Dear Editor,
Unions have been in existence in both Canada and the U.S. for over 200 years, and have a track record worthy of any good “who-done-it” movie filled with good guy/bad guy, crime and punishment, murder and malice and a host of other derivatives I will not mention here for lack of space.
At their inception, unions were secret organizations, criminalized by governments at the urging of business and finance afraid that the collective will of the people, in any desire for fair and equitable working conditions, would upset the master/servant mentality of the day, blurring the clear and distinctive line between the haves and the have not, the elite and everyone below them.
However, resistance to the ordinary working class unionizing in pursuit of a larger share of the purse remained strong and apparently unbreakable, as people feared the loss of even the pittance they earned and eked an existence from.
By the end of the 19th century, unions were beginning to gain momentum, and by the 1930s held tremendous sway in the areas of construction, transportation, shipping, and the infant airline industry.
PSAC is doing everything it can to help me and my 155,000 fellow members working in federal government public service positions end contract stalemates – some of which are years old, receive wage increases long overdue and get back to at least some semblance of pay equity that gives us a fighting chance against rampant inflation, an inflation that is affecting all Canadians today.
PM Trudeau just gave Volkswagen $14 billion with which to build a $7-billion plant here in Canada. He calls it a sound business deal. Since when do Canadians provide the seed money for private industry to expand into new markets, especially foreign industry that is just going to take its profit right back home and likely not invest it in Canada’s real future at all?
Sure, that sounds fair. $14 billion for a major auto corporation but nothing for the hard working, dedicated public servants who help to keep the country running and Canadian citizens supplied with the services they require. Makes sense to me. How about you?
I did not think so.
My name is Donna, and I have been on strike with PSAC since April 19. I am encouraging you to contact your local MP in support of our cause. We do not want to be on strike. We want to be back at work in service to our nation and all Canadians.
Donna Grieve, Willoughby
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• READ MORE: PM makes ‘serious’ offer to end strike
• READ MORE: PSAC pickets go up in Langley April 19
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