Lately, there has been a lot of moaning about the so-called Harper Agenda from the Canadian Labour Congress. Last weekend, the CLC held a political action conference to discuss their concerns about the present political climate on organized labour.

Some of these concerns are legitimate, including the erosion of workers’ rights. However, CLC President Ken Georgetti’s approach of partisan political action and protests is not going to get us anywhere. He is essentially calling for more of the same, which is only going to strengthen his opponents. As the old saying goes, “You can’t expect a different results if you keep doing the same thing.”

DATE: October 23, 2012

Prior to Premier Dalton McGuinty’s decision last week to prorogue the Ontario legislature, CLAC prepared a detailed letter to Finance Minister Dwight Duncan urging the government to carefully consider the affect that proposed wage freeze legislation sector will have on front line workers in the broader public sector.

Dear Sir:

I am writing you on behalf of the Christian Labour Association of Canada (CLAC) and its four Ontario locals that represent workers in the health sector. CLAC represents approximately 8,000 workers in the public sector who would be covered by the proposed legislation known as The Protecting Public Services Act.

Winston Churchill famously said, “democracy is the worst form of government—except all those other forms that have been tried.” We could also say that “free enterprise is the worst form of economic distribution—except for all the other forms that have been tried.”

Free enterprise needs to be tempered with sensible regulation, and its success requires that people adhere to strong value systems.

In 2008, Lehman Brothers collapsed, precipitating a crisis in the financial markets that sent the Western world into a major recession. But the signs of excess and unrestrained capitalism were present long before.

Think of the Tyco CEO who, in 2001, threw a $2 million toga party for his wife’s birthday, charging half of the cost to Tyco.

Or think of the collapse of WorldCom in 2002. Management knew the collapse was coming, but they pressured employees to invest their earnings into the firm, right until the company imploded amid massive accounting scandals. The result: when the company when bankrupt, employees and investors were left destitute.

“If government would only be run like a business, then we wouldn’t have any of these problems.” If I had a nickel for every time I heard that from a businessperson, I’d be rich. It usually comes up in discussions surrounding government deficits, mismanagement, and public salaries.

Prudent business practices should play a role in government spending so that tax payers receive good value for their tax dollars. But business practices shouldn’t have the final say in determining the actions of government. Government is not a business.

What do Canada, the US, and many European countries have in common? Debt, and lots of it.

It’s no secret that governments around the world have been overspending for years, but especially so since the economic crash of 2008. Many are now asking public sector workers to share in the pain of digging out from under huge debt loads by accepting wage freezes.

The Ontario government has asked the public sector to accept a two-year wage freeze, but application of this freeze has been haphazard at best. Some public sector workers have continued to receive pay increases while others have not. And those on the have-not list are some of the lowest-paid workers.

Public sector workers are not the cause of deficit spending. Their only crime is that they have continued to do their jobs—educating our children, taking care of our elderly, and picking up our garbage.