I find unions to be too confrontational though. Co-determination laws would promote more co-operation and team work between labour and management rather than precious resource wasted on striking. Nobody wins from a strike.
Canadian Productivity - Why so Low?
- Thread starter Bar Sinister
- Start date
I find unions to be too confrontational though. Co-determination laws would promote more co-operation and team work between labour and management rather than precious resource wasted on striking. Nobody wins from a strike.
I agree. Unfortunately, it is not only the gap between the rich and the poor that has widened in North America because of business practises, it is also the gap between partisans. The either/or (you or me, this or that) attitude has pretty much been embedded in our DNA because of the way business and political philosophy has become. I cannot see this attitude rut in anyway, shape or form easily or soon being escaped from. Business likes it that way because it can controI us that way. It would take a concerted effort from people to overcome this.
This might be more up to date.
International comparisons of labor unions - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
However, please note that the most unionized sectors of society are government like, nurses, teachers, police, firemen, and civil servants. These workers have little effect on industrial efficiency, so if we are blaming unions we are probably blaming the wrong people.
Yeah, we all know how gov'ts and snivel serpents are efficient, effective, etc. lmao
They may not be efficient, however, judging from the number of bankruptcies there are many in the private sector who are not either. I suspect Canadian public workers are at least as efficient as those of most other modern nations; and considering that Canada's corruption index is relatively low it seems to me that public servants have little influence on over-all productivity.
You think that has nothing to do with gov't taxes, regs, rules, and requirements and the economy in general that the gov't, banks, and stock market influence? Yeah, it must be the private sector's fault alone.
Possibly.
Good thing, or else productivity would be even lower than it is.
Productivity is a matter of comparing one nation to another. In terms of taxes and regulations Canada compares favourably with many nations in the EU, many of which have higher levels of productivity than Canada.
It seems to me that what these nations do have that Canada does not are governments that actually have a long term economic plan for their economies and are willing to invest extensively in R&D and technical training.
I can't answer your reference to the banks and the stock market. Are you inferring that these market oriented entities are a part of the problem?
I suspected when I started this thread that someone would target unions as the problem. However, no one has presented any proof of this assertion, and as I mentioned given that nature of Canadian unions it is difficult to understand how they could have much of an influence on Canadian productivity either positively or negatively.
Getting back to the theme of productivity, columnist Gary Lamphier in the Edmonton Journal has been running a series on South Korea. Essentially he is a great admirer of the South Koreans. But more importantly is what he attributes their success to. It seems that in South Korea the government invests heavily in education and infrastructure. Billions are being spent to upgrade the nation's already superb internet system and vast sums are spent on R&D each year. As a result South Korea's productivity is among the highest in the world and its manufacturing and high tech sectors continue to increase. Contrast this with the efforts of Canada's governments and I suspect we have a large part of the answer concerning Canada's low rate of productivity.
Here are a few links to Lamphier's articles.
We dream about a better world, but South Korea will build it
Koreans on roll to snap up more Alberta oil assets
Canada has much to learn from the miracle of South Korea
Here are a few links to Lamphier's articles.
We dream about a better world, but South Korea will build it
Koreans on roll to snap up more Alberta oil assets
Canada has much to learn from the miracle of South Korea
These kinds of articles are too vague. They only discuss services and manufacturing. This is too broad. Why don't they break it down more? They could break it down by Cdn owned industries, or by province, or by city. But nothing really, just vague fears. And the solution would be to export more. Puzzling.
I think education plays a role. High tech companies will always invest where they can find highly skilled labour. For years now Canada has been trying to attract companies that are seeking out cheap labour. Not the same thing.
When the recession began, I wasn't very fond of the government spending too much oney to 'stimulate' the economy, but if it insisted on doing so, my view was that that money ought to go towards retraining workers for the industries we know are growing, not bailing out old industries. It was a golden opportunity to upgrade the qualifications of our human resources. We missed out on a great opportunity.
It doesn't take any rocket science to figure that out. Look at the number of stat holidays, paid sick leave, maternity leave, stress leave, C.E.Os getting 5-6 weeks annual vacation, and then there's all the fringe benefits that have to be paid. The situation will improve when people learn to suck it up, quit whining and get to work. :lol::lol::lol:
This is never going to happen as long as we have an attitude that the unemployed should be punished for being so. Essentially all Canadians ought to be either working or in school. So when a person is unemployed and can't find a job, we send them to school to upgrade their skills so as to attract high tech companies. Otherwise, we're only going to be able to attract low-tech companies. We cannot refuse to invest in education and then try to encourage high tech investment. If we do that, we're out of sinc, with the government's right hand not knowing what the government's left hand is doing. Either we don't invest in education and attract low tech investment, or we invest in education and so attract high tech investment. The choice is ours to make.
We can't compete cost-wise with Mexico. That's just impossible. The only option therefore is to compete quality-wise, and that means developing our skill-base.
A whole slew of them it would seem. It's just that many of them don't produce household items, but industrial goods.
That attitude does have to disappear. Yes, society has a duty to ensure employment for all. That does not mean a cushy salary for all though.
What? unions are very efficient fighting organizations...
Oh, yes, productivity, sorry. Yes, you're right. Carry on.
Compared to many European nations, most of which have higher rates of productivity than Canada, the number of days off for Canadian workers is quite low. In fact workers in nations like France are entitled to five weeks paid vacation per year, which beats most Canadian by about two weeks. France and other European nations also give workers all of the benefits you mention as well.
I still suspect that the large percentage of foreign ownership in Canada is the real reason. There really is no incentive for foreign owned companies to carry out a lot of R&D in Canada or in some cases to even modernize their plants.