It appears that Canadians are increasingly supporting striking Canadian workers.
For example, it is common to see Metro customers joining the grocery chain’s employee picket lines in Toronto. Others outside the labor dispute pledge to boycott branches that are directly owned by Metro. Some honk their horns in support or bring gift cards, coffee or snacks.
“I don’t think I’ve ever eaten so many donuts and donut holes in my entire life,” jokes striker Samantha Henry.
She believes that the pandemic has opened the eyes of many people to the importance of food workers. She said she observed several customers angry that grocery stores had eliminated “the hero bonus.”
That’s not all: inflation and high interest rates have dented the savings of many families. This has repercussions.
“The sympathy for striking workers is due to the accessibility crisis that affects all workers, union and non-union,” says Larry Savage, a professor of labor relations at Brock University.
A Gallup poll indicated that satisfaction with unions had never been high in the United States in more than 50 years.
It is more difficult to gauge this support in Canada, but strikers and labor relations experts agree that public sympathy is stronger than usual here, too.
A recent Angus Reid Institute poll indicated that support for unions was relatively high in Canada. However, it is difficult to put these results in context since they cannot be compared to previous studies, cautions Adam King, an associate professor in the department of Labor Studies at the University of Manitoba.
But support for the Metro strikers illustrates well how the union message reaches Canadians, he adds. “Profits in the grocery sector have been in the spotlight, as has the fact that rising food prices have contributed to rising inflation. There’s something visceral and personal about it. »
Experts usually have to rely on polls on particular labor disputes to gauge public opinion, says Prof. Savage.
Historically, the population has a low opinion of unions because of strikes which can disrupt people’s daily lives. Professor Savage cites the example of the Toronto municipal workers’ strike in 2009 which disrupted garbage collection.
The professor says he is surprised by the support obtained by union members in the latest polls.
For example, a recent survey by the firm Abacus on the conflict between Ontario and its teachers indicated last year that more respondents blamed the provincial government for this dispute. Nearly half of them said they would support other unions if they called a strike in solidarity.
A few months later, another Angus Reid survey indicated that almost all of the demands of the 155,000 striking public servants who were members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada received the approval of the population.
“You don’t usually see this level of sympathy for public sector workers,” notes Professor Savage.
The president of the Canadian Labor Congress, Bea Bruske, says she has noticed a new wind on picket lines and in rallies across the country.
“The public’s support and understanding for the need for a strike have never been higher in many years,” she said.
Sympathy for large, lucrative private companies has fallen in recent months. Professor Savage says the Unifor union was able to exploit this feeling against Metro.
Sometimes public support is really important to reaching an agreement in certain conflicts, but in other cases it is less important, says Professor King.
“What has been encouraging for some time now is that the public has supported workers even in conflicts with less serious consequences. »