Re: Unions No Longer Needed In Canada

[Anonymous]

Public sector unions ought not exist. Here's why.

 

In the private sector a union bargains for a greater share of the entity's revenue and profits. What it can provide in return is greater productivity, accomplished perhaps by work force stability, higher morale, and the belief that the common fate of employer and employee will be enhanced by productivity gains. If this happy event ensues, at the next round of collective bargaining, union workers can and should receive their fair share of the resulting gains.

 

In the public sector, by contrast, a union is not bargaining for a greater share of the revenue produced by economic activity; it is bargaining for a greater share of revenue that is obtained by force of law – taxation – or, if not a greater share, at least for a constant share of those revenues extracted from the citizens. What a public sector union can and does provide in return is political support for the faction that chooses to increase taxes or the union's share of existing taxes. If public sector unions deliver on their support, they will be rewarded by ever more generous payments. There is no market that acts as an external monitor of worker compensation; there is only a steady repetition of a corrosive bargain... tax the public ever more in order to maintain political power. That is inimical to responsible government.

Shen Li, I am not trying to obstruct responsible government..



I should have as much right as anyone to organize if I choose to.

[Romero]

in Canada we have many employment laws that protect employees. We have laws that govern minimum wage, unemployment insurance, workplace safety and compensation, pensions, benefits, severance pay, overtime pay, holiday pay, vacation pay, parental leave, discrimination, sexual harassment, pay equity, and even a law that guarantees a smoke-free workplace.

Thanks to unions.

[Anonymous]

in Canada we have many employment laws that protect employees. We have laws that govern minimum wage, unemployment insurance, workplace safety and compensation, pensions, benefits, severance pay, overtime pay, holiday pay, vacation pay, parental leave, discrimination, sexual harassment, pay equity, and even a law that guarantees a smoke-free workplace.

Thanks to unions.

We are all better off because of those things..



Who would want some third world country sweatshop conditions?

[Romero]

Shen Li and the author of the article. For everyone else!

[Anonymous]

Shen Li and the author of the article. For everyone else!

You've got a great sense of humour Romero.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks to unions.

We are all better off because of those things..



Who would want some third world country sweatshop conditions?

Unions have outlived their usefulness. As we can see workers already have adequate protection from abuse and exploitation. Workers are forced to pay dues to essentially political organizations. That is just plain WRONG!

I am very satisfied with the safeguards the AUPE provides.

[Obvious Li]

Public sector unions should not exist.

true dat...inevitably they will bankrupt this country......federal and provincial unfunded liabilities to union pension funds exceed the national debt...this is unsustainable and untenable.......unions need to be de-certified and their leaders jailed for treason

[Anonymous]

It's not just Alberta that has unreasonable civil service unions. In Ontario they hold the entire province ransom.



http://www.thestar.com/news/queenspark/2013/03/05/hudak_attacks_unions_and_environmentalists.html">http://www.thestar.com/news/queenspark/ ... lists.html">http://www.thestar.com/news/queenspark/2013/03/05/hudak_attacks_unions_and_environmentalists.html

Unions and radical environmentalists are shackling Ontario's economy, Tory Leader Tim Hudak says.

 



Hudak on Tuesday blamed unions — particularly public sector unions — for stalling Ontario's economic recovery, and environmentalists for standing in the way of developing the Ring of Fire, a vast northwestern Ontario mineral deposit.

 



"What the oil sands are to Alberta, what potash is to Saskatchewan, the Ring of Fire could be for the province of Ontario . . . it's too bad that the Liberals seem to be captured by radical environmental groups," Hudak told reporters at Queen's Park.

 



Hudak said the Liberal government and the New Democrats are too busy listening to the unions and not the rest of Ontarians.

 



"The problem that we have is that we have public sector union bosses who are running the government right now. And they seem to have access to the front door to Kathleen Wynne as premier," he said.

 



"I think it's just unfortunate that the NDP and Liberals seem to be so singularly focused on appeasing the public sector union bosses, it's causing a province to go bankrupt and it is costing us jobs. Nobody is going to invest in a province that has huge debts."

 



Hudak said one of the remedies is to put reasonable limits on arbitration awards, nothing that recently a 20-per-cent wage increase for Stratford firefighters is a classic example of a municipality being saddled with a wage hike it can't afford.

 



He said a big part of overspending in government is "fixing a broken arbitration system that is handing out outsized deals to public sector unions that are way beyond the ability of taxpayers to pay those bills."

 



Tory MPP Jim Wilson is to re-introduce a bill that would require arbitrators to factor in the ability to pay when handing out awards as well as reflect what happening in the private sector.

 



"We need to take this on. With the Liberals and the NDP in some sort of competition in who can one up the other in getting public sector union boss support, the taxpayers simply can't afford it," he said.

 



"We need to act on behalf of the 85 per cent of Ontarians who aren't on the government payroll and have made far more sacrifices in these difficult times," Hudak stated.

[Anonymous]

Bring on those Klein-style cuts to our greedy provincial unions. They don't give a flying fuck if Alberta's finances are in the toilet as long they get what they want. Fuck em, break their selfish backs to save Alberta.

EDMONTON -- Anticipating a gloomy Thursday provincial budget, Alberta's biggest public unions and associations are raising the alarm about a possible return to "Klein-style" cuts of the '90s.

"We've been here before," United Nurses of Alberta (UNA) president Heather Smith said Monday.



"We've spent almost two decades trying to pull ourselves out of the hole that was created by the so-called Klein-style cuts."



The UNA was joined by representatives of the Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL), Alberta Teachers' Association (ATA), Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE), and the Health Sciences Association of Alberta (HSAA), at a joint press conference. The leader of the Canadian Union of Public Employees-Alberta joined in virtually from Calgary.



The AFL noted that it wasn't long ago Premier Alison Redford campaigned on promises to preserve social programs and services while still delivering a deficit.



Just a few weeks ago, when Redford and Finance Minster Doug Horner warned there would be some "tough choices" to make in the books come budget day.



"I would argue this is, if not a betrayal, it is something that is close to a betrayal of the promises that have been made by this government," AFL president Gil McGowan said.



"We're disappointed with Alison Redford, and frankly we think Albertans should be disappointed, because this is not what Albertans voted for during the last provincial election."

I am not greedy and I do care about Alberta's future...I live in this province.