Ah, the familiar smell of student activism… In the campus papers, students condemn the closure of the Arbor Room at Hart House. Billboards are plastered with posters encouraging us to support the TA union in their negotiations with the university. Even on the bathroom walls at Robarts, I am told by the Graduate Student Union that I should be worried about my degree being used as a “commodity” on the open market. Call me crazy, but I don’t care. Have I lost my heart?
Maybe I’ve realized that we’re not living during the Industrial Revolution. Karl Marx might have had a point in his day, but he has fortunately lost relevance. The crystal clear struggle between the rich and the poor, which many romantically cherish, should be criticized whenever possible. In a modern Canada teeming with social programs like welfare, health care, and free education, not to mention rampant job opportunities and solid legislation to protect workers, we should expose the ever-weakening moral high ground that unions claim to stand on.
Unions consistently undermine the nature of Canada’s meritocracy. While most of the Canadian workforce plays by the rules, getting paid what their hard work and skills are worth on the market, unions encourage a sense of entitlement. They’ll stop at nothing to achieve their goals even if they have to resort to coercion.
Just look at how CUPE is using walkout threats to bully elected officials into passing the legislation they want. Should they resort to their illegal strike, public services around the province will be crippled. Whatever happened to democracy? Instead of being paid a competitive wage based on individual effort and human capital, unionized employees everywhere are arbitrarily saying, “Give me what I want or I’ll strike!”
This strategy sounds tempting to anyone who has had a job, but should we look up to it as a society? Isn’t it more ethical and fair to be paid based on the value of one’s contribution to society rather than on one’s ability to organize? An individual should not expect a raise in salary unless they can show that another employer is willing to offer the same. If the going rate is not high enough in the employee’s opinion, he has every right to look elsewhere or seek a subsidized education that will improve his earning power.
Not only are they unethical, but unions have serious negative effects on our society. They cause trouble to businesses, consumers, other workers, and even themselves.
Take the recent decision by the Hart House administration to shut down the Arbor Room. The existence of a unionized workforce, overpaid by any standards in the food services industry, caused understaffing, slow service, and a lack of employment opportunities for students and immigrants looking for part-time work. We also can’t forget that the union is responsible for the Arbor Room’s failure as a business, which ironically cost its workers their jobs there. On the bright side, if they open a Tim Horton’s on the site we won’t have to wait half an hour for a sandwich.
We should also be unimpressed with the union for our teaching assistants. Complaints of being over-worked and underpaid by the university don’t have much worth when they’re coming from some of the most educated people in our country. If they don’t like their part-time jobs, there are plenty of competitive intern opportunities they could pursue, however probably none as well-paying for so few hours worked.
It’s laughable that many student groups supporting them can also be found protesting rising tuition fees. Who do they think pays the TAs’ wages?
I think it’s great that so many of us feel such passion for our society. However, we must not let our pursuit of moral absolutes lead us blindly towards the worship of institutions that harm its well-being. In short, we can’t have our social justice and eat it too. Unions claim to be champions of “the people,” but are in fact nothing but a self-interested burden.
