There is an interesting article published today in the Canadian newspaper The Star about unions. It would seem that after a merger, a super-union called Unifor representing 300.000 workers was created. A true dinosaur refusing to die.
The article goes on stressing a large number of nonsensical half-truths which us, as Austro-Libertarians, feel our duty to comment and dispel.
After a decline, the rate of unionization has stabilized. A study of non-unionized workers indicated that they see organized labour as a “vested interest” with no impact in their lives.
And to arrive to this spectacular and revolutionary conclusion a study was necessary? Anybody with just the basic common sense will be able to arrive to the same conclusion in 5 seconds flat. Is there any wonder that the rate of unionization has declined so much?
Many people seem to be stagnated in precarious jobs.
We would like to know what do the Unions consider “precarious” as opposed to stable. A job for life in the same company perhaps? Sure. And since we are at it, could we please have a kilogram of gold? It would seem that in the land of the Unions anything is possible and reality does not exist. Unfortunately, we will never know since they don’t explain it. Albeit…
There are some young working in low-paying retail and part-time employment with few benefits, no job security and no advancement road.
Could this perhaps be what the Unions call “precarious”? If that’s the case, we would like to know when, if ever, in the history of human kind retail or part-time jobs were high paying and/or offering job security and advancement. The Unions are utterly deluded. The reason why certain jobs are low paying is because very little skills (if any) are required, the savings are either passed on to the people, or the business simply can’t afford to pay more. It is that simple. And no amount of unionization can change that.
There has been a breakthrough. There are two new outlets: in the Sirens chain and a group of baristas in Halifax.
Some breakthrough. Two new groups in how many years? They don’t say. Ashamed perhaps or just timid. We guess we shall never know.
Another problem: governments are trying to roll back the power of Unions through legislation.
Well, we don’t know if to laugh or pity the Unions. If the only opposing power they can muster to show their “fight” is the government of the day, that’s pathetic and frankly comic. Besides, why would be a roll-back such a disaster? When was the last time any government has been effective in doing anything? Particularly in a heavily unionized region? Our heroes from the Union are fighting for you!
Finally, we have the “union advantage”: 4.97$ / hour for men and 6.61$ / hour for women.
What we would like to know is how much did the economy slow down due to those “advantages”. And how much has the rest of society lost due to this slow down. Alas, it would seem that nobody bothered calculating those numbers.
But that’s OK since the labour movement is happy in the knowledge that they have helped build a stronger middle class and made many Canadians richer.
This is all pretty much nonsensical because the Unions assume rich people are not sharing the wealth and therefore it is only fair to squeeze them for money. As we have showed in Those Bastards - The Rich People, this is a myth. The reality is that Unions stay in the way of better economic times, in the same manner governments do.
In a perverse way, one is a creation of the other. Without governments unions would not exist. In certain parts of the world, unions were pretty much created from scratch or artificially inflated in order to support a specific government. An old example is the CGT (Confederacion General del Trabajo) and Peron’s presidency in Argentina. There are many others.
In an Absolute Austro-Libertarian System unions may still exist, but they would be greatly diminished because there would be very little (if any) need of them. Think about it. There is no government, hence no power to pressure. People contract freely with companies. The economy is booming and there is constant dis-inflation (the more you wait, the cheaper goods and services become). Why would anybody want to join a union?
In the end, it's your choice. Workers of the world unite or live long and prosper. You decide.
Note: please see the Glossary if you are unfamiliar with certain words.
