As the Canadian government’s anti-scab legislation works its way through Parliament, the usual suspects continue to complain about protecting the rights of workers. Most recently, Canadian Chamber of Commerce vice president and deputy leader of government relations Robin Guy took to the pages of the Financial Post to take issue with Bill C-58 and to warn that should it pass, the Canadian economy and business as we know it would crumble under the force of labor’s new weight.

Guy argues that banning scabs — or “replacement workers” as he and the legislation call them — in federally regulated workplaces would exacerbate job action, leading to more strikes that will undermine an already-sluggish Canadian economy. Worrying about infrastructure in particular — trains, ports, planes — he writes, “Although politicians claim to be addressing Canada’s productivity challenges, they are advancing anti-replacement worker legislation that will reduce productivity, further erode our global reputation and keep Canada from simply getting things done.”

There’s an awful lot hidden in the words “simply getting things done.” Guy’s lament for the state of the Canadian economy contains an argument that reflects what so many capitalists and their minions take as an article of faith: workers are grist for the mill. Whatever slows or stops the smooth feeding of labor and raw materials through to profit-generating outputs is to be viewed, at best, as suspect and threatening.