Workers are paying more for less

A new survey shows 62 per cent of Canadians ranked the cost of living as their number one concern heading into 2026. That tracks with what our members have been saying for months: it’s getting harder to make ends meet, even with a full-time job, and the pressure is showing up at home and at work.

Canadians are feeling squeezed on every front: housing, food, childcare, transportation and basic monthly bills. In B.C., the living wage hit $27.85/hour in Metro Vancouver this year, while rents and food costs continue to climb faster than incomes.

The affordability squeeze is changing how people work. Just 32 per cent of Canadian workers took all their vacation in 2025, and those who did paid a “time-off tax” of nearly 17 hours to prepare and catch up. Stress, unpaid overtime and cumulative fatigue are now part of the picture for many workplaces, including ours.

These pressures affect retention, recruitment, training, mental health and safety. When the cost of living rises faster than wages, workers are forced to make impossible trade-offs: more overtime to cover bills, less time with family, fewer days off and less recovery time.

Economists debate whether the cost-of-living crisis is just a matter of perception. Workers know the answer: affordability is measured in grocery carts, hydro bills and rent payments. If the math doesn’t work, it doesn’t work.

Cost of living is now the top reason people in B.C. go into debt. For the first time, things like groceries, gas and rent outranked “overspending.”

While workers are paying more for housing, food and basics, Canada set a new record for CEO pay. The average top CEO earned $16.2 million in 2024, 248 times the average worker.

For context, the BC Ferries CEO earned about $530,000 in compensation in 2025. At that rate, it would take the average worker more than a decade to match one year of executive pay. That kind of gap makes it easy to see why workers are feeling the affordability squeeze more sharply than those at the top.

Workers have carried the affordability squeeze for years. Bargaining is one of the only places where that reality can be acknowledged and addressed. This year, it must be part of the conversation.