Major Canadian Exec defends unions

Canadian Pacific's Peter Edwards: Unions Created The Middle Class




"When you talk to anyone remotely connected to the world, they understand the role of unions providing what we have today,” he said.

“They're a key driver in the creation of the middle-class, for the reduction of work hours, paid vacation, all sorts of benefits that we all enjoy."


See full article here.

Finally someone had to say it. So many sheeple brainwashed by the corporate elite anti-union campaigns.
(I do not belong to a union)

Unions are what I like to call a "necessary evil". They have good and bad points. The worst ones are the government unions like usps and cops. They only demand things but never give.

reply to post by Hoosierdaddy71


Thanks for your reply hoosier. Like everything, nothing is perfect or infallible but it is better than poverty for our masses and worth fighting for and if necessary dying for. The rich keeping getting richer and not just by a little but by unimaginable amounts of wealth. I am not saying the rich shouldn't be rich (thank god for their contribution's!), but everyone doesn't need to be a Howard Hughes or the Sultan of Brunei.

brice

reply to post by brice


Its been clear to some the media/corps have apparently won with decades of union bashing. There was an agenda behind that, too, and we're now seeing the results of that.
Lower wages and less regulating as well as the removal of workers' rights in various forms-- they've been slick in their execution.

Lying and thieving amongst union heads and such? Well yeah unfortunately there's going to be some of that. Name one governing body of people who are completely innocent.
"union thug" - to see this term being used still to this day, and quite acceptingly so, is pithy and pathetic, but certainly successful if and when mis-used for many, many decades.

This has been easy to see for some, and clearly not by all.

Unions in themselves, are not bad (or good). They are the natural extension of free People associating together to determine the outcome of their environment. Some unions are good, some are bad. It is when a union garners so much power that it begins to make decisions for a business they are serving, does it become cumbersome in my opinion.

I had a union job. paid my union dues. when the stewards told me to do stuff that was related to the union, i told them to make me. they didn't. there were good union stewards, the one that never said anything and bad union stewards, who directed people to do things that hurt the company, the customer, the management, and the union members who would do them. they did these things intentionally. i ony worked in that industry for 2 years. I never saw a union rep. and the union stewards didn't do anything but complain and sabotage operations. unions. talk about "sheeple"! never again. nor will i ever hire union labor again. the two words are mutualy exclusive!

reply to post by brice


Unions are going to have to make a comeback. Without the unions bosses turn into slave-driving tyrants.

We're seeing this in the UK. Workers are being forced to work hours on end without a break, and not allowed to talk to each other whilst on shift.

The worst incidence of slave-driving was a couple of weeks ago, an Eastern European pregnant worker was ordered back to work after she went into labour and asked the supervisor for help, she was refused help and ended up giving birth alone in the toilets at work. An ambulance was called and they called the police when they arrived. The company is under investigation because the baby was in a seriously ill condition from the cold and the mother was in need of medical attention too.

Company bosses are not informing workers of their rights to maternity leave and pay, not allowing reasonable breaks, and sacking them if they're caught talking. Bosses are ignoring health and safety rules and treating workers worse than beasts of burden, to the point of endangering lives by forcing their slaves to drop their babies in the workplace. Shocking.

We need unions back, without a doubt.

reply to post by ownbestenemy


Union-business is a symbiotic relationship. Business makes decisions on what work needs to be done, where the work is to be done and when the work shall be done, the union determines who does the work and how the work is to be done.
So regardless of your opinion about union making decisions for a business this is the role of a union. There is no benefit for the union to drive a business to unprofitability and put the employer out of business.
Oddly enough if a non-union shop treats their employees with respect, pays them well and ensures their safety most would vote against unionization. If an employer is a tyrant, demanding unreasonable work schedules or tasks in a hurried unsafe manner a union can help the employer carry on his business an a safe and productive manner.

reply to post by brice


And he would be right as rain! All of those things and many others, workers enjoy today because unions fought for them and won.

I worked through a union for the better part of 33 yrs. and I retired at 48 yrs. of age in 2005. During that time, I didn't agree with everything my union did either, so I got involved.

Getting involved is what makes unions better and more often than not, those who constantly bitch about how bad their union is or was, are usually the ones who also refused to get in there and clean them up. IMO, those who won't get involved deserve what they get, which can be a union run by thugs.

Kinda reminds me of those who constantly bitch about their elected officials but refuse to go vote when the opportunity arrises, much less get involved and actually run for office.

I guess it really boils down to the old saying, "You only get out of something, what you put into it."

F&S for the OP.

reply to post by brice

Union-bashers forget that a collective agreement is a set of rules agreed upon by both parties. Job killers? It's not the unions that send jobs overseas for the sake of Wall St. windfalls!

I don't need a union, never have, never will. A foreman or homeowner is being a jerk, I tell them to hire themselves a new floor guy and leave the job. I don't have to go crying to some collective to save me. It comes down to what can being in a union do for me, that I can't do for myself? Personally, it's nothing. It would be a waste of money paying dues, and a waste of time attending the meetings. I am sure some people benefit by being in a union.

reply to post by TKDRL


Hello tkd
Sounds to me like your a carpet laying contractor. A contractor because the company your "contracting" for is too cheap to pay your safety insurance, pension, vacation, statutory holidays and every other benefit you would get, plus it relieves them any legal responsibility for any crappy work you do.
Oh you can quit a union job too!

reply to post by brice


Hardwood floors, not carpetting. I install, sand, finish, refinish, stain, and am also very good at tile work as well. And yes, I pay my own liability insurance etc, always have. Why would I expect any home owner or foreman to pay my insurance for a year, when I am only working for them for 3 weeks at the most each job? I am not contracting for one company, but many, and also individual home owners. If some huge flooring company wanted to hire me, could guarantee I would have steady jobs coming in, and offered to pay all my insurance for me, that would be great. Probably won't happen though lol.

reply to post by TKDRL


I know......it's a difficult world for the blue collar worker. Big business takes the long fight and have been doing that for decades now and has been winning. Labour is now going to have to stop the same short term losing battle strategies and focus on a long term plan that uncloaks the politicians in league with the corporate agenda.
Remember the words of Frank Lloyd Wright "If capitalism is fair then unionism must be. If men have a right to capitalize their ideas and the resources of their country, then that implies the right of men to capitalize their labor."

reply to post by brice

Todays Huffington Post, "Mind The Gap"

Richest 85 People Own As Much Wealth As Poorest 3.5 Billion:

The global economy has become so skewed in favour of the rich that economic growth in many countries today “amounts to little more than a ‘winner takes all’ windfall for the richest,”

FULL ARTICLE HERE

doobydoll
reply to post by brice

 

We need unions back, without a doubt.

IMHO, yes we do...the majority of retail workers (a big portion of the limited jobs available) are not allowed to unionize and this is the result:

Seven day work week proposed for manufacturing and retail workers in Wisconsin

Conservatives say that workers will only have to forego their rest days if they volunteer, but the law’s opponents argue that businesses could create environments that are hostile to workers who insist on their rights. Workers who take their mandated rest days could be skipped over for promotion, denied privileges allowed to workers who work a 7-day week or could see sharp reductions in their schedules until they no longer have enough hours to make ends meet, financially.

reply to post by kosmicjack

Thanks for your post Kosmic,
Well, the people in Wisconsin voted in favor of the koch brothers and the right to work for less legislation. Now they can reap those rewards for throwing support behind it. Wisconsin's blue collar work force needs to work "volunteer" their labour 7 days a week and do it in poor working conditions. Long hours and poor wages.
This is very important so the rest of the world can see what happens with that kind of legislation. Let this be a lesson for the rest of the blue collar workers and anti-union rhetoric.
"Business will if business can"

reply to post by kosmicjack


I was watching as it unfolded in Wisconsin. Its clear to see Wisconsin and the sask provincial govt were in bed together on that one. They could have almost been "twinned" stories. Same thing happened in Saskatchewan, and of course is now happening everywhere.
In fact if one were to pull some of the world headlines on this issue, most are the same.
Its a world-wide agenda, or at least it appears to be.

reply to post by ItsEvolutionBaby


What....the right to work in Saskatchewan? Home of social democracy, universal health care and......Tommy Douglas (grandfather of Kiefer Sutherland)?

reply to post by brice


Unions are not all good and perfect, and they are not all bad.