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1:04

Land. So.

1:10

Jordan. How. Many burritos you think

1:12

you've made in your life. A lot of burritos.

1:15

Archie Moore burritos than anyone else you know. Get

1:18

what? We didn't the math on this earlier.

1:20

So come on, just tell me what's the

1:22

number of burritos that we discovered that you've

1:24

made. I read over fifty thousand

1:27

burritos which is. Died dare someone to say

1:29

that they've made more burritos than me unless they.

1:31

Had the same job that I don't have happened.

1:33

What was that job? I worked at

1:35

a Mucho Burrito for about seven years. Anyone has

1:37

worked one of these kinds of. Jobs knows

1:39

what it's like it out this was

1:41

just are behind the counter service job

1:44

minimum wage you know? I had a

1:46

lot of regulars that I really really

1:48

likes by. I think I learned more

1:50

doing this job about how to handle

1:52

difficult situations and rude people that I

1:54

have any other experience of my life.

1:57

Are. Shown I've also worked a lot of jobs.

1:59

Tommy. That about you're working history. Or

2:02

yeah, I worked a lot of pretty

2:04

strange jobs before I got into journalism.

2:06

My favorite was easily being a tower

2:08

guard and splashdown water park which I

2:11

can tell you is still the most

2:13

fun I basically ever had at work,

2:15

but I was everything from a taxi

2:18

dispatcher to a bottle or in a

2:20

nail polish remover. Factories are taking like

2:22

big bottles of nail polish remover it's

2:24

and putting them into smaller ones and

2:27

slowly losing all of my brain cells.

2:29

I you know, refereed hockey. I did

2:31

a. Ton of data entry, all

2:33

kinds of things. But I will

2:35

say I think the job that

2:38

I disliked the most was probably

2:40

Tim Hortons another customer service jobs

2:42

And I think the reason for

2:44

that is because people are really

2:46

really mean to you when they

2:49

haven't had their morning coffee yet.

2:51

Or she I was in coffee too

2:53

and I respectfully i think you hating

2:56

this job is just a you thing.

2:58

I don't think you have what it

3:00

takes to really be a barista. I.

3:02

Would literally do anything. To.

3:05

Be a breeze, Say again. You'd rather be

3:07

abrasive and be a journalist. Really?

3:09

people? Journalists for kind of

3:11

pretenses for people who could literally be

3:13

laid off at any instance be you

3:16

know who they love? their cute little

3:18

worry sir across the town are making

3:20

them their little beans use. Of.

3:22

It but nor your from Qatar minor city

3:24

is that maybe we will live in Qatar

3:26

of a kind of a different relationship to

3:29

work them or we have here. You think

3:31

that's fair. Yeah, If I

3:33

lived in Qatar, I am certain

3:35

I would have never worked a

3:37

barista job the way that I

3:39

did in Canada and I go

3:42

back quite regularly. And the people

3:44

that are working behind the coffee

3:46

counters, at the restaurants, at the

3:48

retail stores or on construction sites.

3:51

These. Types of jobs.

3:54

Are entirely. Made up of

3:56

migrant workers from the quote unquote

3:58

Global South. The people

4:00

who are constantly dehumanized and reduced

4:02

to the mirror label of a

4:04

worker and look, I know that

4:07

many people listening are going to

4:09

cringe at this notion, because trust

4:11

me, I get the inherent injustice

4:13

and lack of dignity and this

4:15

kind of treatment. Trust me. I've

4:17

lived there my whole life. But.

4:20

What surprised me during my

4:22

time here in Canada is

4:24

the harsh realization that similar

4:26

dynamics exists here, and I

4:28

know people are going to

4:30

get upset because yes, the

4:32

context and the severity may

4:34

differ. But honestly, I

4:37

feel like Canada is headed in that

4:39

direction. The

4:47

majority of us the people listening to

4:49

this podcast are all workers of one

4:51

kind or another. And it's

4:54

natural for work to become basically

4:56

your whole identity. After a when

4:58

you asked children would they want to be when

5:00

they grow up they don't say I want to

5:02

be a good person. They. Say something like

5:04

I want to be a doctor or I want

5:06

to be a pilot or some other kind of

5:09

job. And most of a spend at

5:11

least eight hours a day, five days a week

5:13

at work. But. Add up the

5:15

amount of time you spend going to

5:17

and from works, thinking about works and

5:19

complaining about your jobs and becomes clear

5:21

that this is the main thing that

5:23

we do in our lives. But

5:26

the nature of work has changed so

5:28

dramatically, even over the last ten years.

5:31

For. Those of us who work in journalism. The.

5:33

Changes been almost overwhelming. Media companies

5:35

including Bell which own Ctv have

5:37

been hit by layoffs this year

5:40

and today to more revealed they

5:42

are also cutting l Time said

5:44

else A massive layoffs today. cutting

5:46

the jobs of at least one

5:48

hundred fifteen employees. It's the largest

5:50

workforce reduction in the papers one

5:52

hundred forty two year history, You

5:55

know what? I began working in

5:57

this industry more than a decade

5:59

ago. There are already pretty bad. I

6:02

remember this statistic from years ago that honestly scared

6:04

the shit out of me at the time. From.

6:06

Two thousand and eight to twenty third

6:08

teams. That Cmg, which is one of

6:11

the big media unions, estimated that there

6:13

had been over ten thousand layoffs. The

6:16

first time I got a job at a

6:18

major publication, it was the Toronto Star, and

6:20

I had my pay cut twice before it

6:22

even started to. The Next Job

6:24

A Canadian business magazine. I briefly ended

6:26

up homeless because I didn't. Get paid

6:29

until six weeks after a certain.

6:31

And things have only gotten

6:34

worse. C. B is cutting

6:36

eight hundred positions this year, while

6:38

their executives that rs fifteen million

6:40

dollars in bonuses last year Bell

6:43

Media laying off an astonishing forty

6:45

eight hundred people. Fell. Media's

6:47

President we'd booster meant. He

6:50

may just over five million dollars in total

6:52

compensation last year. But of course,

6:54

it's not just journalists. Who have it rough?

6:56

not by a long so. Tenderloins.

6:59

Offices are in downtown Toronto and every

7:01

evening when I leave here from work

7:03

and walked down Queen's through there are

7:06

dozens and dozens and dozens of delivery

7:08

people lined up outside of all the

7:10

restaurants waiting in the cold reda hop

7:12

on their bikes were ever the app

7:15

tells them to go. Now.

7:17

In Ontario, They're. Not even considered

7:19

employees of the companies that the do

7:21

these deliveries for. And on average

7:23

they make less than minimum wage. And.

7:26

Here's the saying. He didn't use

7:28

to be this way. It's

7:30

not like food delivery, Some kind of

7:32

newfangled job that didn't exist before the

7:35

age of smartphones. People. Have been

7:37

delivering pizzas and for for my parents

7:39

were born and they were considered employees.

7:42

And I bet so many of you

7:44

listening have seen the changes in Georgia

7:46

and in your industries. And aside from

7:48

the white collar workers who can more

7:51

easily work from home, I'm willing to

7:53

bet that those changes have mostly been

7:55

for the worse. This

7:57

season we're going to be talking about.

8:00

Work In What it means to be

8:02

a laborer in Canada today. And.

8:04

The question I want to ask more than

8:06

anything else. Is. How exactly

8:08

did things get so

8:10

damn best? I.

8:17

Marshy Man And this is

8:19

it's. More. After the

8:21

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in part by eg. one. Now it

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feels like every time I look at my

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9:45

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10:42

To begin answering the question of why

10:44

things seem to have gotten worse for

10:46

workers in Canada. There. Was one

10:48

person in particular that I wanted to

10:50

talk to. I. Am gym

10:53

Stanford and I'm the Economist and

10:55

director of the Center for Future

10:57

Work, which has a Labor economics

10:59

think tank with offices in Vancouver

11:01

and Australia. Now. It's been

11:03

a lot of time reading through the

11:05

business section the Canadian newspapers, and it

11:07

often feels like most writers and columnists

11:09

are all seen from the exact same

11:11

hymnal. That. Balanced budgets, low

11:13

taxes, and minimal regulations will

11:15

lead to economic prosperity for

11:17

all Canadians and that we

11:19

need to focus on the

11:21

suppose it needs of Canadian

11:23

entered priests. Are. Not gym.

11:26

He first came to prominence working as

11:28

a union economist for the Canadian Auto.

11:31

And his writing always has had a worker

11:33

centric eat this at the heart of it.

11:36

But the main reasons the gym was the

11:38

first person I want to see Turner series.

11:41

Is. Because I think the way in

11:43

which most of us talk about economics

11:45

is fundamentally flawed. So. Many

11:47

politicians, journalists, and economists talk

11:50

about economics as it's a

11:52

kind of science like geology

11:55

or meteorology. Economic outcomes

11:57

are just like earthquakes are hurricanes.

11:59

Some. The laws of nature beyond

12:01

are very control. The. Be

12:03

obvious truth. Is. That the

12:06

economy is fundamentally shaped by

12:08

very human choices. And.

12:10

By people often acting in their

12:12

own self interest. Economic

12:14

discourses dominated by people from

12:16

powerful places that have a

12:18

vested interest in the status

12:21

quo. Most. Of the Economist that

12:23

you'll see on T V, commenting on the

12:25

latest Gdp numbers or whatever work for the

12:27

major charter banks are the business associations or

12:29

frankly, from universities the get a lot of

12:31

corporate funding and have their agenda sort of

12:33

tailored. As a result of that, Economics

12:36

is it is a contested subject. It

12:38

is not like physics or some other

12:40

science even though many economists pretend that

12:43

it is a like to use lot

12:45

of numbers and graphs and formulas to

12:47

make it seem like it science as

12:50

opposed to more of a social science

12:52

where you inevitably have value judgments and

12:54

and vested interests and conflict embedded in

12:57

it. According. To Jim to

12:59

understand how we got to where we are. We.

13:01

Have to go back to the years

13:03

immediately following World War Two. In

13:06

the wake of World War Two

13:08

is when we built that whole

13:10

kind of post war social contract

13:12

if you like that was combined

13:14

with strong business investment, the private

13:16

sector was strong and an expanse

13:18

of but also a growing government

13:20

sector and rising taxes, expanding social

13:22

programs and growing unions growing both

13:24

in numbers and in in militants

13:26

so. By. The nineteen seventies you

13:28

he had a situation where the standard of

13:30

living in the average Canadian worker had doubled

13:33

in the three decades since World War Two.

13:35

And. We never seen a period in history of

13:37

capitalism where workers did that well. So.

13:40

What Happened? Unfortunately the folks

13:43

at the other end of other kind of

13:45

the financial sector in the corporate wealth and

13:47

and rich people basically didn't like the way

13:49

the ship with had it in Canada and

13:51

elsewhere. And this is the in the late

13:54

seventies we saw the the emergence of a

13:56

an attempt and organized attempt to turn it

13:58

around. Some of you

14:00

might be familiar with the spirit of the story. In

14:03

the Nineteen seventies, Western economies were

14:05

confronted by a number of new

14:07

challenges that baffled policy makers. Unemployment

14:10

and inflation were rising at the

14:12

same time. Something that's just not

14:14

supposed to happen. Now.

14:16

There were a number of complicated

14:19

geopolitical reasons that this stagflation was

14:21

taking place, including the end of

14:23

global currency controls and the oil

14:25

embargo in the aftermath of the

14:27

Nineteen Seventy Three Arab Israeli War.

14:30

This. Economic malaise opened up

14:32

space for a new breed

14:34

of cannabis and political thinkers

14:36

to challenge the post war

14:38

economic orthodoxy. No

14:40

longer did we believed it was

14:42

essential for workers to be paid

14:44

well enough to purchase the products

14:46

that they were creating were that

14:48

strong government regulations were necessary to

14:50

protect the public, or that large

14:52

corporate monopolies were bad for the

14:55

economy. Instead, this new

14:57

vein of thinking put workers

14:59

and especially unions right in

15:01

the crosshairs. Gone by

15:03

different names I originally what to

15:05

call that neoconservatism, perhaps associated politically

15:07

with Sachs or and Reagan, but

15:09

economically with people like Paul Volcker

15:11

they had of the Us Federal

15:13

Reserve in the late seventies. Who's

15:15

the one who ushered in this

15:17

type money austere approach to managing

15:19

the macro economy and and we

15:21

events with followed those directions and

15:23

Canada. So since then workers in

15:26

a way have been on the

15:28

defensive are trying to hang on

15:30

to stuff that we won in

15:32

the past. In. The you

15:34

ask? Ronald Reagan fired all air traffic

15:36

controllers in his first year in office

15:38

after they took part in a strike.

15:41

And the Uk. Margaret Thatcher put

15:43

them striking coal miners in a

15:45

brutal fashion. And. In Canada,

15:47

an anti worker, anti union

15:50

sentiment. Was. Also beginning to

15:52

thrive. It

15:59

was pure. Don't Who first introduced wage

16:01

cats in an ill fated attempt to

16:04

fight the inflation of the nineteen seventies.

16:06

And then in the Nineteen eighties,

16:09

Brian Mulroney, a bona fide friend

16:11

of big business, was elected as

16:13

Prime minister. More Rooney

16:15

decimated the unemployment insurance system,

16:17

cunning all federal funding to

16:19

the programs and instead forcing

16:21

the money to come entirely from

16:23

workers and employers. And

16:26

while mobile Rooney wasn't quite the

16:28

ideologues and either Ronald Reagan or

16:30

Margaret Thatcher were, he turned to

16:32

the issue of free trade into

16:34

his defining policy. Now.

16:36

I really don't want to over simplify things here.

16:39

Canadian. Politics of the Nineteen

16:41

eighties often and more to

16:43

do with regional differences and

16:45

ideological issues For instance Come,

16:47

which traditionally has more of

16:49

a social democratic outlook, was

16:51

also much more enthusiastic about

16:53

free trade than Ontario Us.

16:55

But I think what matters

16:57

here. Is. How the idea

16:59

of free trade was pitched to

17:01

Canadians. Politicians. And

17:04

business leaders primarily appeal to

17:06

Canadians as consumers and not

17:09

as workers. They.

17:11

Acknowledge that a lot of jobs

17:13

would probably go away, especially manufacturing,

17:15

but they argued that in a

17:17

way this was a good thing.

17:19

Canadian. Businesses needed to be

17:22

more dynamic, more mobile, more

17:24

flexible, And. Even more

17:26

importantly, it would be cheaper for the

17:28

average Canadians to buy all kinds of

17:30

goods. So. Even if we

17:33

lost out as workers, we'd win

17:35

as consumers and to me, This.

17:37

Is an important ideological turning.

17:40

The moments when we stopped thinking of

17:43

ourselves as people who worked for a

17:45

living. And started thinking about

17:47

ourselves as people who bought. Now.

17:52

They're still substantial debate about whether or

17:54

not free trade was a good outcome

17:56

for the average Canadian. But. Whatever

17:59

you think, It's impossible to

18:01

argue that free trade was

18:03

implemented for the benefit of

18:05

workers after all, almost every

18:07

major union opposed. In. In

18:09

the nineteen nineties, Canadian workers had to

18:11

endure another damaging blow. In

18:13

an effort to reduce the deficit,

18:16

the Zone Christian Liberals undertook one

18:18

of the most significant austerity campaigns

18:20

in the Western world. They.

18:22

Slashed Social Services privatized government

18:24

functions and further restricted the

18:27

rights of workers. And

18:29

unemployment insurance was once

18:31

again a major target.

18:34

Even though the Federal government was no

18:36

longer paying for it's the Krejci and

18:39

government's made it even harder for Canadian

18:41

workers to qualify. When. More

18:43

Rooney first came into office

18:45

rent. Eighty percent of unemployed

18:47

Canadians received assistance. By. The

18:50

time Krejci a must. And number was

18:52

less than half. In Sears?

18:54

Why? I think it's important to recount

18:56

this history. It. Shows just

18:59

how much we still think that

19:01

it was a good things that

19:03

governments stepped on the interests of

19:05

working people. Because. Today,

19:07

the consensus amongst or political

19:10

business and journalistic elites is

19:12

that free trade and Christians

19:15

austerity are the greatest examples

19:17

of proper economic stewardship in

19:19

Canada. As recent history. And.

19:22

These weren't the only measures that impacted

19:24

workers in a negative way. There.

19:27

Was so much more. Tears.

19:29

Gym: Stanford. Starting. In

19:32

the eighties and then the nineties, we saw

19:34

whole shift in many parts of Canada, many

19:36

provinces and federally. In. The nature of

19:38

labor law for example, To make it

19:40

harder for unions to get organized and

19:42

certified to make it harder for unions

19:44

to use their power to increase wages

19:47

and improve working conditions much much more

19:49

frequent use of government to dictates like

19:51

back to work orders or enforced or

19:53

wage caps on workers. Between.

19:55

Nineteen Eighty Two And Twenty

19:58

Nineteen, Canada's federal and private

20:00

ritual government's past two hundred

20:02

and thirty individual pieces of

20:05

legislation restricting the rights of

20:07

workers. These. Include back to

20:09

work bills for striking workers laws that

20:11

suspend the rights of certain classes of

20:14

workers to collectively bargain. It's and a

20:16

whole host restrictions on what unions can

20:18

do. In this long term,

20:21

legislative assault has had an enormous

20:23

impact. The. Percentage of private

20:25

sector workers in Canada who have

20:27

a union job has dropped from

20:30

thirty percent to around fifteen percent.

20:33

Now. If you compare that to a country

20:35

like Norway, They. Have around

20:37

thirty eight percent of their

20:39

private sector workers who are

20:42

unionized. Union membership

20:44

isn't the only way to measure

20:46

how well workers are being treated.

20:49

With. These plummeting numbers reflect a

20:51

raw deal that Canadian workers have

20:53

gotten over the last few decades.

20:57

In the decades following World War Two,

20:59

Canadian. Workers made extraordinary

21:02

progress. But. In the Nineteen

21:04

eighties and nineties, many was hard for

21:06

games were lost, Today.

21:09

The. Arguments against workers are

21:11

little bit different. Maybe.

21:14

The most ubiquitous is the

21:16

ever present grousing. About.

21:18

The so called Skills Shortage

21:20

or labor shortage. Here.

21:23

Is Jim Stanford and. What?

21:25

We have seen as situation say

21:27

starting in the mid twenty tens

21:29

when the unemployment rate in Canada

21:32

did decline to have a lower

21:34

level than had been typical. In.

21:37

The early days of of what you

21:39

could call the gonna neoliberal or neoconservative

21:41

Euro unemployment in Canada became quite high

21:43

after their recessions of the early eighties.

21:45

In the early nineties, it wasn't uncommon

21:47

at all to have eight or nine

21:49

or ten percent unemployment in Canada, and

21:51

that cause all kinds of social and

21:53

economic problems and including suppressing wage growth.

21:56

And. It was, in a way, a deliberate

21:58

outcome, part of that cold bath. Strategy

22:00

if you like of that. Economic

22:02

policy was to discipline workers, break

22:04

the idea that workers were entitled

22:07

to something, Break the idea that

22:09

your kids should be better off.

22:11

The new kind of clawback people's

22:13

expectations about what they can expect

22:15

from life and as a result

22:18

producer and compliant and lower cost

22:20

labor force. Now. Eventually over

22:22

in a way that worked in part

22:24

through the d unionization that we were

22:27

just speaking about and the desperation that

22:29

is created by high on ongoing unemployment

22:31

rate. So. The system

22:33

or was a able to tolerate have

22:35

a somewhat lower unemployment rate. And

22:38

of course, a lower unemployment

22:40

rates is exactly what most

22:42

politicians claim they're fighting for.

22:45

When. There's fewer people who are

22:47

unemployed. That means workers have more

22:49

leverage. And. Businesses do

22:51

not like that situation.

22:54

Employers started to look at that

22:56

relatively lower unemployment rate ends and

22:58

realize hey, this world that I

23:00

have been accustomed to where I

23:02

can put a job at out

23:04

and get twenty fully qualified resumes

23:06

the next morning. Okay, the world

23:08

I become accustomed to. Where'd you

23:10

know Canadians were desperate for a

23:12

job and willing to take it.

23:14

In fact, probably willing to take

23:16

it for less money. That.

23:19

World might be might be disappearing and and

23:21

I don't like it. So. That was

23:23

when you began to hear these complaints from

23:25

the business community about the so called labor

23:28

shortage. Now. If you're

23:30

a sick though like me and

23:32

you love reading the Globe and

23:34

Mail's business section everyday, send your

23:37

probably very familiar with the idea

23:39

of a labor shortage. And

23:41

even if you're not as signal

23:43

like me, I bet you've encountered

23:46

the phenomenon of an employer demanding

23:48

that you have a degree, five

23:50

years of experience on the jobs,

23:52

and emasculate references for what amounts

23:54

to an entry level gate. And.

23:57

Of course, who beat absolute nonsense to

23:59

even. Wonder why that employer couldn't

24:01

screen someone to fill such a position?

24:04

You. Know in in the olden days companies would

24:06

take people on as apprentices and work them through

24:08

for years and years of training while they

24:10

develop their skills and had the breaths to do

24:13

the full jobs. Nowadays I just want to

24:15

snap their fingers, have someone who's got all apps

24:17

and have them come in from outside. They

24:19

want either the government to pay for all that

24:21

training or they want to poach trained workers

24:23

from other companies. At. Any rate,

24:25

this ongoing complaint about labor shortage I

24:28

think was was vastly vastly overstated and

24:30

came from the self interest of employers

24:32

who want a ready supply of available

24:34

labor at any point in time, and

24:36

they want someone else to pay for

24:39

the cost of training that labour. Yes,

24:41

there are some specific high skill occupations

24:43

in health care for example, or and

24:45

information and communication technology. or it's hard

24:47

to find people with the right mix

24:50

of skills and we have to pay

24:52

attention to that, but in general we

24:54

have not. Run out of workers in

24:56

Canada? Far from it. We actually

24:58

benefits in a society where labour

25:00

is scarce rather than abundant and

25:02

desperate businesses like a world where

25:05

labour is abundant and desperate cause

25:07

it's cheaper and easier for them.

25:09

But the rest of us should

25:11

be absolutely skeptical of these claims

25:13

about are so called labor shortage.

25:16

And even today. Policy. Makers

25:18

and employers pray at the

25:20

altar of quote Unquote. Labor

25:23

Flexibility. In the

25:26

so called good economy has been

25:28

be answer to their prayers. Employers.

25:31

Learned that if they could shift

25:33

the risks of ups and downs

25:35

in their business, Onto. Their

25:38

workers instead of on tell them

25:40

they could be more nimble and

25:42

more insulated against you know the

25:44

possibility that economic downturn for example

25:46

and this is where we saw

25:49

of big shift towards temporary work,

25:51

contract work, various types of outsourced

25:53

jobs greater use a part time

25:55

work, especially irregular part time work.

25:57

And. Culminating Really. And they in the game.

26:00

The Platform Model of employment

26:02

where labour is perfectly flexible

26:04

in the sense that. The.

26:06

The business, like Uber has no obligation

26:08

whatsoever to their worker except for the

26:11

specific moments that they have a passenger

26:13

in the car. Otherwise, they're off the

26:15

books and they're free. Gig

26:18

work is the ultimate ideological

26:20

expression of the cult of

26:23

labor flexibility. All. You

26:25

do as you say that's not a worker

26:27

that's a contractor and the running their own

26:29

little business from the car and I give

26:31

them the right to sign on to the

26:34

app and take a passenger. but other than

26:36

that I wash my hands of it's including

26:38

on things like our pensions and workers' compensation

26:40

were other employers have that have an obligation.

26:43

Empty. Me: One of the clearest

26:45

distillation the power workers had become

26:48

punching bags. Team. In

26:50

Twenty Twenty Two. Two

26:52

World was recovering from the worst of

26:54

the coded pandemic. In. Canada,

26:57

like many other countries, was

26:59

wracked by inflation costs, primarily

27:01

by supply shocks Read the

27:04

globe. In the

27:06

Bank of Canada, whose job it

27:08

is to protect us from inflation,

27:10

went out of its way to

27:12

put the blame on Canadian workers.

27:16

I. Think that the people of the Bank

27:18

of Canada and other conventional economists didn't

27:20

pay enough attention to the kind of

27:22

one off unique nature of the of

27:24

a challenge that we face coming out

27:27

of the pandemic. They went back to

27:29

their nineteen Nineties text books which says

27:31

inflation has caused by too much spending

27:33

power generally because the unemployment rate is

27:35

too low and therefore we after increase

27:37

interest rates to reduce that spending power

27:39

and recreate. A. Adequate

27:41

level of unemployment in the

27:43

economy. Now. A lot of

27:46

the coverage of monetary policy in

27:48

interest rates tends to get quite

27:50

technical. But. It's a lot more

27:52

simple than it seems. Prices

27:54

for all kinds of goods were

27:56

rising, but that was largely because

27:58

of the pandemic which. The lead

28:00

to all kinds of supply shortages around

28:02

the world. But. The Bank of

28:05

Canada. Acted as if it

28:07

was all been caused by workers

28:09

spending too much money. So.

28:12

We. All need to be taken down a notch. The

28:15

Governor, the Bank of Canada tip Mack on

28:17

said this explicitly. He he gave a remarkable

28:19

speech share in late two Twenty Twenty Two

28:21

where he just came out and said unemployment

28:23

to low we gotta get it up. And

28:26

at that point unemployment was around

28:28

five percent. Today it's closer to

28:30

six percent. So yeah, it's working

28:32

after I you know, two years

28:34

of from very, very rapid interest

28:36

rate increases and lots of pain

28:38

among Canadian households. Yes, yes, unemployment

28:40

or. But. Maclin went

28:43

even further than that. In. A

28:45

speech to the Canadian Federation of

28:47

Small Businesses in July. Twenty Twenty

28:49

Two. He. Told employers.

28:51

That. They shouldn't raise wages to

28:54

keep up with inflation. He.

28:56

Said this despite the fact that

28:59

there was no evidence that reckless

29:01

wage increases were in any way

29:03

responsible for inflation. If

29:05

it was a wage lead problem, then

29:08

you should have seen wages rising first

29:10

and prices following any sort of profits

29:12

falling are being squeezed as companies try

29:14

to preserve their profits despite rising labor

29:17

costs. In fact, that was the exact

29:19

opposite this time. Out despite

29:21

the fact that he's a governor, the Bank of

29:23

Canada. Tip: Maclin comments largely

29:26

flew under the radar. But.

29:28

I have to tell you that. I. Haven't been

29:30

able to stop thinking about what he said. Because

29:34

a speech wasn't twenty twenty

29:36

two. The. Worst of the

29:38

covered pandemic had just subside. Over.

29:41

The last two years, dozens and

29:43

dozens and dozens of workers died

29:45

trying to keep the economy afloat.

29:48

Thousands. Upon thousands more risk their

29:51

lives every day, including many members

29:53

of My own family. And

29:56

frankly, It infuriates me

29:58

that this man. The power

30:00

over economic destinies told business

30:02

owners that it could be

30:04

damaging to the Canadian economy

30:06

to give workers too much

30:08

of a risks. Maclin

30:11

feared that higher wages would lead

30:13

to a so called wage price

30:15

spiral where inflation would get out

30:18

of control. But. Frankly,

30:21

He had the economics all wrong.

30:23

There is almost no evidence

30:25

that points to inflation over

30:27

the last few years been

30:30

caused by wages or employment

30:32

being too high. To.

30:34

Me: Tip: Maclin comments

30:36

were the clearest distillation of

30:39

the prevailing ideology that governs

30:41

our lives. That.

30:43

Workers are the problem. That

30:46

we're too lazy. And were to

30:48

entitled bet We simply. Have

30:50

it too good. One dimension

30:52

of this a whole argument about the

30:54

so called labor shortage is this idea

30:57

that so you know somehow modern workers

30:59

don't have the same work ethic as

31:01

was true in the past Nz Again,

31:03

you hear this from employer sir. They

31:05

often blame the employment insurance system or

31:08

other types of protections or else they

31:10

just you know say. Kind

31:13

of things about the new generation that they

31:15

just don't have the same work ethic as

31:17

we did when we were youngsters and a

31:20

the the economic evidence is overwhelming that that's.

31:22

Not true. I

31:24

think a lot of us are. You see

31:26

idea that there's a war on work. At

31:29

people nowadays just aren't willing to put

31:31

in the necessary effort to get the

31:33

job done. But. I'd started

31:35

to wonder about. Something. Different.

31:39

Their. War on workers.

31:41

And so I ask him directly.

31:44

To. My just being paranoid or am I

31:46

on to something? And. His

31:49

answer. Their. Absolutely

31:51

is. I'm. Not saying

31:53

that it was a conspiracy and they met in

31:55

a small room and said we're going to do

31:57

this. On the other hand I will tell ya

31:59

she I've learned over the there's just of i'm

32:01

paranoid It doesn't mean they're not following me. Okay.

32:04

So. On this season of commons this

32:06

is what will be digging into. What?

32:09

Is it like to be a worker in

32:12

this country? At. A time when

32:14

workers continue to be under

32:16

attack. From. Nurses

32:18

were underpaid. Were under

32:21

staffed, ill effects and north that

32:23

I'm a d into the line.

32:25

To. Farmer's. Cows. The

32:27

one that has developed these programs and we've

32:29

got a hold them responsible to sisters. seems

32:31

like every decision hours to get rid of

32:34

us. How.

32:36

Is exempting people from minimum wage

32:39

legislation Union rights Basic occupational health

32:41

and safety rights. How does that

32:43

advanced their rehabilitation. We'll.

32:45

Be bringing you stories from across

32:48

the country. Telling. You about

32:50

the people who keep Canada on

32:52

its feet? That's

33:16

your episode of Com. This is

33:18

our first episode in our new

33:20

season on work. We have so

33:22

much more in store for. If

33:24

you like this episode, please leave

33:26

us a rating and review in

33:28

Apple Pots. You wanna

33:31

get in touch with us?

33:33

even tweet us at Commons

33:35

Pawn. You could also email me

33:37

or at Canada land.com This

33:39

episode was produced by me

33:41

Jordan Cornish and nor as area

33:43

or production coordinator is Andre Prove.

33:46

Our editor in chief is

33:48

Karen Pugliese and our music

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is by Nathan Barley. You can

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