A couple of weeks ago, I walked a picket line with a friend in support of striking workers at a grocery and fuel co-operative. I needed to feel it in my blood again, that idea of is why I believe I what I believe.
There’s a two-tiered wage system that workers have finally had enough of and the management isn’t prepared to let go. A manager said to another friend of mine as I stood there: “They already make more money than…” before listing certain grocery stores and businesses.
“Well, it’s a race to the bottom,” my friend said, carrying a home made sign in support of the striking workers.
And it seems like we’re all caught in the idea of a never-ending race to the bottom. Minimum wage is always too high for independent business. If only it went down, then everyone would be employed.
We pay too much for some of the things in life we crave so we ask online services like Amazon to do it a little bit cheaper while local entrepreneurs and employees tap their fingers at their stores.
We want the snow to be cleared from every single road five minutes before the flakes start falling, but balk every time city taxes come due. We want to be protected by law enforcement and the fire department but cross our fingers they don’t ask for too much at contract time.
Living in an apartment in the middle of the city, I too need to shop at grocery stores instead of, say, growing all the produce in a backyard greenhouse all the time. I understand there’s a cost of doing business and I sometimes (wrongly) assume that as the stores go well, so do the employees and yes, even the management.
As a member of that co-operative, I share in the profits every year with a benefit cheque. Those cheques have steadily gotten higher over the last couple of years. And the longer the strike goes on, the smaller that benefit cheque is likely to be. I’m willing to accept that if it means those who work hard to make the business what it is they will share a little bit more in the profit.
The Edmonton Oilers a few weeks ago crossed a picket line to stay at a hotel when they went on a road trip a few weeks ago. I thought about how the National Hockey League Players Association was able to form and grow in the late 60s and early 70s. The New York Yankees, a franchise made entirely of money, stayed at the same hotel.
Salaries for the players have doubled in the last 20 years and there are coaches making more than $5 million a year. The players certainly have to be aware of the power they have collectively. So you would think solidarity with other unions would be one of the things at least respected or considered when choosing where to stay overnight but apparently that was forgotten about; perhaps while the agents and players decided which luxury items to purchase online.
Even with that said, I’ve supported the players every time a labour interruption has threatened and even cancelled a season of professional sports in the past. People pay to watch the top stars playing for storied franchises, and in some cases they even want to watch the Arizona Coyotes. Anyway, the players are the ones they want to see, and if they feel their skills have a certain proven value, why should league management be able to tell them otherwise?
Should we engage in a race to the bottom in the way many would see our grocery stores? Would you pay NHL ticket prices to watch scabs or top end minor pro talent?
Let’s even look locally. Do we want the cheapest coaching staff for our SJHL team? Or do we want the best one we can find, like what the community has in spades with Chris Lewgood, Jeff Smith and Aren Miller?
We’re very fortunate to live in one of the most resource-rich areas on the continent, with plenty of locally grown food and hardly-spoiled natural wonderment surrounding us on all sides. Things are great here and few people would deny that. Those who work to make it great should be able to expect to share in the profits that follow that business.
It’s people that have and will continue to make this a great place to live. I can’t talk to an empty storefront in the way I can talk to someone working at a store or in a restaurant, and sometimes I can’t have those things unless I’m willing to pay a little bit more up front.
