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.now with all eyes on the eventual reopening, there’s fear that rushing people back to work will leave canada’s lowest-earning working class even more exposed and vulnerable.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.“yes, they’ve seen disruption economically and psychologically, but it’s not nearly as much as what’s experienced by the low-income workers,” she says.
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.“one could say ‘nobody should go back to work’ but that’s a luxury the high-income people who can work from their homes experience,” says laporte. “we have to balance and look at the lowest cost way of reopening from both a health and economic perspective because the economic perspective is a health perspective. when you deprive people of income, you’re damaging their health.”
one of the most vulnerable groups include a largely hidden population: canada’s temporary workers. thousands of migrant workers apply through the temporary foreign work program to fill labour shortages and work jobs that canadians otherwise wouldn’t sign up to do. 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.“a long-run shutdown of the economy is not a viable solution and it’s particularly damaging to the lower-income workers,” she says. “and the poor are often already in [lower quality] health to begin with, than on average, wealthier people.”in the u.s., the divide between income and class is becoming clearer than ever.“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.“the patients getting the sickest and affected most frequently are the poor,” he says. “there’s the issue of class privilege. if you’re poor and black, you’re more likely to have to continue working, show up to high-risk jobs and be exposed. the disparity was already there to begin with, there’s a multiplier on it now with the exposure vulnerability.”tseng criticizes those who call covid-19 the ‘great equalizer’ because the novel coronavirus ‘does not discriminate.’“it’s complete b.s. because this is the ultimate discriminator,” he says. “it completely capitalizes and amplifies the healthcare disparities that already exist and by definition, it’s the ultimate discriminator.”
diana duong is a writer and editor at healthing. find her on twitter @dianaduo.dduong@postmedia.comdon’t miss the latest on covid-19, reopening and life. subscribe to healthing’s daily newsletter covid life
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