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Three strikes and who's out?
How can we tell when our spies are on strike? What do they do? Picket foreign embassies?
It s getting a little desperate here in Vancouver. A few months ago the Coca Cola people were involved in some
sort of labour action and the beverage which gets me through the day was becoming scarce.
I wasn t down to my last can, but I was getting nervous, starting to wonder where my next Coke fix (cola, that
is) would come from, or whether it was going to get ugly here.
Now two of the public employee unions at UBC are on rotating strikes and my pay cheque for my part-time job may
be delayed. On the other hand, the parking enforcement employees were on strike last week, so I saved a few bucks
at the parkade.
The Canadian spy establishment (CSIS) went on strike last winter. "We can t talk about it", said an official
of the Union of National Defence Employees. It's hard to muster public sympathy when you can't carry a sign. How
would you know when the clandestine workers are not working?
The union, which represents workers at the Communications Security Establishment, was covered by the six year wage
freeze that all federal workers are living with. They wanted double the government s last offer.
An interesting twist in mid-January was the postponement of the B.C. Federation of Labour s annual congress because
some of their clerical staff had promised to picket the site of the convention due to their labour dispute with
the federation.
Perhaps Canadians, having lived with the problem for years, don't fully realize how often the news carries stories
about labour relations conflicts. The public, like the frog in the pot of water slowly coming to a boil, gradually
adapting to the slowly changing temperature until it's too late, doesn't seem to notice but the number of strikes
and confrontations seems incredible to an outsider.
Since moving back to Canada in May of 1998, I have seen strikes or job action by doctors, nurses, air traffic controllers,
BC ferry workers, Air Canada, Bell Canada, the union of defence workers at Canadian Forces bases, the school administrative
staff in Vancouver school districts, clerical staff in BC Transit, the bus drivers in Victoria, the movie projectionists
in Vancouver,
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social services workers, parking lot attendants, CBC technical workers, the Canadian Media Guild, BC Rail, and
the Sky Train staff. Every day a new group seems to join the frantic throng. News reports did drop off during the
brief Vancouver Sun newspaper strike. But that only lasted three hours.
Mark Leier, a labour historian at Simon Fraser University, says that strikes in Canada have been declining over
the past 50 years, but it doesn t look like it from watching the newscasts.
A Macleans survey in Canada last spring found 53% of respondents felt their jobs were so stressful they
were close to burnout. Only half of government, health and education employees reported adequate resources to do
their jobs well. The survey identified a feeling of challenge and the chance to make an impact as the most important
factors in job satisfaction.
Data from Statistics Canada show that Canada has one of the highest rates of strikes and lockouts in the industrialized
world. Between 1990 and 1996 Canada averaged 407 strikes per year. The U.S. averaged 38, Japan 191 and even that
hotbed of labour unrest, the UK, only averaged 306.
...the number of strikes and confrontations seems incredible
to an outsider.
Why such hostility, such a gap between expectations and reality? A common theme of these job actions is
that many if not most are public sector employees and there is a level of hostility to the government as employer.
But the government as employer is us, the taxpayers, and we elected these governments. Well, I didn't, because
I only recently moved here, but the question is, why are government workers so angry?
Is Canada in a state of social upheaval with a populace split between lowering taxes to reduce the deficit and
raising taxes to increase wages and social services?
The Kamloops Indian band has enacted a labour code which bans strikes. "We have seen how strikes have polarized
the population of British Columbia," says Band Chief Manny Jules, "and when you have a community that
will live together for all time, you do not want to create a situation where families within families do not talk
to each other."
I m not minimizing the real grievances of hard working men and women, and I realize that taxpayers and businesses
need a reliable supply of labour, but I think it's time for dialogue and some goodwill on all sides.
And thank God they settled the Coca Cola grievance. It was getting thirsty out here. Now let s get that pay cheque
issue sorted out.
Geraldine Sombke
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February,
2000
