Submission

From Economic Fear to Human Development: Short- and Long-Term Approaches to Creating Safe, Productive and Meaningful Work in Canada

Michael Polanyi
Coordinator
Canadian Social Development Program
KAIROS: Canadian Ecumencial Justice Initiatives
129 St. Clair Avenue West
Toronto, Ontario
M4V 1N5

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

KAIROS is a national ecumenical organization that educates and advocates for changes to policy and practices in order to address the social justice concerns of its member churches. KAIROS is committed to working to create a caring, sustainable, just and peaceful society in which all people have the opportunity and support to develop fully as human beings.

Labour standards should reflect and reinforce the values and aims that we share as Canadians. All workers deserve basic protections to ensure fair, safe, equitable and adequately paid work. Yet, the basic rights of many workers are not currently being protected. There is, therefore, a need to expand coverage of regulations and better enforce standards.

In the longer term, we must find a way to rebalance the distribution of power between employees and employers by ensuring that employees do not enter into employment contracts from a position of fear, but from a position of economic security.

We believe that the labour code should be based on an explicit set of societal values, and that there is a dire need for a public dialogue about such values in Canada. Our recommendations are informed by four basic Christian values: inclusion (we should recognize and seek to protect the dignity of all people in Canada); basic rights and needs before desires (the needs of the poor and marginalized should take priority over the wants and desires of the comfortable and wealthy); participation and responsibility (we all have a right and responsibility to contribute meaningfully to our communities and society); stewardship (to honor God's creation, we should give priority to the needs of future generations over the desires of the present generation).

STATEMENT OF ISSUES

This brief addresses the following questions from the Background paper: I-5, I-6, III-1, IV-2, V-1, V-2, VI.

LIST OF RECOMMENDATIONS

We call on the Federal Labour Standards Review Commission to:

1. Ensure the protection of all those who work for remuneration, whatever their employment contract;
2. Affirm Canada's commitment to protect the economic, cultural and social rights of all people living in Canada, as outlined in the United Nations Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. To ensure access to a living income, a Federal minimum wage should be reinstated at the level of $10/hour, indexed to inflation;
3. Move from prioritizing participation in the paid labour market to recognizing and encouraging a broader definition of social participation, which includes caring, creating and volunteering in the family and community;
4. Seek to reduce the power imbalance between employers and employees by taking steps to increase the income security of all people of Canada. Specifically, establish a national dialogue on Citizenship and Income Security;
5. Recommend a more active federal role in monitoring employer compliance with the standard employment agreements involving migrant workers, temporary/visa workers and non-status persons;
6. Recommend action to develop a comprehensive and inclusive regularization program for non-status persons in Canada;
7. Recommend that Canada sign the UN Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families;
8. Recommend a significant redesign of future public hearings so that the process is more inclusive, interactive, deliberative, and democratic, and oriented towards building consensus.

ISSUE

How do we protect the basic rights of workers in Federally regulated workplaces, while at the same time creating flexible and productive workplaces? That is the core question addressed in this brief.

BACKGROUND / IMPLICATIONS

I am pleased to present this brief to the Federal Labour Standards Review Commission on behalf of KAIROS, a national ecumenical organization that educates and advocates for changes to policy and practices to address the social justice concerns of its member churches, which include the United, Anglican, Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Mennonite and Christian Reformed Churches of Canada, as well as the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers).

KAIROS is committed to working to create a caring, sustainable, just and peaceful society in which all people have the opportunity and support to develop fully as human beings.

We work in the tradition of "prophetic witness" which sees compassion to human suffering, and kindness to strangers, as the fundamental features of the most noble human calling (West, 2004).

We see it as our work to encourage the conscious consideration and incorporation of core humane values, such as social and economic justice, and respect for fundamental human rights, in government policy-making, private sector practices, and citizen behaviours.

We welcome the review of Part III of the Canada Labour Code in so far as it provides a venue for public discussion about the desired nature and conditions of Federally regulated workplaces in Canada, and by example, all workplaces in this country.

Labour standards define the rights and protections that workers deserve. They outline the responsibilities of employers, government and workers themselves in the achievement of safe, fair and dignified work.

Labour standards should reflect and reinforce the values and aims that we share as Canadians.

Your background document raises important value-based questions: What do workers deserve? What are the responsibilities of employers? Which workers deserve protection? And how do we balance the need for worker protection against employer rights and needs for flexibility and competitiveness?

The background document acknowledges and recognizes two different overriding objectives: "fair and adequate protection for workers" and "a decent environment for Canadian workers and their families", on one hand, and the promotion of "investment, job creation, productivity and competitiveness", on the other.

All workers deserve basic protections to ensure fair, safe, equitable and adequately paid work (as indeed, the Canadian government has committed to provide as a signatory of various United Nations' declarations and covenantsⁱ). The basic rights of many workers, as a result of government deregulation, lack of enforcement, and the expansion of non-standard work, are not currently being protected (Canadian Labour Congress, 2005).

The majority of workers do not have union protection, and are often in great fear of losing their jobs and income, which often leads to poverty. Hence, workers are in a dependent and vulnerable position in relation to employers, a position that is not conducive to freely negotiating safe, fair and decent working conditions.

Some of the worst victims of this erosion of labour rights are migrant workers. For migrant workers, losing their job may mean losing their permission to be in Canada. For seasonal agricultural workers and live-in caregivers "flexible" work arrangements mean being on call 24 hours a day and working long hours at low pay.

Hence, we argue in this brief that there is a need to expand coverage of regulations and better enforce labour standards for marginalized workers.

More fundamentally, there is a need to reduce the power imbalance between employees and employers by ensuring that employees are not forced to enter into employment contracts from a position of fear of poverty and want, but do so from a position of economic security. This is a key step in the development of humane and productive workplaces.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Determining the future form and content of the Canada Labour Code is a values-based challenge, because it concerns the definition of the rights and responsibilities of workers and their families, employers and governments.

Rights and responsibilities in workplaces are related to rights and responsibilities outside of work. For instance, the extent to which employers should be expected to provide a livable income to workers is related to the extent to which workers receive government income transfers and access to government- or community-provided services and supports outside of the workplace. In other words, the articulation of rights and responsibilities in the workplace depends upon the perceived role and expectations of the work in society.

Labour code discussions need to be informed by a set of societal values, not just values for work. We believe that there is a dire need for a public dialogue about such values in Canada (see Recommendations 5 and 6). However, as a start, we articulate here four basic values, informed by Christianity but also by other faith and humanist traditions, which we feel should inform labour policy:

Inclusion of all: We believe that there is that of God in all people, and hence, we should recognize and seek to protect the dignity of all people in Canada and abroad.

Basic rights and needs before desires: According to the Bible, the needs of the poor and marginalized should take priority over the wants and desires of the comfortable and wealthy. All people need and deserve access to the basic necessities for life. On the other hand, the accumulation of non-necessities is tangential to, or even detrimental of, the human spirit.

Participation and responsibility: In the Bible, the highest calling for people is the calling of compassion and giving. We believe that the onus is on all of us – not only government - to ensure the protection and support of those in need. We all have a right and responsibility to contribute meaningfully to our communities and society.

Stewardship and respect of nature: To honor God's creation, we should give priority to the needs of future generations over the desires of the present generation, and protect our ecosystem accordingly.

Based on these values, we make the following recommendations:

1. The Federal Labour Standards Review Commission should recommend that the Canada Labour Code ensure the protection of all those who work for remuneration, whatever their employment contract. Part-time, temporary, contract workers, migrant workers should not be discriminated against, as though these were in some way less deserving of protections than other workers. All workers in federally-regulated sectors, or for federally-regulated companies, should be protected under the labour code.
2. The Commission should affirm Canada's commitment to protect the economic, cultural and social rights of all people living in Canada, as outlined in the United Nations Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Specifically, the Commission should recommend that the Canada Labour Code be amended to ensure the provision of a livable minimum wage of $10 for all workers, indexed to inflation.
3. The Commission should recognize that the future development of labour standards should be informed by a broader governmental commitment to recognizing and encouraging meaningful participation in society, participation which goes beyond engagement in the paid labour market, and includes caring for family members, volunteering in communities, and creating cultural works. The Commission should recognize that social participation gives meaning to our lives, and helps us to develop as full human beings. The Commission should state that a responsible and caring society will not be achieved by putting people in a position in which they fear poverty, but by building communities and institutions oriented towards human development, and by maximizing the choice people have over how they apply their human attributes.
4. The Commission should acknowledge that the power imbalance between employers and employees cannot be reduced as long as workers enter into employment relationships from a position of fear of poverty. Hence, the Commission should call for action to ensure the income security of all those living in Canada, recognizing that this is a crucial step towards balancing the distribution of power between workers and employers. Specifically, the Commission should call for a national deliberative dialogue on Citizenship and Income Security in Canada, in order to develop shared values concerning the rights of all in Canada to an adequate income, and to define and build consensus on the responsibility of all Canadians to participate and contribute meaningfully in their communities, workplaces and society.
5. The Commission should recommend that the federal government play an active role in monitoring employer compliance with the standard employment agreements issued to migrant workers entering Canada through the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program and Live in Caregiver Program. Currently, the federal government administers the programs that admit migrant workers to Canada, while deferring to provincial jurisdiction with regards to labour legislation. Gaps and inconsistencies in provincial labour legislation make migrant workers vulnerable to exploitation and abuse.
6. The Commission should recommend that the federal government take action to develop a comprehensive and inclusive regularization program for non-status persons in Canada (i.e. a program that allows all residents to apply for status). Lack of status renders workers vulnerable to abuse, since the constant threat of deportation stands in the way of making complaints regarding violation of labour rights. Conversely, regularization empowers workers to insist on their rights.ⁱⁱ
7. The Commission should recommend that Canada sign the UN Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families. This Convention sets out important guidelines for guaranteeing fair pay and safe working conditions for all migrant workers, regardless of status.
8. The Commission should recommend a significant redesign of future public hearings so that the process is more inclusive, interactive, deliberative, and democratic, and oriented towards building consensus rather than entrenching positions. Hearings, or dialogues, should provide the opportunity for the identification of shared values, and value-based goals and objectives should be made explicit in reports of hearings.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Canadian Labour Congress. (2005). Labour Standards for the 21st Century: Canadian Labour Congress Issues Paper on Part III of the Canada Labour Code. March 16, 2005.

Human Resources and Development Canada. (2000). A Study Concerning Federal Labour Standards: Balancing Work, Family and Learning in Canada's Federally Regulated Workplaces. Final Report. January, 2000.

West, Cornell. (2004). Democracy Matters: Winning the Fight Against Imperialism. New York: Penguin.

Endnotes

ⁱ See, for example, the UN Covenant on Economic, Cultural and Social Rights, Articles 6 and 7, http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/a_cescr.htm.

ⁱⁱ For further information ,see STATUS campaign information, http://www.ocasi.org/status/.