To the Editor:
An interesting message from Statistics Canada. Income inequality in Canada has increased over the past 20 years.
The richest group of Canadians (Top 20 per cent) increased its share of the total national income, while the poorest and middle income earners lost share. The increase in inequality can be attributed to institutional forces like declines in unionization, stagnating minimum wage rates and national policies that favor the wealthy. In Canada, the falling top marginal tax rates explain the rise of the richest one percent of the population, (the super rich).
What Statistics Canada is saying to you that work for the weekly pay cheque, if more of you were unionized your chances would be much better to keep up with your fair share of the National income. But, that only works when governments want labour to receive a fair share of the National Wealth. It never works when governments work against labour.
Think back four years when the first pieces of legislation passed by this new corporate backed government in Saskatchewan were anti-labour laws. The benefactors of such labour laws are those that hire workers, not the workers themselves.
These new labour laws in Saskatchewan give management the right to interfere with workers exercising their legal right to unionize.
Some tactics used by management to keep workers down and the Union out are:
Dismissing Union organizers and supporters
Communicating anti-union sentiments directly to employees
monitoring employees
Threatening to close the plant or spreading rumors that this will happen.
Training managers to take action against organizing campaigns
With government and business teaming up to undermine workers rights, it is a safe bet those in the labour force will never receive a fair share of the National income.
Henry Neufeld, Waldeck, SK.
