There Is A Problem At Statistics Canada

The Field Interviewers work from home, and are mostly female. There are about 1500 across the country, and it is these people who gather the raw data that Statistics Canada uses to produce the figures that tell our Government about the health of Canada. This group of workers are the most important link in many sets of data, among them the Unemployment Rate (gathered by the Labour Force Survey), the Cost of Living (gathered by the Consumer Price Index Survey) as well as many other surveys on health, education, travel and other important issues. This vital data is gathered by a group of people who are paid a starting wage of 10.69/hour. Out of this wage they must pay for a telephone line (required to do the work but not paid by the employer), a home office with secure locking storage (required to do the work but not paid for by the employer), a personal vehicle (kilometeres are reimbursed but required insurance is not--the rate paid for kilometeres is not suffcient to cover the costs of operating the vehicle for work, so almost all Interviewers must use the family car), and must also supply a host of little things that are not covered by the Employer. The Employer requires that these people be available from 0800 to 2200 hours, seven days a week, but will only pay them if there is actual work to do. Work is distributed at the whim of the Employer and they are expected to perform it when the Employer says so, with no concern to any plans or activites the Employee may have had. For the priviledge of this the Employer pays no minimum, no stand-by and often offers no apologies for their inability to adequately manage their workers. The Employers attitude to bargaining has been one of condescension and arrogance. They see this as women's work--housewives working for pin money. They have told us that their employees feel lucky to have work and certainly do not see a problem with their working conditions. Despite three years of trying to point out the error of their ways, they refuse to negotiate seriously. Their final best offer on wages was 93 cents over three years, on a base of 10.69. And a flat NO on the telephone line, further reducing their monetary offer. Soon these workers may go on strike, and the impact upon our country will be huge. All data produced by Stats under a strike will not have the same method of collection as it now does, and cannot be held as being of the same quality. Statistics Canada is risking the ability of your government to determine the effectiveness (or not) of its policies in order to continue to treat it emplyees as indentured servants. If you want more information, and if you want to help us, email me through vivelecanada and I will make sure that the people involved get your message of support.