Indigo employees at a Mississauga store win unionization vote during the pandemic. Naureen Rizvi, the Ontario regional director for UNIFOR, discusses the rise in unionization rates in Canada during COVID-19.
The show:
The full interview with bonus material:
Drive along any street in town, and you will see laws signs or maybe a billboard where a local business is looking to hire.
The Canadian economy added 94,000 jobs in July, bringing employment to within 250,000 of pre-pandemic levels. But the numbers also show weaker-than-expected hiring, especially in restaurants and hotels. Employers are struggling to find staff. Not since 2018 have businesses struggled this hard to find skilled or semi-skilled labour, according to a Canadian Federation of Independent Business survey done in July.
This show explores what is going on with people and jobs.
This interview is with Naureen Rizvi, the Ontario regional director for UNIFOR, a major union in Canada. She will be talking about the rise in unionization across the country. In January, Statistics Canada reported an uptick in workers joining unions, especially in retail, during the pandemic. This is a break from a decades-long downward trend. She will address this trend and others.
Originally aired: August 13, 2021
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