Reflection for Labour Day

Unions are a favourite target for conservatives.  There was a time when I honestly subscribed to the popular activity of blaming organized labour for many of our social and economic woes.  Then I started realizing how much better off I would have been in certain workplaces of the past if I had been in a union, especially when it came to wages, hours, and conditions.  I looked back to my two summers as a student labourer for the late and lamented Ontario Hydro and realized how the wages I was making allowed me to save thousands on tuition and thus reducing the need for student loans or help from my parents.  Most of the non-unionized places I’ve worked in were quite toxic when it came to employee relations, wages, and working conditions.  It’s a lonely feeling when things are bad at work and there’s nowhere to go for help.  The options are either stick with it and suffer or quit.  Since I returned to student life in 2011, I again have been a union member as a teaching assistant.  The wages and conditions that come with it, as before, have greatly reduced my financial burdens.

Have you ever noticed how the people who dislike unions the most are usually those who are not members of them and have no opportunity to organize?  They are frustrated and angry and instead of attempting to change the situation, turn it into resentment to those with a better work environment.  I grew up in a small town where the only private sector workplace with a union was one of the supermarkets.  The other industries all had low wages and I recall some did not have the best working conditions either.  Some of the industries were controlled by old money families who happily used their accumulated wealth for luxurious lifestyles while the labourers struggled with much less.  Class differences and divisions are bad enough anywhere, but in a town of 5,000 they are painfully visible and audible whether it’s at the baseball diamond, rink, schoolyard, and the one place where no social division should be made, in church.  Readers may think that some of these old money merchant and industrial families were Conservatives in both the ideological and partisan sense.  However, I know that many of them were Liberals who provided significant funds to local candidates and their campaigns. 

Voters should not be fooled by the progressive mantra of Justin Trudeau for this reason.  His campaign accounts are well stocked by captains of industry.  As with the Conservatives, the Liberals too have their wealthy friends in corporate Canada, whether it be on St. James Street in Montreal, Bay Street in Toronto, or in relatively unknown small towns like the one I grew up in.  The Liberals will never let progressive labour or economic policies become reality if they get in the way of the motives of their corporate friends.  Justin Trudeau has repeatedly criticized the NDP plan for a $15 per hour federal minimum wage.  It was the Liberal Party that eliminated the federal minimum wage during the 1990’s when the famously corporate Paul Martin was Finance Minister.  Yes, it is true, many people in federally regulated industries are already making more than $15 per hour.  However, many are making not much above that.  I spent five years in a federally regulated industry and at one company only made the provincial minimum wage which was then just $8 per hour.  At another company, there were staff members who worked extra jobs in order to pay rent and feed their children.  If there was a legal minimum, no company would want the embarrassment of paying their employees that little.  A decent federal minimum would be an incentive to pay them more (such as $17 or $18) and thus increase their standard of living.  Most federally-regulated companies are very profitable and would have no difficulty paying their employees accordingly.  However, companies like Power Corporation, whose holdings include several radio and television stations are friendly with the Liberals, they would quickly ensure a $15 minimum never happened.  The Power Corporation legacy with the Liberal Party runs strong.  The Desmarais family who founded and control the company have a long history of providing funds and human resources to the Liberals.  John Rae, brother of Bob Rae was a Power executive who managed Jean Chretien’s election campaigns.  Jean Chretien’s daughter married one of the Desmarais sons.  Maurice Strong, the former United Nations official began his career with the company and was hired by Pierre Trudeau to be the first CEO of Petro Canada when it was founded as a government-owned company.  Paul Martin, the former Finance Minister and Prime Minister who now holds Justin Trudeau’s hand at campaign events in Quebec started out at Power Corporation too, eventually taking over Canada Steamship Lines which Power formerly owned.  Martin, ever the patriotic Canadian, chose to sail his ships under the much more affordable flag registrations and lower wages of third world countries.  That move conveniently avoided high wages and unions!  No wonder he eliminated the federal minimum wage as Finance Minister!  

Labour Day is meant for celebrating the role of working people in our society and economy.  It is meant to honour those who struggled, and continue to struggle for a better standard of living for working people.  Looking ahead to October 19, think about how the right choice needs to be made to continue to protect the interests of working Canadians and reduce the economic inequality in our country which is increasing at a disgusting and unacceptable rate.  We know the Conservatives are against the workers.  The Liberals will try to make you think they’re on your side, but they too are bankrolled by big money and its usual elite suspects.  There is another option.  Do not sacrifice your rights as a worker by electing people who are not interested in your well-being or that of your family.