Re-Imagining Public Sector Labour Unions.
Unions can only live in the past for so long until modernity catches up with them.
Have you ever had conversations with pro-union advocates concerning the place of labour unions in modern government workplaces? I have many times. Their arguments always include claims of past achievements from when the union movement was young - typically from the mid-twentieth century. Few achievements are referenced from recent times.
Their claimed achievements include: improvements in workplace safety; a shorter work week; better employment benefits; and more. Are these claims true? Or were they the result of naturally-evolving workplace policies that employers adopted to compete for the most desirable workers? As someone who spent 36 years as a professional Recruiter and who has interviewed over 10,000 job candidates, I know for certain that competition in the broader labour markets had more to do with positive changes in workplaces than union leaders like to claim.
Perspective is important.
Times have changed. Past union achievements took place mostly in industrial settings that were commonplace in the early days of the organized labour movement. Folklore famously regales stories of heroic union organizers who stopped at nothing, including violence, arson and sabotage, to get results. These acts may seem praiseworthy to an ardent union supporter, but to others, it’s was a thuggish use force which very few would applaud today.
Unionism has declined in private sector companies in recent decades. Fewer than 18% of workers in for-profit companies are union members, down from much higher rates six decades ago. Why? Union labour is generally more expensive and less flexible than non-union labour. When labour costs rose too high for businesses to remain competitive, their executives closed facilities and moved operations to other countries where factors of production and distribution were more affordable. In Ontario, few manufacturers remain today after decades of a steady exodus of company operations resulting from executives who reluctantly had to make that decision.
Public Sector Labour Unions have no fear of government jobs moving overseas.
Government workplaces have been ‘sitting ducks’ for union organizers to target and certify. This explains why 75+% of government employees belong to a union as a condition of their employment. If the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms secures each citizen’s right to freely associate with others, does this also mean they are equally free NOT to associate? Is termination from a job an ethical action to take if someone wishes to leave a union AND keep his or her job?
Many taxpayers think that unfair public sector union legislation has proven to be a powerful lever for union leaders to drive up union memberships and government labour costs to unsustainable levels. Yet these taxpayers see no viable way to address this issue. Like me, they have seen that no political leaders and/or MPPs in living memory have ever demonstrated the courage to repeal unfair labour legislation in order to contain government labour costs to affordable levels.
To union executives: “Stop living in the past”.
As a former recruiter, I often asked candidates about their workplace achievements as they related to their positive contributions to the success of the employer. If validated through reference checks, this information provided a reasonable assessment of candidate performance and inferred a proposition of implied value for a future employer. By the same token, can unions claim any recent accomplishments that will justify their ongoing existence? Could these be validated based on justifiable benefits to our tax-paying public?
When union representatives tell stories of their progress in the 1930s to 1970s, they may be quaint anecdotes but not of great relevance to today’s workplaces. Unions have morphed into big organizations that are more effective today act political cronies than as organizations which are supposed to serve their dues-paying members.
A union labour tax?
Question. If membership dues are mandatory, then don’t they amount to a labour tax rather than a membership fee? I have never understood how a non-elected body like a labour union has been able to get away with issuing a tax on labour. Can someone explain it to me?
Transforming Public Sector Labour Unions
In todays Digital Economy which offers innumerable ways to serve economic actors - both individual and corporate/institutional - I believe it’s time to repeal all Labour legislation that has existed to provide unions with their special powers and privileges. There is no longer a need and, if truth be told, unions have created more problems than they solve under their current operating model.
Professional associations offer a better model based on Freedom of Choice.
Professional associations have served workers in other fields quite effectively on a voluntary membership basis. Every person is free to choose whether the services being offered are worth the membership fee, or not.
In the absence of mandatory union membership/dues, a variety of associations will likely arise to meet the diverse professional and social interests of past public sector union members. As each individual progresses through different career and life stages, he or she will choose whichever organization best serves them at the time.
Free Choice benefits everyone
Taxpayers will love the Professional Association model because whole domains of government activities that have been needed in the past to administer union-related matters will no longer needed. The financial burdens and tax loads that were previously required to fund those bureaucracies will dissipate.
Current union members will love the flexibility to join & pay for association memberships, or not! Everyone has unique spending priorities and a mandatory labour tax is not likely high on anyone’s list.
Union leaders and stakeholders may not be so pleased initially, but will eventually look back and understand that the transformation from the out-dated legacy union model to a progressive association based on a voluntary ‘fee for services’ model was both inevitable and fortuitous. Change is hard for anyone, but embracing change with creativity and commitment can be very rewarding for everyone.
CIPS is a popular professional association when I was an IT Recruiting Professional in the GTA. This link provides an example of one that is reputable and well-established.
https://cips.ca
