When it comes to Premier Ford we need to watch what he does, not what he says, especially when it comes to standing up for workers and their families, says CUPE Ontario President Fred Hahn.
Hahn’s comment comes in response to Ford’s threat to scrap Bill 148, the Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act, while saying he will protect frontline workers.
“Bill 148 was brought in to protect the most vulnerable and precarious workers in our province. Scrapping the Bill does a whole lot more than just cancelling the minimum wage increase and will only hurt frontline workers,” says Hahn. “All across Ontario workers and their families are struggling. They used to have money at the end of week, now they have week at the end of the money. If the Premier really wants to protect workers he will rethink his plan.”
Some of what workers will lose if the government fully repeals Bill 148 includes:
- Not only the scheduled minimum wage increase to $15/hour. The legislation also brought in the initial increase to $14/hour and implemented a cost-of-living adjustment going forward so that the lowest paid workers don’t continuously slide backward.
- Equal pay for part-time workers doing the same work as full-timers – allowing employers to once again exploit part-time workers and reduce the number of full-time jobs, forcing thousands of workers to have to work multiple part-time jobs
- Protection for temp agency workers
- Protection from misclassifying employees as contractors to avoid employer obligations
- Fair notification of schedule changes
- 2 days of paid sick time
- Leave for victims of sexual assault or domestic violence
- Job protection for workers who have to take emergency leave
“If Premier Ford is serious about protecting frontline workers then he has to rethink his plans to scrap this vital legislation,” says Hahn. “CUPE Ontario will do everything to protect Ontario workers. We cannot allow the Premier to make our lives harder.”