By Jocelyn Hunt
Many things in our society have an expiration date. Not just food and medication, but also social institutions. To have an expiration date, something must have initially had a use but past the date no longer fulfills our needs because its value is no longer present. Unions in Canada have expired.
Are unions a part of Canadian society? Yes, considering over 4.5 million workers are union members or affiliated with a union. Although people may be split on their opinions of unions today, the origins of trade unions can be supported by any political position. As a response to the Industrial Revolution, they introduced wage minimums and improved working conditions by implementing safety standards and limiting how many hours could be worked per week. Although there is merit in the origins of unions, they continue to exist today even though we have provincial officials who create and enforce legislation to respond to these same issues. In today’s society, unions ensure their members are overpaid while giving promotions and raises based on arbitrary qualifications. Unions have expired in our society.
In December 2010, Statistics Canada found that the average Canadian union member made $26.24/hour while non-union workers earned $21.26/hour. What are the qualifications necessary to enter into a union and be part of the fortunate group making more than the rest of society on average? Pay the membership fees. That’s about it. Perhaps five dollars does not seem like a lot of money, but why should an organized group of people earn more money per hour merely because they are part of an organization? They shouldn’t. But it get’s worse, that was merely an average. According to the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, a public-sector cashier working for the City of Toronto in 2009 could make upwards of $27/hour, while their counterparts in the non-unionized private sector are lucky to earn $12/hour for the same job. Being the Ayn Rand supporter that I am, if these well paid unionized workers are being promoted, getting raises and allowed to be members based on hard work, merit, and a strong background in their field, then I applaud unions for organizing such a strong work force. This, however, isn’t the situation.
One of the largest unions in Canada, the United Food and Commercial Workers of Canada, boasts a membership of 250,000 across Canada in a variety of sectors, such as manufacturing, agriculture, health care and skilled trades. They are the overseers of many regional and professional unions in Canada. As a way of advertising the great advantages of being a member of the UFCW, their contracts “have time-based wage progression schedules, [which is] a lot fairer than having the boss decide what each person doing the same job should be paid,” according to the UFCW website. So if you work full-time and show up for work every day you will get promoted before someone who does not, with absolutely no regard for work ethic or quality of work. So not only do unionized workers get paid more, but the merit of an individual’s work no longer matters? This is pathetic.
While unions benefit members in some ways, it is a hindrance in others. A new union member starts off at the bottom and therefore receives less pay, comes last when choosing vacation time and is less likely to be considered for advancement ahead of other members, simply because she started the position later. Time spent with a company should certainly be a factor when considering advancement, but it shouldn’t be the primary one. How productive a worker is should count more.
Unions also negatively affect the economy. Their lobbying reach goes much further than it ought to and politicians often have little choice but to put them ahead of other interests, to the detriment of everyone else. Two cases stand out. In Toronto last year, city workers went on strike for five weeks, in large part because the new contract on offer didn’t allow them to retain banked sick days or raise the amount of permitted sick days to eighteen. The strike led to five weeks of garbage piling up in the city, limited ambulance services and city-run day cares being shut down. A second example is the California prison guards’ union. For two decades prison guards received significant wage increases, now totaling over $100,000 a year with overtime. Additionally, guards in California receive a pension that starts as early as 50 and pays as much as 90 per cent of their salary. This union is an excellent example of why America’s most populous state is on the verge of bankruptcy.
Like last month’s milk and Social Credit in Alberta, unions have passed their expiration date. They are no longer the organizations which once improved the working conditions and prevented children from working in textile factories. Now they ensure many workers are paid more than their non-unionized counterparts and weigh time worked as being more important than quality of work or qualifications. We cannot have these pathetic organizations to continue. Unions have expired.