We don't need white saviors. We need Justice4Workers

Justice4Workers Guelph. Photo: Facebook

I came across a social media post encouraging readers to use self-check outs at the grocery store more often. The writer hoped to save the sanity of cashiers from the tedious mindlessness of their job.

Apparently, the writer decided that customers using self-checkout more often would reduce the mental fatigue experienced by cashiers by lightening their workload.

There’s a lot to deconstruct in this reasoning.

It’s important to note, at no time did the writer indicate that they had actually spoken with a cashier to get their take on this initiative nor to even understand what motivates people – mainly women – to become grocery store cashiers.

So, I decided to do that leg work and share what I uncovered.

Effectively, this social media poster is encouraging customers to scab and union bust. Yup, you read that right – scab and union bust.

For anyone unfamiliar with how self-checkouts work, the customer lines up in order to process their purchases without the assistance of a cashier. Essentially, the customer is providing free labour adding even more money to the corporate bottom line. At the same time, users of self-checkouts are contributing to the pernicious economic and job insecurity cashiers face on a daily basis.

In a nutshell, the customer is paying inflated prices for foods and household goods and then providing the free labour required to process those purchases. That completely undermines the rights of workers. This is scabbing – think of it as crossing a virtual picket line with workers on one side and corporate fascists on the other.

To add insult to injury, there will always be a paid employee forced to ‘willingly assist’ the customer by guiding them through the self-checkout process. This employee is effectively being tasked with training customers to put them, and their co-workers, out of a job. How twisted is that?

Not all cashiers are lucky enough to be unionized, but for those who are, well you have just undermined their union’s ability to improve working conditions, challenge precarious hours and fight for increased rates of pay.

The social media poster pointed out a benefit of using self-checkout is that customers can bag their own purchases ensuring similar items go into the same bag making it easier to unpack in your kitchen.

Here’s a revolutionary thought! Cashiers are trained ad nauseam on how to properly bag items. You know, like items go together which means cans never go with frozen foods; meats go together; cleaning products must be kept separate from edibles.

But, an even more revolutionary thought is that you can still say to your cashier, “I’d like to bag my own groceries if you don’t mind.” And, chances are she won’t mind because cashing someone out while also bagging their purchases is a stressful process. It’s also a process that many customers -- especially thirty-somethings -- got used to doing on their own during COVID when bagging became more of a personal responsibility.

Having the time and incentive to speak with cashiers has proven that most would rather be doing something else and preferably for more than minimum wage.

Even when they belong to a union like the United Food and Commercial Workers (Fortino’s, No Frills, Zehers, Sobeys/Safeways owned by Empire Co.); UNIFOR (Metro); or non-unionized Farmboy, Longo’s (Empire Co. holds 51 per cent of shares) , Walmart, Whole Foods, Goodness Me and Denninger’s where cashiers also get to do double duty cleaning the washrooms, most still earn minimum wage.

Minimum wage in Ontario is $16.55 per hour for adults and $15.60 per hour for students. Most cashiers are hired to work 20 to 29 hours a week, but must be available to work seven days a week including weekends from 7 AM to 10 PM. There are no full-time positions and no set hours.

I spoke with a teaching assistant (TA) in her early fifties who recently divorced, had to sell the family home and is now renting a small condominium in Burlington, ON for herself and her two adult children attending post-secondary schools. The children’s ages mean this TA/cashier is supporting these young adults without the benefit of child support.

This TA/cashier’s entire teaching assistant monthly salary covers rent leaving her to pick up weekend and holiday shifts at a unionized, minimum wage paying grocery store to cover utilities, car payments, car insurance, food, clothing and sundry expenses every month

The material question here should be, does the Ford government really believe that TAs don’t deserve to make a decent standard of living? Over the past decade education workers have seen their wags fall more then 11 per cent in real terms. That means education workers have less discretionary income than they had a decade ago. And, even less to no disposable income for a little bit of roses with that bread.

Burlington’s living wage is currently $20.35 for a single adult working full-time for a full year.

As of December 2023, the average rent for a three-bedroom apartment in Burlington is $3,117 per month, but a nice neighbourhood runs $3,500 to $3,600 plus utilities.

TAs work 35 hours per week on 42-week contracts for an average of $25.32 per hour. Which means they earn $886.20 per week before deductions – taxes, union dues, Canada Pension Plan (CPP), Employment Insurance (EI) and other deductions. That’s $3,544.80 monthly before deductions.

Clearly, 30 per cent of a TAs take home pay -- $1,063.44 -- is not going to come anywhere near to meeting her current housing needs.

And, with a 500 square foot one-bedroom condo going for approximately $2,000 plus utilities, her prospects won’t improve when her kids eventually move out.

Then, there’s the several septuagenarians who needed to work to pay for food and utilities because after rent nothing is left. These women generally stayed home with kids or worked part-time or divorced and were single parents. Regardless, there was no money to invest in RRSPs or the stock market and CPP combined with Old Age Security (OAS) just is not enough to get by these days.

Theoretically, these women could look for more meaningful work, but with resume gaps and a lack of references that’s highly unlikely. And, where would that work be? Terra Greenhouses? Nice place to work – I guess – but they pay minimum wage and you have to purchase steel toed work boots costing over $100 to be a cashier and that’s before your first pay cheque.

The recent post-graduate student I spoke with was working multiple jobs to pay off student debt and just survive. Seems working seven days a week is now considered ‘living the dream.’ However, that can be a scheduling nightmare when all of your employers expect you to be available 24/7 especially weekends.

I’d also ask the social media poster to consider the high school students for whom being a cashier is their first real job exposing them to the world of work and hopefully, the benefits of unionization.

How about the musician employed by several local symphonies using cashier work to supplement her income so she can actually afford to purchase food at the store that employs her? And, no, she does not get an employee discount and no she doesn’t use the self-checkout even though she probably has mastered the process.

And, then there are the customers who feel they need to share their political views and takes on life with the women cashing out their purchases

Heaven help the next 60-something white woman who asks the cashier serving us, “Is your shift done soon?” and upon hearing, “Yes, it is, but then I go to my next job” responds, “Oh! Isn’t that nice! You have another job.”

Heads up Honey, I will probably scream at you, “Please explain to me why is it NICE that a woman clearly over 60 years of age has another job to go to once this job is done for the day? Really, did you think that through before you opened your mouth? Because I think you need to re-examine why this woman, who is clearly exhausted, needs two jobs at her age!”

So, exactly what is the solution to this ill-conceived Pollyannaish social media post?

The Centre for Future Work suggests that profits in the Canadian grocery sector will likely set a new record this year as they exceed $6 billion dollars – twice as much profit as food retailers earned pre-pandemic and more than double the average margin between 2015 and 2019. Those profits make it crystal clear that these corporate fascists are not simply passing on higher expenses and absolutely can afford to pay cashiers a living wage if not a decent standard of living.

Instead of undermining cashiers who depend on their minimum wage part-time jobs, refuse to use self-checkouts even when it’s inconvenient.

And, when that pleasant grocery store worker tries to entice you to leave the long line that you are standing in remain firm and quietly, yet resolutely state that you are exercising your right to ensure the work of cashiers is not only recognized but valued for the skilled work that it is.

And, if you don’t think it’s skilled work, then I invite you to do a 5.5-hour shift – the length of an average shift – and if at the end of it you are not totally humiliated by the skill that it requires you can keep your pay rather than donating it to a much more deserving skilled cashier.

Demand better from food retailers who dominate the grocery food market especially during the winter months when farmers markets and community supported agriculture (CSAs) are closed and planning for next year.

Support cashiers and grocery workers when they strike for a decent standard of living and full-time hours with benefits. In other words, help them get access to a fair share of the profits that their labour generates for corporations that do not pay their fair share to workers or to their communities through taxes.

Do not buy into corporate sponsored food drives which increase their bottom lines while providing those same corporations with tax deductions for charitable donations all while their employees are accessing those same food banks.

Instead, demand a decent standard of living for workers and increased taxation for corporations.

One last thought for the social media poster, next time you decide to play great white savior, do your homework first. Talk with people with lived experience and really listen because they will explain to you why they don’t have a lot of options when it comes to earning the money needed to stay housed and fed.

They could also share how your plan is extremely problematic and unpractical since you offered no alternative sources of income for them.

Then, focus your energy on the real problem – putting an end to corporate, capitalistic greed once and for all.

For worker-informed information and actions and to support a chapter near you check out Justice4Workers.