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.”

The recent US election was certainly a tense time around our house, and throughout our extended family.

My family is bi-national because my spouse is an American citizen and our children are dual citizens. We have a number of relatives living in the US who are avid Tea Partiers and others who are not.

During the campaign, communication was difficult at best with some and impossible with others. Their minds were made up one way or the other, and they refused to engage in rational debate.

The sad reality is that this division in my family reflects a growing polarization in society, and it doesn’t bode well for the future. We need debate and discussion to move forward together.

I thought about CLAC’s differences with others in the labour movement. Old style unionists fear new ideas and approaches and lack the confidence to engage with us—even though we have common interests as labour unions.

“There was a big guy standing in the parking lot. He blocked my way into the building and wouldn’t let me past till he handed me a pamphlet and ranted about our union.”

“Don’t worry about it. He’s just trying to scare you into joining his union. They’re freaking out because their members are leaving.”

Unfortunately, such incidents are becoming more common as unions affiliated with the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) desperately try to stop the steady erosion of their membership. Over the past thirty years, Old Labour unions have lost almost forty percent of their membership. They’re fighting back the only way they know how—by using old-school intimidation tactics.

Apparently, improving representation and member services hasn’t occurred to them.

It’s not just unions such as SEIU that are desperate to stop the bleeding. Traditional healthcare unions are also facing increasing competition from industrial unions such as CAW, which are confronted with declining membership as jobs move offshore or down south. These unions are looking for members whose jobs can’t be outsourced or moved.

Whether it’s CAW, SEIU, or any one of a number of other OFL-affiliated unions, if healthcare workers were unhappy because their phone calls went unanswered or they never saw their rep, they used to have very few options. When they called other unions to see about switching, they couldn’t get help because OFL-affiliated unions are not allowed to raid members from each other.