How far have we come in the last hundred years? Nobody expects nirvana but can we not expect some progress? We know why unions were created. They were needed to contend with employers who exploited their employees. The unions fought for laws to ensure the right to association, to collective bargaining, to strike. And the union movement became one long endless battle for those rights.
But in the swinging of the pendulum, unions did themselves harm. They got a lock on public sector and major industry jobs. When they dug in their heels and withdrew their labour as a negotiating tool, they most often hurt the public. They became the pariahs who only cared about themselves. They lost the public relations wars.
As business retaliated and politicians got even, the pendulum swung back in its arc. The Rand Formula (making all who benefit pay the union dues) had made many Canadian unions lazy and they had lost the edge to organize. Stelco workers achieved the record of being the highest paid steelworkers in North America and today there are no jobs for them. At the same time, Canada has been steadily stripped of manufacturing jobs as American states pass anti-union laws and lower their minimum wage. The Mexicans created sweat shops on the American border to suck the blood of the unskilled labour market. And the orient provided the skilled labour needed for electronics manufacturing.
But not all unions are greedy; not all manufacturers callous. Caring unions contribute. They save money for the employers by developing safety standards, worker training, managing benefits and helping in the logistics of growth. Companies found that better relations with the union members improves productivity and quality. Companies and unions learned to work together. They were too few.
In the municipal end of the public sector union-management, there has been too little cooperation. Municipal politicians are chosen by the voters more for their braggado than their expertise. They are supposed to listen to experts but choose the experts to whom they listen. They take bluster and baseball bats to union negotiations. Too often, they lay their ideology on the table and fail to listen.
The municipal unions have learned that eventually the senior level of government will take pity on the citizens and force arbitration on both sides. Arbitration will not solve the problems but gives the unions breathing room to wait for a new set of politicians. The warfare can become constant.
We have to learn. We have to have fairness between union and management. We have to have labour laws that can see both sides. We also have to protect Canadian jobs that it makes sense to keep here. We have to make sure that we are not exporting Canadian technology along with jobs. There is no place for ideology that destroys our economy.
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Copyright 2012 © Peter Lowry
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