Post Xmas Let Down

Every year is the same, there is a rush to commercialize Xmas as businesses receive a huge percentage of their revenue over the month of deficit buying. Immediately after Xmas there is a rush to close marginal profit shops and with the new year there is tax and budget concerns - so the big let down. Only this week we saw huge layoffs of municipal workers, lockouts at plants, closures of call centers and rumours of massive unemployment because of the need for balanced budgets.

I am not sure that the world is as bad as it appears in the press but the Fifth Estate seems to seek and print every negative aspect of our society. There is a war on unions and the working people who depend on these institutions to defend themselves against big business are being ignored by the government who today sees these unions as the enemy.

Only a couple of decades ago one could expect to be hired by a company that provided reasonable living conditions and a pension at the end of service, but today unless you are hired by one level of government or another you are probably fresh out of luck. It is rather peculiar that government that today are not protecting the working people of the country have set up some of the very best safety nets for themselves and their workers. Conservatives here and in the USA will do everything to protect big business and even offer huge subsidies to big oil and international companies, and leave the middle class to fend for themselves. Just watch and see how our government will react to the pipelines and watch how these multi-national, foreign owned companies will get legislation to aid them in their bid to transport oil over sensitive environmentally pristine land, to provide oil for China.

The government should be right out there protecting the rights of the people who live in these areas. Why is the government always on the side of big business? Because there is the notion that these powerful companies provide large numbers of employment. Big business only employ people when it is profitable and the moment that any aspect of the business reflects on the bottom profit line they are gone. Interesting that many, if not most, of the multi-nationals pay little or no taxes to Canada. Most have off-shore offices in tax sheltered jurisdictions.

I watched one labour story in London Ontario where Caterpillar International has locked out its hundreds of workers. This plant operated as a profitable Canadian firm for years building excellent locomotives under a branch of GE. The workers were skilled and made nearly $30 an hour with benefits. The CAT Co. bought this Canadian company and locked out the workers because the union would not accept a cut in wages and salaries, benefits and pensions earned and won over the years. They were offered one half their origional package in a take it or leave it offer. Watch what happens and observe who our government will support in this mess.

Canada is losing its middle class and unions and other workers organizations deserve our consideration, as they were the ones who fought for and gained the standard of living we used to have. I was an educator for many years and our federation gave us respect and living conditions from which we now benefit. Let us hope that 2012 will be  a year for the working class and the ordinary people of America. (Canada-USA).