This text is part of the special Syndicalism booklet
For Daniel Cloutier, Quebec director of UNIFOR, it is the workers who pay the high price of inflation, and at all levels.
Economic crises follow one another, but are not all alike, which does not prevent governments and central banks from often adopting the same solutions, including that of economic trickle-down: favoring the richest so that their successes “ripple” over the whole of society.
This analysis, Daniel Cloutier, Quebec director of UNIFOR, believes that it prevails once again and plagues the economic prospects of the working classes.
“During COVID, there has been a tremendous increase in corporate profits. Before, we saw a share of corporate profits in the Canadian GDP of about 15%. Afterwards, we were talking more about a 20% share, ”he explains, citing in particular the energy sectors, especially that of the oil companies, as well as the food sector.
“But here, what governments are doing is making workers pay, when they have nothing to do with the current inflation,” he continues.
Solve the problem of inflation on the backs of workers
As the economy operates in cycles, there is a consensus among economists that a medium-term recession will follow the current very dynamic period characterized in particular by a low unemployment rate.
But Mr. Cloutier is simply amazed to see an almost total absence of social programs adapted to this possibility. Worse, he finds that governments seem to place the burden of slowing inflation on the backs of the working classes.
“Companies lined their pockets for two or three years, and what are the government and the central bank doing? They raise mortgage rates and interest rates,” he denounces, adding that current monetary policies are a copy and paste of what we saw in the 1970s when the problems are completely different.
Individualized solutions to systemic problems which, for the trade unionist, are more a matter of ideology.
” For [le gouverneur de la Banque du Canada Tiff] Macklem, the problem is high salaries and too many jobs. That says something strong, he wants low wages and layoffs, so once again we want to impoverish those who get hit the hardest by inflation by causing job losses. »
In addition, the Governor of the Bank of Canada had, among other things, pointed to household indebtedness as an obstacle to economic recovery in an interview with The Canadian Press in December 2022 when Statistics Canada had just revealed that the average debt of households was approaching an all-time high of $1.85 for every dollar earned.
Where are the social programs?
Daniel Cloutier therefore remains speechless when he sees, on the one hand, companies in many sectors raising their prices while reaping record profits, and on the other hand, governments favoring industry and high finance to the detriment of workers.
“Economic trickle down, when did it work? ” he asks.
Especially since interest rate hikes, while tightening the screws on indebted households, favor those who have investments, he continues.
And in the latter case, Mr. Cloutier protests: “We still see today that, yes, we have had good salary increases, but nothing that allows us to catch up with inflation. Why have companies and the world of finance been left to their own devices [augmenter les prix et les taux d’intérêt] ? »
And if we are indeed preparing for a recession, where are the safeguards to protect the most precarious citizens?
“We need a reform of employment insurance that will ensure that workers will not be left behind,” he describes. We would also have needed universal drug insurance that would have reduced the burden on families, with dental care programs as well. »
He adds that broader social measures could have had positive effects on the current housing crisis which is metastasizing almost everywhere in Quebec cities.
“It would have been necessary to intervene to build housing for the ordinary world, not towers with pantries of 800 square feet at $500,000,” he protests.
This special content was produced by the Special Publications team of the Duty, relating to marketing. The drafting of Duty did not take part.