Who signs the cheques, who’s got the keys?
There’s much online kvetching about all the power unions have as garbage piles up in Toronto, Windsor and as a strike deadline at VIA Rail approaches. But when I hear someone complain that unions have too much power, I understand they’re complaining that unions have any power at all.
Wage karma
People pay taxes. Those taxes pay wages of people who provide services. Those wages (also taxed) buy groceries, pay mortgages, loans, buy cars, hire snow shovellers. Their deferred wages (aka pensions) fuel Bay Street.
Relative greed
How to say this nicely. I’m bombarded with negative feedback about the municipal strike in Toronto and Windsor. It’s mostly over the top, often violent, homophobic and abusive. It seems to come from a limited number of voices – men universally.
Murray Dobbin asks a lot of Toronto strikers
Murray Dobbin’s post on the Toronto municipal strike points out how much effort goes into making public sector workers unpopular. He’s big on the value of the public sector and here I agree with him.
