reopening could hurt canada's poorest

since the start of the novel coronavirus, canada’s social inequities have been in the spotlight.
from warehouse workers to retail and restaurant workers, those with low-paying, wage-earning, non-unionized jobs have been consistently the most vulnerable to losing their jobs.

according to statistics canada, 38.1 per cent of people who earned less than $16 per hour — two-thirds of canada’s median hourly wage of $24.04 — have lost their jobs since the start of the shutdown. meanwhile, the rate of job loss across canada for all employees is 17.8 per cent.

the majority of these low-wage, non-unionized, hourly-paid jobs are labour-intensive and require workers to be outside the home . in other words, working from home is likely not a possibility for the majority of canada’s poorest.

“while this shutdown is going on, you’ve got high-income earners who can work from home and can continue getting their paycheques,” says audrey laporte, professor and director of the institute of health policy, management and evaluation ( ihpme ) and director of the canadian centre for health economics .

working class, migrant workers have to be present at work

throughout the pandemic, many low income workers continue to work because they’re considered essential workers. think of the daily exposure grocery store workers, personal support workers (psws), cleaning workers, warehouse workers, and employees at meat-packing plants face — like the cargill meat processing facility in southern alberta, the site of canada’s single largest outbreak.

migrant workers work in essential services that require being physically present at work, such as agriculture. many live in crowded homes — the b.c. government has released guidelines for employers to keep beds at least two metres apart, and if that is not possible, to install barriers between them, like curtains.

policy makers must figure out initiatives to enable companies to make workplaces safer. in the short term, laporte says workers such as psws can expect increased use of protective equipment, which means care will become more costly. she suggests tax deductions on any expenses that make a workplace safe and public payments or subsidies to cover workers to keep them at home to allow their workplaces to function.

“privilege has become the difference between disaster and an inconvenience here in my city,” says dr. victor tseng , a pulmonologist and critical care physician in atlanta, georgia.