Labour Pains (10) - Our Town

At some point last week my wife Jane did some calculations on the computer, swiveled in her chair and said, “Congratulations. Sometime in September you wrote your one millionth word on your blog.” I hadn’t thought about that but it got us to talking about what was the most important thing I’ve been trying to say for the last five years and both concluded “citizenship.” And so it is. Politics is nothing without it; community is everything with it.Right now London – our community – is under the microscope nationally. A big firm has decided that our habitat is not as important as its bottom line and we are quickly realizing that our city, already vulnerable to high levels of unemployment, is in a more fragile predicament as a result of Electro Motive than before it became an issue. We are angry and insecure at the same time, knowing that at some point the job lost could be ours. Some 500 workers, unionized and private, have reminded us that modern capitalism, especially at the higher end, suffers from a lack of commitment.Repeatedly we hear, “what can we do about it; it’s just the way it is?” Perhaps we need to revisit that outlook. I would like to suggest that by adopting the attitude that we have to sell ourselves to the world as the answer to our problems that we might only be adding to them. Most companies that eventually come here will behave increasingly like Caterpillar, so, really, how are we much farther ahead? I think it’s time we start selling ourselves to ourselves.We are repeatedly reminded that a high percentage of jobs created in this country are produced by small and medium-sized companies. London is full of such entrepreneurs and yet we continually seem to neglect them as we scour the earth for the larger firms to come to London in search of the bottom line. These local firms have chosen to live and function here among us but are continually overlooked as we keep offering tax breaks and services to the larger stores and manufacturers. If these indeed are the companies that will produce the jobs and hire the workers, why are we not making it easier for them to do business in our town?My friend Mike Moffatt, economist from the Ivey Business School, provided me with a clear example of this just yesterday. Link to this if you want to understand why smaller firms feel they are second-class citizens. Firms like Mike is talking about choose to live here and suffer through the red tape and lack of attention specifically because they buy into the concept of “our town.” I have met more such firms in the last six months than I knew existed and they all tell the same story. We go for the big guys when we should be building up our own productivity and capacity from within, much like we do with research parks. Instead of banking everything on foreign investors who seem to have deep pockets but ice in their veins, let’s promote what is already great in our town by rewarding those who choose to live and produce among us. Perhaps it’s time we as a city recalibrated our economic outlook and held an internal economic summit designed to free local businesses from the bonds holding them in check. That would be a better plan of action than holding our breath for the Caterpillars of the world.We don’t have to be slaves to the present capitalist trends. We have choices, but only if we act collectively as citizens. Our bonds shouldn’t just be based upon our economic usefulness to one another but on our shared commitment to provide a healthy and open community for our children and our neighbours. That isn’t impossible, but it will take a change in outlook.One of the best ways we’ll know if we’re made of the right stuff for this is how we treat workers like those at Electro Motive. Most Londoners polled say they support the workers, but if that’s true where are they? This isn’t about unions or corporate giants; it’s about us and how we protect our own. It’s not tribalism but community. It is ironic that Londoners by the thousands will contribute to wildly successful food drives to feed the hungry but can’t recognize that these Electro Motive workers are but a step away from the food bank’s door. Why wait until we are moved by charitable impulses? Let’s instead fighting for adequate pay for good work.If you believe these workers are part of our community, then envelop them with your own commitment and dedication. There’s a rally shortly to support them in Victoria Park. Let’s show up by the thousands.This community is our commodity. It’s the best of what we are and have. We want jobs, but not if we have to sell our collective soul to get them. Our leaders used to make decisions for us; now they spend their time trying to lure others to our town. Fair enough. But they also must lead from within, developing talents we already possess in large measure. Yet their biggest task now is not to sell; it’s to sympathize and be with these workers because they are our own. There is no excuse for politicians still not showing up at the worker’s line – no excuse. These are our people, suffering in our town. Be there, regardless of your opinion. If you can’t do that, then please don’t ask to lead us. We follow pioneers not peddlers.Caterpillar has done us a favour by waking us up to what our future might be if we don’t permit that citizenship part of us to rise above our consumerism. Let’s free up our inner entrepreneurship. And let’s never forget that these workers on the line are “our folks” and we’ll stay on the limb with them as long as it takes.This is the last post in this series on labour. Special thanks to all those who responded by showing up at the worker's line. You have my respect.