Labour Pains

At a time when the corporate world is under so much negative attention, this is not the way to gain any favour. In my town of London negotiations between Caterpillar’s subsidiary company Progress Rail and it workers have collapsed. When an American company that was granted a $5 million tax break from the federal government to remain where it is makes its opening offer of an almost 50% reduction in wages, something is wrong. Almost 500 unionized workers raised the company's productivity by 20% in the past year and were rewarded with a corporate slap in the face. Our mayor is attempting everything he can to bring them back to the table but municipalities have little leveraging power.This likely isn’t going to end well and my community is going to suffer for the very reasons the entire 99% to 1% movement has been referring to. What worries me equally though is how the corporate community and the political right have taken to persuading average citizens that unions are part of the problem. If we rise to that bait the 1% pulls off another sleight of hand..Lots of folks I know ruminate about how their financial state is precarious and they are the first to admit that economic disparity is largely caused by the overindulgence of the corporate sector. But that seems so distant; how can an average citizen possibly affect corporate policy? And so it just seems easier to calibrate our sights on the shrinking union force in this country because that’s closer to home. Right wing media understands this temptation and so focuses its efforts on blaming workers instead of the profligate companies.Before we swallow the bait, consider some salient realities. Governments and legislation years ago sanctioned unions specifically because the wealthy elite walked away with the money while workers toiled in poverty. Parties of all stripes supported the effort. Within a decade the middle-class in Canada began to flourish. As unions grew, their efforts at bargaining also improved the lot of those working in non-union jobs. Consider this list of what union support brought to average citizens, regardless of where they were employed.

weekends off – lunch breaks – safety standards – overtime pay – employment insurance – pensions – health benefits – collective bargaining for workers – holiday pay – child labour laws – 40-hour work week – 8-hour work day – sick leave – minimum wage – long and short-term disability – pregnancy and parental leave – the right to strike.

These are just some in a long list of hard-won options for Canadian workers. But to listen to many ardent voices these advances are the reason why companies can no longer compete. That’s also what they said 60 years ago, when it wasn’t uncommon for people to work 80 hours a week with no breaks. The companies and their agents turned out to be wrong.The rise in the middle-class has been commensurate with the ability of unions to negotiate, and sometimes wrestle, worker wages and benefits from the owners. In an ever-dominant world where employees would have little say in their welfare, the rise of unions, and supporting legislation from various levels of government, has been the one thing that has kept the wolf from the door. As such rights were respected, not only did the middle-class experience a steady rise, companies themselves benefitted from dedicated workforces capable of concentrating on their output instead of how they would survive.It’s different today, as we all know. Once a steadying reality, union density in Canada is now below 30%. Again the linkage between worker’s rights and the economic health of a nation are seen to be linked – as unions decline, so does the middle-class and the equitable strength of our economy. Wages and benefits are now in decline, even as massive profits are being accrued by companies.This development is something that should be of great concern to all of us, but instead certain proponents of a privileged capitalism want you to believe that you and your community would be helped far more if we could just get rid of unions. Really? Since unions are in decline along with income fairness and corporate profits continue to balloon, how does that rationale figure? As citizens, if we buy into this kind of lunacy then we will all suffer in the realm of wages and benefits.And so a corporate behemoth from the United States has told London workers to accept a 50% wage cut our they're out of here. They are a profitable company, but no matter, this is about corporate imbalance, not healthy communities or productive employees. They want you to get angry that these unionized workers might be making more than you. Is this a race to the bottom in which we wish to engage? Are we honestly going to display solidarity with the big guys while our fellow citizens are being asked to cut their standard of living in half? Is the issue not really that workers deserve better wages and benefits but because of corporate greed can’t attain them? If so, then we should be backing these workers, as they and those unionized workers before them laid the groundwork for worker’s rights over the decades. If we don’t pull together on this as citizens and take the 99-1 seriously, we too will soon face a similar plight as the London workers. It is but a small step from depreciating workers to losing jobs altogether. More in the next post.