I'm an old codger now, retired these thirteen years and due to cash in all my chips before too many more. When that time comes. there will be things that I'll want to hold onto but there will be others that I will be happy to see the back side of. Right at the top of that list is workers in the private sector, and not union, whining about public sector union workers.
The worst thing visited on the world in these last 70 years is not nuclear weapons, Al Qaida, George W, rap music, multifuntional mobile phones or even restaurant drive-thrus. It is the proliferation of the global company.
If you are a private sector worker, you already work for one of them, or you are part of an organization trying desperately to compete with one or more, or your outfit is waiting to be purchased by one of them. They sweep up companies better than a Swiffer sweeps up those cute little dust motes. So today you might be working for a guy who comes to work with you every day, knows the names of your wife and kids and buys cake and coffee on your birthday. Tomorrow he is in The Caymans counting his money and your new boss is someone you will not come within 10,000 miles of meeting. He thinks of you as one more worker just like the Chinese, Indian. Colombian and Angolans that work for him and wonders why he is paying you more than he pays them.
So soon the local manager is saying to you, "Fred, there are foreign workers just as qualified as you who will do the job for 15 per cent less. We don't want you to take a pay cut, but don't be so ready to leave at 5 even if your boy has a football game, and you might think about not taking two weeks paid vacation every year."
And Fred, the poor soul, comes out of it all thinking that his problem is with the union workers that picked up his garbage, were his kids teachers and maybe their coaches too. They, through their union, said no. The people who came before us fought for the working conditions we enjoy today.
They sacrificed much to get us to this point and we will not easily surrender what they fought for. We will not see our wages rolled back by year after year of zero settlements and we will not see our working environments reduced to the equivalents of the Third World.
Are all of the private sector workers opposed to the public sector unions? I think not. I am sure that a majority understand that what is being done to them is unjust and they applaud the stand taken by the public sector unions.
But Lord, spare me the whiners!
Ross Pearce
Prince George
