In the letter to the editor titled “Labour laws need change” printed in Aug. 12 issue of the Western News, the author states in part “the asinine tactic of striking”. He forgot to mention that the employer also has the right to use the “asinine tactic” of locking out their employees, such as was the cause of Canada Post shutting down.
The writer, referring to a postal worker, states: “The world does not care about your needs.” Well, I certainly care. I want to see every employee in this country make a good wage so they can pay their share of taxes. I also would like to see every employee paying into a defined pension plan so at the end of the day they wouldn’t be a burden to the taxpayer.
Also stated in the above mentioned letter is union “membership should be a choice and not forced on prospective employees”. I certainly have no qualms against any employee not wanting to belong to a union, but such an employee that wants to enjoy the wages and benefits that were negotiated by a union may well risk producing hypocrisy’s finest hour. These kind of people are not uncommon in the work world. There are also many small businesses that prefer to work for cash under the table because they don’t want to pay income tax, but still enjoy the infrastructure and services that tax dollars provide.
Personally, I think it would be great if there were no unions at all.
Unfortunately, the fact remains that unions are a product of the mismanagement of employees. And to get rid of unions, bad employers would have to go first. That might require a change in government.
Stuart Reed
Keremeos