Be yourself; Everyone else is already taken.
— Oscar Wilde.
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Covid-19’s Impact on Canada’s Airline Industry
In wake of the covid-19 pandemic that is causing a global health and financial crisis internationally, workers across Canada are experiencing either temporary unemployment or have been fired due to the diminishing demand for goods and services associated with social distancing and mass quarantine. Although several industries have been greatly affected, Canadian airlines faced drastic drop-offs in the demand for flights that have led WestJet and Air Canada to lay off a substantial number of their workers. Of the 14,000 employees who work for WestJet, approximately 6,900 workers have been let go either permanently or temporarily (Reynolds, 2020). These departures consisted of early retirements, involuntary, and voluntary leaves (Reynolds, 2020). Although there are still 7100 employees working for WestJet, they are doing so at reduced hours and pay, as the company cannot withstand the lack of demand associated with the pandemic (Reynolds, 2020). In addition to this downsizing from WestJet, Air Canada has also laid off more than 5,000 flight attendants, with an additional 4400 pilots who are currently unable to work due to the current pandemic conditions (Canadian Press, 2020). Although Prime Minister Trudeau has committed to giving $2000 a month to Canadians who have suffered unemployment due to this crisis (Slepian, 2020), both employment relations and moral will be negatively impacted for the foreseeable future, which leads to the question of how employment relations can possibly be repaired. I believe that airline workers must be protected from unexpected job loss to ensure that no employee is left behind in times of crisis.
Employee relations in the airline industry will undoubtedly be impacted for several reasons. Firstly, since approximately 50% of workers were able to maintain their current positions amid the crisis, while the other half of workers were laid off, the tensions between employees and employers is at an all time high. This is the case because even if certain workers can become re-employed after the pandemic is resolved, it is unlikely that these relations will ever be the same. Since management had to make the difficult decision of who to keep and who to let go, certain employees will feel undervalued and unappreciated when they inevitably return to the company. Additionally, there will be foreseeable tensions between the workers who were laid off and those who were not, which could elicit a toxic work environment where some employees will not trust one another and partisanship between each type of worker will just continue to grow. As well, certain employees may never feel a sense of belonging with the company because they will feel that they are expendable to management.
Although no one could have predicted the impact that covid-19 would have on the world in terms of both public health and the economy, the fact that so many workers are without jobs is detrimental to their wellbeing. I believe that this pandemic has highlighted the expendability of airline employees and has illustrated the importance of job protection in the industry. In order to resolve employee relations, I believe that all airline workers, once they have worked for the company for at least one year, must be guaranteed at least three months pay if they are let go. Since the average Air Canada salary is approximately $63,000 a year (PayScale, 2020), it would be very difficult for most workers to find jobs with comparable pay. Since this is the case, these employees must have a guaranteed source of income if they are let go, as $2000 a month from the government is likely insufficient for many workers who have the primary source of income in their families. Additionally, I think that this guaranteed income will provide workers with the opportunity to get back on their feet and mitigate the stress of being unemployed.
References:
PayScale. (2020). Average Air Canada Salary in Canada. Retrieved from https://www.payscale.com/research/CA/Employer=Air_Canada/Salary
Reynolds, Christopher. (2020, March 24). WestJet announces layoffs for nearly 50% of staff due to Covid-19, Air Canada reduces pilots. Global News. Retrieved from https://globalnews.ca/news/6725938/westjet-air-canada-layoffs-covid-19/
Slepian, Katya. (2020, March 25). Trudeau unveils new $2000 per month benefit to streamline Covid-19 aid. Victoria News. Retrieved from https://www.vicnews.com/news/trudeau-unveils-new-2000-per-month-benefit-to-streamline-covid-19-aid/
The Canadian Press. (2020, March 20). Air Canada lays off more than 5,000 flight attendants amid Covid-19 pandemic. CTV News. Retrieved from https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/air-canada-lays-off-more-than-5-000-flight-attendants-amid-covid-19-pandemic-1.4861013
Temporary Employment is on the Rise (EMPR 200)
Over the last 20 years, the number of temporary workers in Canada has seen a 50% increase from 1.4 to 2.1 million people (Rajeshni, 2019). Conversely, during the same time period, the number of permanent employees only increased by 33% (Rajeshni, 2019). This leads us to the question of what employment factors can explain such a large discrepancy?
Well, primarily, the number of contract jobs that have been taken during the 20-year time frame has increased by 7%, now accounting for 53% of all temporary workers (Rajeshni, 2019). The education, health care, and social assistance sectors account for the largest percentage of temporary workers within the economy, with 39% of all temporary workers (Rajeshni, 2019). Now that we have determined the causation behind the increase in temporary workers, we must analyze its effect on employment relations and why it would be beneficial to replace temporary workers with permanent employees.
On average, temporary workers are payed less than permanent workers and enjoy fewer benefits. In 2018, their average hourly pay was $21.80 to the $27.71 of permanent workers (Rajeshni, 2019). Although the wage gap between temporary and permanent workers has diminished by 4 cents per dollar since 1998, the gap still stands at 79 cents per dollar in 2018 (Rajeshni, 2019). Since the number of temporary workers has increased relative to permanent workers, wage inequality between the types of workers has grown significantly. What I believe is most concerning however, is that temporary workers enjoy fewer benefits than full time workers. Additionally, since temporary workers already experience lower levels of wages than their fully employed counterparts, they are made even worse off. This is the case because temporary workers are then forced to allocate their lower wages to cover health care, dental, and other benefits that are largely enjoyed by most permanent workers. This discrepancy between temporary and full-time workers could negatively impact employment relations within the workplace and elicit a toxic work environment.
Employment relations could deteriorate substantially because of the wage and benefit gap between temporary and permanent workers (Marloes, 2005). Temporary workers have a less secure job, which could impact their anxiety regarding employment and induce stress amongst workers who are on monthly or yearly contracts. Additionally, tensions between temporary and permanent workers could rise, due to permanent workers not having to worry about the stability of their jobs relative to temporary workers (Marloes, 2005). This tension can lead to toxic work environments, where temporary workers feel disdain and envy towards permanent workers that would impede relationships between the two.
I believe that in order to alleviate stress amongst temporary workers and to bring the wage gap between permanent and temporary workers closer together, legislation must be put in place to extend the work contracts of temporary workers who seek full time employment. A higher minimum number of years to work should be established in contracts so that temporary workers who seek to work full time are able to gain greater job security and increase their chances in becoming fully employed. With greater job security, I believe that employee relations will see substantial improvements and the gap in wellbeing between workers will be bridged.
I would love to hear any thoughts or suggestions on this situation!
Works Cited:
Naidu-Ghelani, Rajeshni. (2019). CBC. Number of temp workers jumped by 50% in last 20 years, StatsCan says. Retrieved from https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/temporary-workers-employment-1.5135310
Graaf-Zijl, Marloes. (2005). The Economic and Social Consequences of Temporary Employment. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/240621843_The_economic_and_social_consequences_of_temporary_employment_a_review_of_the_literature
Introduction EMPR 200
Hey everyone,
My name is Seth Abelson and I’m a second year applied economics major. I’m originally from London, Ontario and my interests include playing poker, watching the NFL, and playing hockey. At Queen’s, I’m involved in Queen’s Model Parliament and am currently working to ratify a new club. I am interested in employee relations because we will all experience work environments in the future and I would like to learn practical information that can be useful later on in my career.
Introduce Yourself (Example Post)
This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.
You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.
Why do this?
- Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
- Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.
The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.
To help you get started, here are a few questions:
- Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
- What topics do you think you’ll write about?
- Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
- If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?
You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.
Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.
When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.
Seth Abelson 