Unions predicted to gain popularity as workers demand better conditions: expert

The high cost of living and changing work attitudes spurred by the pandemic may see more workers looking to unionize, one expert suggests.

Retired business professor at the University of the Fraser Valley, Fiona McQuarrie, says she’s found that the shutdowns caused by the pandemic encouraged many workers to reflect on how valuable they were to the workforce.

“If we think about things like grocery store clerks and cashiers — those are considered relatively low skilled jobs, and they’re not as well paid as other positions. But we saw during the pandemic, how important and crucial those jobs are to keeping people fed and well supplied,” she used as an example.

A number of factors would have pushed workers to do this kind of thinking McQuarrie says, since the way employers reacted to the unpredictability of the COVID-19 virus and restrictions and guidelines that followed showed workers what employers’ real character looked like.

“Workers being told ‘you’re an important part of the company,’ ‘your work is essential to what we do,’ ‘we value all our employees, but please come to work when the conditions are really unsafe for you.’ And I think that has led to a lot of reconsideration of the value of work, but also what fair working conditions are and what can workers do to be treated more fairly and in some cases to be treated safely, to make sure that their workplaces are safe places to be.”

While employers were hit financially because they lost revenue from not being able to do their regular business when restrictions were at the height, McQuarrie adds employees were also impacted.

“Because their work was restricted or shut down, they are probably looking to recoup some of the money that they lost during that time.”

But with both employees and employers impacted through this crisis, “we see that conflict there, those two parties both trying to regain some of what they lost,” McQuarrie said.

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An increased cost to consumer goods because of the strained supply chain is also a challenge employees are considering McQuarrie mentions.

“I would guess that most unions are looking at that and anticipating that those cost increases are going to make life more financially difficult for their members, and they’re looking to get better wages to deal with that as well.”

This past week’s short work stoppage at CP Rail, plus the ongoing strike of bus drivers in Whistler both saw workers demanding better wages and working conditions, among other things.

In the case of CP, they wanted to keep the job attractive to a younger generation of workers – something McQuarrie says unions should keep in mind as the power of unions comes from its numbers. She adds for many, it’s the best chance they have to get fair wages and working conditions as the cost of living continues to rise.