Union membership has been in decline because they are so conservative and inflexible. I was in the HEU (Hospital Emplyees Union) in BC and was fired in late 2003 along with a few thousand other housekeeping staff and cooks. I was a security guard, making $20 per hour, a great job.
Why did we lose our job? Our wages were way above the national average, and the HEU was not able to accept a defeat, that is offer a wage concession now to survive in the future. There were structural problems because in our local were office staff and LPNs, (licenced practical nurses), and these latter were not willing to take a pay cut. Some said, why should they? they are skilled workers, while we are less so. Bottom line, I lost my job because the union had no solidarity and the leadership wanted to fight the wicked global capitalists like Gordon Campbell.
Gordon Campbell broke a contract, rewrote the law, and perhaps will be wrong in principle, but my job will never come back.
I was at a rally in early 2003 at the Expo site and when the HEU leadership was giving speeches, other union leaders like the teachers and engineers were standing right in front of the podium cheering them on. The few times the membership clapped, leaders talked over us, playing to other union leaders. In the bleachers were the rank and file, the peanut gallery if you like, I felt like a prop in a play. Like business, unions seem undemocratic.
Then it makes me think lately, NHL hockey has gotten boring, the trap and huge goalie pads make games resemble the Italian soccer league, where the first goal assures victory. When the NHLPA got power in the late 1980s and early 1990s they were against any changes to the game, such as smaller goalie pads. The union made big money for its players, but now they have been corraled and lost the salary cap battle.
Unions one can argue lack strategic vision, so they only survive with strong legal protection such as government, in the private sector, where constant change prevails, they are moribund.
Why did we lose our job? Our wages were way above the national average, and the HEU was not able to accept a defeat, that is offer a wage concession now to survive in the future. There were structural problems because in our local were office staff and LPNs, (licenced practical nurses), and these latter were not willing to take a pay cut. Some said, why should they? they are skilled workers, while we are less so. Bottom line, I lost my job because the union had no solidarity and the leadership wanted to fight the wicked global capitalists like Gordon Campbell.
Gordon Campbell broke a contract, rewrote the law, and perhaps will be wrong in principle, but my job will never come back.
I was at a rally in early 2003 at the Expo site and when the HEU leadership was giving speeches, other union leaders like the teachers and engineers were standing right in front of the podium cheering them on. The few times the membership clapped, leaders talked over us, playing to other union leaders. In the bleachers were the rank and file, the peanut gallery if you like, I felt like a prop in a play. Like business, unions seem undemocratic.
Then it makes me think lately, NHL hockey has gotten boring, the trap and huge goalie pads make games resemble the Italian soccer league, where the first goal assures victory. When the NHLPA got power in the late 1980s and early 1990s they were against any changes to the game, such as smaller goalie pads. The union made big money for its players, but now they have been corraled and lost the salary cap battle.
Unions one can argue lack strategic vision, so they only survive with strong legal protection such as government, in the private sector, where constant change prevails, they are moribund.