Sep. 29, 2010 - Issue #780 : Dave Stone
Of the people
Organized labour's role in municipal politics
Among the numerous monuments erected to honour civic-minded businessmen who served on Edmonton's City Council in the last century, you can find a few structures dedicated to the labour candidates who have graced Council's Chambers in the past: Harry Ainlay, Elmer Roper, Dan Knott. While labour-backed candidates played a significant role prior to the Second World War, they really haven't had any significant impact since Roper held the Mayor's chair from 1959 – 1963, resulting, as some observers say, in a reduction in the weight an endorsement from the Edmonton & District Labour Council carries today.
Local labour-history buff Eugene Plawiuk says there are a number of reasons for labour's declining influence at the ballot box. For starters, he says, labour long ago gave up the practice of grooming and running its own candidates. "There's a big difference between running a slate of 'labour' candidates and endorsing a group of people perceived to be 'friendlies,'" Plawiuk says.
In Plawiuk's view, there hasn't been a city councillor practising labour politics at Edmonton City Hall since Brian Mason vacated his Ward 3 seat to become leader of the Alberta New Democrats in 2000. He says that in this election, labour politics have all but disappeared. "Who's talking about privatization?" he asks. "Who's speaking for the working class?"
Plawiuk contends that candidates in recent elections, even if they were active in trade unions, dilute their message to the point that it would be impossible to identify them as labour candidates. He also says that, sometimes, electing labour candidates can prove to be a disappointment and cites outgoing Councillor Dave Thiele's support last year of selling off a portion of EPCOR through shares issued through Capital Power as an example.
Not surprisingly, outgoing Councillor Thiele takes exception to these analyses and vehemently disagrees with both Lightbody and Plawiuk's positions. An active member of the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 30 (representing non-administrative city workers) prior to his election, he stands by his voting record. He welcomes the opportunity to explain his vote on the Capital Power sale, over which he admits he experienced considerable conflict. "A lot of people don't realize what a large part the province's deregulation of the power generation industry played in that decision," he explains.
In the end, he had to weigh what he felt was in the best interests of the city in a volatile energy climate over the long-standing labour opposition to the selling off of public assets. He is quick to point out that the city still holds a 72 percent share in the company and says his biggest regret over the decision has nothing to do with ruffling feathers in the labour movement. Thiele says he's still upset at the secrecy involved in the decision-making process and regrets that Edmontonians weren't given a better opportunity to purchase shares in the newly formed company.
Overall, Thiele says his labour background served him well as a councillor and believes that organized labour still has an important role to play in municipal politics.
Terry Jardine, the current President of CUPE Local 30, says electing more labour-friendly councillors would make working with the city much easier, even if they're not affiliated with the labour movement. He suggests council tends to have an anti-union animus that makes it's hard to get some councillors to even look at fact-based evidence related to policy debates around things like privatization and P3 partnerships. "Obviously, the protection of our members' jobs is important to us, but so is the quality of the work performed and the protection of the city's assets and infrastructure," says Jardine.
CUPE 30 is about to commence bargaining with the city on behalf of its members immediately following the election, so voting in as many labour-friendly candidates as possible is vital to his membership, says Jardine. The results of those negotiations will impact Edmontonians whether they carry a union card or not, so it will be very interesting to see just how labour-friendly the council we are about to elect turns out to be. V
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