Labour Disputes: Mainstream Business

Postwar Europe Dept: If you haven t seen the official notification of this decision, you probably need to look in the business pages of your local newspaper. It was mentioned recently in the study about the massive growth of temp work in mainstream business operations. The difference in salary and benefits between a permanent employee and a contract worker averages out to 13 per cent. For a temp worker, it is a stunning 34 per cent for doing the same work, according to The Star. Sometimes the notice is right there in the headlines, except most people don t recognize it. Like when the postal workers take strike action to oppose two-tier wages that will drop wages for new hires by $6 per hour. That s the Canada Post CEO saying the next generation of workers deserves less for the work they do, and of course shouldn t get a secure pension either. It s the same story in most labour disputes these days and the CEOs have decided. The value of young people is lower than the value of people from my generation. You don t deserve the same salary, even if you are better educated. You don t deserve the same vacation time or health benefits. And you certainly don t deserve to have the same kind of secure retirement. It s just not in the business plan. It has been hinted at in the stories about income inequality, as the percentage of middle-income earners shrinks while those at the bottom end multiply. Studies on immigration sometimes note that people of colour aren t achieving earnings comparable to those who came from postwar Europe, in spite of higher education levels. Perhaps it is most openly referred to in the steady stream of articles about companies closing the door to new hires being enrolled in the standard pension plan. Instead, they get to participate in a defined contribution plan a glorified group savings scheme subject to the whims of the stock market. As reported in the news.
@t middle income earners, income inequality