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Old 05-05-2013, 02:37 PM   #17
MarchHare
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Quote:
Originally Posted by T@T View Post
I'm all for getting rid of unions but how do you ensure fair wages? Look at truck drivers for example, 25 years ago I drove truck and made $18.80/hr under the teamsters union, from memory I think dock workers back then made about a dollar or so less. I see help wanted signs for dock workers today for $16.00/hr

Now that the teamsters are basically gone from Canada if I were to look for the same job I would be lucky to earn $22.00/hr, using an inflation calculator this job should pay somewhere around $34.00/hr. It's a travesty IMO.

One thing unions do/did was keep wages strong according to inflation.
You're starting from the position that $18.80/hr was a fair market rate for a truck driver in 1988. That may be true, or it could have been that truckers were overpaid relative to the required education/experience and supply of available labour willing and qualified to do that job. Perhaps the market has corrected itself since then. Is $22.00/hr (~$46k/yr assuming a 40 hour work week) an appropriate/fair wage for that job?

For reference, the average salary for Canadian males in 2012 was $25.42/hr.
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