CKNW Editorial
for March 30, 2001

Nobody likes strikes. They cost the striking employees money ... usually cost the company money ... very often inconvenience the public and quite often hurt the pocketbooks of those well outside the dispute itself.. Whenever there is a major strike, many of the general public see an essential service involved and cry out for government action and compulsory arbitration.

I think it may be useful to go back to basics here. The right of workers to withhold their services and to combine together in so doing did not come easily. The Common law of England held such combinations to be illegal conspiracies to deny the employer what he was entitled to - to enforce his contract for labour. The criminal law held strikes to be a crime and in 1834 6 agricultural labourers were transported from Tolpuddle in Devon to Australia for forming such an illegal combine ... becoming known as the Tolpuddle martyrs. The right to organize and strike was hard fought indeed with much blood spilled. It's not a right that ought to be trifled with - not if we believe in freedom.

This is not to say that I am unmindful of the irresponsibility that comes with some unions and some leaders some times. But a fair evaluation could lay the same complaints at the feet of management. Most large unions these days have pretty sophisticate economic advice available and it's no longer the worker, cap in hand, trying to deal with the all knowing and all powerful boss. Nor is it very often the bully Labour leader living off the fat of the land making general mischief just for the hell of it. There are exceptions, of course - but there are also companies that have very bad labour relations because they have a very bad attitude towards workers. The vast majority of strikes reflect a genuine disagreement as to what the market can and should bear. And being inconvenienced by strikes is the insurance premium we pay to live in a free society.

The issues facing labour and management in many areas today are not easy ones to deal with. Labour has been under restraint for a number of years and in fact has not had increases to match the cost of living. Many unions are coming out of 0-0-3 or similar contracts and see now as the time to catch up. Some workers, notably nurses, have been badly underpaid historically and see now as the time to redress a lot of wrongs.

The timing, to put it mildly, is not good. The BC economy performed worse that all other provinces in Canada last year unless you count Prince Edward island which makes about as much sense as counting Kelowna since their populations and economic bases are about the same.

But there is a broader problem than that which goes back to the Second World War. As a society we have simply assumed, since then, that it was a birthright to have a better year this year than last. While we've had recessions, generally we have increased our real income each year until very recently. But that's no longer happening. Canada as a whole is losing ground and while it is popular on the left to blame this on free trade the fact is that our downward trend would have been quicker and steeper had it not been for NAFTA. What has happened is that virtually all trade has become international and some of it involves nothing more than hitting a button.

For example, my American Express bill is not processed by Canadian or even American workers but by Indians. Capital always seeks the most favourable climate and while in heavy manufactures, like cars for example, governments may be able to force international compromises by trade rules, more and more business is beyond the power of governments.

Where capital goes is something over which countries have less and less control. Billionaire financier, George Soros, back in 1993 took on the Bank of England and the British Parliament in a currency auction and won hands down to the tune of a cool billion dollars. This isn't because of free trade but science. Wee are going through as a nation, the same thing cotton farmers went through 150 years ago when the cotton gin was invented.

It's pretty difficult for workers and business people to accept that their confrontation over wage and benefits has anything to do with the Indians doing my Amex bill but it is so ... whether they like it or not.

Canadians and especially British Columbians have to understand that there is no God given right to a better year just because another year has gone by and must learn that unless there is to be more and more erosion of their standard of living we must learn better and better ways to compete in a global market of which we are a part whether we like it or not.