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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
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The Canadian economy 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. Since March 2020, work arrangements have been altered substantially, with thousands of employees starting to work from home. In this evolving context, how have unionization rates evolved in Canada over the last four decades? This article uses data from the Survey of Work History of 1981 and the Labour Force Survey to answer this question.
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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
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Misclassification — when employers label their employees as "independent contractors" — is the single biggest reason precarious work is precarious. That’s been a long‑standing issue, but it's increasingly widespread with the rise of the so-called gig economy and the boom in app-based work. Misclassification drives up corporate profits by denying workers basic employment, health and safety protections. And it costs all of us, because it means there's less government revenue to support critical social services. Learn more about worker rights in the gig economy in our latest report on precarious work. --Summary at bcfed.ca/precariouswork
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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
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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.