Province Lacks Worker Protection
Article published unedited 07 Jan. 2008 in the Times and Transcript, Moncton, NB.
As one who has lived through a big company closure and has seen how families and communities have been affected, even destroyed, I am always amazed by the lack of worker protection in many provincial jurisdictions.
Governments are always bragging about their success, when they spend millions of tax payers dollars attracting investment into a province whether it be heavy industry or service companies but are totally amazed, surprised and shocked when years later a company closes it operations, leaving a community in a disastrous condition, without appropriate compensation or financial protection for it’s worker.
When a government negotiates tax breaks, loan guarantees, resource access, direct non repayable grants and various other concessions, why are there no negotiations for the future employee’s salaries, pension protection and asset controls?
How can governments justify allowing companies to come to this province rape and plunder thousands of acres of woodland, scare the earth by removing minerals and basically commit environmental genocide, to suddenly close, then dictate who will control the remaining assets without proper compensation to the province, the affected employees or communities? A responsible government would exercise more control over the disposal of the remaining assets and how they are to be dealt with to ensure the investments of the government and the affected population are protected.
The most recent incomprehensible government action was the offering of millions more in tax dollars to a company who they had no idea had already made a deal with another country and had no intention to negotiate any possible settlement concerning it’s New Brunswick holdings. This indicates the government negotiators had absolutely no idea what was going on with this company and further more had no idea of the amount of contempt the existing company had for the negotiating government and the population it represented.
There is no way a government can stop company closures but there is no excuse for not having negotiated appropriate long term protection for employees, communities, government investments as well as the small businesses that were established as the result of the government and company financial commitments.
Elected officials and negotiators love to have their photo opportunities with company officials on the opening day of a new company but recently, with the number of closures being announced, none of those officials who negotiated the sweetheart agreements with the closing companies have made any appearances in front of the cameras explaining how they allowed the province and it’s residents be taken to the cleaners by such bad corporate citizens on a number of occasions. Then, explain to all of us, what are the total actual costs to the province as a result of each closure? They should be easy to find because their red faces are glowing,, in the dark of their hiding places, from them being embarrassed by what they see happening because of their bad negotiations.
To a reasonable person, past negotiations involving concessions, government investment, tax relieve and resource availability appear to have been very poorly done, from the government side, when it came to protection of the environment, salaries, pensions and asset control.
That same reasonable person would want to know when will negotiation goals be changed and what government will step up to the plate and ensure there is adequate protection for tax dollars, communities, employees and the control over all remaining assets?
