We need unions, in some places
The TTC's workers are threatening to go on strike again next month, the CBC reports. The rather angry comments left in response jive with me to some extent, though my reaction is muted by the fact I've seen how much idiocy the drivers have to put up with.
Part of the TTC union's campaign is to divide the public transit service's economic value by the number of employees and to settle on the result as the employee's value added. Before the economists in the audience bust a gut laughing or just have an aneurysm explode all over their monitors, this quote from the above page's comment list nails the fault in that logic:
Do the TTC employees honestly beleive that they are
each worth a million dollars? Who are they kidding? I work for a
company that has revenues of 346 Billion. With 40,000 employees, does
that make me worth $8,650,000.00?
Well put.
Having said that, some of the TTC's employees do a hard job while still showing customers a polite and friendly face as they deal with varying levels of incompetence from management and abuse from passengers. Yes, your streetcar is delayed, but the government bought vehicles over 20 years ago which have an unfortunate tendency to freeze their air valves when it's -10 degrees Celsius outside. You can't blame the drivers for that, but rather some idiots in charge of purchasing 20 odd years ago.
Still, is shutting down the city for a few days the most effective way to deal with the fact that the raise you're being offered is a paltry 2 to 4%? I'm not so sure, especially given the relatively low level of inflation we're enjoying in Canada right now thanks to our strong dollar and the fact that the union pretty much guarantees you employment for life.
Subway dropping off the 'riche' at Rosedale station.
As much as I could be annoyed by the upcoming strike, the last one didn't affect me aside from making me laugh since I was biking to work that day, and the next strike won't begin until April 1, which means the snow will be mostly gone and it should once more be easy to bike to work again.
Awesome.
Hot on the heels of Toronto's union issue, I hear of more strike actions, this time in New York, New York, as Francine reports.
I wish I could say that I'm shocked to hear that yet another union drive is facing intimidation from management, but Aramark has a pretty lousy track record. I still recall the many, many union and student actions against Aramark and Sodexho in my university days.
Although my sentiment may be justly called arbitrary, I find I'm much more sympathetic when someone earning $10 or less per hour is fighting for a better wage versus someone who is already getting almost $20 an hour.
What does shock me is the amount of "stick to blogging about accounting, unions have nothing do with the topic" responses that arose in response to Francine's article.
If your accountant thinks unions don't have anything to do with accounting, fire him for gross incompetence. And more than a little inhumanity to their fellow man.
One of America's most celebrated industrialists made a Big Deal about paying his workers a decent wage.
Although there's plenty of nuance behind the economic theories regarding whether or not this works in an economic sense - yes, figure out your productivity and profit levels and all that - but on a human level, if you can't pay your employees a decent wage, you suck.
I mean, you may be a very nice person and all, but if your company has nothing but dead-end $20/k a year jobs to offer because that's all you can afford, you're not doing a very good job of contributing to the economy, and as a result, suck on the nation's resources more than you contribute.
And if you can pay your employees a decent wage but choose not to, you're scum. Record labels get tons of scorn - and suffer the indignities of online piracy - in at least part because they have a very nasty reputation for abusing the artists they ostensibly support.
The Big 4 have managed to escape most of the bad press by actually treating their employees relatively well. No, not perfectly - insane busy seasons and related sins do exist to various degrees - but in most areas, ranks and positions you'll probably find yourself at least earning a wage at or above the GNP per capita, and in many cases doing quite well for yourself.
So it's sad to see it fall apart in this instance with contracted services, and considering how expensive NYC is, it's probably the most appropriate place to pull a labour action.
This leads to two questions that haven't really been fully addressed, but are nevertheless definitely accounting related - if you're going to pedantically pull everything back to this topic of accounting and all:
- How much should you be paying your cafeteria staff?
- What's the level of quality you want for the food you're serving your professional employees?
Note the cute but important trick employed in the above questions - I'm mixing a dash of social justice for your poorest staff, with a dollop of creature comforts for your well paid "stars."
Do you really think the food you're serving is going to be any good if you're shortchanging the food preparers?
Honestly.
If you want to attract the best and brightest to serve your clients, don't you also want to attract the best support staff as well? I don't think anybody expects a short order cook to end up driving a 2007 luxury car, but is having cash on hand to support a young family too much to ask?
So why satisfy yourself with pay that just barely matches the industry 'floor' - why not get staff who want to work at your company because they enjoy the job and know it's better than that offered by the competition in the given area?
So there you have it: my long-winded response to the anonymous comment which went as follows:
... the story is relevant to the cafeteria workers that are
affected and what Aramark is doing is completely unfair to them, but
trying to link the controversy to PwC is lame.
The linkage between ugly union fight and the importance to the company that outsourced the work in the first place is clear, and it marches gamely.
If you have a decent workplace, the risk of unionization is relatively low to non-existent. If not, you have a red flag.
And red flags simpy don't fade away just because they're being waved a few "degrees of outsourcing" away from the top company.