Introduction
I was surprised to read an article from Kiri Vadivelu (December 31, 2024, “No to Legislative Strikebreaking! Victory to Postal Workers!”) in The Red Review, a “Socialist Action journal.” [Socialist Action is an allegedly socialist organization]. Vadivelu was a candidate for mayor in the last municipal elections in Toronto–and I voted for him since he seemed to express some of the views that I share.
Idealization of Collective Bargaining and the Use of the Social-Democratic or Social-Reformist Slogan “Fair Wages”
For this reason, I was surprised to read his article on the recent postal workers strike in Canada and the federal government’s forcing the workers back to work. I certainly agree that such a move by the federal government should be criticized, but this hardly justifies Vadivelu’s implicit idealization of “free collective bargaining,” on the one hand, and his use of the social-democratic slogan “fair wages” on the other:
By weakening CUPW, Ettinger [CEO of Canada Post] is attacking the very bench mark CUPW sets for fair wages in the entire delivery sector. This is nothing short of class warfare….
Postal workers set the benchmark for fair wages and rights in this industry. Attacking our union isn’t just an attack on CUPW—it’s an attack on every logistics worker in Canada.
As for the idealization of collective bargaining, we read:
The least that Canada Post, a public corporation, could do in return was to respect the collective bargaining process when the time for contract renewal arrived in 2023.
Yes, we should criticize Canada Post and the federal government for practically eliminating the right to engage in collective bargaining, but this should be accompanied with an indication of the limitations of the collective bargainging process–and with talk of “fair wages,” the opposite is implied, namely, that collective bargaining can somehow magically result in something “fair.”
What are fair wages in the context of a society that necessarily involves the exploitation and oppression of workers (see for example The Rate of Exploitation of Workers at Magna International Inc., One of the Largest Private Employers in Toronto, Part Three, Updated, 2020).
At the bottom of the article, we read:
Kiri Vadivelu, is a postal worker in Scarborough, Ontario, CUPW Local 602.
Local 602 is likely to be subject to the collective agreement for Urban Postal Workers. On page 1 of that agreement we read:
ARTICLE 2
MANAGEMENT RIGHTS
2.01 Rights
It is recognized that the Corporation exercises rights and responsibilities as management, which are subject to the terms of this collective agreement.
That short clause includes such management rights as hiring, firing, disciplining and directing the work of postal workers–subject to the limits of the collective agreement and relevant legislation. Such rights hardly are “fair” since they permit management to control workers’ lives in various ways and, ultimately, to treat them as means for purposes undefined by the workers themselves (see The Money Circuit of Capital and Employers as Dictators, Part One).
My argument from another post also applies to the issue of “fair wages”:
As shown in the last post, unions persistently claim that, through collective bargaining and a collective agreement, there can arise somehow (by magic?) “a fair and equitable collective agreement.” There can be no such thing as long as there exists a market for workers, where human beings are treated as things and as means for purposes over which they have little control. To claim otherwise is to bullshit workers–and workers deserve much better than this.
Conclusion
Socialist Action is an allegedly socialist organization that exists in Toronto and elsewhere. It is really a dogmatic organization that fails to develop a critical analysis of the class power of employers (see for example An Interesting Response from Barry Weisleder, Canadian Federal Secretary of Socialist Action, located in Toronto).
Vadivelu’s implicit idealization of collective bargaining, on the one hand, and his explicit reference to “fair wages,” on the other, corresponds to the lack of critical analysis. I expected more of Vadivelu. I believe he can do better. Perhaps he should rethink his participation in such an organization as Socialist Action.
The Abolitionary 