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COVID-19’s impact on the home care sector has been devastating. Across Canada, it is well documented that workers and older people receiving care have experienced gruelling and isolating working and living conditions respectively. In Manitoba, most home care workers are im/migrants. While there is some emerging research on the experiences of im/migrant home care workers in Manitoba, there is a dearth of public knowledge about their experiences working and living in the province. As the provincial government struggles to recruit and retain home care workers, there is an increasing need for more research on im/migrant home care workers already in Manitoba. --Website description

In our first report, A Sustainable Jobs Blueprint - Part I: Governance recommendations to support Canada’s clean energy workforce and economy, we examined the shift net-zero based on current global trends. The first report underscored the importance of sound sustainable jobs planning; a robust governance approach with internal structures and accountability mechanisms; and inclusive decision-making that brings workers to the table. This second report offers advice on the tactics the federal government can use as it makes investments and develops programs, with the goal of better and more fair outcomes for present and future workers as well as communities. We recommend the federal government take steps to advance the following seven worker- and economy-focused actions, discussed in greater detail in the report. --Website description

Proactive and responsive governments can put in place the foundations for stability through transitions that empower worker and community resiliency and ensure those socioeconomic changes are positive. These foundations include key enabling factors and mechanisms for collaboration, accountability, and implementation. The Pembina Institute and the Canadian Labour Congress have partnered to develop a Sustainable Jobs Blueprint, which identifies policy and investment recommendations tosupport the Canadian workforce in the transition to a net-zero economy. This is the first report in a series on sustainable jobs planning in Canada to support the creation and maintenance of decent jobs across Canada. Part one outlines a governance framework needed for a robust sustainable jobs approach in Canada and includes recommendations for government action. Part two will offer recommendations for an implementation plan, supported by the governance framework, that will best support workers and communities. --Website description/Introduction

Unionization and collective bargaining continue to deliver material gains for workers by way of higher wages and access to supplementary benefits like health insurance and pensions. While researchers have charted a declining union wage advantage over the last few decades, collective bargaining still yields important gains for workers. Unions have sought to remedy stagnating real wages and growing inflation by seeking wage increases that align with the cost of living through bargaining processes and labour militancy. This report provides comparison of wages and benefits for unionized and non-unionized workers across industries in Canada and in the province of Saskatchewan by drawing from Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey (LFS) as well as custom tabulations acquired from Statistics Canada, retrieved from the LFS. --Executive summary

The Canadian labour market has experienced numerous changes over the last four decades. Employment has moved away from manufacturing and towards service sector jobs. Technological changes have brought computer-based technologies and, more recently, robotics and artificial intelligence to the workplace. World prices of oil and natural resources have fluctuated considerably. International trade with China and other emerging countries has risen. E-commerce has become a growing part of firms’ sales. Since March 2020, work arrangements have been altered substantially, with thousands of employees starting to work from home. In this context, how have unionization rates evolved in Canada? The goal of this note is to answer this question. --Introduction

UFCW Canada has helped protect agricultural workers’ rights and has enforced their entitlements while advocating for changes to the laws, which still contribute to worker vulnerability and employment insecurity. Agriculture is an essential pillar of the Canadian economy. The agriculture and agri-food manufacturing sector contributed $143 billion to Canada’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2018, accounting for 7.4% of total GDP. Agriculture industries, meanwhile, contributed $32.3 billion.1 Agricultural workers are essential food workers. They feed our communities. However, our society tends to hide their vital contribution to securing our food supply, deeming them low-skilled workers. Nonetheless, these women and men who farm the land possess a valuable and unique skillset that few others have. Yet, because they are considered low-skilled, they are frequently subjected to terrible working conditions and pay. Through its Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP), the federal government has built an employer-demand-driven and employer-oriented program. It has been designed to support and facilitate employers’ needs while migrant workers and their labour organizations are excluded. Without the workers’ participation in the policies and regulations, the employer holds all the power and control. --From Executive Summary

The Centre for Research & Education on Violence Against Women & Children at Western University, together with researchers at the University of Toronto and the Canadian Labour Congress launched a bilingual, national survey on workplace harassment and violence in Fall 2020. Closing in Spring 2021, thousands of workers across Canada completed the survey and a significant number volunteered to participate in in-depth interviews. The results of this research shed light on the prevalence of different forms of harassment and violence in the workplace, including how workers who are marginalized due to their social location and/or their precarious employment status are uniquely impacted. --Website description

This report examines the impact of increasing Ontario's minimum wage to $14 per hour in 2018. Despite dire predictions that increasing minimum wage would eliminate jobs, employment actually increased in the period after the change. The study, funded by the Canadian Race Relations Foundation (CRRF), also found racialized workers, especially women, benefitted from the minmum wage increase, largely due to the gendered and racialized nature of low-wage work. Employment in almost all industries with lower-than-average wages increased.

Issue: Judicial rulings, continued decline in unionization, new types of work arrangements, employer efforts to boost retention and performance and new approaches to enforcement are shining the spotlight on the ability of workers to join together to express their views and have a say in decisions affecting their working conditions. To what extent are there gaps in opportunities for collective voice for non-unionized workers in the federally regulated private sector (FRPS)? How could they be addressed?

This report...examines the need for paid sick leave in Nova Scotia and what it should look like. Authored by a team of researchers at Acadia University, the report underlines that for paid sick leave to be effective, it must be universal, paid, adequate, permanent, accessible and employer-provided. It recommends that employers be legislated to provide 10 paid days per year to allow workers time to access preventative health services or to recover from common illnesses. Prior to the pandemic, only 46% of Nova Scotia workers had paid sick leave provided by their employers. A total of 69% of workers who earn $25,000 do not have access to paid sick leave. The data also shows that younger workers and those with high school education or less have the least access. Only 28% of those who work in seasonal, term or on-call jobs have access to paid sick leave. This report also reviews temporary sick leave policies from federal, provincial, and territorial jurisdictions in Canada to demonstrate how they must be improved.

This report looks at the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economic security of women in Canada and the current efforts to respond to urgent economic need in the short- to medium-term, as well as demands for fundamental systemic change moving forward. ...The study focuses on three areas: it examines the impact of COVID-19 on women’s participation in the labour market since the pandemic struck in spring of 2020; it assesses the impact of federal and provincial government programs and income supports through a gendered and intersectional lens; and it examines gaps in the system and proposes measures to help women get through the COVID crisis and ensure their speedy return to the labour market once the worst of the crisis is over.

There is abundant evidence that when workers can provide input, express opinions, and influence change in their work places. Providing workers with regular, safe channels of “voice” at work increases their personal motivation and job satisfaction. It benefits their employer, too, through reduced turnover, enhanced productivity, and better information flows. And it contributes to improved economic and social outcomes—everything from stronger productivity growth, to less inequality, to improved health.... Summary and main findings

Since the mid-1950s, the Canadian government has increasingly relied on precarious and/or temporary migrant workers to meet a growing demand for care work. Restrictive immigration policies and programs that promise a pathway to permanent residency but place limitations on workers’ rights and freedoms have led to the creation of a highly vulnerable workforce that is subject to working in low-wage and undervalued sectors with few protections. This report argues that, in addition to immediate reforms to current caregiver pilot programs to help protect vulnerable migrant care workers, Canada should work toward granting permanent resident status to all migrants upon arrival. Granting migrants permanent resident status and equal access to available supports and services is key to ensuring basic human rights for all. The report ends with recommendations to achieve this goal.

Legal Aid Ontario (LAO) lawyers provide legal advice and advocate for low-income individuals in the province of Ontario (1990), Canada, who would otherwise be unable to afford legal representation. As workers, LAO lawyers had limited ability to address workplace concerns with their employer, many of which negatively impacted their ability to advocate for their clients, or undermined their professional and ethical obligations. Lawyers as a job classification are excluded from the Ontario Labour Relations Act (OLRA), and are therefore unable to unionize using a defined legal process protected by legislation. Analyzing the example of a successful four-year long campaign led by LAO lawyers and the Society of United Professionals, IFPTE Local 160 (SUP) for voluntary union recognition, this case study examines organizing a union when labour legislation does not facilitate a unionization process; running a comprehensive organizing campaign for professional workers; framing issues to resonate with the public; and what motivates professional workers to unionize. --From introduction

This literature review presents an overview of the existing academic research on workers’ experiences of sexual harassment in order to better understand the factors influencing workers’ responses to these forms of harassment. We focus on the understudied intersection of precarious work and sexual harassment to address and investigate the higher rates of unwanted sexual attention reported by workers engaged in precarious work. --From Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic has made the holes in our social safety net and the failures in our social infrastructure painfully obvious. A horrific example of these failures is the impact of the pandemic in long-term care (LTC) homes. This paper provides a cost estimate for adequately funded caregiving in Ontario long-term care homes, showing that it would cost about $1.8 billion to increase care levels and equalize wage rates across the sector in this fiscal year. This equates to just over 1% of overall provincial program spending in Ontario.

Migrant care worker organizations are releasing a report today documenting the experiences of hundreds of racialized migrant domestic workers during COVID-19. The report, “Behind Closed Doors: Exposing Migrant Care Worker Exploitation During COVID-19”, features shocking stories of abuse including working every day without a break, thousands of dollars in stolen wages, workers being trapped in employers’ homes for months, and being laid off and evicted. The report documents how these crises threaten workers’ ability to unite with their families and access permanent residency, and calls for full and permanent immigration status for all migrants as the only solution. --Press release 2020-10-28

The living wage was first calculated in Atlantic Canada in 2015 (Halifax). Antigonish was added in 2016 and Saint John, New Brunswick in 2018. Last year, we calculated the living wage rate for St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador. This year we have added two more Nova Scotia communities: Bridgewater and the Cape Breton Regional Municipality.

Economic losses due to COVID-19 have fallen heavily on women, and most dramatically on women living on low incomes who experience intersecting inequalities based on race, class, disability, education, migration, and immigration status. The pandemic crisis has revealed the fragility of response systems and the urgent need for structural rethinking and systemic change.

In 2001, CCPA-Manitoba published a report titled The Minimum Wage and a Tipping Wage: A Survey of People Who Work At or Near the Minimum Wage in Manitoba. Researchers gathered data from 70 workers making minimum wage. The report concluded that minimum wage was insufficient to provide workers with anything more than a ‘subsistence wage’ and did not reflect the cost of living. This current research represents an update of the 2001 study and concludes that little has changed for minimum wage workers in Manitoba. This project utilizes both quantitative and qualitative data to explore the challenges of working for, and living on, minimum wage. Forty-two workers in Winnipeg and Brandon were interviewed to gain a better understanding of their experiences, challenges, and hopes for the future.