{"id":599,"date":"2015-12-01T17:11:43","date_gmt":"2015-12-01T17:11:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cusjc.ca\/closeup\/?p=599"},"modified":"2015-12-01T22:16:06","modified_gmt":"2015-12-01T22:16:06","slug":"insecurities-of-government-contract-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/closeup\/2015\/12\/01\/insecurities-of-government-contract-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Insecurities of government contract work"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_605\" style=\"width: 810px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/cusjc.ca\/closeup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/John-Yemen1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-605\" class=\"wp-image-605 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/cusjc.ca\/closeup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/John-Yemen1.jpg\" alt=\"John Yemen has worked part-time contracts over the last 16 years without benefits. \u00a9 Jean Pierre Niyitanga.\" width=\"800\" height=\"555\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/closeup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/John-Yemen1.jpg 800w, https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/closeup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/John-Yemen1-300x208.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-605\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">John Yemen has worked part-time contracts over the last 16 years without benefits. \u00a9 Jean Pierre Niyitanga.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Working part-time contracts can create both financial and job instability, leaving many government employees worried about retiring without enough savings.<\/p>\n<p>That includes John Yemen, a 41-year-old who has spent 16 years of his career working various casual contracts with the federal government in Ottawa. He has lived a modest life and working short-term contracts with no employment benefits has left him worried for his future.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou can\u2019t really do much of planning,\u201d said Yemen, who now works as an imaging technician at Library and Archives Canada. \u201cSomething like paying your mortgage, which requires having a certain sustainable income, is really difficult. If I was planning my career better, I would have tried harder to find a full-time job earlier in my career.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When he started working in 1999, Yemen was aiming for a permanent job but couldn\u2019t find one. He found a part-time job through an employment agency and went on from there. Because his contracts are not automatically renewed, sometimes he spends two years waiting for an employment agency to find another job for him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is a seduction of working for an employment agency because they will do the work of finding a job for you,\u201d said Yemen, who studied multimedia development at Algonquin College. When he doesn\u2019t have a contract, Yemen gains extra income through the movie-screening business he co-founded with his friends.<br \/>\n<script id=\"infogram_0_change_in_full_time_and_part_time_government_jobs\" title=\"Change in full-time and part-time Government jobs\" src=\"\/\/e.infogr.am\/js\/embed.js?M5g\" type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>According to Statistics Canada, a full-time worker makes a lot more on an hourly basis than a part-time worker: $23.08 compared to $13 in 2014. Similarly, the median wage for a permanent employee was $22 per hour in 2014, compared to $16 for a temporary employee.<\/p>\n<p>Even though Yemen has been able afford day-to-day expenses, he always feels the pressure to be careful how he spends his money. He said not being able to save any money makes it impossible to plan big projects like buying a house or a car, or going on vacation. He says even seeing a dentist can feel like a financial burden.<\/p>\n<p>He said he went four years without taking a vacation and when he got sick he wasn\u2019t paid for the days he stayed at home. He said he feels he\u2019s missed out on a good quality of life and considers himself a working-class person.<\/p>\n<p>When Yemen turned 30, he started to think more about his future. He said he realized he needed to earn more so that he could afford a vacation, a house, a car and more importantly, a good retirement pension package. In 2014 he was able to get a term contract with LAC that provides him with the same employment benefits as permanent employees.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"838\" height=\"400\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?visual=true&#038;url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F235609542&#038;show_artwork=true&#038;maxwidth=838&#038;maxheight=1000\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>After getting a term contract, Yemen immediately decided to buy an apartment hoping his contract would be renewed so he could pay off the mortgage. And with the term contract, he was able to take a paid vacation for the first time in 16 years.<\/p>\n<p>Joseph Coppolino is in the same situation. A graduate of Carleton University, Coppolino\u2019s first one-year contract with Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada ends in December and the pressure is increasing as he looks for another job.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt sucks,\u201d he said. \u201cThere is a lot of work to be done but it seems like there isn\u2019t enough money to spend on a permanent employee.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>The blame is on the changing economy <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>One way the government can cut their expenses is by hiring workers on short-term contracts \u2013 and they have a growing tendency to do so. Between 2006 and 2014, part-time jobs grew by 15 per cent while full-time jobs grew by only seven per cent in the same period, according to Statistics Canada.<\/p>\n<p>Professor Frances Woolley, associate dean and professor of economics at Carleton University, said the government doesn\u2019t have the same obligations to part-time employees as they to their permanent workers..<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe system gives the government flexibility to bring in expertise they need for the time they need it and they don\u2019t have to worry about what happens to that person after,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Woolley said the labour market has become increasingly competitive and there is a lot of downward pressure on wages. Woolley observed that the system is advantageous to employers who have the option to find a competent employee for a cheap salary.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf they can find someone who is really good, get him under contract and pay him less without paying benefits, it\u2019s much more attractive for the employer,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_608\" style=\"width: 622px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/cusjc.ca\/closeup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Frances-Woolley.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-608\" class=\"wp-image-608 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/cusjc.ca\/closeup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Frances-Woolley.jpg\" alt=\"Economics professor, Frances Woolley, believes that young employees are vulnerable to a more competitive labour market. \u00a9 Frances Woolley. \" width=\"612\" height=\"915\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/closeup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Frances-Woolley.jpg 612w, https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/closeup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Frances-Woolley-201x300.jpg 201w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 612px) 100vw, 612px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-608\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Economics professor, Frances Woolley, believes that young employees are vulnerable to a more competitive labour market. Photo Credit: Frances Woolley.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Woolley doesn\u2019t see the situation changing soon, especially as technology transforms the economy and the nature of work. She said that with technology, it\u2019s easier to get the work done with fewer staff compared to past years.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy job right now as a university professor is to mark papers; there are people making computer systems that can mark students\u2019 papers. In few years ahead it will be very easy to replace me by a computer system. There will be no need to pay me a salary,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/cusjc.ca\/closeup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/sidebar3.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-695 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/cusjc.ca\/closeup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/sidebar3.jpg\" alt=\"sidebar3\" width=\"391\" height=\"455\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/closeup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/sidebar3.jpg 391w, https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/closeup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/sidebar3-258x300.jpg 258w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 391px) 100vw, 391px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The change in the government labour environment started with the 2008 recession. By 2014, the number of part-time jobs grew while full-time jobs declined. In 2008 there were 6,240 part-time jobs and in 2014 they were 9,206, according to the Treasury Board survey.<\/p>\n<p>Luc Pomerleau, Gatineau Regional Representative for the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), one of the unions representing public servants, doesn\u2019t think the hiring of part-time government employees affects his organization because few of them join the union. Currently, five per cent of PSAC members are part-time employees working on term contracts.<\/p>\n<p>These are mostly former members who used to have permanent contracts. They may have decided to reduce their workload because of other commitments or they may have retired and come back to work as consultants.<\/p>\n<p>This situation is a concern for young workers because the system gives advantage to experienced workers who can take up available jobs even after retiring.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile some workers complain about part-time contracts, there are people who like that system,\u201d Woolley said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>John Yemen talks about working short-term contracts with no employment benefits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,7,37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all","category-featured","category-third-edition"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Insecurities of government contract work - Close-up<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"John Yemen, a 41-year-old who has spent 16 years of his career working various casual contracts with the federal government in Ottawa. 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