Unions still have a purpose... however they only serve as a direct recourse to abuses like they always have in Addition to the government agencies that support workers rights....
ABUSES.... actual abuses like worker safety, dicsrimination, etc are where unions are useful..... I know I wouldn't want to go back to the bad old days of the industrial revolution where there were REAL abuses like company stores, starvation wages, whippings, child labour, deadly dangerous work, etc.....
WSIB et all serve us well to curb these abuses.... & in that capacity Unions, though less needed, are still useful to maintain the proper vigilence required to prevent ABUSES...
More often than not however.... Unions are the ones doing the abusing.... to their host companies, to the economy & ultimately to the workers themselves....
-Not allowing you to bank sick days is NOT ABUSE
-Refusing to pay more than what the job is worth so long as minimumwage is met is NOT ABUSE
-Refusing to pay for benefits is NOT ABUSE
-Refusing to pay for a cushy pension is NOT ABUSE
- Hiring & firing people bases on performance instead of seniority is NOT ABUSE
BUT...........
Holding a company, economy, city & people hostage to get these luxuries when you can't demand them based on the importance of your actual labour IS ABUSE....
I think it's high time the government retool the labour laws so that there is a clear difference between ABUSE & LUXURIES.......
If a union goes on strike for an issue that constitute Genuine ABUSES they need to get resolved... then the full power of the government should be behind them...
But if they are simply quibbling about LUXURIES.... then they should still have the right to go on strike BUT theie employers should be able to immediately be allowed to start replacing them with workers who are willing to work for the compensation offered......
If the company truly can't find replacement workers in the market.... then the union workers can demand whatever they want & the company had better recognize their value..... But if the company can easily replace the union labour.... then maybe the union might want to reevaluate how much the labour they offer is really worth......
This solution would allow unions to keep their strength & the ability to apply it when it is needed... but it will remove their legally sanctioned extortion...
