POSTED RESPONSE TO A COLUMN IN TORONTO'S GLOBE AND MAIL
I can't see this claim at all.
Constitutional rights are fundamental and apply to all and
in all circumstances, no matter what the situation.
Being able to form a union and bargain is not of quite the
same nature.
It is a right in law, but not in Constitutional law which
takes precedence over other laws.
The teachers' union is making a bigger fool of itself in
this than it already is.
From those to whom so very much has been given,
comparatively little is being asked now.
To try making that a Constitutional issue the same as free
speech or freedom of religion demonstrates a complete lack of reality and
invites scorn from the public.
The fact is teachers are free to have their union still
(free association), but the government, owing to financial exigencies, could
not accommodate their demands.
This is not tyranny in any possible sense of the word, but
represents only the realities of governing at times.
When I hear representatives of the union say babyish things
like the financial mess is the government's own problem, I want to puke. The
government is us, not some third party out there in space. That fact too is an
essential part of democratic values.
The teachers' union of course is a form of monopoly, a
monopoly in the supply of labor to a large and important institution in
society, and we all know monopolies do not think like competitive firms.
Monopolies in the economic realm themselves share some of
the very characteristics of tyrannies in the political realm.
In all of this, the public would do well to remember that
the union basically refused to come to the table when the government asked
them.
And why was that?
It was a cheap trick to buy time so that the automatic
salary increases could go into effect before the government could act. Hardly
heroic or brave or having to do with any right.
