workingwomenworkingpoor_letter_web

hours so that I can qualify for a pension. But, I don’t think I will get there. I don’tthink I will ever become permanent full-time. I have another 10 years of workahead of me and there are a lot of people ahead of me at the hospital. Maybe whenI am 80 or maybe when I am dead! I don’t have a chance.”As full-time secure work disappears, women have no option but to join the thousandsof other women and men in precarious work. This has led to the impoverishment of hundredsof women and men in the GTA.2.2 From full-time to precarious workThe GTA is now becoming a low-wage economy with the growing dominance of precariouswork as the norm. Noack and Vosko (n.d), characterize precarious jobs as having highlevels of uncertainty, low-income, a lack of control over the labour process, and limitedaccess to regulatory protections (p.3).The PEPSO study (2013) which examined poverty, employment precarity and householdwell-being in the Hamilton and Greater Toronto Area, concluded that over the last 20years precarious forms of employment had increased by nearly 50% (p.5). That full-timesecure, i.e. 40hrs/week employment is difficult to get and the only options are precariouswork has been the experience of many women in the research.According to the Toronto Workers’ Action Centre (WAC), a worker-based organizationcommitted to improving the lives and working conditions of people in low-wage andunstable employment, “More people are finding themselves in part-time, contract work,often juggling two or three jobs. Workers are facing greater difficulty planning daily livesand supporting families. Many jobs today fail to provide adequate incomes, supplementalhealth benefits, sick pay or pensions. Work is not a pathway out of poverty for all toomany workers” (WAC et al., 2012).Women still need to work even if they are ‘older’. The responsibility of providing forthe family, paying rent or a mortgage does not end even if their employment does. Women’slives become more stressful, precarious and difficult as the only work they can get isthrough temp agencies. They have now joined the ranks of the thousands of workers whocannot get a secure 40hr/week job. They are now workers who are casual, part-time, casualpart-time, temporary part-time, or on call. Unemployment and precarious work makesthe women’s loss of good unionized jobs all the more painful. The research also highlightsthat work has become precarious in almost all sectors and professions of the economy.ROSELEE WASHINGTON, USW, LAID-OFF & PRECARIOUSLY EMPLOYED“I got called to go for an interview after a long time of no work. There was a supervisoron the floor. I don’t know if the supervisor had to be in the interview but he was.And he said to the boss, ‘she’s too old!’The boss said she’s qualified for the job, because look at her resume, and I’m lookingfor qualified people for the job. The boss said, ‘You have to do a working interview.’I think it lasted 2.5 hours. The boss said, ‘Ok, we’ll call you.’ Later that day, theboss called me. He said, ‘You’re hired. You have the job. Can you start workingblah blah.’ I said, ‘Yes, yes.’ But the supervisor didn’t like it because I was too old.The supervisor would make comments. After about a month, one Friday evening,the supervisor said to me ‘I’m sorry that I have to tell you, that we do not need youanymore.’ I liked that job. It paid $12/hr. But I didn’t care. I liked the job, I neededa job. I have three boys at home. I had so many bills to pay. I have hydro, gas… Isaid, ‘I was just getting used to this job and I really liked it.’ Yeah, I told him, I’mstraightforward. He said, ‘I know but I’m sorry.’WORKING WOMEN, WORKING POOR 13