In my first real post to this blog I bring up the hot topic of labour unrest in Saskatchewan. There is a huge gap between labour and employer right now and with either side not willing to budge a whole lot. So here's my common sense take on the issue;
The problem is the public sector and government, which as a taxpayer, we are all involved whether we like it or not. Do you lean left or right? It does not matter because the issues will affect everyone in the province. Ok, I think we can all agree that people who do their job well should get paid appropriately, that is not the problem here. The problem in the past 50-60 years or so is that Saskatchewan has been a solid socialist province, the CCF/NDP has always been the governing party. People in Saskatchewan, like anywhere else in the world, wanted more for themselves and their family. Looking at other parts of the country and especially next door in Alberta made us envious. How can people who are separated by an invisible line live completely different lives like this? Why was the grass always greener next door? Well there are many reasons but the main reason is our socialist values, we kept voting in a party that was not business friendly and by having that position, business would not invest in the province which left little opportunity for our children. We lost a couple generations of children who all moved to Alberta because, yes the grass was much, much greener over there.
So now back to the issue at hand. Being a socialist stronghold also allowed the unions to become very powerful, not only in politics but in society in general. We're talking well organized groups here, one's who tax their people to push their political agenda. And what an agenda they have right now! We have a slightly right wing government that has done wonders for our province since they took over, people are coming home and staying, getting opportunity to create a successful livelihood in this great province. But what is going on is the unions are losing their grip on power, the people have awoken and want everything that you can get in other areas of the country. The unions are now fighting like hell to restore things, there is an election on the horizon and they are trying to make as much hay when the sun is shining. The Teachers Union, I mean Federation is asking for a whopping 16% increase over three years, or 12% over one. Now as a taxpayer this infuriates me to the utmost degree, here we have a profession that gets over 3 months of the year off work, while the rest of society is lucky to get 4 weeks, add in weekends and really? Yes there are some that will do the extra curricular activities but then there is a lot who don't. How about a bonus system for those that do? That is common sense, people putting in extra hours get paid overtime, so why not the teachers? Also needed to be realized is that they are getting paid for working around 9 months of the year. If they want higher pay how about working another two months like many teachers do all over the world? Many countries are heading in this direction because there is just so much to learn and they have figured out in order to get ahead more education is needed. The teachers need to be held accountable as well, but at the same extent so do the students and more importantly the parents who allow their kids to carry on and giving no respect to the teachers.
The 200lb gorilla in the room(and I will discuss this in length in following posts as it really affects us going forward) is pensions and benefits. We are heading down a slippery slope here, for example the city of Regina has a shortfall in future pension and benefits of $200 million. That's $200,000,000!!! This is one city with a small number of unionized workers and this is the path our politicians and union have led us too. Problem becomes, what are we going to do to fix it? A city of 200,000 people would have to come up with another $1,000 a piece in order to take care of that tab. And that is just where we sit today, what will that shortfall look like in 10 or 20 years? Both sides are to blame but the majority has to fall onto the hands of the unions who put a huge amount of pressure on governments to give them what they want. This is especially easy for the unions when the NDP have been in power most of the time. The old saying about the squeaky wheel and grease really comes into play here. There is no one group louder and more in your face than unions, or what I like to call them the Pro-Labour Movement.
The problem now is, how do we fix a system that is this broken? Unions would say raise taxes on everyone but how is that fair to the non-unionized workforce, retired and everyone in between have to pay for someone else's better life while barely getting through themselves? Should the taxpayer base continue this, and if so, how long will it be before this province becomes business unfriendly again and people and business begin to leave again? This will happen and can happen sooner than one would think. We need to fix this problem and unfortunately labour is our for themselves for the most part and not for the betterment of society as a whole. Yes, in the past with poor pay and labour conditions they helped bring about change but so did employers and now the ball is in the unions court, will they concede that they are a very large part of this huge burden or will they continue on as they have and further drive our economy down?
Time is for change and the people of Saskatchewan spoke very loudly at the last election and they will again this fall. It is time for the unions to take responsibility and make some serious concessions with respect to pension and benefit reform. The people of this province voted for a more open market, a major shift, a new direction and it is time for Organized Labour to realize and accept this. Yes, the change is in the wind, but we need everyone on board to make this province the best it can be. So labour, what do you have to say?
Have a great rest of your day,
David
