A commentary by a retired Canadian business leader who lives in Victoria.
Most Canadians believe the pandemic’s impact is in the rear-view mirror. But it isn’t yet for a great many small businesses forced to shutter their premises due to “safety concerns,” even as their regular customers packed into COVID-spreading lines to enter big-box stores deemed “essential services.”
Statistics Canada’s January 2022 Labour Force Survey found that all of the country’s 206,000 job losers were private-sector employees. Public-sector employment was 305,000 higher than at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020. But now it seems the enormous compensation and job-security advantages enjoyed by public sector employees aren’t enough. The 120,000-member Public Service Alliance of Canada, largest of 17 federal unions, is talking strike, seeking a 13.5 per cent increase over three years.
The B.C. General Employees’ Union, largest in the province, went on strike demanding a raise of five per cent wage in each of the next three years or inflation adjustments, whichever is higher. The union broke off talks after receiving what BCGEU president Stephanie Smith disparagingly described as an “insulting” offer.
And that’s just British Columbia. Ontario government data shows 3,197 union contracts expire between now and year’s end, two-thirds of which are for provincial employees.
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