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The Conservatives talk
about "job creation" but
what do they really mean by
"jobs"? Do they mean good
jobs: the type of job that
keeps your head above debt
and allows you to feed your
family healthy meals? Do
they mean a job where you
get a say in your working
conditions and time off when
you're sick? Do they mean
the kind of job where you
can retire with a secure
pension? These are the types
of jobs that unions have
fought for. These are the
jobs that built us a strong
middle class and a
prosperous country in the
last half of the twentieth
century. And these are the
type of jobs we want our
government to help create.
But there are jobs and there
are McJobs. McJobs are taken
by desperate people; jobs
with no leave or benefits;
jobs that barely pay the
bills; jobs where you are
completely at the mercy of
your boss; part-time,
insecure jobs that provide
inadequate, if any,
pensions. Jobs like these
turn the middle class into
the working poor. Not only
are they bad for workers,
they are worse for society.
Part-time and contract jobs
build up consumer debt,
burden our social safety net
and slowly choke the
economy. A low-waged,
unstable and unhealthy
labour force ultimately
costs all of us more money.
Yet according to Statistics
Canada, part-time work grew
faster than full-time work
in 2010.
Not only does the Harper
Government expect kudos for
"growing" the economy in
this way, it wants Canadians
to believe that corporate
tax cuts are the reason
behind this so-called
growth. But as Forbes
blogger Peter Cohan says,
"the tax cut rhetoric, while
effective politics, is lousy
economics." A recent study
showed that the
Conservatives' proposed
3-point reduction in
corporate tax rates would
take $6 billion out of the
public purse, but only
stimulate about $600 million
of new business investment
annually.
While they drain the public
purse, many companies also
increase profitability and
productivity by squeezing
their employees, making them
do more with less while
reneging on past commitments
to these employees,
including pensions.
In our society, secure
pensions are one of the
major differences between
the good jobs we want for
everybody and the "job
creation" scheme our
government wants. It is
outrageous to see our
pensions being described as
"gold-plated" luxuries or
greedy "entitlements" by
people who will never have
to worry about their old age
because they are making so
much money off the rest of
us. If we encourage
employers to dodge not only
paying their fair share of
taxes but also paying fair
pensions to their workers,
we are in effect saying that
they can steal yet more from
society.
Pensions are deferred
compensation that workers
have earned. Pension funds
and their contributions are
often negotiated in exchange
for some other concession.
Tying pensions to the stock
market, making employees
assume the risk by gambling
with their old age or
picking on retirees is not
fair. It is doubly and
triply unfair when the
company doing this is
profiting at the same time
from tax giveaways and
government subsidies.
Employers need to understand
that they benefit as much as
anybody else in the long
term from paying their fair
share of taxes and pension
contributions to society.
So what kind of jobs should
we create? Good jobs with
fair pensions. Those are the
kind of jobs that will
maintain economic recovery
and keep us going into the
twenty-first century. And
those are the kind of jobs
that the labour movement is
trying to protect. For our
members, for all workers,
and for the Canadian
economy.