Bank of Canada Governor Macklem ‘Declared Class Struggle Against Workers’: UNIFOR Governor

The head of Canada’s largest private union said on Monday that Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem was waging a “class war” against workers and it was time to stop raising rates.

“Rather than reduce profits, stop profiteering, fix supply chain bottlenecks, and develop coordinated responses aimed at helping workers catch up, policy makers should instead “Including the governor of the Bank of Canada. working people in this country,” said UNIFOR President Lana Payne.

UNIFOR represents more than 300,000 employees.

Payne said employees were suffering from high inflation while shareholders and executives enjoyed “obscene benefits in the form of higher dividends, share buybacks and bonuses.”

“The drugs banks have on inflation are causing a lot of pain there,” Payne said.

“The problem is that the Bank of Canada has raised interest rates faster than many other countries in the world. ?”

Canada’s benchmark interest rate is currently 3.75%. 4% in the US, 3% in the UK and 2% in the European Union.

Bank of Canada’s Payne is sticking to its plan to raise interest rates even as inflation falls.

“This seems to be causing a lot of unnecessary pain for people working in Canada right now,” Payne said, adding that interest rates were “high enough by now. We need to slow this down.” added.

In a recent interview with CBC News, Mr. Mackrem said that while higher interest rates are making life difficult for many Canadians, they are necessary.

“I don’t want to make this any harder than it needs to be.” he told CBC’s Peter Armstrong. “But at the same time, if we don’t do enough, if we take a half-hearted approach, Canadians will have to endure the high inflation that plagues them every day.”

low unemployment and inflation

Analysts say if banks pause too early when inflation is still rising, they will need to take more aggressive action going forward. On the other hand, if inflation goes too far and keeps rising after it starts to decline in a sustainable way, many Canadians will suffer needlessly.

Mr. Payne said he thinks banks should refrain from raising rates further, but Mr. Macklem disagrees.

“We think we need to pull more, but we’re nearing the end of this tightening cycle. I can’t tell you exactly what it is,” he told Armstrong. “We’re still there.” We’re not close, but we’re getting closer.”

Payne also criticized Macklem for comments he made at the Public Policy Forum in Toronto last week, saying that the current low unemployment rate is not sustainable.

“It is totally unacceptable to blame workers for having jobs and actually demand decent wages, benefits and working conditions. We need an economy that works for everyone, not just money,” she said.

Mr Macklem said last week that record-low unemployment means more people are working, but it also means employers are having a harder time filling jobs.

“The tight labor market is a symptom of a general imbalance between supply and demand, accelerating inflation and hurting all Canadians,” he said. This will contribute to the restoration of price stability,” he added.