Let’s face it, no employer wants a union. Even those organizations that have built productive relationships with unions would do without organized labour if possible.
Now that unions have, for the most part, done away with Dickensian working conditions in North America and Europe that lasted well into the last century, the focus is mostly on pushing pay and benefit packages as far as they can go. Oh sure, there’s some good union involvement around healthy workplace issues and labour standards, but one need only look at organized labour’s inability to deliver support for the NDP to appreciate many union members relate more to political parties that appeal to higher-income voters, than social policies on the left.
Most private-sector organizations blame unions for driving up the costs of doing business. So, in a competitive global market it makes sense for corporate Canada to support the development of unions in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Why should other nations have a competitive advantage by suppressing unions?
In some cases, this competitive advantage is maintained through abuses North American and European nations should not be tolerating in their trading partners.
Take Colombia, for example. Over the last few years, more than 100 union leaders have been murdered annually in the South American country. Mostly these killings are blamed on army-backed paramilitary groups.
China, which conveniently escapes the pressure the United States puts on that other communist powerhouse Cuba, routinely imprisons activists working for the establishment of independent unions.
Amnesty International reports the suppression of unions in Bolivia, Indonesia, Nigeria, Tunisia, Ethiopia, Guatemala and the list goes on.
Globalization talks do include labour standards, but with union organizers facing death, torture or imprisonment in many nations, there’s a lot of work to be done before there is a level playing field when it comes to the treatment of workers internationally.
Business leaders need to ensure their governments put the right to unionize on the globalization agenda. This requires input from a broad spectrum of employers, not just multinational corporations, but smaller firms that operate strictly nationally. Globalization isn’t just about opening markets for international trade, it’s also about ensuring unfair practices abroad don’t result in the loss of internal markets. Why should a Quebec clothing manufacturer go out of business because foreign companies that exploit workers and block unions are able to use that labour advantage to capture the market in Montreal?
Globalization and free trade must include labour standards and the right to unionize. Otherwise North America and Europe are giving competitors in other nations an upper hand on the world market.
Now that unions have, for the most part, done away with Dickensian working conditions in North America and Europe that lasted well into the last century, the focus is mostly on pushing pay and benefit packages as far as they can go. Oh sure, there’s some good union involvement around healthy workplace issues and labour standards, but one need only look at organized labour’s inability to deliver support for the NDP to appreciate many union members relate more to political parties that appeal to higher-income voters, than social policies on the left.
Most private-sector organizations blame unions for driving up the costs of doing business. So, in a competitive global market it makes sense for corporate Canada to support the development of unions in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Why should other nations have a competitive advantage by suppressing unions?
In some cases, this competitive advantage is maintained through abuses North American and European nations should not be tolerating in their trading partners.
Take Colombia, for example. Over the last few years, more than 100 union leaders have been murdered annually in the South American country. Mostly these killings are blamed on army-backed paramilitary groups.
China, which conveniently escapes the pressure the United States puts on that other communist powerhouse Cuba, routinely imprisons activists working for the establishment of independent unions.
Amnesty International reports the suppression of unions in Bolivia, Indonesia, Nigeria, Tunisia, Ethiopia, Guatemala and the list goes on.
Globalization talks do include labour standards, but with union organizers facing death, torture or imprisonment in many nations, there’s a lot of work to be done before there is a level playing field when it comes to the treatment of workers internationally.
Business leaders need to ensure their governments put the right to unionize on the globalization agenda. This requires input from a broad spectrum of employers, not just multinational corporations, but smaller firms that operate strictly nationally. Globalization isn’t just about opening markets for international trade, it’s also about ensuring unfair practices abroad don’t result in the loss of internal markets. Why should a Quebec clothing manufacturer go out of business because foreign companies that exploit workers and block unions are able to use that labour advantage to capture the market in Montreal?
Globalization and free trade must include labour standards and the right to unionize. Otherwise North America and Europe are giving competitors in other nations an upper hand on the world market.
