Thank you for writing to express your concern about the sale of J.B. Fields socks in MEC stores. MEC requested and reviewed position papers from UNITE 1764, J.B. .Fields and Friends of UNITE when the issue was first brought to our attention. We requested, but received, no information from Friends of UNITE 1764.

Our review of these documents revealed contradictions. According to the information received from J. B. Fields, they are not in contravention of any labour law nor are they in violation of MEC’s own sourcing policy. The information from UNITE 1764 indicates the opposite view. In light of the opposing views presented by the two parties and in the absence of any verifiable facts that J.B. Fields is indeed in contravention of either the law or our internal policy, MEC has decided to take the middle ground. MEC has not removed J.B. Fields product from our stores. We have, instead, chosen to inform our members, with signage in all of our stores, that the labour dispute exists and to provide contact numbers for both the Union and J.B. Fields. Our intent is to alert our members to the situation and to provide them with the opportunity to get more information that may allow them to make an informed decision about whether or not to purchase J.B. Fields product.

I hope that I have provided you with some insight into MEC’s position on this matter and once again thank you for writing to tell us your concerns.

Bob Matheson
MEC Operations Manager

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Mountain Equipment Co-op
1655 West 3rd Avenue,
Vancouver, BC, Canada
V6J 1K1
Tel: 604-732-1989 Fax: 604-731-6483
E-mail: bmatheson@mec.ca

Visit the MEC website at: http://www.mec.ca
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