Let me see if I understand things correctly.  In the middle of a recession, when unemployment and welfare are at its highest in years, 24,000 city workers decide to strike because they do not like the contract offer from the City of Toronto.  Anybody who has a job working for the city, whether they would have you believe it or not, has it pretty damn good.  Just like the auto workers did for so long (and look at the state of the auto industry today).

I have never been a big fan of unions.  Unions, at one time, had their place.  For the most part now, however, they are dinosaurs.  They exist so a few fat cats can become rich by siphoning a few dollars weekly off of each of their members.  In the coal mines, where worker safety is paramount, a union is necessary to ensure that employees are not taken advantage of by unscrupulous corporations.  A city worker who cleans a pool, or empties trash, does not have to deal with the comparative safety concerns of a coal miner.

Perhaps I do not understand unions?  Perhaps I am somewhat naive.  I’m nobody special, just an average guy reading the news, so what do I know?  I can only sit back and see the major concessions that the auto workers had to make to ensure that their members remained (for the most part) gainfully employed.  I look at the unemployment rate for May 2009 sitting at 9.3% and wonder what the union would do if all their workers were suddenly fired from their jobs.  I would wager anyone a thick, juicy steak that there would be a lineup two miles long when the City of Toronto went to fulfill those positions.  I would also go double or nothing that they could probably offer less money and less benefits, and that lineup would be just as long.