How Bill C-6 Can Set a Dangerous Precedent For All Working Canadians, Including Non-Unionized Workers

Assuming Stevie Spiteful stays in power, that is, and after watching both the NDP and the Liberals, this week-end, along with Stevie Spiteful’s spin machine in his media, it looks like it could well be for a very, very long time to come.  Only a very sleep deprived Lizzy May seemed to have had the voice of reason (or so some would think) and showed a desire to see the whole saga to the end, with compromise, like eliminating portions of Bill C-6 that the opposition didn’t like. However, this post isn’t going to really discuss the actual filibuster. I may just post my scathing views about each party in another post later today or tomorrow, if I have the time and there are no other distractions, tomorrow.  This post is about how Bill C-6, which the useless senate passed earlier this evening, without amendments, could set a dangerous precedent for all working Canadians, not just those who are unionized, but also, those who are non-unionized.

What we have seen played out in our Conservative media was the usual vintage Harpercon tactics of  divisiveness. I guess we shouldn’t be surprised.  If anyone was not only reading the papers, but also tuning into Twitter over the week-end or even catching the filibuster drama, live on CPAC, odds are, you would’ve caught the Conservatives talking points and vintage McCarthyist paranoia designed to pit working man against working man.  This time, it was Canada Post employees against not only management, but also, the rest of Canadian workers.  What many fail to see, I think, is that it could and will, in the future,  thanks to Bill C-6, be any other class of workers villified against the rest of Canadian workers.

Yes, how the Harpercons, with the help of their spindoctors on Twitter and the media, managed to convince many Canadians that CUPW  is an evul, hateful, militant union and that posties are underworked and overpaid.  Know something?  This is nothing new. In fact, it’s the oldest song on the song sheet. Just the lyrics have been reworked.  Any occupation that is usually attached to a union can be made to look glamourous: cops, firefighters, social workers, transit workers, lab technicians, bureaucrats, teachers, nurses, gravediggers (I’m not kidding; it happened at Notre-Dame-des-Neiges Cemetery here in Montreal), orderlies, hell, even garbage collection can be made to look like the most enviable job in the world. You know what I say to all of that? If  any of those jobs are so glamourous and enviable, why don’t you get the credentials required for any those jobs, start networking with the right people and start applying for them and stop bitching. Also, talk to anyone doing any of those jobs, I’m sure you’ll hear a lot of myths debunked. Anytime there is a  labour dispute a brewin’ with the media circus a followin’, there is generally little sympathy from the general public. It’s always the same kool-aid being willingly served and gulped. Always the same disengenuous misinformation. Easy to think the worst when often, during a labour dispute, the trains don’t run on time.  Although, I have noticed that it is getting worse over time. Further evidence of a meaner, more right winged Canada.  A less empathetic working class. Where working class is pitted against their fellow members of the working class, as mentioned above.

According to many media outlets, depending what you read and hear, about 70% of Canadians supported Stevie Spiteful’s draconian legislation-as was-with none of the amendments offered up by the NDP, Liberals or by the Bloc Quebecois’s MP for Richmond-Arthabaska, Andre Bellavance. They supported the wage cut imposed by Stevie and Lisa “I’m too sexy for the working man” Raitt. Some suggest that these 70% of Canadians just wanted their mail and simply didn’t care how it was done.  Either way, it’s short sighted.  Most Canadians, as usual, were thinking under misinformation. Now that we’re stuck in this majority situation and no longer in constant election campaign mode, isn’t it about time to stop pandering to misinformation and to actually try to inform our fellow Canadians?  For example, this whole business of Canadians not caring about the difference between a lockout and a strike. Well, when and/or if they find out, I’m sure they’ll change their tune. I remember when the teachers were locked out in the early 1980s, when my father was regional rep for the Montreal Teachers’ Association, many called it strike too, as did the media. He was none too amused.  But I digress.

I do have to ask, how many of those 70% of those Canadians polled who supposedly support the back to work legislation for the posties, are themselves, union members?  If so, surely they have been embroiled in labour disputes, often very contentious and bitter ones.  Have they ever been legislated back to work by their government?  Did their respective occupation get a bad rap in the media? Was it made to look really glamourous when it couldn’t be further from the truth? Did they really try to put themselves in their shoes?

The message that Bill C-6 sends is that management can now sit back on its’ laurels everytime a collective agreement runs out and not even attempt to negotiate in good faith. It knows it can lock its’ doors with the PM’s blessing, with the comfort and knowledge that Stevie Spiteful, with the help of his trusty sidekick, Lisa, that they will set the terms of the new contract and force everyone to luv it and back to work, or else!  Let’s remember that Stevie Spiteful was also going to legislate Air Canada workers back on the job, likely with the same heavy handedness that he did with the Canada Post workers, despite the fact that Air Canada is no longer a Crown Corporation since the Mulroney administration, had their union not come to an agreement with management.

Who would be next?  Unionized workers who are considered to provide ‘essential services’ and therefore, cannot strike.  Workers, who, therefore, use other pressure tactics (ie: not adhering to dress code)  to express their grievances.  Would the Harpercons surely come up with a way to not only villify those workers and their union? Find a way to spin those pressure tactics as being disruptive and destructive to the point Canadians will think they’re not being served, despite the fact there is no work stoppage?

What draconian measure would be next? To remove the rights of unions to collectively bargain like what has been happening in Wisconsin? Bill C-6 would certainly be a precursor.

So, when unions are sufficiently neutered and pretty much all but non-existant. Will Stevie Spiteful and the neo-cons be happy? Think again!  There is another pesky matter. Non-unionized labour.   Labour standards. Regulations. More often than not, regulations are set by the provinces, but there are certain occupations that are regulated by the federal labour program:  Health and safety,  basic minimum wage, overtime, sick days, etc. What if Stevie decided to deregulate labour standards? Already, in the US, a Misouri state senator was already trying to pass a bill, attempting to claw back child labour laws.   In Britain, Tory backbencher, Philip Davies is proposing lowering the basic minimum wage for Disabled workers.  I’m pretty sure those are ideas Stevie Spiteful and Lisa would aspire to.

Yes, I know, you get fools like that Paul, the CAW member and autoworker and blogging supposiTory extraordinaire and his friends I tore apart not long ago bitching about their own union endorsing the Liberals when they pretty much implied they would’ve rather they’d have endorsed the Harpercons. I had already suggested a remedy to their problem in that post too.  My suggestion still holds to any unionized worker who is an anti-union Harperite. Bet they didn’t take my suggestion, neither.  Bet they never will.  Why would they?  I’m pretty sure that despite the union dues, or the fact that their union executive may endorse political parties they don’t necessarily like or whatever, they probably know that they couldn’t match their current working conditions elsewhere. That is, until Stevie Spiteful and Lisa get through beating down working Canadians.

Another thing to remember, while management may create the jobs, the only reason they prosper is because of their employees and the work that they do.

Oh, since we’re on the subject of  Canada Post employees, the next time someone says they’re overpaid and CUPW is nasty and militant,   here’s something most corporate media outlets won’t mention: Deepak Chopra, the CEO of  Canada Post, earns 650,000$ in salary and bonuses per year. Hell, he makes more than MPs and senators do! Think he’ll take a pay cut? Bet he has a gold plated pension waiting for him after not too many years of service. Is he willing to give it up? Somehow, I don’t think so.