Will Saskatchewan workers re-elect union-hating hobgoblins this fall?
Labour Day Editorial | Stephen Whitworth
It’s Friday morning on the last weekday in August and in Regina, Saskatchewan’s capital city, the sun is out, the breeze is fresh and the temperature is cozy trending towards comfortably hot.
In short, it’s a lovely day and a great set up to what’s looking like a beautiful Labour Day long weekend.
Everyone remembers Labour Day, right? The holiday celebrating Canadian workers’ innumerable battles against wealthy owners and their paid politicians scheming to exploit their labour without regard (to put it politely) for workers’ efforts, safety and health?
The good news is Canada’s labour movement won those wars. Workers forced this country’s governments and would-be barons to legally recognize their unions, pay better wages, limit the hours that could be worked in a week and protect their well-being on the job. That’s why in 2024, there is no conflict between workers and employers — just mutual respect and a shared appreciation for the prosperity and harmony grown from the seeds of those long-ago struggles.
And if you believe that last part, I have a pyramid scheme you should totally invest in. Just e-mail me your credit card details and I’ll get you the info.
The truth is, Labour Day is not an unchangeable monument to past triumphs. Worker rights are a fragile and ever-shifting collection of laws and protections that need defending. They can be expanded or they can be stripped away. And workers and their leadership, organizations and supporters must be vigilant to make sure it’s not the latter.
Because if you hadn’t noticed, the barons and their paid politicians are still with us. And they are very, VERY aware that worker success can cut into their obscene profits.
Something to think about as we enjoy the long weekend enacted to honour workers.
It’s also something to consider as we head into the most interesting provincial election in more than a decade.
People Of The Paycheque, Unite
Leaving aside those of you drawing pensions or receiving some kind of social support, here’s a simple question I suspect is relevant to most adults in Saskatoon and Regina: how do you make a living? Do you get a paycheque, or do you get money from investments?
Yes, I know a person can have both — what I’m saying is, what’s the main thing keeping you from poverty, homelessness and hunger? Your investments? Or your income, derived from your labour?
If it’s the latter, congratulations — you are a worker. You might be a nurse, a server, a cab driver, an electrician or a McDonald’s drive-through window jockey, but your interests are broadly the same: good wages, fair treatment, safe workplaces. You are the majority.
And this is something that makes the Saskatchewan Party’s 17-year run of electoral success surprising to me.
I can’t find the exact quote, but I recall a 2006 or 2007 interview with then-Opposition leader Brad Wall. I think it was a TV interview? If I remember correctly (and I’m 97 per cent sure I do), Wall was asked if “war” would be a fair characterization of a Sask. Party government’s stance toward unions.
Wall affirmed it.
Can you even IMAGINE the backlash if an NDP leader said they were going to war with Saskatchewan big business? That is simply not something a politician could utter. In 2007 or in 2024, they’d be destroyed in the media and their party would be massacred at the polls. Despite the fact virtually no Saskatchewan voters own big businesses themselves.
I mean, I kind of understand why we’re like this — corporate media pundits have always normalized the sanctity of private enterprise, and it’s had the desired effect of warping the public’s perception of its own self-interest. But it still amazes me.
Just how much contempt does the provincial government have for Saskatchewan labour? In a move SGEU president Tracey Sauer called “contemptible”, the Scott Moe government just blamed their surprise end-of-August $81 million of unbudgeted deficit on public worker contracts — contracts the government dragged-out negotiations on over years. Yeah, it’s workers’ fault Team Moe can’t manage money. It’s always someone else’s fault, isn’t that right?
It’s nothing new. Saskatchewan workers elected the Sask. Party to a robust majority in 2007, and true to his ‘war-on-unions’ word Wall and his conservative-minded caucus immediately attacked workers rights. To varying degrees, that animus has continued for almost two decades. You see it in our province’s suppressed minimum wage, the lowest in Canada. You see it in legislation making it harder to join unions. You see it in the anger and fractured morale in public sector workplaces. And most of all, you see it reflected in the tired eyes of individuals and families struggling to keep up with rising costs and shrinking opportunities.
Regardless: Saskatchewan’s challenges are many and solving them won’t be easy and will require people with different ideas to work together. And all political parties have their good points and bad points, their strengths and weaknesses, and a capacity to bring prosperity to Saskatchewan.
But it will always boggle my mind that hatred of workers disguised as “standing up to unions” isn’t the red flag for most voters — mostly workers — that it is for me.
Are you an investor or a worker? With an election call coming in the next few weeks, you might want to reflect this Labour Day on your interests — and which of our imperfect political parties will do the best job serving them.