One More for Carole Taylor

After 5 years of what might be called a "frosty" relationship with BC's Labour sector, the BC Liberals had their first contract success in recent memory (by recent memory I mean I can't remember it ever happening). I recall strikes with the BCNU, BCGEU, BCHEU, and a couple rounds of strikes with the BCTF (most recently this past fall's illegal strike action).

Today the BC government got a tentative deal with the BC Government Service and Employees' Union that will last 4 years. A quote from the article:

the agreement, which will be voted on by BCGEU members within the next three weeks, includes a wage increase of 10 per cent over four years, strict limits on contracting out and an average signing bonus for each full-time employee of $4,000.

The agreement also includes the equivalent of another 0.5-per-cent wage increase to be used to retain and recruit employees in hard-to-fill positions.

It appears that the previous approach to Labour relations, which was beating unions with the biggest stick the government could find, has been replaced by a "kinder, gentler" labour relations strategy that involves incentives and a newfound respect for labour relations law. I wonder how much the new government strategy has been the result of the 5-figure shortage of available workers in the economy. It's a lot easier to beat the crap out of unions when the economy has high unemployment and the market is offering relatively low wages.

Using billions of dollars to bribe unions into signing contracts was, I must say, an inspired market signal. Those lines in the budget set up some very good conditions for the government both in terms of getting deals signed with the public sector and winnning the PR war when a few of those deals inevitably don't get signed.

The BC economy is in high gear and the government likes to remind us of this fact. It's true and it even true that the past five years of caving to every imaginable industry demand/request/dream has been part of our recent economic success. What is easy to forget in the midst of an economic boom is that economies are cyclical. Booms do not last forever and inevitably the cycle reverses and as the economic engine slows itself down, unemployment rises, wages are supressed and the people who live on the margins of the middle class are pulled under by the rip tide of recession. This simple economic pattern is the reason that unions became such an important socio-political force throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries and it is the reason that workers were willing to risk their lives to fight for some legally enforceable economic stability outside the boom/bust cycle of the aggregate economy.

It isn't suprising to see that this function of labour organisation is still at work. In the early years of the Campbell government, in a weak economic climate, it was the position of the "employer" that the strength of the unions was the reason for the economic malaise and all their demands were unreasonable. This lead to a number of strikes and because of the conviction with which this position was held by the government also lead to legislative changes designed to undermine the "overly strong" unions.

Since we're now a few years later in the story and the economy has picked up, the "employer" isn't so concerned with union power as they are with labour peace. It is less likely we'll see protracted strikes in the coming months and if we do it will be related to non-economic concerns (teacher autonomy or nurses concerned with the safety of their practice). It is good news for everyone that the BCGEU has put a tentative deal together but it's dangerous for labour leaders in the province to think that the new government policy reflects a real change in the attitude of the governing party. They are economic changes and not philosphical ones that have made for the more positive tone of negotiations.

The moral of this story is to be reminded of the multiple roles that government plays when it comes to public sector unions. It is the responsibility of the legislature to ensure that there is a fair and open labour relations process for both private and public sector unions. However, as the monopsonist employer in the public sector, it is also the government's job to negotiate with its employees. This tension creates a permanent temptation to use the legislative option to solve complicated or negative labour relations situations. This option should be a last resort in the event of crisis. Whenever government succumbs to the temptation to improvise a temporary legislative solution to a negotiations impasse, they undermine the larger and more universal labour relations framework throughout the economy. These kinds of changes establish a more uncertain economic environment and often infringe of the rights of all the workers in the economy.

Posts like this are pretty strong evidence that my parent's lifelong participation in the labour movement has had an effect on my worldview. Please don't take this post as an endorsement of the inevitable excesses of the modern Canadian labour movement. unions do exist for a reason but certainly very little of what they say and do is reasonable.