My final thoughts on the union...

I should start this entry off by saying I am in no way criticizing my union or any union for that matter. I do have some unique qualifications in the area of unionism but in this spot I am merely trying to finish what I started which is a brief glimpse of where Unions come from, where they are, and where they are going. I think that there are cycles in the life of a union that may be compared in some ways with the cycles of marriage. The early days when it is formed and just starting out are very passionate and driven by idealism. They set the initial stage for how things are basically going to go. Then comes the less passionate but more comfortable days when small modifications are routinely made and things basically run as they should. Finally there comes a stage like after that time in a marriage when both parties stop working and they have to start cutting back in order to face their new reality. Unfortunately in the unions the members don't often Realize the implication which is that this stage will eventually end in death. I recall with unions like the autoworkers or the BC teachers the the employer side of the employer side of the equation eventually figure out how to weaken the unions. It is a slow process involving but divide and conquer tactics in conjunction with smallish claw backs with each new agreement signed. The union, which ever one you want to consider, reaches that happy middle section of the life cycle which I identified above and so the members get a little less interested in the implications of political manoevering and more interested in the status quo. They get too comfortable in the big fat center of their comfort zone. So these little changes I mentioned go through virtually unnoticed. The Union leaders want to keep the members who elect them happy and so the status quo it is. That is until it is too late. It is my feeling that the Oli Sands Producers and the other managers of the capital side have already started this process and are making great headway. They have CLAC which is a weak alternative to the union but which seems to cover the work of just about any trade. They are selling Ironworker work to Boilermakers and vice versa in order to divide us. They have agreements in place up here that are significantly diluted versions of the original, and the have a more global workforce which they draw from across Canada. They are winning and we are barely surviving although. It many people seem to realize it. So what can be done? Somehow the various unions need to get together and plot a strategy together that doesn't include competing for work. It possibly means amalgamating a few unions together for strength and to combat the divisiveness. It requires unions across Canada to unite more so that people from other provinces share the work a little more easily. And most of all it requires all the unions to make it easier to absorb CLAC people and in so doing reunite the working people and weaken the grip which the producers have on the process. It sounds simple but I know it isn't. It IS a simplified view. But if this process doesn't begin soon then in 10 years the Unions will only be shells of their former selves cut back to nothing and CLAC will be the main provider of labor for the oil patch. When that happens the producers who actually run the CLACers will carve them back too and the skilled trades of the middle class will be driven back down to their lower class origins. That is the last of my union rant. Tomorrow I will go back to the good stuff. Have a great day! :)