Episodes 36 and 37 - Forced Labour

For Labour Day, we wanted to highlight the conditon of workers who aren’t protected by modern labour laws and labour unions. Given its prevalence throughout the world, we chose to examine the cross-cutting theme of forced labour.

We brought back Alexandra Sundarsingh for Part One, to bring historical context. Lex is a second year PhD student in the department of history at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She has a BA and MA from the University of Toronto. Thematically, her research interests include the history of Indian indenture, and its intersections with labor, race, gender, diasporic Indian culture, colonialism, and empire. Geographically, she focuses on how South Asia and the Indian Ocean world connect to broader global histories of migration, labor, and culture. She approaches these topics mainly through legal documentation and debates, transportation and labor infrastructure, and print culture in the Indian Ocean British colonies between 1840 and 1920. She also has an ongoing love of and interest in food history and hopes to be able to use this in her research as well. Check out her work here!
Lex recommended another book for this episode: We, the Survivors by Tash Aw

 Excerpt from Amnesty International’s “Turning People into Profits” (p.7):

When Suresh, aged 39, first considered leaving his village in Saptari district for a foreign job, he hoped it might be a life-changing experience that would set him and his family up for a more secure financial future. His first step was to contact an agent in his village who knew about job opportunities abroad. The agent had good news. He could offer him work in a Malaysian glove making factory. Pay would be relatively high, at RM 1800 (USD 420) per month, and conditions would be good, with one day off every week, safe working conditions and clean accommodation. Ultimately, the agent said, this would give Suresh the chance to save enough money to buy land for his family.

But this chance would cost: Suresh had to pay the village agent, as well as the Kathmandu recruitment agency who would finalise the deal, upfront. To get his job, Suresh borrowed NPR 250,000 (USD 2,416) from a local moneylender, at an annual interest rate of 36%. Although the recruitment fee was enormous (and illegal), Suresh’s agent and the Kathmandu agency assured him that he would be able to quickly pay off the debt once he started earning in Malaysia. The reality was very different. At the glove making factory, Suresh was unpaid for months on end, and when he was paid, his employer made a number of unexplained deductions from his salary. Suresh could not leave and get a new job, because his passport had been taken away, and his employer refused to end his contract or even allow him to leave the factory. In desperation, Suresh turned to his recruitment agency for help. They did not return his calls.

Instead of making money, when Suresh finally returned to Nepal in 2015 he had accumulated a staggering debt of NPR 550,000 (USD 5,317).[1]

What is forced labour?

Forced labour is a form of modern slavery. It includes slavery, practices similar to slavery, and bonded labour/debt bondage. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), forced labour is: “all work or service which is exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered himself voluntarily”. The ILO definition includes two core elements.

First, labour must be extracted under the menace of any penalty. The penalty can be penal sanctions or a loss of rights and privileges. In its most extreme form, the menace of a penalty can involve physical violence or restraint. But other, more subtle, forms of penalty exist as well. Sometimes that might mean denouncing victims to the police or immigration authorities. Penalties can be financial, as in the case of debt-bondage and wage theft. In other cases, people may have their documents confiscated.

Second the work must be of an involuntary nature. For this criterion, the ILO looks at things like the method and content of consent, any external constraints or indirect coercion, and whether it is possible to revoke freely given consent. It is often the case that victims enter forced labour situations initially of their own accord and discover later that they are not free to withdraw their labour. (FYI, the ILO definition excludes prison work.)

Debt bondage is a particularly prominent feature of forced labour in current-day contexts. Half of forced labour imposed by private actors included debt bondage. In agriculture, domestic work, and manufacturing, debt bondage was even more prevalent – occurring in more than 70% of cases.

Forced labour is different than sub-standard or exploitative working conditions – so, even though things like low wages or unsafe working conditions are exploitative and bad, they are not in themselves forced labour.

There are numerous international treaties on forced labour, including: ILO Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29); ILO Forced Labour Protocol (ratified, not yet in force); UN Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery; Palermo Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children.

How it works

This short video does a good job of showing how forced labour often happens.

There are two main phases of forced labour: recruitment and control and exploitation.

Forced labour usually involves some kind of unfree recruitment, involving deception or coercion. Coercive recruitment often involves debt bondage or confiscation of documents. It can also occur through abuse of a difficult financial situation, irregular migrant status, or a difficult family situation. Deceptive recruitment is where promises made at the time of recruitment are not fulfilled. Victims are most commonly deceived about wages, working conditions, the jobs themselves, or the length of stay.  

People in situations of forced labour work under exploitative conditions. This can include low salaries, delayed payments, imposed poor living conditions, excessive work, and lack of social protection. Victims of forced labour face coercion, which might include:

●      Threats or actual physical harm

●      Restriction of movement or confinement to the workplace or a limited area

●      Withholding wages or excessive wage reduction that violates previously made agreements

●      Retention of passports and identity documents

●      Threats of denunciation to the authorities, when the worker has an irregular immigration status

What is the scale of forced labour?

In total, about 40 million people around the world are in modern slavery. That is roughly the same as the population of Canada. Modern slavery includes forced labour and forced marriage. Forced labour makes up more than half of modern slavery. At any given time, an estimated 25 million people are victims of forced labour. For context, that’s roughly the same as the population of Australia. (15 million people were living in a forced marriage). Those estimates are from a study called the Global Estimates of Modern Slavery created in 2017 by the ILO, the Walk Free Foundation, and the International Organization for Migration.

And that’s at any given time. In the past five years, 89 million people experienced some form of modern slavery.

Somewhere between 83% and 90% of the world’s forced laborers are working for the private sector, according to one estimate. Forced labour generates annual profits of about $150 billion USD.

State-imposed forced labour

State-imposed forced labour is declining as a source of forced labour, but it does occur. At least 2.2 million people worldwide are trapped in state- or rebel-imposed forms of forced labour. This form of forced labour often occurs in prisons or in work imposed by rebel or armed forces.

You can think about child soldiers as an example of state- or rebel-imposed forced labour. In previous episodes we have also talked about the Uzbek government’s connection to forced labour in the cotton industry. And of course, forced labour in Chinese re-education camps for Uighurs has received a lot of attention recently.

Another example is North Korea’s overseas workers program. North Korea sends somewhere between 50,000 and 120,000 of its citizens to work overseas and the government receives the lion’s share of wages for these workers (70-90%). North Korean overseas workers are primarily in China and Russia, although they have been found in dozens of countries in Asia, Africa, South America, and Eastern Europe. They are employed mostly in mining, logging, textile, and construction.

The United Nations and others have documented conditions that amount to forced labour. For instance: workers do not know the details of their employment contract; they receive tasks according to their state-assigned social class; they are under constant surveillance while working abroad; and they are threatened with repatriation if they commit infractions. It is believed that the North Korean regime makes $1.2 to 2.3 billion annually from its overseas worker program.

In the second episode, Kyla talks about the Chinese prison system and Christmas Light production. It’s pretty grim, but you can follow the link to read more. She also mentions the stories that have come out in the past few years of consumers finding notes in their merchandise from people experiencing forced labour, and you can read more about that here.

Where is forced labour a problem?

Modern slavery occurs everywhere, although forced labour is most prevalent in Asia and the Pacific, where 4 out of every 1,000 people were victims. Europe and Central Asia was the region with the second highest prevalence of forced labour (3.6 per 1,000), followed by Africa (2.8 per 1,000), the Arab States (2.2 per 1,000), and the Americas (1.3 per 1,000).

Forced labour happens in a bunch of industries, especially: domestic work; construction; manufacturing; agriculture, forestry, and fishing; accommodation and food services; wholesale and trade; personal services; mining and quarrying; and begging.

Source: Global Estimates of Modern Slavery 2017, p.32

There are some regional patterns to this. In the Middle East, for instance, forced labour is most often for domestic work (270,000 out of 400,000 according to the ILO). In developed economies, forced labour is more common in other sectors like agriculture, construction, and manufacturing.

An American study created a typology of sex and labor trafficking using data from a human trafficking hotline. The typology includes 25 categories of work, many of which are related to sex. According to the US Department of Labor, the goods with the most forced labor listings (meaning number of countries listed) are: bricks, cotton, garments, cattle, and sugarcane.

Who is affected by forced labour?

More than two-thirds of modern slavery victims are women and girls (71%). It’s true that some of this is because forced labour in the commercial sex industry is overwhelmingly women and girls (99%) and because women and girls are mostly the victims of forced marriages (84%).

But even in other sectors, women and girls make up more than half (58%) of forced labour victims. There are a few sectors where males are primarily victims of forced labour: mining and quarrying; begging; construction and manufacturing; and agriculture, forestry, and fishing. On the other hand, victims are most often women in domestic work and accommodation and food services.

Victims of forced labour tend to be younger than the workforce overall. About one fifth of forced labour victims are children (18%), although state-imposed forced labour uses children less frequently (7%). 

Even though sexual exploitation is only about one-fifth of all forced labour, in terms of the number of people affected, two-thirds of profits from forced labour were generated by forced sexual exploitation. That is because sexual exploitation is the most lucrative form of forced labour, with an average annual profit per victim of $21,800 USD (compared with $4,800 in construction, $2,500 in agriculture, and $2,300 in domestic work). On the other hand, while forced labour in the agriculture, fishing, and forestry sector makes up a fairly small component of profits from forced labour, it affects quite a lot of people – approximately 3.5 million in 2014.

According to the Canadian Human Trafficking Hotline, some groups are most at-risk of forced labour. First are foreign nationals with precarious immigration status, recruitment debts, language barriers, and a lack of awareness of their rights. Second are those working in: agriculture and farming (seasonal workers, farm hands); domestic service (child/elder care and home housekeeping); hospitality (hotel housekeeping, restaurant kitchen work); construction and resource extraction (e.g., mining, timber, etc.); and services such as nail salons and commercial cleaning businesses. Third are people with vulnerabilities related to: precarious housing or homelessness, substance abuse, poverty, physical or learning disabilities, and mental health issues.

What are the causes of forced labour?

Poverty and globalization are two foundational causes of forced labour. But these are pretty broad concepts. To be a bit more specific, I want to talk about six dimensions that make people vulnerable to forced labour: restrictive migration regimes; economic vulnerability; sexism and racism; state fragility and conflict; authoritarianism; and global capitalism.

Restrictive Migration

Forced labour is closely connected to migration and, in particular, human trafficking. Almost one in every four victims of forced labour were exploited outside of their country of residence. This is especially the case for forced sexual exploitation, where three-quarters (74%) of victims were exploited outside of their country of residence. That is because there is a high degree of risk associated with migration, especially for migrant women and children.

Approximately 20% of forced labour is a result of human trafficking. Human trafficking is “the acquisition of people by improper means such as force, fraud or deception, with the aim of exploiting them.” People trafficked into forced labour are trafficked into commercial sexual exploitation (43%), economic exploitation (32%), and for mixed or undetermined reasons (25%).

Of course, it’s not just human trafficking: restrictive migration regimes can create unfreedom as well. Qatar’s successful bid to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup drew a lot of attention to the situation of migrant workers there. 95% of Qatar’s labour force consists of migrant workers, and these workers are brought in through a sponsorship system called the Kafala System. Qatar was roundly critiqued for this system, and international pressure led to changes. For instance, now workers do not require exit visas to leave the country. Although the Kafala System has been rightly criticized for how it creates the vulnerabilities that can allow for forced labour, what I found the most striking when I was reading about it is how similar it is to seasonal migrant worker programs in Canada and other wealthy countries. We mentioned COVID outbreaks among Canadian temporary workers and you can listen to more about that on this episode of Front Burner.

The ILO has a good description of how the vulnerability of migrant workers gets exploited in the construction industry in Eastern Europe, for instance:  

Migrant workers are brought illegally to work on a construction site, without knowing the working conditions or terms of payment. There, they discover that they are forced to live together in a remote place provided by the employer (to avoid police controls) and told that they will be paid only at the end of the construction. A few days before the end, when the work is done and wages are due, the owner may call a law enforcement officer to inform him of the presence of irregular migrants. The workers are then deported and the employer does not need to pay them. All due wages (minus the bribe) increase the profits made.

Economic Vulnerability

Poverty and lack of outside options are important risk factors for forced labour. In addition to poverty, people can be more vulnerable to forced labour when their family has undergone an income shock or is experiencing food insecurity.

Lower education and literacy levels can also make workers more vulnerable to forced labour. Weak labour protections create pools of unprotected workers, “who face serious barriers to acting collectively and exerting rights”. Workers can be unprotected because their country lacks robust labour protections or because they are in a category of work that is unprotected. In particular, the expansion of precarious work makes people more vulnerable to forced labour. The ILO has estimated that more than 75% of the global workforce is in temporary, informal, or unpaid work: so, “only a quarter of workers have the security of permanent contracts”.

Sexism and Racism

Some people are made more vulnerable to forced labour because some part of their identity denies them rights and full personhood. Although different, intersecting forms of discrimination play a role in forced labour, sexism is one of the most prominent dimensions.

Authoritarianism

State-imposed forced labour is largely a product of authoritarianism.

State Fragility and Conflict

On the other hand, state fragility and conflict can create opportunities for rebels and criminal organizations (and sometimes the government) to carry out illegal exploitation of workers.

Global Capitalism

Several facets of our global economy create pressure within the market for exploitable forms of labour and create spaces for exploitation. A report by openDemocracy and the Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute identifies four of what they refer to as “demand side” causes of forced labour: concentrated corporate power and ownership; outsourcing; irresponsible sourcing practices (E.g., fast fashion’s quick turnaround); and governance gaps.

Forced labour in global supply chains

The US Department of Labor produces a list of goods produced by child labor or forced labor. The most recent report is for 2018, and it is LOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG. Forced labour can appear in any industry, and can affect the supply chains or direct operations of companies of different sizes.

The top five products at most risk of modern slavery, according to the Walk Free Foundation, are:

1. Laptops, mobile phones, and computers ($200.1 billion in at-risk products imported into the G20);

2. Garments ($127.7 billion);

3. Fish ($12.9 billion);

4. Cocoa ($3.6 billion); and

5. Sugarcane ($2.1 billion).

Every year, over $34 billion in goods imported into Canada are “at a high risk of having been produced by child or forced labour.” “More than 1,200 companies operating in Canada were identified as having imported one or more of these high-risk goods.” For global figures, see the Global Slavery Index produced by the Walk Free Foundation.

Workers are particularly vulnerable to forced labour in the lower tiers of global supply chains – extracting raw inputs and processing them. While forced labour is a complicated challenge, it is possible for companies to monitor their supply chains to reduce the risk that they are complicit.

Preventing forced labour in global supply chains

Companies can work to prevent forced labour in their supply chains by having policies, knowing where in their supply chain there are risks of forced labour; having supplier codes of conduct and carrying out due diligence; and training staff to recognize forced labour.

What should you do about it? 

Pick Leading Big Brands

You can try to look for brands that are taking action to address forced labour in their supply chains. But know that these leading brands have not eliminated forced labour.

For example, in 2019 the UK police uncovered the largest modern slavery operation in its history, involving 400 Polish trafficked workers. Some of those victims were employed by second-tier suppliers to major supermarket and building supply chains, including Tesco and Sainsbury’s – the two leading companies in Oxfam’s Supermarkets Scorecard for performance in protecting human rights.

Right now, there are no big brands that have truly eliminated forced labour from their supply chains. But there are companies that are doing much better than others.

The Stop Slavery Award recognizes companies with strong policies and processes to limit the risk of slavery in their supply chains and operations, as well as those acting as key agents in the global fight against slavery. Some previous winners include Apple, Unilever, Adidas, Intel, and Co-op.

Know the Chain’s benchmarking reports can help you find leaders and laggards in apparel and footwear; food and beverage; and information and communications technology.

Try Fairtrade

To the extent that Fairtrade labels are available, they can provide an alternative that is likely to be free from forced labour.

Fair trade is a set of movements, campaigns, and initiatives that have emerged in response to the negative effects of globalization. A product that is certified as Fairtrade has met a set of standards on pay, working conditions, and sometimes other social or environmental criteria. As we discussed in the Sugar episode, there are also fair trade member systems that work a bit differently.

However, there are some critiques of Fairtrade. Some see the use of fairtrade certification as “fairwashing” – meaning a way to superficially seem like a company is doing well on workers’ rights without actually addressing the problem. Critics tend not to argue that fair trade products are not living up to the standards established by certifying bodies. Instead, they argue that fair trade does not address the root causes of problems like forced labour.  

Boycott?

A boycott can be tempting, but it is almost impossible and potentially counterproductive. In his TEDx Talk, a Foreign Affairs producer at PBS Newshour named P.J. Tobia recommends focusing on one product at a time and learning about how the supply chain works, what is causing forced labour in that issue, and what solutions are being proposed. Then you can support NGOs working on the problem or lend your voice to promote policy change or to push a company to change its practices.

Use Your Voice to Promote Human Rights

Another thing you can do is tell your representative that you care about ratifying the ILO Protocol on Forced Labour. The Protocol on Forced Labour is an international treaty. To enter into force, it needs 50 states to ratify and currently only 45 states have done so.

If ratified, the Protocol on Forced Labour would require governments to take new measures to address forced labour. For instance, countries will need to increase inspections to protect workers and guarantee victims access to justice and compensation. Canada has already ratified, but the United States and Australia both have not. You can find out more about the ILO Protocol on Forced Labour and how to get involved at the 50 for Freedom campaign website.

In Canada, tell your Member of Parliament that you want to see the Modern Slavery Act (Bill S-211) become law, but you want it to include: higher penalties, due diligence requirements, and a broader focus on human rights (in addition to child and forced labour). The Modern Slavery Act would create an obligation for companies to report to the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness on steps taken to prevent and reduce the risk of forced or child labour in any step of the production process. This Act is not as strong as its French and Dutch counterparts, but it is a good first step.

The UK’s Modern Slavery Act 2015 is the first such legislation, though other jurisdictions such as California and Australia now have similar laws. Most modern slavery laws only apply to large companies – for instance, only 150 companies are covered under the French legislation.

The Canadian Act was introduced for a first reading in the Senate in February. Read the report that spurred this legislation.

The Challenge

For our challenge, Kyla and I each looked at a specific good that has been linked to forced labour by the US Department of Labor. I chose rice. Kyla chose Christmas lights.

According to the US Department of Labour’s Sweat and Toil app, there has been forced labour documented in rice production in Burma, India, and Mali (as well as child labour in a few other countries).  

India: debt bondage

In 2007, 24 people were rescued from a rice mill in India. They had been “abused and enslaved” there. The mill owner was convicted under India’s Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act in 2018. There is another story from 2019 where a pregnant woman named Soniya working in debt bondage at a rice mill lost her baby because of the harsh working conditions. Even though debt bondage is illegal in India, in the country’s 2011 census India identified more than 135,000 bonded workers. Of course, the real figure is likely a lot higher – International Justice Mission estimates 500,000 bonded labourers just in the state of Tamil Nadu.

Myanmar: state-imposed forced labour

In Myanmar, there are accounts of up to 8,000 Rohingya Muslims being forced into hard labour by soldiers. Rice production is one of the industries in which this kind of forced labour occurs.

Mali: descent-based slavery

For Mali, forced labour primarily happens in rice production because members of the Bellah or Ikelan community in Northern Mali are often enslaved by Tuareg communities. Tuareg society is an ethnically casted society with five tiers. Three tiers are perceived racially as “white”, according to an article by Baz Lecocq. The lowest two tiers are perceived racially as “black”, a grouping of craftspeople and then the unfree caste of slaves. Colonialism reinforced this hierarchical pyramid, particularly the links between race and bondage. Mali is one of three countries in Western Africa where Anti-Slavery International has undertaken initiatives to address descent-based slavery.

Endnotes

[1] Amnesty International. (2017). Turning People into Profits: Abusive Recruitment, Trafficking and Forced Labour of Nepali Migrant Workers. London: Amnesty International Ltd.

Episode 20 - Alix's Notes on COVID-19 and Inequality

Covid19 and Inequality

Some people frame this pandemic as a “great leveller” because people are all vulnerable to getting ill. This argument goes something like, we’re all facing the prospect of getting sick, we may all lose loved ones, and we are all having our routines altered as we commit to social distancing.

However I’m not alone in arguing that in general this pandemic is exacerbating existing inequalities rather than simply creating some sort of “shared experience” equality. Capturing all these impacts is a really important research and activism agenda, but here are the trends that have jumped out of me – at least in Canada and similar advanced industrial democracies or whatever we want to call them.  

Risk and Age

The first aspect of inequality relating to the Covid19 pandemic that comes to mind is age. The general consensus is that people who are older, alongside people who are immunocompromised or have any history of respiratory difficulties. The CDC has released a report on this[i] that indicates to date, fatality is higher for those aged 85 and older and then decreases with age.

In Canada, the outbreaks in care homes have been particularly awful for residents and for workers (the latter of which I will discuss more further on). In Ontario 27 people have died in one home, while over 100 people have become sick at a home in Laval in Montreal, and 17 people have died who were living in a care home in North Vancouver.[ii] The largest outbreak in Alberta is also at a care home/centre. There have also been some issues with testing in care homes in Ontario around admitting asymptomatic residents.

Some people might see this as a one-off, but I think the conditions in care homes are worthy of more thought for the long term as we see populations aging – how do we best care for people who need more medical support in their later years? This is not my area of expertise but it’s definitely something I think societies should be having more frank conversations about.

Life cycle effects

When we start to think about the long-term effects, these are going to vary across the life cycle. After the financial crisis, there was some evidence suggesting that entering the workforce (from high school or university or another form of education) during a recession can have a scarring effect on income. Will we see another wave of millennials and Gen Zs moving home? Deepened housing insecurity and job insecurity? It’s possible, especially without a comprehensive long-term policy plan.

There might also be effects on people’s family planning decisions or care burdens – we don’t know what the long-term health effects are for people who have recovered. We also don’t know what the financial insecurity will do for populations. I’ve seen people joking about a COVID baby boom, which is one option. Another option is that people delay making big life decisions as we head into another recession.

Gender

The pandemic also has gendered effects in relation to running households when everyone is home. Women in straight relationships still do more of the household work than their male partners in the US according to the Bureau of Labour Statistics[iii] and the same is true in Britain – where women do an average of ten more hours of household work, including childcare, a week.[iv] In households where both parents are able to work from home, the burden is most likely falling on women to manage increased dishes, cooking, and childcare – while managing the challenge of trying to get kids through whatever schoolwork type setup they are focused on. The flow on effects for women’s careers will be interesting to track.

There are a couple of other aspects of gender inequality that stand out that we didn’t get to in the podcast. One is the gendered nature of essential work – medical work, work in supermarkets or grocery stores and pharmacies. Exactly how gendered is essential work? I took a really quick look at the Stats Can data on the proportion of men and women in occupations for 2019 (using NOCs – the National Occupation Classification titles).[v] IN 2019, health occupations writ large were pretty women-dominated – women make up 79% of this labour force. Service work is more evenly split – 48% of retail workers and 53% of service support workers are women. When it comes to front-line public protection services (think fire, police), the labour force is overwhelmingly male – only 17.5% of workers in this category in 2019 were women. So, there are of course some greater risks for men in this category.

And finally, a pretty scary concern gender-based violence in a pandemic. This is a high stress time and people are spending as much time as possible at home. Add to that the stresses of job loss – it’s a very high stress situation.[vi] A recent StatsCan survey reported on by the Toronto Star indicated that one in ten women were “very or extremely concerned” about the potential for family discord or violence.[vii] While governments and organizations appear to know about this issue, it’s still incredibly hard to address. I took a brief look only, I must admit, at Ontario’s response and crisis lines are open.[viii]I’d be curious to know what extra resources are being provided to get people out of unsafe home situations. Shelters are also under extra pressure as a result, trying to keep physical distancing protocols in place.

So, a real mix of gender-related inequalities are being highlighted by this pandemic – all of which are worthy of serious responses from governments, communities, and individuals – and worthy of further research.

Race

This pandemic is also exacerbating racial inequalities – notably relating to both health and work.

It is incredibly alarming to note that in the US, preliminary statistics indicate that COVID19 is killing black people are disproportionately higher rates.[ix] It speaks to the US’s ongoing legacy of inequality and racism. These are revealed in long-term economic and health inequalities. So, Black Americans are less likely to have access to quality medical care, more likely to be exposed to diseases related to poverty (some of which are respiratory), and face the initial burden of medical professionals providing substandard care to people of colour because of racist assumptions about pain.

In Canada, the issue of race-related inequality seems to so often be sidestepped by a culture of pretending racism doesn’t exist here. The most basic way to think about it, I think, is that there are persistent economic inequalities between people of colour and white Canadians that translate into poor quality housing, less access to medical care, and other factors that can lead to ill health like living in food deserts or near sources of pollution. These factors cause bad health outcomes, including respiratory diseases, which can then make people more vulnerable to COVID-19. 

For example, in some countries including Canada, there is a thing called the “healthy immigrant effect” where people who migrate here initially are actually healthier than the general population. However, over time, some evidence indicates that this effect wears off and immigrants end up with worse health outcomes [x]. York University professor Professor Michaela Hynie has worked extensively on the mental health outcomes of refugees in Canada. She has a review article in the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry [xi]from last year that summarizes the evidence indicating that over time, the mental health of refugees and asylum seekers who settle in Canada actually declines. Income and employment are especially important in this story, as are housing, language barriers, the settlement process, social isolation, and discrimination.  

There is a very useful piece on The Conversation by Professor Roberta Timothy (University of Toronto’s Dalla Lama School of Public Health) [xii] that discusses the fraught history of government and medical treatment of black, indigenous, and other racialized communities in Canada and the US. There is a lot of distrust as a result of histories of mistreatment. In the article she asks, how are people supposed to navigate health systems that “consistently violate” them?

Also, of course, many essential workers are also racialized workers – and when you look at care-related roles in healthcare, elder care, and childcare, race and gender collide here to result in a disempowered, marginalized, and poorly paid workforce who are now also extra at-risk of catching coronavirus.

Work

Focusing on work is one way to consider the impacts of economic, race, and gender inequalities altogether. Some of these issues came up on episode 17 of Pullback, where you talked about champions and problems of 2019: no sick leave for most wage workers and barely any kinds of protections for gig workers.

• Wage workers are likely to experience unemployment and many in Canada don’t usually have sick leave. EI offers very little to minimum wage workers

• Independent contractors/gig workers are essential but denied all the usual protections of employment, including safe workplaces. Gig economy workers are very exposed to the public.

None of this is pleasant or fun for any of us. I’m not disputing that. But I think the ability to quarantine and minimize discomfort depends on your wealth and your job. If you can stay home without financial stress, you’re in a safer position than someone doing essential work or experiencing housing insecurity.

Essential workers

Essential workers still have to work, in increasingly hazardous conditions, and many don’t have employee status. Essential workers are, roughly:

• Health professionals of all sorts

• Social services

• Community service workers e.g. people collecting waste, sewage treatment, the justice system, police and firefighters, corrections etc.

• People looking after key infrastructure (water, power, internet)

• Some manufacturing, agriculture, and food production

• Some researchers – doing research that might help treat or prevent coronavirus.

• People working in supermarkets, liquor stores, corner stores

• People making and delivering food

• People who clean essential spaces, like hospitals and supermarkets

• In Ontario, it’s also some construction workers, which has been the subject of debate.

There are two main concerns for these workers: (1) safety on the job and (2) wages and job protection more generally.

Safety on the job:  so, of course people who are actively working are the most at-risk of being exposes to coronavirus, especially health workers – and especially if they don’t have access to personal protective equipment, which has been a major issue in the US. In Canada, the Brookfield Institute has done a cool/scary analysis of the risk of COVID-19 to workers in Canada.[xiii] It graphs frequency of exposure to infection with the closeness of contact. It basically shows that GPs and other medical practitioners are at high risk of exposure, followed by bus drivers, then delivery couriers and light-duty cleaners in the middle, then pharmacy workers, security guards and cooks, with writers at the low end. The risk for education professionals has shifted down as those things have moved online. The write up, by Viet Vu and Nisa Malii, also points out that many bus and Uber drivers in Canada are at least 65 years old, so they are likely even more at-risk.

Wages and labour protections: service workers in particular are likely to be in precarious jobs, exposed to the double-whammy of health risks and unstable work. This relates to a problem that predates the pandemic: the crummy state of worker’s rights in Canada which makes many workers vulnerable to poverty.

Some essential workers face increased safety issues AND the struggles of precarious work.

Other precarious workers are now struggling to earn any income and facing the stresses of this pandemic (worrying about safety, kids at home etc.) without any job security.

Precarious work

It’s probably helpful to step through what precarious work is. It’s basically a term for work that sucks on almost every dimension. Precarious work is work that is irregular, low paid, and has no job security (so it’s easy to get fired/lose the ability to do a certain kind of gig).

• This can include driving Ubers, working on casual contracts in cafes, and working informally (without a contract)

• So gig work and low-paid contract work is what we mean here

Precarious work is a feature in most countries and a growing phenomenon even in European countries like Germany that have strong labour protection legacies. It’s not a new thing – work outside of standard employment has always taken place – but it is a problem for ensuring all people have their basic needs met and are treated fairly and with respect in our economic systems. 

People involved in labour or who study work usually contrast it with work that meets the definition of a “standard employment relationship” – that is work that occurs in regular hours, is permanent and continuous [xiv], and usually involves entitlements to things like EI, extra health insurance, health and safety regulation, and perhaps sick leave. They also do not have steady income – their wages can fluctuate depending on demand for their labour.

The other key characteristic of precarious work is a lack of job security. In a lot of countries, job security has declined since the 1980s – there has been a shift in the organization of the labour market away from the idea of a job for life and towards the idea that people will move more fluidly between jobs. People also tend to work more jobs across their life span now.

In Canada, employees do still have some protections against being fired. If you are an employee, your boss can fire you but they have to give reasonable notice or they have to have just cause for an immediate “summary” dismissal. Contract workers can be dismissed per the terms set out in their contract – a breach of the contract can terminate it, though this may end up in a court process. People working informally without a contract have no protections, of course.

There’s a really good CBC piece on the experiences of janitorial workers during the pandemic – Michael Enright interviewed Deena Ladd, who is the executive director of the Workers’ Action Center in Toronto who do lots of good work [xv]. Deena explains that most cleaners are independent contractors who work for low pay. They work with heavy duty chemicals that they don’t get briefed about and little protective gear. Many are immigrants or undocumented so working informally. This group is the typical example of precarious workers. They work irregular hours in tough conditions with no benefits, no health and safety oversight, and poor pay.

This group has of course been affected by the pandemic: many have been asked to use even more harsh chemicals and are not given information about how to use these chemicals safely, they’re working more hours (or being asked to), and many are afraid to lose their jobs so won’t refuse to work even if they feel unsafe. If they quit, they’re not eligible for CERB and if they’re not employees, no EI. They might be eligible for provincial financial assistance if they have a SIN number and meet various provincial eligibility criteria, but usually this type of social assistance is set at a very low level.

Deena calls for us to reconsider how we value this type of work – the pandemic shows us just how important is for keeping us all safe and healthy. It doesn’t make sense that it should be done with no pay, no job security, and no health and safety protections.

Job loss generally

The other big concern is that in many countries, unemployment is skyrocketing. This, of course, increases inequality by taking people from the middle of the income range to the bottom.

Even those who are eligible for EI are in a worse position now – EI pays out at 55% of your earnings but this is capped at a maximum of $573 a week, AND the number of weeks you can get it for is capped, depending on the regional employment rate.

We know that a million Canadians applied for EI in the week starting 16 March! Layoffs have kept growing. The US is also experiencing mass unemployment.

We are, in all likelihood, facing another recession – and recessions are always worse for the poor. So, outside of this health crisis, things look pretty grim too.

Social Policy Responses

There are a whole host of inequalities and problems relating to inequality in Canada and beyond that this pandemic is exacerbating – both short term and long term. Governments are responding to some of these problems with a whole range of initiatives.

Here are some criteria to help evaluate social policy responses:

1.     Any form of assistance should create as few administrative burdens as possible. This is a concept developed by Pamela Herd and Donald Moynihan, two American professors, to capture all the ways in which government can cause issues for the very people various policies are supposed to support.[xvi] If something is low in administrative burdens, this means:

a.     It’s easy to learn about and understand

b.     You don’t have to do a ton of paperwork, or waiting around on the phone

c.     People are treated equally and with respect in the application/access process

d.     Using the benefit doesn’t carry any stigma – there’s no negative social image associated with it.

2.     Assistance should be as universal/inclusive as possible so that the most people possible get support

a.     This relates to the administrative burden thing – as soon as you start placing more eligibility criteria on things, it’s harder for people to access them even if they are entitled.

b.     It should also be equitable and promoted to all groups (e.g. available info in multiple languages, promoted everywhere…)

3.     Assistance should be targeted at the people most unable to meet their basic needs right now (this has to balance somehow with the second one).

a.     So, much more support for people experiencing homelessness

b.     More support to renters than people with mortgages, is an assumption of mine

c.     And of course, more support to precarious workers or people who weren’t in work before the crisis.

Changes to provide people with more income

Canada straight away (18 March) introduced a tax credit for low income families AND provided a moratorium on student loans. It also increased the Canada Child Benefit.

These all seem like good things though I think it’s obvious they wouldn’t have been enough alone. What about bigger forms of income support?

Employment Insurance

In theory, EI should support many Canadians who lose work at this time.To be eligible for EI, though, a person must have worked sufficient hours in insurable employment and have not worked in at least seven days through no fault of their own – and be available for and actively seeking work [xvii]. People must also apply for and have received this support.

Those working in non-standard employment relationships like contract-based work are excluded (though some can opt in and pay coverage premiums), which is concerning considering that misclassification of workers as contract workers rather than employees is a known problem in Ontario. As a result, between 30 and 41% of Ontarians are actually eligible for EI.[xviii] Eligibility is also unevenly distributed across Ontarians:  people aged 15-24, 55 and above, recent migrants, and rural residents  are much less likely to be eligible and women are slightly less likely to be eligible than men – especially among self-employed workers.

So – not enough coverage, annoying to access (according to friends), and a short term bandaid really.

CERB

The Federal Government introduced the Canada Emergency Response Benefit. In recognition that EI wasn’t going to cut it as a response to rising unemployment. The Canada Emergency Response Benefit provides $2000 a month for up to four months for workers who lose their income as a result of the COVID19 pandemic.

To be eligible you must:

• Live in Canada and be over 15

• Have stopped working because of Covid19, not voluntarily quit, and be out of EI or sickness benefits

  • But you can be self-employed OR an employee

  • You can even STILL be employed – as long as you’re not getting paid most of your income***

• Have had income of at least $5K last year

• Be, or expect to be, out of income for at least two weeks.

The idea is that it should help anyone who has lost income due to the pandemic and its flow on effects (e.g. people who need to undertake childcare now). It’s supposed to cover employees, self-employed people, and contractors more generally.

You can apply either through Service Canada or through the CRA. Nearly a quarter of a million people did on the first day you could apply, and only those born in the first few months of the year could apply (to try and manage the tide of applications).

Positives: It’s easy to access because it’s built on the principle of “presumed eligibility” – it’s set up to assume people who apply should be receiving it and so it’s granted quickly. Apparently, it’s being paid quickly.

The checks on eligibility will come later, which I think is a pretty good decision in these circumstances, though I hope the checks aren’t arduous and I hope repayment schemes are flexible.

• The government did the right thing by merging together the previous Emergency Care Benefit and Emergency Support benefit

• Simplicity is key!

The second reason I like it is that the government has continued to widen eligibility as they come across more groups of people who are excluded – so we’re heading towards something closer to universality (though we’re not there yet). Expansions:

• Just yesterday, the government announced it would expand eligibility to workers who are still working but earning $1000 or less a month, including seasonal workers who have run out of EI during the pandemic.

• This helps gig workers and independent contractors – at least in the short term (Sunil Johal has a good piece on this on the Policy Response blog)

• More is coming for post-secondary students too as this group was initially left out – so we’ll see.

There are, though, some problems with it:

• Remember our janitors – many of whom are precarious? They might be able to get it but

• Anyone who QUITS their job is also ineligible – so if you quit because you don’t want to work in unsafe conditions, you won’t get it.

• the undocumented group is rules out as you need a valid SIN to access it

  • this one is tough – it makes sense that the grant is being run through the tax system – administratively this is easiest. I’d be curious to know if there are ways around this.

• Anyone who was unemployed before the pandemic, receiving some income support from their province, isn’t eligible and is receiving a LOT less (ODSP pays out at $1169 a month for a single person, OW is even less). These people now face even tougher labour markets.

• In Ontario, people getting social assistance can get one-off emergency assistance to help with costs relating to the pandemic (e.g. transport, food, clothing, cleaning supplies) but these are capped at $100 for a single person and $200 for families. 

• There’s variation across the provinces too which is the result of having this be a provincial responsibility rather than federal.  

Wage subsidy program

So the other main tranche of the government’s response is the wage subsidy program, which many countries have put in place (notably not the US), including the Netherlands.

In Canada, businesses and people who are self-employed can receive a subsidy covering 75% of wages for up to three months. The government expanded this to businesses of all sizes after criticism the size rules were unhelpful.

The idea behind wage subsidies, which Zucman and Saez championed in a recent New York Times article, is to protect jobs and minimize labour market mayhem later. Wage subsidies help to “freeze” the labour market for some, meaning less re-matching/job applications and hiring to do later. That kind of makes sense.

However there are some problems with this:

• It might just retain shitty jobs

• It might prevent any positive kinds of alignment towards a new economy, new models of consumption and production…

• In New Zealand there have been a ton of issues with this – employers are “trusted” to pass it on to workers, but many haven’t been, or haven’t been paying the non-covered percent.

Effects on social services more generally

Social services that support people struggling with poverty are facing a really hard time – they have had to change their service models quickly AND possibly face insecurity around contracts and funding for the long term. The Globe and Mail’s daily update at the end of March ad a section on the effects for Canada’s charities

• So far I think there has been no federal financial aid for these organizations* (note: the Federal government announced additional funding after the podcast was recorded)

• Many have had to lay off staff.

This is an area of real concern – a lot of these organizations are the closest to people who are struggling right now.

Thinking long-term post crisis (!?)

This podcast is about ethical consumerism writ large

I’m not the first person to ask whether this is our chance to make a transition to a greener economy and a stronger, more progressive welfare state. I mean, I hope so?

In some ways, the rate of job destruction does suggest we have a chance to rethink our production and consumption needs – what do countries want to produce and consume, and what kinds of jobs should people be doing as a result?

• What this will do to people’s priorities and political values long term

• What it will do in terms of responses

  • Short term measures reveal governments’ priorities

  • And then what will happen long term?

Benefits need to be decoupled from employment status, otherwise benefits accrue mainly to the middle class, not the worst off (which is of course why governments and many voters like them).

The pandemic is making a pretty good case for universal social assistance set at a decent level for everyone below a certain wealth and income threshold. There is a Boston Review piece by Stuart White that argues for a wealth floor and that was also quite convincing – the idea is that everyone needs some wealth that provides them with coverage for hard times, extra costs, or the ability to fully participate in politics (in the US), invest in education, and similar.[xix] It sounds freeing to be honest – especially when you consider the cognitive burden of poverty.  

Endnotes

[i] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Severe Outcomes Among Patients with Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) — United States, February 12–March 16, 2020.”

[ii] Grant and Anderssen, “‘These People Are Dying, Gasping for Air.’”

[iii] Bureau of Labor Statistics, “American Time Use Survey-2018 Results”; Carpenter, “Millennial Women Are Working More. But They’re Still Doing Most of the Housework.”

[iv] Burkeman, “Dirty Secret”; Office for National Statistics, “Women Shoulder the Responsibility of ‘Unpaid Work.’”

[v] Government of Canada, “Proportion of Women and Men Employed in Occupations, Annual.”

[vi] Duhatschek, “‘Self-Isolation Is an Abuser’s Dream’ | CBC News.”

[vii] Gillis, “COVID-19 Having ‘a Profound Effect’ on the Lives of Canadians, Survey Shows.”

[viii] Government of Ontario, “Helping Women Flee Domestic Violence.”

[ix] Eligon et al., “Black Americans Face Alarming Rates of Coronavirus Infection in Some States.”

[x] Health Canada, “ARCHIVED - Migration Health.”

[xi] Hynie, “The Social Determinants of Refugee Mental Health in the Post-Migration Context.”

[xii] Timothy, “Coronavirus Is Not the ‘great Equalizer’ — Race Matters.”

[xiii] Vu and Malli, “Anything But Static.”

[xiv] Arnold and Bongiovi, “Precarious, Informalizing, and Flexible Work: Transforming Concepts and Understandings.”

[xv] CBC Radio, “Why the ‘invisible Workers’ Cleaning up COVID-19 Need Better Labour Protection | CBC Radio.”

[xvi] Herd and Moynihan, Administrative Burden: Policymaking by Other Means.

[xvii] Employment and Social Development Canada, “Section 1: Applying for Benefits.”

[xviii] Bramwell, “Training Policy for the 21st Century: Decentralization and Workforce Development Programs for Unemployed Working Age Adults in Canada,” 402; Vosko, “The Challenge of Expanding EI Coverage | The Mowat Centre,” 33.

[xix] White, “We Need a Wealth Floor, Not Just a Wealth Ceiling.”

Reach out to Alix by following her on Twitter.

Check out our other episodes on COVID-19:
Kristen and Kyla React to COVID-19
Ten Unexpected Effects of COVID-19
COVID-19, Wildfires, and the Climate Crisis
Art, Artists, and COVID-19

Episode 20 - Kristen's Notes on COVID-19 and Inequality

For this episode, we were joined by the brilliant Alix Jansen. Alix is a PhD Candidate in Political Science at the University of Toronto. Her work focuses on welfare states and the political economy of skills in advanced industrial democracies. Alix did a lot of preparation for this episode. And she was kind enough to send us her notes! We wanted to give those notes the attention that they deserve, so we gave them their own research note. Check them out by clicking here.

Alix’s Bio

Alix Jansen is a PhD Candidate and a Connaught International Scholarship holder at the University of Toronto. She specializes in the study of welfare states and the political economy of skills in advanced industrial democracies. She contributes to the research outputs of Future Skills Canada and the Innovation Policy Lab at the University of Toronto. A former Fulbright Scholar, she has international experience in interview-based research concerning work and the welfare state. Her dissertation project focuses on the distribution of retraining to unemployed workers in Canada, the US, Denmark, and the Netherlands. She has also worked as a Senior Advisor for the Ministry of Social Development in New Zealand, where she specialized in operational policy and active labour market policy.

COVID-19 and Existing Inequalities

Pandemics have a way of revealing the problems and weaknesses in society. What are some issues that come to your mind when you think of the inequalities that COVID-19 is exposing? Themes: age, gender, race, economic inequality.

One of the things you said when we were preparing for this episode was that the axes of inequality become clearer when we look at the effects of the pandemic at work. Can you explain what you meant by that?

Is there a particular story or moment that sticks out in your mind when it comes to the unequal way that COVID-19 is affecting people?

White Collar Quarantine

Let’s break down the concept of white collar quarantine a bit. First, class plays a role in who gets to stay at home during the pandemic. Can you talk a bit more about that?

But it’s not just about who has to go to work. The experience of the pandemic can be very different depending on your life circumstances – how comfortable your living spaces are, whether you have access to the outdoors, and even the ability to social distance when you go out. On this, check out the Toronto artist who built a “social distancing machine” to illustrate how the sidewalks are too narrow for people to safely get essential goods and services. Then of course there are the challenges faced by vulnerable people, including those experiencing homelessness (see my Ricochet op-ed on this here); prisoners; and elderly people.

Prisoners

Over 100 inmates and corrections officers at Canadian federal institutions have tested positive for COVID-19. At least 25 of those are at one facility in BC (the medium-security Mission Institution). Given these concerns there have been calls by health professionals to release as many inmates as possible. That is especially important because prisoners are more likely to be medically vulnerable and to have infectious diseases like hepatitis C and HIV. 25% of the prison population is either elderly or people with pre-existing health conditions.

Guards also feel unsafe: there has been at least one work refusal action by guards in a Canadian correctional facility.

The Criminal Lawyers’ Association and the Union of Safety and Justice Employees have also called for low-risk prisoners to be released. So far, as far as I can tell Ontario is the only province to have done this. Ontario released 2,300 inmates from provincial jails (a drop of about 28% in the total population). These are people in jail for non-violent offenses and that are at low risk to reoffend. (I think jail is where you are before you’re convicted). A few American states have also released some inmates from jails.

Prisons are also using segregation and solitary confinement as a means to control the virus, which raises mental health and prisoner’s rights concerns.

Long-term Care Facilities

In Canada at least, long-term care homes have become the centrepiece of the pandemic. The stats are changing every day, but about half of Canada’s COVID-19 deaths are linked to long-term care facilities. In Quebec, 70% of COVID-19 deaths are linked to long-term care facilities and seniors residences. And we have heard gruesome stories of neglect in facilities such as Residence Herron.  

Unemployment/Debt

The pandemic is also an economic crisis, and that is something that certain groups of people are feeling especially acutely. What are some of the ways that this pandemic is likely to make our economy less equal? Themes: unemployment, unequal access to safety nets, difficulties for new entrants to the job market, and debt. In the US, 22 million unemployment claims have been filed in the last four weeks.

Policy Solutions

And what about the policy solutions to-date: are there actions governments could take that would mitigate these problems? Any countries that you think are doing particularly well or particularly badly? Spain is considering a permanent move to universal basic income, but there are still a lot of questions around whether the program will really be universal and unconditional.

How should we think about the economic problems posed by the pandemic? Themes: to what extent do policy responses increase job security and decommodify basic needs; universal basic income and the Canada Emergency Response Benefit; lowering administrative burdens for applicants;

Canadian Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion, Carla Qualtrough, had an interesting response the other day: she said the decision to have some barriers was because they felt having a substantial targeted benefit of $2,000 would be better than having an open policy that was smaller in scope. What would you say to that? 

Long-term Legacy

Ok, so the pandemic has revealed a bunch of problems with our society and it has forced countries around the world to come up to temporary solutions to these kinds of policies. To what extent do you think those actions will create a legacy? In other words, could we see a paradigm shift after this? Themes: which policies will stick around; the 2008 recession; the Green New Deal/Green Recovery.

It will be interesting in the long-run to see whether this crisis produces greater calls for revenue-raising and tax fairness (wealth tax, higher corporate tax rates, more progressivity in income tax) or whether we see a period of protracted austerity that further undermines the welfare state.

Check out our other episodes on the pandemic:
Kristen and Kyla React to COVID-19
Ten Unexpected Effects of COVID-19
COVID-19, Wildfires, and the Climate Crisis
Art, Artists, and COVID-19

Episode 18 - Ten Unexpected Effects of COVID-19

1. Crimes

Drug Cartels

According to a Vice article, COVID-19 is making it really difficult for drug cartels like the Sinaloa Cartel to make and distribute their products. The raw ingredients for manufacturing meth and fentanyl are primarily sourced from China (and in particular Hubei Province), so drug makers have been running low on essential materials for a little while. And even when they can get materials, the price is elevated.

Border restrictions are likely to make it difficult for them to move their product, which is typically smuggled in cars and trucks. “One trafficker who works for El Mayo in the border city of Mexicali told VICE News that last week they went from smuggling around 15 kilos of meth and heroin per week to five due to lack of supply and increased enforcement on the U.S. side.”

A drug dealer in Hamilton, Ontario was arrested for conducting a non-essential business during the pandemic (and also charged with drug trafficking and proceeds of crime).

However, we don’t want to make too much light of this situation because it has real harms. Increased prices are bad news for people with addictions, who will seek out the drug regardless of the cost.

Other Crimes

There has been at least one high-profile heist that has occurred during museum shut-downs – a Van Gogh painting was stolen from the Singer Laren museum in the Netherlands. But in general, muggings, burglaries, and home invasions have decreased because people aren’t out on the streets and because people are conducting transactions online.

On the other hand, declining access to street prostitution may increase online prostitution sites that feature trafficked and enslaved women. So, the kind of prostitution that is being carried out during the pandemic is likely to be worse for women.

Likewise, there are concerns that increased screen-time, coupled with health and economic anxiety, could increase online radicalization.

2. Car Accidents

People aren’t going out as much, so there are fewer car accidents. In Phoenix, Arizona car accidents in the last two weeks of March were down by 75%, as compared with the first two weeks of March. California collisions have gone down by roughly half, according to reporting by the LA Times and Quartz. In Seattle, car accidents have also been halved.

On the other hand, when car crashes do occur during COVID-19 they put first responders at risk of infection. For instance, a paramedic in the Peel region of Ontario has tested positive for COVID-19 after being exposed at a crash site.

3. Domestic Violence

Unfortunately, for some people “stay at home” orders have made life a lot less safe. Domestic violence tends to increase during periods when families spend more time together, such as Christmas and summer vacations.  

Now that families worldwide are in lockdown or being asked to stay at home, domestic abuse hotlines have seen an increase in call volume. For instance, French police reported a nationwide increase in domestic violence of about 30% (36%, according to another source). In the UK, domestic abuse calls have increased by 25%.

The Canadian government has contributed $40 million in emergency funding for women’s shelters, to help address the expected uptick in domestic violence. A further $7.5 million has been given to the Kids Help Phone so that they can hire more counsellors and volunteers to deal with the overload during COVID-19.

This funding is great, but we wouldn’t be in such a crisis if Canada’s regular systems for addressing family violence weren’t so broken. For example, a CBC investigation recently found that women and children are turned away from shelters in Canada almost 19,000 times every month. In September 2019, Maclean’s put out an investigative report by Anne Kingston on the crisis of domestic violence in Canada. Even before COVID-19, Canadian domestic violence was at an “epidemic level”, the five-year average having increased 40%. The report “found a response mechanism structured to fail – a lack of data, inconsistent record-keeping, systemic disconnects, lack of accountability and failure of political will.” They found an “underlying lack of concern for the human rights and safety of women and children” amongst law enforcement, the courts, and public perception.”  

4. Recycling

It is expected that residential waste collection may increase by 30% with more people staying at home and excess material from panic buying (stock home syndrome). And that same projection predicts that recycling contamination could increase by as much as 20%.

The increase in household waste requires recycling pickup and processing to increase, which is causing some disruptions in a few US cities.

And, of course, the demand for single-use plastics is going up as reusable options are prohibited.

Quote from Emily Atkin, who runs a climate change newsletter called HEATED: “The plastics industry is, after all, aggressively pushing for more single-use plastics in the era of coronavirus—and the science they’re using to justify it is shaky at best. And more generally, what are the effects of all this trash we’re generating?”

What Emily Atkin is referring to here is lobbying by the Plastics Industry Association to promote rules against reusable bags during the pandemic. According to her reporting, the studies that they are using to justify these claims actually does not demonstrate that there is a greater threat to consumers when they use reusables versus single-use plastic. And, in fact, if your reusable bag is not made of plastic it may actually be safer, because COVID-19 can last for a long time on plastic.

COVID-19 is also changing recycling procedures – there are fewer specialized recycling pickup options. London, Ontario is even asking sick people to avoid recycling altogether!

5. Armchair Activism

This is just a funny story and I wanted to share it. Apparently quarantined school children in Wuhan, China tried to get their homework app (DingTalk) taken off of the App Store by review-bombing it (giving it lots of one-star reviews). They were almost successful, but unfortunately it’s still up.

6. Climate Change

People have been talking about “silver linings” of COVID-19 in the form of improved air quality and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. You may have seen satellite images of declining air pollution (e.g., nitrogen dioxide concentrations in Italy, air pollutant levels in San Francisco).

But these are temporary and likely to be offset by slingshot effect as countries race to re-grow by slashing environmental regulations. Environmental activists are pushing to ensure that recovery plans are green, but they may not be successful in every case. Also, our failure to address air pollution and other environmental problems has made people more vulnerable to COVID-19.

At the same time, the pandemic has really slowed the momentum of climate activism. April was supposed to be the Global Month of Climate Action, with climate strikes and other protests planned around the world. While activists have found ways to work online, the inability to physically protest has made their work more difficult. And with the pandemic dominating the news at this time, it is difficult to talk about the climate crisis. Yet it is vitally important that we do: “The Corona crisis is a 100-metre race and the climate crisis is a marathon. We have to run both at the same time.” Victor Galaz, Stockholm Resilience Centre.

Can COVID-19 provide lessons for how we can address climate change? Optimistically, some people observe the extraordinary measures taken to protect people and see an opportunity to extend that approach to the climate crisis. It also teaches the lesson that delaying is deadly. But we’ll see.

7. Olympians

Canada was the first country to say that their athletes would not participate in the Tokyo Olympics if they were held as scheduled this summer. The move created pressure such that the IOC postponed the Olympics to 2021.  

So, that’s obviously bittersweet for a lot of Olympians. Training for 2020 would have been very difficult under existing lockdown and social distancing rules. (Also, not getting COVID-19.) But on the other hand, many athletes may lose their chance to compete as a result of this.

An article in Burnaby Now by Lori Ewing and Donna Spencer highlighted the thin financial margins of Canadian Olympic athletes. Fortunately, Canadian athletes are still able to access their 2020-2021 monthly Athletes Assistance Program cheques, which offer between $1,060 and $1,765 per month (which by the way is about half of CERB funding). But prize money is often the main source of income for athletes. And the current shutdown of sport worldwide means athletes aren’t earning that prize money.  

8. Workers’ Rights

There are good and bad news stories on the effect of COVID-19 for workers’ rights.

On one hand, COVID-19 is accelerating the “Amazonification of the planet”. We’re all ordering online more, and mostly from online platforms like Amazon. Amazon is temporarily hiring 100,000 people in the US to deal with the increase. This shift could increase the percentage of the workforce that is doing precarious work in the long term – at the same time as the pandemic has highlighted inadequacies in worker protections for the precariat.

On the other hand, the pandemic is revealing the importance of workers – especially workers in the so-called “low-skilled” category. These workers have been declared essential, meaning they are among the few that have had to continue going to work during the pandemic. They are putting themselves at risk and are starting to receive more respect.

This increased public recognition of essential workers has pushed some retailers to raise pay, at least temporarily. For example, four Canadian grocery chains (Metro, Loblaws, Empire – which runs Sobeys, IGA, Safeway, Foodland, etc. – and Walmart Canada) have implemented temporary wage increases for workers. Amazon has also temporarily raised wages for its Canadian workers.

COVID-19 has demonstrated the importance of unions, who are pushing for worker safety protections across an array of industries. For instance, the LiUNA union has been pushing for increased enforcement to ensure worker protection for Canadian construction workers (construction was declared essential work in Ontario). The United Food and Commercial Workers union has pushed for safety measures for grocery store workers, such as protective shields at tills, limits on the number of customers allowed in stores, and security personnel to enforce social distancing, as well as the hazard pay raise that has been implemented in many chains. And nurses unions have been sounding the alarm about the need for adequate personal protective equipment.

At the same time, non-unionized workers have been mobilizing. Some people have likened this situation to the increase in peasants’ living conditions after the Black Death and the resulting Peasants’ Revolt.

Amazon warehouse workers in Europe and the United States have been striking and protesting to assert their need for safety and good working conditions. In Staten Island, NY, for example, workers walked out of an Amazon warehouse to demand that the facility be shut and cleaned during a paid time off after a co-worker tested positive for COVID-19. Oh, and a leaked internal memo shows that Amazon planned to discredit the strike leader as “not smart”. They also fired him. These kinds of walkouts are happening all over America. Likewise, Whole Foods workers (Whole Foods is owned by Amazon) in the US are undertaking rolling strikes/walkouts to demand safeguards against COVID-19. Instacart workers have also gone on strike. They are asking for $5 in hazard pay per order and a tip default on the app of at least 10% 

9. Ebola

The DR Congo’s tenth Ebola epidemic appears to be drawing down (for reasons unrelated to COVID-19). The systems put in place during the Ebola epidemic may help DR Congo to address COVID-19. However, there is a risk that WHO will wind down the response too early and that could put people at risk.

10. Inequality

There are so many links between COVID-19 and inequality that the topic deserves its own episode. But I did want to tease the discussion by highlighting recent reporting on how inequality makes it more difficult for some people to social distance.

The New York Times used location data to examine how inequality affects social distancing. They found that people in the top 10% of income have limited their movement more than the bottom 10% in the same metropolitan areas.

Given that, it’s no wonder that we’re already seeing inequalities play themselves out in COVID-19 deaths. In Louisiana, for instance, more than 70% of COVID-19 fatalities have been African Americans, even though this group makes up just 32% of the population.

Oh, and also this is fucked: two top French doctors proposed on live TV that vaccines should be tested on impoverished African populations.

Check out our other episodes on COVID-19:
Kristen and Kyla React to COVID-19
COVID-19 and Inequality with Alix Jansen
COVID-19, Wildfires, and the Climate Crisis
Art, Artists, and COVID-19

Episode 15 - Kristen and Kyla React to COVID-19

Kristen’s Three Champions

Healthcare Workers and Retirees

Obviously, healthcare workers are at the frontlines of this pandemic, and they deserve our immense gratitude. But I also want to draw attention to the champions who are volunteering to provide surge capacity. Across the country, nurses are volunteering to come out of retirement to help out with the pandemic response. In Ontario, for instance, the Registered Nurses’ Association asked for volunteers to help with the Telehealth information line. As of Monday, 3,000 licenced nurses had volunteered. Provinces are also expediting licensing requirements so that retired physicians and nurses can become licensed and get to work. The expedited licenses are for a constrained time period (four months in Nova Scotia).

Frontline Service Workers, Including Gig Workers

Thank you, grocery store workers and pharmacists. Thank you, warehouse workers and couriers. Thank you to the workers who are keeping utilities, infrastructure, and public transit in operation. Thank you, taxi drivers. We appreciate you.

Trust and Social Solidarity

In a time of global crisis, it is important to be able to look to and trust our public institutions. And it seems like Canadians are able to do that. A poll by the Angus Reid Institute found that Canadians have become much more concerned about COVID19 since early March. Between March 5 and March 13, the proportion of Canadians that see the coronavirus pandemic as a serious threat increased by 26 percent. As of last Friday, 68% see it as a serious threat. That proportion is probably even higher today.

As concern has increased, public trust in institutions and government has also increased. Trust in information coming from health and medical authorities has increased 8 points, to 87%. Trust in information from provincial governments has increased 12 points, to 73%. Trust in information from the federal government has increased 9 points, to 67%.

A poll of eight affected Asian countries found something similar. They documented very high levels of trust in medical professionals.

The flip side of public trust is a commitment to follow rules and guidelines. So far it seems like Canadians are taking that seriously. Toronto’s Medical Officer of Health said today that within hours of Ontario declaring a state of emergency they had 96% compliance with rules closing bars, restaurants, recreational facilities, and private schools.

Kristen’s Three Problems

Economic Rights for Wage Workers

The United Nations estimates that COVID-19 could push 25 million or more workers into unemployment, underemployment, and working poverty. Overall, they estimated that workers stood to lose $3.4 trillion in income by the end of 2020. Just 20% of the work leave taken by low-wage earners in Toronto is paid. Only two provinces (Quebec and PEI) require paid sick leave. So, the decision to allow this really is up to the employer in most cases.

Most retail stores have closed over the past week. Many companies are now offering paid sick leave, but not all of them. And even fewer are offering economic leave (retrenchment benefits) while their physical stores are closed. That poses very real economic challenges for wage workers, even if they have access to Employment Insurance (EI).

Independent Contractors/Gig Workers and COVID-19

Gig workers are the people working generally low wages for gig economy companies like Uber, Lyft, Foodora, and Skip the Dishes. These companies claim that gig workers aren’t their employees, but rather independent contractors – and so they don’t have to provide the same protections that they would for employees. There are some ongoing court cases to challenge this, with some successes. In Ontario, some Uber drivers are trying to join a union (the United Food and Commercial Workers union). But change has been slow.  

COVID-19 has revealed how important gig workers are to our everyday lives and, at the same time, how few social protections they have. Most gig workers don’t have access to government benefits like EI. By definition there is no sick leave or economic leave for these workers.

And at the same time, the demand for many gig workers’ services are up, as people order food and products online to avoid leaving the house. There is some evidence that COVID-19 is accelerating the movement to protect gig workers. Recently, for example, an advocacy group called the Gig Workers Collective formed in the US to advocate for fair pay.

If you aren’t a gig worker, one question you may be asking yourself is: should social distancing include online ordering?

Ordering online increases the risk that deliverers will contract COVID-19. Delivery personnel are at among the highest risk of contracting the virus. Delivery people are braving “a germ-filled world when people of means would rather not.” On the other hand, not ordering hurts workers too because it cuts into their income.

Ethicist Carissa Véliz said the following about the ethics of ordering food online: “Society always relies on a minority of people to carry out risky or unpleasant jobs that not everyone is willing to do. To be ethical, ideally, those people should be paid more than others who have more comfortable jobs.” In the same article, the Guardian also interviewed several couriers for their article, and one of them said: “Whether or not you order won’t change the calculus for workers who have no choice but to do it either way. So, the best you can do is be considerate.”

What you can do to support gig workers during COVID-19:

1.     Treat couriers kindly: be patient with delays, leave a good rating.

2.     Tip especially well, and tip electronically if possible.

3.     Practice social distancing, so it’s safer for them. If you are going to order online, health specialists recommend leaving the food at the door or being at arm’s length from the deliverer.

4.     Convey your ethical concerns to companies. Ask if workers’ jobs are being made as safe as possible and if they can take sick leave. If you decide to boycott, let companies know why.

5.     Try ordering from a local business. Order directly from the restaurant if possible. And if you need books, why not order from a local independent bookshop? Many of them will deliver.

Refugees and Temporary Foreign Workers

With governments around the world closing their borders, what to do about refugees and temporary foreign workers?

When Kristen and Kyla recorded, there was a lot of uncertainty around whether temporary foreign workers (TFW) will be allowed into the country, which could be a big problem for our food system – especially given that March and April are busy months. One idea is to allow TFWs and quarantine them. There are 140,000 TFWs in the Canadian agricultural sector (and that doesn’t include food processing). On March 18, the Government of Canada announced that it would allow TFW and international students to continue entering Canada despite border restrictions. Upon entering Canada, a 14-day quarantine will be applied.

But the pandemic also highlights gaps in access to healthcare for groups like TFWs. TFWs who are part-time or between contracts often don’t have medical coverage in Canada.

Unfortunately, there have been some columnists and Twitter personalities starting to call for the government to turn back asylum seekers, now that the Canada-US border is closed to non-essential travel. (We don’t want to amplify these voices, so we are not linking to them). Thankfully, so far the federal government is not barring irregular asylum seekers.

Kyla’s Three Champions

Companies That Shut Their Doors with Paid Leave

There are a number of companies that have voluntarily closed their doors, and are compensating their employees. Some of those include Patagonia, Apple, Indigo, Nike, Urban Outfitters, Lush, and more.

And shout out to the other high-risk places that have been isolating, it’s the right thing to do; ships, prisons, and care homes.

Doctors, Nurses, First Responders

Let’s take care of our healthcare workers while they take care of us. Best practice is to stay home if you can!

Capitalism Grinds to a Halt, the Environment Thanks Us?

https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/16/asia/china-pollution-coronavirus-hnk-intl/index.html

https://www.nbcnews.com/science/environment/coronavirus-shutdowns-have-unintended-climate-benefits-n1161921

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/18/climate/nyt-climate-newsletter-coronavirus.html

Bonus Champion: Brewdog

Brewery in the UK starts making and distributing hand sanitizer to hospitals.

Kyla’s Three Problems

Panic Buying

Panic is contagious, and herd-mentality sends us down a slippery slope. Oh wow, everyone is buying toilet paper, maybe there’s something they know that I don’t know? Guess I should pick up some extra as well. Which means shortages. Although interestingly, part of the TP shortage is caused by everyone staying home, which means fewer folks needing the industrial TP for offices, schools, and restaurants, and more needing the home-style stuff. This is a disruption in the supply chain for both types of TP, as they are produced by different companies.

Media

There’s been a lot of information sharing regarding the virus, and as with any major story, there is a lot of false information floating around. Please check your sources! Memes are not a source of news! This gets me too, from time to time. You see a meme that says something that sounds like it could be right, and it’s easy to believe it. This is how I thought sneezing wasn’t a symptom of Coronavirus, when it actually is. And this is how the toilet paper panic buying started. This is important! We highly recommend getting your news from the CBC.

Vulnerable Workers Left Hanging

https://globalnews.ca/news/6659997/coronavirus-ei-sickness-benefits/

https://www.macleans.ca/opinion/how-labour-policy-in-both-canada-and-the-u-s-affects-the-spread-of-coronavirus/

Check out our other episodes on COVID-19:
COVID-19 and Inequality with Alix Jansen
Ten Unexpected Effects of COVID-19
COVID-19, Wildfires, and the Climate Crisis
Art, Artists, and COVID-19