Pushing for employment policy ‘rebalance’

A Manitoba think tank is calling on more protections for gig workers and reduced barriers to forming unions, among other issues.

“This is really the low-hanging fruit of labour legislation,” stated Niall Harney, editor of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Manitoba’s latest report.

The document, titled “A Progressive Labour Agenda for Manitoba,” lists 11 recommendations for changing the province’s workforce policies. The propositions range from legislating 10 paid sick days per year to raising the minimum wage and introducing pay equity legislation.

“The world of work has changed dramatically over the last few decades,” Harney said Tuesday. “Our employment policy generally has not moved at the same pace.”

He pointed to an increasing number of Canadians experiencing poverty and food insecurity. Meanwhile, there’s been a rise in “precarious employment” and digital or platform-based employment, and a drop in the real value of minimum wage.

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Manitoba is pushing for new policy affecting so-called gig workers. Creating a test to determine whether gig workers are employees and ensuring contractors get access to pension and employment insurance benefits are among the think tank’s requests.

It’s “unfair for the province as a whole” to have gig economy employers not fully participating in the Canadian Pension Plan and Employment Insurance, Harney stated.

The CCPA commissioned Probe Research to poll on whether Manitobans would support extending employment rights to gig workers. Nearly two-thirds of the 1,000 respondents said they would. The change was especially popular among young adults and people living in Winnipeg.

Harney and his team also took aim at union formation. Private-sector unionization’s popularity dropped between 1997 and 2022, the report outlines. Two years ago, 15 per cent of privately owned Canadian companies were unionized, compared to 21 per cent in 1997.

“The world of work has changed dramatically over the last few decades … Our employment policy generally has not moved at the same pace.”–Niall Harney

The decline has “contributed dramatically to the rise of income inequality,” Harney argued, noting the typical union worker’s pay is higher than a non-unionized employee.

According to the report, Canadian unionized staff earn an average $8.12/hr more than those not in unions.

The issues raised in the 55-page agenda are not new, noted Manitoba Labour and Immigration Minister Malaya Marcelino.

In March, Premier Wab Kinew said his NDP government will introduce legislation prohibiting the use of replacement workers in legal strikes and allow for a workplace to become unionized if a majority (50 per cent plus one) sign union cards.

“We will, as soon as opportunity comes up in the house, go ahead and try to reintroduce those bills,” Marcelino said, adding she’s most focused on completing the tasks prescribed in her mandate letter from Kinew.

Those duties include ensuring workers receive fair wages, connecting new Canadians with supports to find meaningful work, making it easier for Manitobans to join a union and restoring an advisory council on workplace health and safety.

“It’s just important that we rebalance labour relations in Manitoba,” Marcelino underscored. “This was a clear commitment that we made.”

She’s also met with migrant workers and their advocates, Marcelino said.

Her brother is a migrant workers advocate. He spoke in favour of the CCPA’s labour agenda Tuesday.

“Any improvements for the overall workforce, I think, provides even more improvements (for) the lives of those on the margins,” stated Diwa Marcelino, with grassroots organization Migrante Manitoba.

He said Migrante has interacted with 1,000 migrant workers over the past four years. Some are paid below minimum wage; others don’t receive overtime pay.

“People who are tied to one employer with the Temporary Foreign Worker program are in a worse situation than other workers,” he relayed. “They have very little power when it comes to … fighting workplace discrimination.”

Some have “little recourse” if they’re injured on the job or underpaid, he added.

Updating the Worker Recruitment and Protection Act is “of great interest” to the province, Malaya Marcelino said. (It’s among the CCPA’s requests.)

The think tank also calls for introducing predictive scheduling, which emphasizes predictable work hours, under employment standards.

“It’s easy to make recommendations when someone else has to implement those recommendations, pay for those recommendations and figure out ways to make them successful,” countered Loren Remillard, president of the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce.

The CCPA’s report lacks balance and has “inherent bias” against businesses, he said Tuesday.

Manitoba’s private sector is, in many areas, still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, Remillard said.

However, he expressed being open to different viewpoints, adding “simplistic solutions are not going to help Manitoba move forward.”

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com

A Progressive Labour Agenda for Manitoba