I am no labour expert, but with 11 years of experience practicing employment law exclusively, I feel like I have broad insight into the common hardships employees face in this province.
At its core, the CUPE strike is about basic things all employees care about. Most of us care about how much money we make, if there is a raise in our future and our working conditions. This strike will be marked by CUPE’s ask for an 11.7% wage increase for its membership across the board.
In the private sphere, we can ask employers for raises, changes to our work environment, and a plan for our future at virtually anytime during our employment. Sometimes employers will make changes based on these queries and other times they won’t. Employers have to respond and react quickly to demands from their workforce.
These decisions are complicated and full of nuance; usually informed by the desire to retain a particular employee, company performance and financial metrics.
When employees don’t get the raise they want, better hours or better perks, there lies ahead two unpalatable choices; take it and plod on or leave for a new opportunity.
This dynamic doesn’t exist in the unionized context at all. If you want a raise this year, you can’t ask for one. If you want better hours or perks, you can’t ask for those either. Your individual requests are rarely addressed but must be communicated to your union representative. The pent up collective interests of...
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