Employmentweb_low

EmploymEnT, woRk, and hEalTh inEqualiTiEs - a global perspective
over-representation of racialised groups in precarious occupations;
that is, contract, temporary, part-time and shift work with little or no
job security, poor and frequently unsafe working conditions,
intensive labour, long work hours, low wages, and no benefits. many
racialised groups work in textile and garment-making industries,
light manufacturing industries and in the service sector.
In 2003, 32.4% of all Canadian workers were covered by a
collective agreement. according to the oECD, union density in
Canada is 28.1%, one of the lowest among the 16 oECD countries
(oECD, 2006). unionisation has helped reduce the wage gap
between men and women (Jackson, 2005). The union advantage is
greater for women than for men. The pay gap between union men
and union women is a little over $2 per hour, compared to more than
$4 for non-union men and non-union women. racialised workers
who were covered by a collective agreement earned an average
annual income of $33,525 in 1999, compared to $7,724 for racialised
workers who were not covered by collective agreements.
In recent years, Canadian governments have opted for
deregulating many aspects of work. Canadian governments object
to labour market regulation to protect workers in precarious
employment on the grounds that such policies will harm those they
are intended to help. Jackson attributes this belief to an orthodoxy
that has emerged to defend neo-liberal policies that are believed to
perpetuate precarious and insecure employment (Jackson, 2005).
an additional made-in-Canada pressure is a commitment among
Canadian provincial and federal governments to reduce public deficits.
Canadian governments have begun to dismantle welfare state programs
in order to achieve this financial objective. for example, unemployment
Insurance (uI), a feature of the Canadian welfare state, was replaced by
Employment Insurance (EI) in 1992. a worker paid into uI benefits, and
was entitled to these benefits upon losing a job until their reentry into the
labour force. under EI, unemployed workers are entitled to receive only
52 weeks of benefits. upon termination of EI benefits, if a worker has
been unable to secure employment within the benefit period, they must
apply for social assistance. social assistance is a provincially
administered program. restricting eligibility for EI benefits has caused
social assistance rolls to swell.
In 1996, the liberal federal government tightened eligibility
requirements, which makes it more difficult for part-time workers -
many of whom are women - to collect their EI contributions (Black
& shillington, 2005).
a recent study by the Work network of the Canadian policy
research networks found that education and training opportunities
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