Cash Payments in the era of COVID-19
Universality, Unionization and Solidarity.
By Micah Dewey
May 16, 2020
Canada, and arguably the world, will never be the same after COVID-19. The coronavirus pandemic has opened many people’s eyes to the need for cash assistance, to not only the poor, but also the working class and middle-class families. The United States released their first round of stimulus cheques, and here in the Canada, people have been receiving the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit, and the bonus GST/HST refunds.
When the Liberals announced the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), initially it was well received news, until 1.4 million jobless Canadians realized that they would not qualify for the benefit that they desperately needed. This gap in the benefit showed many people, mostly on the left, that there is a need to cover everyone, or at least offer coverage to everyone. Universality of a Cash Payments system such as CERB is what the ultimate goal should be. With the system running the way it currently is, almost 7 million people have applied for the CERB, if the Liberals would open the conversation, I believe it would get massive support from the Leftist parties, however the Conservatives may be in opposition.
Recently, there has been claims of fraud of the CERB from the Conservatives and some of their commentators, this becomes less of a problem when you institute universal, opt-in programs. It’s harder to defraud someone when you are entitled to the benefit. Now, this obviously doesn’t include the horses that are getting a CERB benefit, but it does eliminate the fear of “low-level fraud”.
Universality of programs should appeal to both leftists and conservatives as the benefits are numerous and the drawback, cost, can be configured in such a way that it ends up being a net-positive. This is true during normal times, but in an emergency, there should be even less push-back. People are struggling to pay rent or care for their children, this is especially true for single parents who are working essential jobs.
Even for those who are still working throughout this crisis, they should also be able to receive the support that other citizens are receiving. Workers should never have to choose between unsafe work environments and paying their bills, this is one of the biggest reasons for government, to step in when someone is getting wronged or economically taken advantage of.
Unionization should and will be on the rise as a result of companies treatment of employees during the pandemic. The situation regarding new unions and unionization has already started taking place in the United States as described here by Shane Burley of Al-Jazeerah.
One of the largest unions taking part in this new movement is the International Workers of the World. They offer workers the chance to unionize locally, with the support of a larger organization to back them up.
Fighting for a Universal Basic Income or Guaranteed Minimum Income should be something that every Canadian worker, parent and family should be pushing for. The CERB is a nice gesture, and is life-saving for many people. However, this benefit or style of benefit should be available to all Canadians during pandemics and in good times. With the unionization wave incoming, and the workers who are still not back to work, and unable to get assistance this is the time for a revolution from the ground up. Every single person should be emailing or calling their MPs and MLAs to let them know that they need to push for universality of benefits.
For more information check out https://ubiworks.ca/
