Presented by Hassan Yussuff on Wednesday, 3 June 2009

(Check Against Delivery)

I bring greetings from the Canadian Labour Congress and its more than 3 million members. Thanks to the organizers of this gathering and for the opportunity to share some inputs with you.

The CLC represents more than 3 million union members working in both public and private sector workplaces. Our members and their families live in communities across the country, alongside many of you.

And like you, we too are facing the consequences of a failed financial system.This moment is too often categorized as an economic crisis and not described frequently enough as a product created by financial wizards who choose to package and re-package slices of sketchy mortgage debt; and then sell it to others whose eyes were wide shut.

This complex scheme benefited from a largely unregulated financial system. The outcome for many is persistent job losses, and far-reaching community devastation. For a few, it has been a chance to pocket obscene bonuses.

Let me ask you a few questions to get a sense of who is here and where you are situated in the economic fallout.

Hold up your hands if the question applies to you, and kindly hold them up for a second, so we can all see what this room looks like in terms of where we stand in the economic crisis that surrounds us all.

How many of you are currently working full time?

How many of you are working at more than one job?

How many of you are "in between jobs"?

How many of you are newcomers to Canada within the last 5 years?Hold up your hand if you're a person of colour; a refugee; a newcomer; or a union member. (Room should all be holding up their hands)

We are in this economic crisis together folks.

No matter when we raised our hands - we are in this together.

There is no question that many have been facing the front end or brunt of this economic injustice.

(By the looks of those in this room, the front lines are very much colour-coded and new to town.)

There is no question those protected from the ravages of economic injustice are at the back-end of this crisis. Rest assured, while it may take some time, we are all in this together...

Fewer of us are working full time, many more of us - if we are working at all we are feeding our families and taking care of each other through part-time or temporary work - or both.

The landscape of our economy has drastically shifted.

For the first time ever, more Canadians now work in the services sector than work in manufacturing.

The service sector uses many part-time and temp workers who are typically members of equality-seeking groups, workers of colour, newcomers and women.

In fact, racialized women are more likely to find themselves working part-time rather than full-time, as are recent immigrants.

Too often, part-time, temporary or seasonal workers are paid less than full-time workers doing the same job for the same employer.

Too often, they have fewer benefits than full-time workers - or no benefits at all.

In Canada, it is illegal to pay someone less because of where you were born, your race, religion, or gender.

But if you're a part-time or temporary worker, this form of workplace discrimination happens every day.

More than 3 million Canadians work either part-time or have temporary jobs or both - a number which is steadily growing.

However, limited hours of work may be for this community dominated by workers of colour, by women, by newcomers - the common denominator is the work is precarious.

Canada now has nearly 1.5 million unemployed men and women. This represents an increase of 30% since last October.

The number of full-time jobs lost since October 2008: 347,400.

Canadian workers who have been laid-off since October 2008: 320,700.

This week, the Globe and Mail reported that nearly 700,000 residents are now collecting EI.

The ranks of Canadians collecting unemployment benefits are swelling rapidly.
The numbers suggest those thrown out of work are finding it tough to get back into the labour force.

The surge of people now collecting EI benefits, up 10% since last month, was the biggest jump since the financial failure took hold last October.

These numbers are new to many in Canada - but the consequences of tough times are not new to immigrants, refugees and people of colour.In a paper titled Racial Inequality: Social Cohesion and Policy Issues in Canada, academics Kazemipur & Halli; Ornstien, Reitz and Bannerjee have each demonstrated that for decades racialized workers have much lower household incomes and higher poverty rates than those with European origins. (Read white.)

Household incomes for virtually all racialized newcomers, including Chinese, South Asians and Blacks, which are the largest groups, are substantially lower than those for almost all white groups.Decades of data consistently show the poverty rate for racialized communities is nearly double the rest of the population.

White immigrant groups, of course, also experience inequity, but not nearly to the same extent.

The main economic problem for racialized newcomers is the challenge of gaining adequate employment - a struggle that is more severe during recessionary periods.

Employers' general discounting of immigrant qualifications and let's be frank - their "race" is typically what stymies newcomers' entry into jobs that truly match their abilities.

Despite the fact many immigrants are highly educated, and despite a skill-selective immigration policy, and despite the catch phrase that we have a "knowledge based", rather than a manufacturing- based economy - the reality is immigrants' success in the labour market has decreased in recent decades.

Again the academics have spelled it out - so has Statistics Canada.

Even after 20 years, recent immigrants are more than twice as likely as someone born in Canada to have a low income.Recent immigrants earn only 60% of what Canadian- born workers are paid.

This tragedy is happening even though immigrant education levels are at an all-time high.

But enough of what we know is wrong, immoral and a waste of talent and possibility.

Let me turn the discussion to provoke a dialogue with you.

Where do we go from here? What is the role labour must play to change this canvas?

Here are some things we are doing.

Our project Changing the Canvas - has documented nearly 40 stories of struggle and some victories of racialized immigrants, unions and community groups.

On the project web site www.changingthecanvas.org are the stories of people who are re-painting the canvas of our economic future in different colours - bolder colours.

Barry Stevens from the IBEW describes how his union established a unique program to train Chinese electrical engineers on how to become electricians.Because of systemic problems, these engineers can't get their international credentials readily recognized, but as electricians - unionized electricians - their economic status is better than other options.

And unions grow their membership and better understand the struggles of newcomers.

Philomena Wong describes her experiences confronting racism and prejudice as an immigrant.

She endured overt discrimination, verbal harassment as well as wage disparity in her job as an instructor with the City of Edmonton after discovering her pay was less than half what her co-workers earned.
Wong is now a banquet server in a hotel. Before her current workplace became unionized, racism was much more prevalent.

She has since filed and won a discrimination case, and now talks about the support she received from her union in helping workers of colour fight for their rights.

Someone I know quite well is featured on the Canvas web site - she was the first person of colour and youngest member to be elected president of CAW, Local 40.

Jenny Ahn had to work to overcome prejudice - both across the table from employers as a union leader, as well as within the broader labour movement.

She broke ground as the first woman of colour elected to CAW's national executive board.

Despite how few women of colour or immigrant women are in leadership positions - most of the top leadership roles in unions like CAW are still held by white men.

Jenny is optimistic about the labour movement's ability to do better in order for workers of colour to see themselves reflected in the union.

Doing better includes unions like CAW running two- week leadership courses that target equality-seeking union members.
Jenny says, "We are getting close, but we are not there." She is right, I know, because she is also my partner, and typically right on most things.

In the context of the economic crisis and history of poor economic outcomes for newcomers, we must do more and we must do it sooner not later.

At the CLC, we campaign for the strategic application of the 12+ billions of dollars budgeted for municipal infrastructure improvements.

The Federation of Canadian Municipalities did a report titled Danger Ahead a few years ago.

They pointed out with hard numbers that municipal infrastructure is sorely in need of massive renewal.

To fix our crumbling water, waste/waste systems, transportation, transit community, and recreational, cultural and social infrastructure the cost is staggering.

According to the FCM report - we have to invest 123 billion dollars on infrastructure renewal across the country at the municipal level.

At the same time, we have a huge number of under-utilized racialized talent with international training and skills familiar with the business of building bridges, transport and social infrastructure.

They came here to build their lives, and contribute to building the country.

Imagine the economic, social and community benefits of linking the skills sets of civil engineers, architects, biologists, health care and construction workers who cut their occupational teeth in some dynamic and bustling places in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa.

Yet, this crowd is more likely driving cabs, staffing parking lots, waiting tables or calling you at dinner time from a call centre with a tired and wilting accent, pitching a life insurance policy that neither wants to buy or sell.

We can do better, simply by investing strategically in people - specifically investing in those colourful newcomers who have come to build something.

Compare:

For every billion dollars spent on tax cuts, 5,600 jobs can be created.

For every billion spent on physical infrastructure projects 15,800 jobs can be created.

For every billion spent on public services (health care, child care, education, integration and settlement services) some 20,000 jobs can be created.

What do you think will best help us out of this recession/depression - why not colour our way out with purpose?

Finally, as the dark reality of climate change and reliance on fossil fuels makes all things green more appealing - we must plan to get on this bandwagon.

Labour is calling for strategic investments in radical conservation programs; energy efficient building and retrofits; urban mass-transit initiatives; the re-engineering of neighbourhoods to provide green centric recreational, cultural and social infrastructure, yes, even systems that encourage less versus eco-chic consumption because that path does create good jobs and better neighbourhoods and community services.

And like a colourful public infrastructure investment strategy - the green bandwagon path, must paint our collective future with a darker hue.

By this I mean in terms of who gets the green jobs; where green centric services should be comprehensively located and how communities get re-engineered.

My time is up - let's hope ours is not.