Comment on the Public Sector and Its
Crucial Role in the Economy
- K.C. Adams -
Alberta public sector workers create enormous value,
which
greatly benefits those who own and control the enterprises in the
energy and other major sectors of the economy. Those who own and
control the enterprises that benefit from the value public sector
workers create refuse to recognize and realize (pay for) the
value in a proper exchange using the value the workers in their
enterprises create. The failure to do so must be addressed so
that the value from social programs and public services can be
realized and reinvested back into them for their extended
reproduction. If this were done, the "lack of money" fraud could
not be used to cut social programs and public services, and to
attack the rights of public sector workers.
 The refusal of other
sectors and enterprises to pay for
the
public sector value they consume in a proper exchange of value
creates a constant crisis of underfunding for social programs and
public services. The lack of funds fraud is then used to cut
social programs and to attack the right of public sector workers
to negotiate wages and working conditions acceptable to
themselves.
The words and actions of the former NDP government have
failed
to address this serious problem in the economy and in the
relations of workers to their employers. Instead, the previous
government used the lack of funds fraud to excuse similar
anti-worker antics, which were touted as being softer and more
suitable in times of crisis. Softer or harder misses the point
that a new direction in the economy is necessary and the rights
of the people are inviolable and cannot be negated no matter what
the excuse.
Current NDP opposition Labour critic Christina Gray, who
in
the previous NDP government was Labour Minister, commented that
the Kenney government is "playing a dangerous game." and that "It's
incredibly frustrating to see her former government's approach to
good-faith bargaining thrown under the bus when it led to
zero-per cent pay increases and a good deal for taxpayers during a
recession. That approach is immediately being rejected, and these
workers are being disrespected through the actions of the
government."
What is the great difference between the two governments
other
than that the words of Christina Gray are blatant hypocrisy and
misleading, while those of Kenney are grossly backward and in
your face?
 Both Jason Kenney and Gray
are gravely mistaken if they
think
Albertans will accept lock, stock and barrel the line of the
financial oligarchy that "there is no money," as a pretext to
deprive workers of their rights and to step up the anti-social
offensive and continue to attack Alberta's public services,
social programs and the workers who deliver them. Of course,
there is no money when those in control of the economy and its
main enterprises refuse to pay in an equivalent exchange for the
social value their enterprises consume, and instead, take the new
value workers create out of the economy and province.
Alberta has everything it needs for a vibrant economy
that
could meet and guarantee the well-being and rights of all without
recurring economic crises. The problem lies in its control by a
handful of global oligarchs and their representatives who cannot
escape their privileged social being and refuse to step
aside.
Working people want a new pro-social direction for the
economy; they want their claims on the economy and society
recognized and rights upheld without fail. The government and
official opposition are pandering to the demands of the mainly
foreign oligarchs who control the energy and other major
industries and enterprises in Alberta. This clash of contending
interests shows the time is now to organize and prepare the
subjective conditions to build the New.
This article was published in
Volume 49 Number
20 - June 1, 2019
Article Link:
Comment
on
the Public Sector and Its Crucial Role in the Economy - K.C. Adams
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
|
