The British disease.

Trade union aren't always white knights going into battle on behalf of the little guy; during the 1970's unions in Britain had so much power they brought down a democratically elected government, and violence and corruption are by no means unheard-of union activities

When Margaret Thatcher became Britain's prime minister in 1979, her mission was to cure what had come to be called "The British Disease." The symptoms of the illness were easy to spot: atrocious labour relations, lazy and badtempered workers, and economic stagnation. The country began to come down with its ailment in the 1960s. A booming economy meant low unemployment putting labour into a strong bargaining position. A Labour Party government, sympathetic to the trade union movement, was elected in 1964. Soon, laws were passed to give further strength to organized labour.

But, the unions got out of hand. Driven by a powerful anti-capitalist ideology, some union leaders set about wrecking Britain's economy. The country's auto industry, once the pride of the nation, was brought to its knees. Militant unionists called strikes on an almost daily basis, productivity plunged, and the quality of the cars became a joke.

The first major confrontation came in 1971. The Conservative government of Edward Heath tried to curb the power of the unions with the Industrial Relations Act. All the act did was provoke massive civil disobedience; in 1972, more working days were lost to strikes in Britain that in any year in the previous half century.

The country's economy was sputtering, and Mr. Heath tried to freeze wages and prices. The coal miners' union defied the government. Without coal, industry slowed to a crawl and the economy slid further. Prime Minister Heath appealed to the voters and called an election. The British people voted in a minority Labour Party government.

Trade unionists, whose money financed the Labour Party, had their hands once more on the levers of power. Union leaders, although not elected by the general public, began to call more and more of the shots in government. The Industrial Relations Act was thrown out. Wage and price controls were lifted. Inflation zoomed out of control and the economy went into a tailspin. By 1975, 86% of all workers were covered by collective agreements and it was legal for an employee to be fired simply because he or she did not belong to a trade union.

Even the Labour government realized now that the unions were too powerful and it tried to reel them in. Everything came to a head during the winter of 1978-79, the so-called "Winter of Discontent."

Public-sector unions were on strike everywhere. The docks, trucking, railways, schools, hospitals, airports, ambulances -- all were paralyzed by strikes. This time, the unions had gone too far as the streets filled up with uncollected garbage and corpses went unburied. The long-suffering British public had had enough and they voted in Conservative Margaret Thatcher as prime minister.

Mrs. Thatcher immediately went toe-to-toe with the powerful unions. She passed laws through parliament to trim their powers. Her economic policies were geared to controlling inflation. A side effect of the war on inflation was to bring on a recession and the highest unemployment rates in Britain since the Depression of the 1930s. With so many people out of work, the bargaining power of trade unions was weakened.

Over the next decade, Mrs. Thatcher's laws brought the trade union movement to heel. Business leaders, of course, applauded the clamp down. But, even the Labour Party, traditional ally of trade unions, now finds little fault with Mrs. Thatcher's reforms. In April 1997, as he was poised to become Britain's first Labour prime minister in 18 years, Tony Blair said: "The essential elements of the trade-union legislation of the 1980s will remain."

As a measure of Margaret Thatcher's victory over trade unions just look at membership numbers. In 1979, 13.3 million people belonged to trade unions in Britain; by 1997, that was down to 7.3 million. Most observers, with the exception of union leaders, believe it was necessary to clip the wings of Britain's organized labour. The business lobby credits much of Britain's economic recovery to the more passive role that has been forced on the unions. Foreign investors were frightened into putting their money elsewhere by the aggressive British unions of the 1970s. The more peaceful labour relations environment of the 1990s has encouraged investors to return.

Corporate Canada sees the Thatcher approach as the way of the future for our country. The Fraser Institute in Vancouver speaks the language and philosophy of business. In the summer of 1997, Fazil Mihlar of the Institute wrote:

"Several explanations have been offered for the sustained high unemployment that Canada has faced over the last decade...These explanations include Canada's generous employment insurance program, high welfare benefit rates, minimum wage laws, relatively high payroll taxes, restrictive labour market regulations, and a high level of unionization compared to the U.S...

"To add to the problem, union activities in Canada are structured and regulated by provincial labour relations codes...In practice, this means that individual workers are not free to decide whether or not to be represented by a union. Moreover, unions cannot compete either. Union contracts... are such that individuals who are subsequently employed in a particular firm cannot opt out of union membership and/or payment of union dues...Canada, with its inflexible labour regulations and generous welfare state provisions, has virtually eliminated the possibility of change..."

The Fraser Institute wants to see an open labour market. It wants to see labour bought and sold in a competitive market; freed from the artificial protections that trade union legislation provides. Business leaders believe this will create more work, a healthier economy, and provide immunization from "The British Disease."

SUGGESTED ACTIVITIES:

1. Invite a union representative and a member of your local Chamber of Commerce to class to hold a debate on the issue of government-regulated labour standards versus allowing the open market to decide the value of work.

2. After reading this article lead a class discussion on Lord Acton's famous observation in 1887 that "Power tends to corrupt, and asbolute power corrupts absolutely."