Recently, we've been discussing how workers in the Southern US'ian states have started to push back against 'right-to-work' edicts that have been designed to shut out unions and depress wages and benefits as much as possible.
And it looks like a Mercedes-Benz plant in Alabama might be next:
...Thursday the National Labor Relations Board announced voting will take place May 13 and 17 on whether workers at Mercedes-Benz U.S. International will join the United Auto Workers union. Vote totals are expected May 17.
That’s after the most successful, and one of the fastest campaigns, the union has ever had, signing a supermajority of the plant’s more than 6,000 employees in less than five months...
Which is both interesting and inspiring from a 'tides turning' point of view.
But here's something of historical interest that you may not know (and/or may have forgotten).
Something that Linda McQuaig noted in her most recent Toronto Star column.
Which is that, about a decade ago, a fine young politician in our then most Harperian midst did his best to turn the country of Canada into a worry-free, fully-liberated right-to-work state.
It's summarized in the Star's archives, circa 2012, in a story by Tim Harper:
Man of the people, indeed.
Something that Linda McQuaig noted in her most recent Toronto Star column.
Which is that, about a decade ago, a fine young politician in our then most Harperian midst did his best to turn the country of Canada into a worry-free, fully-liberated right-to-work state.
It's summarized in the Star's archives, circa 2012, in a story by Tim Harper:
Meet the young man who would be the father of right-to-work legislation in Canada.
If you think Pierre Poilievre is a young dad, at age 33, he has the prime minister's confidence and his ear, has been rightly tagged one of the most powerful persons in the national capital, and is already in his fourth term as the MP for Nepean-Carleton...
{snip}
...Poilievre doesn't buy this concept that collective bargaining and trade unions are somehow in the Canadian DNA and he believes workers' freedom mirrors individual freedom as a deeply ingrained Canadian trait.
Opponents, he says, are hung up on the U.S. experience and the domino of right-to-work states, which U.S. President Barack Obama has argued is a race to the bottom...
Man of the people, indeed.
.
5 comments:
Good article. I feel very strongly that the last thing Canada needs is a Pollievre led “conservative” government.
Union membership with benefits and pensions is what made Canada such a great country.
It is not uncommon to see folks with 550K plus mortgages with no pension plan.
From what I have read, Pollievre has never had a real job, but seems to think he is an expert on pretty well everything.
Pollievre, is nothing more than a Trumpian mouth, leading a party of yesterday's people, living in a dream that never was.
The NDP has self destructed promoting whatever to whomever and really no one cares.
Trudeau is remaking Canada in his own image and that is a scary thing, an apologetic, history cleansing, tax and spend world that is nothing more than a Christmas pantomime.
Who to choose, who is the lesser evil?
Who will sell out Canada to China; Russia; the USA; HAMAS?
More and more I am beginning to think writing F*** Off the Lot of you on my ballot.
On Mastodon, #punttherunt is the hashtag used to refer to PP. That's exactly what everybody should do.
That was certainly a gift to us, Neil Young and Pearl Jam, Wow, so much better than watching the reality of the news these days.
If PP and his party are elected to be the next government, we just might see the existence of unions become a rare thing. He certainly would try to remove federal government employee Unions or curtail their rights. All it will take is some changes to the Public Service Employment Act and a couple of others. I am quite sure there are any number of large corporations who would like to see the end of Unions or remove their right to strike, etc. Roll back of federal workers negotiated salaries may also be implemented. Remember the Conservatives have never cared much for those who work for the federal government.
Don't be surprised if PP et al make changes to the Canada Human Rights Act. It has protected people for a long time and set standards which did not improve the bottom line for corporations.
The Act also provided a way for the Indigenous People of Canada to obtain some level of justice for historical wrongs and those which continue to this day. Don't forget it was Harper who decided to spend less on Indigenous children's health care and education. In the end the settlement was quite expensive, but truly needed. You can't go around spending less on one group of people because they have a different culture, language, appearance,, et.c
When we look back at all the things Harper did which violated our Constitution remember PP was part of the gang who did it.
Many people in the U.S.A. thought their right to "choice" was something which would always be there. If it can happen in the U.S.A. you can bet it can happen here. Although it is much more difficult to "mess" with the Canadian Supreme Court, it can be done. We have to look no further than Harper's attempt to appoint one who would have been more "open" to Conservative ideas. Fortunately that was not possible because of the requirements for judges on the Supreme Court.
PP is a nasty piece of business. His behaviour in the House of Commons simply demonstrated he isn't ready for "prime time" and never will be. It is doubtful he will be any better on the International stage.
Some may not like Trudeau, but if PP is elected many are going to wish they had Trudeau back. As to the Conservatives claim they are fiscally responsible, Mulroney and Harper both created larger deficets than the Liberals.
Well said, eaf.
The real hope is to have some deterioration of the larger parties in the future to maintain a constant of minority governments to never allow poopheads like PP to ever have absolute power.
I'm not a huge fan of Mr. Singh and the NDP for tossing out their socialist policies to become Liberal lite for electability reasons, but, giving credit where it should be given, they did push some important changes in dental health and pharmaceuticals.
Much more than the traditional corporate parties have ever done.
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