Juno News - How big unions hold Canada’s economy hostage (Ft. Gwyn Morgan)

00:00:00.000 are we really going to allow for critical infrastructure in this country

00:00:06.960 airports seaports railways and the shipping industry to be shut down every single year

00:00:14.780 by greedy unions who want to just continue to make more money at the expense of the Canadian

00:00:20.940 people are we really going to allow that or is there potentially a solution to this problem

00:00:26.880 just last month Canada Post workers went on strike during the Christmas season intentional

00:00:33.960 timing of course earlier in the year during tax season CRA workers went on strike at the

00:00:40.560 beginning of pretty much every single school year public sector teachers unions go on strike

00:00:47.340 is there an opportunity to create a solution that works for everyone that works for Canadians

00:00:52.980 and workers and can guarantee good wages and good working conditions let's see if we can figure that

00:01:00.720 out well joining us now on the Faulkner show is Gwyn Morgan one of Canada's foremost business leaders

00:01:07.080 and a long-time business executive he has recently published in C2C Journal an article titled Strike

00:01:14.400 Force how powerful unions like Canada's postal workers divide Canadians and damage the economy

00:01:21.120 now for transparency purposes I should note that Mr Morgan is a supporter and donor of true north but

00:01:27.780 let's get into it so uh Mr Morgan thank you for joining us in the show take us through the points you make in

00:01:33.420 this C2C article about how powerful unions can hold Canada Canada's economy hostage well Canadians are

00:01:42.120 unfortunately getting used to strikes and the big over the last year or so we've seen rail strikes we've seen uh port strikes and other strikes of its major important infrastructure of the country

00:01:58.620 um and those uh have been uh basically big big uh unions against big companies if you like what I said and and of course that's been a

00:02:12.060 terribly stressful in different ways for Canadians but what really uh is is is even a bigger problem

00:02:19.980 um is the stuff that affects every everyday people on their work and their and their businesses now the postal workers strike is the best example or the worst example if I can put it that way of that I mean here we are uh and and I also said in the article that uh there's something about unions that they they always try to plan their time their strikes to what this could be the most harmful to their customers

00:02:47.980 uh in the case of the postal workers uh customers is just about everybody and here we have small businesses right now as we speak uh you know the the fact they're going back to work right in today I guess it is or whatever

00:03:02.820 um is it's too late because people have already made other arrangements if they could uh and a lot of small businesses depend upon uh and other businesses too depend upon uh the the christmas

00:03:17.860 season for something like 60 to 70 percent of their revenues and they're in almost all their profits so uh this is very harmful and it's it's it's it's just symptomatic that how unions plan to do their uh their deeds if you like that when it'll harm Canadians the most

00:03:37.860 you mentioned in the article that there have been 120 work stoppages just in the first nine months

00:03:44.660 of 2024 is there is there a solution here that can be put into place to avoid this from happening because

00:03:52.080 you know it's probably a bit of a slippery slope right you want to be able to give people the opportunity to

00:03:57.360 uh to protest for better rights but surely there's got to be a balance so what do you think could be a solution to this

00:04:03.860 well what a lot of these things these whether it be the railways or the postal services and many others

00:04:11.280 these are basically essential services uh we do have essential services applying to certain sectors

00:04:18.580 but not enough and uh it seems to me that when we come to the things that are really important to

00:04:25.300 everybody including hospital workers and so on uh we we have to have them as essential services

00:04:31.380 and then then what happens then of course is it goes to an arbitration process and and and uh there's

00:04:39.540 the the result is at least a tempered by the fact that they're there they can't go and strike

00:04:47.220 that and so we we what i said in the article this i think maybe is the key thing harrison

00:04:52.900 is that we're seeing a divide of canadians between the unionized and non-union

00:04:57.860 that a lot of people can't join a union because the nature of their business

00:05:03.380 or what so most people can't actually um so so they're stuck they're the ones that are victims

00:05:11.940 and the unions over the last year or so or even a year a few years but even more the last year where

00:05:18.820 it's been terrible there there's been six million workers days of have lost due to strikes

00:05:28.500 six million and that is incredible so so i think that the the and it has gone way up over the last

00:05:35.780 couple of years so when you have that impact on canadians um and and they they don't really care

00:05:44.340 that's that's the problem uh they don't care about their customers and about the people they're

00:05:50.100 harming they only care about themselves but i then i'm not saying that you know this is a way every

00:05:56.500 union member thinks but it's a fact that that the the the arm to canadians is done and other canadians

00:06:06.260 are helpless and so um we we really have a divide we have two different classes of people in the

00:06:12.980 country we have the unionized and non-union and that divide is growing and more painful all the time

00:06:20.500 two different classes of people if you like those that are enjoying the privileges of higher wages and

00:06:30.820 that almost all of them have much higher benefits than the average canadian so this is it and when

00:06:39.460 they i guess you rub salt into that wound the way they've been acting it's even more

00:06:45.300 uh imperative that we do something about this and i think what we do about it is we put in essential

00:06:51.700 services legislation one of those one of one of the examples of strikes that really you know frustrates

00:06:58.820 me and i think many people because you know we live in i live in ontario and so we see the public

00:07:05.060 school teachers striking basically every year now and they have been really since uh since 2018 since

00:07:11.700 doug ford came into power they've been striking every year because every year they're going to try

00:07:16.420 to get more money and they know that eventually the government will just cave so you see public

00:07:21.140 school teachers striking uh a couple of years ago college professor college teachers and employees

00:07:27.060 began striking and they shut down the education season i would agree with you i think that uh i think

00:07:33.460 that you know public sector unions uh you know are able to influence a lot uh influence quite a lot

00:07:41.220 when they go on strike so uh you're recommending that critical infrastructure uh strikes not be allowed in

00:07:48.820 this country that legislation would come through to prevent that from happening

00:07:51.780 absolutely and what that what that what that prevention is in fairness is is an arbitration

00:07:58.500 process uh but but not strikes right and we we just can't carry on like this this country is becoming

00:08:05.700 a basket case in so many different ways uh and this is just adds to it do you know if canada is an outlier

00:08:12.900 in this situation because the only other example i can think of is the constant rail strikes in the uk

00:08:19.620 right uh you you hear about that and that basically shuts down the the uk economy when the rail workers

00:08:24.820 go on strike but do you know if canada is an outlier in the rate at which our critical infrastructure

00:08:30.340 workers go on strike and just stop working well our biggest trade department isn't very far away just

00:08:37.540 across the border and they they lose something like one percent of days the strikes we lose a lot like

00:08:45.620 many times so there is we're an outlier against our major trading partner where our productivity rate

00:08:53.140 is lowered everything about the country is not performing as well and this just adds to that

00:08:58.420 non-performance and means that we have less and less our standard living goes down compared to the

00:09:04.100 americans and other countries it seems to me that part of this is also uh very political right a lot of

00:09:11.780 these unions some of these public sector unions and and even the private sector unions get engaged

00:09:18.500 in politics and donate money to political candidates and start running ads against conservative candidates

00:09:25.460 how has that been allowed to happen because i look at it and i just think okay surely this

00:09:30.180 sure this isn't right how many union members are conservatives want to vote conservative but their

00:09:34.500 union is out here making anti-conservative ads and engaging in politics has it always been like that

00:09:42.660 i guess it's to a degree it has been it's just gone it's gone way over the top the last year or two and

00:09:48.740 and it has to stop and that's the the fundamental thing our country is is sinking compared to not

00:09:55.700 only the us but other countries and in very almost every way and this is just another one what do you make of

00:10:04.020 how it appears at least if polling is uh is accurate that that a lot of workers in this country a lot of

00:10:11.220 manufacturing workers who would traditionally be in support of these strikes be traditionally part of

00:10:17.860 that labor uh social uh ndp coalition what do you make of the fact that so many of them are now looking

00:10:24.260 to vote for pierre pauliev that the conservatives have somehow been able to find voters in this group

00:10:30.420 of people is that a surprise to you which well i don't know how many of the peer probably of supporters

00:10:37.460 are unionized and and especially the mill that millen sector of the union movement um but i think it's

00:10:45.860 it's it's it's it's the his the the peer pauliev's appeal is is is basically to people who who are being

00:10:53.780 harmed in so many different ways or can't get ahead and so on and the unions are part of that

00:11:00.900 and maybe uh some of the maybe i'm sure there's a lot of people in units who really think they're

00:11:08.260 not doing whether what they should be doing in terms of striking and their job actions and so on

00:11:13.700 but but they're they even if there's 30 40 percent of them they can't speak up it's just impossible for

00:11:22.020 them they need a bigger champion and that's pierre pauliev you've been a business leader for a long

00:11:29.620 time i'm sure you've had to uh interact with union bosses at some point or uh clash with them to some

00:11:36.020 degree what have you what do you make of the current lineup we see some of these union leaders

00:11:41.700 uh i believe it's fred hahn who's the ontario qp leader these union leaders seem to be

00:11:50.420 very political very opinionated very biased has that always been the case or has it or and are

00:11:56.580 they getting worse do you think it hasn't always been the case and it's yeah it has to some degree

00:12:03.060 but it's getting worse there's no question and and you know the thing is that uh what when ideology

00:12:10.180 gets in the way of what you're supposed to be doing which is to run a union and and do whatever

00:12:17.060 you can to do the best of your members when when that is also uh you know added to or exempted by or

00:12:25.380 whatever uh put the political beliefs and actions and when they're when they're putting their own

00:12:31.460 political beliefs in front of both to their union members and the public we have a problem

00:12:40.500 it was the it was the liberal government that uh that passed anti-scab legislation anti uh you know

00:12:47.700 forced back to work legislation earlier this year i believe maybe last year but i have to ask you why

00:12:54.420 would a liberal why would it why would a federal government do this when as you've articulated in

00:12:59.780 the c2c article and as you've articulated here this is just very bad for the canadian economy is

00:13:05.860 are they just pandering for votes are they desperate for anything they can get their hands on

00:13:09.460 well i think you know they're they're they liberal government is they're not sure what

00:13:16.740 they're doing about almost anything and i think that this is just sort of adds to it but i think

00:13:22.180 that the you know the problem one of the problems is of course that that the unions uh are not only as

00:13:30.100 you say uh doing their job as union leaders to get the best deals and so on for their members

00:13:35.460 they're also very political and and and so uh their politics and they're all their straight many

00:13:43.460 extreme left-wing politics are are being forced upon to feel like i mean if i'm a union member and i

00:13:49.780 believe i'm i believe in peer probably it was uh solutions to the country am i going to say anything

00:13:58.260 you know the the the fact is the leaders uh have are dominant over top of their their union members

00:14:05.860 and uh and that's a scary thing too when you think about it you know it appears as though

00:14:11.540 the uh the federal government don't know how to read basic balance sheets don't know how to

00:14:16.820 operate an economy you certainly do and you've had that experience so i want to ask you heading into

00:14:21.940 what is likely to be the last year of the liberal government an economy that appears to be in a tailspin

00:14:28.020 what would you do to try to get this country back on track in a strong fiscal position

00:14:34.020 well it's the first of all you stop the bleeding you make better decisions about what will but you

00:14:41.380 know the our productivity rate is has fallen way down the last by 30 40 percent in the last few years

00:14:50.420 and productivity is another way of saying standard living because it's what the whole economy can buy

00:14:55.860 and what that means people so when you're in that situation uh you have to stop the bleeding and uh

00:15:04.500 and and you know that there's no no other way but to reverse course but the fact is we're we're in

00:15:10.340 such a hole uh when we're 30 to 40 percent lower productivity than our major trading partner

00:15:18.820 and people it's what it what it amounts to is productivity people talk about what's that mean

00:15:23.860 that's what the goods and services on average that we produce in the country per person and when that

00:15:30.020 falls standards living falls buying power falls people start to earn more that we're we're in this uh

00:15:37.060 precipitous drop then the only thing we can do is first of all bring in a government that has a whole

00:15:44.180 different approach but also um creates confidence that people you know we have more money leaving

00:15:52.820 the country for investment than we have investing in the country and and so when when people and this

00:15:59.860 means you know here i am you know where would i put my money if i'm investing you know we're going to

00:16:05.060 put it into the canadian market right now then then that's the way a lot of people feel and that is

00:16:11.780 that's a sort of a brace to the bottom if you like and it can only change fundamentally by the

00:16:18.500 fundamental politics of the country just how bad are the uh are the proposed tariffs that donald trump

00:16:26.100 has threatened canada with going to be for our economy well you know um donald trump is a poker player

00:16:36.580 and he puts it puts a big stakes up and he's got the lots of because he's got a big stack of bills

00:16:41.380 beside him so he can he can he can bet big and so he's uh he's he's he's not gonna put 25 on canadian

00:16:52.340 oil or or or the products that the the parts that go back and forth across the border that the

00:16:57.620 auto companies need and and so but but he's he's a great poker player and he's putting that up there

00:17:06.740 because it gets it has shock value and part of the shock value of course is other things like drugs

00:17:13.460 going i mean canada you know if you look at people okay canada likes to think they're lily

00:17:18.980 light on the whole drug movement but there's a huge amount of fendil being produced in this country

00:17:24.820 and he knows that and as much as uh we try to cover it up it's true so he knows that and and so

00:17:33.620 he's a poker player and he and he he he figures well okay i'll i'll talk about this one and then

00:17:39.460 then they'll have to solve it and they and we do have to solve so that's uh if you and if you just

00:17:45.940 come forward and say well let's negotiate this um you know you're probably not going to get very far

00:17:52.020 but he he's serious and he's and he's strong and he's got the capability to do what he's saying

00:17:57.540 even though in reality uh there's a lot of problems with that with it with functionally and

00:18:04.100 practically but that doesn't matter when you're a poker player you put the big stakes on the table

00:18:08.820 and you say okay uh what's your next card last question i have for you uh mr morgan is you have

00:18:16.420 confidence in the canadian economy over the next year do you think uh things are going to get worse or do

00:18:21.540 you think there's a chance that they might start to get a little better well you know it depends

00:18:27.380 on when the election is uh really i'm i'm serious i mean i think a lot of it has to do with confidence

00:18:33.620 the people that are sending their money south on other places for invest uh uh aren't going to change

00:18:40.900 until they see a real change in in approach and and in so many parts of this uh this country that we're

00:18:47.940 uh politically that we're we're going downhill on so i think that's going to be another tough year

00:18:55.140 uh but uh uh there's nothing like there's nothing like a return of confidence to change people's

00:19:03.300 attitudes and that alone uplifts everything all right well let's hope it's let's hope it does we'll

00:19:10.740 have to leave it there uh gwen morgan thank you so much for joining us the article in the c2c journal which

00:19:16.500 you can find in the link to this video is titled strike force how powerful unions like canada's

00:19:22.260 postal workers divide canadians and damage the economy once again mr morgan thank you so much for

00:19:28.260 for joining us thank you harrison

00:19:38.020 you

Juno News - January 03, 2025

How big unions hold Canada’s economy hostage (Ft. Gwyn Morgan)

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