Musings —01.06.2017 09:40 AM
—The capacity to feel shame should become a provision in collective agreements
I have never thought I should look to big corporations and big unions for ethical guidance. But what Jerry Dias et al. are saying, these days – i.e., we should “join with the Trump administration,” quote unquote – is simply despicable. It’s disgusting.
If there is anything more vomit-inducing than #unifor and assorted big union guys hailing Trump's protectionism, I don't know what it is.
— Warren Kinsella (@kinsellawarren) January 6, 2017
Canadian union hacks join with American fascists to beat up on Mexicans and force Canadian consumers to pay more for stuff. How progressive.
Warren,
This too shall pass and arguably much sooner than expected. Remember all those thoroughly failing industries whose life-blood was protectionism? And what happened when it was gone? Marginal operations produce mediocre results. Translation: they can’t — and won’t survive, once the Trump Administration is nothing more than an unfortunate and misguided memory.
Even worse, the Obama- Clinton regime have the past few days been unloading lots more armoured vehicles into the Baltic States to do exercises on the Russian western border. One report told me that around 1 000 more Canadians are being added to the military build up.
This is to keep Putin (who is evil and crazy) from invading and occupying other peoples’ sovereign states and lying about why he is doing it.
Trump is crazy, too. The media tells me so. There is a real danger that crazy Trump will stand down our NATO stabilization forces in Eastern Europe. What a putz!
Nobody likes him.
Don’t anybody like him.
FYI Hillary Clinton is not a member of the Obama Administration. She is a former Secretary of State.
Putin attacking the Baltic States? What the heck for? He is more apt to attack first other former Soviet republics (non-NATO) that are extremely, extremely rich in resources.
It is ridiculous NATO grandstanding and wasteful use of our money and our children’s and grandchildren’s money (since it is being paid by deficit dollars and they will have to pay it down in the future and all of us will have to pay the interest on it until then).
Tell it to the Latvians. They’re worried.
Both the far right and the far left (which are sometimes indistinguishable) view economics as a zero sum game. It’s not. But then again, their world view is not based on reality
The Union movement has been content to attack globalisation on the grounds of bigotry. ‘Cheap’ disposable workers from somewhere else are replacing ‘real people’ eh? So much for international solidarity.
The notion that unions are philosophically aligned with pluralistic progressivism is a fallacy. Unions by nature are protectionist; i.e. to protect the interests of its members.
Unions often champion social causes that find a great deal of sympathy with their supporters. But a large swath of union members have only one concern and that is income & job security. Which isn’t inherently a bad thing. However, the problem arises when the rhetoric of prominent union members/leaders clash with the objective of its association.
For example:
Climate change policy and pipeline politics present diametrically different priorities for unions. Given the close affiliation between the NDP and unions, there is an intersecting of various social issues, but fundamentally, there is no obligation on union workers to adopt the ideals of its political wing and vote against protecting employment.
What’s the solution? People need jobs and deserve fair pay and job security. Not a trump guy, but what do you suggest to people who just want a job, fair pay, and job security, and a health plan and pension. Nurses, government workers, police, firefighters, teachers, elevator mechanics – all unionized and have pensions, fair pay, and job security. So what is the solution? The status quo isn’t acceptable. Nobody votes for chaos, but that’s what they get so often – so what is the solution? If you tell a bunch of people they can keep their jobs that’s pretty attractive when they’re about to lose them, and there’s nothing stupid about wanting to work for a fair wage – so what is the solution?
This urge for a worker to work, make a living, and have a pension that isn’t leveraged against corporate debt might be alien to some, but that is the kind of bread and butter issue – food you see is harder to buy when you don’t have a job – that wins elections. Trumps version of chaos probably isn’t the solution, but what is? The status quo failed people, so what is the solution?
Typical union behaviour. Rationalize any action or statement, irrespective of how despicable or immoral, on the grounds you are “supporting your members.”
This is how we get union drive intimidation; violence against “scabs” (aka people who have a work ethic) during strikes; refusing to condemn workers who are unethical or even commit crimes, and now the making of revolting bedfellows like Donald Trump.
The romantic notion of unions helping the common downtrodden worker is hopelessly outdated. Now they are no better than the “evil corporations” they purport to oppose.
USA & Canada = $28/hour auto workers plus pension plus holidays plus medical plus union negotiations and strike threats.
Mexico = $5/hour auto workers, and they produce the same quality product all without union protection and lax environmental regulations.
Trumpoline will have to come up with a lot of incentives and threats to change that reality.
The article does say, “Dias says Trump is racist and sexist, and there is no denying he’s a flawed individual”
This Toronto Star column by Dias and Maude Barlow expresse doubt that Trump will follow through on trade reform, but lists the changes the Left have been calling for since the 1980s.
https://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2017/01/09/time-for-a-new-narrative-on-nafta.html