Corporate Exec Praising Unions? Yep

 

January 28, 2014

 

Who said it?

“[Unions] are a key driver in the creation of the middle-class, for the reduction of work hours, paid vacation, all sorts of benefits that we all enjoy.” 

If you said John Lewis, Walter Reuther or International President Ed Hill, you’d be wrong. 

It was actually a corporate executive at a multibillion dollar company. 

Peter Edwards, Canadian Pacific’s vice-president for human resources and labor relations, was speaking last month on a panel on the future of the labor movement sponsored by a major human resources journal.

"When you talk to anyone remotely connected to the world, they understand the role of unions providing what we have today,” he told panelists.

Edwards knows what he’s talking about. Canadian Pacific is Canada’s leading freight railroad and for more than 100 years, it’s relied on skilled union workers to keep its train running on time and safely. 

More than 450 IBEW members – from Montreal to Vancouver – work for Canadian Pacific, maintaining the system’s signal and track monitoring equipment.

Check it out yourself.

Photo used under a Creative Commons License from Flickr user Simon Pielow