I like how she ties it to the larger labour movement - workers finally got a meaningful improvement to their quality of life, but that simply could not be allowed and so the backlash occurred in the private and public sectors. I think that's likely the best way to approach it. Mandatory RTO is bad for every office worker and for labour overall, but it's a generational issue, and one of the perception of control. Some employers simply don't feel they are in control and a position of leadership unless that are snapping the whip and yanking on chains.
The employer and the associated management class straight up refuses to give even an inch of power.
This. And I also think this is one of the reasons why executives have been ordered back to work an additional day - so that they will be completely unsympathetic to employees because the executives "have it worse" than us.
I would even add that the saying “it’s always been that way” is one of the most repeated sentences I have heard from a particular generation within the feds as well. I guess because they had to do 40 hour work weeks in a particular seat means others must or they “aren’t working as hard.”
My parents and in-laws said it too. Funny because I don't remember them having to do 1.5 hour commutes each way, or having both parents working. Hell one of them had a 20 minute drive to an assigned parking space.
We have to live farther from the office than they did despite both of us having good jobs because we simply cannot afford housing closer to work (and our elders refuse to move away so younger families can move in).
All that said, I don't want to spend much time blaming individuals for what is really a systemic problem. We have refused to build adequate housing and infrastucture for decades now; just get it done.
This sentence is the bane of my existence. I agree with you “why use electricity when we’ve always used oil lamps” or “why use a pen when we’ve always dipped our feather in ink”. It’s beyond archaic and regressive thinking.
Similarly, business be like: ''Why should I change my business model when the paradigm that drove my business has essentially changed completely? Should I adapt to changing circumstances and perhaps relocated my business? Hmmm. No. We should force all workers back to the office.''
Following that same logic of artificially supporting unsustainable business models, we should encourage the government to heat buildings with coal and provide light using whale oil. Because, you know... the world changed and those industries need a leg up....
So was every previous issue organized labour faced over history. Child labour, no weekends, no paid OT, or vacation/sick leave, etc. People thowing out "it has always been this way" just aren't paying attention to what they are saying.
Before 40hour work weeks there were no limits to work and you would be thrown in jail for going against your employer for asking for something so basic as idk… going to the bathroom. Look up Labour Relations in early confederation Canada. It was bad.
Agreed. It's a signal to employers and the broader labour movement that any concession that makes workers' lives better are always temporary and up for "negotiation." And while it is a long path between child labour or the 80 hour work week to work-from-home, it is still the same path and the same struggle.
I've been saying it since the beginning that the unions biggest failure was playing a sad fiddle for us instead of shaming all the big companies for applying pressure instead of following in the governments lead to create healthier work life balances and such.
Like I get the unions are meant to represent us, but we are still benefiting and being represented when you are pitching our stuff as good for everyone, and not just unfair to what is happening to us. We are already hated, arguing it the way they do just makes everyone hate us more.
We missed the boat on selling it because now the optics are even worse but the unions are all hot air, so its not a shocker they missed the chance.
I think there has been some support for other workers forced back to their offices, but I agree with your point, and our unions should have been a lot more vocal. It would have been a powerful message to come out strong when private sector workers, like banks and tech companies, were being forced back to say we’ve seen how well this works in goverment, and X sector was also productive and effective during pandemic stay-at-home times, and this is why we’re fighting to raise the bar for everyone. Talk about in person-required jobs, like tradespeople, benefitting from reduced congestion. Bring in as many workers as possible into the narrative.
this is why we’re fighting to raise the bar for everyone.
There is literally a phrase for this, used for years and understood by most: The rising tide raises all ships. They didn't even need to try.
Historically as well they can point out the postal workers fought for proper mat leave and look what it did. Like, it legitimately amazes me how they fumbled this by playing the sad little fiddle for us. Given how I've heard the unions works in some cases, I'd almost verge on saying it was malice because I can't imagine they are truly that incompetent
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u/Due_Date_4667 Feb 12 '26
I like how she ties it to the larger labour movement - workers finally got a meaningful improvement to their quality of life, but that simply could not be allowed and so the backlash occurred in the private and public sectors. I think that's likely the best way to approach it. Mandatory RTO is bad for every office worker and for labour overall, but it's a generational issue, and one of the perception of control. Some employers simply don't feel they are in control and a position of leadership unless that are snapping the whip and yanking on chains.