The unions' worst enemy

Laval University professor Stephen Gordon makes a telling point in a recent column on the state of Canada’s labour unions.

“More than 60 per cent of union members outside Quebec ( and 52 per cent in Quebec) work in the public sector,” he writes. “The workforce is becoming increasingly polarized into two groups: non-unionized private-sector workers and unionized public-sector workers. More than five out of every six Canadian workers fall into one of these two categories.”

Gordon’s point is that with unions so heavily concentrated among employees on the public payroll, Canadians may increasingly see them as a force for the entrenched privileges those workers enjoy: guaranteed pensions, generous benefits, superior job protection, etc.

But there’s also this: while unions enjoy portraying themselves as a bulwark of fairness against the pervasive greed of the one per cent, their real target is rarely Canada’s wealthy. The pain of their actions is overwhelmingly inflicted on fellow wage-earners, not the rich.

Unions have been losing ground in the private sector for some time. The percentage of private-sector workers represented by a union has fallen below 14 per cent, or about one in seven. Instead, union membership is heavily concentrated in the public sector: 75 per cent across Canada and 82 per cent in Quebec. So when unions demand more money, better conditions and expanded benefits on top of those they already enjoy, they’re not waving their placards at a bunch of cigar- smoking plutocrats in plush corner offices. They’re demanding a bigger share of the public purse from governments, which means t axpayers, which means everyday working stiffs.

This is a very inconvenient fact for union bosses. It undermines their portrayal of the working universe as an ongoing clash between haves and have-nots, and the justification they offer for their continued existence. If the world isn’t divided into the grasping rich and disadvantaged underclasses, who is the enemy? If unions find themselves constantly in confrontation with public employers, it pits them, not against a privileged few, but against the broader public, most of whom face just as great a struggle to get by in a difficult world as the union’s own members.

This has become evident as governments run up against revenue strains caused by their own spending habits. Without corporate bigwigs to demonize, “the enemy” becomes the public at large. In Alberta, Premier Rachel Notley’s NDP government has pledged to maintain public- sector employment, despite struggling with the worst recession in decades. While the private sector has been forced to slash jobs, close offices and cancel projects, public workers have been assured they enjoy a privileged status and will not have to deal with the same realities. “We’re not just going to cross our fingers and hope that cutting taxes for rich people will magically turn the economy around. That’s what Conservatives do,” Notley said in a recent fiery speech to Unifor members.

Alberta faces a deficit this year of up to $11 billion, caused by the NDP’s determination to continue generous spending plans, despite the sharp decrease in revenue. It will make up the difference by borrowing, adding to interest charges that will be charged to taxpayers. But its plans will have minimal impact on the wealthy; instead, Notley’s government has announced a carbon tax that will affect ordinary Albertans, and raised the corporate tax, making hiring more difficult. Her government may be the most union-friendly in Canada; her cabinet is packed with members with union ties. Union members have become Alberta’s elite: their pensions will be funded by people who have no pensions, their benefits paid for by taxpayers who lack their job security and — in many cases — don’t have jobs at all.

Ontario has shown a similar determination to demonstrate its concern for the care and well- being of its labour allies. After introducing a new system of bargaining for teachers, it elected to quietly pick up millions of dollars of union negotiating costs. In return, the unions have spent millions attacking the Liberal government’s opponents to ensure the generosity continues. Only reluctantly, and under extreme public pressure, did it recently agree to limit union spending in future elections.

Public- sector unions and their government enablers may continue to pretend they are protecting a threatened workforce from predatory masters, but it’s a transparent figment of their own imaginations. The victims of maintaining union privileges will mainly be the ordinary Canadians forced to pay the price of their upkeep.