The Canadian Latte Pits (Part 3)

In the last installment of this series I asked about unions. Why isn't the retail sector better unionized? Part of it is an overall decline in unionization. Unions have been, in terms of numbers of members, on the decline for a while. Another part of the problem is that no one wants to stay in retail. Most people think of it as a stopgap measure until they can start their "real" career elsewhere. Those that do not look at retail that way are trying to use a retail position as way onto the corporate ladder.

Retail is composed therefore of people who see the solution to their working conditions as being working somewhere else as well as those whose career-path would be stopped in its tracks if they did attempt unionization. Of course the reality is that more people are spending more and more of their lives in retail or other service jobs. Asking for a union though seems to imply a sort of permanence at a given position. People aren't prepared to admit that kind of permanence working on the sales floor.