Canada’s unions calling for worker-centred pandemic recovery

Canada’s unions are marking the World Day for Decent Work on October 7, by calling on the federal government to focus on workers in their pandemic recovery plans and replace lost jobs with better ones

“The pandemic has highlighted the existing inequity and precarity in Canada’s job market and shone a light on the pervasiveness of work defined by low wages, unstable hours, and lack of access to basic employment rights,” said Bea Bruske, President of the Canadian Labour Congress. “Without workers, there is no recovery. Workers want to return to good jobs that offer decent pay, benefits and a path to unionization.”

The recovery must also address the disproportionate impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on marginalized workers including women, racialized workers, and workers with a disability. Some of the hardest-hit workers were employed in precarious, low-wage and frontline jobs, in sectors like long-term care, retail, tourism, education, child care and hospitality. Women – particularly racialized women – tend to be overrepresented in these fields.

“Canadian unions demand the new Liberal government develop a robust jobs plan, full employment, and decent work for everyone. The government can address inequality by strengthening our social safety net, through investments in affordable child care and housing, universal pharmacare and improvements to EI,” said Bruske.

Learn more about how Canada’s union are helping to shape the recovery at canadianplan.ca.