When they announced their recent deal, Buzz Hargrove of the Canadian Auto Workers and Frank Stronach of Magna International looked a bit like the uneasy new in-laws Robert De Niro and Dustin Hoffman in Meet the Fockers. Maybe it was the casual garb: jackets, no ties. But it was unclear who was the Focker and who was the other guy. When in doubt, check the language. Frank Stronach had it all his way.

It’s called the Framework of Fairness Agreement, and “fairness” is sprinkled through it. The terms “grievance” and “shop steward” — which is how Buzz started in the labour movement — are nowhere. There will be “employee advocates” who sit on “fairness committees.” Fairness is a bow to Frank’s philosophy, “fair enterprise,” which he says is better than socialism or capitalism. He loves to diagram how it works for visitors, then tear off and sign the sheets.

I have mine somewhere. Language matters. There are historic splits between these sides, over terms such as worker v. employee, boss v. owner and scab v. replacement worker. In the Magna-CAW deal, “worker” doesn’t appear. “Employee” appears too often to count. But the most chilling phrase for unionists must be: “no strike — no lockout. ”

Ex-CAW president Bob White made a spirited defence of his successor, Buzz, and Buzz’s willingness to give up the right to strike. He said leaders must be innovative and have “the courage to challenge the status quo.” All things being equal, this is true and it’s okay to swallow some repellent terms to make gains. Things are, however, rarely as unequal as they are between unions and corporations. There’s a lot of hooey around about the power of unions and how they square off against corporations.

In fact, the entire staff of the CAW, Canada’s mightiest union, is about the size of the staff in one warehouse of GM. They have nowhere near the same money, leverage, political connections, social cachet (go find the Report on Labour in The Globe) or chokehold on economic decisions. Yesterday, Chrysler acted, killing 1,100 jobs; the CAW reacted. In the end, a union has only its members and they have only their labour to offer or — withhold. Without that, they have no way to even try to even the balance. So the main battles in this arena have always been over the workers’ ability to collectively say No.

Bob White argues the Magna workers will be represented by a union, and that’s progress. But unions only won that right through long, bloody, illegal strikes. And what was won can be taken away, which is the story of bargaining for the past 20 years. What do you do if they try to remove your union, but you’ve lost the right to strike? Strike illegally, I guess. Et voilà — the ’30s again. You can see why some of Buzz’s members would rather skip that scenario.

It seems to me what Buzz has bought into here is the myth of partnership and equality. I won’t speculate on his reasons, though I’d love to. But it’s a delusion. You can get some fairness making a deal with Frank Stronach, but it will never be simple, because nearly all the power is on his side. No matter what he gives you, the best word for it will be paternalism. Real fairness and justice, given the inequality, will always have to be won. That’s the nature of this society, though we’re encouraged to deny it, which has the effect of letting the gulf yawn ever wider, as it keeps doing.

Take this week’s federal mini-budget. It’s all about tax cuts and nothing else. If you’ve got no money, tax cuts won’t help you. If you’ve got lots, they will. For the diminishing middle, they won’t help nearly as much as actual items that can be provided only by social investment: schools, child care, transportation, clean air etc. It’s all about those who have, and those who don’t. Have wealth and have power. It’s a fine old conflict, Jessica Mitford thought they were singing when they sang The Internationale. Still is.

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Rick Salutin

Rick Salutin is a Canadian novelist, playwright and critic. He is a strong advocate of left wing causes and writes a regular column in the Toronto Star.