Let us go forward in this battle fortified by conviction that those who labour in the service of a great and good cause will never fail.
owen Arthur
When the pandemic started up until now, we are all struggling as an individual, most especially those people who are working and running their business. As an employee, some of us lost our jobs, and we are trying to cope with the setup of working at home and having flexible work time schedules. Some employers also declared bankruptcy, having a high rate of employee turnover, and also do have skeletal workforce. Covid – 19 made a big impact on our daily lives today. We never thought that this pandemic will last for almost 3 years now that made us unprepared, clueless, and don’t know where to begin. Today, we think that this pandemic is now our reality, and what we need to do is to keep moving forward and adapt to the changes or the “new normal” for us not to feel stressed and anxious.
We all have our stories to tell related to our work and experiences. We may have different fields of work but we believe as one group that we can understand each other and be each other’s comfort most especially today that we are experiencing too much because of this pandemic which all of us can relate to.
Today, we want to share stories that we have experienced. We have worked in an environment where we were asked to work at home because of the rise of Covid cases. We all thought that it will make our life as an employee easier, however, it is the other way around. There are lots of demand and workloads that we need to finish in a day, and we were asked to work overtime. What was frustrating was with everything they are letting us do, we are still being paid the same amount and overtime pay is not included. One of us was also a frontline employee and with the skills that he/she has, we felt that the management is now being unfair and unethical. He/she was employed to be a housekeeper in a hotel, however, he/she is being rotated to whichever the company is in need for that day. Sometimes, he/she works 2(two) jobs in a day which was not in his/her job description. What was worse is that there was no hazardous pay even there are guests who are positive in Covid. In addition, we felt that it is not right to let the management abuse the skills that each one of us possessed. As international students, we have experience working during holidays because we are not able to get double pay during holidays. For us, this is unfair since we still work just the same as regular employees.
Moreover, according to the Public Service Alliance of Canada (2020), Canada’s parliament, led by a Liberal minority government, is at a critical juncture. It can either rise to this historic occasion by working to put in place a bold and courageous recovery program, or it can opt to not prepare for the next crisis. Rebuilding our economy that is disaster-proof and works to the benefit of all Canadians will mean addressing the failures and weaknesses revealed by the pandemic. It will mean a massive commitment to public investment by the federal government not seen since the post-war period to:
- Replace lost jobs with better ones by hiring people to build green infrastructure, to educate our youth,and to care for others;
- Strengthen public health care by introducing a universal Pharmacare plan to reduce the cost of medicine and incorporating long-term care into Canada’s universal public health care system;
- Put in place a high quality, inclusive and fully accessible system of publicly-funded child care—something all economists and women’s organizations recognize as essential to economic recovery for everyone, not only parents with young children; and,
- Strengthen social income support systems by reforming Employment Insurance and making sure workers have access to paid sick leave.
With all of these, we can say that our Government is doing something and planning for what Canada’s workers deserve. We may see some progress the Government is doing but Why haven’t workers’ lives improved?
In connection with the question above, Lucy Uphricard (2021) said that THERE’S NO QUESTION that COVID-19 upended the labor market, but it isn’t the sole reason why, as of this writing, unemployment remains 120 percent higher than it was in February 2020. If employers are struggling to hire workers, it’s because of long-standing unhappiness with poor working conditions and meager wages—the very circumstances that led workers during the pandemic, especially in customer-facing jobs, to experience what one economist called “the most asymmetrical recession in Canadian industry.” The pandemic, in other words, didn’t create Canada’s labor shortage. It exacerbated an existing problem. It’s also forcing companies in retail or hospitality to realize that the problem might not go away any time soon.
Lucy’s article “COVID-19 Upended the Labour Market. Why Haven’t Workers’ Lives Improved?” was very on point when stating reasons why employees leave a company and why there is a high rate of employees turnover. The article also made us realize and relate to every experience shared like Anna-Maria’s work experience, Linda Silas’ stories about health workers, and other insights shared by economist David Card, etc. We like this article and we all agree that most of us are leaving our work because we are overworked, understaffed, underpaid, and underappreciated.
Ladies and gentlemen, with all of the reasons why people are deciding to leave the company, we think that there are ways for employers to let customers stay. We think that employers should start treating their employees equally, make them feel valued, provide them incentives, and make them feel that their work is being appreciated. Employers should also give employees what they deserve and give them just salaries. Now, most of the employees are struggling to have a better life in this time of the pandemic, and employers should listen to their concerns and treat them not just as an employee but as a family who will always offer a helping hand.
As Andrea Yu stated, “Culture, especially in a post-COVID world, is going to be one of the most important considerations for people and where they work“
References
Brainy Quotes. Labour Quotes: Owen Arthur. https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/owen_arthur_168191? src=t_labour
Public Service Alliance of Canada. Labour Day 2020: Moving Canada Forward Together. http://psacunion.ca/labour-day-2020-moving-canada-forward-together
Lucy Uprichard. Covid-19 upended the labour market: Why haven’t workers’ lives improved. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dVpKI9XQE2j619tOr59JnUFHYvTIOpJr4AABeUAkiHE/edit
Canadian Business. The evidence is there: A four-day work week just makes sense. https://www.canadianbusiness.com/ideas/four-day-work-week–canada
Group Members:
Kim Patrick G. Desamito- 0075962
Marie Camille Rose A. Kho- 0076180
Margarette B. Tongco- 0075950
2 March 2022 at 7:34 pm
Hello Everyone!
We hope you enjoyed/ will enjoy reading our blog post. We want to hear from you as well, feel free to share with us your ideas and understanding of the concept presented. If you want to share a related experience, we would love to hear that too! Just write your comments below. Thank you!
4 March 2022 at 8:14 am
Reviewed KM March 4
9 March 2022 at 1:45 pm
While I can’t speak you your personals stories, I can relate with my own. I’ve worked in tourism for a decade, and have not been able to since the pandemic began, fortunately I saw the writing on the wall early and enrolled in school immediately.
It is not right that people have been forced to work overtime without added pay, nor is it right to be overworked, the worst part is people it is a common occurrence as people are forced to by their personal circumstance. Hopefully coming out of the pandemic those suffering have gained skills and reflected on a roadmap forward to better their circumstance with time. This is the only silver lining of being overworked and taken advantage of; you have learned new skills and become a more valuable employee.
The current rate of inflation and worsening of global politics will be the cause of a full on recession, if it isn’t occurring as we speak, it is just a matter of time. The M0 money supply of the US dollar has doubled in the past 2 years… (M0 supply, 2022) seriously, the US printed the same amount of money in 2 years as it had in almost it’s entire history prior, they’re out of control and unfortunately we all must suffer as their dollar is the current world currency. Tightening times are only going to get worse, buckle up. Oh! and don’t forget to buy an electric vehicle so you don’t have to worry about crippling gas prices. (The Hill, 2022) Politicians are inarguably tone-deaf to so many of the problems us common-folk face.
The pandemic sure has shaken up the world, and seems now to be the least of our concerns with Putin turning into a bigger jackass than anyone previously thought possible. With covid subsiding globally we can expect to get back to a normal way of life soon, with neighbourly dinners and hang outs. There is no doubt Covid 19 will turn endemic and persist for years to come, but with a ~1% death rate (Johns Hopkins, 2022) and falling, we will overcome this tragedy and world-changing event to regain normalcy.
The Public Service Alliance of Canada (2020) reference is a little outdated as some of these points have already been implemented or are being addressed by the current government, so we have that going for us!
– There is a plan to have publicly funded childcare implemented by the end of 2022, granted it isn’t 100% coverage, but better than nothing. (Dep. of Finance, 2021).
– We all are guaranteed sick leave now as well, with a minimum of 5 days paid leave with additional variables per province. (BC Premier, 2021)
Unfortunately, the Liberal government doesn’t believe in the same social benefits as others and tend to pander to whichever topic is trending at the time of elections, so fully funded healthcare including pharmaceuticals and greener infrastructure aren’t likely to happen with the flowing locks of JT at the helm, nor with the Conservative party: the next more popular in Canada. The NDP runs on a platform more in tune with social reform, but due to lack of representation they just don’t gain enough seats in the federal government. Canada voted again on proportional representation and lost the right, which inhibits the system in gaining fairly proportioned governing bodies, according to the numbers at least. (Hayes, 2019)
As with any neoliberal standard, social reform will take time to adjust to changing climates. Much like an overstretched elastic band, the shock of being let go will overshoot to the opposite extreme before settling into a relaxed state where we all benefit best. After which time, one side or the other will again stretch the norms to take advantage of the system in order to renew the cyclical nature and power struggle all over again. In the meantime, perhaps we could all temporarily leave school to earn $50k a year washing dishes. (Yvette Brend. 2021)
Chris George
References
Office of the Premier. Five paid sick days coming Jan.1. 202. Government Of BC.
https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2021PREM0073-002235
Department of Finance Canada. 2021. A Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care Plan
https://www.canada.ca/en/department-finance/news/2021/12/a-canada-wide-early-learning-and-child-care-plan.html
Matthew Hayes. 2019, October 24. What the Canadian election results would have looked like with electoral reform. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/what-the-canadian-election-results-would-have-looked-like-with-electoral-reform-125848
Johns Hopkins University & Medicine. 2022, March 9. Mortality analyses. Maps and Trends. https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/mortality
Trading Economics. 2022, January. United States M0 Money Supply. M0 money supply
https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/money-supply-m0
Maureen Breslin. 2021, November 29. Buttigieg: Families who buy electric vehicles ‘never have to worry about gas prices again’. The Hill.
https://thehill.com/dem-lawmakers/583325-buttigieg-electric-vehicle-owners-never-have-to-worry-about-gas-prices-again
Yvette Brend. 2021, October 22. $50K per year dishwashing job sign of labour shortage in restaurants, industry expert says. CBC.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/50k-dishwasher-sign-of-labour-shortage-1.6221645
17 March 2022 at 8:43 pm
The Covid pandemic has impacted our life from every aspect and the living style of the world has changed due to this pandemic. Now people are trying to live with this pandemic because no one has any clue when it will finish. Also, Covid 19 has a great negative impact on the labor market. Many people have lost their jobs during this era and some have quit their jobs because of afraid of Covid. According to me, there are various reasons behind this scenario.
Firstly, Most of the countries introduced travel restrictions because they did not want that anyone carries this virus from one region to another region and this happened with same as products transportation. Hence, workers were compelled to find jobs where they live and they had no option. This made the labor market worse because the demand for jobs was increasing among workers but the opportunities were decreasing. Although at the present time everything is getting normal despite this some employers are taking advantage of this, they reduce the wage rates because they are well known that people are demanding jobs on any condition but most of don’t want to work on less income. So, workers are not finding a job according to their abilities and wage rate and because of this the unemployment rate is rising.
Another reason, during this pandemic almost all the firms shut down their operations as part of the compulsory lockdown this was totally unexpected for the labor market, and this stopped the productivity of industries. Therefore, many companies decreased the strength of workers forcefully because they did not have any other way to reduce the expenses.
Moreover, many industries established a new work system that was, working from home. Initially, none of them had any idea about this how they can do this, Due to lack of technology and information as well overwork burden many employees left their job.
At beginning of the pandemic, people were worried about their life that is why the frontline worker left their jobs. So, these are the main reasons throughout the time of pandemic to the rising unemployment rate.
As per the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics ((M. Smith et al., 2021)), the unemployment rate rose by 8.8 million in 2020, and in this year the employment rate fell down by 13 % in the second quarter. In the record of CPS, this was the highest quarterly average unemployment rate.
References
M. Smith, S., Edwards, R., & C. Duong, H. (2021, June). Unemployment rises in 2020, as the country battles the COVID-19 pandemic: Monthly Labor Review. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved March 17, 2022, from https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2021/article/unemployment-rises-in-2020-as-the-country-battles-the-covid-19-pandemic.htm
19 March 2022 at 4:07 am
This blog post describes the points which people face due to Covid-19 pandemic. Covid – 19 has changed the life styles of the people. People are adjusting with time. Due to pandemic many people lost their jobs, small business are not able to survive. Due to that the owners of the companies are not able to pay their employees so they let you go with a promise that they will call after the things went back to normal. As the things got bit fine, market reopens but with restrictions there will be few customers so it is hard for the small business man to hire more employees and pay them the salary.
According to CIF survey states that due to ongoing crises of COVID micro and small businesses face many challenges. MSME are cutting down employees working hours to have less expense when their is financial pressure. One another finding is that many people skip their meals, loan payments and surviving on credit.
As mentioned in the blog that the employers need to think about the employees as they do the hard work for the business because they are the one who helps in achieving the goals for the business. They must be treated well and they should be given proper credit for their work.
The precarious state of msmes: Understanding the impact of covid-19 and opportunities to support their recovery. Center for Financial Inclusion. (n.d.). Retrieved March 19, 2022, from https://www.centerforfinancialinclusion.org/the-precarious-state-of-msmes-understanding-the-impact-of-covid-19-and-opportunities-to-support-their-recovery?gclid=Cj0KCQjw29CRBhCUARIsAOboZbLuzRJ6Cjry_MixvWdDFJgj3P1DccYHf7gQ8acarYk5I4-x96iWIVQaAvcYEALw_wcB