. I normally wouldn't say such a thing, but your post has got to be the most arrogant thing I have seen you state to date--and that is saying something.

I can't believe you said that about the Canadian electorate. No one else knows but you.

In all honesty, if Canada were more of a socialistic country, I would respect that--as I respect other socialist countries. That is because, if socialism is what a country wants for itself, they have that right and should be respected for it. Similarly, if a country does not think your socialistic ideas are so great, they should be respected for it. You simply want a system that favors your self-interest the most and will be a moral bully to whomever might assert differently.

It you want socialism, organize and vote for it. But my goodness, you are being incredibly arrogant to think everyone else has no idea what they are talking about.

Gabe

Please save me the no brain thing. You don't particularly observe the Canadian elections do you because if you did, through years of observation and listening to folk on the news (interviewed regular citizens), listen to E-mails and commentary; you begin to start thinking this way. They talk out of one side of the mouth and then the other when it's effecting them. It's like lighting your house on fire and can't figure out why gasoline won't put it out after all it is a liquid kind of logic-not particularly good. I wish I was full of hot air but unfortunately, the people are not as informed as it should be.

I have always voted for socialism so I am doing my part. I would say majority of people are that ignorant. You may not like what I say and I understand that but enough is enough; I can't keep quiet on this issue anymore-it's anti productive. We have as societies, have made countless technological advances while not making any social one; something has to be done. Capitalism is old and rather archaic and deserves modification.

[gabe]

Andrew,

I know you probably don't believe me, but I am trying to help you here--though I don't really care one way or another about socialism.

I certainly am not suggesting you shouldn't advocate socialism on here or elsewhere. I would never call that stupid—as I would never call an advocacy of capitalism stupid. Heck, I have given constitutional monarchists and communist an honest ear on the same day.

But, your arguments are all ad homonym attacks (calling people stupid rather than addressing their arguments) and fail to address, much less understand, your opponents’ position. If you REALLY want to change Canada, don't say (or assume) Canadian voters are stupid. Rather, make an HONEST and OBJECTIVE assessment of why they vote the way they do, and then try to address them through your assessments. I will warn you though, if you are really honest you will end up truly believing in no particular paradigm.

Your method will only convince others that you are the one who is stupid. I don't think you are stupid, I just think you haven't demonstrated to anyone that you know what you are talking about and think it would make for better dialog and debate if you made an honest attempt to address the real arguments supporting Canadian voters rather than just calling them stupid.

Gabe

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by M.W. Hemphill

Well, Andrew, you've rendered me speechless.

WOW! That is an accomplishment Andrew.

Unlike Gabe, I think I wouldn't call you brainless. Perhaps pig headed and single minded. You do really need to tune up those people skills and get out a bit more often. You really believe socialism is the wave of the future?!?

Look at the huge issues the european countries are and will continue to have with their baby boomers. The socialist system in not sustainable at levels calculated to support the retirement of those generations and the ones behind them. Why are Russia and China no longer Socialist but are more capitalist and open countries?!? All have realized that the economic growth rates necessary to support an advanced standard of living require capitalism.

Whew, didn't know I had it in me. Must be the leftovers of that darn undergrad Government degree...lol...

LC

[Junctionfan]

Russia and China are interesting examples of failed communism. China is starting to be a little more democratic with the people so their communism will likely succeed as a medium from total poverty and falling apart of a country from war and aristocratic abuse to a thriving country where all people are supposed to be equal. The Soviet Union failed to work because they were too busy trying to arm themselves with weapons and spending money they didn't have on it that the cold war made its people sick of the way the government was going about things. Had the U.S.S.R been more interested in it's own country and fixing it rather than foreign interfearence, it would have been more successful and likely not have failed. They did little if no foreign trading which also didn't help matters for them.

Communism in my opinion is for countries that are poor and have been under a government so corrupt and influenced by corporation, criminals or aristocracy that they need a 9-1-1 form of relief. A sort of martial law/ emergency measures of fixing the country. After everything starts to smooth out more, than you can go a little to the right when the majority of the people can afford and handle the change. Slowly but surely, China is turning around from the extreme and perhaps will have an elected democratic government some day.

Socialism in my opinion is a mild version but is a little more relaxed and evasive. You maintain a democracy but with the firm understanding that everybody is more important that a few people but the needy require help too. Sharing the wealth isn't a bad thing, it's the right thing to do.

North America doesn't necessarily need either of thease forms of government BUT, some aspects should be taken into consideration. Obviously the system is not good enough. Child poverty, homelessness, disease, crime and other horrible things like that is increasing and becoming a direct by-product of a failing system. Rather than denying it and leaving it on the shoulders of future generations, should we not do the decent thing and address and fix the problems?

[Anonymous]

Andrew-

You have the answer for everything...

lol...

LC

[gabe]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Limitedclear

Andrew-

You have the answer for everything...

lol...

LC

OK, who is on Limitedclear's password. This is as kind and as gentle as I have ever seen him. Is this Limitedclear light? Fess up, what have you done with Limitedclear?

Sorry LC, just joking.

Gabe

P.S. I know I said that Andrew has no brain; I really don't mean that, I was just trying to catch his attention that he was really offending people and doing absolutely nothing to bring about his desired state of affairs.

[Anonymous]

Gabe-

Its all in the wrist...LOL...

Yeah it's me. I got the post holiday explosion over with that genius the "clicker" (cousin to the Clapper of TV fame and with about the same IQ).

It has been a long day waiting for the phone to ring and I am tired. I'm sure I'll get called in the middle of dinner or just past midnight...

I agree, Andrew is an equal opportunity offender...he offends many (everyone other than himself it seems at times) but I don't think he means it. He just needs to harness all that pent up energy for a positive goal. Does ther Peace Corps take Canadians? I know he could help out with Tsunami relief and be very productive...

LC

[gabe]

I agree. If I thought he were worthless, I would just not respond to his posts.

Gabe

[Junctionfan]

This is the kind of responses that make me ashamed and embarrassed to call be a human being. If this is the kind of casual attitude the majority will take toward a very serious issue, the world of mankind will fall from its own doings.

I don't care if you people respect me or not (although I am touched that you do) but I am being very serious because I care what goes on in the world and I don't want to see it go to hell for a buck. We make and create our own heaven and hell on earth and right now I see a Stygian haze over mankind. I see suffering and chaos that could easily be avoided but action not being taken by everybody. A select few is not doing their part and helping those in need or are not willing to comprimise a little bit of wealth to help the dire need. The only reason why I haven't lost complete faith in humanity is because of the generosity shown to the victims of the tsunami.

Mankind is very much capable of showing mercy but unfortunately in most cases it takes a disaster to bring people together. I wi***he world wasn't like that. When will such mercy and compassion be shown all the time. What will cause this to happen?
This is what I fear so please don't mock it.