Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Randy Robinson points out that while it's worth setting a higher bar for all kinds of precarious work, it's particularly problematic for governments to try to attack protections for the people charged with delivering public services:

These are many more examples of public sector jobs gone bad. And let’s not forget all the contracted-out services paid for by government but now delivered by private employers. When it comes to these services, government is no different from any company that aims to dodge union wages for its “non-core” functions by sending work to the lowest bidder. Cost, not job quality, is what matters most.

The ritual punishment of all public employees after recessions is cyclical and—we hope—soon coming to an end. But the growth of a precarious public sector workforce is a structural transformation that mirrors what is happening right across the economy. If the current government is serious about helping precarious workers, it can’t ignore its own.

- Leslie Young reports on a spike in food bank usage among other indicators of poverty and precarity in Canada. Matt Bruenig breaks down the face of poverty in the U.S., while Bryce Covert looks at the added difficulties facing single mothers trying to raise children without any secure source of income And Ina Jaffe discusses how gender inequality continues into retirement.

- Danyaal Raza, Steve Morgan and a group of health experts make the case for a national pharmacare program.

- David Climenhaga takes a look at the University of Calgary's corporate influence scandal - and why we shouldn't be the slightest bit surprised.

- Finally, John Klein duly slams John Gormley, Brad Wall and everybody else seeking to create a mob against convenient minority targets. And Paul Orlowski highlights the fact that Saskatchewan as a whole is more than ready to welcome refugees even if its current premier wants to foment suspicion, while Climenhaga is optimistic that Wall's cynical attempt to play to bigotry will lead to political repercussions.