Books

Life's Harder in Seattle

Vancouver a kinder, gentler place for working poor finds UBC prof.

By Crawford Kilian, 13 Feb 2007, TheTyee.ca

Dan Zuberi

Zuberi studied hotel workers. Photo Michelle Mayne.

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We like to pay lip service to our healthcare and social programs, without really knowing much about them. They distinguish us from our American cousins, and give us something to argue about.

But how much difference do those programs actually make in our lives? Middle-class American life looks a lot like ours. Our right wing tends to scorn our social safety net and the long wait times for medical care. Our left tends to defend them -- but in emotional and nationalist terms, not in the bottom-line terms that the right understands.

Now Dan Zuberi, a UBC sociology professor, has made a meticulous comparison of social policies in two similar cities -- Vancouver and Seattle. He's published his findings as Differences That Matter: Social Policy and the Working Poor in the United States and Canada. Those findings are astonishing: for the working poor, and for others, Vancouver is a far, far better place than its sister city.

Zuberi chose the cities because they're very similar in size, and they share a region. The hospitality industry is typical of the new service economy that's replaced manufacturing in the past 30 or 40 years. So he studied workers in four hotels run by the same two multi-national corporations in both countries. One hotel in each city has unionized workers; one does not.

Similar cities, different conditions

By interviewing management and staff in the four hotels, Zuberi learned a great deal about working and living conditions for the people who change the sheets and wipe the hairs off the toilets. If you think those conditions are pretty much the same everywhere in the global economy, you're wrong.

Unionization was surprisingly different. While union memberships in Canada and the U.S. were roughly the same in the 1970s, membership has fallen sharply in the U.S. while holding its own here in Canada. Zuberi traces that to Reagan's destruction of the air traffic controllers in the early '80s. American unions never recovered. Canadian unions, however, continued to flourish.

So relatively few hotel workers in Seattle work under collective agreements. The union there has to hammer out individual contracts with each hotel, in a long and awkward process. In Vancouver, most hotels operate under a single collective agreement. Choosing to unionize is much easier here.

This doesn't mean non-union hotel workers earn less. Zuberi found that non-union hotels must match union pay scales just to stay competitive. But unionized hotels hold on to their workers, while the non-unionized endure rapid employee turnover.

Vancouver hotels therefore have more experienced and professional employees, needing little training and inspection. Whether their workers are locals or recent immigrants, they settle in quickly and are rarely off the job. In the winter they can take their legally mandated paid vacation time instead of being laid off. If they do lose their jobs, they can get training while out of work. They like the neighbourhoods they live in, which have little crime, good access to transit, and plenty of amenities like parks and community centres.

A host of problems

In Seattle, by contrast, hotel workers struggle with a host of problems. Public transit isn't as good, so they have to cluster in high-crime neighbourhoods that at least have some kind of bus service to their downtown workplaces. In the slow winter season they scramble for alternative jobs, or borrow from relatives. Seattle has far fewer community resources to help workers to ride out a spell of unemployment.

Health care is critical. Zuberi's Vancouver interviewees reported plenty of ailments, but routinely saw their doctors without worrying about financial consequences—even when they were laid off.

In Seattle, hotels offer health insurance plans once workers complete their probationary period. With so much turnover, many workers never get the insurance. Those who do may still face disaster: one worker kept changing credit cards to cover $2,500 in monthly medical payments on a $2,600 monthly wage. Few workers see their doctors until they absolutely have to, which may be too late for timely intervention.

In Vancouver, 100 per cent of the workers' children had regular doctors; in Seattle, only 56 per cent did. Workers' compensation scarcely exists in Seattle, while it saves injured Vancouver workers from disaster.

So life for the working poor in Seattle is strikingly harder and more stressful than for their neighbours here in Vancouver. It's not because folks in Seattle are lazier or dumber than folks in Vancouver. It's because laws have created wildly different environments in the two cities and the two nations.

Taken for granted?

Zuberi's well-written book offers plenty of food for thought. As one who rarely travels to the U.S., I take Vancouver for granted. Of course we've got parks and community centres and medicare. Of course our schools are good on both sides of town. Of course you go to your doctor, or a walk-in clinic, as soon as you feel bad. Doesn't everyone in the industrial world?

Evidently not. And having read Zuberi's account, I feel unexpected gratitude to our politicians. The NDP made unionization easy. Bill Bennett's Socreds equalized school funding. If Campbell's Liberals have made life tougher for the working poor, at least they haven't dragged us down to Seattle's level.

Differences That Matter deserves careful reading by everyone in the province. Business managers will realize how costly it would be to follow the American model. Young people will be grateful that their entry-level jobs aren't as crappy as those in the U.S. Even those who damn and blast government on general principles will see that political decisions really do make a difference, and a big one.

Zuberi teaches us that we've made a lot of good decisions. This is no time to start making bad ones just because the Americans have. [Tyee]

Regular Tyee contributor Crawford Kilian blogs on social issues at Bridging the Income Gap.

22 Comments:

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  • G West

    5 years ago

    Alberta

    It's too bad Zuberi didn't research conditions in the hospitality industry in our sister province, Alberta as well. The one our coupon-clipping premier wants us to harmonize our labour practices with.

    Maybe then a lot more people would start to understand that TILMA is a race to the bottom for workers, citizens and services while business people, owners, 'investors' and shareholders ride that bucket to the top. And it's not just in that area that Albertans are planning a big takeover. As a quick look at the disintegration of the integrity of the electricity generation capacity of BC's rivers will show.

    Alcan was just the tip of a very big iceberg.

    We shouldn't spend too much time feeling smug about how well Vancouver comes our relative to Seattle. The new owners from Alberta have plans to fix that...

  • G West

    5 years ago

    errata

    Second last sentence should read:
    'We shouldn't spend too much time feeling smug about how well Vancouver comes OUT relative to Seattle.'

  • working slog

    5 years ago

    Damning Statement on Seattle

    If Seattle makes Vancouver look good for the working poor then Seattle must be an extremely callous and uncompassionate place. As I see it, Vancouver is unquestionably the cruelest city in Canada - Bar None!

    Vancouver has twice the number of working poor than most of the rest of Canada. The welfare system in BC has been desimated by Campbell and his goons and the cost of living is completely and totally disconnected from the wage reality in Vancouver.

    If Vancouver is considered a kind place to working poor, then we are in real trouble! I take Zuberi's study with a huge grain of salt!

  • G West

    5 years ago

    Amen to that working man

    Glad to hear from you. The situation in the hospitality industry in Edmonton, I know for a fact, is much worse than Vancouver; better than Seattle? Who knows, or frankly ,cares.?

    To say Vancouver is better than the Emerald city is damning with faint praise.

  • MyBrainIsOnFire

    5 years ago

    I've been insanely critical

    I've been insanely critical of Canada but have to hand it to EI - without it, I would be homeless/in despair/dead by the end of this month. For real -I'm supposed to get my first payment on the 28th - rent day.

    I hope it happens because I have no family and friends who could help me out.

    My heart would ache as I would have to send my beloved cats to death as I prepared to live on the streets. I would look to rob and steal from others just to live. And maybe the sorrow from killing my cats would lead me to suicide or to devalue the lives of others - hey if my life is so bad, fuck everyone else would be my attitude.

    But with EI, I can find another job without all that.

    Canada, I salute you for this. Thank you.

  • working slog

    5 years ago

    EI is on temporary relief

    EI is only short term relief and is also available in most states in the U.S. It is a federal, not provincial benefi,t which I'm sure Campbell and his goons would get rid of . if they could get away with it.

  • anarcho

    5 years ago

    And these are the

    And these are the differences our resident right-whiners would like to get rid of. The US looks more and more like a Third World country every day. We have been able to hold back most of the neo-feudalist tide slopping up from Gringolandia, but for how long? Time we grew some huevos as they say in Mexico and send Campbell and the Harpocrit packing...

  • MyBrainIsOnFire

    5 years ago

    working slog methinks you need your morning coffee

    what you are saying - you have a job for me in states?

    a pointless comment - I am perhaps one of the biggest critics around of Canadian policies, yet there is no profit in demonizing the good that is done in our names, either.

    let's be real.

  • Alcibiades

    5 years ago

    Good luck MyBrainisOnFire

    Wish I could do more for you than just send my good wishes - but I wouldn't want to not do that..even if it is all I can do. So be assured you have them.

  • BC Mary

    5 years ago

    Credit where credit is due: thank you, Canada!

    MyBrainIsOnFire: I'm so thankful (a) that EI was there for you when you needed it, and (b) that you pay tribute to this Canada of ours, for it.

    You bet we criticize Canada's political tricks (like me, so worried about the B.C. Rail Trial). Because why? Because so much that's good is at risk when bad things get legislated, sold, or ratified (especially when it's done in secret). It ends up costing more when Canada forgets itself and cuts back on education, health care, and the social safety net.

    You've brought all this into proper perspective for us. Sorry about your cats. But very glad to know you are OK.

  • MyBrainIsOnFire

    5 years ago

    thanks BC Mary

    totally.

    cats are okay at the moment and hopefully for good. We'll see, if all goes well I'll get the EI and of course continue looking for work while I wait.

    There are some great opportunities out there right now and hopefully one will bear fruit!

    all the best to everyone.

  • BC Mary

    5 years ago

    On a scale of 1 to 5, this article deserves a rating of ...

    On a scale of 1 to 5, I give this book review a 4.9 for its research, sources, social value, timeliness, clarity and one more thing.

    The choice of topic and the quality of writing should be given special credit when it connects at a deep level with its readers. This one surely does.

    BrainOnFire has written a comment which should gladden the heart of this author.

    For the rest of us -- even the best-looked-after of us -- we get ground down by constant suggestions that things are so much better elsewhere: if not in the U.S.A., then most assuredly in Scandinavia. We really need Dan Zuberi's research ... and Crawford Kilian's review of what was discovered.

    Celebrations all around!

  • Palharry

    5 years ago

    My Foot Came Off

    When I had my new business I had a terrible accident. My foot came off. I didn't have to think about it, I just went to the nearest hospital. They put it back on.Other things have happened as well and you just go to the hospital; you don't even think about it. It's only lately when I've had to look at the other models that are being pushed on us that I've thought about the miracle of this. I grew up in a country where you don't even have to think about what you do in an emergency. It's easy to criticize our health system and it's costs when you grew up with it and don't know anything different. I didn't have WCB or any payments but I was able to sell off stuff to get me by until I was useful again. What's the alternative to this safety net? I would have been totally hooped if I had to pay hospital bills as well. Some here think that we should have some kind of neo-darwanism so that people who make mistakes or have accidents are punished. I think that I wouldn't have been so brave as to start my own business if it wasn't there. The main problem is management not entitlement. Why shouldn't the people who change the sheets or do your other menial tasks have access to basic health care and housing? I think that it helps us all rather than hurts.

  • avandoc

    5 years ago

    Both sides now

    As a physician who has practiced in both the US and Canada, I can say that access to basic care is much better here for working people. Although I am a specialist, and I know that access to my services may be delayed for some patients, those who are in immediate need of the care do get it, at least at my hospital. Furthermore, I get paid promptly and the same amount for my services no matter who the patient is. Physicians in the US have many disincentives to treat uninsured and underinsured people (which includes a lot of middle-class people).

    In my estimation, despite some hospital overcrowding and delays in non-urgent specialty care in some cases, this is a much more rational system than the US system. And Canadians overall get better care at lower per-capita cost, which health statistics such as infant mortality and life expectancy show. Of course, wealthy Canadians want the same medical care that wealthy Americans get, which to use a hotel analogy is equivalent to the Ritz Carlton. So if it's not a life-threatening emergency, they should just go to Seattle and Boston for it--they can afford that.

  • Booker

    5 years ago

    Medicine and money

    Speaking as someone who has lived in the Paicific Northwest and other parts of the United States, I completely agree with avandoc's comments on health care in the U.S.
    It's very sad to see the kind of stress that lower income earners, and the middle-class too, experience in America when they are faced with medical problems. Not only do they have do deal with the stress of the illness, but also with the often crushing financial impact of medical bills (and most medical procedures in the U.S. cost far more than the equivalent in Canada because of very high administration costs and profit). Medical bills are the biggest reason for personal bankruptcy in the U.S., yet, the American model is what the Campbell government wants us to move toward.

  • maestro

    4 years ago

    MyBrainIsOnFire:

    Very Sorry to hear about your situation and circumstances.

    Hang in their...ALL THE BEST !!!!...and remember P-E-R-S-E-R-V-E-R-A-N-C-E always wins out !!!.

    Take care !

  • mightaswell

    4 years ago

    you folks want to do what?

    This Colorado retiree cannot believe you want to make your health care system more like ours.

    Our quality of life and stress levels in day-to-day living are unacceptable for other than the uber-classes.

    As I read above, you Canadians don't risk losing your job if you have the poor taste to get sick and cost the health plan extra $$$.

    A family we see several times a year socially, had the wife lose her job (and insurance coverage) due to repeated charges for bladder cancer treatment. To pay full fare for treatment and medicines, they had to sell their New Mexico home and then ran up a huge credit card debt. Then bankruptcy.

    Of course she is "damaged goods" for further employment and any health coverage comes with limitations on pre-existing conditions.

    I urge all to seriously consider the quality-of-life change this insurance company trojan horse will lead to.

    You are in for a serious transfer of wealth to the politicians and their sponsoring insurance companies if you go for it.

    Eternal vigilance, folks.

    Good luck from the Rockies

  • G West

    4 years ago

    mightaswell

    Thanks for that mightaswell. Always happy to hear from south of the border.

    David Beers, the major domo behind this site, is an expat American. You might want to pick up his book Blue Sky Dream, it's worth a read.

    There are lot of wonderful people from the US who are now proud parts of the struggle to keep Canada and British Columbia from backsliding into a place where the kinds of incidents you describe will happen too.

    Good luck to you and yours. Drop in any time, and pass the URL around, the more the merrier.

    Cheers

  • anarcho

    4 years ago

    All the luck in the world!

    All the luck in the world in finding a job and surviving UI, MyBrainisonFire. I know how awful it can be. And Mightaswell, I salute you and all the other fine, caring Americans down there, and those who have settled here too! We will not go down without a fight...

  • MyBrainIsOnFire

    4 years ago

    thanks maestro

    I almost went for the Tyee position, but my database skills are nowhere to be found...I have to learn, I'm quick, but you know there's probably someone out there who is a better fit.

    something will come up.

  • realisticman

    4 years ago

    Caveat Emptor

    Booker says, "...the American model is what the Campbell government wants us to move toward."

    What evidence would you submit, other than ideological propaganda attempting to influence public opinion by repeating fallacies, that there is a smidgen of truth to to this supposition, Booker?

  • kolson40

    4 years ago

    Looking forward to emmigration

    As a single mother in Washington State, I can assure you Canadians are inherently wealthier. I'm considered middle-class and my employer provides health insurance and sick leave. When my child is sick, I take her to the doctor without a second thought and stay home with her. When I'm sick, I think "is it bad enough to forgo some other budgeted expense?" "Can I really afford to miss a day of work?" "What if my daughter gets sick too?" I can't do both and frankly the fact that my government thinks I should even have to consider that choice makes me sick. You are so blessed to live in a country that places its values on its people and and its land. America has based its values on greed and its citizens pay the price for it daily. God Bless you Canada - long may you thrive!

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