Pandemic highlighted worker dissatisfaction
workers in establishing collective agreements during the pandemic, especially among those who can’t work from home, industry leaders say it’s too soon to tell whether this is the beginning of a lasting wave of unionization among Canadian workers, despite the current headlines the movement is capturing.
“The success stories of the Indigo unionization efforts (have) been far reaching, especially in the retail sector,” Lesley Prince, director of the organizing department for UFCW 1006A, said in an email.
“As a result, workers are recognizing that unionization is an opportunity to resolve the many concerns retail workers face, such as stagnant wages, lack of benefits, understaffing, health (and) safety concerns and unpredictable schedules.”
Jim Stanford, director of the Centre for Future Work and former economist at Unifor, said there has been a modest but sustained increase in union coverage during the pandemic — at 30.9 per cent across all industries in Canada in 2021, compared to 30.2 in 2019.
The pandemic brought about a growing chorus of worker dissatisfaction among many front-line workers, who faced increased risk with not much more reward, he said. “From the workers’ perspective … you’re now facing a whole new set of risks.”
The public sector accounts for the bulk of unionized jobs in Canada, and its unionization rate, or the percentage of workers covered by a collective agreement, has gone up during the pandemic, while in the private sector, overall unionization rates have decreased.
In 2020, the union coverage rate across all sectors was significantly higher compared to 2019, not because of more unionization but due to the loss of non-unionized jobs, Stanford said.
The unionization rate in the retail sector was 12.5 per cent in 2021 compared to 12.3 in 2019. Employment in this sector was actually slightly higher than or equal to 2019 levels in 2021, meaning the higher unionization rate can’t be attributed to fewer jobs.
But it may take time before the numbers tell the full story, Stanford said, because workplaces aren’t considered unionized by Statistics Canada until they have ratified an agreement, which can take months.
Armine Yalnizyan, an economist and the Atkinson Fellow on the Future of Workers who is also a contributing columnist for the Star, said there are three important steps to unionization: voting to unionize, ratifying a collective agreement, and then staying certified.
The second step is a difficult one, she said, but in sectors like retail with a lot of part-time workers, staying certified is often the hardest part.
“It isn’t just, will they win the vote or not,” said Yalnizyan. “It’s will they win the vote? Will they get a deal? Will the deal stick?” “The momentum to organize needs to translate to the momentum in getting collective agreements that actually result in longterm improvements to the wages and working conditions of the people that sign up,” she added.
Yalnizyan said she’s not surprised to see organizing momentum in the wake of the pandemic and the difficulties hiring in some sectors.
But it’s easier for workers at large chains to organize multiple stores when they are owned by a corporation, as opposed to a franchisee, she said, because then all the stores are dealing with the same employer. But for franchised stores, such as many fast food chains, it’s a much more fractured effort, she said.
An employee at the PetSmart location behind the recent union drive, whom the Star is not naming to protect their employment, said treatment of workers declined during the pandemic.
As hours were cut, responsibilities increased, they said, such as packhave ing curbside pickup orders and other new tasks brought on by COVID-19.
“Most of our concerns were dismissed,” the worker said.
The final straw for staff there was when a manager came into work over the holidays with COVID-19 symptoms several days in a row and infected multiple people, the employee said.
PetSmart did not respond to specific questions about the worker’s allegations. A spokesperson for PetSmart said in an email that the company is “committed to providing a workplace culture where associates are supported and valued for their contributions and where health and safety is paramount,” adding the company encouraged its employees to participate in the union vote.
Workers at PetSmart and Staples, however, tell a different story, saying their employers came out swinging with anti-union rhetoric, hoping to dissuade employees from voting yes.
Management at both PetSmart and Staples sent or posted letters to workers stressing that they would to pay high union dues, and that the union wouldn’t be able to properly address workers’ concerns.
A letter sent by management to employees at the Oakville Staples store on Feb. 3 called union dues a “tax” on employees, and asked whether the tax would be worth the return.
“Have you asked what, realistically, the union can persuade the company to change? Have you considered if that change is worth the dues that will be deducted from your wages automatically?” the letter reads.
Staples did not address this letter in its response to the Star.
The reactions by management described by PetSmart and Staples workers are “par for the course,” said Stanford, who is an advocate for reforming union laws to make organizing easier and more sustainable.
“For them to actually … certifiy and negotiate a collective agreement, there’s a whole host of hurdles in your way,” said Stanford.
“It’s inspiring to see workers taking this into their own hands.”