Windsor advocate not surprised by report highlighting union disparities [Video]

A Windsor-based advocate said she wasn’t surprised to read a new report detailing disparities in union representation for Black and racialized workers.

Leslie McCurdy, chair of the Black Council of Windsor-Essex, points to her own neighborhood as evidence of systemic issues.

“I just saw a three-month project being done on my street, a construction project that had three different companies working on it, I didn’t see a person of colour at all,” she said.

The report, released Tuesday by the Centre for Future Work, found that only a quarter of racialized workers are covered by union contracts, compared to one-third of non-racialized workers.

The gap is even wider for racialized women.

Jim Stanford, economist and director of the Centre for Future Work, highlighted that the report underscores segregation in Canada’s labor market.

“Racialized workers have not benefited from unionization to the same degree as other workers, and they need unions as much, or more, than other workers,” he …