THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham HughesĪs economist Alex Hemingway has argued in his analysis of B.C.’s public finances, the province can afford to pay its essential public sector workers much more. Workers in sectors most impacted by the pandemic, like health care, have gained the least from the recent economic recovery. Lower paid workers, such as care aides or educational assistants, also feel the impacts of inflation more acutely because they have to spend more of their income on necessities, like food and shelter. This means that workers in some of the sectors most impacted by the pandemic, like health care, have gained the least from the recent economic recovery. In B.C., despite a two per cent average annual increase in public sector wage settlements, the average public sector worker will take a 1.5 per cent pay cut this year. The report found that several provincial governments, including Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and Newfoundland and Labrador, were actively working to freeze those wages prior to, and even during, the pandemic. Recent research by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives analyzed trends in wages and inflation in Canada from 2020-22 and found that three of the four industries with the lowest wage gains were public administration, education and health care. Why are unionized workers falling behind? The June Labour Force Survey showed differences between the wage growth of unionized versus non-unionized employees nationally: the hourly wages of all workers with union coverage were up 3.7 per cent, compared with 6.1 per cent among non-unionized workers. Instead, corporate profits, global price increases, supply chain issues and global conflicts are making consumer goods more expensive, while wages fail to keep pace.īut average wages and prices also mask variations in sector-specific pay increases, and its impacts on different groups of workers. Nor is there evidence of a wage-price spiral, which is when wage growth drives price increases, which in turn drives wage growth in the economy. A tight labour market is not resulting in above-inflation wage increases for most workers. The below-inflation increase in wages comes despite a record low unemployment rate of 4.2 per cent. Hourly wages, on the other hand, only increased 5.2 per cent.
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The main driver of inflation is the price of gasoline, but even excluding gas the consumer price index rose 6.5 per cent in June. Skyrocketing inflation is the major cause behind worker unrest and collective action. Statistics Canada announced a rise in consumer inflation to 8.1 per cent in June 2022. If the labour movement in Canada can mobilize working people, who are seeing and feeling how corporations have profited from the pandemic while ordinary people have paid the price, the change could be significant. could be on the cusp of a major period of labour unrest, similar to what we are seeing in other parts of the world like the United Kingdom. The United Truckers Association says its members have voted unanimously in favour of job action at the Port of Vancouver to protest a program that would force the phaseout of older trucks. Nurses’ Union members have been working without a contract since March, with bargaining delayed to the fall. Teachers’ Federation contract expired June 30 and B.C.
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It is not only workers in B.C.’s public sector who voted to take job action in recent weeks - the transit and transportation sectors face strikes by truck drivers at the Port of Vancouver and bus drivers in West Vancouver.Īnd in addition to the approximately 33,000 BCGEU members covered by the recent strike vote, more than 350,000 public sector workers have agreements that expired or will expire in coming months. General Employees’ Union (BCGEU) voted, in July, to strike after negotiations broke down over cost of living adjustments and wage protection from inflation. In British Columbia, almost 95 per cent of the B.C. In May, the Public Service Alliance of Canada - the country’s largest federal union - walked away from contract negotiations. But much larger scale collective action in the Canadian public sector may also be on the cards. Successful unionization drives targeting corporate employers like Amazon and Starbucks have been big news in 2022.
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