Op-Ed: Canadian Auto Workers rally at Queen's Park over pension concerns

CAW members gathered at Queen's Park yesterday to publicize their demands that the government guarantee members' pensions.

The current economic situation has publicized the financial problems of the auto industry but the problems began long before the current crisis. Lack of product innovation has steadily eroded the Big Three's market share. Unions continued to press for and receive higher wages and resisted any productivity improvements that meant the lose of jobs. Auto companies buckled under pressure to grant workers larger and larger settlements and postpone product improvements. While the current economic situation has focused everyone's attention, CAW leaders were already badly in need of a reality check. I say this because, when the economy returns to some sort of "normal" and I'm sure that it will, the first thing we are going to hear as an argument for getting wages back to previous levels, is the fact that unions took cuts to support the bailouts and now they want to be compensated. Get used to it people! It is not reasonable to expect $76.00 or $56.00 or even $44.00 an hour to do a job that takes zero education and two weeks to learn. Remember when the press would wait with abated breath as union leaders solemnly pondered which of the big three auto makers would be the "target", for the latest round of "what should we ask for now" contract talks as union leaders basked in the glory of their moment in the spotlight. Using the threat of a strike against the targeted manufacturer. Union leaders were always able to convince management to succumb to their demands. Following the targeted settlement, a so called "pattern" was established and the other manufacturers quickly came into line. Those talks might have been better described as blackmail rather than as negotiations. Everyone's pension and retirement plans have been affected by this recent crisis. CAW request to somehow guarantee the pensions of workers who are in defined benefit plans (read union workers, civil servants and teachers) is ludicrous in itself as well as being entirely unaffordable. The companies couldn't even fund their own plans. How do they expect the government to fund all of them? Oh, I know you're also pleading for all working Canadians to be guaranteed a decent pension. That's mighty white of you to include the rest of us in your pleading but do I sense a bit of hypocrisy here? The government should not agree to guarantee the pensions of auto workers unless they are prepared to cover the losses and restore the value of every retirement plan in the country.