“Perceptions,” by Gerry Warner

Op-Ed Commentary

Labour Day – it may not be the most popular holiday of the year, but in many ways it should because of what it accomplished for the good of society and betterment of civilization.

Lofty words, yes but  there’s a lot of truth in the above words though many would try to deny it.

Consider the state of the world before unions began to develop in the late 19th century. Work was virtually endless and often dangerous in those difficult days and workers had little say over their working conditions, pay, safety or any aspect of their jobs and if they complained they were fired and it was “down the road” to poverty and despair. And despair they did until some began to realize they could
improve their lot if they acted collectively instead of acting as individuals.

That was a big realization and it led to a world-wide era of strikes and violent confrontations as companies fought to keep control over their workers and workers fought back in battles for the eight-hour day, paid vacations, improved safety conditions and higher wages.

Lives were lost in some of these battles such as the Haymarket Riot in Chicago, the Winnipeg General Strike and the “Copper Wars” in Butte, Montana and the Coeur d’Alene labour struggles close to the Canadian border.

Spillover from these battles helped lead to the unionization of the Cominco operations in Trail and Kimberley by the Western Federation of Miners and the Mine Mill and Smelter Workers Union, the storied descendants of the One Big Union or “Wobblies” as they were called in Western Canada and the US.

But political radicalism in some of the unions resulted in reduced public support for unions that harbored communists, anarchists and other extreme elements in their ranks. And some of the captains of industry like Henry Ford reduced union support even further by bringing in reforms like the the eight-hour day and doubling workers’ wages. But would Ford have done this if the unions hadn’t pressured him to do it? Not likely.

And the battle continues to this day with some companies like the big banks and the fast-food chains totally hostile to unions while other more strategic companies have decided it’s better for business to cooperate with organized labour.

According to Statistics Canada, about 30 per cent of Canadian workers belong to unions today and the  rate has been slowly increasing in recent years. In the US only 10.3 percent of workers belong to unions. But according to the US Census Review, the US has a poverty rate of 11.4 percent while only 6.4 percent of Canadians live below the poverty line.

Surely the numbers speak for themselves and they don’t speak well for what’s supposed to be the richest country on earth.

So along with a much lower poverty rate than our forever feuding American neighbours we peaceful Canadians receive many benefits from our higher rate of unionization. Apart from the major benefits of collective bargaining, higher wages and job security, there are many more including extra pay for overtime, pension plans, sick pay, health and safety programs, paid vacations, maternity leave and
many more.

Certainly, there are progressive non-union companies that provide these benefits too. But the incentive to do this came from the union movement and took generations to get established.

Unions are certainly not perfect. There is some corruption in the ranks as there is among companies. But union companies are far more likely to provide a good working atmosphere where decision making is a mutual and democratic process unlike Russia where one worker is alleged to have said “they pretend to pay us and we pretend to work.” No wonder Putin is losing the war!

“Labor unions created the middle class. Too bad they’re not around as much to keep it alive and kicking.” Anon.

Happy Labour Day.

e-KNOW file photo

Gerry Warner is a former shop steward and a sometime union critic.

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