Union Difference shows as Canada's high tech sector cools

17 February 2001 - "Canadians should take a sober second look at the fate of workers in the high-tech sector," according to Ken Georgetti, President of the Canadian Labour Congress. Georgetti was commenting on the news that Nortel is reducing its workforce by 10,000 this year. This is one more in a recent series of lay-off announcements by high-tech companies.

"Here's a company that still forecasts a healthy fifteen per cent growth. Why does it need to hand the markets a ten per cent growth in profits by eliminating jobs, by taking that money away from the families and communities of the workers that made it successful? The company would not have been so quick to announce lay-offs if its workers were unionized and had the protection of a good collective agreement," says Georgetti.

Georgetti argues that senior executives of high-tech businesses like Nortel need to develop a sense of responsibility to their employees and also need to be held accountable when that responsibility is neglected.

"When the stocks were through the roof, did employees get a raise in take- home pay?" asks Georgetti. "Do workers, when they are paid with stock options instead of cash, benefit as much as the senior executives? The now devalued stock options can not replace a good job; nor should they excuse companies from providing family-supporting severance packages."

Georgetti is calling on federal and provincial governments to offer tax- breaks for companies and senior executives of large corporations together with participation in government funded research and development programs conditional to job creation and protection of workers' rights.

"It makes sense because at the end of the day, governments and communities will take a bigger hit in terms of real job loss, loss of income, and providing services for displaced workers... because workers aren't organized in unions, they don't have a voice."

"Workers should not be made to feel that their job security is conditional to the forecast for the next quarterly. It is not good for productivity. It is not good for consumer confidence. And it is not good for Canada."

"If companies like Nortel and JDS Uniphase are supposed to represent this so-called new economy, if they are the economic vehicles today's young people and our children are expected to take to earn their livelihood and build their futures," says Georgetti, "then I think it's time to pull over and check our roadmap. Are we going in the right direction?"

The Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) represents 2.3 million Canadian workers bringing together the majority of Canada's national and international unions along with the provincial and territorial federations of labour.