Apolitical Staples

...Hargrove told the crowd at the university that unions "are long overdue for a makeover" in their political activity. Hargrove said CAW members would laugh at their union if it advised them to vote for the NDP and, when the party wins, everything would be fine.

"In the first place, we've learned the hard way that electing the NDP does not solve all our problems," he said, referring to the Ontario NDP's 1990 win.

"We need an active, demanding independent labour movement to push the envelope and hold government accountable — whatever party is in power. Second, our members are far more sophisticated and independent- minded in their politics today. They do not want to be told how to vote."

And the fact that the Federal Accountability Act will no longer allow union leaders to spend members money on political parties, regardless of whether the members agree with the unions preferred party or not.