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It is a fact of the Canadian labour market that the pay gap between men and women continues to define the lives of women in the workplace.

The rise in precarious work has had a disproportionate impact on racialized workers, women, Aboriginal people, persons with disabilities, and young people. Characteristics of these types of employment include low pay, no job security, poor and often unsafe working conditions, intensive labour, excessive hours and low or no benefits. More and more workers are resorting to employment service agencies to find work leaving them vulnerable to exploitation and wage theft.

Good jobs should address the interaction of race, gender, disability, LGBTQ, Aboriginal and immigrant status on labour market outcomes. These factors represent a persistent gap in access to employment, unemployment and under employment, as well as income.

Numerous studies have documented the prevalence of systemic discrimination in employment. Women, workers of colour, Aboriginal people, workers with disabilities and LGBTQ workers are subject to differential treatment in the labour market.

Income disparities arising from unequal access to labour markets have an adverse effect on a wide range of social indicators of well-being, including a person’s health status, housing status, educational attainment, and political participation.

In the aftermath of the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, representatives from government, business and labour in Korea (‘Tripartite Commission’) established the Social Pact for Job Creation, which was a basket of social, economic and industrial policies meant to foster growth.

Some examples of the recommendations, which came in four broad categories, include the following:

Nationally, President Obama’s Advanced Manufacturing Partnership (AMP), launched in 2011, brings together industry, academia and government to invest in emerging technologies, including information technology, biotechnology and nanotechnology, all with a view to renewing America’s manufacturing capabilities.

Statoil was created in 1972 to harvest the enormous oil reserves discovered in the North Sea in 1969. Extensive public debate led to the conclusion that Norway’s petroleum wealth should be a means to economic, social and industrial development.

This commitment was enshrined in the ‘Ten Oil Commandments’, some of which include:

In 1990 Norway established its Sovereign Wealth Fund (formally called ‘Government Pension Fund — Global’ or GPFG) to act as a financial resource for the country’s five million inhabitants. Unlike a conventional pension plan the GPFG is financially supported by the oil profits of Statoil, Norway’s publically owned petroleum company.

While other OECD countries have youth unemployment rates (well) above the labour market average, Switzerland has youth unemployment of just three percent (the EU average is 23 percent). Part of the reason appears to be the apprenticeship program, which graduates roughly 70 percent of Swiss youth (aged 15 to 24).

Germany’s ‘dual’ apprenticeship system is comprised of an education component and a practical or training component. The system is in place for nearly 350 recognized occupations and lasts anywhere from two to three-and-a-half years.

“More than ever before, Canadians play many different roles in their lives. They are workers, parents, spouses, friends, caregivers of elderly relatives and volunteers in their communities. They must also make room in their lives for taking care of their own physical and mental well-being. Not surprisingly, achieving balance among all these competing priorities can be difficult.” Canadian Mental Health Association

Any conversation about good jobs must include a conversation about the health and welfare of workers. Workplace safety has always been a strong determinant of decent work. Simply put, a good job is a safe job.

The concept of ‘climate justice’ first came to being in the civil rights movement in the U.S. in the 1960s, which was then coined in 1989 and subsequently supported by grassroots organizations and climate activists.

The Temporary Foreign Workers Program has been a hot topic of conversation within Canada, which has recently resulted in the federal government implementing changes to the program in order to provide Canadians the first chance at available jobs.

The term precarity was adopted by social scientists to define states of employment that lack the security or benefits of more traditional employment relationships. Many labour market researchers point to precarious employment becoming the new normal in Canada’s workforce.

The health of Canada’s labour force since the 2008 recession has been hotly debated in the media and in public discourse. The Canadian federal government over the past six years has consistently reported on an improving economy that has seen employment return to pre-recession highs due to the various employment programs and measures they instituted to strengthen the economy.

With a number of high profile work stoppages and government interventions since the 2008 recession, the debate around the value of unions and the collective bargaining process has grown increasingly polarizing. Anti-union sentiment has materialized into “right-to-work” politics; unsuccessful Charter challenges in the Supreme Court for “freedom-to-not-associate” (with unions); and proposed legislation for stricter financial reporting measures on unions (e.g. Bill C-377) and to make the union certification process more difficult (e.g.

In Canada, there has been a long-term trend of declining unionization rates, from 38% in 1981 to 30% in 2012. The biggest drop can be seen in the private sector, from 30% in the 1970s to 16.4% in 2012 as well as in men, from roughly 42% in 1981 to 28% in 2012.

On the other hand, the unionization rate for women has held steady from 1981 – 2012 at around 31% and similarly so for the public sector at around 70%. Unionization among young workers (aged 15-24) has also increased in recent years.

There is a wealth of information to be found on the Government of Canada’s websites about collective bargaining in Canada, from upcoming collective bargaining dates, work stoppages, wage settlements, ratified settlements and more.

Currently, the major issues being negotiated include wages, job security, health programs/benefits, and pension plans, where unions are being asked by employers to make more concessions and as a result, we have seen wages increasing at their lowest rate since 1998.