Well, I woke up to read that the city workers in my home city of Toronto are on strike this morning. Some 30,000 unionized employees are on the picket lines, covering city-run services such as garbage collection/recycling, city daycare, park maintenance, public pools and the island ferry service.
The major breakdown for the contract negotiations was the insistence that the unions give up some concessions that they had fought for before, because the recession has brought hard times economically for the city. One of the most well-publicized items that was under negotiation was the city’s sick day banking system. City workers are entitled to 18 sick days per year, which, if not used, can be banked and partially cashed in on retirement. People were only too quick to chime in that it was an unreasonable benefit (mainly because they themselves don’t get it). Funny how those who would consider unions to be entitlement-minded would use an argument that because they don’t get something, no one else should.
But that aside, it got me thinking about the role in society of today’s mega-unions. Now I use the prefix mega- because there are really two forms of unions, regular, smaller unions who kind of fade into the background, and the mega-unions who, because of their size or the industries they represent, are in the scrutiny of the media and therefore the public.
Unions were born in the 1930’s out of a basic need - for the working man to get a fair shake. It was an attempt at bridging the gap between the working man and the company, to provide the workers with both a reasonable pay rate, and easier access to management to voice their concerns about the company and the safety of the workers. This was met with great resistance as it was seen as communism trying to break into our bastion of democratic capitalism. Many incidents of violence broke out on the picket lines between strikers and police, the military, militias, vigilantes, scabs, or just the pitchfork-wielding public. Today, the violence has certainly worn down, but the general anger towards unions persists.
I would like to ask, what roles do unions play these days? Because of the work of the unions in the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s, the working man does have a fair shake. Pay has been reasonable, the working man has access to management, and benefits abound. So why do we need unions? One would argue that the moment unions disappear, those in positions of power would seek to take away what unions fought for - fire ‘em all and rehire at half the wage - that sort of thing. So for most union members, the union needs to exist for their own security. But what does a union, who has earned their members everything that they can hope to earn, do to justify their continued existence? They can’t collect union dues and just sit around twiddling their thumbs. The answer is simple, they ask for more.
During good times for companies, unions make the argument that the workers deserve more as they have driven the company to greater success. This often works, and new benefits which would not fly in the non-union sector are added. But the reason for this might be more to prevent a strike then whether they are actually deserved benefits.
And here is the disconnect, between the working man and the management. The unions have argued that because the workers have allowed the company greater success and greater profits, they are deserving of greater benefits. But, when times are tough, as they now are, the unions make themselves out to be victims as their companies need to scale back to survive. Basic logic is that if you take something extra when times are good, you have to give it back when times aren’t. That’s called give and take, and is proving to be totally necessary for us to get through this recession.
In the end, unions certainly exist for a reason, but the fact that they exist and must justify their existence to their members means that unions will always be fighting and striking for more, even if that risks driving public opinion away, and in some cases, bringing their companies down. Simply put, it can be a bitter pill, but we all have to swallow it for our own good.