Labor Unions and Family
Government workers are still on strike in our city and efforts to end it began a month ago. It goes like this. The union says this is what we want for our workers. The employer says this is what we can offer. Workers vote on the offer. If they reject it, they go back to the streets with their placards.
This walk-out from the job by insurance workers is common in 2023 but it wasn’t, a hundred years ago, because work started with the family. Skills and crafts were passed down generations and families that specialized in let’s say, carpentry or brewing beer, formed guilds to protect them.
Unions were brought to Canada and U.S. by settlers from Ireland, Scotland, Italy, Germany, Ukraine and other European countries. They were called guilds in the ‘old country’ and rules of engagement were different. It was not a worker vs employer tennis match. It was an extension of family. That is why it was easy for guilds to monitor quality, improve quality, improve marketing and distribution, but it was not divided into these cubes back then. Specialization came with factories.
Guilds came in handy in the New World, because skilled men from different European countries competed for the same jobs in plumbing, construction, welding, bricklaying etc. They protected themselves by demanding things like certification, which a worker would only get from being an apprentice. Once again, family determined that. German companies trained apprentices from their church or marching band. Scotsmen and Italians did the same.
All that is water under the bridge now. Is it? Yes, because time passed and workers decided to ‘unite’ and form unions. Not really, because labor disputes involve compromise, which includes laying off workers. Do you know the saying: Last hired, first fired?
Nonqaba waka Msimang
Executive Blogger
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