The Recession is Not an Excuse
Oct 13, 2009
bargaining, collective, economic
Over the last decade public employees have been taken advantage of by governments that used the excuse that public sector employees were to blame for the deficits governments were facing. Civil service jobs were slashed to finance tax cuts, although it never was public sector workers that were the cause of these deficits. But the deficit excuse was used to justify the erosion of the bargaining rights of workers.
It’s common for governments to use the public servant as a scapegoat when they find themselves in difficult financial situations. Better to look at ‘efficiencies’ in the ‘bloated’ public service than to take action against the real cause of the problem.
Today we have a similar line of attack coming at the hands of government. Because Manitoba and Canada have been mired in a recession, various governments think this is a good opportunity to “negotiate” collective agreements with employees that often include wage rates that do not even keep up with the cost of living. Of course, since we are in a recession, governments therefore have no monies for the public sector workforce.
In some sectors, perhaps, this argument would have a bit of credence. Ontario, for example, had its manufacturing sector basically decimated over the last year or so from the effects of the economic downturn. But here in Manitoba, that has not been the case. It has been universally acknowledged that Manitoba has been one of the top two or three provinces that have weathered the recession better than the rest of the country.
Whether it is the result of our diversified economy or not, the fact remains that Manitoba has done fairly well in these challenging times, and pleading poverty at the bargaining table will not be good enough. We’ve already seen thousands of Manitoba Hydro employees hit the picket line over stalled contract negotiations. Yet it’s unlikely Hydro revenues will fall much or even at all this year, given that their bottom line is largely the result of hydro sales. So why try to negotiate tougher deals with employees?
Employers will use a variety of tactics such as this in order to force their position at the bargaining table. Blaming the recession is just the latest form of this. But even if money is tight, there are other things governments can do in terms of negotiations that do not significantly affect their bottom line.
Back in the early 1980s, the Schreyer government in Manitoba introduced the Jobs Fund, which served as a mechanism for stimulating employment in the province during a tough economic period. Health and safety issues, for instance, could take greater prominence in negotiations, and language could be reworked to address issues of importance in the workplace. These things do not have to cost money.
What is needed is for governments to be creative. And the labour movement can help by thinking of creative ways of approaching negotiations when faced with tough times. Negotiating contracts is difficult at the best of times. It takes that much more effort in a tough economic climate.
Comments
Comments are now closed