The 'strong message' bit is just rhetoric. You shouldn't expect them to say what REALLY went through their heads, something about a wake-up call.
I am a unionized Telecommunications Technician, and I walked a picket line for 5 months. I learned a great many things about my time there, and the greatest lesson of all was the value of my skills based on scarcity.
I listen to arguments both in favour and opposing the presence of unions, and I can say that extreme, unwavering support for or against unions is foolish. In the case of these Safeway/Lucerne workers, the lesson they should take away from this is that someone else is willing to do work that they collectively refused to do, therefore they should count themselves lucky that they're still employed. And if nearly half the employment base was replaced by temp workers on day 1, that just goes to show that their job is something that the average joe is willing to do.
That being said, like 'em or hate 'em, many of the benefits of gainful employment we take for granted exist because of unions. Mandatory minimum wages, 40 hour work weeks, mandatory paid vacations, and paid holidays are just a few things that the general population is entitled to thanks to the struggles of unions.
When my union was locked out by our employer, our greatest beef was with outsourcing work otherwise done by Canadians. We lost that fight and eventually settled to a substandard contract. Since then hundreds -- if not thousands -- of Canadian employees were packaged out, and now when you call to get phone/internet/TV installed, or have a tech support question, you're speaking to someone overseas. We tried to prevent that from happening, but thanks largely to the demonized attitudes towards unions specifically in Alberta, you now speak to a foreigner when you call for our company's services.
That being said, it also serves as a wake-up call to people here who work cushy jobs -- like call centres -- that somewhere out there, someone is willing to do the same job for a fraction of the pay and benefits that you currently do it for. A company would be foolish to continue to keep a $20 an hour agent employed when a $5 an hour is willing to do it. You may not get the same quality of productivity, but the benefits from cost savings far outweigh the poorer quality of work. So unless you can justify why you should be paid X to do a job when a company is only willing to pay Y, get comfy in the unemployment line.
Perhaps unions have gone too far in giving the average person an undeserved sense of entitlement. Perhaps there are some people who really ought to have a wake-up call and shown the reality that their employment is jeapordized the moment someone is willing to do the same job for less. I personally acknowledge that reality, but I do my best not to perpetuate it: I refuse to shop at Walmart. I wait in line for cashiers rather than use a self serve checkout. I get my gas pumped in the full serve lane. I buy my video games either at EB Games or at Blockbuster instead of using Amazon (especially now that there's no longer a price discount on Amazon for new games).
After everything is said and done, we're all just trying to get by. Unionized or not.
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