@ISIDEWITHQuestionseconomyStarted 11yrs agoActive 1wk ago

Do you believe labor unions help or hurt the economy?

In 2015 the percentage of workers in Canada who belong to a trade union increased .1% to 30%. Canada's unionized workforce has actually grown in recent years. Today, the CBC reports that about 4.56 million workers are members of unions up more than 800,000 since 1997. Unions expansion has been outstripped by the non-unionized workforce, which grew by about 2.5 million over the same period.

+
Expand
+ Settings x  Democratic Socialism

Toggle voterbase

Statistics are shown for this demographic

Answer Overview

Response rates from 846 Democratic Socialism voters.

89%
Help
11%
Hurt
74%
Help
10%
Hurt
9%
Help, in theory but have recently become corrupt and should have their powers limited
1%
Hurt, I support some private unions but am strongly against public unions
6%
Help, but ban their ability to make political donations

Historical Support

Trend of support over time for each answer from 846 Democratic Socialism voters.

Loading data...

Loading chart... 

Historical Importance

Trend of how important this issue is for 846 Democratic Socialism voters.

Loading data...

Loading chart... 

Other Popular Answers

Unique answers from Democratic Socialism voters whose views went beyond the provided options.

 @8KMCS9Rfrom British Columbia  answered…4yrs4Y

Neither, unions do not exist for the benefit of the economy

 @9WBTJ7Sfrom Ontario  answered…6mos6MO

Hurt. Most unions are puppets of the companies and enforcers of bad company relations and bad policies.

 @9RZPX67from Alberta  answered…9mos9MO

given that public most public unions in canada are against having to actually work 3 days a week under minimal accommodations, public unions are bad!

 @9RTLWCPfrom Ontario  answered…9mos9MO

Unions, but public and private can easily be corrupt, I support some unions, but unions and companies should be banned from making any donations

 @9RGCB9Pfrom Alberta  answered…9mos9MO

I believe that they currently offer higher rates than privatized industry. This raises the cost to consumer and productivity goes down. Their entitlement appears to be abused. I work in an industry that is both union and non union and see an abuse of this in the union regions more. The cost is higher, causing a higher cost to the consumer, while the worker makes more and contributes more to society creating a catch-22, but their productivity is lower. I believe more research and data informed decision making needs to go into unions.

 @9QZCYDNfrom Ontario  answered…9mos9MO

They can do both. Unions should be made less powerful and corrupt however because people strike over the smallest things now.

 @9LJGNWT from British Columbia  answered…1yr1Y

Mostly hurt, especially government/public unions. Allow a company to operate with unions AND non-union workers. There have been and are benefits to unions but they also prevent meritocracy from determining financial reward, promotion and productivity.

 @9KGWSV2from New Brunswick  answered…1yr1Y

A more democratic society, with a stronger more responsive labour regulator would make unions obsolete. Unions are often wasteful and an impediment.

Latest News

Stay up-to-date on the most recent “Labor Unions” news articles, updated frequently.

 @ISIDEWITH submitted…5mos5MO

Volkswagen Faces Explosive Strikes Over Plant Closures and Job Cuts

Tens of thousands of Volkswagen workers will participate Monday in strikes at plants across Germany, labor union IG Metall said, marking the largest walkouts at the carmaker’s domestic operations since 2018.The walkouts, which are planned to last several hours, follow weeks of collective bargaining negotiations during which VW refused to rule out mass layoffs and potential plant closures in its home market — drastic measures the company says are necessary to prop up its fortunes amid competition from China and weaker European demand.A so-called “peace obligation” between workers and the company, which prohibited industrial action, expired on Saturday, allowing strikes to take place from Sunday at virtually all of Volkswagen’s German factories.“If necessary, this will become the toughest wage dispute Volkswagen has ever seen,” IG Metall’s chief negotiator Thorsten Groeger said in a statement Sunday. “How long and intense this dispute will be is Volkswagen’s responsibility at the negotiating table.”“Volkswagen has set our collective bargaining agreements on fire, and instead of extinguishing this fire during three rounds of negotiations, the management board keeps throwing open barrels of gasoline onto it,” he added.The walkouts will be the first large-scale strikes that Volkswagen has faced since 2018, according to IG Metall, when 50,000 workers idled plants over pay. Although the work stoppages will last only a few hours, it is possible that 24-hour warning strikes could be called later this year. Indefinite strikes could also be called as a last resort, but only after members have been consulted again, IG Metall said.The strikes represent a fresh headache for Europe’s largest automaker, which saw operating profit for the first nine months of the year tumble by a fifth from the previous year, as its flagship brand struggled. Vehicle sales also slipped on particularly weak demand in China, where it is losing market share to Chinese electric vehicle brands.

Popular Conversations

Join in on the most popular conversations.

 @ISIDEWITH submitted…6mos6MO

Trump hits ‘nasty’ Michelle Obama at Atlanta rally

Former President Trump attacked former first lady Michelle Obama during his rally in Atlanta on Monday, calling her “nasty” after Obama lobbed attacks at the former president while stumping for Vice President Harris.“You know who’s nasty to me? Michelle Obama,” Trump told supporters in Atlanta.“I always tried to be so nice and respectful. Oh, she opened up a little bit of — a little bit of a box. She opened up a little bit of something. Oh, she was nasty. Shouldn’t be that way. That was a big mistake that she made,” he added.His remarks come after Obama criticized Trump during a Michigan rally on Saturday, at one point mentioning “Donald Trump’s gross incompetence.”“I hope that you’ll forgive me if I’m a little angry that we are indifferent to his erratic behavior, his obvious mental decline, his history as a convicted felon, a known slum lord, a predator found liable for sexual abuse, all of this while we pick apart Kamala’s answers from interviews that he doesn’t even have the courage to do, y’all,” she said in Kalamazoo, Mich.The heated rhetoric underscores the increasingly personal tone the presidential election has taken between the two campaigns roughly one week out from the election.An aggregate of national surveys compiled by The Hill/Decision Desk HQ shows Harris slightly ahead at close to 49 percent support while Trump is at 48 percent.

▲  3316 replies

 @ISIDEWITH submitted…5mos5MO

Texas Offers Trump 1,400 Acres for His Mass Deportation Dream

Officials in Texas have offered President-elect Trump a 1,400-acre ranch for his mass deportation plan.Dawn Buckingham, land commissioner of the Texas General Land Office, said in a letter to Trump Tuesday that her office was “fully prepared” to work with federal agencies that are going to be involved in Trump’s immigration plan, and specifically deportation.Buckingham offered Trump a 1,402-acre lot in Starr County. The lot is owned by the Texas General Land Office and is roughly 35 miles west of McAllen, Texas.She said the agency is ready to work with the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or the U.S. Border Patrol to build a facility on the land for “the processing, detention, and coordination of the largest deportation of violent criminals in the nation’s history.”“I am committed to using every available means at my disposal to gain complete operational security of our border,” Buckingham wrote.The letter and offering of land were first reported by The Texas Tribune. Last month, the state bought the land along the U.S.-Mexico border and has plans to build a wall.In the letter, Buckingham criticized her predecessor for not allowing a border wall to be built on the property. Those actions “enabled cartel members and violent criminals to sexually abuse migrant women and children on this land,” she said.On Monday, Trump signaled he would declare an immigration national emergency and use military assets to support his mass deportation plan when he returns to office.

▲  1625 replies

Active 2 days ago

 @ISIDEWITH submitted…6mos6MO

Trump’s Puerto Rico Problem Erupts in Pennsylvania: Latino Voters Fire Back

Donald Trump has a serious Puerto Rico problem — in Pennsylvania.Many Puerto Rican voters in the state are furious about racist and demeaning comments delivered at a Trump rally. Some say their dismay is giving Kamala Harris a new opening to win over the state’s Latino voters, particularly nearly half a million Pennsylvanians of Puerto Rican descent.Evidence of the backlash was immediate on Monday: A nonpartisan Puerto Rican group drafted a letter urging its members to oppose Trump on election day. Other Puerto Rican voters were lighting up WhatsApp chats with reactions to the vulgar display and raising it in morning conversations at their bodegas. Some are planning to protest Trump’s rally Tuesday in Allentown, a majority-Latino city with one of the largest Puerto Rican populations in the state.And the arena Trump is speaking at is located in the middle of the city’s Puerto Rican neighborhood.“It’s spreading like wildfire through the community,” said Norberto Dominguez, a precinct captain with the local Democratic party in Allentown, who noted his own family is half Republican and half Democratic voters.“It’s not the smartest thing to do, to insult people — a large group of voters here in a swing state — and then go to their home asking for votes,” Dominguez said.The timing couldn’t be worse for Trump. Almost a week before Election Day, he’s pushing to cut into Harris’ margins among Latinos, especially young men who are worried about the economy. But the comments from pro-Trump comedian Tony Hinchcliffe Sunday night, referring to Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage,” has reverberated throughout Pennsylvania and elsewhere, prompting even the former president’s Republican allies to defend the island and denounce the comments. And with the race essentially a toss up, every vote counts — especially in Pennsylvania.“This was just like a gift from the gods,” said Victor Martinez, an Allentown resident who owns the Spanish language radio station La Mega, noting some Puerto Rican voters in the area have been on the fence about voting at all.

▲  3117 replies