I am often frustrated by economic arguments on both sides of the political spectrum.

The right argues that we need to create jobs at any cost and that job creation alone will lift the poor out of poverty in a trickledown fashion. All we have to do is destroy unions and leave employers to create jobs and all will be well.

The problem is that the jobs being created are low-skilled and low-paid McJobs that cannot sustain a family and that will not lead to a prosperous society for all Canadians.

We can look to the US for results of the right’s arguments. There, we see incomes falling and a growing gap between rich and working poor.

The left argues that we need more support programs to help the poor live a sustainable life.

But pouring more money into social programs that keep folks where they are, year after year, only increases the debts of the province, and doesn’t help the poor move into a higher income bracket.

Once upon a time, two carpenters were assembling a plastic garden shed for the Region of Waterloo. They said to one another, “This looks like ICI construction work to us. Let us go forth and organize ourselves with the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, since we too are joining things together.” And so it was that on that Saturday, when no one else was working, the two carpenters decided to apply to the Ontario Labour Relations Board for certification of the Region of Waterloo, for all construction work both now and forevermore.

This sounds like a fable, but it isn’t.

In Ontario, if fifty-five percent of construction workers on a job site on a given day sign up with a union, the union can apply to become the bargaining agent for the company—no vote from the other workers is required.

Once the union comes in, the company automatically falls under the union’s collective agreement.

Even though a region or municipality isn’t really a construction company, the Carpenters’ Union is attempting to certify the Region of Waterloo as they would a company.

The past few months have seen significant pressures placed upon unions across Ontario. The lessons of Electro-Motive Canada in London have not been lost on workers or unions. Those who see unions as a blight on our society have been crowing about the fact that unions are finally being humbled. They had better be very careful about what they wish for.

Workers are not the only ones who suffer when jobs are lost, wages are cut, and two-tier wage systems are introduced. The erosion of the ability of unions to maintain decent wages has a huge impact on government revenue because of Canada’s progressive tax system.