Coronavirus crisis poses risks and opportunities for unions
Why It Matters
COVID-19 is illuminating how essential low-paid, precarious workforces are to our collective wellbeing. Unions play a crucial role in making sure businesses and policy makers don't forget this in a post-pandemic world.
The COVID-19 pandemic and its economic fallout pose serious challenges for Canadaโs workers.
Naomi Kleinโs 2007 bestseller, The Shock Doctrine, documented how political and economic elites have exploited crises to advance an agenda of privatization and austerity.
In such moments, elites often take advantage of the publicโs fear and uncertainty to push through changes that would normally be met with fierce opposition. With picket lines and large demonstrations out of the question in this time of social distancing and self-isolation, unions are especially vulnerable.
Unions can and must become champions of converting new temporary income supports, social protections and employment standards into permanent measures designed to
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