Profits Trump Life !!!

I just sat down to write my blog the other day. It was the early morning and we had the heat turned off for the night. The bedroom window was open to enjoy the fresh air as we sleep. The house was cool in the early morning, so I pulled out my lovely warm sweater that I keep near my desk. As I slipped into the garment the label flashes before  my eyes - "JOE Fresh". Am I naive or what? 

SAVAR, Bangladesh  - Deep cracks appeared in the cement structure where over 3,122 people worked. The local industrial police ordered the workers to leave, but the boss said they would lose their $38.00 a month job if they did! Hundreds lost a lot more than their jobs! They lost their lives instead! At least the local bank manager, whose offices were in the building, evacuated his staff on time. And apparently there are 4,000 similar garment factories in that same area! And now the 'not so cheap labourers' are protesting in the streets as they should. Recent memories of another factory fire where over 121 workers were burned to death in the same region. All this so I can have a cheap sweater on a cool morning?

The Royal Bank was about to replace 50 employees with temporary foreign workers - just to save a few bucks! They needed the money badly as they only had a profit in excess of $7 billion!! And some CEO's get a pay package worth over $12.6 million.

The coffee shops, and hundreds of other such establishments, say they can't get Canadians to work for 18 hours a day at 15% below the minimum wage! No wonder Canadian don't want the jobs, so the approximately 200,000 temporary foreign workers (TFWP) get to fill the empty spaces here at home. 

Of course this is not a new phenomena in Canada. I think it was John A. MacDonald who recruited  the Chinese workers to build the railway across Canada. He said, "It is simply question of alternatives: either you must have this labour or you can't have a railway."  Of course he did not have a $7 billion dollar excess to play with! 

What has happened that we Canadians willingly allow our businesses and our government to export (give away!) our jobs and to bring in others to take existing ones at home? Why are we willing to ship Canadian jobs off-shore or bring cheap labour home to displace us in the first place? Made-in-Canada has become a niche market only! What kind of convoluted logic is this anyway? Think this through to its conclusion: If people don't have jobs here at home they can't buy goods (unless they are made overseas!) or pay their taxes! Sure profit is important but absolute profit for a few is nothing but GREED. And let's not forget the miserable pay and the crumbling buildings these poor people work in - and some Canadians businesses think it is O.K to indirectly treat people like that!

In these times of rapid change we need to make sure that the opportunities are there for continuing education and training and that jobs exist for those Canadians ready and willing to fill them...if they are treated like fellow citizens and paid a living wage. Canadians will not do the jobs they say! Of course they will if they are paid a decent wage and treated like real Canadians. Granted there are some jobs in  parts of the country that do require experienced seasonal workers. But there needs to be a limit on that number and they should be paid according to Canadian standards. Yes, it will cost people like me a little more, but it will help keep my fellow citizens on the job. In my opinion Canadian merchants, not only have a right to make a reasonable profit, but also an obligation to provide work first and foremost for our citizens! How did we ever get to the stage where huge profits and outrageous pay packages for a few is acceptable, while others are deprived of an opportunity to make a simple living. I have to ask: is this not the stuff of revolution? 

Yes, I always thought Canadians cared about one another. The people of Gander proved that during the 9/11 crisis, when they reached out and came to the rescue of over 7,000 plane passengers who were denied landing rights in the United States. This is the Canada I remember. I was brought up in an environment where we cared about each other, where  we were accommodating and polite and where the majority, in spite of our different cultural backgrounds and beliefs, worked together to a common end. I told you I was naive!

Have we become a nation of greedy people. Is our motto now "It's every man for himself and the devil take the hind most." I sure hope not. I plan to change some of my buying habits now that I realize the current production conditions, but I think I will keep my warm sweater for now!

And that's Dick's View of the World this Week

P.S. Off on a three week holiday...see you then.