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Whether it was 1975 or 2022, the federal government has always tried to push the cost of inflation onto workers, and CUPE was there to fight back. CUPE still argues that workers don’t cause inflation, so they shouldn’t be forced to bear the brunt of the cost. We’ve seen inflation before! Let’s go back to 1976.

There’s growing public debate about corporate profits – how much is too much? During the pandemic, large corporations made record gains while households and smaller businesses struggled. And as inflation surges, corporate profit-seeking is contributing to the upsurge in prices.

As the Bank of Canada increases interest rates to bring inflation back down, it’s encouraging governments to ensure that that their spending doesn’t make inflation worse. Sometimes governments will use this as an excuse to keep wages low for workers, or to avoid making much needed investments in public services.

From groceries to gas to housing, the cost of living is skyrocketing. This increase in prices is called inflation. In 2022, the average inflation rate in Canada is expected to be 8%. When wages fail to keep up with inflation, workers fall behind. Today, in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, many workers are being hit hard by inflation, making it much more difficult to make ends meet.

At the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, there were massive layoffs in various industries in Canada. Thousands of unionized and non-unionized workers across the country lost their jobs, in spite of various government assistance programs aimed at encouraging companies to keep their employees on board.

I have been watching recent organizing drives at corporate giants like Starbucks, Amazon, and Indigo with interest. It is inspiring that this charge has been led in large part by young people standing up and fighting for their rights.

Too many working families in Canada are struggling with their grocery bills and housing costs. As the number of people living paycheque to paycheque climbs, more and more Canadians are wondering when the gouge is going to stop. People are rightly wondering why, after two and a half years of a pandemic, it feels like our governments are leaving us out to dry during an inflation crisis unlike anything we have seen in decades.

We’ve heard it throughout the COVID-19 pandemic: while we’re all in the same storm, we’re not all in the same boat. Nothing has made that clearer than skyrocketing corporate profits. Some companies, like Zoom, did better in the pandemic because they were well placed to respond to changing needs. But other corporations have taken advantage of the pandemic to sneak in higher prices.