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Tuesday, November 10, 2009
il ne regrette rien
Bob sings his old songs:
Regrets? Bob Rae has a few.
But unpaid leave for public-sector workers – or "Rae Days" – is not one of them.
The Toronto Centre Liberal MP's once-blond hair is snow white, thanks in no small measure to his days as Ontario's first NDP premier from 1990 to 1995.
His almost five years in office may be best remembered for the policy forcing public-sector workers to take up to a dozen unpaid days annually for three years to save jobs and almost $2 billion.
Those tumultuous days, when Ontario was in the grips of a deep recession, come flooding back for the 61-year-old Rae when he hears Ontario Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty is musing about imposing unpaid days on provincial, municipal and hospital workers and others who draw a paycheque from the taxpayer.
From the big-government perspective it was the "compassionate" thing to do. Better to force people to take unpaid days-off that firing them en masse to save money. Not being very "compassionate" when it comes to other people's (coerced) money, I would have preferred a massive round of layoffs. For all his faults, that's exactly what the Mike Harris government did shortly there after. Lenin once observed that capitalists were so short sighted they would sell rope to their own hangman. It seems unions are no more perceptive. Had the Ontario union movement not failed to understand that Rae was trying to save them, a less fiercely anti-union government might have come to power in 1995.
Posted by PUBLIUS on November 10, 2009 | Permalink
Comments
I have the feeling that union people tend to think with the larcenous part of their brain.
Posted by: Agha Ali Arkhan | 2009-11-10 8:37:43 AM
Publius,
You bring up an interesting point. Is the private market more short-sighted than the government or unions? Is short-sightedness really such a bad thing?
As far as I can tell, the large majority of human beings are short-sighted. In my business (pension fund management), the government run pension funds seem to be the most short-sighted of them all (La Caisse and PSP being the worst offenders). I'm not including hedge funds here because A) they wouldn't exist in such large numbers without central banks; and B) they're a completely different animal (leveraged institutions have no choice but to be short-sighted).
It seems to me however, that in business, a combination of both is required. It is those who can see the long term picture without sacrificing the short term who will succeed.
Posted by: Charles | 2009-11-10 9:36:18 AM
Lenin once observed that capitalists were so short sighted they would sell rope to their own hangman.
I'm no fan of Mr. Ulyanov, but having said that, judging from what I've read on the Shotgun, he may have been right about that much, at least.
Not being very "compassionate" when it comes to other people's (coerced) money, I would have preferred a massive round of layoffs.
To save the money, or just so you could have a smaller government?
Had the Ontario union movement not failed to understand that Rae was trying to save them, a less fiercely anti-union government might have come to power in 1995.
Agreed. Unions proliferated in the West largely because Asia, with its vast pool of cheap labour, was not in the picture. Now that unskilled and semiskilled jobs can be outsourced, and the average taxpayer understands that public-sector workers are paid far above what they would earn in the private sector, they have lost most of their leverage. Financial and political realities are pushing them in the same direction as the medieval trade guilds.
Posted by: Shane Matthews | 2009-11-10 3:05:35 PM
A Puritanical Prohibitionist posits:
'and the average taxpayer understands that public-sector workers are paid far above what they would earn in the private sector,'
Agreed.
Cops, Politicians other beneficiaries that help enforce and perpetuate the Failed USA Nixonian Instituted War on Drugs would be hard pressed to find jobs that pay better, yet accomplish so little.
So let's help save hard working Canadian taxpayer $$, drastically cut back on bloated Police Budgets and end the Failed USA War on Drugs.
Education NOT Enforcement.
Posted by: jeff franklin | 2009-11-10 4:17:33 PM
Jeff,
This post isn't about drugs ...
Posted by: Charles | 2009-11-10 4:40:42 PM
Charles,
Police aren't public service workers...?
or are we just singling out nurses, teachers, social workers, water maintenance workers and bus drivers for cutbacks?
Posted by: jeff franklin | 2009-11-10 4:57:37 PM
Cops, Politicians other beneficiaries that help enforce and perpetuate the Failed USA Nixonian Instituted War on Drugs would be hard pressed to find jobs that pay better, yet accomplish so little.
Are you capable, Jeff, of NOT viewing anything through the lens of drug laws? This post is not about drug law. There are two active drug-law threads, yet you bring the subject here. Well, here's a little project for you. Find out what percentage of the total public sector budget is being spent on drug enforcement.
or are we just singling out nurses, teachers, social workers, water maintenance workers and bus drivers for cutbacks?
Not Torontonian garbage collectors, certainly.
Posted by: Shane Matthews | 2009-11-10 7:56:48 PM
Of course Mike Harris' solution worked no better than Rae's, and we wound up in deficit and with Walkerton to boot.
Posted by: bigcitylib | 2009-11-11 4:44:49 AM
Walkerton was caused by the corrupt behaviour of two local officials who should have been hung for their malfeasance. Harris and his cuts had nothing to do with Walkerton, but big city libs convinced themselves he did anyway, because they didn't like him. The same clowns who provide the federal Liberals with most of their remaining base when it's increasingly clear the party is broken. "Anyone but Conservative" is a common phrase among big city libs, and all it proves is that they are weak and shiftless and have no vision, only resentment.
Posted by: Shane Matthews | 2009-11-11 10:15:48 AM
`Not Torontonian garbage collectors, certainly.`
Or 6 Toronto Drug Cops who have been ordered to trial on 30 charges.
Charges include:
-searches conducted without warrants
-falsifying notes
-missing $$
-assault and extortion
To Serve and Protect?
Shirley Not!
Posted by: jeff franklin | 2009-11-11 12:01:34 PM
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