NDP’s cushy relationship with labour in jeopardy

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/04/2010 (5892 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Members of Manitoba’s New Democratic Party can be forgiven for not knowing if they’re moving forward or backward. To say that a lot has changed in the last 12 months doesn’t quite capture the seismic shift in NDP fortunes.

Gary Doer, the party’s leader for more than two decades, retired for a life in the diplomatic service. A contentious leadership race ensued, leaving former finance minister Greg Selinger in Doer’s old office.

More importantly, in the past year the global recession that had somehow failed to manifest in Manitoba finally came calling. This resulted in more than a billion dollars in budget deficits (last year and this coming year combined) and a new air of uncertainty about the province’s fiscal fortunes.

As the party’s rank and file gather this weekend in Winnipeg for the NDP’s annual general meeting, there will be a palpable struggle between the optimists and the pessimists, those who believe the NDP can continue to govern for years to come and those who see it coming to an end.

Oddly, the recession is unlikely to be the issue that derails the NDP dynasty. National polls show that most Canadians accept the recession was sparked by events in other jurisdictions. That means it’s unlikely anyone with a valid membership in the first minister’s club will lose their jobs because of sluggish economic growth.

The flip side of that equation is that the polls also show none of those leaders will get credit for the recovery. It’s a wash.

The real peril for governing parties comes from the decisions they make in the post-recession era. Manitoba is an excellent case in point.

To combat back-to-back nine-figure deficits, the Selinger government has raised the prospect of wage freezes for nearly 14,000 public servants. Other provinces are squaring off with public servants on wage freezes, but Manitoba’s NDP government is the only one that has to fight that fight both within and without the party.

Organized labour is part of the fabric of the NDP. That has set the table for some fireworks this weekend.

One resolution submitted by the Manitoba Federation of Labour in response to the threat of wage freezes, calls on the NDP to stop “posturing in the media” and start negotiating with labour. The MFL is not amused by Selinger’s bid to take money from unionized workers and the resolution leaves no doubts about their state of mind.

However, a wage freeze is not the only issue sure to rankle labour at this meeting. NDP members will most likely debate a proposal that would profoundly reduce labour’s influence within the party.

Two riding associations have brought forward a resolution to implement a one-member, one-vote system for leadership elections. If adopted by the party this weekend, it would deny labour organizations automatic delegates to leadership conventions.

Many within the party were unhappy that labour organizations got 400 automatic delegates to last year’s leadership convention. These concerns were exacerbated when the unions awarded the delegates could not fill all of the automatic spots; a significant portion was returned to the party.

The debate over moving to a one-vote, one-member system is likely to leave more than a few unionized noses bloodied.

There is a scenario building at this meeting — and it’s not good for the future of the NDP. Imagine the MFL resolution is more or less dismissed (very likely) and the party moves to a one-member, one vote system for electing leaders (also very likely). That would constitute a slap up each side of organized labour’s head.

The timing of this internal battle couldn’t be worse for the NDP. A provincial election is scheduled for 2011 and it seems like a bad time to be engaged in a bare-knuckle brawl with one of your core constituencies.

Since the NDP was returned to power in 1999, labour has been fiercely loyal to the party even though Doer never governed in classic NDP fashion and did, on occasion, play hard ball with some of the public-sector unions. Health-care support workers know this better than anyone.

When Doer won in 1999, concerns were raised about whether the NDP’s left-of-centre core constituencies would allow him to fulfill a plan to govern from the centre to capture non-traditional voters. For the most part, labour has stayed on script.

This weekend, however, there is a possibility that labour may leave the NDP’s annual summit looking for a new script.

dan.lett@freepress.mb.ca