Christina Love is a contributor to the GLRC’s interview series entitled Workers’ Stories in the COVID-19 Era. She was also a union organizer with Workers United at her local Shoppers Drug Mart from October 2020 – February 2021. Christina believes that education is essential to understanding the world around us so that we can better create change.

This is intended as an educational resource for workers and not as legal advice. If legal advice is required, please scroll to the section entitled ‘Labour and Legal Resources in Ontario’ and contact the relevant organization for further information. The information in this blogpost is current as of the publication date.

Introduction

Workers rights in Ontario have increasingly come under attack in recent years as politicians have been taking advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic to pass repressive legislation and ‘emergency measures’ that work to benefit businesses over workers. Another disturbing facet of this trend is the lack of regulation of the gig economy. For example, while there is a recent proposal to raise gig workers’ wages to the provincial minimum, it is only effective for time directly engaged in an assignment, not when they are on-call. If most of a gig worker’s day is spent waiting, then they will effectively not be making minimum wage. Moreover, many workers do not know their rights and how to file claims if their employer violates those rights. This is especially pertinent for immigrants and refugees who might not be familiar with Canadian laws and are thus made vulnerable to exploitation. In any case, the first step towards supportive and proactive legislation and workplaces is education, and the immediate next step is action. I hope that this blogpost can serve as an educational tool for workers.

The Employment Standards Act

The  (ESA) regulates the minimum rights that all workers are entitled to, and the minimum standards that all employers must adhere to, here in Ontario. You are always entitled to these minimums, and it is illegal for your rights to be denied, even if you sign a document from your employer that states otherwise. The Act does change, from time to time, so it is wise to consult specific sections of the document itself if you are unsure about anything.

WORKERS NOT COVERED UNDER THE ACT

While the ESA applies to everyone working in Ontario, regardless of citizenship/immigration status, there are some workers who are not entitled to the benefits and protections of the Act. These include federal employees, foreign embassy/consulate employees, students doing co-op placements, self-employed workers, prisoners, workers ordered by a court to work as part of a sentence, holders of elected office, directors of corporations, police officers, members of quasi-judicial tribunals, and people who hold political, religious, or judicial office.

The most common exemption from the ESA is that of wage-based exemption, so while you are entitled to other rights, the right to minimum wage does not apply to you. Examples of these jobs/categories include:

• Farm workers
• Workers at private day camps
• People under 18

DID YOU KNOW: Servers and bartenders are now entitled full minimum wage as of January 2022.

Most workers are entitled to the full rights and benefits of employees under the ESA. If you have been told by your employer that you are not entitled to some/all of your rights, including the right to minimum wage, and you believe that this is incorrect, please seek legal advice to confirm your status.

WAGES

Minimum wage

Almost every worker is entitled to the provincial minimum wage which is the lowest amount a worker can legally be paid. The current minimum wage for most employees is $15/hour. On October 1, 2022 this goes up to $15.50/hour. For folks under 18, the current minimum wage is $14.10, which will raise to $14.60 on October 1, 2022. Employees who earn commission are entitled to at least minimum wage, so if they do not earn the equivalent or more in commission in a given pay period, their employer must make up the difference. Homeworkers, who are workers who do paid work in their own homes, are currently entitled to $16.50/hour, which will go up to $17.05 on October 1, 2022. Minimum wage applies to workers regardless of payment method (cash, cheque, direct deposit, etc.) or whether they’re full- or part-time.

Frequency of pay

Employers must establish a recurring pay period and pay day. Wages earned during each period must be paid by the pay day. So, if your pay period is every two weeks and pay day is the second Friday, you must receive your pay by that day and no later.

Pay statements

Written pay statements must be given to employees on or before their pay day. Statements can be provided by email if the employee has access to make paper copies of them. The following information is required by law to be included on pay statements:

• The pay period/date that the wages are for
• The rate of pay, even if it is just the legal minimum
• The total, or gross, amount before deductions (unless provided in other regular documentation)
• Each deduction from the pay, including the amount and what it’s for
• If they employee gets room and board taken off, this will also need to be documented in the pay statement
• The net, or actual amount, pay that the employee takes home after deductions

DID YOU KNOW: Wages cannot be withheld, have non-legally required deductions made, or be required to be repaid to the employer except in special circumstances, usually only if there is a court order or if the employee authorizes it. Get legal advice if you are unsure!

Termination

After an employee leaves their position, the employer must pay any outstanding wages no later than seven days after the employment ends, or by the day that would have been the employee’s next pay day. Pay statements after termination of employment must include:

• The total amount of termination or severance pay the employee gets, if applicable
• The total amount of any vacation pay that the employee is owed, including how the termination and vacation pay was calculated, unless the information is provided somewhere else (e.g., it would include that termination is 15% and vacation is 4% of the total wages)
• Everything else required to be included on pay statements

Overtime

If an employee works over 44 hours in a week, they are entitled to be paid 1.5x their wage for each additional hour. That means if you are working for minimum wage and you work 50 hours in a week, your gross (total before deductions) pay is $15 x 44 + $22.5 x 6 = $795. Now, this is subject to a few exceptions depending on the specifics of the employee’s contract or agreements between employee/employer. Overtime changes if:

• There is a different agreed-upon threshold for overtime
• Overtime is defined differently in a Collective Agreement that applies to the employee
• The employee agrees to have their hours be averaged over 2-4 consecutive weeks to determine overtime entitlement

DID YOU KNOW: Unless an employee is represented by a union, contracts and agreements expire after two years in most cases.

Another consideration is that overtime can be taken as paid time off at 1.5 hours off per one hour overtime worked (e.g., if you work 10 hours overtime and get paid time off, you would be getting 15 hours off). This is only done if the employer and employee agree to it and it happens within three months of the overtime being worked, or up to 12 months if the employee agrees to extending. If the employment terminates before the employee can take the time off, any outstanding overtime must be added directly to their paycheque.

The three-hour rule

If someone who usually works more than three hours at a time is scheduled to work three hours but is not needed the whole time and is asked to go home, they are entitled to three hours of pay if they were able to work for longer. This does not apply to being asked to go home because of extenuating circumstances like power failure or extreme weather events.

TIPS & GRATUITIES

Generally, employees are entitled to keep ALL of their tips, and deductions cannot be made by the employer. Withholding tips is not a valid disciplinary measure, for example. If an employer does not follow this, it is treated as wages being withheld under the Act and legal action can be taken. There are, however, special circumstances under which tips can be withheld/have deductions made:

• Tips are pooled among all employees. The employer and shareholders do not count as employees and usually are not allowed to take tips for themselves, however, employers/shareholders are able to take part in receiving pooled tips if they do a substantial amount of the same work, or work in the same industry, as the employees who get tips. Basically, they have to do more than cover a shift every now and then to qualify for the pool. The employer only qualifies if they are the sole owner or half of a partnership.
• A Canadian court order or statute authorizes it.

If employees are unionized and their Collective Agreement has provisions concerning tips/gratuities that are different from the ESA, and they are from before June 10, 2016, the provisions from the Agreement will apply.

WORK HOURS & BREAKS

In most cases, employees are not allowed, or to be expected, to work over 48 hours per week or over eight hours per day. Exceptions are:

• If an employee has a regular workday of more than eight hours of work per week over 48 hours
• The employee freely agrees to an exception, which can be revoked by the employee if they change their mind and give their employer two weeks of notice
• Exceptions are not valid unless a manager/the employer gives the employee the most recent document that the Director of Employment Standards has created about the rights of employees and obligations of employers and the agreement states that the employee acknowledges receiving the document
• If there is an emergency

DID YOU KNOW: Agreements between employees and employers typically have to be in writing to be enforceable.

In any case, employers must give employees 11 consecutive hours free from work within a 24-hour period unless they are on-call. If an employee does shift work, employers must give them at least eight hours off between shifts. Everyone is entitled to at least one full day off per week OR at least two full days off every two weeks. Also, most retail workers can refuse to work Sundays and public holidays.

In terms of breaks, they are usually outlined in employment contracts in addition to the eating periods employees are required to get. As outlined in the ESA, employees are entitled to have at least 30 minutes to eat every five hours. Unless stated otherwise in an employment contract or Collective Agreement, the employer is not required to pay the employee during their eating periods.

VACATION TIME & VACATION PAY

Typically, after a year of employment at one place, workers are entitled to two weeks of vacation each year. After five years at the same place, they are entitled to three weeks of vacation each year. There are exceptions if the employment contract lays out something different or if an alternative is agreed between the employee/employer. Employees who have worked less than 5 years at one place are entitled to 4% of their wages as vacation pay. If they have worked five or more years at the same place, they are entitled to 6% of their wages as vacation pay. Vacation pay must be given in a lump sum before the start of vacation unless the employee wants to save their vacation pay for a later date or the employer gives the payout on or before a pay day, subject to different circumstances.

DISCRIMINATION & HARASSMENT*

*This section is taken from the Human Rights Code as it is not covered under the ESA. Regardless of the exempted jobs listed in Jobs not Covered Under the Act, every single worker in Ontario is entitled to be free from discrimination and harassment in the workplace. The claims process is different from claims through the Ministry of Labour for infractions against the ESA, so I have included that in this section as well.

Every person has a right to equality in employment. Protected demographic markers include:

• Race
• Ancestry
• Place of origin
• Colour
• Ethnicity
• Citizenship
• Religion/faith
• Sexual orientation
• Gender identity
• Gender expression
• Sex – including pregnancy & ability to become pregnant
• Age – not including anyone under 18
• Disability
• Record of offenses – not including people who work in vulnerable sectors
• Marital status
• Family status

NOTE: Poverty/economic status is not included as a protected demographic of person. I encourage you to reflect on why that is.

This means that people cannot legally be discriminated against, or harassed, by the employer, a representative of the employer, or by their coworkers because of the above reasons. Every person also has a right to equality of treatment in unions, trade/occupational associations, and any other self-governing worker’s organization. In addition, all forms of sexual harassment are illegal in the workplace. This includes soliciting an employee for sex for a career advancement or other employment benefits and, on the other side of the coin, threatening to demote or retaliate against an employee for refusing sexual solicitation for a career advancement or other employment benefits. It is illegal to retaliate against an employee for asserting their rights under the Human Rights Code.

There are a few exceptions to the Code, specifically when Canadian citizenship, age of less than 65, or certain abilities are reasonably required as a condition of employment.

The Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario is the governing body that deals with claims of discrimination and harassment filed under the Human Rights Code. Unionized employees who experience discrimination and harassment should speak with their union and file a grievance if relevant. Otherwise, employees can file a claim in court, but this may cost money. The Tribunal can be contacted at: 416-326-1312 or 1-866-598-0322.

Contact information for the Human Rights Legal Support Centre

Toll free numbers:
Toll Free: 1-866-625-5179
TTY Toll Free: 1-866 612-8627
Fax: 1-866-625-5180

Numbers for the GTA:
Tel: 416-597-4900
TTY: 416-597-4903
Fax: 416-597-4901

TERMINATION

After three months of employment, employers cannot terminate, or let go of, an employee unless the employee is given written notice and that notice has expired. Written notice differs based on number of years that an employee has been with a company:

Written notice of termination needs to be verifiably delivered to the employee to be considered valid. Email, registered mail, or physically handing the employee notice of termination are all examples of verifiably giving them notice. Now, notice is different if there is a mass termination of more than 50 employees. In this case, notice time is as follows:

DID YOU KNOW: This notice format does not apply if the company is going out of business. In that case, notice is generally one week for under a year worked and two weeks if the employee has worked over a year.

If a mass termination is occurring, there must be a poster in a place visible to employees that outlines why the termination is happening, who was consulted, etc. During any notice periods, the employer cannot:

• Reduce wages or alter the employment contract or any other terms and conditions of employment.
• Stop making contributions to a benefit plan for the employees.
• If they fail to make benefit plan contributions that they are supposed to, the amount equal to the contribution payments missed will be treated as unpaid wages and if they are not paid, a claim for them can be filed.
• Pay employees less than average.
• Employees need to be paid the same as a regular work week if they typically would have regular hours/pay. If the employee does not have regular hours or pay, they need to be paid at least the average amount they earned in the last 12 weeks for every week during the notice period.

Termination without notice is only legal in select circumstances, namely, if the employee displays intentional misconduct, neglect of major duties, or significant disobedience. An employee can also be terminated without notice if they have worked at a place for less than three months, are a construction worker, on temporary layoff, or are offered other reasonable work. Termination without notice is permitted if the employer provides payment in place of having the employee work for their notice period AND the employer keeps contributing to any benefit plans the employee is entitled to for the duration of the notice period. This means an employee can be terminated without notice if they get a lump sum of money that is equivalent to what they would get in an average week multiplied by the number of weeks that their years of employment entitles to them as notice weeks.

Some employees will be entitled to severance pay if they have been terminated. Severance must be paid within seven days of termination or by the next pay day, whichever is later. Employees need to have:

• Been employed for over five years at the place they are being terminated from AND
• The establishment where they are working is going out of business and 50+ people are also being terminated within six months OR
• The employer has a payroll of 2.5+ million dollars annually (usually calculated as being the last fiscal year)

NOTE: Termination and severance of employment are two very similar terms that I use interchangeably here for ease of understanding. They are used in slightly different ways in the ESA itself.

Severance pay is calculated using this equation: (regular weekly wages OR average of last 12 weeks of pay if wages are irregular) X (number of years worked + number of complete months worked/12). Severance pay cannot be more than the sum of regular or average wages worked in 26 weeks. If termination is given without notice, severance pay calculation would include the weeks that would have been worked if proper notice was given. Severance pay can be paid in installments if the employee or the Director of Employment Standards agrees to it, but the installments cannot be over a period greater than three years. Also, if an installment payment is missed, the employee is immediately entitled to the rest of the balance they are owed. Exemptions for severance pay include, but are not limited to:

• Refusal to accept reasonable alternative employment
• Retiring on a full pension that includes the weeks/months/years that would have been worked had employment not ended
• Being employed as a maintenance or construction worker
• Wilful misconduct, disobedience, or major neglect of duties

WHAT TO DO IF YOUR EMPLOYER DOES NOT FOLLOW THE ACT ()

If you believe that you are being denied your rights at work, recommended first steps to take are to document what is being done to you and to seek legal advice. Employees of employers who do not follow the ESA, unless in an exempted job or covered by a union, are entitled to file a claim with the Ministry of Labour or file a lawsuit. Filing a lawsuit can get expensive, however. Claims through the Ministry can be filed online or submitted by mail. Claims must be filed within two years of the alleged ESA violation. The claims process through the Ministry of Labour is only applicable for the Employment Standards Act (ESA), Employment Protection for Foreign Nationals Act (EPFNA), or Protecting Child Performers Act (PCPA). If you are represented by a union and covered by a Collective Agreement, you need to contact your union about violations to your rights as a worker/union member.

If you need assistance with the claims process, or have any questions about the ESA in general, you can call the Employment Standards Information Centre during business hours at:

• 416-326-7160
• Toll free in Ontario: 1-800-531-5551
• TTY (for hearing impaired): 1-866-567-8893

A Brief Introduction to Worker Organizing and Unionization

WHAT IS WORKER ORGANIZING?

Worker organizing is any action that is taken by workers to advance their common interests. Organizing can consist of unionization efforts, educational campaigns, fundraising, striking, blockading/occupying key locations, and much more. Worker organizers understand that the laws are insufficient to protect them and that they can take actions themselves to fix this. Some common issues that workers organize around include:

• Raising the minimum wage to a living wage that increases with inflation
• Paid sick days for all
• Increasing access to unionization
• Increasing regulation and rights for gig workers

WHAT IS A UNION?

Unions are organizations of workers that establish and maintain increased worker rights. There are two main ways to unionize in Canada:

1. To organize with an established union
2. To organize an independent union

ABOUT UNIONIZATION

Union members are better paid, get better benefits, get more vacation, and have more job security than those who are not unionized. This is because workers have an increased level of democracy in deciding the terms and conditions of their own employment – so, of course things are going to be better for the workers.

A common misconception that is weaponized as anti-labour propaganda is that unions take your money (dues) and do not meaningfully act in your interests. While there are corruption issues in unions, the single biggest limiting factor to a union’s effectiveness is repressive laws that limit their legal power. For example, members of the Ontario Nurses’ Association (ONA) cannot strike because it is illegal for nurses to do so. This means that members of striking unions in equivalent sectors, like the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation, have better pay and benefits than nurses. That being said, unions are currently the best, and most realistic, way for workers to protect themselves.

To mitigate the issues associated with unions, we would need a combination of supportive legislation and increased avenues for worker/collective/cooperative ownership.

Forming a union is not as difficult as you might think. The biggest obstacles workers face in forming unions are bosses spreading propaganda and coworkers who do not care.  I wrote about my experience as a Shoppers Drug Mart employee.

Examples of labour unions in Ontario

Labour unions in Ontario are generally divided by sector and will only help unionize workers in their sector of specialization. Some of the main unions that cover Ontario are:

Labour and Legal Resources in Ontario

 Legal Aid Ontario (LAO): 

• This is a link to all of the legal clinics in Ontario. If you click a hyperlink to the GTA, you can scroll through the different local clinics. They are mostly area-specific, so if you need advice, you should contact the one closest to where you live. 
• 1-800-668-8258 Monday to Friday 8:00 am – 6:00 pm
• info@lao.on.ca

Community & Legal Aid Services Program (CLASP)

• This program is run through 91��ɫ and is completely free for part- and full-time students. They give assistance for a variety of legal concerns including labour and immigration advice.
• 416-736-5029 Monday, Wednesday, Thursday 9:30 am – 4:30 pm, Tuesday 9:30 am – 12:30 pm, Friday 12:30 pm – 4:30 pm

Community Legal Education Ontario (CLEO)

• This organisation is dedicated to providing legal education on various topics including labour law. Here is the link to their general page where you can investigate the different sections further: 

Workers’ Action Centre (WAC)

• The Workers’ Action Centre is a non-profit worker organization that does labour advocacy and activism. They run workshops and provide education to the community. Important to include is their multilingual factsheets: 
• 416-531-0778 Monday to Friday 12:00 pm – 5:00 pm
• info@workersactioncentre.org

Migrants Resource Centre Canada (MRCC)

• This organization aims at improving conditions for migrant and immigrant workers in Canada. They do research and advocacy, offer educational workshops, and provide services related to labour, health, and immigration for migrant and immigrant workers.
• Hotline: 1-866-275-4046
• info@migrantsresourcecentre.ca

Parkdale Community Legal Services (PCLS)

• PCLS is a community legal and teaching clinic. They mobilize their resources to fight for social and economic change that is beneficial to workers and the community. It is the largest community legal clinic in Canada.
• 416-531-2411 Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
• info@parkdalelegal.org

Pro Bono Ontario (PBO)

• PBO is an organization that connects low-income folks with volunteer lawyers to access free legal services. They also support start-ups, artists, social service organizations, and social entrepreneurs with legal issues.
• Free Legal Advice Hotline: 1-855-255-7256 Monday to Friday 9:00am – 5:00 pm

Further Reading

What I have covered in this blogpost is incomplete, general, and meant only as an introductory guide for workers. There are also other laws that affect workers and worker rights in the province. These include the:

•  – for federal employees

Additionally, the Ontario government publishes various guides in plain language that can be used to help comprehend different pieces of legislation. Generally, you can find them by searching “guide to…[put the name of the Act/legal document here]” on an internet browser. Importantly, you will want to scroll to the bottom of any pages you consult of these guides to check the date updated and, if they have not been updated since any new changes have been made to the laws, double check in the official legal document to make sure that they do not contradict each other. An example of one of these guides is .

Conclusion

The government does not make it easy for the average person to access and understand the laws that it makes. This is a concerted effort to disengage and alienate people from the governing process. I hope that this introduction/guide to the Employment Standards Act has been able to help you understand your rights a little better. If you think that anything illegal is happening in your workplace, please reach out to a legal aid resource to confirm it and to help you with next steps. Unfortunately, employers use tactics of intimidation and threats of termination to push people into precarity so that they are afraid to stand up for their rights. The thing is that we need to all stand up for justice or else the same things will just keep happening.

In solidarity,
Christina (she/they)

The post A Basic Guide to the Employment Standards Act and Worker’s Rights in Ontario appeared first on Global Labour Research Centre.

In the eighteenth installment of our series Workers' Stories in the COVID-19 Era, we interviewed Khaled, a former electrician and current electrical store retail worker in Toronto. They talk about their experience switching to a different role in the same field due to the pandemic, and how their interactions with others have been impacted as the world changes. Khaled emphasizes having compassion for those who may be immunocompromised, as they have personal experience of a family member who is vulnerable. They note that the pandemic has led their community members to express extremist viewpoints and that they wish more people would exercise critical thought. Khaled wishes more decisive action was taken to combat the pandemic during the beginning stages.

For privacy, all names have been changed to protect the identities of our interviewees.

Interview

Christina: Can you describe your job, how long you’ve been working there, and in the field, and go over some typical tasks/duties?

Khaled: I started my current job roughly a year and a half ago. I used to work doing service calls as an electrical technician, but we had to go into buildings and I didn’t feel comfortable with the close contact we were having with the tenants. You’re going into people’s homes, so they didn’t want to be as strict with masking and distancing because it’s their space, you know? It was also earlier on in the pandemic so regular people didn’t really grasp the importance of these public health measures that were being put in place yet. Couple that with the other people I was working with having a really relaxed attitude towards masking and everything, I had to quit that job and now I’m working in the sales department selling electrical equipment.

Initially when I made the switch I worked in a warehouse, but I got promoted to sales fairly quickly from there. Now I serve customers at the counter, help them find what they’re looking for, and I’ll give advice on projects sometimes.

Christina: How has the pandemic impacted your work and working conditions? What’s changed?

Khaled: The pandemic is the biggest reason I had to quit my original job. I just did not feel comfortable at all with the proximity, let alone the number of people we would be servicing. In terms of my current job, it hasn’t been impacted too much; we’ve remained open throughout the pandemic because we’re a supply-chain industry. Business didn’t slow down, and I haven’t been placed on leave or anything. The only real difference has been the pandemic regulations like physical distancing, masking, and a bit more cleaning that we’ve had to start doing.

The beginning was a stressful time for me and my coworkers, especially because we didn’t have access to vaccination at that point. There was a lot of uncertainty, and no one really knew what was going to happen. You couldn’t count on much and expectations weren’t met a lot of times. Initially, my boss in the technician job didn’t believe in masks and vaccination and other lifesaving public health measures. Now I work in an environment that’s very strict about it all. Frankly, it was quite a jarring change. On the one hand there was the owner who didn’t ‘believe’ in public health measures, even though they’re scientific fact, and on the other was the owner’s nephew who runs the retail side of things who was so careful it was almost paranoia. I ��Dz�’t know if I’ve seen anyone else who has gotten to the point of having scabs on their arms from all the sanitizer and alcohol wipes they’ve been using.

Personally, I’m more in favour of more health and safety measures, but I won’t be wiping down counters after each and every customer. I know from experience that it isn’t just yourself that you need to think about. My mom’s on dialysis and immunocompromised, so I need to be thinking about her and also try to be considerate of others who might be in similar situations. I know I wouldn’t care as much if it was just me. I’m a 25-year-old healthy male so it would for sure be less stressful if I knew I wasn’t potentially putting my mother’s life in danger.

My mom’s on dialysis and immunocompromised, so I need to be thinking about her and also try to be considerate of others who might be in similar situations.

Christina: How supportive have your workplace and the government been towards people in your field throughout the pandemic?

Khaled: Not very supportive. My workplace in particular does not appreciate people taking sick time and they ��Dz�’t have paid sick leave or anything like that. Some people requested to be laid off because of COVID as well, so we were short staffed for a while there and taking sick time was very highly discouraged. I did get a raise during the pandemic, but that was based on my performance. We didn’t get any hazard pay due to the increased risk as essential workers.

Christina: Are you part of a union? If so, what has their role been? If not, would you want to be?

Khaled: No, I am not a union member, and I ��Dz�’t think I’d want to be. I feel like unions work in theory, but in practice they ��Dz�’t do a lot that I can see. Especially the electrical workers’ union, you ��Dz�’t see them out there and fighting for people’s rights all that much. There are issues, they ��Dz�’t get dealt with, and I ��Dz�’t want to clean up those messes and deal with all the infighting and drama.

Christina: Do you feel like you’re treated fairly in the workplace? Pay, accommodations, resources, etc.

Khaled: They treat me fine. I’m an easy person to get along with and I ��Dz�’t rock the boat. I’ve learned a lot, I get accommodated for time off for school, I’ve gotten a raise and promotion, things are good in my opinion.

Christina: Has working during the pandemic taken a toll on your mental and physical health and wellbeing?

Khaled: I deal with people all day in sales. That alone will take a toll on your mental health, so I will say that my mental health has been rocky. The uncertainty around who is or isn’t sick, like people coughing weird, not wearing masks properly, and standing too close to you definitely puts me on edge whenever it happens. You can get to be really apprehensive about confrontation too because customers might lash out at you if you say something, and this has happened to me before. So, then you’re debating in your head if it’s worth it to confront them or not, and it’s just a massive headache and really anxiety-inducing. You can’t really say anything back either because of the ‘customer service’ mentality that’s being pushed on you.

There’s not much you can do or say in these situations. While it might not bother you too much at the time, after a while these things accumulate to really weigh on you and you’re sick of it and lose faith in humanity. In my work we ��Dz�’t have as broad of a cross-section of the population we’re dealing with, so we’ve sort of got a classification system for the types of interactions we have. The easiest one to deal with is the contractor who knows what they’re doing. They know exactly what they want, how to use the equipment, and they have a plan. Then you get the contractor who’s the hack, who doesn’t know what they’re doing but has an idea of what they want. They’re not really great at their job, but they ��Dz�’t make your job too hard, you know? Under that’s the do-it-yourselfer who has whatever project in mind but doesn’t really know what they’re doing. Bottom tier is the homeowner who’s working on a fixing or building project and is messing with something they really ����dzܱ����’t be messing with.

While it might not bother you too much at the time, after a while these things accumulate to really weigh on you and you’re sick of it and lose faith in humanity.

Personally, I can gauge the type of person I’m dealing with maybe thirty seconds into a conversation. Depending on who they are and how they treat me, I can exert a little bit of worker autonomy in what I do and say. Now, I can’t really mess with the contractor who knows what they want if they’re being rude, so I generally try to just keep those interactions to a minimum. But if, say, the homeowner is acting rude and entitled, I can choose to a) play dumb if they try to ask me questions about how to do things and b) adjust the pricing and take off discounts. It’s like my own little asshole tax. People ��Dz�’t realize that just being nice goes a long way. I will go out of my way to explain things and help people who are kind to me and treat me like a person.

Christina: Do you wish you had more power than that?

Khaled: I ��Dz�’t think it’s realistic to have more power than that. They’re the customers at the end of the day and it’s them who are keeping the doors open. You can’t mess with them too much or get hostile or confrontational or anything, even if they’re being that way to you. A lot of times you’re forced to brush things off, so this little bit of justice I can give makes me slightly less angry at the world.

Christina: You’ve addressed this a little more generally, but how have clients been treating you? What do you notice is different from before the pandemic?

Khaled: During the first and second lockdowns, people were on edge like crazy. People are still on edge, but I’ve noticed they’re starting to calm down a little bit more. In the beginning, though, you couldn’t say anything to anyone without it being taken as offence – you could barely look at some people. People just got so selfish and self-entitled. One time, there was almost a fist fight in our store. So, this one guy came in wearing one of those useless face shield things and my coworker asked him, politely, to put on an actual mask. This man started ranting about how ‘blue masks’ this and ‘blue masks’ supposedly do bad things to you and that we all need to ‘do our research’ because obviously we’re sheeple or something. Like man, a YouTube video that’s been passed around some group chats isn’t research.

During the first and second lockdowns, people were on edge like crazy.

Anyway, this guy did end up going to get a proper mask, but he didn’t wear it correctly. Then he started going on a bunch of other conspiracy theory bullshit about hospitals being empty and COVID being a hoax. As he was leaving the store, this other guy said, “Put on a mask, you fucking loser,” and they just started goading each other and it was an inch away from getting physical until one of them left.

Another customer used to always criticize whenever my coworker would sanitize things, and that’s one of the tamer ones. There were others who would go on and on about the ‘shadow government’ and officials drinking blood and a lot of other insane conspiracy theories. You’re just listening to this day in, day out, and it gets disturbing and also demoralizing. I ��Dz�’t understand how people can think some of these things. It’s like critical thought doesn’t exist for them, and it makes me concerned for the state of the world.

Christina: If you had unlimited power, what would you have changed about pandemic response in general, and specifically to your field?

Khaled: In the first wave I would have brought in the military and told everyone to stay home, and I would’ve implemented a monthly stipend for everyone and had really robust case tracking so we wouldn’t get the huge outbreaks. I would have imposed an emergency tax on the rich to fund this and get homeless folks off the streets. The government took half-measures for everything during the pandemic and I ��Dz�’t support that approach.

Christina: Do you have any last thoughts or things you think that the general public should know?

Khaled: People suck. People’s true colours really came out during the pandemic and if you’ve worked in any sort of job that requires human interaction, you would’ve realized that people actually really suck. Too many people care only about themselves and will happily stomp over you just to get a deal.

The post “People Suck” and Other Perspectives from an Electrical Field Worker appeared first on Global Labour Research Centre.

The post Blog: Unionizing During a Pandemic appeared first on Global Labour Research Centre.

In the seventeenth installment of our series Workers' Stories in the COVID-19 Era, we interviewed Paulo, a teacher in British Columbia who has worked throughout the pandemic. The perspectives they share highlight the importance of having a strong union like theirs representing workers. The British Columbia Teachers Federation (BCTF) has been a cornerstone to pandemic response in the field of education. Paulo shares that they believe sick leave and better communication are key to addressing public health crises and are rights that workers should have in general. They conclude this installment by reflecting on the relative privilege teachers have experienced when compared to workers in other sectors.

For privacy, all names have been changed to protect the identities of our interviewees.

Interview

Christina: Can you describe your job, how long you’ve been working there, and in the field, and go over some typical tasks/duties?

Paulo: I am a high school shop teacher and have been in the education field for over a decade now. Prior to teaching shop, I was involved working for my union as an elected representative for a few years and I was a math and science teacher before that. I work in a pretty small and remote district, which has made the work more flexible in some regards and more stressful in others.

I work in a pretty small and remote district, which has made the work more flexible in some regards and more stressful in others.

Currently during the pandemic, my job has consisted of going in-person, barring at the very beginning of COVID, to teach my students. Teachers are responsible for implementing public health measures in the classroom; we regulate the physical distancing, masking, handwashing, and things like that, all while delivering the curriculum.

Another thing that’s relevant is that I’m a staff rep/union steward for my local. Throughout the pandemic, my role in this regard has involved helping my colleagues field health and safety concerns, put forth grievances, and generally try to uplift the voices of fellow workers represented by the union.

Christina: How has the pandemic impacted your work and working conditions? What makes your experience of this different from other sectors?

Paulo: If you ask any teacher, they’ll talk primarily about the kids and the classroom when discussing the effects of the pandemic. We have a very close view of how our students’ lives have been impacted by COVID and seeing how their stress levels have increased and the shift in the quality of education we were able to provide was huge. Some of the kids would be missing big chunks of school, and we were essentially asked to do two jobs at once for a time by teaching remotely and in-person. Doing that significantly increased our workload but, luckily, we didn’t have to juggle that for long because our union fought for our right to a reasonable level of work.

Personally, I ��Dz�’t have the option to work from home. I have to go into the classroom, and being around so many people during a pandemic has increased the stress I experience. I’m nervous for myself, my partner, and my young children who cannot be vaccinated yet. Not all of our students follow the pandemic guidelines, so me and my colleagues ��Dz�’t always feel safe. Thankfully, I ��Dz�’t have significant health concerns and I’m not caring for older family members, unlike some of the teachers I know.

Christina: In your experience, how supportive have your workplace and the government been towards teachers throughout the pandemic? Is there anything you’d like to comment on in particular?

Paulo: Our employer has been following the government’s directives very closely. They have been responsive, and they did meet with the provincial union, so we have a lot of say in designing the pandemic protocol. Overall, I felt like the province did respond to the best of its ability to the changing circumstances we’ve been facing. However, it would’ve been nice to see more of a regional approach due to the differing needs of each region. We’re such a big province and some areas were hard hit while others had way fewer cases. I think that a plan wherein restrictions were tightened and loosened based on concrete regional data would have been preferable to the current blanketed and fairly rigid restrictions.

As for our union, it advocated quite hard and was fairly effective in communicating the needs of teachers. All in all, they’ve been pretty vocal and effective in their role, so I ��Dz�’t have too many complaints on that front. What I ��Dz�’t appreciate is how the government has stopped reporting and contact-tracing for students who’ve contracted COVID. They just generally monitor attendance now and respond to areas with ‘high absences.’

Christina: You touched on this in your previous response, but what has been the role of your union in all this? Do you think they have been advocating for yourself and your coworkers and meeting your needs?

Paulo: I think the union has been advocating for and listening to me and my coworkers in a way that’s responsive. Some of the things I’ve shared about regional approaches, for example, have been on my radar as I have involvement in the provincial union body. Other things I’ve been bringing up include responding better to cases, advocating for ventilation, calling on accountability from the government, etcetera.

The union has been very grassroots and receptive of all the teachers in the locals, even holding frequent conference calls with all the presidents. I believe we have 63 locals in our union and the Senior Table Officers have been meeting weekly with presidents and staff to share stories, learn, advocate more, and inform the leadership. So, they’re listening to the members and they’re working hard, despite the fact that the government isn’t always the most responsive to their discussions.

The union has been very grassroots and receptive of all the teachers in the locals, even holding frequent conference calls with all the presidents.

Our union is doing a good job of making sure its members are heard. When it came to vaccine mandates, for example, they worked really hard to be supportive of science and collective responsibility. They also stood up for workers’ rights and members who had legitimate health reasons to not receive a vaccine. What I particularly support about that is the opportunity for those individuals to have alternate work so that they and the kids are safer. We have work-from-home and regular testing as protocols for those members, which I think is a good middle ground.

Christina: Do you feel like you’re treated fairly in the workplace? Pay, accommodations, resources, etc.

Paulo: Yes. It’s not perfect, there are certainly some areas of improvement, but overall, yes.

Christina: If it has changed, how has the pandemic shifted the public’s perception of teachers?

Paulo: I think the pandemic has positively influenced public perception. The British Columbia Teachers’ Federation just had some polling done for public perception of teachers, and we’re up quite a bit. I think we made a jump from 54% to 63% of respondents being strongly in favour of teachers and the work we’ve been doing. This is coming at a good time because we’re in a bargaining year right now, so support from the public should help us with that. People are realizing how necessary we are and how much we tend to go above and beyond for our students and communities.

Christina: Has working during the pandemic taken a toll on your mental and physical health and wellbeing?

Paulo: Yes, it has. A lot of the sports and activities I participated in got shut down. Sports were one of my ways to destress, and in absence of them I haven’t had as much of that physical outlet. That, coupled with an increase of workplace stress as a result of the pandemic, has been difficult to deal with. I have a lot more worries than I used to and these past couple of years have been hard. We’ve also been unable to visit family as much and not being able to connect with them like before the pandemic has been a challenge for us.

Christina: What are some things you would change if you had political power?

Paulo: Sick leave is one of them. I think that universal paid sick leave is a big issue that, while I as a teacher am unaffected by, I believe to be a basic right entitled to all workers. Throughout the pandemic, I’ve felt privileged to have the option of paid leave available to me, but these sorts of things ����dzܱ����’t really be considered privileges so much as the absolute baseline.

Communication is also a big thing, and I probably would’ve tried to combat fake news differently. Lack of accountability and verification of data in all forms of media, especially corporate and social media, have been driving factors to misinforming the public and platforming those without a working knowledge of healthcare and epidemiology. All the factually and scientifically incorrect information circulating has been a huge detriment to peoples’ responses to the pandemic.

Christina: If you could give a pre-pandemic version of yourself any advice, what would you want you to know?

Paulo: I’d want myself to know to stay calm and encourage those around me to stay calm. I tried to reassure people, but it would’ve been more useful if I was able to have done that a bit more impactfully, knowing what I do now. I would’ve probably also not travelled the March Break the pandemic came out. I went to the BCTF Annual General Meeting down in Vancouver, which got cancelled, but I had already made the necessary arrangements to go down and while we were there things just blew up. Looking back, the responsible thing to do would’ve been staying at home.

Christina: Do you have any last thoughts or things you think that the general populace should know?

Paulo: Mainly, there seem to be more protections in place for many other workplaces. In my field, we experienced a rush to get kids back in, often to crowded classrooms and portables with horrifically poor ventilation—that isn’t talked about nearly as much as it should be. Class sizes never decreased, barring absences, so if a kid is sick, they’ll be spreading it. Teachers just didn’t feel safe, and though they could exercise their right to refuse unsafe work, functionally you couldn’t really do that except in very specific circumstances. Too many people felt forced to work in an unsafe environment. I feel like we did try our best, but outbreaks happened like at nursing homes and people got sick. I’d want the public to know that teachers were still forced to work in unsafe conditions, like many other workers across sectors and borders.

I’d want the public to know that teachers were still forced to work in unsafe conditions, like many other workers across sectors and borders.

Even stating that, teachers were quite lucky in general. We still had a job, we still got paid, we have sick days. We didn’t face as much economic uncertainty, and for that I feel really lucky. My last remark is: Paid sick days for all workers!

The post Much Ado About Unions: Teaching During the Pandemic appeared first on Global Labour Research Centre.

In the sixteenth installment of our series Workers' Stories in the COVID-19 Era, we interviewed Ursula, a Tim Hortons barista/supervisor in a major Ontario city. Working throughout the pandemic, Ursula notes the particular struggles associated with the intersections of race, immigration, and gender. A Filipina international student, Ursula stresses the importance of always moving forward. She notes that compartmentalizing the abuse she faces at work is necessary because she has a family to support and cannot afford to break down. Ursula recounts harsh realities that no one should face.

If any Filipinx students find themselves in circumstances like Ursula’s, there are supports available:

All of the services offered by/through these organizations are free or free for low-income folks living in Canada/Ontario.

For privacy, all names have been changed to protect the identities of our interviewees.

Interview

Christina: Can you tell me a bit about your job? What are some of the things you do at work?

Ursula: I work at a Tim Hortons as a barista. I started out in 2019 and then got promoted to a supervisor position last fall. My main job as a barista is to prepare customers’ orders, whether they’re just drinks or also food. As a supervisor, my duties have expanded to include training new hires, responding to any concerns the staff or customers have during my shift, and I also do some of the paperwork.

Christina: How has the pandemic impacted your work and working conditions?

Ursula: To start off, the precautions we now take have meant that the place I work at has added a lot more labour to our jobs. For example, before the pandemic we’d have a station for customers to add creams and sugars to their coffees themselves, but now we have to do all that for them. This may seem like no big deal, but it adds up and decreases the speed we work at. We also now have to sanitize everything all the time. Every time we touch money we have to wash or sanitize our hands which has made my skin incredibly dry. This can be really painful and sore at times, and the employer doesn’t supply us with gloves or cream or anything to help with it.

More than that, it’s the fear. We are afraid everyday because we just never know the kind of day we’re about to have and what kind of customers are going to come in. The branch owner is also pushing this message of the pandemic being hard for her and that we need all the customers we can get. Even though we’re all uncomfortable with it, we still have to serve the people not wearing masks as a result of this policy.

We are afraid everyday because we just never know the kind of day we’re about to have and what kind of customers are going to come in.

We’ve had four or five lockdowns already and protests started happening every weekend around the second lockdown. These people will hold their protests outside of the location I work at, and usually they’ll gather in the store afterward which is really nerve-wracking because the store is small and they’re obviously not wearing masks and are acting unsafe. We try to serve them as fast as possible so that they leave, but that’s not always the case, and there’s always the fear that they’ll blow up at us if we ask them to wear a mask or distance or something.

It is my job as supervisor to protect my coworkers, and I’m just not able to do that. I know that there are different government policies around these sorts of things, but when you’re actually in a situation where someone is becoming violent due to you trying to enforce [the policies], there’s really not much you can do besides trying to avoid an attack. A lot of the bills and laws seem to be written by people pretty detached from the realities of working people. At the end of the day, you’re just trying to get by as best you can, which has gotten more and more difficult with the pandemic.

Christina: Did they hire any additional staff to offset the increased labour you were having to do?

Ursula: There’s actually a story behind this; before the pandemic we had a full staff. Since the lockdowns and reopenings have happened, we have retained four of the original 15. A lot of the original staff had to look for different jobs when they were laid off and the owner never bothered to hire anyone to replace them. I’ve actually watched a manager who had to stay over 14 hours to open and close the store because there was just no one else to do it. This was a woman who worked 50 hours, 60 hours per week for not much money, especially considering how much she does.

There is a bit of controversy there too because our boss lives in another country and has been stuck there for three years. Basically, the manager has had to run the store in her absence, even though that is not her job to do. Being in another country also means that our boss has no actual grasp on how things are going here on-the-ground. Like those lawmakers I was talking about before, she’s detached from everything, and more unforgiving because of it. We’ve been having problems with pay especially.

Being in another country also means that our boss has no actual grasp on how things are going here on-the-ground.

We’re just trying to get by and what complicates the issue is that we’re all Filipinas, most of us immigrants, and we’re sending money back home to people who are relying on our support. Our families ��Dz�’t get food if we’re unemployed, so we make compromises to keep our jobs and keep conflict to a minimum. Even though we’re frustrated and infuriated with what’s happening, we’re just trying to keep going and move forward. There is a duality of being silent as well as silenced, which I think that a lot of Asian women can identify with. We’re just trying to survive.

I have watched my manager deteriorate before my eyes and now that she has been able to find another job, I’m up for her role and that scares me. The thing about it is that we’re part of a franchise with decentralized ownership of each store. Basically, it’s not the CEO of Tim Hortons that owns the individual stores, it’s a franchise owner, and our boss has been using this to say she can’t pay us more.

People have told me I rarely stand up for myself, but behind that is the fact I’m from a different country where women are not expected or supported in speaking up generally. There’s this dissonance that comes with adjusting here in Canada. I’m trying to learn what’s okay and what’s not, trying to learn my rights as an employee—they ��Dz�’t tell you about any of this stuff when you migrate. It makes immigrants more vulnerable, and people can, and do, take advantage of us as a result.

Christina: How does all this make you feel? How are you dealing with everything?

Ursula: Yeah, so I’m an international student, I’m paying my fees, supporting myself and my family, and eventually I’m going to try to find a better job and get my PR (permanent residency). Throughout all the years I’ve been in Canada, I’ve had to learn to ignore and tolerate the abuse I’m getting in the name of surviving. I try not to think of it as much as possible, because if I let myself fall into that hole, I’d never be able to climb my way back out. I can’t let myself break because I would utterly shatter.

Throughout all the years I’ve been in Canada, I’ve had to learn to ignore and tolerate the abuse I’m getting in the name of surviving.

Christina: How have the customers been treating you throughout this time?

Ursula: There’s good and bad. During the pandemic, most of our customers have been employees at nearby stores, so we have this shared experience and solidarity which has been nice. So, I would say that the majority have been understanding and supportive because of this, but there is definitely a significant number who are demanding and abusive towards the staff. The pandemic has definitely made this worse. It’s not all the time, we’ve mostly been lucky with having security guards around for the more violent ones, but there have been many instances where people would scream at us and degrade and belittle us. There have been customers who’ve ranted to us about how masks and vaccines are oppressing them, and in situations like that it’s dangerous to disagree so we’d just have to play along.

Also, a lot of the people we end up hiring are Asian women, specifically Filipinas. We do try to keep diversity in mind, but in our experience, Asian women are more likely to make the best of the situation, comply with vaccination policies, show up for work, etc. Anyway, because of this there have been instances where men, especially ones who look East Asian, would sexually harass us. One of my former coworkers says that she thinks it’s because they think we can’t speak English as well and won’t advocate for ourselves. They almost treat us like we’re a fetish rather than people.

Christina: Has your employer offered any benefits or relief programs due to COVID? And do you have paid sick days?

Ursula: *laughs hysterically* I’m sorry, that’s just so out of the realm of what’s actually been happening that I couldn’t help but laugh. There is a saying that comes to mind: “Do not bite the hand that feeds you.” In this circumstance, it also means not to ask for any more than the hand is offering, or the hand will bite you.

Since my store is a franchise and all of the Tims use the same system, sometimes I’d be loaned out to different stores if they needed staff. At one point I was working for three different locations at the same time. Prior to doing this, I had no exposure to the practices and the nature of pay at other locations. So, it was only around a year and a half ago that I learned that I am entitled to overtime and vacation pay. I hadn’t been paid vacation pay for the first two years at my current store and I haven’t gotten any backpay for it. Concerning overtime, I had to fight to get it recognized and reimbursed. Around the holidays there were more hours and I was working above 40 and max 55 hours per week for many of the weeks. When I told my boss that I’m entitled to overtime pay, she just kept deflecting me, saying she’d check it, and never getting back. It took me over three months to get my overtime pay, and the owner only conceded after my manager threatened to call the Ministry of Labour on her. I should not have to do all this work just to get what I am legally supposed to be getting.

It took me over three months to get my overtime pay, and the owner only conceded after my manager threatened to call the Ministry of Labour on her.

I ��Dz�’t get any incentives or regular raises. As a supervisor, I got a raise to $15 per hour, but that’s nothing now that minimum wage has been increased to $15. I also have no company sick pay, but when I got COVID, I was eligible for CRSB (Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit) so I got some money, but it wasn’t much and didn’t last long. There was also a reimbursement process the employer had to go through, so some of the money’s in limbo and I have no idea if I’m going to get paid it or not. In December when I caught COVID, it was doubly hard because I sent money to my family five times. I need this job for PR so I’m just putting up with it. If I go back to the Philippines my family will die of hunger.

Christina: I’ve heard that you have experience with protesters from the so-called Freedom Convoy. How has this impacted your work?

Ursula: So, I live near a transit stop that is close to where protests are taking place. I can say first off that they have been incredibly noisy and disrespectful to the neighbourhood. Around my work, people have been very nervous and scared for their safety due to the protesters being known to come into workplaces and abuse and assault the staff there. Personally, I’ve been scared for myself and others since my coworkers’ safety is my responsibility as supervisor.

When the protesters initially came, the security and police were everywhere, so that helped with crowd management as only a few at a time could come inside. Luckily, we haven’t had any really bad incidents so far, but I can’t say the same for other workers in the shops around my store. Even then, though they weren’t necessarily as physically present as they could have been, the fear and the anxiety has taken an immense toll on all the employees. The first couple of days a lot of people of colour in and around my store’s location ended up calling in sick because they feared for their lives.

One of my coworkers who encountered protesters on transit told me that even though no one was physically harmed, there were many different acts of intimidation she witnessed. I just hope this doesn’t escalate.

Christina: Do you feel like your rights are being respected at work?

Ursula: I ��Dz�’t even know what my rights are to begin with. I only know I’m supposed to get 1.5 times my regular wage for overtime and on some holidays, but c’mon, I come from a different country, I ��Dz�’t know everything and no one’s taught me. I was actually offered a salaried position recently, but I calculated it and they’d be paying me less if I was on a salary rather than by the hour. I ��Dz�’t feel respected, and even though I ��Dz�’t have full knowledge of my rights, those aren’t being respected either. I feel voiceless. You just need to survive, and I can’t stand up for myself when I have to just keep swimming or else I’ll drown.

I feel voiceless.

Christina: How has working during the pandemic impacted your mental and physical health and wellbeing?

Ursula: There are times I work 11-12 hours per day, and I didn’t know I was entitled to two breaks. I can’t demonstrate how exhausted I am in any way clearer than that. Every night when I go home I’m almost crawling; sometimes I can’t even take a bath because if I sit down I won’t be able to get back up. I’m still young and I’m fairly healthy, but this work ages you, I have pain everywhere.

I ��Dz�’t even have time to deal with my emotions, and I can’t, or else I’ll not be able to get back up from that either. If I fall apart I’ll suffer more. Maybe I’d be able to confront all this if I could actually go home and see my family, but I can’t right now.

Christina: Is there anything you think the public should know? Or wish they would understand and consider when interacting with you?

Just see us.   

Ursula: I wish they would understand what our lives are like and how our positions in society impact the way we experience the world. In customer service, we cannot fight back, we’re just trying to get by. We deserve better than the hand we’re often dealt. I think that awareness is crucial, people need to know what’s happening. Just see us.

The post “Just See Us”: Reflections from a Filipina Barista Working During the Pandemic appeared first on Global Labour Research Centre.

Christina Love is a contributor to the GLRC’s interview series entitled Workers’ Stories in the COVID-19 Era. She was also a union organizer with Workers United at her local Shoppers Drug Mart from October 2020 – February 2021. A staunch labour and human rights activist, Christina has been involved in her local community, politics, and the 91��ɫU community since starting university. Formerly the Director of Public Relations for the Palestine Solidarity Collective at 91��ɫ, a candidate in the 2021 federal election, and the current President of OPIRG 91��ɫ, Christina seeks to do what she can when she can. We all deserve better.

Introduction

Organizing is a loaded word. What is an organizer? While what it means to be an organizer is debatable, for me, organizers do the following: engage their community/communities and try to advocate for change. They put their values into concrete actions.

My relationship to labour organizing is one that starts with injustice. I could go on and on about theories of poverty and the working classes, but it is an entirely different matter to actually live it. It’s incredibly hard to break free of the machine I was born in and have lived within my whole life.

Background

Growing up for me was marked by the complicated existence of being poor in Canada. Looking at where and how I grew up means looking at the fact that I live in the suburbs, grew up in the 2000s and 2010s, and am a white, able-bodied woman. Like many in my situation, my relationship with poverty is one marked by familial trauma and mental illness. From almost going bankrupt and becoming homeless, to the complications of depression, to the necessity of having 24-hour care for some family members, there are hidden costs to being poor that we ��Dz�’t often think about. Even so, having resources like a grandfather who did his best to help when he was still alive, and a mom with a stable income, gave us advantages that so many other poor folks just ��Dz�’t have.

Growing up for me was marked by the complicated existence of being poor in Canada.

When I think of poverty and my younger years, I think, Why? Why were things like that? Why are they still like that? My activism and beliefs are rooted in my own experiences, and compassion for others who experience oppression. This is the backdrop against which I built my beliefs about labour into real action.

Setting the Scene

From the age of 12 I’ve had various jobs because I knew that it was up to me to fund my post-secondary education. Initially, this meant having a paper route and doing babysitting and dog walking. Once I was 16, I got my first formal part-time job as a cashier at a local Shoppers Drug Mart. Looking back, they took advantage of my desperation for employment from the start. They encouraged me and my coworkers to stay late and made us work irregular hours. They also allowed customers to abuse staff, did not compensate us fairly, discouraged breaks, etc. The COVID-19 pandemic brought these, and new, issues to a head.

I have never been worse abused by other people than I have been working retail during the pandemic. I would like to bold, underline, and highlight that. When people are pushed to breaking points due to forces outside of their control, they will often lash out at those who are devalued in society. In this context, this has meant a sharp increase in violence against workers. From the standpoint of employers, this pandemic brought about an opportunity to prey on people’s increased vulnerability and further profit off of exploiting them.

I have never been worse abused by other people than I have been working retail during the pandemic.

At the beginning of the pandemic, not too much changed. We didn’t have to start wearing masks until that summer and there were no plastic dividers or anything like that yet. It was mostly just a slight increase in wiping down high contact surfaces and product shortages. We also got a $2 wage subsidy from Loblaws Companies Ltd., which was much needed for those of us working minimum (and unlivable) wage jobs. As the pandemic progressed, however, our duties increased drastically and any support we got at the beginning petered out.

Some of the things cashiers were now expected to do, in my location at least, were to wipe surfaces after each customer, enforce distancing and mask-wearing, answer pharmacy calls, and monitor store capacity. This was in addition to our regular tasks of stocking and tagging shelves, checking for product expiries, cashing out customers, answering customer service calls, and responding to inquiries. In March of 2020, I also started working in the post office as well since one of the full-time workers was going on maternity leave. The most concise way I could describe this experience is hellish. As a part-time worker, I had to rapidly learn all the post office paperwork, the various systems and services we offered, and deal with twice the traffic with half the staff. Understaffing was a constant issue on all fronts during the entire pandemic. It wasn’t as though there weren’t people who wanted to work—there were—but staffing was cut for ‘capacity reasons.’ This is despite the fact that we had the same amount, if not more, customers in the store. In short, it was a money-grab at the expense of the workers.

The most concise way I could describe this experience is hellish.

One of the worst aspects about working during the pandemic was the abuse workers were getting from the customers. We had people endlessly complaining about the restrictions, refusing to mask and distance, lambasting employees for product shortages as if we were personally responsible, and so much more. One of the worst things that I experienced was a person who came into the store to access the post office. When I notified them that we were closed and the website did not have an updated closing time, they proceeded to scream at me, calling me a lying bitch who was just a lazy asshole and didn’t want to serve them, among worse things. They did this for around seven or so minutes and I was afraid they were going to get behind the counter and hit me at one point. I called a manager, but in a classic managerial move, they didn’t arrive until after this person left. We didn’t yet have the mall security number posted and I was hesitant to call 911. Instances similar to these were almost a daily experience at this point, and that $2 wage subsidy ended three months in.

Precarity rose significantly in retail during the pandemic. Our week-by-week schedules now got less reliable, and hours madly fluctuated. I might’ve worked 37 hours one week and eight the next. Towards the end, I was barely getting five hours a week. Contributing to this precarity was the lack of paid sick leave. Not only did we have to arrange our own coverage if we were sick, but we’d be missing out on pay, so some people would just come in feeling unwell. When you are desperate, choices aren’t treated as rights, so much as luxuries.

When you are desperate, choices aren’t treated as rights, so much as luxuries.

Management was horrific during this all. Not only did they allow the customers to abuse us with impunity, understaff the store, and give us a large number of new tasks outside of the scope of our positions, but they also implemented COVID protocols with about as much care as Doug Ford gives to human rights. Off the bat, there were no options for curbside pickup, so anyone who medically could not wear a mask was forced to come into the store at greater risk to themselves and others. This also meant a decrease in workplace safety since we could not refuse service to anyone who could not, or would not, wear a mask and direct them to an appropriate accommodation. Furthermore, the Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (WHMIS) was disregarded entirely with regards to the unlabelled cleaning chemicals we were using to disinfect high touch areas. Not only did we not know what was in these cleaners, but as the store gradually got restocks of regulated cleaners, they were all sold off rather than having a supply reserved for store use. We had no one at the doors ensuring proper masking prior to entry, nor did we have a designated staff person to monitor store capacity limits; this would fall on the cashiers and supervisors and many times things would slip through the cracks. To put candles on the cake, no one was notified if a staff member or customer tested positive for COVID. Public Health or the people themselves would notify management, but not one of us workers would be briefed and offered testing.

All of this compounded into constant frustration and mental strain. I genuinely didn’t know how I was going to get through the day most of the time. I felt like a robot; I was stressed, I was abused, and I lost faith in almost everything. I am not one to complain without at least trying to do something, though, so I decided to go for broke and attempt to unionize. Being a part-time worker with some savings, and who could likely find different work if unionization didn’t pan out, put me in a position of not caring about losing my job anymore.

I am not one to complain without at least trying to do something, though, so I decided to go for broke and attempt to unionize.

Initial Contact

In September of 2020, I began to research and email, which, as I soon found out, is a surprising amount of what labour organizing entails. I looked into the different unions and a bit into the history of the labour movement in Canada. I then emailed the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) Toronto, United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), and Workers United to ask about unionizing. A CUPE representative got back to me rather quickly saying that they didn’t organize retail. IWW didn’t get back to me until about two months later, at which point I had already been in talks with reps from UFCW and Workers United.

From phone calls and emailing back and forth, I decided to pursue unionization with Workers United because they seemed to be a more democratic union. I then met a rep at a local Tim Horton’s and discussed the ins and outs of unionizing, including what to expect in terms of pushback should the managers or owner find out about it.

How to Organize a Union

Step 1: Research the history of unionization, what benefits union-members experience, and options in terms of local unions; and list out the reasons why you want to unionize. Such extensive research isn’t strictly necessary, but it helps with resolving your thoughts and really getting committed to the work you’re about to do. I think that this is important since half-hearted organizing is generally unproductive.

Step 2: Contact a bunch of different unions in your sector and talk with different reps. Get a good grasp of the differences between unions and what resources they provide you with as an organizer.

Step 3: Connect with the union you have decided on and they will match you with a rep who will help you along the way.

Step 4: CARD SIGNING TIIIMMMEEE! Basically, it is a legal requirement to have at least 40% of non-managerial staff sign a union card before an application to be unionized can be filed with the Labour Board; this didn’t used to exist, but labour laws have changed. This is the most difficult step since you need to talk to people and convince them to sign a card expressing their support for unionization. Ideally, you’ll get more than 60% of people to sign so that the vote is likelier to pass. To properly complete this step, you need to get an approximate gauge on the number of non-managerial workers there are. Since there were no convenient lists I could access, I got an idea of our staffing situation by taking discreet pictures of the logbook and schedules.

Step 5 (I didn’t get this far): An application to be unionized will be filed by your union rep with the Labour Board. At this point, there will be a week’s processing time and the employer will receive notice that their staff wants to unionize.

Step 6: The employer will be trying to spread anti-labour propaganda and instigate division between workers. You and the more passionate coworkers will be dispelling this and reaffirming the choice to unionize, especially highlighting that the bosses wouldn’t be so anxious to stop it if it was such a bad thing for the employees.

Step 7: A vote will now be held by secret ballot. In order for a union to pass, 50% plus 1 person needs to vote in favour of unionizing. The only people who can vote are the non-managerial staff, and, in the case of Shoppers Drug Mart, those who aren’t pharmacists. Once a union vote passes, everyone is unionized, not just the people who voted in favour.

Step 8: If the union vote is successful, you will now be creating a Collective Agreement (CA) outlining the terms and conditions of your employment. Essentially, its function is to act as a legal shield against the brunt of injustices that employees at your workplace are facing. A CA is negotiated through collective bargaining, which is the back-and-forth debate on terms between the union and management.

Step 9: Congrats! The Collective Agreement passed and you are now fully unionized. This means that you are legally entitled to have the CA be upheld and will begin paying union dues. From what I was told, the pay raise per hour will be more than enough to cover dues and then some. The raise you negotiate depends on the nature of your CA, which you decide. Regardless, when I was organizing, dues for Workers United were between $7 to $9 per week.

Step 10: Labour organizing does not end upon the implementation of the Collective Agreement. A democratic union is one in which the members fully participate. This means being engaged in the broader union structure, including voting and talking to your coworkers about what does and doesn’t work when the time for renegotiating the CA comes around. If you do not participate, the employer and opportunists within the union will take advantage of this, usually for financial or career benefits.

A Few Notes on Unionization

*A very common misconception is that unions themselves dictate the terms of the CA. This is untrue. While they will help with the wording and provide legal support, it is the employees that decide on the terms and conditions.

*Another misconception is that you start paying union dues immediately. This is also blatantly false. You only start paying dues (which are proportional to hours worked per week) once the CA comes into effect.

*A note on the method of unionization I chose: Though you can form a union solely of your coworkers rather than going with an established union like Workers United, you ��Dz�’t have the same access to legal resources or experienced advice in that case. Moreover, you need a LOT of buy-in for this form of unionization to be impactful. Interestingly enough, IWW takes an approach to unionization in between this and conventional unionization.

My Experiences Organizing

I felt a weird mix of emotions while I was in the process of trying to unionize. On the one hand, I felt like I had this bubble of inner strength that came from knowing I was trying to change things, which made going to work easier. On the other hand, I got fairly dejected with organizing due to the responses I was receiving from some coworkers and the nature of organizing during the pandemic.

…I felt like I had this bubble of inner strength that came from knowing I was trying to change things, which made going to work easier.

Some admin issues delayed my rep from Workers United from providing me with union cards initially. I ended up receiving a stack of cards in late November/early December 2020. Prior to this, I had started to discuss unionizing with a couple of coworkers I trusted and knew would be interested. Once I got the cards, I branched out a bit more. Now, prior to COVID, union reps would themselves visit people’s houses to discuss unionization and organizing plans. However, the pandemic meant that the only direct interaction my coworkers were getting was with me, though I did provide them with the contact information of the union rep.

Finding the time to talk with people was a huge challenge. This is definitely the sort of conversation you want to have face-to-face, but I was basically just seeing people while on breaks, while in the back room cashing out, and occasionally when someone would offer to drive me home. Those drives home and catching people after work was when I was best able to discuss unionization and the implications for us if we unionized. I initially reached out to people I knew would at least be open to hearing my message, and I was largely correct. By February I had about 14 cards signed.

This is where I met a couple of roadblocks. First, I was starting to get worn out. Everyone I had talked to, while passionate about the cause, was concerned about retaliation if we were caught so I was the only one actively talking to people and getting cards signed. This caused a significant amount of burnout and slowed the process. Second, I was now beginning to talk to the more apathetic or reluctant coworkers. This posed a few issues.

You cannot make anyone see your views if they won’t even look. This means that if someone didn’t want to hear about unions, they would not hear from me. A lot of the merchandisers who weren’t very customer-facing and the employees from more privileged backgrounds were like this. Many didn’t see the point, some didn’t want to make the (marginal) effort, and others were actively anti-union. In the end, we didn’t get to the voting stage.

You cannot make anyone see your views if they won’t even look.

Final Thoughts & the Privilege of Quitting

It’s not my place to blame anyone for not wanting, or not being able, to unionize. I did the best I could and, to date, trying to unionize is the thing I am most proud of doing in my life. I made this effort because the injustices myself and so many others face need to be fought against. Who will fight if we won’t? We all deserve so much better than the status quo and unionization is one avenue we can take to decrease injustice. The labour movement has been so historically powerful because of regular people getting together and imagining a better future, then seizing the present. Our legacies lie in the actions we take and what we leave behind.

Who will fight if we won’t?

I quit my job at Shoppers on Monday, March 15, 2021. The day before, I had a shift where three anti-maskers came in and I had to call security twice because they were getting violent. I called the manager on the third anti-masker, and rather than having them wear a mask or go elsewhere, the manager proceeded to check them out in front of my station. I’d had enough of this. I went home and cried then wrote two letters of resignation. One was very harsh, and I wrote it to vent more than anything else, and the other more calmly outlined my reasons for quitting. I delivered it the next day, gave away my only shift in the next two weeks, and walked out without a backward glance. I haven’t stepped foot in that store since the day I quit.

Once I had left, there wasn’t relief so much as an emptiness where I once had ongoing pain. The scars of the trauma I’ve experienced working during the pandemic continue to impact my life, but the difference now is that if I’m in a situation where someone is abusing me, I can fight back or walk away. That is my unalienable right. Even so, I generally avoid going shopping now because I get really anxious and tense whenever I see someone indoors without a mask or someone who is abusing an employee. I can and will step in when I see something wrong happening, but there’s not much I can do about maskless people other than walk away.

Quitting was a privilege for me, especially since so many people have lost their jobs and been so desperate for work during the pandemic. I had enough saved to pay tuition for the next couple of years and with negligible expenses from living at home, and I was in an okay place to leave that job. Many are not and they need our solidarity to fight for their rights.

Poem: The Worker

Day in.

Day out.

I am no longer a person.

I have no rights.

My life is sold.

My mind is clouded.

There is no light at the end of this tunnel.

There is abolition or apathy.

– Christina Love, 2022

The post Nothing to Lose but Our Chains: Attempting to Organize a Union During the Pandemic appeared first on Global Labour Research Centre.

In the fifteenth installment of our series Workers’ Stories in the COVID-19 Era, we interviewed Ta'Kaiya, a former administrative assistant at a Toronto mental health clinic. They speak about the absurd waitlists to access treatment and services as well as the higher intake volume as a result of the pandemic. Concerning their experience with the Canada Summer Jobs program, they state that it isn’t right to only subsidize minimum wage. In all, Ta'Kaiya illustrates the importance of workers’ rights and an increase in mental healthcare services.

For privacy, all names have been changed to protect the identities of our interviewees.

Interview

Christina: Can you describe your job, how long you worked there, if it was remote/in-person/hybrid, and some typical tasks?

Ta'Kaiya: Over the summer of 2021 I worked at a mental health clinic that was a division of an immigrant services centre in Toronto. I worked there officially between the months of May to the end of September, but I had prior experience volunteering there pertaining to requirements for my Certificate in Refugee and Migration Studies. In both roles, I was an administrative assistant. I was hired on after my volunteering concluded through the Canada Summer Jobs program, and then received a contract extension from the organization itself after the funding expired.

The tasks I had to do were things such as contacting clients and patients to remind them of appointments, scheduling new appointments, managing files, and maintaining contact with our service providers. I worked in tandem with my supervisor who taught me many of the clerical skills required to perform my job. Initially some of the work was remote and some was in-person, but it transitioned to being mostly in-person as my contract progressed and lockdowns lifted.

Christina: How has the pandemic impacted your work and working experience?

Ta'Kaiya: The pandemic significantly impacted my working experience. When I first started with them, it seemed like there was a massive amount of work to do in a miniscule amount of time. Aside from myself, there was only one other admin assistant, and there was a significant backlog of work because the previous person in my role was unable to fulfill their duties due to chronic illness. I really didn’t have the skills to do everything they were asking of me, so I did a lot of learning on the job.

…there was a massive amount of work to do in a miniscule amount of time.

Everyday was fairly busy but my hours remained regular and consistent. There was a lot of clients coming into the office as well as a deluge of phone calls.

Christina: What were some of the things you weren’t prepared for?

Ta'Kaiya: I really wasn’t prepared for how busy the centre could get at times. I’ve heard it from others that there was a significant uptick in clients and patients because of the pandemic. Effective time-management was essential, but I was exhausted by all the work. I also wasn’t prepared for how fast I’d have to learn and apply the different skills I was being taught due to the sheer number of people who were coming in as lockdowns were lifting and they were trying to access services.

Christina: What have you noticed about mental health during the pandemic?

Ta'Kaiya: Speaking to my own mental health, it wasn’t significantly impacted by working this job during the pandemic. As for what I’ve observed about mental health in general, I can say that we received a lot of phone calls from prospective patients and clients who were seeking psychiatric services and counselling. I also saw many people accessing programs relating to domestic violence, problems with gambling, substance abuse, etc.

With regards to our capacity for psychiatric care, our centre unfortunately had a two-year waitlist. One of the psychiatrists was Italian-speaking and the other spoke Farsi and Arabic. Despite this, there were many clients and patients who needed counsellors and psychiatrists who speak a wider array of languages, especially since the centre caters to refugees, newcomers, and immigrants. Counselling was generally more accessible than psychiatry in terms of expected wait, but it was still a bit slow. We tried to help as many people as possible, but there were some that we couldn’t assist and who we referred to other mental health services.

…there were many clients and patients who needed counsellors and psychiatrists who speak a wider array of languages, especially since the centre caters to refugees, newcomers, and immigrants.

Christina: Was there an increase of mental health supports offered, either quantity or diversity, that catered to needs expressed by the pandemic? Do you think what was available was enough?

Ta'Kaiya: I think that the services offered covered quite a wide range of concerns pertaining to mental health. We had psychiatric services, general counselling, counselling for domestic violence, some people would be court-mandated to take partner abuse response programs, we had a gambling program, programs for the elderly, a program specific to newcomers and refugees, there was also family counselling. We didn’t really have something explicitly in response to the pandemic, but programs like the domestic violence one saw more people in it due to the pandemic.

Christina: Do you think that what was available was enough?

Ta'Kaiya: Yes and no. I think that the existing programs covered a wide breadth so for people who just needed something like counselling, they’d be covered. The real issue was the waitlist. There are also a lot of hoops to jump through for intake, so we couldn’t really respond to crisis calls and had to refer them elsewhere. Having crisis workers would be much appreciated in that community. Again, to reiterate the languages thing, though there were interpreters available sometimes, it genuinely wasn’t enough and not enough languages were represented. They could have done to hire another clerical assistant or two to lessen the burden on existing staff and rotate duties more.

The real issue was the waitlist.

Christina: Did you find yourself to be more tired while you were working during the pandemic?

Ta'Kaiya: I’d say yeah, but not by a lot.

Christina: Were you unionized? And what was your experience with workers’ rights in that job?

Ta'Kaiya: I did not have a union representing me due to the nature of my contract. As far as workers’ rights go, I’d say I was treated fairly by most of the staff. However, I did notice that there was a lack of clarity around my expected tasks due to the supervisor not properly briefing me. They then tried to hold us accountable for their mistakes.

Christina: Were you compensated enough for your labour and were you getting hazard pay?

Ta'Kaiya: I was actually getting hazard pay, but not with Canada Summer Jobs. With CSJ, I was paid minimum wage, which I do not think is enough for this type of work, or any type of work really. Once I got the contract extension, my wage got bumped up to $20.40 per hour which did include hazard pay. I also had some vacation pay I was able to cash into. If it hadn’t been for school, I probably would have continued with the clinic because they did offer to extend my contract once it was about to expire.

While the second contract was better considering the pay increase, for the amount of work that an administrative assistant does on a daily basis, I would say that it is more reasonable to offer a starting rate of $25 per hour. You’re doing outreach with patients, you’re doing admin work, you do miscellaneous office tasks, you really do it all and it isn’t respectful to offer someone $14.35 or $20.40 for doing all that.

Christina: Did you feel safe working?

Ta'Kaiya: Yes. At the mental health clinic there weren’t a lot of people who were anti-mask, but anyone who didn’t come wearing a mask would be offered one and turned away at the door if they refused. I’d also give clients and patients a verbal COVID-19 screening over the phone prior to their appointments.

Christina: If you had ultimate power, what changes would you make to that job specifically and to labour in general?

Ta'Kaiya: For that job specifically, I’d definitely add more admin assistants and pay them well. A lot of priority is given to hiring service-oriented positions, but administrative positions are also required in order to make things run. Lunch was also unpaid, and we’d have to alternate watching the phones during that time, which I thought was unfair. As a general thing, I’d increase the funding to the centre.

More broadly speaking, I think that workplaces should be unionized. I’d also increase EI and bolster access to various employment programs and mental health services. In terms of Canada Summer Jobs, they really should not be capping their funding at minimum wage – it’s an insult to us workers. If you have to take a sick day, I also think that you should still receive pay.

The post From the Inside Out: A Mental Health Assistant’s Perspective on the Pandemic appeared first on Global Labour Research Centre.

In the fourteenth installment of our series Workers’ Stories in the COVID-19 Era, we interviewed Alexandros, a musician in the Toronto area. A self-described “workaholic,” Alexandros talks about the instability of being a musician and music teacher during the pandemic. As a musician, working three jobs is normal for him. COVID impacted his livelihood.

For privacy, all names have been changed to protect the identities of our interviewees.

Interview

Christina: Can you describe your jobs, the field you work in, and give a general walkthrough of typical tasks or duties?

Alexandros: So, I have multiple jobs within the realm of music. I work as a teacher in the private sector, I am an accompanist at 91��ɫ, and I’m a performer. Teacher is self-explanatory – I teach music. Usually, I’ll teach for private schools. As an accompanist for 91��ɫ, I basically show up to dance classes and I improvise music according to the instructor’s specifications. As a performer, I perform live music for the listening pleasure of other humans.

I’ve been doing all these jobs since about the age of 18. That’s when I started teaching and performing. I started accompanying when I was 22, so I’ve been doing that as well for the past seven years. As a musician, I constantly do odd jobs on the side. Mostly it’s contract work: sometimes I’ll compose original music, shoot videos, shenanigans like that.

Christina: Would you say that you’re independent or do you work for a corporation or with an agent?

Alexandros: I’m self-employed and I find all my own jobs. This usually means that I’ll have multiple ongoing contracts simultaneously with different organizations. For example, I’m on a contract with 91��ɫ but I also have other ones with schools where I have to show up x number of weeks per year and teach. I manage all my own contracts for performances too. These will usually be with some sort of entertainment company, or I’ll reach out to venues directly. Typically, I play in hotels and bars, though, pre-pandemic, I also did a fair number of wedding receptions.

Christina: That sounds like you’re juggling a lot. How would you say that the pandemic has impacted your work and working conditions?

Alexandros: Throughout the majority of the pandemic, obviously, there was very little performance work. That meant that all my performance income was, at the very least, cut in half, if not completely decimated. The few performances I did have were held over Zoom which made for a lousy time. I really hated performing that way. So much of the art of performance is connecting with the audience, and you just ��Dz�’t get that when you’re remote.

As for teaching, all the classes were also held over Zoom which is unideal. Especially for music, I want to emphasize that so much of learning music can’t come from reading a textbook or hearing a lecture. The hands-on aspect is integral and suddenly it just vanished. In-person you also get to play alongside your students and jam together – this doesn’t happen online. The work became fairly clinical as a result and none of us were having a good time.

The hands-on aspect is integral and suddenly it just vanished.

The entire experience of being a musician and a worker changed for the worse during the pandemic. My hours were significantly cut because a lot of students didn’t want to even bother with taking music lessons online. I had a lot less students, which meant I was working a lot less hours and taking in a lot less money. Same goes for performance work. As I said earlier, there was almost nothing, and of those slim pickings, it was all online. The work with 91��ɫ was much the same as before the pandemic. Hours weren’t cut there, but it also switched to being online which detracted from the quality of the experience. Funnily enough, since you usually ��Dz�’t get much consistency with the contracts at 91��ɫ, I actually got more hours there during the pandemic than before. It didn’t make up for lost income, but it was a bit steadier employment, which is more than many can say. Now that we’re opening up, my hours have been increasing, though they’re not yet at pre-pandemic levels.

Christina: Do you have any sort of body representing your, and other musicians’, rights? Or is self-advocacy more of the norm?

Alexandros: At 91��ɫ I think we do have that, but I’m not in the loop on it so I wouldn’t know what steps were being taken by that body or not. I’m pretty sure we get emails from them, but I ��Dz�’t check my 91��ɫ emails; it’s too much effort. As for everything else, I’m not part of the Toronto Musicians’ Association and I ��Dz�’t have representation as a teacher working for private schools; there’s no union I’m aware of for that. I do put my foot down when I need to, however.

Christina: What impact has working during the pandemic had on your mental and physical health and wellbeing? Is it generally worse, better, or the same as pre-pandemic?

Alexandros: On the whole, I would say that my mood was definitely worse due to the measures that we needed to be taking because of the pandemic. The quality of my lessons and performances took a major hit with the digital transition. You also miss that human connection that is so important. I’m sure everyone can relate to that pandemic experience. Even working in a corporate job when you’re sitting in a meeting, there’s still a level of camaraderie that doesn’t translate online when everyone’s isolated in their homes and is just a face on a screen, if that. During the early days of the pandemic, my professional social needs were not being met.

You also miss that human connection that is so important.

When you’re performing live, you get response from the audience and a sort of atmospheric energy is all around you, whereas on Zoom, you’ll perform for these little black boxes, and they’ll put up clapping emojis after. It’s just like, “This is what my life has come to?” It was discouraging, like a cloud over my mood most of the time.

Christina: Do you think that you’re compensated fairly for your time? What is job security like for you?

Alexandros: For the most part, I would say I’m compensated fairly for my time. Because I’m self-employed, I make my own rates for lessons and performances. It’s only the 91��ɫ contract that I ��Dz�’t determine and even then, they more-or-less give me a fair amount of money. As for the second part of your question, for the most part, there’s no job security. All of my work is contract work, pretty much. The 91��ɫ contract is yearly, and you never know for sure you’re going to get it renewed until you do. Working with schools and performing is heavily dependent on the market. If there’s no demand, you will be working and earning less. With the schools, it’s more consistent because there will always be kids who want to learn music, even if there are fewer students during events like pandemics, so that one is a bit more secure than performing. In terms of performances, even if you do have a contract, the people employing you can terminate it as soon as they get sick of you. There is next to no job security in my area of this industry.

Christina: How would you describe your work-life balance?

Alexandros: I do think that I’m somewhat of a workaholic and I have a really hard time saying no to jobs. I honestly can’t gauge my work-life balance in a healthy way because I do not have a healthy relationship with my work. I love my work and what I do, but I’m always willing to take on more and do more and sacrifice more hours for work. It’s not a healthy relationship so I ��Dz�’t know how to answer that question.

I honestly can’t gauge my work-life balance in a healthy way because I do not have a healthy relationship with my work.

Christina: How has your relationships with your superiors changed as a result of the pandemic?

Alexandros: In my day-to-day interactions with my superiors, I would say that there has been no change aside from the occasional email reminding us to follow the health guidelines, or something small like that. Definitely a lot of other workers would have felt changes, especially those working directly under a manager or supervisor, but I really didn’t. They weren’t more demanding and were sympathetic for the most part.

Christina: As a gig worker, do you experience more employment instability because of the pandemic and how does this make you feel?

Alexandros: I’d say that COVID directly is the culprit for this issue. Mostly things have been fairly consistent except when a family at my teaching job has gotten exposed and they get sick and need to quarantine. In those cases, they obviously will cancel lessons until they get better which slashes your hours for a couple of weeks, especially if they are friends with, and exposed, other families. At a certain point you get dejected and it’s just like, “Man, this again?” You can’t really be angry at that, but it definitely contributes to job insecurity.

Of course, the pandemic contributed to job instability what with the fewer hours and cancellations, but being a musician generally is an unstable life unless you have significant commercial success. If you’re not hustling and grinding everyday to get work, you’re not going to be able to feed yourself. Even when you get contracts, like I said before, you never know how long that income will last. Anyway, the pandemic didn’t change the nature of being a musician so much as exaggerate the existing problems we deal with. This is where the broke musician stereotype really comes into play because you will be broke unless you’re working all the time. Thankfully, I enjoy sniffing out new contracts and making new connections, but it’s not for everyone, and you only really get stability if you’re at the top of the game.

This is where the broke musician stereotype really comes into play because you will be broke unless you’re working all the time.

Christina: What supports were you able to access through your work and through the government during the pandemic, and were they enough?

Alexandros: I did apply for CERB at some point and got it so that was a big help. Other than that, there were really no other supports that I am aware of through the government, and I didn’t get any through my jobs. You can always use more money so I wouldn’t say that CERB was enough, especially considering cost of living, incidentals, and the fact it was only available if you made under a certain amount of money per month.

Christina: Do you feel safe working?

Alexandros: Yes, I do. All I can do is the best that I can to ensure my safety and I think I’m doing an ok job. Also, because I have more of an established relationship between my clients as their music teacher, I ��Dz�’t get as much hostility as other workers do for asking them to follow precautions. There’s a level of respect that you ��Dz�’t get in customer service-type jobs, so when I ask them to wear masks or distance more from me, they’ll generally do it.

Christina: If you had power, what would you have done differently during the pandemic?

Alexandros: I ��Dz�’t know.

It’s trauma that’s been normalized.

Christina: Any final thoughts?

Alexandros:  It’s funny how I was reading the postings on the GLRC website about other workers’ experiences during the pandemic and some of them are straight up horror stories. The lengths that they were overworked and underpaid are truly horrific. Comparatively, my experience doesn’t seem to be as bad. Of course, there’s the overworking, but that’s more self-inflicted than anything. But yeah, I didn’t experience trauma like the other workers have and it was sort of shocking how my experience, in this regard, doesn’t seem to be the norm. It’s trauma that’s been normalized.

The post Play that Funky Music, Contract Musician appeared first on Global Labour Research Centre.

In the thirteenth installment of our series Workers' Stories in the COVID-19 Era, we interviewed Morelia, a server and supervisor at a Queen St. bar/restaurant in downtown Toronto. In the dialogue below, Morelia speaks to the way they were treated during the pandemic. They discuss how the responsibility for reopening the economy has disproportionately and unreasonably fallen on our most vulnerable workers. Morelia insists that hospitality workers deserve to be humanized and that the onus to do so is on the public.

For privacy, all names have been changed to protect the identities of our interviewees.

Interview

Christina: Can you describe your job, how long you've worked there, and some typical duties?

Morelia: I work as a server, bartender, supervisor—I basically do it all. But mostly I bartend. I’ve mostly been working at the bar I’m currently at since August of this year. Throughout the pandemic I’ve had a couple of other jobs and been laid off, but this and a job I have teaching yoga have been the most consistent. Some weeks I'm full-time, some weeks I’m part-time, but because I teach yoga in between, my hours pretty much balance out week to week.

I've been working in hospitality since I was first legally allowed to, so it feels like forever. Around 18 or so was my first hospitality job where I worked in a beer tent at a racetrack. Now I'm a supervisor at a bar on Queen West. My relationship to my current position is that it’s my secure, pay-the-bills, pay-my-rent type of job.

Christina: How has the pandemic impacted your work and working conditions?

Morelia: I could go on and on and on and on about this. First, the transition from one place to another during the pandemic was definitely a learning curve. I left one of my old serving jobs to work just at my current one last winter and at one point I was juggling both plus teaching yoga and it was overwhelming to say the least. It was generally the same deal for both places: very short-staffed, obviously, because everybody wants to stay on EI instead of working in crappy conditions. They’re getting paid to stay home and out of harms way, let alone the other issues with this work, so why wouldn’t they if they could?

…everybody wants to stay on EI instead of working in crappy conditions. They’re getting paid to stay home and out of harms way, let alone the other issues with this work, so why wouldn’t they if they could?

But yeah, because we were so short-staffed, the people we did have were working way overtime. In this line of work that also meant the services weren’t that good, people weren’t always very happy, everything takes more time, etcetera. You end up dealing with a lot more dissatisfied customers and things like that, which is awful. On the other hand, you get some people who are really understanding of the circumstances. They'll usually tip more and they're really grateful that you're even there to serve them a beer or whatever it may be. That's a surface overview of how it's changed for me as a server during the pandemic.

Christina: Would you say that the balance of really good to really bad patrons was equal or does one outweigh the other?

Morelia: I can’t give a definitive on that; it really depends on the day. I would say in most of my spaces I'm pretty lucky; a lot of the folks coming to the bar that I work in now are younger so they understand the situation more and I can relate to them on a peer-level, I think. So that's been nice, and I've met a lot of great people.

I will say, though, that there are still a lot of people coming in who aren’t necessarily cognizant of the situation given the area that my bar is in—Queen and Bathurst. You’ll get folks who are just walking by and want to get lunch or whatever but totally don't understand the circumstances and are really impatient because of it. If I had to put a number to it, I’d say the divide is around 60/40 good vs bad.

Christina: How has the pandemic impacted your relationships between your boss, coworkers, and customers?

Morelia: It definitely makes it a little bit more difficult as staff. Specifically, again, because nobody wanted to work in the beginning, we were understaffed, so for the people like myself who came back to work when we could, it was really tough. I know I didn't necessarily have to come back to work right away but I sort of felt like I needed to because, as an able-bodied person, this restaurant I worked at needed me. I was all gung-ho, “Okay I'm going to go do this and contribute back to the economy right away.” Since I could go back to work, I went off EI and I was working full-time again.

It was difficult because, physically, I cannot work six days a week. Not to mention that I have other things going on and a life, I just physically am not able to work that many shifts, I will keel over. But the situation with the restaurants and understaffing meant that there wasn’t anyone else to do them. So, either you come in or they didn't open. That was way more stress than I wanted to carry for this workplace that was supposed to be my easy, pay-the-bills, type of job—my security job. It started to really weigh on me. I know many of my coworkers have expressed the same thing because a lot of businesses have gone under, and we all felt a sense of responsibility to keep this one running. In terms of customers, it seems like the pandemic brought out the worst in the people who might’ve been just unpleasant before. The stress and pressure definitely created a hostile environment for all of us.

Burnout is something that's been really prevalent among many of the staff I've worked with. A lot of people are just trying to keep their head above water. Then, factoring in the ever-changing circumstances we’re constantly trying to adapt to, it’s just too much for us. There’s a tangible lack of support that we all feel as workers.

Christina: If your place of employment offered better pay and benefits do you think that more people would have wanted to return?

Morelia: Oh, absolutely. A lot of the folks who worked at my bar, or any bar, would be making more money on EI than they would be working part-time. There’s no reason for them to come back unless the bosses make it worthwhile. Another thing at our restaurant was difficulty hiring and retaining senior staff. Not a lot of people wanted to become managers and supervisors because it really wasn't worth the pay raise considering how much more responsibility you have. There’s so much labour involved, and not just physically, but emotionally as well. De-escalation, motivating the team, dealing with any problems that come up, it’s a huge thing to do day in, day out.

There’s so much labour involved, and not just physically, but emotionally as well.

Christina: What supports were available to you through work and the government during the pandemic? Do you think that they were enough?

Morelia: It was weird because when I was getting CERB before I went back to work in summer 2020, it was great because I was able to actually pay my bills with it. Then I went back to work for a short period of time and another lockdown happened shortly after. At that point I wasn't getting CERB anymore, I was getting EI, which was not as good as CERB. It was taxed and also a smaller amount of money, so I ended up having to start a dog-walking business to scrape by and pay my bills.

CERB was sort of like UBI in a way because everyone got the same amount of money and for the most part it was enough. I wish I never had to switch to EI and it could’ve been CERB all the way through. The experience really humbled me as well. I’ve been financially independent from my parents for a long time now, but I had to reach out to my mom to help me make rent sometimes. I’m so lucky to have had that support too because not a lot of folks have those resources. All of the people having to move back with their parents and all of the people who became homeless during the pandemic in Toronto really go to show that the financial support was not enough.

I’ve been financially independent from my parents for a long time now, but I had to reach out to my mom to help me make rent sometimes.

Christina: Going off of that, do you think that the government did a good job with restrictions, aid, and everything? What do you think they could have done better?

Morelia: I absolutely think that the restrictions were needed to keep our population safer, but I think that the brunt of the work caused by them fell disproportionately on frontline and service workers, and that we’re the ones having to police everything. For example, every time someone walks into the restaurant, I have to take an extra three or so minutes to look at their vaccine passports and their IDs and have them sign in before they can be seated. It’s just… I'm not getting any extra money for this. I didn't get any extra training on how to authenticate vaccine passports—for all I know they made them up on Procreate. [Editor’s note: Procreate is a graphics editor app].  It's unfortunate that all of this is falling on people like ourselves and we're receiving no training and no subsidized pay for it.

I look at my coworkers and think about how lucky I am to have at least some de-escalation training from outside this job. There are a lot of customers who’ll come in ready for an argument, especially about government-mandated masking and the vaccine passports. Since our employer won’t sponsor trainings around this and doesn’t compensate us for all the extra work, it’s really up to the government to mandate it and follow through on giving us support. These skills are coming to be necessary, and we’re just not being taught them. The government has honestly failed in that respect, and I think it speaks to how little they think of us workers.

At our work, higher-ups are not working frontline; they don't understand the severity of the situation and how crucial it is that we have these tools. Case in point, it took us having been robbed to get security at the bar. It’s just ridiculous. They only seem to do anything to change when it begins to impact their bottom line.

Christina: In terms of how your workplace was governed, how democratic is it? Do you guys have a union at all or any collective decision-making power?

Morelia: We don't have a union and I would say it could be more democratic. At this point we can lodge complaints and if it violates company policy or any laws then it has to be dealt with, but we’re not in a position to come up with our own policies and procedures, or modify existing ones, as workers. As an employee, I wish my voice was heard and prioritized more. I've had situations where I'm like, “Okay I feel like my safety is compromised when I come to work and I'm reaching out to you to say that I'm scared to come into work.” In those cases, nothing would be done until four, five, six, seven, eight employees reach out and say, “I don't want to come to work anymore, it’s unsafe.”

As an employee, I wish my voice was heard and prioritized more.

I wish that these things didn’t have to get to this point for them to do something about it. I wish that it just took one person having this experience for them to act. I like to think that I have a tiny bit of power as a supervisor and I try to bring that to the other workers during those shifts, but as for the bartenders, kitchen staff, servers, and support staff, they ��Dz�’t have much of a say at all, really. It’s difficult to approach higher-ups with a problem or with their opinions.

Christina: What has your experience been as restrictions have relaxed?

Morelia: Moving from patio to indoor wasn't really a big deal. We were mostly excited for it because it meant we could make more money. More customers would come, they’d stay longer indoors, tip more, and it was generally supported because we really needed the money. The one thing though is vaccine passports were a really difficult adjustment in the beginning and, being on Queen St. West, we’d get a lot of ‘protestors’ come by and try to mess with us, push our buttons, generally just see what they could get away with. So that was really stressful.

I also feel like the first couple days of each new lift of restrictions, there's always a little bit of weirdness that goes on, or people trying to test the boundaries. And then it’s this cycle of it becoming more neutral until the next change happens. How it plays out typically is that they’ll try to test the boundaries or whatever and they’re turned around at the doors and immediately leave. As for the other patrons, it gets annoying to have to remind people to wear their masks and still distance inside when they’re not seated. People don't like to be told what to do, they will get annoyed even if you're very nonconfrontational and say something like, “Hey, I just need you wear your mask inside please to keep the other guests safe.” As a supervisor they’ll also complain to me about being reminded to wear their mask and it’s just like, have they not heard the news? The server’s just doing their job. It’s like that one meme where it says, “Get your nose in your mask and out of my business.”

Christina: How has working during the pandemic impacted your physical and mental health?

Morelia: Back to me not being physically able to work six days a week, there’s definitely a pressure that’s put upon you when the establishment says that you need to come in or they won’t be able to open. That’s like a dual physical/mental issue that’s come up with the pandemic. I’m human, I need a few days to recharge or else I can’t operate the way that I want to, my capacity and social battery are only so big. I’m not the person I want to be, and everything gets neglected for work. I’m also not as good at my job when I'm tired and burnt out.

My time was something that was sort of robbed from me for a bit. I definitely felt the consequences of that in that you get to feel depressed, disassociated, and you’re basically on autopilot when all you’re doing is getting up, working, and going to bed. More to do with the physical side of things, all of this work and stress meant that I couldn’t prioritize certain things. At one point, I’d be eating like one meal a day—I’d be getting home at 4:00 am and no one wants to make food at 4:00 am. All I could do was sleep. Working 10 hours a day, six days a week isn’t healthy or sustainable, you can’t prioritize yourself in the most basic sense. Cooking, grocery shopping, resting, hobbies, all that gets brushed away and your life is just a cycle of work and sleep. I ��Dz�’t think that was necessarily everyone’s experience, but for the people who initially came back, it definitely was.

My time was something that was sort of robbed from me for a bit.

Adding onto that already crappy situation was the general anxiety of having to deal with people who view you as less-than. Having to say no to people and argue and de-escalate all these different situations made it really uncomfortable to come into work. I’d get these knots in my stomach before going in and I know that many of my coworkers felt the same way too. It definitely hasn't been easy, but I've learned a lot from it, and I now approach situations with strangers in a new way.

Christina: We got into it a bit with your comments on CERB, but if you had ultimate power, what are some of the things you’d do going forward?

Morelia: I think I would like to have somebody advocating for the staff and for our voices to be heard, considered, and acted upon. If we even just had one person who had our back and could go up to the higher-ups and tell them something needs to happen, that would be so helpful. I’d also want for the government to realize how much extra work we've had to do—we’ve been doing twice as much work for half as much pay, basically—and support us accordingly. Especially as tip-based workers, we need to be subsidized for our lost income. I ��Dz�’t think I would have minded all of it as much if it felt like it was worth it.

I would love a union. I might look into it, actually.

Christina: What do you wish people understood about being a server during the pandemic?

Morelia: I wish people understood everything that it takes for us to get here and do the job. Because they only interact with us when we’re directly serving them, it’s almost as if we stop existing when we’re not. Our sacrifices are going almost entirely unnoticed in general society outside of some people who will say they’re grateful we’re there but who won’t advocate for us. For example, when I went back to work, I couldn’t see my mom for a whole year because she’s immunocompromised and I just couldn’t risk it, she’s my best friend. People need to understand that service industry folks are making sacrifices to be at work. We’re sacrificing our health, safety, mental health, and a lot of people just sort of treat it like it's the same old, same old. They expect perfect service, and they expect their server to be a superhuman at all times.

Our sacrifices are going almost entirely unnoticed in general society…

Hospitality workers need to be humanized and others need to understand that we’re people too. Don’t treat us like we’re providing you a service. First and foremost, treat us like people. The connection and respect are gone a lot of times in this entitlement culture. We are a part of the community whether they like it or not and we deserve better. It’s easier to be nice than it is to be a jerk and kindness is free. You’ll get better service and a healthier community.

The post “Kindness is Free”: Serving in the 6ix During the Pandemic appeared first on Global Labour Research Centre.

In the twelfth installment of the Workers' Stories in the COVID-19 Era dialogue series, we interviewed Regan, a seasonal factory worker in the GTA. Regan describes what it was like working in a food production job in the summer seasons of 2020 and 2021, highlighting the precarity and lack of worker supports. She believes that safety is not being prioritized for essential workers and that there are some changes that need to be made in order to treat everyone with the respect they deserve.

For privacy, all names have been changed to protect the identities of our interviewees.

Interview

Christina: Can you describe your job, when you were employed, and what some typical duties were?

Regan: I was a full-time seasonal production line worker for a food production company. I found this job the year before the pandemic and have worked it the summers of 2019, 2020, and 2021. My daily tasks consisted of running machines and filling skids or wood pallets to prepare for shipping. What I would do is basically in the mornings I would help organize the other staff members and make sure they knew what their duties were—what orders need to be filled, and what orders need to be placed. During the day I would fill pallets and make sure the line machines didn’t stop working. As the day went on, I would make small fixes as they were needed. At the end of the day, I would do more administrative tasks—I’d log and track order numbers and clean.

Christina: How has your work been impacted by the pandemic?

Regan: There was a lot that happened. Right before I started working in the summer of 2021 there was actually a delay of about two weeks because there was a huge breakout of COVID-19 at the factory. So, the factory was closed until the workers were clear. Other than that, it was pretty much business as usual; we just tried to maintain more distance from each other. We’d try to eat outside and wear masks in the building mostly.

I will say that there was a difference between the first and the second summer of the pandemic. During the first year of the pandemic when I was working there, there wasn’t really much difference from what I had experienced pre-pandemic. Masks weren’t really mandated, and physical distancing wasn’t enforced, so it was very deficient in terms of safety. Of course, this year there was a lot more that they had to do to comply with Public Health rules and try to prevent more large outbreaks. The reasons they did this were purely economic; they didn’t want to get penalized, and they didn’t want to have to shut down the business.

Christina: Has your relationship with your coworkers and boss changed during the pandemic?

Regan: In some ways, yeah. The factory I worked in was very loud, so communication is always kind of hard regardless of the time, but masks made it almost impossible to hear people when they were talking or trying to get someone’s attention. This has meant that some stupid mistakes have been made and the relationship between coworkers became more strained. If someone was doing something wrong or a machine was broken and they needed help, unless you were right next to them and yelling into their ear, they wouldn’t be able to hear you.

In addition, there was a lot of atmospheric change. After work in a job like this, you’d usually hang out for a bit with the other employees, just chatting and socializing, or sometimes you’d all go out together for drinks or something. It was a lot more distant this year compared to last year and especially compared to before the pandemic.

In terms of management, they’ve been under a lot more pressure to maintain safety, given that the outbreak I talked about earlier was the second big outbreak that had happened there. They had to be more uptight about some of the rules. There was a lot more pressure because basically what had happened was quotas were the same as the years before because our demand hasn’t gone down, but there were heavy caps placed on hiring. What ended up happening was the workers complained a lot more about being overworked and being under a lot more pressure because they didn’t hire as many people as they should have. I’d say that we were understaffed by at least 40% compared to the last years, but we were still doing the same amount of production.

I’d say that we were understaffed by at least 40% compared to the last years, but we were still doing the same amount of production.

Christina: How did this gross understaffing impact you?

Regan: So, we have different speeds that we run the machines on. I’d say the average speed we run the machines on, at a safe level, was about 30, and that number refers approximately to bags per minute. Sometimes if you needed it to be a little quicker, you’d go to 34 and you’d still be ok. But because of the lack of staff, we’d have the machines going at 40-45. What this does for me, as someone who’d also work mechanics and try to keep these machines working, is increases my workload as they’d break down a lot more because of the strain of this high output. This made a lot more work and, counterintuitively, made things slower at times, and then management would be cracking their whips… It was an all ‘round messy situation.

To compensate for everything, what we ended up having to do would be longer shifts. We used to do standard 8-houur shifts which then became 9-hour shifts and sometimes it’d be 10-11 hours just because we needed to fill the daily quotas. Sometimes we’d be running around from 5am to 4pm, which is a lot of work, especially if you’re not expecting it.

Christina: Are you unionized and how do you think that this has impacted your pandemic working experience? And jumping off that, as a seasonal worker, did you get any benefits, sick pay, or overtime?

Regan: No, my company is not unionized and that did have a big impact on our working experience. There were a lot of disgruntled employees, like our forklift driver. He was probably one of the most overworked people at the factory and he’d always complain. Essentially, there were two forklift drivers, then, to cut costs, they fired one of them. That’s a 100% labour increase and I can guarantee you he was not making double. But his complaints never got taken seriously by management.

For us non-specialized workers, they wouldn’t have mechanics there all the time, or a manager there to run things, so we’d be left to our own devices, and I’d end up taking a leadership role most of the time. There wasn’t anyone there to argue for us, which was important especially during times we’d have to work 11 hours. During the 11-hour shifts we were entitled to an additional break that would never be given to us.

There were no benefits as a seasonal worker, although you did get overtime after, I believe, 44 hours. With the level of work we were doing, you’d pretty much be guaranteed overtime. I liked it but I can see why others had issues with it. Sometimes I’d work 6-day weeks, just because they needed someone able to run the machines or to do certain repairs not everyone could do, so I was on-call a lot of the time. There were some workers that were there 7 days a week though, and that was crazy. I think I would average about 55 hours a week, sometimes less, sometimes more.

The overtime was good, in my opinion, but there weren’t benefits or sick leave and I really resented that. For example, I needed to take two days off from work to get vaccinated and I got sick from the vaccine, so I had to take a couple more days off as well. I didn’t get sick pay for any of that and when some of my coworkers got sick with COVID, caught at work mind you, they got nothing either.

Christina: How has working during the pandemic impacted your mental and physical health and well-being?

Regan: There were definitely two sides of that coin. On the one hand, I was happy to be out of the house doing something and was grateful to be employed. On the other, it was scary sometimes working during the pandemic, especially when your coworkers are getting sick. Coming in this past year after an outbreak where literally everyone at the factory had gotten COVID was horrible; there was just this constant fear that I’d be next. There are three branches of the company I worked for: there’s production, where I work; administration and office work; and there’s the truckers who deliver our product, and everyone from all three branches got COVID this past spring.

There were also the workers who wouldn’t wear masks properly and who refused to get vaccinated and went partying. If anyone got sick, there was also this huge pressure to come back to work as fast as possible because management didn’t want to have to do layoffs and hiring all the time. It was tough trying to keep everything contained and keep working.

If anyone got sick, there was also this huge pressure to come back to work as fast as possible because management didn’t want to have to do layoffs and hiring all the time.

Christina: What supports and resources, if any, were available to you, as a worker during the pandemic, from the government and your employer?

Regan: My employer sometimes bought pizza for everyone so that was pretty dope *chuckles*. I think we were exempt from the pandemic pay so we didn’t get that extra two-dollar bump. I’m actually not sure how that happened because they are essential as a food production plant. Because we were working such long hours, my coworkers and I weren’t able to collect CERB, CESB, or CRB. There wasn’t any real government support, I’d say. In terms of workplace support, they didn’t offer much besides employment and even then… One of our drivers’ wives had died of COVID she contracted from him when everyone caught it at the workplace, and I think he only got three weeks off.

Christina: With pay??

Regan: Uhhh…no. I know when he was back he was like, “Oh, gotta make up for the lost pay.” The only thing I can say is that, though we didn’t get pay, our managers were fairly accommodating with giving time off to recover from vaccination.

I’d have to count my factory as one of the luckier ones too. We only had about 8-12 employees in at a time and they were fairly decent at implementing health protocols after Public Health made them. But you’d hear horror stories from the guys working in other factories in the area or on the news. There was this one plant down the street from ours that had around 200 workers and you’d periodically hear things like, “40 workers contracted COVID-19.” It was this dehumanizing experience of like, “Oh, people are dying, but at least I’m in a nicer place that still doesn’t offer pay when you’re sick.”

You need the money even though working some of these frontline factory jobs is almost a death sentence. Not working’s not really a choice for me; I have tuition and living expenses to pay for plus I help my parents with the bills sometimes.

Christina: What could your employer and the government have done better?

Regan: One major thing was PPE; the workplace was always having shortages of hand sanitizer, gloves, masks, soap. If you work in a food facility you sort of need gloves, but we were running out of them regularly. The only way for us to eat lunch and be properly socially distanced was to eat outside and they ordered some benches for us to do so. Problem was that it would rain a lot, or we’d get 30+ degree days where eating outside wasn’t really an option. If we ate indoors, there was a small 10x10 foot room for 12 people, so distancing wasn’t really an option in those conditions and there weren’t enough cleaning supplies to wipe things down after everyone was done. Our lunchroom was also split into a training room, so you’d always have new hires coming in and out. I think that better workplace safety measures and greater investment in preventing COVID would have been good.

In terms of the government, they could have done a lot better. We needed more financial support what with people losing houses and rationing their food, of course, but we also needed rule enforcement. They should have listened to the scientists and made sure everyone was following the evidence-based guidelines that keep us all safe. For instance, I can’t think of anyone who’s ever got anything more than a scolding for not wearing a mask or not wearing it properly, inside and out of work. They probably should’ve been getting fined so that they’d be more conscientious.

Christina: If you suddenly had godlike powers, how would you change things going forward?

Regan: This is a tough one. As much as there were the negative aspects to this job…I almost had to feel happy because I was getting money to pay rent. Definitely a weird mix of emotions and a bit Stockholm-y for sure. I’ve been kicked in the shins so much I can’t stand up straight.

Anyway, if I could change things, I’d change the government response to make it a lot safer and give the workers more support, especially for people who didn’t feel safe. For example, I’d have coworkers who were immunocompromised. So, 1) they couldn’t get vaccinated and 2) they were extra vulnerable to COVID.

A huge thing is workplace regulation and enforcement. What would happen to us on-site is that we were forced to work longer hours regardless of our feelings or commitments; they had quotas to fill, and we didn’t matter. Safety was also insufficient. We’d spray down door handles but not the machines or the lunchroom, and the ventilation of the facility was quite poor. At the very least, there needs to be stricter enforcement of things like that.

If I had ultimate power, however, I’d change regulations, government assistance, instate mandatory benefits, and mandate paid sick leave. It was unfortunate how essential workers were essentially being sacrificed just to reach certain quotas.

Christina: Is there anything you think the general public should know about working during the pandemic, particularly as a factory worker?

Regan: I hope the public realizes that these are not safe conditions for workers. Even beyond the dangers of working directly in an unsafe place, there’s the environmental factors. We were in a COVID hotspot and, a lot of times, the factory workers would all take the same bus to work. We’re having to take these risks, though, to feed our families and keep a roof over our heads.

Other than that, I want the general public to know how little assistance a lot of these workers could access. Some of my coworkers lost homes, family members, and businesses because of how little help there was for them. I’ve had coworkers say to me, “I feel so sick, but if I miss this day of work, I won’t be able to eat for the rest of the week.” It’s not a choice for a lot of people. There is no alternative for us.

Christina: Any final comments?

Regan: Yeah, I want to touch on how crazy the job search is, particularly compared to how many places are understaffed. There’s literally no one hiring and that creates a desperation when you ��Dz�’t have something like UBI to back people up. In fact, one of my coworkers was a dentist who had to shut down his practice due to COVID-19. To be a dentist making $16/hour in a factory job is the perfect picture of how bad things are out there.

One of my coworkers was a dentist who had to shut down his practice due to COVID-19. To be a dentist making $16/hour in a factory job is the perfect picture of how bad things are out there. 

One final thing is how exhausting all of this work and stress is. You just get bone tired and I’ve had friends tell me that they’ve grown to hate jobs they once loved because of their experiences working during the pandemic. We’re not lazy. We’re being exploited.

The post Please, Sir, I Want Some Rights appeared first on Global Labour Research Centre.