Cheap U.S. Labor as a Weapon to Lower Canadian Wages? Yup, It's Happening.

Underpaid American workers are being used as weapons to drive down Canadian workers' wages. Again, the ugly face of foreign outsourcing rears its head - this time, "in favor" of America.

And this is not the only example. Ikea also leverages cheap American labor against domestic (Swedish, in their case) labor, as do other companies.


What a load of crap. It's bad enough that Chinese and other foreign workers are being used as weapons to reduce our working class's standard of living Now OUR working class is being used in the same way? What are the odds that Americans will say "hooray, they're now outsourcing to us"? Very high.

To hell with that. There's no "hooray" where I'm concerned. There should be no trade agreement between nations that allows for cheap labor anywhere. Pay a living wage to your workers or be isolated from the global economy.

Cheap U.S. Labor Used As Leverage To Lower Canadian Workers' Wages

The near-standstill in wage growth for American workers hasn't just been good for their employers. It's turning out to be a potential bargaining chip for Canadian companies, too -- at least the ones looking to leverage their employees into accepting smaller paychecks.

A Caterpillar manufacturing plant in Ontario wants to halve its workers' wages, according to The Wall Street Journal. In its negotiations with the autoworkers' union, management is citing a similar Caterpillar plant in Illinois where employees earn less than half of what the Canadian workers make. It's the latest example of how low-wage workers the world over are being forced into an international race to the bottom.

The ongoing trend of wage stagnation for American workers -- median income has barely changed in the U.S. over the past several decades, even as the very highest earners have accrued more and more wealth -- means that workers in the U.S. have become more competitive for jobs that were traditionally reserved for cheaper labor abroad.

High unemployment in the U.S. is helping to depress salaries, since employers have little incentive to pay their workers more when there are so many job-hunters who would gladly step in. The jobless rate has been creeping down since August, and hit its lowest rate in almost three years in December. Still, unemployment remains substantially higher than it was for most of the past decade.