1. National Survey of CUPE Library Workers’ Employment Precarity Phase 2
June 2018
Viewpoints Research  

2. *In 2013, a joint university-community research project was undertaken by McMaster University and United Way Toronto entitled Poverty and Employment Precarity in Southern Ontario (PEPSO). The study explored the characteristics of employment in the GTA-Hamilton labour market. The PEPSO study’s summary report explains:
“Social scientists have adopted the term ‘precarity’ to describe states of employment that do not have the security or benefits enjoyed in more traditional employment relationships. These precarious employment relationships are becoming the ‘new normal’ for many in our workforce…
…precarity has real implications for economic well-being and job security. But it also reaches out and touches family and social life. It can affect how people socialize, and how much they are able to give back to their communities. It can cause tensions at home.” 1
The PEPSO study concluded precarious employment is increasing, and crosses all social and income categories. People in precarious employment earn less and face more uncertainty. Precarious employment has harmful effects on individuals, families and community life, and makes it more difficult to raise children. It both limits and enables community connections.2 ____________
1 & 2 It’s More than Poverty: Employment Precarity and Household Well-being (Summary Report), Wayne Lewchuk et al., PEPSO Research Group, February 2013.

3. Background – Phase 1 National random sample telephone survey
Data Collection – August and September 2017
Participants: Public Library Workers only
805 survey participants
Margin of error: +/- 3.3%, 19 times out of 20
We can be 95% confident in the survey findings

4. Background – Phase 2 National online survey Not a random sample survey
Data Collection – September to December 2017
Participants: Library Workers in Municipal, University, and School Board Libraries
805 survey participants
Margin of error cannot be calculated for the online survey, because online respondents are self-selecting, not a random sample

5. Comparing Phases
Variations between Phase 1 and Phase 2 responses are noted throughout the report. But any comparison of results between both datasets should be interpreted with caution due to differences in sampling methodology between the random sample telephone survey in phase 1 and the non-random sample online survey in phase 2.

6. Major Findings:
A large percentage of library workers are precariously employed.
2. Levels of precarity are similar between Phases 1 and 2.
3. Precarious employment is an equity or human rights issue.

7. RESPONDENT PROFILE
*The ‘other’ sector includes respondents who work in the provincial library system (4%), a regional library (2%) and who chose ‘other’ (<1%).
QUESTION Is the library where you work in a school or with a school board, part of a university, part of a municipality, a provincial library system, a public library board, part of a college, a regional library system or other?

8. NATURE OF EMPLOYMENT NATURE OF EMPLOYMENT
QUESTION What is your current position in your primary library job or contract where you worked the most hours and that paid you the most in the last 3 months?

9. RESPONDENT PROFILE GENDER
QUESTION Is your gender female, male or do you identify your gender in other terms?

10. QUESTION Do you identify as gay, lesbian, queer or bisexual?
RESPONDENT PROFILE
SEXUAL ORIENTATION
QUESTION Do you identify as gay, lesbian, queer or bisexual?

11. QUESTION Please indicate what age category you are in?
RESPONDENT PROFILE
AGE
QUESTION Please indicate what age category you are in?

12. RESPONDENT PROFILE INCOME
QUESTION In the last year what was your total employment income before taxes?

13. RESPONDENT PROFILE
EDUCATION

14. QUESTION What do you consider your racial background?
RACIAL IDENTITY
QUESTION What do you consider your racial background?

15. QUESTION Are you a First Nations person, Métis or Inuk / Inuit?
INDIGENOUS IDENTITY
QUESTION Are you a First Nations person, Métis or Inuk / Inuit?

16. QUESTION What language do you speak at home most of the time?
RESPONDENT PROFILE
LANGUAGE
QUESTION What language do you speak at home most of the time?

17. RESPONDENT PROFILE CITIZENSHIP STATUS
QUESTION What is your current citizenship or residency status? Are you a Canadian citizen, a landed immigrant or do you have a temporary visa with work authorization?

18. RESPONDENT PROFILE DISABILITY
QUESTION Do you consider yourself a person with any of the following: a physical disability, a learning disability, a health-related disability, a mental health challenge, Low vision/vision disability, hard of hearing, deaf or culturally deaf, temporary/episodic disability, some other disability not listed or are you a person without a disability?

19. NATURE OF EMPLOYMENT
QUESTION Please tell me whether the following describes your current employment: I have one employer who I expect to be working for a year from now, who provides at least 30 hours a week, and who pays benefits.

20. NATURE OF EMPLOYMENT

21. NATURE OF EMPLOYMENT
Phase 1 n=328
Phase 2 n=513

22. SEEKING FULL-TIME Phase 1 Phase 2
QUESTIONS Are you looking for/applying for a full-time library job? IF YES How long have you been looking for a full-time library job?

23. HOURS OF WORK
QUESTION Have your hours of work in this position either increased or decreased in the past five years, or have they stayed the same?

24. SECONDARY EMPLOYMENT Phase 1 Phase 2
QUESTIONS Do you have more than one job or contract? IF YES Is your secondary employment also in a library?

25. BENEFITS
QUESTION Do you receive any employment benefits from your current employer or employers such as a drug plan, vision, dental benefits or life insurance?

26. PENSION
QUESTION Does your current employer or employers provide a private retirement income plan such as a pension plan or a contribution to an RRSP (Registered Retirement Savings Plan)? This does not include CPP - the Canada Pension Plan.

27. SICK DAYS
QUESTION Do you usually get paid if you miss a day’s work because you are sick?

28. SCHEDULING
QUESTION In the last 3 months, how often did you work on an on-call basis, where you have no set schedule and your employer calls you in only when there is work?

29. SCHEDULING
QUESTION Do you know your work schedule at least one week in advance always, most of the time, some of the time or never?

30. UNION INVOLVEMENT
QUESTION In the past year, have you participated in any CUPE union events or activities, such as a meeting, conference, workshop, course or demonstration?

31. EMPLOYMENT PRECARITY
Based on survey responses, members were divided into one of four employment precarity classifications: secure, stable, vulnerable and precarious.

32. EMPLOYMENT PRECARITY
Phase 2
Phase 1

33. EMPLOYMENT PRECARITY
By Sector

34. Precarity is a Human Rights Issue!
EMPLOYMENT PRECARITY
Precarity is a Human Rights Issue!
Precariously employed library workers tend to be:
Women
Gay, Lesbian, Queer, or Bisexual
Have a Disability
Be Indigenous or Racialized

35. Results from Phases 1 & 2 EMPLOYMENT PRECARITY
Precarity tends to decrease as age increases
Precarity tends to decrease as income increases
Precarity is more prevalent in B.C. and the other Western provinces

36. Precariously employed workers are more likely to:
EMPLOYMENT PRECARITY
Precariously employed workers are more likely to:
Work less than full-time hours
Earn less than $40,000 annually
Have more than one job
Work as library clerks, assistants or pages
continued

37. Precariously employed workers are more likely to:
EMPLOYMENT PRECARITY
Precariously employed workers are more likely to:
Work in municipal libraries
Be in locals of 500 to 999 members
Not be active in their local unions

38. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Viewpoints Research Suzanne Chamseddine Shelly Gordon
Nicola From
Joseph Leonard-Boland
Kristine Dupuis
Brian Edgecombe
Alice Audrain
Heather Farrow
Monique Diotte
Genevieve Romard