For unions, new challenges and an old mission
Published Monday September 1st, 2008
In so many ways much has changed in the workplaces in Canada (for good and bad), and yet so many attitudes about our workplaces and labour have not changed much at all.
In 1872, it was a crime to be a union member in Canada. Earliest records show that about 10,000 Torontonians turned out to see the first parade of working men and women and to listen to speeches calling for abolition of the law that decreed that trade unions were criminal conspiracies in restraint of trade. This sounds very similar to comments made today about unions in relation to global trade and economies. The parade worked, and since that time these parades and speeches have celebrated working people.
It took until 1894 and the government of Sir John Thompson to enact legislation to declare Labour Day a national holiday "set aside to honour those who labour."
Even though there was a new national holiday to recognize the contribution of everyday working people, workers had to persevere without legal status until 1944, when the wartime government of McKenzie King finally provided unions legal standing and collective bargaining rights.
The negative attitudes and perceptions towards organized labour - unions are an obstacle to competitiveness, labour mobility, and increased trade - still exist today. This is not to generalize, but to speak to how hard it is to change a perception.
In too many cases the demonstration for workers' recognition remains as necessary today as it did 140 years ago. This, despite of the Supreme Court of Canada's 2007 ruling that established the right for workers to associate in unions as a basic human right and protected under our country's Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Yet organized labour continues to be portrayed as the enemy - the bogeyman responsible for what is ailing the New Brunswick and Canadian economy and the ability to be competitive.
Working men and women are consistently pointed to as a problem for wanting a wage and basic benefits that can support a decent standard of living and a secure retirement after giving a career of service to their employer. Equal attention or criticism is rarely focused on the reasons why these workers are speaking with such passion for a better deal.
Too many workers in New Brunswick lack job security, decent working conditions and too often work two to three jobs to make ends meet. These circumstances demand improvement, and not be portrayed as vested self-interest to the detriment of our competitiveness or economy.
The reality is that with globalism, corporate profit, out-of-whack wage disparities and the Wal-Martization of Canada all running rampant, workers need unions now more than at any other time in our history, so it is probably no surprise that organized labour is under the heaviest attack in our history. The union agenda is for the greater good, whereas the corporate agenda is for profit.
We live today with the benefits of many hard-won union battles of our recent past. It is hard to find anyone complaining about how the unions lobbied politicians to get an eight-hour day, and a five-day work week and an end to child labour, and maternity leave and weekends and a large number of other advancements to our daily standard of living most of us take for granted today. We know the work week has changed a great deal the past 10 years, but the fact remains the value of a weekend was a union idea that turned into a reality.
It is nonsense to be suspicious of unions simply because they want to improve conditions for members and their families and their communities.
Today we have more challenges before us than ever before. Great efforts are spent by union workers to make things better for everyone.
There is much work to do on pensions, seniors' health and dental plans, the continued growth of casual labour and keeping health care public are some examples.
Then there is the issue of the environment and the need to work collectively to make things better. Imagine collective agreements which include language, policy and efficiencies which ensure the best environmental practices are utilized.
Unions have led the way before, and given the challenges we have today, it is appropriate unions work towards the same level of common good as they championed in the past.
To do this, we have to let go of attitudes about unions and get excited and positive about what needs to be done today.
Labour Day is a moment to remember how working people built our communities and gave us many of the benefits we enjoy. It is also a moment to recognize we need to lead the way in this new era with a revitalized labour movement to work for improvements in the quality of life of our community, clean water, universal health care, and a greener environment.
Almost everyone of us works for someone else. For all employees, Labour Day is our day.
I hope everybody is enjoying the Labour Day holiday and pauses long enough to "honour those who labour" in your family, circle of friends and community.
Tom Mann is executive director of the New Brunswick Union.
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Other facts about unions!
U.S.A.
"In 2007, after decades of decline, labor's share of workers edged up to 12.1 percent from 12 percent a year earlier. Last year, 7.5 percent of private-sector workers were union members, down from the 35 percent level that prevailed during the 1950s. Nearly 36 percent of public-sector workers were union members in 2007, up from 10 percent in the early 1960s."
Canada
"... the unionization rate or union density (union membership as a percentage of non-agricultural paid employment) is 30.3% for 2007."
It shouldn't take a genius I.Q. to see the problem Canada faces with 2 1/2 times as many workers being unionized as our neighbour next door. Unionization lowers productivity, raises costs, and leads to a less competitive economy. Just look at today's story about the ILA.
Since '88 and NAFTA, workers of all sectors have experienced significant declines in wealth creation. Recent StatsCan report showed workers of all stripes in Canada have experienced just a $52 per year increase in average income over the past 25 years!
If you build a "competitive economy" on minimum wage labour you will get a minimum wage community, and with Saint John having a 28% poverty rate much of which are working people living below the poverty line.
Attitudes towards unions need a serious 180 degree turn. Anonymous in Saint John sees workers as an expense ... instead of as people with skills and talent and brains who live in the very community where the company does business. They are your neighbour.
It is Anonymous's attitude towards people that represents one of the root problems today.
Wake up!
We no longer have our shipyard, an active Port, Canada Wire and Cable, etc. because of union feather bedding. Moosehead could move operations and make lots more money - let’s hope the unions there know that.
"CUPE Local 486, will earn a 3.5 per cent raise retroactive to Jan. 1, 2008, a 3.25 per cent raise in 2009, another 3.25 per cent raise in 2010, and a three per cent raise in 2011
The city will also increase its medical, health and dental benefits... The city will also give union members a one-time $2,000 payout, in return for eliminating a section of the old contract that provides a $5,000 life insurance policy upon retirement." – T.J. July 22, 2008
City employees are making much more than private sector workers whose taxes fund their exorbitant salaries.
People like Atchison are dreaming if they think this inequity can continue.