Peter,
I received a forward of your posting to the UK-policy list and was
interested to see that you are working with a statscan research group on
labour market polarization. As you no doubt are aware, polarization in hours
of work is an important dimension in income polarization, as has been
documented in several statscan studies. I was surprised, therefore, in
reading your message that you made no reference to substantive, incremental
policy proposals -- such as Lars Osberg has advanced in the recent federal
"Collective Reflections" consultation on the changing workplace -- for
"leveling the public policy playing field for hours of work".
Osberg points out -- as have many others, including myself -- that the
current regime of employment standards, the structures of payroll taxes and
tax exemptions for employer-paid benefits create incentives for employers to
favour longer hours for full-time workers and to increasingly use benefit
deficient part-time, contract and contingent workers.
It seems to me that the very first thing that a responsible government would
want to do before filling the air with fuzzy noise about "soul-craft" and
"deep-diversity" would be to STOP DISCRIMINATING AGAINST PEOPLE BECAUSE THEY
ARE POOR. Now, I realize it is perfectly legal for the federal government to
discriminate against people because of their economic status. There is no
Charter of Rights respecting low-wage earners, seasonal or part-time
workers, or the unemployed. And the government probably sees no political
advantage in removing discriminatory policies.
It's quite true that ending overt discrimination may not solve all the
problems inherent in labour market polarization. But it would be a
substantive "small difference" that would go a long way to establishing the
legitimacy that you acknowledge as necessary for governance. That is, if
legitimacy is to viewed as an objective characteristic and not merely a
matter of image and public perception.
Regards,
Tom Walker
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Vancouver, B.C.
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
(604) 669-3286
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The TimeWork Web: http://www.vcn.bc.ca/timework/
