The Rate of Exploitation of Workers of Suncor Energy, One of the Largest Private Employers in Canada

Introduction

In two others posts I presented the twenty largest employers in Toronto according to level of employment (see A Short List of the Largest Employers in Toronto, Ontario, Canada) and the twenty largest employers in Canada according to profit (see A Short List of the Largest Private Employers in Canada, According to Profit). The largest employer, in terms of employment, is the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce.

I have tried to calculate the rate of exploitation of workers of Magna International in an earlier post (see The Rate of Exploitation of Workers at Magna International Inc., One of the Largest Private Employers in Toronto, Part One); Magna International is one of the largest employers in Toronto.

The Nature of the Rate of Exploitation

But what is the rate of exploitation? And why not use the usual rate of profit or the rate of return? The rate of profit is calculated as profit divided by investment. Since employers purchase both the means for work–buildings, computers, office supplies, raw material–and hire workers–we can classify investment into two categories: c, meaning constant capital, or the capital invested in commodities other than workers; and v, or variable capital, the capital invested in the hiring of workers for a certain period of time (wages, salaries and benefits).

The purpose of investment in a capitalist economy is to obtain more money (see The Money Circuit of Capital), and the additional money is surplus value when it is related to its source: workers working for more time than what they cost to produce themselves. The relation between surplus value and variable capital (or wages and salaries) is the rate of surplus value or the rate of exploitation, expressed as a ratio: s/v.

When the surplus is related to both c and v and expressed as a ratio, it is the rate of profit: s/(c+v).

In Marxian economics, you cannot simply use the economic classifications provided by employers and governments since such classifications often hide the nature of the social world in which we live. The rate of profit underestimates the rate of exploitation since the surplus value is related to total investment and not just to the workers. Furthermore, it makes the surplus value appear to derive from both constant capital and variable capital.

I decided to look at the annual report of some of the largest private companies in Toronto and Canada if they are available in order to calculate the rate of exploitation at a more micro level than aggregate rates of surplus value at the national or international level. Politically, this is necessary since social democrats here in Toronto (and undoubtedly elsewhere) vaguely may refer to exploitation–while simultaneously and contradictorily referring to “decent work” and “fair contracts.” Calculating even approximately the rate of exploitation at a more micro level thus has political relevance.

Conclusions First

As usual, I start with the conclusion in order to make readily accessible the results of the calculations for those who are more interested in the results than in how to obtain them. We have the following:

The rate of exploitation or the rate of surplus value=s/v=5,396/3,641=148%.

That means that for every hour worked that produces her/his wage, a worker at works around an additional 89 minutes or 1 hour 29 minutes for free for Suncor Energy. Alternatively, in terms of money, a regular Suncor Energy worker who receives $1 of wage or salary produces $1.48 surplus value or profit for free.

Assuming either an 8-hour shift or a 12-hour shift:

In an 8- hour work day (480 minutes), a Suncor worker produces her/his wage in about 194 minutes (3 hours 14 minutes) and works 286 minutes (4 hours 46 minutes) for free for Suncor Energy.
In a 12-hour work day (720 minutes), a Suncor worker produces her/his wage in about 290 minutes (4 hours 50 minutes) and works 430 minutes (7 hours 10 minutes) for free for Suncor Energy.

Of course, during the time that the worker produces her/his own wage, s/he is subject to the power of management and hence is also unfree during that time (see The Rate of Exploitation of Magna International Inc., One of the Largest Private Employers in Toronto, Part Two, Or: Intensified Oppression and Exploitation and Employers as Dictators, Part One).

Do you think that these facts contradict the talk by the left and unionists of “fair wages,” “fair contracts” (see Fair Contracts (or Fair Collective Agreements): The Ideological Rhetoric of Canadian Unions, Part One for the rhetoric of the largest union in Canada, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE)) and “decent work?” Do they ignore the reality of life for workers, whether unionized or non-unionized? If exploitation and oppression of workers is a constant in their lives, even if they are only vaguely aware of it, should this situation not be frankly acknowledged by their representatives? Do such representatives do so? If not, why not? Do workers deserve better than neglecting the social context within which they live and work? Should such problems be addressed head on rather than neglected?

Let us look at the management rights clause of the collective agreement between Suncor Energy Products Partnership and Unifor Local 27, for the period between april 1, 2016 and March 31, 2019.

From pages 4-5 of the collective agreement:

ARTICLE FIVE – MANAGEMENT RIGHTS

5.01 The Union recognizes and acknowledges that management of the operations and direction of the working force are fixed exclusively in the Employer and without restricting the generality of the foregoing, the Union agrees and acknowledges:

(a) The Employer has, retains and shall possess and exercise all rights and functions, powers, privileges and authority that the Employer possessed prior to the signing of a contract with the Union, excepting only those that are clearly and specifically relinquished or restricted in this Agreement.

(b) That it is the exclusive function of the Employer to maintain order, discipline and efficiency and in connection therewith to make, alter and enforce from time to time reasonable rules and regulations, policies and practices to be observed by its employees.

(c) The Employer’s right to determine the number of employees to be employed and the right to hire, transfer, assign, promote, demote, retire at age 65, schedule and classify, layoff or recall employees, discipline, suspend or discharge employees for just cause, and the right to plan, direct and control its operations;

(d) The Employer’s right to determine the location and extent of its operations and their commencement, expansion, curtailment or discontinuance; the work to be done; the services to be rendered; to subcontract or transfer work; to establish, change or abolish job classification; to shut down permanently or by day or week or for any other periods; to determine

Not only does the collective agreement give management the right to direct workers’ lives in many, many ways in such a fashion that they produce more value than they themselves cost, leading to the workers working for free for a certain period of time, but even during the time when they produce the value of their own wage, they are subject to the dictates of management (see The Rate of Exploitation of Magna International Inc., One of the Largest Private Employers in Toronto, Part Two, Or: Intensified Oppression and Exploitation).

Ideologues of unions and social democrats or social reformers simply ignore this double situation of workers–of having to work for free and having to work throughout the day under the power of unelected managers (see Employers as Dictators, Part One).

Given this conclusion, how can any collective agreement express in any way the cliches used by many ideologues of unions–such as “fair contracts,” or “decent work?” Is it possible for a collective agreement to be fair from the workers’ point of view? It is certainly possible to be fairer, of course, but no collective agreement questions the right of employers and their representatives (management) to exploit workers and to use them for purposes foreign to their own lives.

Data on Which the Calculation is Based

The calculation of the rate of exploitation is undoubtedly imperfect, and I invite the reader to correct its gaps. Nonetheless, the lack of any attempt to determine the rate of exploitation at the city level has undoubtedly reinforced social-reformist tendencies.

I first give revenue and expenses figures according to the Suncor Annual Report (2019), and then indicate some needed adjustments so that they accord more with Marxian economics. Amounts are in millions of Canadian dollars, unless otherwise indicated.

Revenues and Other Income (millions of $)

Gross revenues 39 866
Less: Royalties (1 522)
Operating revenues, net of royalties 38 344 [subtracting 1522 from 39 866 gives: 38 344]
Other income (loss) 645
Total revenues 38 989

Expenses
Purchases of crude oil and products 12 562
Operating, selling and general 11 244
Transportation 1 442
Depreciation, depletion, amortization and impairment 10 572
Exploration 256
(Gain) loss on asset exchange and disposal of assets (253)
Financing expenses 633

Total expenses 36 456 [sums up to this when adding all expenses]

(Loss) earnings before Income Taxes 2 533 [add this to 36 456 gives you 38 989, which is unadjusted total revenues]

At the level of expenses, it is necessary to further break down expenses. The second category in Total Expenses, “Operating, selling and general,” needs to be broken down further:

Operating, Selling and General OperatingExpenses

Contract services 4 380
Employee costs 3 641
Materials 869
Energy 1 129
Equipment rentals and leases 345
Travel, marketing and other 880
Total Operating, Selling and General Operating Expenses 11 244

The category “Contract services,” without further information, will be accepted as is–an expense different from “Employee costs.”

On the Suncor website, it does indicate the following: https://www.suncor.com/en-ca/contractors-suppliers-carriers

At Suncor, the term “contractor,” “supplier” and “carrier” refer to any organization, company or individual who provides goods and/or services to Suncor. We use the term “contractor” to indicate a supplier that provides services at one of our sites.

Contractors, suppliers and carriers play a critical role in helping us achieve our business objectives. To work with us, you must pre-qualify prior to performing work or providing services to Suncor.

Some contract services may in fact be a form of employment contract. For example, I worked temporarily for an oil company in Calgary in the late 1980s, labeling and organizing files–and was categorized as an independent contractor , undoubtedly, in order to reduce the costs to the employer since employers do not have to pay unemployment insurance premiums, etc. for independent contractors. However, without further, more detailed information, it is impossible to determine who is a real contractor and who is an employee.

The category of “Employee costs” is key since it represents, on the one hand, the wage costs to the employer and, on the other hand, the value added by Suncor workers to the commodities they produce that is equivalent to their wage. It also represents variable capital, which is used to calculate the rate of exploitation of workers and is related to total surplus value, thereby enabling us to calculate the rate of exploitation.

The category “marketing” cannot be practically separated from “travel” and “other” and therefore is not used to make any adjustments. If “marketing” were a completely separate category, though, both the wages paid for marketing and the constant capital used in marketing would be added to the surplus value produced by Suncor workers. Work performed in the sector that transforms already produced commodities into money (and money into capital) does not produce surplus value (though it may well involve the performance of surplus labour). Since, for the purpose of the particular calculation of the rate of exploitation of Suncor the issue of how to treat marketing is irrelevant since there is insufficient information, I place a short discussion of a possible way to treat marketing in Marxian terms as an appendix for those who are interested in such matters (and such matters may be relevant for other firms with data with more refined categories, such as a separate marketing account).

So far, we have:

(Loss) earnings before Income Taxes 2 533
Employee costs 3 641

Adjustments

Adjustments must be made both at the level of total revenue and at the level of total expenses.

In Marxian theory, it is necessary to question whether some expenses are expenses for both the individual employer and for the class of employers (and fractions of their class, such as those who live on interest); in such a case, the expense is deducted from total revenue. On the other hand, there are expenses that are expenses for the individual employer but are not expenses when looked at from the point of view of the class of employers; in such an instance, they are paid out from the surplus value produced or obtained by workers and are to be included in income before taxes.

Total Revenue Adjustments

At the level of total revenue, the payment of royalties, from the point of view of the individual employer, is an expense (like taxes), but the source for payment of such royalties is the workers directly exploited. It says in the annual report:

Suncor is subject to royalties and taxes imposed by governments in numerous jurisdictions

Consequently, I use the initial “Gross revenues.”

Adjusted total revenue $40,511, or

Gross revenues 39,866 +
Other income (loss) 645.

Accordingly,

Adjusted Earnings before Income Taxes $4,055 (=2,533+1522)

I have accepted “Other income (loss)” as is since there is nothing explicitly obvious that would require adjustments. If someone has further information that would justify making adjustments on the basis of this category (or any category) for that matter, feel free to make suggestions or comments.

Other income (loss)
Risk management and trading activities 155
(Losses) gains on valuation of inventory held for trading purposes (7)
Investment and interest income 89
Insurance proceeds 431
Other (23)
645 [this is the sum of the above.]

The adjusted earnings constitute surplus value, or the value produced by Suncor workers without any equivalent in return. It represents the additional value the workers produce for free.

“Earnings before Income Taxes” will still undergo an adjustment, but to do so, it will be necessary to consider expenses. The amount of calculated surplus value is often not just specified from the adjusted total revenue side; the calculation of total surplus value is also often a function of making adjustments to the calculation of total expenses.

Total Expenses Adjustments

Some adjustments still need to made, based on the subcategory “Financing expenses” under the category “Expenses” (see above).

The category “Financing expenses” is broken down as follows:

Financing expenses
Interest on debt 825
Interest on lease liabilities 172
Capitalized interest at 5.3% (122)
Interest expense 875 [this is calculated by summing first two and subtracting the last one: 825+172-122]
Interest on partnership liability 55
Interest on pension and other post-retirement benefits 59
Accretion 270
Foreign exchange (gain) loss on U.S. dollar denominated debt (624)
Operational foreign exchange and other (2)
633 [=875+55+59+270-624+2]

As explained in another post, interest in many instances can be treated as part of the surplus value produced and therefore added to net income since, although from the point of view of the individual capitalist it is an expense, from the capitalist economy as a whole it is derived from the production of surplus value. The same could be said of all the other categories of interest, with the exception of “capitalized interest,” which I subtract (and which I will explain below).

If we add up the interest considered to be an expense but derived from the surplus value produced by Suncor workers, we have the following:

Interest Charges
Interest on debt 825
Interest on lease liabilities 172
Interest on partnership liability 55
Interest on pension and other post-retirement benefits 59
Total interest charges 1,111

These interest expenses, since they are only expenses from the point of view of Suncor Energy but in reality are paid out from the surplus value produced by Suncor workers, must be added to “Adjusted Earnings before Income Taxes.”

Despite the use of the term “interest” in the term “Capitalized interest,” this category needs to be considered in more detail.

In relation to the category “Capitalized interest,” as I explained in my post on the rate of exploitation of Air Canada workers and Rogers Communications workers:

Some explanation of “interest capitalized” is in order. I have had difficulty in understanding the nature of “Interest capitalized.” As far as I can tell, interest that is normally paid and is an expense for the particular employer is treated, in Marxian economics, as part of surplus value because, at the macro level, it comes from the surplus value produced by the workers.

Interest capitalized seems to be different since the interest charged on money borrowed for the purpose of the construction of fixed assets (with a specific interest rate attached to it) is “capitalized,” or not considered part of interest expenses until the construction is finished and the fixed asset is ready to use. This accounting distinction, however, from the macro point of view, is irrelevant since both interest expenses and interest capitalized are derived from the surplus value produced by workers (or appropriated from them in another industry). Accordingly, both interest expenses and interest capitalized should be added to the amount of “Income before income taxes” category.

In the case of Air Canada, capitalized interest was positive (not in parentheses), and I therefore added it to the amount of surplus value produced by the workers. In the case of Rogers Communication, it is negative (since it is in parentheses). Accordingly, I have subtracted it.

Accordingly, like Rogers Communication, I treat “Capitalized interest” (as the accountants have done) as an expense for the purposes of calculation because it is negative (in parentheses).

As for the category “Accretion,” I treat it also as a real expense. Accretion is defined (from Wikipedia):

In accounting, an accretion expense is a periodic expense recognized when updating the present value of a balance sheet liability, which has arisen from a company’s obligation to perform a duty in the future, and is being measured by using a discounted cash flows (“DCF”) approach.

I treat the remaining categories as real expenses, but I leave it to others to criticize this (and any other calculation) if it is incorrect.

A word should also be said about the category “Foreign exchange (gain) loss on US dollar denominated debt.” There is no explanation in the annual report for this category.

Searching the Web, I found the following general explanation:

What is a Foreign Exchange Gain/Loss?

A foreign exchange gain/loss occurs when a company buys and/or sells goods and services in a foreign currency, and that currency fluctuates relative to their home currency. It can create differences in value in the monetary assets and liabilities, which must be recognized periodically until they are ultimately settled.

The basic idea seems to be that, due to the changes in exchange rates between the Canadian dollar and the US dollar, there was actually a gain for 2019 (it is in parentheses–if it were a loss, it would not be).

Accordingly, the adjusted “Financing expenses” is:

Capitalized interest (122) (to be treated as an expense)
Accretion 270
Foreign exchange (gain) loss on U.S. dollar denominated debt (624) (to be treated as a gain this is a gain since it is in parentheses and hence a “negative expense”)
Operational foreign exchange and other (2)
Total Adjusted Financing Expenses: -230 (122+270-624+2)

Yes–a negative $230 million. That means that the indicated expenses are actually a gain. It is easier to understand this by personalizing it (when possible). Imagine you have various expenses and a bank account in US dollars. Let us say you are calculating your expenses. Let us say that you have $500 US dollars and $600 in Canadian expenses. If the US dollar increases in value by one half (exaggerating, of course, to make the calculation easier), then you have a net expense of negative $150 Canadian since $500 US dollars=$750 Canadian dollars (500×1.5=750). $600-750=-150.

This result means that there were not, in fact, any real financing expenses in 2019 after interest is treated as surplus value and after taking into account the gain in foreign exchange dominated in US dollar denominated debt. The $230 million, in addition to the $1,111 million in interest, need to be subtracted from “Total expenses” $36 456 million. and added to “Adjusted Earnings before Income Taxes” $4,055 million.

Accordingly,

Adjusted Total Revenue $40,511
Adjusted Total Expenses $35,115 (=36,456-1111-230)

So, with the adjustments in place:

Final Adjusted Earnings before Income Taxes: s=$5,396 million or $5.396 billion
Employee costs: v=$3, 641 million or $3.641 million

The Rate of Exploitation

The rate of exploitation or the rate of surplus value=s/v=5,396/3,641=148%.

The length of the working day at Suncor Energy varies somewhat, but probably less so than for some other employers. According to one collective agreement. the average work week is 40 hours, but it does not specify how that is distributed over the week. From COLLECTIVE AGREEMENT
BETWEEN: SUNCOR ENERGY PRODUCTS PARTNERSHIP and Unifor Local 27. APRIL 1, 2016 TO MARCH 31, 2019, page 15:

ARTICLE FIFTEEN- HOURS OF WORK/OVERTIME/PREMIUM PAY
15.01 The regular work week shall not consist of more than forty-hours (40) per week.

Another collective agreement implies 8-hour and 12-hour work days. From Collective Agreement
Between Suncor Energy Products Partnership, Sarnia Refinery and Sunoco Employees’ Bargaining Association, March 1, 2017 to February 28, 2021, page 22:

Permanent shift changes will not be made which will result in an employee working more than ten (10) consecutive calendar days while on 8-hour shifts or more than six (6) consecutive calendar days while on 12-hour shifts.

According to the Suncor Energy website:

Most unionized jobs at Suncor also result in shift work. The most common shift pattern is a 12-hour shift, working three days and three nights, followed by six days off.

Assuming either an 8-hour shift or a 12-hour shift:

In an 8- hour work day (480 minutes), a Suncor worker produces her/his wage in about 194 minutes (3 hours 14 minutes) and works 286 minutes (4 hours 46 minutes) for free for Suncor Energy.
In a 12-hour work day (720 minutes), a Suncor worker produces her/his wage in about 290 minutes (4 hours 50 minutes) and works 430 minutes (7 hours 10 minutes) for free for Suncor Energy.

Let us look at the management rights clause of the collective agreement between Suncor Energy Products Partnership and Unifor Local 27, for the period between april 1, 2016 and March 31, 2019.

From pages 4-5 of the collective agreement:

ARTICLE FIVE – MANAGEMENT RIGHTS

5.01 The Union recognizes and acknowledges that management of the operations and direction of the working force are fixed exclusively in the Employer and without restricting the generality of the foregoing, the Union agrees and acknowledges:

(a) The Employer has, retains and shall possess and exercise all rights and functions, powers, privileges and authority that the Employer possessed prior to the signing of a contract with the Union, excepting only those that are clearly and specifically relinquished or restricted in this Agreement.

(b) That it is the exclusive function of the Employer to maintain order, discipline and efficiency and in connection therewith to make, alter and enforce from time to time reasonable rules and regulations, policies and practices to be observed by its employees.

(c) The Employer’s right to determine the number of employees to be employed and the right to hire, transfer, assign, promote, demote, retire at age 65, schedule and classify, layoff or recall employees, discipline, suspend or discharge employees for just cause, and the right to plan, direct and control its operations;

(d) The Employer’s right to determine the location and extent of its operations and their commencement, expansion, curtailment or discontinuance; the work to be done; the services to be rendered; to subcontract or transfer work; to establish, change or abolish job classification; to shut down permanently or by day or week or for any other periods; to determine

Appendix

The issue of how to treat marketing workers (sales work in wholesale and retail trade) and the machines, buildings and equipment they use is relevant to calculating the rate of exploitation of workers who produce surplus value (such as Suncor workers), because it complicates the calculation.

From Fred Moseley (1997), “The Rate of Profit and the Future of Capitalism,” pages 23-41, in Review of Radical Political Economics, Volume 29, Number 4, pages 26-27:

Circulation labor is labor related to the exchange of commodities and money, including such functions as buying and selling, accounting, check processing, advertising, debt-credit relations, insurance, legal counsel, and securities exchange. Marx argued that circulation labor does not produce value and surplus-value because exchange is essentially the exchange of equivalent values. Circulation labor only transforms a given amount of value from commodities to money, or vice versa. …

Capitalist enterprises must of course pay unproductive labor to carry out these necessary functions, even though, according to Marx’s theory, these functions do not produce value and surplus-value. Therefore, the costs of this unproductive labor cannot be recovered out of value which it produces. Instead, these unproductive costs are recovered out of the surplus-value produced by productive labor employed in capitalist production.

This means that the source of the money to pay for the workers in marketing is, ultimately, the surplus value produced by Suncor workers (and other workers who produce surplus value). This does not mean that workers in marketing are not exploited; they too undoubtedly perform surplus labour as well–but they do not produce surplus value, which is the surplus performed and transformed into money form by means of the process of buying and selling (whether that occurs simultaneously with the activity as in the case of services or subsequently as, for example, in the production of beer).

The means of trade or selling and buying used in marketing also would probably be calculated as part of surplus value since, although they are a cost from the point of view of the individual capitalist, they are paid out of value produced by Suncor workers and other workers who produce surplus value. From Moseley (1997), page 27:

The rate of profit being analyzed here is by definition equal to the ratio of the amount of profit (P) to the total stock of capital invested (K). According to Marx’ theory, profit, the numerator in the rate of profit, is the difference between the annual flow of surplus-value (S) and the annual flow of unproductive costs (Uf) (almost entirely the wages of unproductive labor, but also includes a small part (about 5%) of the costs of materials and the depreciation costs of buildings, machinery, etc. used in unproductive functions): (1) P = S – Uf.

Or again, in the work by Anwar Shaikh and E. Ahmet Tonak (1994), Measuring the Wealth of Nations: The Political Economy of National Accounts, pages 45-46, when discussing a hypothetical total production of value of $2000, with c=$400, v=$200 and s=$1400, they assume that the total value of $2000 is sold to wholesalers for a price of $1000, and the wholesalers (and, eventually, retailers), mark up the price to consumers to the level of total value of $2000:

From the Marxian point of view, nothing has changed in the production process, so that constant capital C*, variable capital V*, and surplus value S* are unchanged. But whereas the total surplus value S* = $1400 previously accrued entirely to the production sector as profits, it is now divided between the profits of the production sector (Pp = $400) and the trading margin of the trade sector
(TM = Mt + Wt + Pt = $1000).

where TM=trade margin, Mt=intermediate inputs (c for trade, such as building rentals or purchases, sales counters, registers, forklifts, storage facilities, etc.), Wt=wages for trading activities and Pt=profit for trading activities. The value of inputs (c+v) for the sector that produces value is 600, with the distribution between c and v and s as follows: c=400, v=200, s=1400. However, since it is sold only for 1000, the actual s received for the sector that produces surplus value is 400. For the trade sector (indicated by t in parentheses), the distribution of the $1000 in s is c(t)=200, v(t)=400 and s(t)=400.

Note, however, that c(t) and v(t), though expenses from the point of view of the individual trading employer, is paid from the surplus value produced by workers in the production sector.