Online event, Thursday, Jun 01, 2023, 4:00 p.m. (PT)
The rise of “gig work” through apps like Uber and Skip the Dishes has sparked debate about precarious work and what defines a “good job.” A groundbreaking report released in April from the new Understanding Precarity in BC (UP-BC) project shows that precarious work is much more common than people might think in B.C. And it’s not just Uber or Skip the Dishes that are creating precarious jobs – many more traditional jobs have become precarious too.
Join the report authors Iglika Ivanova and Dr. Kendra Strauss for a conversation about precarious employment and its unequal impacts on workers, families and communities in our province. Learn what precarious employment is, how widespread it is, and why it urgently needs to be addressed.
Hear from community-based researchers and advocates who work closely with those most affected by precarity. Learn more about the inspiring work that is already happening locally to reduce precarity and what else can be done to make every job a good job.
This conversation will draw on research supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.
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Speakers
Iglika Ivanova
Iglika IvanovaIglika Ivanova is a Senior Economist and the Public Interest Researcher at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives – BC Office. Her research explores the potential for public policy to build a more just, inclusive, and sustainable economy. She has authored and co-authored a number of reports and policy briefs on issues of poverty, economic insecurity, income and gender inequalities, public finance and labour market shifts toward more precarious work. Iglika is also a high-profile media commentator on key social and economic challenges facing British Columbia.
Dr. Kendra Strauss
Dr. Kendra StraussKendra is a labour geographer and feminist political economist with teaching and research interests in the areas of labour and regulation, social reproduction, migration, precarious employment and urbanization. Her research looks at the ways that categories of social difference shape how wage labour and unpaid work are valued and regulated, and what counts as labour. Kendra is currently the Director of the Labour Studies Program at SFU and the SFU Morgan Centre for Labour Research, and a Professor in the Department of Sociology & Anthropology.
Iglika Ivanova and Dr. Kendra Strauss are the authors of the recent study But is it a Good Job? Understanding Employment Precarity in BC. Together, they co-Direct the Understanding Precarity in BC (UP-BC) Project, a six-year research and public engagement initiative investigating precarious work and multi-dimensional precarity in BC.
Pamela Charron
Pamela CharronPamela (she/her) has been a part of the hospitality/restaurant sector for 15 years. With her experience and background in Gender Studies, she knows that workers often face unfair employment and working conditions. She joined the Worker Solidarity Network over 4 years ago because all workers deserve decent work and justice was something to fight for. Her passion is to build worker power through the lens of peer-to-peer support, mutual aid, and taking collective action in solidarity against bad bosses.
Cenen Bagon
Cenen BagonCenen Bagon is a long-time activist in the Filipino community and in the migrant justice, labour and women’s movements. In her advocacy work, she has participated in discussions and assisted in research activities to produce government briefs for the advancement of the rights and equality of migrants and marginalized workers, women and girls. She is a steering committee member of the Vancouver Committee for Domestic Workers and Caregivers Rights (CDWCR) since its formation in 1992, and an active member of the BC Employment Standards Coalition (BCESC) and the Migrant Rights Network Canada.
Maureen Kihika
Maureen KihikaMaureen Kihika is an Assistant Professor of Sociology and Anthropology and the Labour Studies program at Simon Fraser University. She is a race and labour scholar with teaching and research interests in the global political economy, migration, race, and labour/work. Maureen’s work analyses how race, gender and other intersecting categories of social difference shape the experiences of Black workers and their understandings of Blackness. Currently, her research focuses on the work-life experiences of Black millennial youth in North America. Maureen is also a member of the Canadian Sociological Association, where she sits on the sub-committee for equity issues.
Moderator
Shannon Daub
Shannon DaubShannon Daub is Director of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives BC Office — a research institute focused on social, economic, racial and environmental justice. Her work mixes her expertise in both research and communication. Shannon’s research interests include social movements, framing, environmental communication and democratic capacity. She co-directs the Corporate Mapping Project with Bill Carroll at the University of Victoria. The project is investigating the power and influence of the fossil fuel industry in Canada, and is jointly led by UVic, the CCPA’s BC and Saskatchewan offices and the Alberta-based Parkland Institute.
