Workers Strike Back
Each year the Globe and Mail newspaper publishes a compendium of charts and graphs submitted by Canada’s leading economists, compiled by business journalist Jason Kirby. The set constitutes a very visual guide to the myriad of issues that will shape Canada’s economic trajectory in the year ahead. Reposted below is the submission from Jim Stanford, Director of the Centre for Future Work, on the upsurge in work stoppages recorded as Canadian workers fight to rebuild their real wages after the outbreak of inflation that followed the COVID pandemic.
Workers Strike Back
By Jim Stanford
Some observers called 2023 the Year of the Strike, and at times that moniker was fitting. Across a wide range of industries, workers hit the picket lines to support demands for pay increases that kept up with surging inflation. Over the first nine months of 2023 (the latest data at time of writing), Canada lost a total of 2.2 million work days to work stoppages – the highest since 2005. To the end of 2023, total days lost will be even higher: more than 2.5 million days (boosted by walkouts that include huge public-sector strikes in Quebec in December).
Workers have seen their real purchasing power eroded by the outbreak of inflation as the COVID-19 pandemic has eased, and they are angry watching share prices and chief executive officers’ bonuses soar while their own standard of living has been squeezed. Low unemployment and higher job vacancies strengthened workers’ bargaining position – although that is changing in the wake of aggressive Bank of Canada interest-rate hikes.
Expect labour strife to continue for a while yet. Lest anyone complain that strike-happy workers are undermining Canadian productivity, keep in mind that work stoppages amount to just 0.05 per cent of all days worked in Canada. That’s one-tenth the proportion of days lost during the peak strike years in the bad old 1970s.
Jim Stanford
Jim Stanford is Economist and Director of the Centre for Future Work. He divides his time between Sydney, Australia and Vancouver, Canada. Jim is one of Canada’s best-known economic commentators. He served for over 20 years as Economist and Director of Policy with Unifor, Canada’s largest private-sector trade union.